Evil dragon has a warm heart
Chapter 454 - 454 453 Welcoming the Dragon Knight

Chapter 454: Chapter 453: Welcoming the Dragon Knight Chapter 454: Chapter 453: Welcoming the Dragon Knight The King of the Scorching Torrent Kingdom, the great Dragon Knight Ares·Sundazzle, had personally visited the Shadowflame Grand Duchy.

This undoubtedly alarmed the entire Red Castle and Furious Wind City.

The Council of Elders quickly convened a meeting and decided to welcome King Ares with the highest ceremonial honors. Red Castle, Furious Wind City, and all the estates surrounding the Shadowflame Volcano were to hold grand welcoming ceremonies.

“Regent Lady, please, as the head of the Flamecrest Dragonblood Family, personally lead the nobles to receive King Ares,” Chief Steward Lord Kunbei entered the Inner Fort of Red Castle and saw Princess Anxia, the Regent Lady.

The selection of the heir had not yet concluded.

Now, Princess Anxia and Princess Kunlaya were still the legitimate representatives of the Flamecrest Dragonblood Family and naturally had to welcome the King in person as hosts.

Moreover, Princess Anxia was the biological daughter of King Ares.

“Tell Count Merlin, I will,” the voice of Princess Anxia was neither joyful nor sorrowful, but inside, a storm had already begun.

Dead memories surged like a tide.

They dragged her into suffocating recollections. Waiting for Lord Kunbei to leave, her complexion suddenly turned pale.

Her lips turned black, and she broke out in a cold sweat.

“Mother, what’s wrong?” Princess Kunlaya quickly supported Princess Anxia. “Are you afraid of Grandfather’s arrival?”

The almost thirteen-year-old Princess Kunlaya had grown into a graceful figure.

After training in martial arts for years, she no longer wore her favorite dresses from her childhood; she wore the uniform of a Knight for practice daily.

Princess Anxia wanted to deny it.

But her body revealed her fear of King Ares everywhere.

In her memories, this Dragon Knight father would hold her and tell stories when she was little, tall and kind, but as she grew up, he coldly married her off to a fool, deaf to her cries for mercy.

Even the mistakes she made when young were met with cold, calculating cruelty at every turn.

After she struggled to raise her son, this Dragon Knight father never showed any warmth, intent only on swallowing up the Shadowflame Grand Duchy.

“I’m not afraid of him,” said Princess Anxia, trembling, uttering words she didn’t believe herself.

Princess Kunlaya held on tightly to her mother’s delicate body. The once naive look in her eyes had now turned firm, “Mother, you don’t have to be afraid of Grandfather; I will face him with you. I will support you!”

“Good child!” Princess Anxia embraced Princess Kunlaya, her fearful expression gradually calming, “With you by my side, Mother isn’t afraid!”

A smile appeared on Princess Kunlaya’s face; she could now help her mother.

But the still young Princess did not perceive the fear in Princess Anxia’s eyes, nor did she know her mother’s deep worries.

“If… Kunlaya, if your grandfather decides to take you away from Mother, who could stop him?” Princess Anxia wept within, “He… has always been searching within the kingdom for a suitable young noble…”

Alone and widowed.

If the heir election decided a new Grand Duke, their status as the Flamecrest Dragonblood Family would also end, and they would have no choice but to return to the Scorching Torrent Kingdom.

Suddenly.

Princess Anxia’s mind conjured a young figure: “Russell… Can Russell really save us? Is he truly the choice of the Shadowflame Dragon, and would the Shadowflame Dragon truly wish to help us?”

Everything was too uncertain.

She quickly thought of Golden Top Castle. After Baron Davis’s death, Roby had to take her daughter Diana back to her parental home.

“She is still Russell’s real aunt, yet she ended up in such a plight… It shows that men are unreliable!” thought Princess Anxia.

Her father was cold and unreliable; her husband was innately dull and unreliable; her son died in his arrogance, also unreliable… The three men closest to her were unreliable; how could Russell, an outsider, be reliable?

“Mother, what are you thinking about?” Princess Kunlaya’s voice pulled Princess Anxia from her self-pity.

Wiping the tears from the corner of her eyes, Princess Anxia spoke gently, “Kunlaya, I heard that Baron Phoenixbird, Willem Ginnari, from that kingdom has taken Russell as his mentor, seeking the chance to become a Dragon Domain Lord.”

