Dragon Poor

It was too quiet beyond the tightly closed door. Whether it was screaming or moaning, none of the sounds that should be heard during a childbirth could be heard. Fearing that the monarch’s dignity might take a hit if the sounds leaked outside, the Imperial Family’s mages had prevented it in advance. 

But because of that, Kim Seon-Hyeok felt like he was going crazy. He wanted to immediately open the tightly closed door and run in. However, he remembered what Ophelia had said with a pale and weary face.

“Grand Duke, I do not want you to see me like that.”

She bit her lips until they bled, but she didn’t want to show him such a frazzled appearance. He was a bit hurt by her unwillingness, but what could he do? She was born from a monarch, and raised with a monarch’s disposition. There was nothing he could do about it now. 

“Why’s it taking so long?”

He stood impatiently in front of the door for a long time. The sun had glimmered at the bottom of the window sill, but now, it was in the middle of the sky

Clack.

As if struck by lightning, Kim Seon-Hyeok startled at the sound of the door and raised his head.

An old matron appeared through the open door. She carefully closed the door again, then bowed impeccably to the Empress’ spouse.

“You have waited a long time, sir.”

His heart was pounding. He was going insane; he wanted to hear what the matron would say, but at the same time, he didn’t. 

“It’s a healthy prince, sir.”

His legs buckled as they monetarily lost their strength.

“Your Grace.”

If a knight from the Imperial Knights hadn’t stepped forward and supported him, the world might’ve seen the Indomitable Grand Duke slumped on the floor. 

“What, what about Her Imperial Majesty…”

When he managed to come to his senses and ask, the matron slowly smiled.

“Her Imperial Majesty is fine, sir.”

Without realizing it, Kim Seon-Hyeok closed his eyes tightly. He felt his closed eyes heating up and his hands and legs trembled. An indescribable emotion swelled in his chest.

“I must see her.”

Dazed, he headed towards the door, but the matron blocked his path.

“Why….?”

“Her Imperial Majesty has been through a lot and so, her appearance is not the same as usual. Please be understanding and give her a bit of time so she can tidy herself up a bit, sir.”

He came back to his senses after the matron spoke and took a step back.

“I will wait.”

“On behalf of Her Imperial Majesty, I thank you for your consideration, Your Grace.”

The matron vanished through the door and silence descended again. But compared to the heavy and uncomfortable silence from before, the current silence could be described as refreshing. 

The brief time Ophelia took to clean up from her disheveled appearance felt like an eternity to him. It seemed like the tightly closed door would never open again.

However, the door that didn’t look like it would ever open eventually opened.

“Her Imperial Majesty is waiting, Your Grace.”

The matron spoke more calmly than before; Kim Seon-Hyeok ran into the room at those words.

Inside that room was Ophelia, someone he had been longing to see for a while now. 

Sitting up halfway, Ophelia’s face was so full of fatigue that it couldn’t be covered by her beautifully done makeup. In spite of her circumstances, her beautifully curved eyes and her gently raised lip corners showed that she was very happy.

“Ah…”

After seeing that peaceful appearance, Kim Seon-Hyeok felt like he was being compensated for the half a day he had spent anxiously waiting outside. 

Thank you. Thank you. 

He didn’t know who he was thanking, but he repeated it ten times, twenty times.

“Please, come inside…”

The matron led the foolish man, who stood in the doorway without entering, inside.

“Why are you making that face?”

Looking at him, Ophelia spoke up when her husband remained standing slumped over.

Startled by her words, he patted his face. He could feel that his face was contorted. He tried to forcefully pull his face muscles into a smile, but it didn’t work. He barely smoothed his face before it quickly wrinkled and twitched.

“You are the Indomitable Grand Duke. Why are you making faces like that?”

“I’m… I’m…”

Ophelia smiled softly as she looked at him mumbling over and over again, unable to speak through the lump in his throat.

“I know. I know how worried the thoughtful and affectionate Grand Duke must’ve been. But look. I’m fine.”

Ophelia was the one who should be comforted and congratulated, but he was the one stupidly receiving comfort instead. But his heart didn’t settle down and his confused brain couldn’t be calmed either. 

“What a relief. I’m so happy.”

When he finally spoke, even he thought the words he came up with were rather dumb.

Nevertheless, she didn’t criticize her silly husband. Instead, she smiled even more gently at him as she softly comforted him. 

Wiggle wiggle.

Kim Seon-Hyeok had been staring at her quietly, but now, he froze. He had finally realized that she was holding something unfamiliar wrapped in a golden baby quilt.

“It’s our child.”

When she saw where he was looking, she gently held out her arms and showed him the baby. The newborn child was desperately burying his face into his mother’s arms, seeking milk.

For some reason, Kim Seon-Hyeok couldn’t look at the child properly. No matter what enemy he encountered, he had never lost his boldness or courage. But now, his eyes shook as if an earthquake had occurred and his gaze remained focused on the wrong things - everything but the child.

“Grand Duke.”

After looking at him quietly, Ophelia spoke. 

“Nothing you worried about happened.”

Almost as if she knew why he was acting so strangely, her voice held only warmth and no reproach. 

“The child looks completely human. There is nothing about him that is different from humans.”

When Ophelia answered his innermost thoughts, he stared at her with wide eyes.  

