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On the Day of the Broken Engagement, I Married a Half-Blood Dragon
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00:00In my first life, my fiancé Derek despised me for not being pure enough for the mixed colors in my
00:04flame.
00:05The day I gave birth, he couldn't even wait for me to get off the birthing bed before he burned
00:09me and my still crying baby to ash with a blast of black fire.
00:13As I died, I cursed him. In every life, may you die a miserable death.
00:18Then I was reborn from the ashes.
00:20In my second life, when I opened my eyes again, I was back to the day before my engagement.
00:24My fiancé Derek Cole was standing in my family's main tent, announcing in front of everyone that he was going
00:30to marry my sister Mia.
00:31He had been reborn too. In our last life, he was a rising star among the pure-blood dragons.
00:35He married me because my family and bloodline were just barely worthy of him.
00:38But later I gave birth to a child with markled scales and a dull, weak flame. A half-breed.
00:42He thought I had ruined him. He thought I had deceived him. So he killed us.
00:46Now he had come back to do it over, convinced that if he chose my pure-blood sister, he would
00:51get the perfect heir he wanted.
00:53What he didn't know was that the child Mia carried was a half-breed too.
00:59No! No, that's not right. Let him find out for himself.
01:02When I woke up, my chest still hurt. The feeling of fire burning straight through my ribs felt carved into
01:07my soul.
01:08It took me a full ten seconds to realize I was still alive. Still whole. Still had a heartbeat.
01:14The animal hide stretched over the tent roof was the one Mother had brought back from the southern tribe last
01:18year.
01:18A totem pole stood in the center of the tent, carved all over with the marks of our ancestors.
01:22The basket of nearly withered healing herbs in the corner was still right where it had been.
01:26Everything was exactly as I remembered.
01:28Then I saw Derek. His gaze swept over the main tent, over my parents, over the shamans and chiefs present.
01:34Then it landed on me.
01:35That look was not the tenderness he had worn before our wedding in my last life.
01:39It was disgust, contempt.
01:41He came back too.
01:43Uncle Auntie, I know this is wrong, but I can't form a bond with Olivia.
01:47The main tent fell silent for one second. Then whispers broke out, like a swarm of insects startled into flight.
01:56My father, Marcus, was one of the leaders of the Dragon Council.
02:01Say that again.
02:03Mia and I are together now.
02:05She's carrying my cub.
02:09Derek, you and Olivia have been promised to each other since childhood.
02:13Your blood compatibility is 92%.
02:15We tested it three times.
02:17You can't just break it off because you feel like it.
02:20Our parents arranged that engagement.
02:21I didn't choose it.
02:23He turned towards me.
02:25No.
02:26He walked towards me.
02:31In our last life, you humiliated me.
02:35This time, I won't make the same mistake.
02:38Olivia, I don't want to hurt you.
02:40I just can't marry someone who is...
02:41He paused.
02:43The entire main tent waited for him to say the word.
02:47I just can't take that risk.
02:49He didn't say it.
02:51But everyone understood.
02:53Bloodline.
02:54Blood.
02:54Purity.
02:55Those three words drifted through the family hall like ghosts.
02:57No one dared say them out loud.
02:59But everyone didn't knew exactly what they meant.
03:01Everyone in the family knew my flame was the wrong color and the pattern of my scales was wrong.
03:04Since childhood, the elders had judged my bloodline as tainted.
03:07When I first awakened at seven, my flame was gold but streaked with red threads.
03:10That was not the color of a pure blood dragon.
03:12To my face, the elders called it potential.
03:14A possible mutation.
03:15A special gift.
03:16But in private, the word they used was half-breed.
03:18They just didn't dare say it to my face.
03:20I agree.
03:21What did you say?
03:22I said I agree.
03:25Article 17 of the Dragon Code.
03:27The party whose engagement is broken has the right to choose a spouse independently within 30 days.
03:32I want to invoke it.
03:33Do you understand what Article 17 means?
03:36It means you give up all family protection over your marriage.
03:39It means the spouse you choose will not be screened, will not be verified, and there will be no bottom
03:44line.
03:44I understand.
03:47I choose him.
03:49No one had ever paid attention to him.
03:51His eyes were a dark gold that belonged to no pure blood dragon.
03:56A color mainstream society saw as the mark of a half-breed.
04:00Are you insane?
04:05You're choosing a...
04:06A what?
04:07A half-breed just like me?