“I’ve heard,” nodded Princess Kunlaya.

“Why don’t you also take Russell as your mentor and learn the art of martial arts from him? Perhaps one day you might ride a Bipedal Flying Dragon.” Perhaps Russell was unreliable, but if Kunlaya learned Russell’s Way of the Knight, she could rely on herself.

Now, all Princess Anxia could depend on was her daughter.

Princess Kunlaya could not understand her mother’s choice and simply nodded in response, “Yes, when Russell arrives, I will ask him to be my mentor and learn seriously!”

“Good child!”

…

“Is the Dragon Knight coming?” Russell had been staying at Red Castle these days, residing in his cousin Mel’s separate small castle.

He heard that King Ares was riding a Fiery Dragon.

A touch of excitement inevitably rose in his heart: “Polly, we will soon meet a real Dragon Knight.”

“Yes, a real Dragon Knight,” Polly responded.

“With the protection of the Shadowflame Dragon, the subtle scent of Ice Cream should go unnoticed by the Dragon Knight,” Russell said, “This way, I can also experience the formidable aura of the Dragon Knight up close… That will be me in the future.”

The Shadowflame Dragon had Knights in past years, so it was well aware of the power of Dragon Knights and naturally confident in concealing Little Dream Dragon’s scent.

“But I think, Russell, you will be stronger than King Ares in the future,” Polly said. “Ice cream isn’t just any Elemental Giant Dragon, it’s the Master of Dreamscape, perhaps stronger than all the Elemental Giant Dragons.”

“That makes sense!” Russell nodded.

He then stretched lazily: “Let us have a king-to-king meeting tomorrow.”

The next day, the skies above Red Castle were colorful with banners, and Bipedal Flying Dragons circled back and forth, while the Flying Dragon Knights had already arrived at Shadowflame Volcano.

The volcano is the home of dragons; naturally, when a dragon visits another dragon, they meet at the crater of the volcano.

Russell, riding the Black Oil Dragon Ross, ascended to the crater of Shadowflame Volcano and greeted the other Flying Dragon Knights.

“Father,” he said, seeing Baron Roman riding a dragon flying in.

In a gesture of respect for King Ares, the Shadow Guard had already informed all the Flying Dragon Knights to come to Shadowflame Volcano to welcome the Dragon Knight.

“Russell,” Baron Roman came over, “It’s quite lively today.”

“After all, it’s the visit of a Dragon Knight. Actually, this is my first time seeing a Dragon Knight,” Russell said.

“I had seen one when I was young,” Baron Roman reminisced.

Back then, the former Grand Duke of Shadowflame Grand Duchy, Quentin III Shadowflame, was in his vigorous prime, inspiring all the young Knights of the Grand Duchy. Naturally, Baron Roman idolized Quentin III.

Under Quentin’s leadership, the Grand Duchy of Shadowflame thrived and even managed to interact with Scorching Torrent Kingdom on equal footing.

Today, however, they depended on the mercy of King Ares.

Thinking of this, Baron Roman momentarily lost the mood for conversation, patted Russell on the shoulder, and waited silently at his side.

A moment later.

A luxurious carriage climbed up the mountain’s slope and then Princess Anxia and Princess Kunlaya stepped out.

“Greetings to the Regent Lady,” Russell stepped forward to greet her and smiled at Princess Kunlaya, “Greetings to the little princess.”

Princess Kunlaya smiled back: “Lord Russell.”

Although privately they called each other brother and sister, in public occasions, they still had to address each other formally.

“Regent Lady, please lead everyone at the front of the line to meet King Ares,” Chief Steward Lord Kunbei said.

Princess Anxia then took Princess Kunlaya by the hand and walked to the very front of the line.

Nobles and knights and Bipedal Flying Dragons, lined up one after another, no one speaking loudly, all patiently waiting for the arrival of the Dragon Knight.

A full quarter of an hour passed.

The Shadowflame Dragon in the lava suddenly opened its dozing eyes.

Simultaneously, in the Northwestern Horizon, a black figure with a long trail of thick smoke, like a meteor falling from the sky, dove towards the Shadowflame fire. Beside this dark figure, a sea-blue figure flew in tandem.

“Here they come,” Earl Merlin murmured softly.

Russell’s expression was startled, his gaze firmly locked onto the smoky silhouette of the Fiery Dragon.