Chapter 71: Suffered the Dragon

She, how could it be her.

When witnessing that girl on the platform, Li En was completely stunned.

The fiery red dress was magnificent yet elegant; the ruby necklace around her neck contained abundant fire elements; her golden-red hair seemed to burn fiercely under the sunlight; and faint lightning flickered within those emerald eyes.

Yes, it was her, the Hero Candidate Long Shou, suspected to be born of an ancient noble family.

She was exactly the same as in the first dream; it seemed this was her formal attire.

She was also the only candidate whose mist never dispersed; only Li En knew her true appearance.

But now, considering her identity, this concealment seemed inevitable.

"But when we met in the dream last time, there were no lion ears or tail."

The girl's posture was obviously a disguised appearance, just like Miss Lana, but the lion fur around her neck and arms indicated this disguise was far more advanced.

Why did she disguise herself?! She was clearly a Princess, so why disguise herself as an ordinary Lionkin? Perhaps precisely because she was Her Highness the Princess, she had to disguise herself.

"Could Her Highness the Princess not be the child of the Hero?" Even Li En had heard such street rumors.

The more one went into the streets and alleys, the more people liked to discuss the gossip and anecdotes of great figures, and naturally, the Kingdom's royal family had faced considerable criticism.

This rumor regarding the Princess's identity not only spread widely but also had quite a market.

The source and logic were actually plausible; Her Highness the Princess was born more than half a year after the Hero's death, leaving too much room for speculation.

"I saw Her Highness the Princess in the New Capital; calculating the time, she is nearly sixteen, yet she looks like a thirteen-year-old girl." Even so, as she grew up, the gossip increased and became more convincing.

Things like "To maintain the crumbling Kingdom, the royal family deceived the public into believing the Hero had descendants with the royal family," or "The current Princess is a child born later by the Queen; the Hero's original child was strangled to death," spoken as if they were true.

"Gaga. She is a Dragonkin. A high-purity Evil Dragon seed! She grows slowly! It's normal!"

But Kukku saw the truth at a glance.

The problem was that the Queen certainly knew the truth that the girl was a Dragonkin, yet she found it even harder to explain.

"The Hero was a Lionkin, and the Queen seems to be a Lionkin too; how could they give birth to a Dragonkin?!"

Let alone others, even Li En was a bit stunned; he even suspected if his head in his past life was a bit green.

"Gah, truly miserable. Suffered the Dragon. Encountered the Evil Dragon." And Kukku seemed to be laughing strangely, completely enjoying the show.

Could it be that Princess Dai Niya was truly not the child of Hero Laina? This thought flashed through Li En's mind.

For some reason, Li En felt somewhat relieved, yet also a bit regretful.

In any case, at this moment his mind had turned to mush, his emotions were terribly strange, and he could not explain it at all.

Li En instinctively felt something was wrong again.

When he first met Dai Niya a few days ago, he felt an affection and love with no reason, as if seeing his own kin.

Later, the development of "Su Er" and "Long Shou" into that subtle "old man and girl" relationship might have its source in this subtle blood resonance and affection.

Initially, he thought it was due to the proximity of Dragonkin bloodlines, but when he confirmed Dai Niya was Laina's child, Li En had a strange, subtle feeling of "just as I thought."

Could it be that all of this was an illusion?

"No matter what race the Great Evil Dragon is, the children are all Dragonkin." But Kukku's seemingly casual words left Li En completely stunned and shattered this dirty speculation.

"Kukku's sixteen children. They are all Dragonkin! Dragonkin!" Kukku even had proof.

However, when saying this, he seemed to be gritting his teeth, and even anger was transmitted from the soul.

"Kukku said it. The soul is the essence. The child of a Dragon Soul is still a Dragon! Kukku was very confused back then! Very angry!" This anger was real, and well-founded.

Back then, Kukku's children probably did not even have many Kobold physical features.

In a sense, every "Li En Sudar" hating "Li En Sudar" might have a reason.

If their lives encountered misfortune and confusion, it could all be said to be messed up by that source.

Otherwise, perhaps the Paladin Su Er would have had a stable life, and perhaps the Kobold Kukku would not have been expelled from the tribe.

Leaving other things aside, perhaps Kukku back then was also very confused, looking at one by one Dragonkin children who were a head taller than himself.

And what Kukku said about "suffering the Dragon" was not just something he said off the cuff; it was a "special phenomenon" recorded only in some ancient races.

Did the Kingdom's Queen and Princess know? In fact, the Queen did know.

After the Day of Catastrophe, after Laina's death, all information about his face disappeared, even including the world's memory of his appearance; then came the birth of Dai Niya, this Dragonkin. Naturally, the royal family at the time knew something was wrong and had the ability to verify what had happened.

The royal family back then still had high-level connections, and the Queen contacted some trustworthy Ancients to inquire about this situation.

Finally, from a certain special Ancient, they received a response filled with sympathy.

"This is suffering the Dragon."

"Suffering the Dragon? What Dragon?" But regarding the specific situation, that Ancient did not explain clearly.

