Yassim was stunned. So this red-eyed dragon was the War God’s Dragon itself? Moreover, if the Golden Dragon from earlier used to be bigger, he couldn’t even imagine that mountain of scales moving! It was worth ten armies! The old man took a few minutes to rethink everything he had ever learned about the Dragon Empire’s dragons, but he had just learned more in a few minutes than in years of study. Somewhere in his heart, the old Yassim felt incredibly grateful to have lived to this day.

However, he couldn’t just be stunned by the moment and forget his mission... As beautiful and impressive as the wonders of the Dragon Empire were, his heart was solidly chained to the Eastern Kingdom’s fate. Those dragons were a magnificent gift, but a much more important creature was riding one at the moment. He ought to be sure of who he was tying his fate to and perhaps his King’s too.

“Lady Tessa... M-may I ask how come you’re also... speaking as one of the former Emperor’s granddaughters...?”

“My father was one of his sons and Auntie Shareen’s half-brother,” Tessa explained, “but like our other uncles and aunties, my dad abandoned his title as an Imperial Prince after Auntie Shareen took the throne to simplify the succession for Cessi’s big brother. I have no title; I’m merely a relative of the Imperial Family and a merchant’s daughter, although Cessi and I are cousins from both our mothers’ and fathers’ sides.”

The two girls smiled at each other, looking as close as sisters indeed. Yassim was impressed. All of his teaching about the Dragon Empire had shown centuries of bloody fighting between all the previous emperors’ many concubines and children for the succession. For each new ruler, a long trail of blood had to be spilled for him to access the golden throne, his hands dirtied by many of his siblings’ blood. It was no secret that most concubines weren’t afraid to kill to protect their progeny if said progeny didn’t kill their own siblings themselves once they were old enough. Even Empress Shareen’s generation had been the theater of an impressive war between her father’s six sons. Yassim thought he had come prepared, knowing that Empress Shareen had been crowned despite three out of her six brothers still being alive, but now, it turned out this was all a peaceful agreement between the remaining siblings? His scenario of the War God scaring his two younger siblings into obedience was completely wrong! As it turned out, both had willingly forfeited their lineage for their nephew to become the heir apparent? This was truly an amazing Empire!

“Isn’t... His Highness, your father, retaining any desire to return to the Imperial Palace?”

“My dad?” scoffed Tessa. “He’s better off away from it! He only goes once in a while to deliver our aunt her favorite alcohol from our family brewery my mother established, and that’s it!”

Yassim was speechless. A former Imperial Prince was now a family man and an alcohol merchant? How unbelievable!

“Our turn to ask questions!” exclaimed Tessa with a big smile, brushing her flying hair and little braids out of her face. “Tell us about your King that wants to marry Cessi. How is he? You said he’s young, isn’t he!”

Yassim’s expression fell before he could remember to control it, so he bowed as much as he could while riding a flying mount to hide his face.

“Yes, my lady. King Ashen the White is young, but an admirable, young king. Our Kingdom has suffered many difficult years...”

“Your Kingdom used to be a Republic, didn’t it?” scoffed Tessa. “We were taught about your civil wars too. You guys fell for one tyrant after another, and you called us barbaric because we are an empire.”

“T-Tessa...” muttered Cessilia, pulling her cousin’s sleeve.

“It’s true, my ladies,” sighed Yassim. “Our system was failing long before we sought war with the Dragon Empire; that is the truth. The gap between our poor citizens and the rich elites brought the Goddess of War upon our nation... Our once-wise leaders were no better than an assembly of greedy people back then, seeking to put the blame for failure on each other, with only a handful daring to take responsibility and find better solutions. And those who did were quickly blamed for any new failure to bring back the equilibrium and killed as an example until no one dared to speak anymore.”

“...Was there n-no leader to m-make a d-... decision?” asked Cessilia.

“There were leaders, my lady, but most were too worried about protecting themselves from our angry people to dare speak up and act! The issue with our former Republic was that once a leader stood out, he didn’t have enough power to carry his actions efficiently. Thus, all the good men who could have brought change found themselves powerless and were considered failures instead of given the support they needed!”

“But you still managed to decide to go to war with our Empire twenty years ago,” said Tessa.

“Yes, my lady. A lot of those leaders were... blinded by the promise of treasures and better days. Many of our famished citizens enrolled in that war hoping to get money to send to their families.”

Yassim sighed, and shook his head.

“Once we lost the war and the army returned, utterly defeated, anger rose once again, and our Republic fell into the hands of the Goddess of Chaos. Our infuriated citizens attacked the noble houses to steal what they could, good citizens became bandits overnight, and no power was strong enough to stop the chaos. The... Goddess of Chaos kept her power over our lands for ten years like this, whilst many tried to stop the madness.”

“Ten years...” grumbled Tessa.

“That’s right, my lady. For ten years, our nation slowly fell into chaos. The fights stopped at times, everyone trying to find what they could of a normal life, hoping a new leader would emerge soon to bring back the peace, but... for many, the anger was too strong. The nobles who tried to seize power were overthrown one after the other by citizens who couldn’t stand to see their former masters wield the power again. Until, twelve years ago, a man who could finally lead us rose. He declared himself the new King, former General Ashtoran.”

“Ashtoran...?”

“General Ashtoran was no noble like the previous men who had tried to conquer our land. He had once been one of the nobles’ servants and had risen through hard work and devotion to his position. Hence, our citizens liked this man much better than the previous nobles, and when he took power, no one tried to stop him.”

