Capítulo 734: A conversation about dragons.
The great hall of the ice palace was silent—too silent. The frozen walls captured even the slightest sound, amplifying every step, every breath, every hesitation.
When Strax entered, the temperature seed to drop a few more degrees, not because he had done anything… but because rcedes, seated on the throne, already anticipated trouble.
And with Strax, trouble never ca alone.
She raised her head as he approached and imdiately frowned.
Strax was… too excited.
Excited is always dangerous.
He stopped before her with that warning smile: I’m going to do sothing you won’t like.
rcedes took a deep breath.
Very deep.
“…What is it now?”
Strax placed his hands on his hips.
“rcedes, I need you to dismiss the guards from the ancient tomb in the garden.”
She imdiately straightened up on the throne.
“No.”
He blinked.
“Wait… but I haven’t even finished asking.”
“No.”
His voice was firm, full of authority—and concern.
“It doesn’t matter what you ask for. The tomb is forbidden.”
Strax crossed his arms, not looking the least bit intimidated.
“I want to go in.”
rcedes’ eyes widened.
“Of course you do,” she murmured, exhausted. “You always want to go into places you shouldn’t.”
Strax laughed, taking another step closer.
“I found sothing there. Sothing interesting.”
She froze.
rcedes froze on the throne, her fingers gripping the ice support so tightly that a thin crack echoed off the walls.
Strax just smiled—that “this is going to be trouble, but I’m having fun” smile, which to rcedes was synonymous with panic.
“Wait here a mont,” he said, turning and walking to the enormous double doors that led to the frozen garden. rcedes leaned forward, narrowing her eyes.
“Strax. STRAX. What are you going to—”
But he had already disappeared through the door.
She heard the sound of snow being trodden on, then sothing heavy being dragged, followed by a murmured “that’s it, co here, don’t make drop you” as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
And then…
The door opened again.
Strax entered…
Carrying an egg the size of a full-grown bear.
Luminous. Icy. Radiating ancient, dense energy like a heart beating beneath eternal ice.
rcedes froze.
Her mouth opened.
Closed.
Opened again.
“…what…what the hell is this?”
Strax placed the egg right in the center of the room, as if presenting a trophy.
“Pretty, isn’t it?”
She pointed slowly, as if afraid the egg would bite.
“STRAX. Is this—is this—is this a DRAGON EGG?”
He nodded calmly.
“Yes, it is.”
“AND YOU BROUGHT THIS INTO MY PALACE?!”
Strax crossed his arms, completely unfazed by the monarch’s panic attack.
“Oh, relax. He’s well-behaved when he’s not jealous.”
rcedes’ eyes widened so much they looked like they were about to fall out.
“BEHAVED?! WHAT DO YOU AN BY—”
“Anyway.” Strax cleared his throat, ignoring her rising tone. “I found it in a dragon’s nest up in the isolated mountains. It was hidden in a very old ice structure.”
rcedes swallowed hard.
“…this is dangerous…”
Strax smiled as if he had received exactly the complint he wanted.
“Probably.”
“STRAX!”
He raised a finger before she could explode again.
“But here cos the fun part.”
rcedes didn’t find any of this fun.
Not at all.
Zero.
She crossed her legs, trying to maintain so composure.
“Explain it to . Now.”
Strax tapped the egg lightly, which responded with a blue, almost irritated pulse.
“I believe this egg here…” He approached her dramatically, as if about to reveal a forbidden secret.
“It is, with a 98% chance, the future daughter of the Ice Dragon Empress.”
Absolute silence. Even the air seed to freeze.
rcedes took a few seconds to process.
“THE FOUNDER OF MY KINGDOM?!”
Strax nodded as if speaking of ti.
“The very one.”
“THE FIRST OF THE LINE?!”
“Yes, yes.”
“THE ONE WHO IS VENERATED AS A DEMIGOD AMONG THE PEOPLE?!”
He shrugged.
“Yes.”
rcedes put her hands to her head.
“STRAX, FOR GOD’S SAKE— HOW DO YOU— WHY— HOW DOES A NORMAL MAN FIND—”
“I’m not exactly normal.”
“I REALIZED!”
Strax sighed, approaching the tomb outside through the ice window.
“Then… let go in there.”
rcedes slowly turned her head to face him, horrified.
“…go in… into the Dragon Empress’s tomb?”
“That’s it.”
“NEVER.”
Strax blinked, surprised by the speed of the response.
rcedes continued:
“That tomb can only be opened by mbers of the Vaintz bloodline. I am its guardian! I am from the family that served the Empress! I— I can’t just let you in like it’s a drawing room!”
Strax snorted impatiently.
“rcedes. I just want to see one thing in there.”
“AND NO, YOU WON’T!”
He raised an eyebrow.
“Even if I tell you that egg might be her heir?”
rcedes froze.
Her expression went through: panic → disbelief → frustration → resignation → panic again.
“…how can you be sure…?”
Strax touched the egg again. A pulse of energy coursed through the entire hall—cold, ancient, majestic.
The energy was the sa as that of the tomb.
rcedes felt it.
She cleared her eyes. She swallowed hard.
“…so… you think that…”
“Yes. That she’s the Empress’s daughter.”
The egg pulsed, almost as if in agreent.
rcedes took a deep breath.
Very deep.
She almost fainted in the process.
“…Strax…”
“Hmm?”
“Do you realize that… if this is true… you’re carrying… the successor to my entire kingdom?”
Strax smiled as if he had just won a prize.
“Then let into the tomb. I want to hatch this soon.”
rcedes went pale.
“…you want to… HATCH… a royal dragon… inside the sacred resting place of the Empress-mother?”
“That’s right.”
“STRAX, YOU’RE CRAZY!”