The Ancient only informed the Queen that if someone's facial information vanished after death, and their descendant was a Dragonkin, it was mostly due to the existence of "him (the Dragon)."

This was not mockery nor deception; he was still him, with a complete life trajectory.

It was just that his departure would bring some strange phenomena.

It seemed a Dragon was constantly reincarnating in the mortal world; every time he left, he erased part of his own information to avoid being discovered.

"There is no substantial impact; ignore it." That was what the Ancient said, but from the royal family's perspective, it was impossible to truly ignore it, after all, countless eyes were watching.

Regarding this truth, the Queen herself did not know how to understand it, let alone tell her child. To tell her, "Your father is a Dragon that reincarnates constantly?" That was too abstract, especially since the Kingdom had just been destroyed by another Dragon.

Compared to these inexplicable matters, it was better to let the child believe her father was a hero who died fighting for the Kingdom.

Ultimately, what Dai Niya learned was only that her father Laina was killed and cursed by a Dragon.

And that curse followed the bloodline to herself, who was still a fetus, turning her into a Dragonkin as well.

She, bearing national hatred and family vengeance, and also burdened with a "curse," naturally hated Dragons to an abstract degree.

After all, due to this reason that could neither be explained nor made public, at a time when the Kingdom's citizens hated Dragons to an abstract degree, Dai Niya could not reveal her Dragonkin identity.

You say you are cursed by a Dragon and we believe you? We might say you are the result of the Queen's illicit affair with a Dragon, and perhaps the Hero was killed by your conspiracy.

The world is never short of malicious rumors and ambitious people; in the environment at that time, Her Highness the Princess Dai Niya could only wear fake ears and a fake tail all day, disguising herself as a Lionkin.

And this seemed to be something she had to wear for a lifetime, even having to worry about her secret being exposed for the rest of her life.

"Poor girl. Bad dragon. Big bad dragon!" Lord Lord Kuku couldn't bear to watch anymore.

Regardless, he had properly raised his own dozen or so cubs.

As for the cub before him, he was likely living in a daze.

Would a normal Dragonborn hate a dragon? Uh, it seems they would.

Lord Lord Kuku, a Dragonborn of kobold origin, shook his head; he was an exception too, he was a victim as well!

"It's all the Big Bad Dragon's fault!" In short, it was all Li En Sudar's fault!

And now, the "Big Bad Dragon" himself was completely bewildered in his mind.

"How about it, Lex, you try?!" He reached for his grimoire; were the conditions met? The Princess was right before his eyes.

Li En wanted to pass the buck, but unfortunately, that Hero Soul Card remained completely motionless.

Since he had already seen the "Princess" and the conditions still weren't met, this Princess likely referred to the Princess from sixteen years ago, the current Queen.

Watching the girl still speaking generously above, Li En sighed.

What she said, Li En really hadn't heard clearly; his mind had already become a tangled mess.

He already had a premonition that since he was within the Kingdom, he could not avoid that matter from back then.

According to the Hero Soul's demand to investigate the truth of the incident back then and avoid real trouble coming to his door, he looked completely baffled.

"Is this also the reason I awoke here?" Li En had already realized that he, Lord Lord Kuku, Lex, and Sul were fundamentally different.

They were complete reincarnations, only recovering their memories right before death, while he had been in a complete form with complete memories from the very start.

Lex had quite a few old acquaintances from back then; Li En's scalp went numb, and another possibility occurred to him.

"Your Excellency Lord Lord Kuku... that magic that erased the facial features, it shouldn't be broken, right? I won't be so unlucky as to be dug up, will I?"

"Ha, how is that possible? In this world, there is no magic that cannot be broken! There is no absolute; that is the only absolute of magic!" Lord Lord Kuku spoke very seriously, even switching his train of thought.

At this moment, Li En was truly considering whether to move to another city to develop.

But thinking of Talia, Damon, Larry... it seemed he had already formed too many bonds.

In the end, he could only sigh helplessly and pray that trouble wouldn't come knocking on his door.

The karma of Lex back then, he could not bear; he was truly innocent!

"Li En!" And at this moment, Larry pushed him; it was time to go on stage to receive the medal.

He was a bit dazed, but he obediently went up.

Recalling what the etiquette teacher had said before, he knelt on one knee before the Princess and accepted this Third-Rank Knight title and Fourth-Rank Kingdom Knight Medal.

"Gah, a father kneeling before his daughter!" And Lord Lord Kuku seemed very pleased.

"Shut up!" And Li En, inexplicably, felt annoyed.

But looking at the young girl who was close enough to touch, hanging the medal on him, the kneeling Li En had to calm down again.

He had no idea what to say; his mind had completely turned to mush; he just opened his mouth wide, smiling like a fool, seeming to act very happy.

"Hmph, far worse than Sul." And this girl, while smiling brightly, leaned in close to whisper a mockery.

It seemed she still held Li En, this successor of Sul, in great contempt.

Li En didn't know whether to laugh or cry and could only nod repeatedly.

Yes, yes, much worse, far worse; please, Your Highness the Princess, do not focus your attention on me, a small figure!

(End of this chapter)