04:08Is that the word you want to say, Derek?
04:11Say it!
04:11He didn't dare.
04:12He didn't dare say that word in front of a room full of elders, because the moment he did,
04:17he would be admitting that the real reason he had broken off the engagement was not love.
04:21It was blood discrimination.
04:24In modern dragon society, it was an open secret, but no one dared say it in a formal setting.
04:29Everyone wore masks.
04:30Everyone spoke politely.
04:32Everyone stabbed each other in the back.
04:34No one was stupid enough to draw their blade on the battlefield.
04:39What are you still standing there for?
04:41Come here.
04:49What's your name?
04:52Luke.
04:53Luke and I formed a bond.
04:54The process was simple.
04:55Go to the Elder's Hall, register, and have both parties sign the contract.
04:58No ceremony, no blessing.
05:00Not even friends needed to be present.
05:01The fire basin at the registration office burned bright,
05:03and the animal hide scroll of the dragon code hung on the wall,
05:06yellowed with age, its edges curling.
05:08When I signed, Mia stood in the doorway.
05:10What do you think that half-breed of yours can give birth to?
05:12A lizard?
05:13Or a whole nest of snakes?
05:15My guess, yours will be much more interesting than mine.
05:18She didn't know what I knew, but she sensed it.
05:21After I signed, I set down the pen and walked past her without stopping.
05:25At the far end of the corridor, Derek stood to the side, staring hard at me.
05:30What do you know?
05:31I know you chose the wrong person, but don't worry, Derek.
05:36Your good days are far from over.
05:38It was only one phrase, but it carried so much.
05:40Last life.
05:41Killing in tanked, fear, and something I didn't recognize.
05:45Maybe despair.
05:46You killed me in our last life.
05:48In this one, I'm still alive.
05:49I saw a flicker of fear in his eyes.
05:51Not fear of me.
05:52Not fear of power.
05:53It was fear of the fact that the woman knew everything.
05:55The fear that comes right before a secret is exposed.
05:57When I walked out of the Elder's Hall, Luke was leaning against a stone pillar in the corridor.
06:01Rolling an old silver coin was badly worn.
06:03The image on its face almost impossible to see.
06:06All signed?
06:07All signed.
06:08What were you saying to them out there?
06:10Nothing.
06:10Just saying hello.
06:17Your claws are shaking.
06:18No, they're not.
06:19Olivia.
06:20I said they're not.
06:21He simply took off his outer robe, carrying in the warmth of his fire and a scent I couldn't quite
06:25name.
06:26The robe was cold, metallic scent of pure-blood dragons, but something wilder, something deeper, like forest after rain or
06:32charred wood.
06:32That night, we went back to Luke's tent together.
06:34He was warming beast milk by the fire pit.
06:36He said the midwife told him and needed to be nourished.
06:38His tent was small.
06:38Wars lied to him I was being nearly bored.
06:40But everything was clean.
06:41Wooden bowls and anapal spoons were neatly stacked on the stone shelf, and there wasn't a speck of rust on
06:44his blade.
06:45Why were you willing to marry me?
06:46You want the truth?
06:48Hmm.
06:50Because you chose.
06:51You stood in the middle of the main tent with everyone watching, and you chose me.
06:57Just for that?
06:59Just for that.
07:06Not many dragons would choose one of their own in that moment.
07:10Most would choose themselves.
07:12That was choosing myself, too.
07:14I chose you because I needed to get away from Derek.
07:17I know.
07:19But you could have grabbed any dragon at the door to sign with you, then gone your separate ways.
07:23You didn't.
07:25How do you know I won't?
07:31Because you're still sitting here, drinking my beast milk.
07:35I said nothing.
07:36He was right.
07:38I hadn't left.
07:39The days passed quietly like that.
07:42I found out I was pregnant two months later.
07:45In my last life.
07:47In my last life, at this very moment, I thought I was carrying Derek's cub.
07:51I had gone to tell him, full of joy.
07:58I hope you don't embarrass me again.
08:00His expression looked like he had already decided to throw it away before he even skinned it.
08:06Then I gave birth to a daughter with martled scales, and a flame so weak it was almost invisible.
08:18This isn't mine.
08:23She is yours.
08:25My seed could never turn out like that.
08:30He didn't even wait for me to explain.
08:44Olivia, you've been in the private hut for 20 minutes.
08:48Luke's expression changed.
08:50First confusion, then alertness, then something I didn't recognize.