“To stop him?” repeated Tessa, frowning. “You make it sound like this General wasn’t such good news...”

Yassim shook his head slowly.

“...To this day, this old servant still believes the price for bringing back peace was too costly. The General gathered many of those who had once been his men and created a new army with his own colors.”

“You’re saying he stopped the chaos through more violence, then.”

“...Yes, my lady. The new King’s rule was cruel, ruthless, and terrified our citizens into obedience. However, this new regime worked to stop a lot of the bandits who were constantly harassing the defenseless, so slowly, our people abided by it, fearing our new King as much as those he protected them from.”

Yassim glanced toward the green-eyed Princess. She was obviously listening with a hint of sadness in her eyes, but in silence. Was it because of her speech impairment that this Princess was much quieter than her cousin? He could see in her eyes she was very captivated, though, as if she were listening to a fascinating story, breathing a bit more intensely... The old man resumed, his old heart still with the hope that this young woman could one day shift the fate of their Kingdom too.

“The... harsh policies of King Ashtoran brought him to more and more extreme ends. The image our new King had was extremely conflicted. Some saw him as a tyrant... others as a hero. Out of fear that civil wars and in-fighting would destroy our nation from within again, the new King let absolutely no mistake slip through. Some were grateful for how efficient his policies were at cleaning our streets, but others... tried to plead that the King was far too merciless. Any crime resulted in a death sentence, even the smallest thefts. As one of his servants myself, I witnessed the long, long lines of people being given their death sentence, every day. It didn’t matter the age, gender, or wealth of the ones who had been accused of being criminals. King Ashtoran’s men were judge, jury, and executioner, leaving no time for people to get back on their feet on their own. Many people only had the choice to starve or be killed as a thief...”

“That’s depressing,” grumbled Tessa. “...Alright, we get the picture, but how did that change from the General to your present King? You said the new one rose to power only five years ago. Is he his son or something? We’re certainly not going if he’s another blood-thirsty tyrant.”

“King Ashen is the General’s son indeed,” Yassim slowly nodded, “but unlike what you think, our King didn’t succeed his father. A few years later in the General’s reign, more and more people, seeing he couldn’t be reasoned with and had no intention to bring back the democracy or republic system, tried to murder him. It was said... that one of his sons, Prince Ashen, was one of the victims of those murder attempts.”

The two young women exchanged a glance.

“Wait. You’re saying your King... died? Is this a joke?”

“No, my lady. Rumor has it that Prince Ashen died seven years ago. After his death, the King got even more ruthless... and with more people protesting against him, new civil wars began, even worse than the first time. Our nation was torn between the security provided by a tyrant leader and our desire for peace and freedom. However, everything stopped five years ago upon Prince Ashen’s return.”

“He returned? From... the dead?” said Tessa, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, my lady. The Prince came back, out of nowhere, after two years. He was the General’s mistress’ son and, if I’m allowed to say such a thing, the only one of the General’s sons our people had sympathy for or didn’t care about at all. Yet, he returned from the dead, his hair white like the Goddess of Death, and killed the General, his own father.”

“He... did what?”

Yassim took a deep breath.

“That is the truth, my lady. After many fights had happened already, at dawn, a White King rose, on the castle’s walls, holding the tyrant’s head, and threw it to the angry citizens’ feet. That White King was the former Prince Ashen, as many recognized him easily. That morning, he spoke loudly and said he had been sent to the gods, but the gods had only taken him to their realm for the sake of the Eastern Kingdom’s people. The gods themselves had trained him to become a worthy king for our Kingdom. As proof, the gods had sent him back with his hair completely white, a legendary armor made of a dragon’s skin, and the strength of a god.”

The cousins exchanged a glance, both visibly surprised and doubtful.

“...Well, congrats,” scoffed Tessa. “It sounds like you guys traded a tyrant for a psycho.”

Despite the young woman’s harsh words, Yassim couldn’t even answer anything to that. In a way, he knew his home nation had traded the worst possible outcome for another, not much brighter one. Better than anyone else perhaps, he knew how complicated and deep the situation was for the King of the East. The white-haired young man had returned, grown and much more mature than the child everyone had remembered, with a gigantic, dark hole in his heart, and that rage that wouldn’t leave his eyes. The truth was, perhaps the new King would end up being worse than his father. In a desperate desire for another leader and a different outcome, perhaps they had sealed their fate...

Yet, when Yassim looked ahead at the young green-eyed woman, a light of hope appeared in his old heart. He had come here on a crazy bet, a silly idea. As old as he was, Yassim wasn’t scared to die, if not in vain or painfully. However, this old man wouldn’t be able to lie peacefully if he couldn’t try, one last time, to do something for his country. It was too soon to tell the truth to the Princess, and he knew he’d pay the price later. But, if by an incredible chance, his assumption turned out to be right, this old servant would be truly grateful he hadn’t made this journey in vain...

“What’s your relationship to the King?” asked Tessa. “He only sent one man to the Dragon Empire to fetch him a wife, isn’t that too few?”

Yassim bowed as much as he could, while trying not to fall off.

“His Highness charged this mission to this servant alone, my lady. While the previous King was still alive, I was tasked with the education of the young Prince, and I taught him all I could, to the best of my abilities. I watched over this young man for many years, and I believe I am one of his closest aides. Our King is young, and due to the chaotic past of our nation, he still has many, many enemies. I am sad to admit, the people our King can truly trust are too few.”

“A real nest of snakes, then... So, he sent you here almost on a secret mission, then?”

“No one else knows I was sent here,” admitted Yassim.