VBNWDW - Chapter 70
Chapter 70
"I said I didn't go out. I went home right after class and stayed in my room the whole time."
"How can you prove you were in your room? What were you doing?"
Faced with Duke Naist's relentless questioning, the newly awakened Nestor, his face pale, stubbornly replied, "The guards at the door can prove it."
"Those are your family's guards. Besides, what if you secretly climbed the wall and left?" Caius and Leif piped up, arguing forcefully.
The situation had escalated to this point largely because of those two. To minimize their own fault, they had to insist that Nestor had ambushed them.
Nestor's face grew even paler with anger. He pointed at them and cursed, "On what grounds do you assume it was me? What if it was someone you two offended in the past? Blaming me based on a bit of fire element is ridiculous."
Someone from the other side immediately retorted, "But you did have a conflict with Orion that day."
"I had a conflict with Orion. Why would I go after him and not these two wastes? Besides, I was busy…" He stopped abruptly, swallowing his words with a grim expression.
The people from the Temple of Light were still here. If he rashly mentioned that he had been spending his nights studying with the projection crystal his teacher had left him, and combined that with his usual listless attitude, wouldn't it be like saying he looked down on the Temple's elders and thought they weren't worthy of teaching him?
Now that his family was in complete opposition to the Naist family, if they offended the Temple as well…
Nestor pressed his lips together, stopping in frustration.
But the other side seemed to have found a weakness and pressed on, "Busy with what?"
Nestor's father quickly stepped forward to cover for him. "Nestor was indeed in his room all night."
"And your word can be trusted?"
"You!"
The arguing continued unabated. On the other side of the wall hung a heavily painted oil portrait. A corner of the ornate, gold-patterned wallpaper was peeling, revealing large patches of mold underneath.
The elongated shadow of the wall fell across the messy dishes, and the chair, unable to bear the weight of two people, let out a creak.
The hand that had been pinching her face had fallen away at some point, now tightly gripping the other person's collar, wrinkling the fabric into a messy state.
The woman sitting sideways in Metis's lap hooked her arms around Metis's neck. Her gracefully lined arms were like vines, climbing from the shoulders and neck, winding tighter and tighter until the two were so close they were inseparable.
Her bare feet, suspended in the air, swayed. Perhaps having learned the arrogant nature of dragons, even the tips of her toes were slightly upturned. The slender, arched instep of her slightly bent foot revealed a network of veins, on which a beam of light fell.
Her thin lips were covered in a layer of mist. The scabbed wound had been bitten open again, looking somewhat tragic.
But the perpetrator was a heartless creature. Not only did she feel no guilt, but she even revealed a satisfied and wicked smile.
This kiss, tinged with a hint of punishment, finally concluded with two sets of teeth marks.
Foreheads pressed together, so close they could feel the breeze from each other's fluttering eyelashes, their chaotic breaths intertwining.
It seemed they had stopped with restraint, but if there had been true restraint, how would it have ever begun?
"Metis…" The dragon was a little impatient. Having tasted other sweets, she was no longer satisfied with just this; she always had to do something more outrageous.
Metis pecked her on the lips, a silent appeasement.
After a short wait, the group finally emerged, under the pretext of not disturbing Nestor's rest, though they were still arguing.
The Temple maintained its usual style, saying little and remaining as silent as possible.
The young knight and her mother, as uninvolved parties, stood to the side like background props.
Only the two factions, led by the Naist and Maple families, argued endlessly.
Although the Naist family was in the wrong, they relied on their long-held leading position and the help of other families, and actually gained the upper hand.
Duke Maple insisted his son hadn't left the house but couldn't produce any evidence, his expression twisting with anger.
It wasn't until the group returned to the main hall and saw the woman beside Her Majesty the Queen that their voices died abruptly. They stared wide-eyed before quickly lowering their heads, not daring to look closely.
They weren't fools. The little black dragon from before was gone, replaced by this seductive woman with silver hair and dark skin. Who couldn't guess her identity?
Her gilded eyes swept over them with a casual air.
Everyone felt a sudden, inexplicable fear—the instinctual alarm an animal feels when encountering danger. The only Magister among them, the Head of the Temple, suddenly felt his heart palpitate and took several steps back.
"Your Majesty," the strong-willed Duke Naist was the first to react, forcing himself to remain calm as he bowed in salute.
The others, jolted to their senses, followed his example.
As for the woman beside her, they dared not ignore her nor act rashly. After all, dragons were known to be eccentric by nature, creatures with wickedness etched into their very bones. If they offended her with a careless word, their entire family might be annihilated.
Metis raised her eyes slightly and said, "How is Nestor?"
It was as if she hadn't noticed the woman beside her at all, yet everyone instantly breathed a sigh of relief.
They had gambled correctly.
Just as their ancestors had warned, dragons were extremely arrogant and unwilling to engage in empty pleasantries with humans. When encountering one, it was best to just quietly do what one was supposed to do.
This was also why they had only lowered their heads to eat their porridge when they saw the little black dragon earlier.
Duke Maple quickly stepped forward and briefly explained what had happened inside.
