Evil dragon has a warm heart
Chapter 212 - 212 211 Packing

Chapter 212: Chapter 211 Packing Chapter 212: Chapter 211 Packing “Your Highness.”

Russell bowed fifteen degrees, curtsying with the utmost gentlemanly grace to Princess Kunlaya, who resembled a little fairy.

While the title of Duke Yanyan was just a grand ducal one, a rank below that of the king, the Shadowflame Grand Duchy was an independent grand duchy without a suzerain state. Naturally, the daughters or sisters of the duke were all addressed as princesses.

“Who are you?” Princess Kunlaya asked curiously, finding such a handsome noble rather rare.

Among the young nobles who frequently walked in Red Castle, few were as strikingly handsome, and he wasn’t far behind her own brother either.

“My name is Russell Fluorescent Fungus, a lord from the Glowing Valley,” Russell introduced himself.

Roland immediately rushed to say, “Your Highness, he is my brother. He just came of age this year, and I brought him here to see the world.”

After the introduction.

Grand Duke Kunstan then said, “Enough, Kunlaya, you’ve seen for yourself. Your brother has guests to attend to, so I won’t be joining you and mother for dinner. Go back and keep your mother company at dinner, don’t make her worry.”

“Oh, all right, brother,” Princess Kunlaya nodded. She left the small estate escorted by the servants.

Russell watched as Princess Kunlaya’s figure disappeared around the corner, feeling an inexplicable sense of loss.

Roland seemed to understand what he was thinking.

He put his arm around Russell’s shoulder and, while leading him to the guest hall of the small building, whispered, “The duke doesn’t like to see people coveting his sister. Keep your eyes in check, lad, come on, let’s go in for dinner.”

Compared to the palaces within the inner fortress, the estate’s small building might be much more modest, but its interior decorations were incredibly luxurious, with precious gemstone lighting fixtures adorning every corner.

Even at night, the place was as bright as day.

The lavishness of dinner likewise redefined Russell’s understanding, as dozens of valuable dishes crowded the table.

And most of them were magic food.

“Your Highness, I won’t hold back,” Russell called out and then ignored the fancy noble demeanor, devouring the food like a whirlwind.

Roland looked down on Russell with disdain and sheepishly smiled at Grand Duke Kunstan, “Russell’s talent isn’t really there; he can’t help but see magic food. He doesn’t mean to be rude in front of Your Highness.”

“Ha ha,” laughed Grand Duke Kunstan.

A flicker of superiority and contempt in his eyes, he chewed slowly and said, “Russell, slow down. There’s a lot of magic food; no one is going to fight you for it. You’ll have enough to eat your fill.”

“Thank you, Your Highness,” Russell said with a smile, lifting his head.

He was quite pragmatic himself and wouldn’t pass up these costly magic foods for the sake of noble manners.

Eating them was the real deal.

After a thought, he lifted his head again and asked, “Your Highness, may I take leftovers away in a package?”

At these words, Roland immediately scolded, “Russell, mind your status; you are a noble. Stop being discourteous in front of His Highness.”

“No need to be nervous, Roland,” Grand Duke Kunstan laughed heartily, “You can take it away, Russell. The leftover dishes, I will have the servants pack them up for you to take home and eat at your leisure; there’s no need to hurry.”

“Thank you, Your Highness.” Hearing that he could take leftovers, Russell now could eat without wolfing down his food.

He joined Roland in accompanying Grand Duke Kunstan, eating and talking together. As young men, they couldn’t help but sooner start discussing grand plans.

“This year, opening up the serf trade, each of our territories can be strengthened. I hope next year we can launch a major cleanup,” said Grand Duke Kunstan spiritedly, “Our borders have been shrinking over these past few years; it’s time for expansion!”

“Exactly, we must expand, to stop the decline of recent years!” Roland immediately responded loudly.

Russell nodded along.

However, he was actually pondering the future development of the Shadowflame Grand Duchy through the conversation between Grand Duke Kunstan and Roland.