08:55What's wrong?
08:58I handed him the pregnancy stone.
09:09Ours.
09:11Who else's would it be?
09:12Luke's room?
09:15Luke's room.
09:16Not Derek's.
09:19100% yours.
09:32Are you happy?
09:34I don't know, but I'm thinking about something.
09:39What?
09:40Your last life.
09:43Why did Derek kill you?
09:45I froze.
09:46I hadn't told him.
09:47I had never told anyone about my last life.
09:50About that cub.
09:51About that fire.
09:52About the instant so sudden I didn't even have time to scream.
09:55The cub.
09:56Mottled scales.
09:57Unstable flame.
09:59He thought it wasn't his.
10:01It wasn't his?
10:03It was.
10:04But that cub really didn't look pure blood.
10:07Olivia, have you ever considered something?
10:10What?
10:10A cub born from two mixed bloods.
10:12May not be a mixed blood.
10:14What does that mean?
10:15He didn't answer.
10:17He only placed his claws over my lower abdomen.
10:19Within the black tongues of flame was a strand of gold I had never seen before.
10:23That gold was not the cold gold of the pure blood dragons.
10:27It was warmer.
10:28More like sunrise.
10:29Your cub.
10:30It isn't the same as the cub from your last life.
10:33What are you talking about?
10:35I'm saying you were robbed.
10:38Robbed?
10:39By who?
10:42Mia's due date was three weeks before mine.
10:45The news spread through the entire dragon council.
10:49Derek Cole was holding a bloodline witnessing ceremony for his first child.
10:53And he had invited every elder and noble.
10:57To put it plainly he was showing off.
11:00Showing off that he had chosen the right woman.
11:02That his heir would be pure blood.
11:03That abandoning me had been such a brilliant decision.
11:06He wanted everyone to see that Derek Cole had not been dragged down by that half-breed.
11:09That Derek Cole's bloodline would continue.
11:11That Derek Cole was the winner.
11:14For who?
11:15One day of the ceremony.
11:16One day of the ceremony, Luke and I stood at the very back of the hall.
11:20No one noticed us.
11:22No one wanted to notice us.
11:25I knew what he was thinking.
11:26He was thinking this was only the first step.
11:29There was a longer road ahead.
11:31One child wasn't enough.
11:32He wanted an entire tribe.
11:35My parents sat in the front row.
11:37Their seats had been assigned.
11:39No one cared whether they wanted to be there.
11:41To miss an occasion like this would be to openly oppose the Cole family.
11:44And my father's place on the council still needed Marcus Cole's vote.
11:48What do you think it'll be?
11:49Do you want the truth or the polite version?
11:52The truth.
11:54A turkey.
11:55Or a lizard.
11:57Or something worse.
12:03The glory of pure blood dragons.
12:07The future of the Cole family.
12:09The support of the clan.
12:11Every sentence was formulatical.
12:13Every gesture had been precisely calculated.
12:17Then the delivery room door opened.
12:22Marcus's smile froze on his face.
12:24The whole room went silent.
12:26Every eye fixed on the white cloth.
12:29Waiting for the midwife to uncover it.
12:31The baby's scales were grey-green.
12:33Uneven in shade.
12:34Its eyes opened a slit.
12:35And the color of its pupils was wrong.
12:37It was not the gold of pure blood dragons.
12:39Nor the dark yellow of its blood dragons.
12:41It was a murky sickly dark yellow.
12:43Like pos left too long.
12:44What is that?
12:45It's my child.
12:47Let me see.
12:48Even more terrifying were its dragon wings.
12:50The fleshy wing that should have unfolded at birth.
12:53The symbol of the dragon's identity.
12:55Had only grown halfway.
12:56The other half is a malformed, wrinkled lump of skin.
13:07The other half is a malformed, wrinkled lump of skin.
13:11The third half is a malformed, wrinkled lump of skin.
13:28The doctor accepted the wolf heart of the dragon.
