Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 366

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Raon blinked his eyes.

Thump. Thump. Thump.
The heart that had been pounding fiercely now settled. It no longer beat with such violent intensity.
The aching pain that had tormented me also vanished.

“…I… cannot comprehend this.”

Raon found it difficult to immediately accept and understand this situation.
Before me stood a small, translucent White Dragon of my own size, smiling as it gazed upon me.

‘Welcome, my child.’

These words seeped into Raon’s heart.

My child?
‘My’?

Though the words resonated in my heart, my mind could not properly comprehend them.

The translucent White Dragon before my eyes was small.
My mind went blank in that instant, and without thinking, I opened my mouth.

“I am— Raon Mir.”

My name is Raon Mir.
I had engraved this name upon my heart. And it seemed I must speak this name to the small White Dragon before me.

“Yes.”

A radiant smile bloomed at the corners of the White Dragon’s mouth.

“So your name is Raon Mir. It is a fine name.”

Thump. Thump. Thump.
Raon felt his heart pounding fiercely once more. The words that had slowly seeped in began to convey their full meaning to both my heart and mind.

So Raon turned his head to look at ‘my human’.

“…What are you doing?”

I could see Kale Heniatus speaking in an indifferent tone.
His left hand, still gripping the crown, trembled slightly as it hung limply at his side.

Starting from that sight, I finally noticed the bewildered faces of my companions surrounding Kale Heniatus, one by one.
Even Erhafen bore expressions of confusion and astonishment on his face.

From among them, a gruff voice drew my gaze back.

“Come here.”

I saw Kale Heniatus approaching across the ground filled with white granules.

“Raon Mir.”

My wings fluttered.

“Come here.”

At Kale Heniatus’s second call, I hurriedly flew to his side. He turned me around to his back.

My small front paws touched his back.
Only then did Kale Heniatus change direction and quicken his pace.

“…Kale Heniatus.”

Choi Han quickly approached behind us.

“Are you going in right away?”

Choi Han’s gaze turned toward the White Castle.
In his lowered eyes were reflected the towering City Wall surrounding the castle, the open City Gate, and the translucent White Dragon beyond the gate.
Beyond that, the magnificent White Castle, radiating light, came into view.

Surely, no dragon had ever entered that place until now.
Yet the White Dragon that appeared from there had invited Kale Heniatus and me.

Is it safe?

Choi Han couldn’t know what dangers lurked within. Besides, hadn’t Kale mentioned it? Somewhere here might be the Dragon Slayer Village, the homeland of the White Star.
I had to be careful, and then careful again.

Then I heard Kale’s soft laughter. I could see Kale’s expression.

“So?”

So what was I supposed to do?
At the message conveyed by Kale’s gaze, I momentarily lost my words.

“You heard it too, didn’t you?”

Suddenly, the memory of the White Dragon calling Raon “my child” flashed through my mind.
I realized that Kale was equally aware of the dangers I had mentioned about this place. Yet I also understood why Kale was moving forward regardless.

“…I did hear it.”
“Right. Then we have to go.”

Without another word, I moved to stand behind Raon.

“…Human.”

Kale casually tapped Raon’s torso behind him with his right hand and took a step forward.
I felt Raon’s two front legs trembling slightly.

Great or not, Raon had only been alive for six years.
In such a situation, I suddenly heard the words “my child.”

How could someone just appear out of nowhere and casually throw out such an enormous statement? How startled must the child be?
As Kale, I couldn’t understand it at all.

And because I couldn’t understand it, naturally I had to step forward as a guardian.
Wasn’t that the law?

Of course, I wasn’t sure if that was the law of this world, but I acted according to my own common sense. After all, reckless fools don’t think about laws and just do as they please.

“Ho.”

The White Dragon let out a sound of acknowledgment that seemed incongruous with its small frame, regarding Kale Heniatus with curious eyes as he approached me.
Then it spoke in a flat, dismissive tone.

“You have no fear.”

At those words, Choi Han faltered. The Mercenary King Bud also snapped to attention.

The White Dragon.
Small in stature, yes, but this creature was undoubtedly the master of this White Castle and the Last Dragon Lord.
And that dragon was telling Kale Heniatus that he possessed no fear.

Kale Heniatus’s response was even more fearless.

“Pardon?”

Just as Bud flinched at those words, another voice cut through.

“…It’s an illusion! I, I the great one know! That is magic! It, it’s not real!”

It was Raon’s cry.

“Ah.”

Only then did Bud realize that the translucent dragon was indeed magic. The sudden nature of the event had prevented him from grasping the truth immediately.

