“At the end of the day, I still made my way here.”
Gazing at the castle bathed in the moonlight, Rhode couldn’t help but scratch his head and mutter to himself.
Based on the news from his younger sister, it seemed like a pregnant dragon needed 30 to 50 years to give birth to her child, which explained the low birthrate of several powerful races. The process of conceiving a child was more than half of the human lifespan. Moreover, even after the child was born, the child also required a long, long time to grow from a young age. Take Erin, for instance. She lived for four to five centuries since she was born, and despite that, she looked like a 16 or 17 years old. This went to show how slow dragons grew, which kind of put Rhode’s mind at ease a little. Because even if Erin were really pregnant with his child, she didn’t need to fight against Chaos with a big belly. After all, no matter how busy his side was, the situation wouldn’t last more than a year or two. And according to the younger sister, even if Erin did conceive his child, the effects on her would be basically zero. After all, a dragon’s body was still really strong and healthy, and normal injuries wouldn’t affect the child too much either.
But even so, Rhode eventually came to the Moon City. Although he wasn’t sure about Erin’s pregnancy, those words from Lydia also weren’t entirely not reliable either. However, since Lydia mentioned about Erin’s weak health, there had to be no doubt about it. That was why after serious considerations, Rhode finally decided to check on Erin. Even if he didn’t discuss anything about her pregnancy, he had to care for her in terms of her identity as the Dark Dragon. After all, the combined strength of the five Creator Dragons were needed to open the plane channel in the future. If Erin were to get into a mishap like her big brother, things would be much more troublesome.
As the Darkness Capital had been demolished into scraps by Lapis’s Plane Destruction Bombs, it was inevitable for the Country of Darkness to move its capital. In the end, Erin chose the Moon City, located in the southwest and in the middle of the Moonlight Forest, as the new capital city of the Country of Darkness. This land was Erin’s, to begin with, and could also be considered her villa. Although it was a bit out of place to be used as a capital of a country, the Country of Darkness itself had also lost a large chunk of territory, so it was like a perfect match…
But after witnessing the Moon City for the first time, Rhode had an inexplicable feeling of déjà vu.
In the shimmering moonlight, the white, towering castle by the sea glowed softly against the darkness of the night and seemed incomparably bright in comparison to the pitch-black ocean under the night sky. For some reason, upon seeing the Moon City, Rhode couldn’t help think of the Munn Kingdom’s Golden City. Although the geographical locations weren’t quite the same, both cities felt equally beautiful and mesmerizing. The Golden City was as dazzling as the sun, while the Moon City was as bright and crisp as the moon. Looking from a distance, the Moon City was built on a peninsula surrounded by a dark ocean, glowing brightly like a full moon in the night sky. No one could ignore its brilliance.
It seemed like it wasn’t without reason that Erin and Lydia were so close with each other.
“Master, you’re here.”
With Rhode’s identity, he didn’t need to inform of his arrival beforehand. As a matter of fact, before he arrived, he had already informed Angelina through spiritual communication. At that moment, Angelina stood at the entrance of the Moon City, ready to welcome him. Upon seeing his arrival, she stepped forth and bowed immediately. She intended to hold a grand welcome for him, but he wasn’t interested in such formalities in the slightest. Besides, it would also waste his time, so he rejected her idea. This time, only Angelina was here by the entrance to invite him in.
Despite being a city of undead creatures, the Moon City was much more livelier than other cities. After all, this was Erin’s fief, and she was quite fond of humans. For that reason, there were more humans in the Moon City as compared to other cities. According to Angelina, this place was also a territory shared between her and Garcia. However, she was in charge of the east, while Garcia watched the coast in the west. That was because undead creatures disliked the ocean, which was the opposite of humans. Come to think of it, Rhode was really curious as to how these people were going to fish a land of eternal darkness. That would be a problem too, wouldn’t it?
But this time, he didn’t come to the Moon City to explore their customs.
“Where’s Erin?”
Following Angelina into the Moon City, Rhode sized up the castle around him and asked casually. He had to admit that this place was really made to Erin’s liking. At a glance, one could see expensive artwork hanging along the corridor. And in addition to the paintings, there were also some unknown, ancient artifacts dug out from the ruins that were very pleasing to the eye under the illumination of luminous pearls. Rhode estimated that if all the treasures in this corridor were to be recovered, they would be worth enough to buy half of Casabianca.
“Her Majesty Erin is handling some government matters right now, but it is also about time for afternoon tea.”