He placed his hand on her shoulder, gentle but firm.
“rcedes. Let in.”
She opened her mouth to refuse again. But the egg trembled.
The ground trembled along with it.
The tomb outside responded with an echo of energy.
rcedes paled even more.
“…I… I need to sit…”
“You’re already sitting.”
“THEN I NEED TO SIT MORE!”
Strax just smiled. He pointed to himself, “Why are you so nervous about an egg? You’ve been living with two dragons for over a week.”
rcedes froze.
rcedes was so still that for a mont she seed to literally beco part of the throne.
The silence was so absolute that the ice around her cracked, as if trying to fill the void left by the monarch’s mind… which had simply frozen.
She blinked slowly.
Once.
Twice.
Three tis.
“…what?” she asked, her voice so thin it seed about to break.
Strax gave a slight, almost innocent smile—the kind of smile that said, “Prepare yourself, I’m going to throw more chaos in your lap.”
“I told you,” he repeated calmly, “I’m a dragon. Scarlet too.”
rcedes could only stare at him. No reaction. No expression. Breathless. Literally.
The silence stretched for ten seconds.
Twenty.
Thirty.
Strax even raised his hand, genuinely worried.
“…rcedes? You—”
“YOU—” The monarch suddenly stood up, her face so red it contrasted absurdly with the frozen environnt.
“YOU ARE WHAT?!”
“Dragon.”
He pointed to himself naturally.
“Dragon. Literally. Scales, ancient mana, elental breath, all that stuff.”
rcedes opened her mouth, closed it, opened it again, like a fish struggling to process reality.
“You— you— but— you have human form!”
“Yes,” Strax nodded. “Practical. Comfortable. And it helps avoid destroying furniture.”
rcedes put her hand to her chest.
“A— and— and Scarlet?! Scarlet too?!”
“Uh-huh. A dragon. Strong, territorial, very noisy—”
“YOU DIDN’T NEED TO NTION THAT PART!”
rcedes covered her face, dying a little inside.
Strax laughed gently.
“You lived with two dragons for almost two weeks and didn’t notice anything?”
“HOW COULD I NOTICE?!” rcedes gestured dramatically. “YOU TWO SPEND HALF YOUR TI IN HUMAN FORM AND THE OTHER HALF—”
She stopped, too afraid to finish.
“—making noise!”
Strax looked away with zero guilt.
“Well, I can’t deny it.”
rcedes gasped.
Then, slowly, she let herself fall back onto the throne, her hands sliding down to cover her face.
“…I’m going crazy…”
Strax approached, smiling, leaning in slightly to et her eyes.
“Eh, maybe a little. But that’s normal when you live with dragons.”
She stared at him through her fingers.
“And you didn’t think it was important to warn BEFOREHAND?!”
“You didn’t ask.”
“HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO GUESS YOU WERE A DRAGON, STRAX?!”
“Well… I’m big, strong, full of mana, I like to shine—”
“THAT’S THE DESCRIPTION OF HALF THE KINGS ON THE CONTINENT!”
He shrugged, amused.
“True. But only one of them can set an avalanche on fire.”
rcedes blinked slowly.
“…you set an avalanche on fire?”
“Long story.”
She massaged her temples.
“I… I really want to go back in ti ten minutes and slap myself for asking.”
Strax sat on the arm of the throne—which was forbidden, but she was too emotionally devastated to complain—and continued:
“So, now that you know that Scarlet and I are dragons… you understand why this egg is so important.”
rcedes looked at the egg, which pulsed gently as if observing the conversation.
“So… you want to enter the tomb because…”
“Because the energy inside can help this here”—he touched the egg, which responded with a proud tremor—”to hatch.”
rcedes closed her eyes.
Then she breathed.
Then she opened them slowly. “Strax…”
“Yes?”
“Are you aware that you are mixing:
a sacred egg,
an ancient tomb,
the founder of my kingdom,
two territorial dragons,
and my sanity, which is already hanging by a thread?”
Strax smiled.
“Yes.”
rcedes threw her head back.
“Why am I still here…?”
“Because you like .”
“I DON’T—!”
Her face turned red instantly.
“I don’t like you!”
Strax laughed.
“Your ice lts when you try to lie.”
“MY ICE DOESN’T LT!”
He raised an eyebrow.
rcedes crossed her arms, puffing out her cheeks in anger—and sha.
“Anyway…” she muttered. “Even knowing now that you’re a dragon… the tomb remains forbidden.”
Strax sighed. “rcedes.”
“No.”
“rcedes.”
She looked away.
“I said no.”
Strax tilted his head with a mischievous smile.
“Want to know a secret?”
“I don’t.”
“I’m going to tell you anyway.”
She stamped her foot childishly.
“Strax! I’m saying I won’t let you—”
“Your tomb already responded to the egg.”
rcedes froze.
“What do you an?”
He pointed to the garden.
“When the egg pulsed, the tomb released energy. You felt it.”
rcedes felt it.
She felt it clearly.
And that terrified her more than any of his and Scarlet’s nightti noises.
“…but that doesn’t an you can go in.”
Strax moved close enough for her to feel his warmth—sothing rare in an ice palace.
“rcedes…” He smiled, calm, dangerous, and convincing as only dragons can be.
“I’m not just asking to co in. I’m saying that this”—he touched the egg—”will hatch. And she’ll want to co in. I just want to get ahead of things.”
rcedes swallowed hard.
And, for the first ti…
She had no argunt.
“…I need to think,” she murmured, looking at the egg as if it were a second sun about to rise.
Strax smiled, satisfied.
“Think fast. She’s getting restless.”
The egg pulsed, confirming.
rcedes slowly banged her head against the throne.
“My world has turned into chaos because of an idiot…”
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