Seraphine had barely taken a step outside her mansion before she ca to a complete halt, her body stiffening as she took in the scene before her.
Her grandfather, Lucios Vaeldrinn Valerio, was sitting there, drinking and chatting casually with Qingyi.
The old man's eyes shifted slightly, landing on her.
"Hey, granddaughter! So it was because of this guy that you rejected all the marriage proposals I arranged for you, huh? You've truly made your grandpa very proud, hahaha!" The old man laughed loudly.
His face was filled with amusent as he watched Seraphine's cheeks change color, turning an intense, fiery red.
She looked away, shuddering.
"Grandpa... this... this isn't..." She stamred, unable to form words.
"It's okay, kid." Lucios stood up. "Ugh... these old bones..." He grunted softly, cracking his back.
"This old man approves of your choice." He smiled. "I've already got one foot in the grave, I can't keep ddling in the hearts of the young."
Seraphine just stared at the floor, trembling slightly.
On the one hand, she was happy to have received her grandfather's approval.
She knew full well that if he had been there, he would never have allowed anything to happen to her mother, and honestly, she didn't bla him.
In the end, many people's lives depended on him. He couldn't just be paying attention to everything her father did all the ti.
Still, there was bitterness in her heart.
Not that it mattered much, since this would be her last day on this land.
Soon, Qingyi would kill her father, and together, they would run away.
After a mont of hesitation, she spoke, her voice low and sweet: "Thank you, Grandpa..."
"Ah..." Lucios stood up, giving Qingyi's shoulders one last firm squeeze before turning away.
"Take good care of my granddaughter, young man." He said, and with a smooth movent, he disappeared.
To any other observer, it looked like he had used a teleportation skill, but Qingyi could see clearly.
It was pure speed and such perfect Qi control that the air around him didn't even move, taking a whole second for his body to be missed.
"You... you won't fail, right?" Seraphine asked, approaching Qingyi and hugging him tightly.
"No. Maybe if I had to fight your grandfather, but if it's just and your father, there's no way I can lose." Qingyi said, his voice sweet and warm, his lips landing on Seraphine's forehead.
"I'm sure Khaedryss feels the sa way about her chances against RedDeath," he added.
"Knowing her... I highly doubt she even considers him worthy, hahaha." The beauty laughed bitterly, but her voice soon turned
serious.
She looked at Qingyi with a complicated expression, but in the end, she said nothing, forcing herself to be strong.
She was too old to be whining about these things.
"Viola will be here soon, and then we can leave," she declared, exchanging one last kiss with Qingyi before walking away.
***
A few miles away, in the center of the enormous island floating above DragonPeak, capital of the Grand Duchy of Vaeldrinn, things couldn't be more exciting.
Hundreds of dragons of various sizes tore through the skies, flying over a huge statue: the mausoleum of Karlan, known as the mother of all dragons, her massive skull serving as the entrance.
The statue's scales were pure and perfect silver, reflecting with an incomparable shine.
Usually, there would be no more than a few thousand purebloods in that region, as many were responsible for managing their own
territory.
But this was no ordinary day.
Wealthy rchants, lesser dragon riders, and great land lords were
present.
Tens of thousands of purebloods, all gathered there for one thing
alone.
The rise of the RedDeath and the birth of a new beast whose power
likely rivaled Khaedryss.
For the less powerful, this was already sothing they could only dream of, imagining the level of power their people would now achieve with such a powerful beast that currently accepted riders. Neither the empire nor their arrogant cousins would dare to stand in their way.
For the more powerful, those who already knew that Khaedryss had indeed disappeared and not just isolated herself, this was sothing
even greater.
RedDeath would close one of the most troubling holes in their
defenses: the fact that Lucios was getting old and that they simply did not have a single specialist with the prospect of reaching the twelfth ring in the next ten thousand years.
In the end, above personal quarrels and political conflicts, the preservation of their people was the most important thing to them.
Qingyi really wished humans were like that.
'It's really crowded here, huh?' he thought to himself as he approached Seraphine and Viola.
He was one of the only "Humans" there, along with the other chosen champions, whose numbers had already been reduced from fifty to less than forty, all the others failing to live up to the expectations their recruiters had for them.
Naturally, the reward for failure was nothing less than death.
As he accompanied Seraphine, he kept his head down, even lower than Viola's, pretending to be nothing more than a loyal and obedient
servant.
There was so strangeness on the part of the guards when Seraphine chose to take him with her to her private box, one of many reserved only for the highest nobility to watch the ascent.
But, obviously, they did nothing to stop her.
Young Miss Seraphine had always been a little strange anyway, and
even if they wanted to stop her, what could they do?
One wrong word and they were sure Viola would not hesitate to rip their throats out.
Upon arriving at her private box, Seraphine sat down on a luxurious
throne, her eyes falling on the open courtyard in front of her and the huge silver statue that stood above Karlan's mausoleum.
She turned her face slightly toward Qingyi, whose eyes were focused
on the skies.
On the horizon, he could clearly see a figure approaching, scarlet
scales glinting across the skies as its roar engulfed everything around
it.
It was coming. It was ti for him to settle so unfinished business.
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