Clearly, during the twenty-year governance period of the Council of Elders, the Grand Duchy opted for recuperation and expansion, while the Shadowflame Great Dragon was also slumbering to heal its wounds, leading to many territories languishing and a continuous shrinkage of borders. This aroused the dissatisfaction of Grand Duke Kunstan.

He decided that, in the near future, there should be a major battle to sweep away the Snow Demons and Snow Ghosts, compressing the spatial influence of the Snow Demons and thereby expanding the warm territories.

The more warm territories there were, the more feedback the Shadowflame Great Dragon would receive, which could accelerate the healing of its injuries.

Moreover, Russell keenly sensed that Grand Duke Kunstan’s eagerness to launch a war was probably also in order to win the approval of the Shadowflame Great Dragon.

“He still dreams of riding a great dragon!”

As Russell chewed on a piece of bred primordial beast meat, he watched Grand Duke Kunstan and Roland, his lord and liege, singing praises for each other, and quietly thought to himself.

“To expand our territories, we could always use more Flying Dragon Knights,” Grand Duke Kunstan’s gaze fell upon the seemingly invisible young man at the table. “Russell, if you get the chance to ride Medikalun, you must seize it. I can talk to Count Merlin and deal with the resistance on your behalf.”

“Thank you, Your Highness. If I truly get the chance, I definitely won’t miss it.”

“Very good,” Grand Duke Kunstan smiled with satisfaction. “Roland, the same goes for you. You must put more effort into wooing Mr. Ross. We cannot waste the power of the bipedal flying dragons. With every additional Flying Dragon Knight in the Grand Duchy, we can expand further into the warm lands!”

“Rest assured, Your Highness, I will strive to gain Mr. Ross’s approval as soon as possible, and help you expand and cultivate new lands at the earliest opportunity!”

“I trust you,” said Grand Duke Kunstan raising his wine glass. “Come, the two of you brothers, drink with me!”

“To victory!”

“To victory!”

Half an hour later, Russell and Roland left the manor house slightly tipsy.

On the road, the two brothers began to circulate their Battle Qi to dispel the effects of the alcohol, feeling refreshed once again. The cool night breeze then invigorated their spirits.

“You really disgraced yourself today, bringing shame to our family, Russell!” On the road, Roland couldn’t help but explode in anger.

“What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?” Roland pointed at the large bag of food Russell carried. “Does our family really lack so much magic power food that you had to take leftovers from the Duke’s banquet?”

“Big brother, preventing food waste should start with us,” Russell replied. “Moreover, the tradition of taking leftovers has been long established, and I’m not the only one doing it.”

At nobility banquets, there were two ways to deal with leftover food.

One was to bestow it upon the servants, and the other was to let guests take it home, as all the food was made from high-quality ingredients.

“And who else takes leftovers? Nothing but minor nobles and the fallen ones!” Roland yelled.

Russell glanced at Roland. “So do you think I’m a major noble or a minor noble? If you are willing to give up the inheritance of Baron Youguang, I actually wouldn’t mind being a major noble and inheriting the Glowing Valley Territory.”

“Uh…” Roland was suddenly at a loss for words.

Given his origins, Russell would indeed appear to be a major noble, as the Fluorescent Fungi Family was one of the five baronial families of the Shadowflame Duchy.

But in reality, Russell was only a second son in the family and had already been granted the rank of a Lord.

With hundreds of Lords in the entire Shadowflame Duchy, clearly, the title of Lord did not meet the threshold of a major noble.

Disdainfully glancing at the food Russell was holding, Roland decisively changed the subject. “Lord Medikalun from our maternal grandfather’s family, do you really have a chance to ride him?”

“I don’t know. Grandfather and cousin Mel might be willing to give me a chance at a contract, but my aunt clearly looks down on our family, and Lord Medikalun was her dowry… Who knows? Maybe we’ll have to wait until cousin Mel takes charge of the household.”

“Ha, isn’t that waiting for fifty years?” Roland laughed, but quickly realized it was inappropriate to do so.

He then continued with a straight face, “Regardless, the Duke hopes you can ride a dragon, so you should set that as your goal and work towards wooing Lord Medikalun.”

The implication was clear.

Wooing Lord Medikalun might be acceptable, but wooing Mr. Ross from their own family was not.