Angelina said, leading Rhode further down the corridor. Along the way, beautiful young ladies in maid costumes bowed to them. But what astonished Rhode was that he sensed that they were mostly ordinary humans and not undead creatures at all. This felt rather strange because earlier, judging from the information that Angelina gave him, it sounded like her forces had clearly expanded. But now… It seemed like she wasn’t as successful as he had thought.
“What’s with the maids?”
“Her Highness Erin still prefers humans more, and because of what happened to His Majesty Ion before, Her Highness Erin isn’t really that fond of vampires anymore. That’s why I didn’t get my subordinates to serve Her Highness Erin. My subordinates are responsible for foreign diplomacy and intelligence reconnaissance at the moment. The maids here are all dispatched by Sir Garcia. In terms of loyalty, there is no problem.”
“I see.”
Upon hearing Angelina’s explanations, Rhode nodded. He had also gotten Angelina’s report about the dealings between Ion and the vampires, so naturally, Erin must have also witnessed that scene as well. It made sense that she wasn’t very fond of vampires. If it weren’t for the fact that Angelina had always been on good terms with Erin, it would have been impossible for her to get the support she received from Erin now.
But looking at the indignant way Angelina talked about Garcia, it was clear that she felt rather upset, which was quite a normal reaction. To put it bluntly, the Country of Darkness was a nation of death, and mortals had no place here. Even amongst the four legendary generals, the one with the lowest status was, in fact, Garcia, not Ashvril, the reason being that Garcia was human. That was why Angelina was unhappy with Garcia. Although Garcia, being one of the four legendary generals, was powerful and wasn’t going to live less than 100 years like an ordinary human, he couldn’t be compared to long-lived undead creatures. Despite that, he was still valued highly by Erin, so it wasn’t surprising that Angelina felt a little depressed about that.
However, it wasn’t something of Rhode’s concern. He roughly guessed that Erin was doing this to check and restrain the power of her men. But this was an internal matter of the Country of Darkness, and he had no right to interfere. It was also true that Angelina’s desire for power was a bit too strong. If she didn’t restrain herself, it would be hard to guarantee that she could achieve her goal of becoming one of the four legendary generals.
On the other hand, Angelina also didn’t seem to have the intention of letting Rhode put in a few good words to Erin for her. Angelina casually mentioned this topic, but their conversation quickly returned to the right path.
“How is Erin feeling lately?”
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with Her Majesty Erin… She isn’t acting strangely from before, so everything should be fine.”
Upon hearing Rhode’s question, Angelina hesitated for a while and eventually answered. As a matter of fact, after Rhode looked for Angelina and inquired about Erin, Angelina volunteered to be Erin’s personal servant again. Of course, with her identity, she couldn’t possibly be by Erin’s side 24/7. But in response to her master’s expectations, Angelina bit the bullet and gave Rhode the answers he wanted.
“I see…”
Rhode responded plainly to Angelina’s reply.
… She’s got nothing on her end. Looks like I can only rely upon myself then.
And the moment this thought came up in his mind, Angelina gaped with a difficult expression, pondered for a while, and said.
“Erm… Master, although Her Majesty Erin is fine, she did face some trouble recently.”
“What trouble?”
Rhode asked with a twitched brow. Upon hearing his question, Angelina thought about it, but eventually continued.
“… According to my investigation, there seems to be someone chasing Her Highness Erin…”
“Oh?”
Facing this surprising answer, Rhode’s eyes glinted in a cold flash. Who was so daring to grab food from his mouth? Erin was his woman. Even though no one was aware of their relationship except for themselves, even without this matter, wouldn’t Erin’s identity as the Dark Dragon stop every suitor? Someone was actually so brave to chase the Dark Dragon?
“What exactly happened? Who is so daring? Is he sick of living already?”
“Hmm…”
Angelina revealed an awkward expression.
“… I heard it’s someone of the same race as Her Majesty Erin…”
Facing Angelina’s response, Rhode twitched his brow, but eventually said nothing.
Just like that, under Angelina’s lead, both of them arrived outside Erin’s study. Then, Angelina raised her arm and knocked the door gently.
“Her Highness Erin, His Majesty Rhode is here.”
“Please come in.”
