My throat went dry.
A legacy?
What is up with this sudden change of tone? This is protagonist-type shit. And what is he saying about getting crushed under its weight? Is it really that big?
Another secret. Another disaster. I am not the hero, and yet every complicated thing imaginable is happening to me. At this rate, I'd die from plot before my illness.
Alvis set the teacup down, and continued the conversation.
"You speak of terminal illness as if it were a natural rot. It isn't. Your mother didn't just 'enter' this palace; she was the price of a ceasefire that we are all still paying for. You aren't dying because your body is weak, Rio. You're dying because the Dragon blood in your body is actively trying to digest the Demon blood in you."
He leaned in placing his elbows on the table, his shadow stretching over me.
"If I give you these answers, you lose the comfort of being a 'mistake.' You become a target that even Father can no longer ignore. Are you ready to stop being a dying prince and start being a living liability?"
"I'm already a liability," I rasped, forcing myself to meet his icy stare. "I'd rather know why I'm being hunted than die wondering who pulled the trigger."
Alvis's smile returned, but it was thin and sharp. "Fair enough. Then let us talk about the 'Demon-Dragon Accord' and the woman who broke it just to ensure you were born. I will tell you everything I know. Because, whether you live or die… your existence is too interesting to ignore.""
He leaned back, his fingers interlacing as he stared through me, as if looking at a ghost from long time ago. The atmosphere in the solar felt like it was thickening, as if the very air was becoming ink, ready to write a history I wasn't sure I wanted to read.
He is gonna start. He is gonna tell the flashback now.
"To understand your mother," Alvis began, his voice dropping into a low, rhythmic cadence, "you must understand that the Aragon family didn't become the masters of this continent through diplomacy. We are Dragons. We take. But twenty years ago, Father met a wall he couldn't break: the Demon Realm."
I listened, my heart hammering against my ribs.
That overpowered and majestic entity had a wall he couldn't climb? Now, that is interesting.
"Long ago," Alvis began, "the war between the Dragon Clans and the Demon Realms wasn't just a conflict over borders. It was a war of extinction."
He traced the rim of his teacup with a manicured finger.
"But twenty years ago, the War of the Severed Heavens didn't end because of a victory,"
Alvis continued, "It ended because of an Accord. The Dragons held the sky, and the Demons held the abyss. Neither could extinguish the other without burning the world to a cinder."
He paused, a flicker of something—disgust or perhaps admiration—crossing his features.
"So, a pact was struck: total isolation. No crossing borders. No mingling of blood. But treaties are only as strong as the desires of those who sign them."
He looked directly at me, his sapphire eyes flashing with a spark of something that looked dangerously like pity.
"Your mother was the daughter of the former Demon Archduke. She didn't just 'enter' this palace, Rio. she was smuggled in as a political trophy after a skirmish that nearly restarted the war. Father was supposed to execute her to prove his loyalty to the Accord. Instead, he kept her. And then, he did the unthinkable."
I felt a cold sweat break out. This was exactly the kind of forbidden-romance-turned-tragedy plot that usually ends with a scorched-earth policy.
"He loved her?" I whispered, the word feeling foreign in this house of monsters.
Alvis let out a short, dry bark of a laugh. "Love? Father is a Dragon, Rio. He doesn't love; he 'possesses'. He kept her as a secret spite against the Demon Realm. But she was smarter. She knew that a half-breed child would be the ultimate middle finger to both races—a living violation of the Accord. She used her own life force to stabilize your birth, knowing that the moment she died, the treaty would be technically broken. You aren't just a mistake, Rio. You are the physical evidence of the Aragon family's treason against the world's laws."
[ LORE UNLOCKED: The Sin of the Aragon King ]
[ MAIN PLOT PROGRESS: 2% -> 8% ]
'Sin of the Aragon King?'
The screen in front of me appeared. But what is this? Plot progress 8%? I just wanted to know a little about myself. Even gaining knowledge speed up the plot progression?
"Hah!"
I let out a heavy sigh without thinking about Alvis.
"Are you feeling the weight?" Alvis stood up from the chair and turned around, "Why do you think father left you alive? When he knew you can become the ultimate enemy he would ever have?"
Slowly, he began to walk toward the door, "I can only tell you this much. If you wish to know more than you can go the librarian of the Divine Library. I think you will be able to remove any confusion once you meet him."
Librarian of the Divine Library?
"Oh, and Rio..."
Before exiting the room, Alvis opened his mouth one last time, "The librarian you're about to meet…"
"…was there when your mother died."