13:29bloodline it's you you're the problem in our last life you and she suddenly shut her mouth
13:37but it was too late last life what last life derrick's expression in that moment was the
13:43most spectacular thing i had ever seen fear rage shame and the despair of knowing everything was
13:48over every emotion surged up at once crowding onto his handsome face until it twisted out of shape
13:53it was you you cursed me he was fast but luke was faster
14:10don't touch her the whole room went silent
14:21that fire impossible what is it marcus do you know that fire marcus didn't answer
14:32the way he looked at luke changed it wasn't the hostility from before it wasn't irritation at
14:40having his speech interrupted it was something older more instinctive fear not fear of an enemy
14:48fear of something from the past mia and derrick's pure blood air was half lizard the news spread
14:55through all of dragon society someone revealed the secret it was sealed quickly however the
15:01message has already been leaked the comments were unbearable to read some said mia's bloodline was
15:09the problem some said derrick's bloodline was the problem some said both of them were the problem
15:13the truth didn't matter what mattered was that they were finished but to derrick there was one thing
15:20even more terrifying than social death me that night we returned to our accommodation luke closed the door
15:28leaned against it and looked at me you want to know the truth what i used just now was the
15:36fire of the
15:37ancient dragons when marcus saw it he recognized it that wasn't the power of modern pure blood dragons
15:46luke was silent for a long time do you know where pure blood dragons come from since i was little
15:54i was
15:55taught that pure blood is innate natural selection the peak of evolution then do you know where half
16:01greets come from these scars they aren't from fights they're from rituals what rituals the cole family
16:15marcus cole derrick's father or rather every family that calls itself pure blood their pure blood wasn't
16:22natural it was stolen what do you mean every time a new life is born they perform a ritual
16:28they extract dragon crystals from dragons with impure blood lines he never talked about himself
16:34i had known him for two months and he had never said a word about his past i knew what
16:40a dragon crystal
16:40was every dragon has one in their chest it is the source of our power the color and quality of
16:46a
16:46dragon chris determines the form and strength of the flame the dragon crystal shatters the dragon dies
16:51no exceptions a mixed blood's dragon crystal is far more active than a pure blood's because a mixed
16:57blood's flame is unstable the crystal has to keep adapting and adjusting and that activity
17:02it can be extracted
17:05a pure blood dragon's crystal is constant stable it doesn't grow stronger or weaker but a mixed blood's
17:11crystal is different it can be smelled remade and injected into another dragon's body they use
17:16mixed blood dragon crystals to strengthen their own blood lines luke didn't speak but his silence was
17:24the clearest confirmation how do you know because i was one of the dragons they extracted from
17:33when i was 15 marcus cole found me he said he would help me awaken you know the line every
17:38mixed
17:38blood has heard it come with us and we'll help remove the impurities from your bloodline
17:43you went i went my mother had just died i was living alone in a grass shed in the south
17:48no herd
17:48no kin my flame would go out of control from time to time and burn every piece of prey i
17:52could find
17:52writhing a beast car pulled by fourth estuary he said he had come to help me they locked me in
17:56a
17:56dungeon and extracted my dragon crystal for three days and three nights they thought i was unconscious
18:01the whole time but i wasn't i was awake i watched them melt the crystal they took from me into
18:07glowing
18:07liquid and injected into a cub's body who was that cub
18:15you guessed right it was derrick cole
18:19derrick's pure blood had not been maintained by the blood i donated
18:22not by that bottle of heart blood taken from my chest every year
18:26the pain so bad i curled in on myself
18:30it was maintained by my own kind
18:33by the lives of every mixed blood dragon they had branded a half street in my last life
18:40every year i had to send their family a bottle of my heart blood
18:45they said it was to build affection with derrick
18:48i was pierced with needles from childhood until i nearly died from the pain
18:51and i thought that was just my fate
18:54because i was mixed blood i was supposed to endure it
18:57it was compensation it was the price it was what i owed them
19:01that wasn't your fate that was their lie
19:05they used my blood our blood to keep up derrick's disguise
19:09to make everyone believe he was pure blood
19:12to let him stand above us look down on us judge us kill us
19:16then he killed you killed your child
19:19because he couldn't let the truth come out
19:21your child
19:23the one you gave birth to in your last life
19:25if she had lived if she had grown up
19:28her scales and flame would have proven one thing
19:31what
19:32a child born from two mixed bloods is not mixed blood