Upon hearing Erin’s reply, Angelina opened the study door and gestured an invitation to Rhode respectfully. Without saying a word, he walked straight into the study. This was the first time he had been in Erin’s study. Unlike Lydia’s splendidly atmospheric and luxurious-looking room, Erin’s study was more chic and beautiful, decorated with a pure white sofa, scarlet velvet curtains, pale yellow carpet, and mahogany bookshelves. With the burning fireplace at the side, the study felt warm and comfortable. It wasn’t until he entered the room that he deeply felt the difference between the living and the dead. Although Erin was the Dark Dragon, she was a living creature, after all. Instead of making her study like the ice-cold catacombs of undead creatures, it was filled with a homely warmth.
It gave a deep-seated sense of peace and tranquility, especially under this eternal night sky in a country filled with coldness and death. Not only that, but it also gave him an illusion of wanting to lie and rest here forever.
“Mr. Rhode.”
Upon seeing him, Erin stood up from her desk with a grin, walked over, and greeted him. It was obvious that she was happy about his arrival. Even though she spent secret nights rolling in bed with him, her status was on the line, after all. Marlene and Lize could keep him company, while Anne could climb into his bed whenever and wherever she wanted. On the other hand, Erin wasn’t that ‘fortunate’. As the Dark Dragon, she spent most of her time on the Country of Darkness. Not to mention, the entire country was in a mess because of what happened to Ion. Not only that, but she also spent a lot of time appeasing the restless undead creatures. That was why she had minimal time to meet him. They even had to race against time to carry on a clandestine love affair, so it was impossible for them to even have time for proper romance.
That was why Erin was delighted to see Rhode show up all of a sudden.
“Why are you here? How is the front line? I heard from Lydia that the previous battle wasn’t too great.”
“There’s been no problem as of late. Chaos doesn’t look like it’s planning to attack soon after we drove it away last time. That’s why I came over to see you…” Rhode paused briefly, sized up Erin, and stopped his gaze at her abdomen. But to his relief, there didn’t seem to be any significant bump as her figure was still smooth and gracefully curvy. Of course, many women’s bodies were so well maintained that they didn’t look pregnant at all, except during the last few months. If it were before, Rhode would have been a little worried. But after learning from his younger sister that it would take at least 30 to 50 years for a dragon to give birth to a child, he was much more relaxed, and Erin didn’t realize anything wrong. After scanning her body for a few moments, Rhode withdrew his gaze and asked “… By the way, I heard from Lydia that you’re not feeling well lately? What happened?”
“I just overworked myself a little. It’s nothing to worry about, Mr. Rhode.”
In response to his question, Erin responded frankly and didn’t seem to be hiding anything. Her expression was still as soft as ever, showing a calm smile, while a deep attachment and happiness could be detected from her eyes. It did seem as if there was nothing worth caring too much about.
“To be honest, I’ve always been reluctant to do these jobs in the past. So when Big Brother forbade me from getting involved in politics, I didn’t have any objections. After all, these things are such a pain. I didn’t expect myself to be doing them now. It really gives me a bit of a headache…”
Erin said and held her forehead as though she were really dejected.
“If I could, I would prefer to return to my leisurely and carefree life so that I can follow you around, Mr. Rhode. But unfortunately, it looks like I’m not so lucky.”
“You should rest more if you’re tired. Look at Lydia; she has been a duchess for so many years and solves most troubles by sending out her subordinates. You don’t have to do everything yourself. Just leave some matters to people you trust…” Rhode replied and couldn’t help but look at Angelina, who was standing respectfully beside her. “Anyway, unlike you, they won’t be overworked. So make the most of them.”
Just like that, Rhode sold Angelina out in front of her face.
Rhode didn’t notice that when he mentioned Lydia, Erin’s eyes glinted with an odd smile. After Rhode finished his sentence, the smile in Erin’s eyes disappeared immediately, which was why he didn’t realize anything strange. Facing his words, Erin forced a bitter smile.
“I would like to do that if it were possible, Mr. Rhode. But the Country of Darkness is in a terrible shape now. Besides, I’ve been having a little trouble lately…”
Knock knock knock.
As Erin spoke, someone knocked on the study door all of a sudden. Upon hearing the knocks, Erin let out a subtle, helpless sigh and said.
“Who is it?”
“Reporting, Your Highness Erin, Sir Kolt is here to ask for an audience.”
“Sigh…”
Upon hearing the maid’s report, Erin let out a long, powerless sigh. Then, she lifted her head and winked playfully at Rhode.
“This is my other trouble, Mr. Rhode. It gets really troubling to have such an admirer, don’t you think?”