Chương 241: 43. Appraisal 2

"You said this is the first step... which means there's a second. A third."

"Of course there is," she answered without hesitation.

"Did you think being a Rider was just a name you get to wear?"

"So what does this eventually turn into?"

"That depends how far you manage to go," she said, then added, after a pause, "and how deep the bond between you and the dragon runs." I fell quiet. Honestly, if she told me right now that wings would sprout from my back within the week, I couldn't say with confidence that I wouldn't believe her. But what actually pressed down on my chest wasn't the scale itself. It was the phrase she'd used. Your dragon. I looked up at her.

"So, my dragon is—" She clearly already knew what I was about to ask. The corner of her eye lifted, and she actually had the nerve to turn the question back on me.

"Who else did you think it would be?"

"..." She let out a soft huff, then simply closed the distance and pulled my left hand back toward her. This time, I didn't pull away. She covered the scale with her own fingers, her palm's warmth steady and even. The thing that had felt so alien and dangerous a moment ago lost that chilling strangeness the instant she touched it. Instead, it settled, resting quietly against my skin, leaving behind nothing but a faint, lingering heat.

"Cedric," she said quietly.

"Remember one thing first. Being afraid is normal. But this isn't you losing the part of yourself that's human." Her gaze didn't waver. There wasn't a trace of ambiguity in it.

"This is you being recognized by a dragon." I looked at her, and for a moment found I had nothing to say. Because that sentence, of all things, was far more ruthless than any comfort could have been. She hadn't told me it's nothing, or nothing will really change, or it's only surface-level. She'd told me directly: the change is real, and the cost is real. But that doesn't mean destruction. It means the beginning of being pulled somewhere deeper.

I looked down at the scale once more, and after a long while, finally let out a slow breath.

"Do all of you in the Dragon Kingdom have to explain things in the most terrifying way possible?" Hearing that, she laughed. Faint, but far more like her usual self than the woman who'd first woken up beside me this morning.

"I consider that a fairly gentle explanation."

"You call that gentle?"

"At least I didn't say that if one tiny scale scares you this badly, you'll probably fall to your death off a dragon's back in three days." I stared at her.

"... See. There it is." She finally laughed outright. Short, but enough to wash away most of the chill still sitting in my chest. Somewhere in the middle of that laugh, I felt my own shoulders finally come down. Yes, I was afraid. How could I not be? But fear, however real, wasn't going to stop any of this. From the Port of Isca Apubra onward, I'd been pushed forward, one step at a time, by fire.

Now that I was in the Dragon Kingdom's capital, formally named by the Emperor's own mouth, this road wasn't about to fold back on itself just because my instincts didn't care for it. Once she was satisfied I'd finally stopped staring at the scale as though it might bite back, Ignicia let go of my hand and got up first. The moment her feet touched the floor, her entire presence shifted completely from the woman who'd been leaning against me a minute ago.

She wore nothing but thin morning clothes, and yet the instant her shoulders came back and her spine straightened, the lines of a princess were already there. She walked to the tall window and drew the heavy curtain aside. Daylight poured in, unsparing and complete. Latpan's morning finally revealed its true face. This capital of the Dragon Kingdom wasn't a city that sprawled comfortably across flat ground the way ordinary cities did.

It looked more like a vast aerie some great dragon had driven straight into the meeting point of open sky and sheer cliff-face with its own claws, and simply decided to call home.

Towers of black and dark gold rose in layered tiers; aerial walkways of uneven height linked them together like the vertebrae of a dragon's spine; in the distance stood platforms built specifically for landing dragons, while several dragons of varying colors were already cutting clean arcs through the morning mist along their established routes. The wind finally reached the room.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, watching her stand there against that flood of sky, I felt, for the first time, everything I'd heard in the Twilight Audience Hall the night before finally, truly land. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. This wasn't a human country I was familiar with. It wasn't some quiet border residence where I could wait out the storm for a while. This was her domain.

And starting today, I had to stand out there beside her, in full view of the entire capital.

"Stop staring off into space." She didn't turn around.

"Someone will be bringing clothes shortly."

"That fast?"

"It's not fast." She turned to look at me, her tone as level as someone stating a plain fact.

"Did you think that after my father named you in front of half the inner court in the Twilight Audience Hall last night, the capital was simply going to pretend nothing had happened today?" I said nothing. She was right. There was no chance of that. Ignicia looked at me, as if she already knew exactly where my thoughts had wandered in that instant. But she didn't press further. She only stepped back over, leaned down, and touched her forehead lightly to mine.

"Smooth that expression out, Cedric," she said.

"You'll be standing beside me today." The words weren't heavy. They landed dead center in my chest anyway. Not long after, the inner court attendants arrived with clothes. Not the simple guest attire I'd made do with the night before, but a set clearly prepared for a formal occasion. The fabric was heavier than what I usually wore, dark-based with an almost invisible pattern of deep gold pressed into the weave.

The lines were sharp and clean, with no unnecessary ornamentation anywhere — and precisely because of that, every inch of it carried one unmistakable implication: you are not merely here to meet someone today. The scale on the back of my left hand was still there when I changed. Small, but its placement was glaringly obvious. I tugged my sleeve down a fraction — it would cover it for a moment, but not for long. Ignicia caught the motion and said, without looking away:"Don't hide it."

"I'm just not used to it yet."