19:36it is the source
19:38the ancient dragons the true dragons were never pure blood
19:41they were mixed blood
19:44because mixed blood means adaptation
19:47it means change
19:48it means the power to devour everything
19:51and bring everything back to life
19:54but pure blood
19:55pure blood is a dead end
19:58a self-deceiving lie
20:00destined for extinction
20:02that night luke took me somewhere
20:05deep within the family territory
20:07there was a forgotten ruin
20:09i had gone there once as a child
20:11but mother dragged me back
20:14she said it was unlucky
20:15and forbade me from going again
20:18it was not an ordinary key
20:20it was made of bone
20:22white
20:23and slightly yellowed
20:29but i knew those words were not modern dragon writing
20:33they weren't any dragon language i knew
20:35the symbols curved and flowed like the shape of flames
20:39generations of dragon ancestors are buried here
20:42at least that's what everyone says
20:45no
20:45they didn't die
20:47they were exiled
20:50the stone chamber was small
20:51only about two meters square
20:53and every wall was covered in murals
20:55no names
20:57no dates
20:59only those ancient curving symbols and images
21:01it was ten times the size of the other dragons
21:05its wingspan covering half the sky
21:13then the mural changed
21:16they severed the dragon race's connection to its past
21:21they killed the last mixed blood king of the ancient dragons
21:24stole its dragon crystal
21:26divided into thirteen pieces
21:28and smelted those pieces into their own bodies
21:30from then on
21:31they called themselves pure blood
21:33from then on mixed blood became a disgrace
21:36from then on every few decades
21:38they had to find a new group of mixed blood dragons
21:41extract their dragon crystals and use them extend their own lives
21:45do you know why they've always had their eyes on you
21:48because my flame is the wrong color
21:50because the pattern of my scales is wrong
21:53because i'm a half-breed
21:54because inside you is
21:56because you are the reincarnation of that ancient dragon
22:01i am the
22:03you are the king they killed three times
22:05stole from countless times
22:07and yet every time
22:10you were reborn from the ashes
22:13in this life i will stand in front of you
22:15not because you need protection
22:17but because since i was fifteen
22:19i have been waiting for one of my own
22:20someone willing to choose me
22:22and you chose
22:23his voice was trembling
22:24it was the first time i had ever heard his voice tremble
22:27i thought the story ended there
22:29but i was wrong
22:31on the third day after the ceremony
22:33mia disappeared
22:34she hadn't run away from the nest
22:36she hadn't gone to see a witch doctor about her body
22:40she vanished from the cole family territory out of thin air
22:44the midwife said she got up in the middle of the night
22:47to feed the cub
22:48and then she was gone
22:53derek was the first to messenger to me
22:57not because he cared about mia
23:00but because he knew i would
23:03strangely it wasn't angry
23:05it wasn't urgent
23:07it was soft in a way i had never heard before
23:09almost pleading
23:11olivia
23:12mia is missing
23:14what does that have to do with me
23:16i heard him take a deep breath
23:18on the other end of the soundstone
23:19if you're willing to help me find her
23:21i'll show you something
23:25what
23:25the truth about that cub from your last life
23:33then i found luke
23:34derek says he knows about what happened in the last life
23:37he was cooking a pot of meat soup
23:39in the stone pot were wild greens roots and bones from some beast i didn't know where he had hunted
23:47what does he know
23:49he says he knows the truth about the cub
23:56he's lying
23:57but he may know something
23:58like what
24:01like who stole your cub
24:04luke and i went to the cole family territory
24:07their land was on the mountain to the north
24:10spranning wide
24:11it was a long walk from the fortress gate to the main hall
24:20come with me
24:28inside was a ritual refining room
24:30no not a ritual refining room
24:32a slaughterhouse
24:33it was not alive
24:35what is this
24:36derek didn't answer
24:40the bone scroll was very old
24:42its edges worn down
24:44my name was carved on it
24:46inside were branded animal hides
24:49many sheets
24:50the same cub
24:51rubbed from different angles
24:53behind them were notched tables
24:55rune data
24:56and blood pattern analysis scrolls
24:59derek has never fathered a pure blood cub
25:00not once
25:01the cole family's bloodline was already polluted in the first generation
25:04their method of extracting mixed blood dragon crystals has a fatal side effect
25:08each generation is weaker than the last
25:10derek is the final generation
25:12he cannot produce any healthy cub
25:13then what about mia's cub
25:16my father did that
25:17what do you mean
25:18my father
25:19he started cultivating ambrose five years ago
25:21with my essence blood
25:22with mixed blood dragon essence blood
25:23cultivated in the ritual refining room
25:25the one mia carried was never my cub
25:26it was a ritual thing they implanted in her body
25:29your wording changed
25:31you called her mia
25:32not my sister
