It wasn’t that Jinde didn’t think the situation was serious. He certainly did, although he felt that not much could be changed by now. Most people were convinced and only this General Min Jun was still an issue but that might be more of a question of time than anything else. If he got a while to calm down, maybe he’d be thinking differently.

No, the main point was that as soon as the crown prince of the Nine Heavens was mentioned, he thought of Jing He’s meek appearance. That child barely even dared to look him in the eyes and followed Qiu Ling’s every word as if his husband was the one who had solved all the mysteries of the world. There was absolutely no way he’d be one to come up with a grand plan to overthrow the current order of the immortal realms. No, people should indeed be more worried about Qiu Ling in that regard. He at least had what it took to try such a thing.

Well, Jinde had personally gotten to know Jing He but the same couldn’t be said about the generals. Min Jun’s expression turned even more solemn when this person was brought up as if Leng Jin Yu had spoken of someone who might as well be their enemy.

“I don’t know whether that is the case. Considering people from the demon realm — including the new demon king — were invited to the celebration, it might very well be the case.” This was something that had irked him the moment he saw those people appear. At that time, he couldn’t understand how their king could let this happen. Why would he condone three demons at his own wedding? But now, it seemed to make sense. A lot more than he wished it did.

Jinde rubbed his temple when he heard this and sighed, his expression turning serious again, albeit somewhat defeated. Actually … the optics of that weren’t all that great, he had to admit that. Qiu Ling had truly chosen the worst day to make this public. Thankfully, there was someone to throw the blame at readily available. “Well, we weren’t the ones who wrote the guest list. That was the Heavenly Emperor!”

Next to him, Leng Jin Yu’s lips twitched. Even though none of the generals would dare to verify this and, well, it was kind of true, he didn’t think they should rely on technicalities right now. “Even if he hadn’t, we would have needed to invite him though. He was the person who brought the crown prince back after he was kidnapped. Despite — or maybe especially because of — the strained relationship between our races, thanks are necessary.”

Jinde nodded. “Everyone is aware that the demon king could have easily killed him the day he found him. If he had, then we wouldn’t have to have this whole discussion today because you wouldn’t have a king any longer. Instead, his advisers would be trying to figure out how to choose his successor. Is that something you’d rather see?”

His words turned a little sharper at the end. He knew he should keep calm but … that person was still accusing his son and now even his son’s newly wedded husband of atrocities they had never and would never commit. Not to mention that it was true that Jing He could have died that day. If it hadn’t been someone interested in sucking up to the demon king who found him, things could have turned dire easily. Then Qiu Ling … He didn’t even dare to think about that.

Min Jun didn’t answer. This question was specifically addressed to him even if the previous king hadn’t said so. After all, he was the only one who had experienced a time when the dragons were without a king and only the pitiful remainder of the previous one’s advisers were trying to keep things going. But they had died one after the other as well, finally leaving the dragon realm without any kind of leader, making their efforts to resist the demons be all over the place. The remaining generals tried to organize the fights but there weren’t many of them left either and they couldn’t train successors as fast as they themselves fell in battle. The losses only intensified from there on, until the dragon realm was on the brink of destruction.

The one who turned the tide, who brought them hope again in their darkest time … yes, that was their current king. He himself had looked up to him for millennia, all based on the beautiful feat he accomplished on that day. The way he fought against the demons, reaping lives left and right, rushing forward, straight into the heart of the demons’ forces as if he didn’t care for his own life, he had taken that as his inspiration, vowing to himself that he would be as fearless as him, as ruthless as him.

He … he didn’t want that kind of light to be extinguished but he didn’t want him to have demon blood either. That person, how could he not be a dragon? He had to be. He had to. Otherwise, what had they been fighting for all these years? Why would he care?

Jinde watched his expression and sighed. He didn’t think there was anything else he could do. That guy just needed some time and maybe he even needed to speak to Qiu Ling instead of anyone else, just so he could reassure himself that he was still the one he had always been.

He turned to the other generals and gave a smile. “I believe you have heard what you needed to. Anything else, you can ask Qiu Ling about himself tomorrow. Today, I believe he’ll want to focus on his wedding instead. You should give him that time. As for us, I’d also like to go back out and watch. You can either join us or take your time to think about everything I’ve said and discuss amongst yourselves. I do know it is a lot to take in, after all, and it would be best to solve any further issues as soon as possible so don’t hesitate to speak up at that time.” With that, he got to his feet and patted his husband’s shoulder.

Leng Jin Yu glanced at the generals and then followed Jinde outside again. Honestly, he’d also rather watch the rest of the wedding, even if it only consisted of more gift-giving and congratulations. After all, even though their relationship was an oddity no matter which side you looked at it from, he still held special feelings for that person and he knew that Jinde felt just the same.