Metis nodded slightly, her pale gray-blue eyes focused, a faint smile on her lips, looking every bit the proper queen she usually was.
The silver-haired woman beside the queen had a lazy expression, lacking the charming naivety of the little black dragon. She leaned bonelessly against the queen, her gaze fixed on the back of the crowd, as if she had seen something amusing.
Metis listened for a bit. They were all predictable words. Uninterested, she followed the black dragon's line of sight.
Over there were two families. The Iliana family had once been a mid-tier family in the Council, but after the gold mine incident, they had to cut their losses to subsidize military expenses. Now they had fallen to the bottom rung of the Council families, with virtually no say, and ended up standing with the perennially ostracized Mo Wen and her mother.
Caius and Leif hadn't dared to say they were out to bully a girl, only vaguely mentioning they were out for a stroll together, so they hadn't dragged the Iliana family into it.
When she found where Yueqing's gaze had settled, Metis frowned slightly. She thought she was looking at Mo Wen, but it turned out to be Ivo.
It was strange, really. Although the black dragon was mischievous, she wasn't one to act recklessly. That night, she could have knocked out Caius and Leif silently, yet she had deliberately kicked Mo Wen out to collide with Ivo.
Fortunately, Ivo had a cold personality and didn't speak up, even though she sensed something was amiss.
When Duke Maple finally finished speaking, Metis returned to the present and offered a few more polite words of concern. Then, her tone shifted, and she said directly, "Regardless of the pretext, Orion deliberately using a scroll to harm Nestor is a fact that everyone witnessed."
As soon as she said this, everyone's expression changed. Even Duke Maple showed a look of surprise mixed with complexity.
Metis, as if not seeing their reactions, continued, "Orion is standing here perfectly fine, yet Nestor's future has been affected. The Naist family should rightfully offer compensation and an apology."
Although the Naist family had offered to compensate at the beginning, the questions of who was at fault, how to compensate, and how much were another matter entirely. Now that the queen had suddenly spoken, making it clear that the fault lay entirely with the Naist family, the amount of compensation would be enormous.
Hearing this, Orion immediately grew anxious. He stepped forward and shouted, "It was clearly Nestor who was jealous of me…"
Before he could finish, his father clamped a hand over his mouth and dragged him back. He let out a few muffled, indignant sounds, his face full of disbelief.
On the other side, Duke Maple said nothing. Normally, the Council families were a single entity. Any conflicts were resolved privately, while they maintained a harmonious facade. But he was furious now. His son was still lying inside, yet the more he argued, the more he lost ground, forced to watch the other side twist the truth.
He was also well aware that if the last incident was Her Majesty's test, then this was her tearing off her benevolent facade and telling everyone plainly that she was taking back the power that was rightfully hers.
But Duke Maple was too consumed by anger to think clearly. In the past, he might have been willing to step up and defy the little queen to save face for the Council, but now he had no desire to make that sacrifice. Why should his son be lying in bed while Orion got to spout nonsense here?
The Temple remained silent. They hadn't forgotten how Orion had deliberately tried to drag them into this, so they certainly weren't going to help him now.
This was an unavoidable gambit.
Everyone present understood it, yet they were powerless to stop it.
They could only watch as the puppet queen they had sidelined casually declared, "Orion is impulsive and has a violent temper. He is not suited to be in the Royal Guard. It would be better for him to return to his family to be disciplined by his elders."
It was one thing to not want to join, but another to be kicked out.
Orion's expression instantly turned hideous.
But the queen gave them no chance to speak. She added, "Ivo, Mo Wen, didn't you say you wanted to borrow a book from me?"
The two, who had been called upon, were stunned.
"Let's go," Metis said, standing up. She took Yueqing's hand and led the way out, her posture identical to how the Council families had turned and left the moment they heard Nestor had woken up.
The matter they had argued over endlessly was thus decided by a few words from an outsider. No one dared to object. The only sound in the hall was the patter of footsteps following closely behind.
Ivo and Mo Wen hurried forward to follow them.
The queen's long golden hair billowed in the wind as she led the dragon away, disappearing around a corner in an instant.
The people in the hall remained silent for a long time. Having constrained her with absolute power for so long, they now found it incredibly difficult to accept being treated in the same manner.
Duke Maple snorted coldly and turned to go see his son. Now that a verdict had been reached, as long as the dragon remained in the Roy Kingdom, he didn't fear any tricks from the Naist family.
The people from the Temple left without a word, slipping away quietly.
Duke Naist, who had been standing in place, released his hand. Orion was thrown off, stumbling a few steps before looking up at his father in a panic. He opened his mouth, about to speak, when a gust of wind rushed toward him.
—Slap!
An angry palm struck his face, which instantly swelled and turned red. Duke Naist cursed, "Useless thing!"
In the end, he didn't even spare him another glance and stormed away.
The others followed behind him, leaving quickly. Soon, the only one left in the hall was Orion, his left cheek swollen.
The moon was full and the night deep. Torches lit up the city, and the sturdy walls still stood tall as carriages departed one by one.
In another part of the palace, the lights in the study came on. It was the same place where Metis once had her lessons. The rigid believer of the God of Light was gone, and in his place sat two bewildered people.
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