25:34now you see her as a living being
25:35not your rival
25:37he said nothing for a long time
25:39mia disappeared
25:40she got up in the middle of the night
25:42and saw that stone trough
25:45saw the corpse of her cub
25:46the one she thought had died
25:47the one we told her died at birth
25:50then she disappeared
25:53what did you do to her
25:56we didn't do anything
25:57but she took that bone scroll
25:59that scroll contains all the evidence
26:00the coal families
26:01bloodline fraud
26:02ritual cultivation
26:03mixed blood dragon crystal extraction
26:05everything is in there
26:06so you came to me
26:07not because she's missing
26:08but because she took your secrets
26:12my father doesn't want mia
26:14what does he want
26:16he wants that cub
26:18i did not go to rescue mia
26:20not because i didn't care
26:21but because i knew where she was
26:22our mother
26:23elena
26:24she had never accepted
26:25my father's seat on the council
26:26never accepted being forced
26:28to attend every coal family event
26:29never accepted her two daughters
26:31being treated as political
26:32bargaining cheaps
26:33she had been waiting all along
26:35waiting for a chance
26:36waiting for a blade sharp enough
26:37mia gave that bone scroll to her
26:39then elena did something
26:40no one expected
26:41she issued a bloodline proclamation
26:43in the front courtyard of the family estate
26:45before all the elders
26:46before all the council members
26:47before the watching dragons
26:48she released everything in the bone scroll
26:50piece by piece
26:51every item was perfectly clear
26:53the coal family's bloodline fraud
26:55the embrose melting authorization
26:57personally signed by marcus coal
26:59in dragon script
26:59the list of mixed blood dragons
27:01illegally imprisoned
27:02and stripped of their dragon crystals
27:03he didn't know someone had tampered
27:05with the voice prince stone
27:06derrick is not pure blood
27:08he never was
27:09but we had no other choice
27:11the council needed an heir
27:13the coal family needed a future
27:15we only did what had to be done
27:19the hall was deathly silent
27:28it was a blood pattern origin tracing scroll
27:30at first glance
27:31the entire blood pattern was dark gold
27:33with the purity index marked along the edge of the scroll
27:36at over 97%
27:38this was the mark of a pure blood dragon
27:40there was nothing wrong with it
27:42but at the imprint corresponding to the 12th heart scale
27:45a tiny section of the pattern was the wrong color
27:49the source of that pattern
27:50was written on the final line of the scroll
27:53it was the first time
27:54i had ever seen that blood pattern scroll
27:57you knew
27:57you knew
27:58i knew
28:00you knew from the beginning
28:01i've always known
28:03you knew the dragon crystal inside him was part of you
28:05yes
28:08that's why i'm taking it back
28:10the conflict broke out the next day
28:12derek struck first
28:14he had lost everything
28:15his fiancee
28:16his child
28:17his family's reputation
28:18his council seat
28:19he had nothing left
28:21a person with nothing left
28:22is the most dangerous
28:24because he has nothing left to lose either
28:26when he came to find me with that knife
28:29i was packing in the apartment
28:30mia was coming to stay for a few days
28:32she didn't dare go back to her own home
28:35and she didn't dare return to the coal estate
28:37she was staying with mother for the moment
28:38but mother said she needed time alone
28:40so mia had no choice but to come to me
28:45when the doorbell rang
28:47i thought it was her
28:51he knew i wouldn't die
28:53but he no longer cared
28:59put down the knife
29:04derek did not put it down
29:05the thing you took
29:06that piece of dragon crystal inside your body
29:09it isn't yours
29:10it never was
29:12your life is fake
29:13your bloodline is fake
29:15your pure blood was stolen
29:18you are nothing
29:28this should hurt
29:30but i don't want to hurt you
29:33i don't want to become like you
29:38take it
29:40and never appear in front of us again
29:52i'll get the first aid kit
29:53no need
29:56i want a different ending
30:00what do you mean
30:02in your last life
30:03when you died
30:04i was on the other side of the city
30:07i felt it
30:07but i couldn't get there in time
30:09by the time i arrived
30:10you were already
30:12nothing but ash
30:14not this time
30:17not this time
30:19after mia arrived
30:21she saw the blood on the floor of the nest
30:23and almost turned around
30:24and flew away again
30:36i'm sorry
30:37olivia i'm sorry
30:38i know i shouldn't have
30:40i know back then
30:40i shouldn't have treated you that way
30:45you don't need to apologize
30:48why are you never angry
30:50because i don't have time to be angry
30:53that was the truth
30:54i didn't have time to be angry
30:57there was still too much i had to do
31:00i had to give birth to my child
31:02i had to watch luke take back his dragon crystal
31:05i had to watch marcus cole stand trial
31:08i had to see every young dragon in that glass
31:11throughout properly buried
31:16that night luke burned a calming leaf
31:19on the stargazing platform outside the nest
31:24he rarely touched things like that
31:26the night dew is heavy
31:27go inside
31:28are you cold?