“Did you think I wouldn’t know? I knew right from the start that you were very concerned about your scales and the dragon’s blood in your blood.”

It was just as she said.

After he had become the Dragonian Knight, scales had sprouted from his body and his eyes resembled those of a dragon’s. All those changes caused him to wonder whether he was no longer a human. And that concern led to him being worried about the child that was to be born, he had been terribly worried that something bad would happen to the child because of the changes that occurred in his body.  

That was why he couldn’t look properly at the child she was holding out to him. He didn’t think he could stand if he saw such a wretched thing stuck to his child’s body.

Thankfully, his worries were unfounded.

“The child is an ordinary human.”

Only then was Kim Seon-Hyeok able to look directly at the child wrapped in the quilt. 

“Look. He looks just like you, Grand Duke, very handsome.”

He didn’t answer. But she didn’t rush him for an answer either. It was clear that he was moved and very happy based on the emotions that rushed across the face that had previously been contorted. His expression was enough.  

“Victorius, Victorius…”

He stared at the child in a daze as he repeated the child’s name several times. 

Kim Seon-Hyeok didn’t leave Ophelia and the child’s side. Afraid that something might happen to her, he didn’t dare take his eyes off her, and he sat beside his child all day, watching him sleep.

It was to the point that even the maids who attended to the Empress were astonished by his sincerity. 

“Look! Victorius can hear my voice and is looking at me!

“The child cannot hear anything and hasn’t opened his eyes yet.”

Ophelia explained it to him several times, but he was stubborn. He was moved by Victorius’ every gesture and gave significance to all of them. He even went around bragging about Victorius to the maids like an idiot.  

And each time, the maids smiled awkwardly as they escaped. He was bragging about a child who hadn’t even opened his eyes as if the child was a genius. What kind of answer could they give him?

“Keep your dignity, Grand Duke.”

When Ophelia finally couldn’t stand it anymore, she came forward and stopped him. Only then did Kim Seon-Hyeok stop endlessly boasting about his child. 

Of course, that didn’t mean he stopped making a big deal out of it. He just stopped causing a fuss in front of the maids. 

“Ah, life’s good.”

Had he ever felt so at peace like this after falling into this world? He felt a completeness he had never felt on the battlefield. 

Kim Seon-Hyeok prayed that he would be able to enjoy this kind of peace forever. 

‘As of today, all the kingdoms in the Central region declare to cease hostilities.’

‘The Central region kingdoms ask the Eastern Kingdoms Alliance to stop the indiscriminate attacks. Central region’s negotiating delegation is heading towards the Imperial Capital for this purpose.’

When he first heard that the Central region’s war ended dramatically, he believed that was possible. However, it wasn’t. 

‘Everyone knows that a new Demon King has appeared in the Holy Kingdom, so when I heard the news, I set up an expedition and left to overthrow the Demon King. But what I saw with my own eyes was several times more terrifying than what I had heard before. I could not take even a single step into the Holy Kingdom.’

A message with the Warrior’s name written on it shattered Kim Seon-Hyeok’s peaceful life. 

‘The Holy Kingdom has gone beyond the domain of the Demon King and became the Demon Realm. This is a calamity that cannot be compared to the disaster in the West. If we do not purify the earth where the Demonization has occurred, then ten Demon Kings, one hundred Demon Kings will arrive on this continent.’

‘I, the Warrior, Park Joon-Min confirmed the fact that only myself and the central kingdoms will not be able to prevent the calamity that has occurred in Astoria from spreading throughout the continent. I ask for help from all the rulers and superhumans of the Central and Eastern region.’

Kim Seon-Hyeok could not imagine what kind of calamity it was that the Warrior, who had always been so confident, had given up taking a step forward and was asking for help. 

“This is the newly developed video recorder. It was developed at the suggestion of Viscount Lee Eun-Seo, an advanced mage, but it was used for the first time in the central region.”

After Adenburg laid the foundations for an Empire, the laws that severely restricted the foreigner’s culture were abolished. It seemed like the video recorder had also been developed at that time.

“To tell you about this recorder…”

“It’ll record a scene and show you.”

Inappropriate for the situation, the mage was overly excited about the recording tool and was trying to explain it, but was stunned by Kim Seon-Hyeok’s words. Kim Seon-Hyeok wasn’t relaxed enough to satisfy the vanity of the mage. 

“It’s nothing special to me, so demonstrate it to me immediately without explanation.”

“Hmph. I will do as ordered, sir.”

For a moment, the mage seemed discontent, but he didn’t dare disobey the Grand Duke’s orders.

Pah. 

Immediately after the video recorder started, a hologram-like image appeared in front of their eyes and a loud scream pierced their ears.

[Stop him! Don’t let him cross the line of defense!]

[Knights! Where are the knights?! What are they doing?! Isn’t the western defense line about to break?!]

[The Knights are currently on the frontline, sir! We don’t have anyone else!]

[Damn it! Then what about the mages?! Are they going to finish the preparations only after we’re all dead?!]

The scene shown through the recorder was Hell.

They saw countless monsters pouring out of the pitch-black darkness. And what seemed like central soldiers trying to block them as they continued the battle desperately.

The battlefield was splattered with blood and flesh, but oddly enough, not a single body was seen.

Soon, Kim Seon-Hyeok found out the reason.