The half-bloods once again exchanged glances. This time, their thoughts probably weren’t all going in the same direction. Even though Jinde had been popular during his reign and many stories about him still survived, it had been more than ten millennia after all. Most of the half-bloods were on the younger side so they didn’t care as much about him as they cared about their current king. Especially not with what they had just found out today.

Still, there were some who were a bit interested in the relationship between these two, Hai Ying among them. Since An Bai clearly knew a lot, she couldn’t help but ask further. “So, His Majesty and the previous king have a good relationship? Both back then and now?”

An Bai nodded. “Yes. His Majesty originally grew up in the palace during Longjun Jinde’s reign and his father was not just an adviser to his king but also a good friend. It was only after many years that his mother had managed to erode some of that friendship and made her husband leave the city with her and their son.”

At this, the other half-bloods showed more interest again. “Then, after they left, she killed him. What about His Majesty? She … I mean, she clearly wasn’t on our people’s side.”

An Bai sighed. “Indeed. To be fair, I don’t know any details about that either. His Majesty has never liked speaking about this. Even we as his advisers have only heard a very … rough version of the events back then. It is a sore topic for him. I am sure I don’t need to explain why.”

The half-bloods nodded. They themselves knew all too well that oftentimes, it was best not to speak about your experiences as a half-blood and your parent from another race. Of course, this was more so the case when the person in question hailed from the demon race. If it was the gods, things were still a little better.

Still, most of them had at least a somewhat normal relationship with that person even if they were from the demon race. After all, just because the demons couldn’t love, that didn’t mean that all of them were evil. For whatever reason they were with their partner and decided to have a child, many actually stuck around for that reason long-term. And for each of them, it had definitely been something more positive than what their king had clearly experienced.

To think that his mother had been nothing but a spy or an assassin, only ever being with his father to drive him apart from the previous king and then take his life … Even his own conception was put in a very different light if you knew that. If it was them, they would certainly question if they had only been a means to an end, a way to pretend to be a dragon or at least a regular half-blood. Going through life with such a notion … it had to be devastating. No wonder he didn’t like speaking about this.

An Bai gave them a moment to think about this themselves before he continued to tell them some of what he knew. “Apart from the usual though, knowing what he did about her, His Majesty had to make the call whether he could let her get away with his father’s murder and return to the demon realm from where she might cause more harm or … deal with her.” He sighed and shook his head.

“At that time, he was young and you can be certain that it was not an easy decision to make for him. All these years, it has weighed on him a lot. To be both the judge and the executor, especially when you are so intimately concerned, that is a heavy burden to bear and yet, he had to do it when he was barely even an adult.

“Of course, apart from his personal history that made it difficult to open up, there was also the general situation back then. Most of you likely know about the time when His Majesty acceded to the throne even if you weren’t alive yet back then. Adviser Fu Heng and Adviser Fu Min can certainly tell you more about this time, at least when it comes to first-hand experiences. I also only know what I do from the sources of the time I have read and the research that has been done on it so I can only tell you about this from the perspective of a scholar.”

He fell silent for another moment, looking to where the others were flying a little in front. “After demon king Jian Heng was finally killed, the demon realm was in turmoil and there were frequent changes in the demons’ leader. Nonetheless, this only intensified the war with our people as each new sovereign tried to leave their mark, most of them trying to accomplish what those before them had failed to do.

“It was … difficult to stand against since our race hadn’t yet recovered from the great war Mojun Jian Heng had waged against us. We had lost too many people and hadn’t even had the time to grieve properly. With new battles happening again and again and no way to get used to whoever was commanding the other side, things really weren’t looking good. Especially so since our people also lost Longjun Jinde during that time.

“Leaderless and confronted with always changing circumstances, the losses were great and the hatred everyone felt for the demons grew with each new person we lost. When His Majesty killed demon king Huo Yan who had caused some of the heaviest losses yet, it was the first sign of hope. A hope that could be sustained if he acceded to the throne and would lead to stability if pursued further. The prerequisite for that happening was that he was a full-blooded dragon though.”