The Draventhar, also known as the Myriad Beast Alliance, was divided into three parts. Each one of the territories was vast and filled with heavenly resources and rich Verth. There were different types of landscapes and geographical shifts here.

Some places were incredibly dangerous, and some were guarded and ruled. Many and all types of beasts roamed freely in Draventhar. But, as unhinged as others thought the beasts to be, they were not.

Three apex predators ruled the land with an iron-clad grip over their races and sub-races; the overwhelming might forced others to submit, and the land was divided into three parts.

The Dragons, the phoenix, and the Titan Beasts.

Of the three apex powers, the Dragons claimed the east. With the Dragon Lord as the head, the hierarchy was as old as the volcanic stone beneath them.

Deep inside the Draconic lands, the doors to Vraelyn’s chamber hadn’t opened to anyone other than a few individuals for more than a few days now.

But today they opened.

Her chamber was spacious enough to fit close to fifty people; she was sitting beside the window. And she hadn’t moved from there for hours now.

The Dragon’s capital spread below her, the volcanic heart of the continent...the Cinderstone Palace stood mighty above it all, the tournament ground was still visible where the crowds were slowly dispersing.

Her gaze hardened when she remembered what transpired here a day ago. But this wasn’t what was stabbing her.

Those...indifferent eyes. She shuddered when she recalled them. Her heart, which had calmed down a few minutes ago, once again began to hammer loudly.

Her thoughts spiralled into many ways...but the main and the thickest of them all was...regret.

She deeply regretted her actions, more like silence. Emperal, her secret lover, was humiliated thoroughly in the training grounds, despite having close to country-destroying powers.

She did nothing.

"Will...he be alright? Should I have secretly watched him? What if another beast attacks him? What if something happens to him again while I sit here? What if the jade harms him? What if...he hates me?"

Such questions were haunting her each minute and every second.

A drop of her precious blood dripped through the corner of her lips...because of how hard she was biting them.

"It’s all because of my damn daughter!!"

With regret came a flood of rage. Her eyes shifted as an intense glow shone in those orbs.

But in the next few seconds, they slowly dimmed as she glanced at the door without moving her head.

The doors opened, and a pair of footsteps echoed. They were unhurried and confident, the way of royalty.

"Mother."

A youthful yet arrogant voice echoed through the chamber. The Dragon princess entered the hall with the hubris and superciliousness a dragon princess should have.

"You wanted to see me."

The tone of her voice wasn’t that of someone who should have been used with their mother. Vraelyn didn’t turn around.

The Dragon princess, though the court rarely used her name and preferred keeping titles that kept distance between themselves and her attention.

Her posture was perfect and proud, her expression composed. She had her mother’s cheekbones and her father’s inheritance. Which...she had been sharpening for a long time.

Seeing that Vraelyn still hadn’t turned around, the Dragon Princess frowned. She didn’t like this one bit.

But, of course, she couldn’t do anything to the woman sitting in front of her. Remaining composed, a small, cunning smile adorned her lips.

"I heard there was some excitement in the tournament a day ago?"

She dropped a bomb, and Vraelyn froze in her spot.

"Mother, oh mother, I was just suspicious of him and you before. But your reactions from the past two days confirmed it hehe~."

The Dragon princess chuckled; it wasn’t a sweet or melodious one. It was that of a fox—a cunning one. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Vraelyn still didn’t turn around, and seeing the Dragon Princess smile widened further.

"A half-blooded trash with a Dormant Spirit Root. Mother...of all the things you could have chosen to feel something, you chose the one thing even the servants of our House would laugh at. How...low of you."

"..."

"...It seems you have really inherited your grandfather’s venomous tongue. And..."

The Dragon Princess blinked. In the next moment, a slender fist crashed on her face, bursting her eye and half of her head cheeks in the process.

"ARGHHHH!!!! W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!!?"

The body of the Dragon Princess was thrown outside the chamber towards the darkened sky. Unimaginable pain ripped through her body, filling her with an agony so intense that her body and mind almost broke down.

But...before she could fall on the ground, a vast and titanic force held her body mid-air and yanked it back again...once again dropping her in front of Vraelyn.

"Hufff...Hufff. T-This crazy bitch!! I-I...she almost killed her only daughter!!"

The earlier smugness and haughtiness were nowhere to be seen; instead, what replaced them was genuine fear.

Kneeling in front of Vraelyn...she didn’t dare look up.

Vraelyn finally turned back. Her eyes had darkened; she was barely holding back to prevent her killing intent from leaking.

If even a drop of it leaked, the entire east would tremble and weep!

"...And, who gave you the authority and guts to talk to me like that? Did the position and influence of your father make you so blind that you...dare play tricks on me? ME? VRAELYN STORM!!?"

The Dragon princess coughed up another mouthful of blood; she gritted her teeth. Fear and rage filled her heart.

Her pride couldn’t accept this! Her blood disdained the mere notion of the act she had just suffered.

But...her fear held her mouth back. She was willful, haughty, arrogant, and vain. She was everything a princess should be and maybe much, much more.

But the one thing she wasn’t was foolish. Today, she had been a fool. To think her arrogance had blinded her to such a degree that she dared taunt one of the most powerful existences in the entirety of Verandis.

"You dare call him trash? If he is trash, what are you? It was honestly my mistake to even let him participate in that accursed tournament. And with just his body and sword, he had entered the top 20 on his own! For what? Just to marry a waste of a snake!? Hah! What have I done."

Each of Vraelyn’s words pierced the Dragon Princess’s heart like knives! She trembled all over, with veins popping up on her forehead.

"Get lost, I do not want to see your wretched face. And do not think for even a second that I am scared of your father or the other trash Dragon council members. There were other circumstances that held me back."

Saying that, she dismissed her. The Dragon Princess didn’t say anything. Turning her back, she left the chambers. But, in her mind, a single sentence continued echoing. Tens, hundreds, and thousands of times!

"I swear upon my name that if I do not skin you alive, Emperal...I wouldn’t be called the DRAGON PRINCESS!!"