Min Jun looked at him in silence, not sure what to think. He naturally remembered the day their king arrived on the battlefield. Those moments were etched into his mind. But … what he mostly remembered were precisely those moments: The savior of their people appearing and fiercely fighting against the demons, single-handedly changing the tide of the battle by relying on the sword in his hand. As for that person’s thoughts … who could say for sure?

He had been on the battlefield, fighting himself, the distress ever-growing. What had stuck with him the most was the burst of hope he himself felt when he saw that person, the fighting spirit that was reignited after winning had long seemed impossible. This was what he remembered whenever he thought of their king and it was the base for his admiration and unwavering loyalty. Even knowing that he had some demon blood, this feeling hadn’t dissipated.

Trying to recall now, he could hardly tell the mood of this savior though. Surely, he should have felt anger at the demons, right? Surely, he should have been filled with righteous indignation as he swung his sword. And certainly, he could expect to be crowned king after freeing them from that situation. Why wouldn’t he want it either? It was an honor, after all, and also an expression of the heart of the people who looked up to him after his grand feat. He deserved it and he ought to know that. Why would he think any differently?

But then, all of that was under the assumption that this savior of theirs was just like them: a full-blooded dragon who had suffered at the hand of the demons and wanted them gone from their lands. If the demons had indeed inflicted pain on that person just as they did with everyone else but he also shared some of his blood with them … then even though the anger they felt was the same and the goal was equally shared, the acceptance he could find from what should be ‘his’ people would indeed be low. After all, at that time, who could accept a half-blooded child? Who could stomach the thought of someone actually entering a relationship with a person from that dreaded foe?

Back in the day, the half-bloods usually lived at the edge of the dragon realm or even in the demon realm itself. As a result, many saw them as demons themselves and certainly wouldn’t accept them as part of the dragon race. So someone who was a half-blood but only found out later in life would naturally know that they would never be accepted as king of the dragon race, no matter what grand feat they had accomplished and how many people they had saved. Instead … they would likely hide away, just as their king had never seemed to have appeared anywhere before he entered the battlefield that day.

“But if you didn’t intend to become king … why bother? And why not reject it?” The more he understood, the less he seemed to grasp any of what had happened. Why had things turned out the way they did? No matter which way he looked at it, it didn’t seem right.

Qiu Ling had kept quiet as Min Jun thought and simply watched the changes in his demeanor. It did seem as if his conviction was slowly wavering. He was probably coming around now even more than he had before. Maybe after this talk, while he would still hold some prejudice, he would at least be willing to change his stance going forward.

“I suppose because I felt hope for the first time in a long while.”

Min Jun raised his gaze to his king’s face, not understanding what he meant. He had given them hope. Where was the hope for their king coming from?

Qiu Ling suppressed another sigh. This was something that wasn’t so easy to talk about for him. The things he had gone through, few of the full-blooded dragons could understand them. The half-bloods had a much better chance at doing so but even they had often had a slightly easier life because they at least had a parent with them who cared for them. He couldn’t say the same about himself.

“I hadn’t been in contact with anyone for a long time when Senior Xin Lan found me. Seeing him … I was reminded of a lot of things.” He lowered his eyelids, thinking of the person who now lived next door to him. “I didn’t know that Jinde … had passed or was at least believed to have done so at the time. I genuinely thought I might get to see him again.” The disappointment that washed over him when he didn’t, it couldn’t be expressed in mere words.

“When I heard that he wasn’t alive any longer, that little hope was dashed and it was replaced by fury when I heard that it had been my mother’s people who did this to him.” Even worse, Xin Lan hadn’t spared him from the knowledge that Jinde had been cut with the soul-devouring dagger and while he didn’t know at first what that was, the person in question made it clear to him well enough. To think that Jinde’s whole existence had been erased just like that, without even the chance to reincarnate as his father would one day … that was impossible to bear.

While he hadn’t disliked his parents, Jinde held a special place in his heart. He had from the time when he was a small child and even after all that time out there alone, he had longed to see him again. He simply hadn’t known where to go and also felt that he wasn’t worthy of seeing him. Still, deep down, he had hoped for a chance in the future and had even imagined every now and then that Jinde might be looking for him and would accept him as he was. To lose that hope … it indeed made his hatred for the demons even stronger.

They had taken his parents from him, the home he knew, and even this person. They deserved to die. This was the feeling he had and one of the main reasons he agreed to go to the battlefield. Being king or something like that … it didn’t even factor into his decision.