"Then start today." She had finished dressing as well. Unlike the ceremonial weight she'd worn at last night's audience — the kind that reminded everyone in the room she was royalty simply by existing — today's outfit looked more like formal morning attire for moving through the capital. Deep red as the base, black-gold at the trim, waist and shoulders cut clean without a trace of slack. She hadn't bothered with much jewelry, just a few minimalist dragon-crest clasps at her collar and behind her ears.

And precisely because there was so little, the pressure radiating from her stood out all the more clearly. As she reached up to fasten the last clasp at her collar, I spoke.

"Ignicia."

"Mm?"

"When we step out there — how is the capital going to look at me?" Her hand paused. Then she looked at me, perfectly calm.

"First, they'll look at who you're walking out with."

"..."

"Then they'll look at exactly where my father has placed you." She came to stand in front of me and straightened my collar — which hadn't been particularly crooked to begin with — her fingertips drifting, in the motion, across the new scale on the back of my hand.

"Afraid of them looking?" I looked at her and managed a slightly helpless smile.

"If I said no, that would be stretching it." She only let out a soft sound through her nose.

"Afraid or not, you're going out there."

"That line, at least, I know very well by now."

"Good." With that, she simply took my hand. Not the closeness of last night, inside the curtains, by the bedside. Not the commanding grip she'd used to haul me onto a dragon's back on the battlefield. She just held my hand. Naturally, as if it were the most ordinary thing in the world. And I could feel it — the instant her palm covered the scale on the back of my hand, something deeper answered from beneath it without a sound. Not heat, exactly, but harder to ignore than heat.

As if something under my skin had been waiting, and had just quietly woken at her knock. She looked up at me.

"Let's go." The moment the door opened, people were already waiting outside. Two rows of inner court attendants and close-guards stood in silence along both sides of the corridor, heads bowed, posture flawless enough that you couldn't fault a single line of it. And it was precisely that flawlessness that made it obvious — this wasn't a routine escort. This was a staged appearance. I followed Ignicia forward. The corridor stretched long ahead, black stone floors catching the morning light in cold, hard gleams.

Through the high windows, distant dragon towers and sky-bridges were visible; the capital's wind cut through the gallery, carrying the thin, clean chill unique to high altitude. All along the way, everyone we passed stopped and bowed. First the maids. Then the court scribes. Then the half-armored guard officers. I could feel eyes landing on me, one after another. Not crude staring — something far more restrained, far more measured, and precisely for that reason, impossible to ignore. They were looking at my face.

At where I stood. At whether I was genuinely walking beside Ignicia, or simply being carried along like some incidental foreign envoy she happened to be bringing with her. More than that, they were checking whether she was letting me stay this close. The answer was obviously clear. Because she never let go of my hand. Passing under the second archway, I even caught several senior lady officials exchanging the briefest of glances after their bows. They said nothing.

But in that instant, I understood — last night's news had already spread through the capital. Or, more precisely, it had never needed to spread at all. Once the Emperor had spoken in the Twilight Audience Hall, and the Princess personally walked me out this morning, all of Latpan would simply work out for itself whatever it needed to work out.

"Head up." Ignicia said it quietly. I did it on reflex. The final set of high doors ahead had already opened. Beyond them wasn't another enclosed hall, but a broad platform extending outward — the open terrace the inner court used for morning assemblies and the handover of orders. Beyond that lay the whole of Latpan, rising tier upon tier. Wind came at us from somewhere piercingly high, snapping banners and trailing cloth into bright, clear sounds.

Below and to either side, a considerable number of people had already gathered — close-guards and inner court officials, but also department stewards, Dragon Court record-keepers, several senior lady officials, and a handful of noble representatives who had clearly been granted tacit permission to witness this. Not a large crowd. But every single person there carried weight enough to matter. As Ignicia led me onto the platform, everyone around it bowed at once. The sight was too orderly. Too silent.

Silent enough that I could hear my own heartbeat with perfect clarity.

"Your Highness." The greetings overlapped, pressing down in layers. Then — the faintest pause. Not disrespect. Everyone was waiting — waiting to see how Ignicia would handle the man standing beside her. She didn't make anyone wait. She didn't let go of my hand, either. She simply led me one step further, to the exact center of the platform, and let the morning light fall directly across us both.

Her red hair, her black-and-gold attire, the presence of a Fire Dragon Princess — and the human she'd had the Emperor personally acknowledge the night before — were placed together, in full view of the capital. Her voice wasn't loud. It was clear enough.

"Rise." Only then did everyone straighten. And as they did — seeing exactly where I stood, seeing that her hand still held mine, seeing the small patch of scale on the back of my left hand catch the morning light with the faintest edge of red-gold — In that instant, I knew. From here on, every soul in the Dragon Kingdom's capital would understand that I was no longer simply someone who had been swept up in the current. I stood in the wind, weight settling in my chest, and I didn't step back.

Ignicia turned her face slightly, speaking in a voice pitched for only me to hear.

"Cedric. Stop looking like you're about to desert your post." I kept my eyes on the sky stretching over all of Latpan and answered, low.

"Do I really look like that?"

"You do."

"... And you still dragged me out here?" The corner of her mouth moved, just barely.

"Because this is where you were always meant to stand." The wind cut through the space between us. I didn't say anything more. I simply stood there — for the first time, truly at her side — in front of the entire capital of the Dragon Kingdom, and let them all see.