31:30no
31:31liar
31:40when i was 15
31:41in that dungeon
31:42i thought i was going to die there
31:45i know
31:47but not because of the pain
31:49because i thought no dragon would come looking for me
31:52no dragon knew i was there
31:54even if i died there
31:55i would only be treated as a missing half-breed
31:58no dragon would ask
32:00no dragon would search
32:01no dragon would care
32:11but they were wrong
32:13who was wrong
32:16all dragons
32:20let's go back
32:21you need to sleep
32:22news of marcus cole's arrest came three days later
32:25he was not arrested by the dragon council
32:28he was arrested at the dragon enforcement unit
32:30the black dragon guard
32:32they had received an anonymous bone scroll sealed with dragon blood
32:36delivered with the bone scroll was a memory crystal
32:38the images from that memory crystal were projected onto the announcement stone tablets
32:42at the center of every dragon territory
32:43the next day the black dragon guard raided the cole family's nest
32:47on the third day
32:48when marcus cole was dragged out from the depths of the nest
32:51marcus cole did not struggle
32:53he showed no anger
32:54no fear
32:55in his vertical pupils was a kind of relief
32:58as if he finally no longer had to keep acting
33:01two days later
33:02the dragon council held an emergency session
33:04bloodline fraud
33:06illegal imprisonment
33:07abuse of minors
33:08murder
33:09every charge came with witness testimony
33:11and physical evidence
33:13he spent 40 minutes telling his story word by word
33:18from being taken at 15
33:20to three days and nights of crystal extraction
33:23to being abandoned at the entrance of the east district hospital
33:27the council's decision passed unanimously
33:29all noble titles held by families calling themselves pure blood were revoked
33:33every clause in the dragon code concerning bloodline hierarchy was abolished
33:37a compensation fund was established specifically for mixed blood dragons
33:41whose dragon crystals had been extracted
33:44marcus cole was sentenced to permanent imprisonment
33:47although derrick cole had not directly participated in his father's crimes
33:50he had known the truth and benefited from it
33:52he was stripped of his dragon status
33:54his dragon crystal was forcibly removed
33:56and he reverted to what he had originally been
33:58your child from the last life
34:00he didn't kill her
34:01what did you say?
34:03the child from your last life
34:04he didn't kill her
34:05he sent her away
34:07sent her to another world
34:08she's alive
34:09somewhere she's alive
34:12what's your name?
34:14i don't know
34:15i really don't
34:16i only know she was sent away
34:17since somewhere no one could find her
34:19that was the last thing my father said
34:22he said he couldn't kill a child
34:23that was the one thing he couldn't do
34:26derrick left
34:26derrick left
34:27i stood in the tent passage and did not move
34:29there was a cub inside
34:33and there was another cub
34:34somewhere in the world
34:35alive
34:37she was still alive
34:38i did not cry
34:40the crying came later
34:43that night
34:44in luke's tent
34:45while he was changing the herbs on the wound on his claw
34:54we'll find her
34:57how do you know?
34:58because you're the kind of dragon who finds her own
35:01it won't stop until you do
35:04i laughed
35:05but the laugh was part of the crying
35:06so it was ugly
35:07he didn't mind
35:08the cub was born one week later
35:11a daughter
35:13what's her name?
35:17iris
35:19why?
35:21because iris means rainbow
35:23because her flame is the colour of a rainbow
35:26because when she came
35:27all the colours came with her
35:32iris
35:36his smile was ugly
35:38because his eyes were too bright
35:40so bright his smile couldn't hide it
35:42his dragon crystal had returned
35:47you're back
35:49i didn't know who he was talking to
35:51maybe iris
35:52maybe another dragon
35:55maybe the king in the mural
35:56the one killed three times
35:57and re-aborned from the ashes every time
35:59but it didn't matter
36:01because this time
36:02no dragon would die
36:04this was my second life
36:05but there would not be a third
36:07outside the tent flap was night
36:10inside the tent flap was light
36:12and a cub
36:15and him
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