Pat, pat.
Kale Heniatus gently tapped the body of Raon, who was crying out from behind him. His voice was trembling terribly.

It was Kale Heniatus who had recognized that the entity was an illusion before Raon.
It could not have been otherwise.
This White Castle was the final remnant left by the Dragon Lord.
It would be the Lord’s tomb.

Kale Heniatus opened his mouth.

“Are you the Lord?”

Whooooom.
The crown still vibrated faintly.

“Yes.”

The small White Dragon answered in that moment.

Whoooosh—
A gust of wind wrapped around the White Dragon’s body.

“Open.”

Those were the only words spoken.
The wind departed from the White Dragon and began to move.

BOOM!

Kale Heniatus furrowed his brow at the thunderous sound.
The main gate of the White Castle, surrounded by the City Wall and its massive gates, swung wide open.

That gate was the first.

BOOM! CRASH! CRASH!
And then.
The other gates behind that one.
The subsequent gates continued to open in succession.

The gates aligned in a straight line opened one after another with thunderous crashes.
The wind that had swept past the White Dragon had unlocked the bolts of every firmly sealed gate.

BOOM!
And the moment the final gate opened.
Kale Heniatus could hear Erhafen’s exclamation.

“…What is this?”

Kale Heniatus had no time to look at the Ancient Dragon.
Certainly, the Last Dragon Lord had said he had constructed this massive main gate and castle to protect something.
Yet the sight within the castle that gradually revealed itself as each gate opened was far different from what they had anticipated.

It was destroyed.
And it lay in ruins.

The inner walls of the castle, excluding the gate, and the floor—everything was shattered and destroyed. The exterior gleamed brilliantly, yet within lay desolation.

Crack.
Kale felt Raon’s front paw gripping his collar tightly.
In that moment, he locked eyes with the White Dragon.

“This is the work of the former master of thy power.”

What?
Kale watched as the White Dragon’s pupils gradually narrowed into vertical slits, growing sharper and more intense.

Thump. Thump. Thump.
My heart raced. The dominating aura—that power suddenly began to surge violently. Yet before I could even properly comprehend it.

“I have something to show you.”

With those words, the White Dragon conjured a gust of wind.
Whoooosh—
White snow swirled in the wind, engulfing Kale’s face.

“Ugh!”

Caught off guard by the sudden snowstorm, Kale shut his eyes, then opened them.
And when I opened them again.
In less than five seconds.

“Gasp!”
“This place—!”

Along with my companions’ startled voices, the surroundings came into view. My gaze turned backward.

Open gates and a passage leading outside the castle appeared before me.
The moment the snowstorm struck, Kale and his party had been teleported from outside the castle to within it.

‘The Sovereign of Magic.’

I suddenly recalled the epithet that had once referred to the Dragon Lord. Yet I could not afford to dwell on that title.
The space I had been transported to was a room located within the last gate that had opened moments before.

The heart of the White Castle.
The moment Kale Heniatus stepped into that room, his face contorted.

“This is…”

Erhafen swept a hand across his face.

It was a small room.
Despite its high ceiling, the space itself was cramped.

The room overflowed with various objects.
Carpets, books, toys—there were so many.

The beds were exceptionally small.
A carpet adorned with charming illustrations caught the eye, along with countless books. Among them was one titled ‘Learning the Continental Common Language.’
And scattered throughout were various toys.

All of them existed in a state of ruin.

“This room is the space for the period from birth until one year of age.”

The White Dragon’s voice resonated through the chamber.

“The next room is for age two.”

The crystalline yet composed voice gestured toward a passage leading outward from the castle. A path that required traversing countless doors to reach the outside.

“The room after that spans until age five, and the one following that until age fifty. Thus, rooms exist for each stage of the first growth cycle.”

The first room was the smallest, and as one progressed through the rooms, their dimensions expanded incrementally.
Just as a being’s world expands, so too did the rooms grow wider and taller.

“May this Castle of Light, which neither sun nor moon nor any gaze of this world can easily reach, become a shield protecting from enemies until the second growth cycle concludes—an umbrella against snow and rain, a warm blanket.”

The White Dragon turned toward the space behind Kale Heniatus.

“That is what I created this for.”

Raon was a translucent White Dragon of the same size as me. I gazed upon this illusory existence.
Their eyes met. The White Dragon’s mouth opened.

“And I created ‘myself.'”

That voice was calm.

“So that I would not be alone.”

Yet it carried a gentle smile and warm gaze within it.

“A beautiful death meant nothing to me. What mattered was the life I would live going forward.”

