JUST as Luo Yan thought, what happened between Dusk’s parents wasn’t really as this dragon said the first time. But he had to make sure, so he still asked. At least with this, Dusk wouldn’t be so sad when trying to remember his ancestry.


    He understood why the red dragon lied. It’s probably to preserve the honor of their n. After all, Dusk’s mother was probably their n’s equivalent to a princess. It was probably a huge stain to their pride that theirdy ended up falling in love with an archdemon. Not only that, she even got pregnant. Of course, these proud dragons would hide that fact.


    That fight that Rowan mentioned earlier between the archdemon and their supposed to be rightful king must have happened when thedy was trying to, well, maybe eloped with the former. To get back his daughter, the king fought the archdemon to the death. In which the archdemon died and the king sustained a grave injury.


    But was that really the case?


    "Did that archdemon really die?" he asked.


    "He did. W-we saw him slowly turning into dust."


    Luo Yan raised one his brows. It didn’t seem like the other was lying. So, archdemon was really dead then. "What happened to thedy after?"


    "She..." The red dragon looked to the side before continuing, "She passed away after giving birth."


    Now, that’s definitely a lie. If hepared the way he answered to hisst question and then to this one, the difference was pretty obvious.


    "Hah, I’m not sure if you’re just stupid or you simply don’t take me seriously." He put the sharp edge of the dagger on the miniature dragon’s neck. "You better not lie while I’m still being nice. Or do you really want your head to be separated from your neck?"


    The dragon’s body shook again. "I- I understand! Please, forgive me!"


    "If you understand, then don’t do this again. I don’t have that much patience, you know?" Luo Yan said while tapping the dragon’s cheek with his dagger. "Now, answer my question properly. What happened to thedy?"


    "A-after she gave birth, her body almost gave out because of the strong demonic energy from the beast egg. She was already near death. But our king didn’t want to give up on her. He put her inside the ’Undying Ice’. It’s an item from the fallen ice kingdom – Nilpheim. It could contain the body of someone who’s close to dying and preserve it, healing it slowly.


    "But during the process, the ice should receive continuous amount of Mana and blood from the closest kin of the individual inside the ice. The king thought that it wouldn’t take that long to heal. But even after a hundred years, she was not close to healing.


    "The king consulted a Priest and we found out that the demonic energy left by the beast egg had already seeped in through her Mana. It would be better if someone with demonic energy and has a close blood tie to thedy would be the one to supply her with Mana and blood. But the only one left was... the one you refer to as ’Dusk’.


    "But at that point in time, Dusk was already expelled from Typhon. As much as the king didn’t want to bring him back and even ask for his help, the king knew that he had no choice. But before he could do that, Dusk suddenly returned to the valley and challenged the king.


    "The king thought that this challenge was a good excuse to force Dusk to help thedy. He was afraid that Dusk wouldn’t help on his own volition because he didn’t have any feelings for his birth mother. No to mention that as soon as he learned how to walk and speak, he was thrown out of the valley. There was no doubt that his grudge against the n was pretty big.


    "The king didn’t care about that. He was confident that he would win. But he didn’t take into ount the severeness of his injury and the fact that Dusk would be much stronger than he expected him to be. At the end, he lost the battle and died."


    Luo Yan absorbed everything that the red dragon had said. At the end, the most important thing he got from it was the fact that Dusk’s mother was most likely still alive. Albeit the frozen state.


    "Where’s thedy now?" he asked.


    "She... she’s the current queen."


    Okay. Now, that’s definitely unexpected. "How can she be queen? Did she awaken during the time that Dusk was the king?"


    That’s the only exnation he could think of. That during that time, Dusk found out about his mother and proceeded on giving him his blood and Mana.


    "No. Although Dusk did supply thedy with blood and Mana, his reign was very short. It was not enough to fully heal her."


    "Then how?"


    The red dragon looked down. "I- I can’t say."


    Luo Yan stared at Rowan with narrowed eyes. The other’s body trembled, obviously very afraid. But he still didn’t change what he said. And his choice of words, he said ’can’t’ instead of ’won’t’. Meaning that there’s something stopping him from telling Luo Yan the answer.


    "You can’t say it because it had something to do with the deal your n made with the dark mages, correct?"


    The red dragon showed an extremely shocked look. By just that expression, Luo Yan knew that he had hit the jackpot.


    "H-how did you—"


    "Never mind that. This deal, was it also the reason why Dusk no longer had his demonic traits and abilities?"


    It was one of the things that had been bothering him since knowing that Dusk’s father was an archdemon. Those demonic traits being gone when he obviously born with it meant that someone removed it or most likely took it. The only culprit he could think of was those dark mages.


    Once again, the red dragon appeared shocked by that question. But he still tremblingly answered, "Y-yes."