I Alone Breed Dragons

"You don’t know what you’re bringing upon yourself. If you’re trying to disrupt this kingdom, you’ll get what you’re wishing for... and trust me, the burden of this kingdom will fall on you and overwhelm you." She lowered her book. "Then you’ll understand the responsibility the queen carries."

"I don’t plan on taking the burden of this kingdom. I’m not a dragon."

She then continued her reading.

Knock knock. "Lord Amor." I recognized Solen’s voice. She stepped inside the library on being given permission. My gaze then dropped from her maid uniform to the letters in her hand. "What are those?"

She stepped before me, standing aside. "Letters from the baronesses." I spread them — eight letters, each with its house’s wax stamp on it. "That was fast." I picked a letter which belonged to the Baroness of Star House and read the rear. Hmm, they were all greetings and requests for time to visit — eight baronesses. The only baroness who hadn’t sent a letter offering something for a night or a brief visit to negotiate was Maltie — that snake. Quinette was already loyal to me, Lilia was the arrogant baroness of Hearts House, and Lianex was the dragon able to rival the queen.

"Aria, help send replies and schedule their visits." I shifted the letters to Aria, unopened. She closed her book and gestured to Solen to gather the letters, and she did promptly.

"I’ll do so later. For now, I’m not letting you out of my sight anymore. If the assassin faction plans on pulling such a bold move again, this time I’ll be with you."

Our conversation was cut short as the door creaked open with no knock. We stared at the door as someone peeped into the room. It was her. My brow arched. "Maltie."

"Hello, Walter." She waved, then walked into the room cautiously, guilt gnawing at her. "Don’t be mad, Walter... I know what I did, but if you would just listen, I’ll give you my reason behind it."

I swatted my hand, cutting her mid-sentence. Ice formed from mana; the temperature in the library dropped, frost crawling around my sleeves as a pillar of ice struck toward her in a flash, its pointed edge whistling through the air.

Maltie stepped back and reached out, capturing the attack in a cage — mana of transparent bars, their form indefinite. Her mana swirled around the cage, transparent and nearly unnoticeable, but for the air around it bending like looking through a distorted lens. "How impatient can you be?" Maltie then let go of the ice, letting it crash to the ground.

"Impatient? You’re very deceitful, and I hate deceitful people." I still held my hand in the air, stretched toward Maltie, as a chilling fog drifted from my palm.

"Why did that look different from your usual magic? Did you just conjure ice with your own mana?" Aria asked. She was already familiar with my ability to absorb magic and release it later, but now it was different.

I lowered my hand. "Yeah, I did. My ability evolved," I replied to Aria before shifting my attention to Maltie. "You have one minute to explain yourself, Maltie."

"Thank you for offering a chance to explain myself... but can we speak privately?"

Aria cleared her throat. "If privately means away from my presence, unfortunately for you, that wouldn’t be possible."

I stood up and walked toward the door. There was something I wasn’t comfortable letting Aria know about, especially since her relationship to the dragon queen was shrouded in mystery — if Maltie wanted to talk about something related to the council or her spies, then doing it in front of Aria wasn’t smart.

"Aria, give us a second."

"Beg your pardon? You know she’s our number one suspect for what’s been happening lately."

Maltie pointed at herself. "Me? That’s wonderful news. Of course, once again, every misfortune is Maltie’s fault."

I stood at the door. "Maltie?"

She left the conversation and exited the room. We didn’t go far, just stayed on the other side of the door. I was aware Aria was eavesdropping — no sound of motion echoed from the silent library.

"What did you want to say?"

"First thing," Maltie said, drawing close with interest. She tapped a finger on my chest and spoke with a seductive tone. "Hope the little hitch I caused you at the council didn’t disrupt our deal — you still keep it in mind, right?"

I wasn’t easily swayed by her trick or seduction. There was no logical reason I could find for her selling our arrival to the council; for that reason, I’d have a hard time fulfilling my promise.

"Uh? Okay, listen to me — the reason I did that was... I was being suspected of manipulating one of the council members to draw information."

"Were you?"

"...Why wouldn’t I? But the one who suspected me was that woman heading the council. When I got information about when their next meeting was and where it was being held, and I sent it to you — it was too late before I figured out it was a trap."

She folded my hands, checking the library door, cautious of anyone who might be lurking, but there was none, so she continued.

"I found out she gave the info to only the noble I got the date from, so knowing I was the only person who had reached out to the noble, it was easily traced to me."

"So you told her about our arrival to soften your crime."

"Yes! But I know Stephanie still has her eyes on me."

"And I still don’t trust you," I added, retreating back to the library. I paused, hands settled on the door handle. "And now I’ve changed my mind — you’ll give me authority over your spy network, and all brokering. No negotiation." Surprisingly, she didn’t try to talk back or resist. "Fine."

"Good. I need your eyes around my village — any disturbance, you report to me. And I need information on any sighting of supernatural beings that isn’t related to dragons’ usual activities."

"What does that mean? Be clearer."

I glanced at Maltie behind me. "As I said, I don’t trust you — that’s all you’ll get. Just report to me tomorrow with every bit of info you’ve got."

Maltie sighed. "Now I’m yours to torment." Her heels clicked, the sound bouncing around the walls, growing more distant with each step as she left the mansion.

I stood at the door, my hand still on the handle, until I could no longer hear her footsteps.

I released the door handle. Now Maltie was willing to offer information; I could keep an eye on any activities related to those goblins, while my plan to build the militia and recover the land could progress.