Erhafen repeatedly wiped his eyes with his hand.

The life to come.
That life surely could not have been his own.
His beautiful death, set aside, must have been a choice for the sake of another’s life—one that would bloom anew in this world.

The Ancient Dragon bit his lip and spoke to Kale through magic, his words reaching only the young man’s mind.

-Kale, it seems Raon truly is the child of the Last Dragon Lord.

Even as he spoke, he found it difficult to believe.

-…Of course, it’s hard to fathom that the egg took over nine thousand years to hatch.

The Last Dragon Lord was born at the tail end of the Ancient Era.
The Ancient Era was ten thousand years ago. That meant Raon had endured in his egg form for at least nine to ten thousand years.
He wondered if such a thing was even possible.

Dragons grew stronger the longer their incubation took.
Thus, the Ancient Dragon had anticipated that Raon spent considerable time within his egg.
Yet despite such an enormous span of time, Raon did not possess strength proportional to it.

-I should speak further with the White Dragon. The one who destroyed this place seems to be the White Star as well.

It was an obvious conclusion.
From the moment the White Dragon told Kale that this was the work of ‘the former master of your power,’ the destruction within this shattered castle could only be attributed to the White Star.

-I was thinking it might be better to send Raon outside and then talk-

However, Erhafen could not send any more magical voice messages to Kale Heniatus.

“…Human.”

It was because of Raon’s murmuring.
Raon turned his gaze away from the White Dragon who was looking at me and buried his face behind Kale Heniatus’s back as he spoke.

“…Human, I don’t think I’m smart. Human, human. I am great but I cannot see.”

Erhafen felt puzzled by those words and actions. The rest of the group felt the same way.
What was the reason for this?

That was when it happened.
The White Dragon held Raon, who was behind me, in her embrace, and I could see Kale Heniatus looking at me. Raon buried his face in that embrace.
Kale Heniatus’s mouth opened.

“Since I cannot use magic, I have no choice but to ask out loud like this.”

Kale Heniatus asked with a somewhat sorrowful expression.
He knew why Raon was doing this.

“Why are there two beds?”

In this small room, there were two equally small beds placed.
One of them could not be the White Dragon’s bed.

There were also two books.
Two of the same toys.
Everything came in pairs.

Kale Heniatus could see the White Dragon’s distorting face. The illusory being created by magic, held in Kale Heniatus’s arms, gazed at Raon’s round head of hair—whose face could not be seen—and opened his mouth.

“One black egg. And-”

At that moment, Erhafen’s voice cut through the White Dragon’s words and interjected. It was not intentional. It was a voice that flowed out before he could stop himself, too shocked.

“This is impossible! Dragons can only lay one egg!”

Only a single egg was born at a time.
That was the law of how dragons came into existence.

Yet Kale Heniatus could hear the White Dragon, whose smile had twisted at some point, finish speaking.

“And one crimson egg.”

In that instant, Kale Heniatus looked down at his left hand.
The crown, trembling weakly despite being in contact with Raon, made no attempt to drain blood.

Uuuuung.
The crown began trembling violently once more.

-…Dragon….

The crown spoke, filled with fear and rage.

-…Dragon Hybrid….

Dragon Hybrid?
Kale Heniatus flinched at the crown’s voice searching for an unexpected existence.

Simultaneously, information about the Dragon Hybrid flashed through his mind.
When he first encountered the Dragon Hybrid in the Caro Kingdom and fought with him, Kale Heniatus traced back to that information.
The words the Dragon Hybrid had spoken then came to mind.

‘This is really strange. What is this clumsy Lord smell?’

The Dragon Hybrid had definitely mentioned the word ‘Lord.’

‘Are you a dragon?’
‘You’re a dragon, right? Huh? A dragon that came out of play? You? Or the existence next to you? Huh?’

And in the end, hadn’t the Dragon Hybrid mistaken Kale Heniatus for a Dragon Hybrid on his own?

Kale Heniatus had merely kept that in memory and moved on. However, the moment he recalled one of the other words the Dragon Hybrid had uttered, a chill ran down his spine.
The Dragon Hybrid had definitely said.

‘…I smell a Lord. That power from before was definitely a Lord. I know. I’ve definitely smelled it before.’

He said he had smelled a Dragon Lord’s scent before.

How could a Dragon Hybrid who had lived for merely nine hundred years possibly smell the scent of a Dragon Lord that hadn’t existed for at least nine thousand years?
How?

Without realizing it, Kale Heniatus pulled Raon into a tight embrace.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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