Chapter 2

I carried Kaelorn in my arms, my feet crunching over shattered snake scales, the air tinged with the faint scent of blood.

Kaelorn was stiff in my arms, like a block of ice.

He didn't dare lean into me, but he didn't dare struggle free, either.

I gently set him down on the ground at the mouth of the stone cave.

"Kaelorn, we're here."

He curled in on himself, his severed tail dragging behind him.

He didn't speak. He didn't look at me.

His ears twitched slightly, as if he were waiting for me to kick him away next.

I asked softly, "Does it hurt?"

Kaelorn jerked all over, like something had stabbed him. His blind left eye was unfocused, while his right tried to avoid mine.

In a hoarse voice, he said, "Y-Your Highness... I... I can crawl by myself. I won't trouble you..."

I crouched down and gathered his half-lifted body back into my arms.

His whole body went rigid.

"Elara..." he rasped. "I... I'm dirty."

My hand stilled over the base of his broken tail.

I knew what a severed tail meant to the serpent race—

shame. Worthlessness. Something less than a person.

The dragons had shattered his spirit veins, forced him to kneel on the stone steps of the Realm of Light, stomped on his tail in public, and let Lyra whip him until his flesh was torn open.

No one had ever treated him like a person.

I lifted my head and looked into the darkness ahead.

"Kaelorn, I brought you back here," I said, "not so you could keep kneeling."

He shuddered violently.

I had just opened my mouth to continue, when a mocking dragon voice suddenly rang out from outside the cave.

"Well, well. Did the Dark Realm pick up a new little snake girl?"

Along with heavy footsteps, several dragon patrol soldiers in broken-horn armor barged into the cave.

There had always been a border between dragon territory and serpent territory, but the dragons had long treated the Dark Realm like a filthy back alley they could insult at will, coming and going as they pleased.

The broken-horned dragon captain at the front stared at me and smiled.

"So this is what a Serpentkin looks like? Better-looking than the usual rotten scraps."

Then his gaze dropped to Kaelorn, curled up on the ground. "Huh. Isn't this that crippled snake?"

He brought his boot down on Kaelorn's broken tailbone.

Crack.

Kaelorn convulsed violently, but didn't dare make a sound.

"Y-Your... Highness..." he forced out in a breath from deep in his throat. "Don't... mind me..."

My face went pale.

Their laughter only grew louder.

"Snake girl, do you like him? That thing doesn't even have a tail anymore. What are you planning to feed him? Your blood?"

"Hahaha—serpents really are born pathetic."

The broken-horned dragon captain lifted his foot and stomped down again.

Kaelorn's whole body curled into a bow from the pain, but he still shook his head at me desperately and bowed even lower.

"Elara... don't... don't mind me... please..."

The black fog in my chest exploded.

The next instant—

"That's enough."

The words came out low and cold from the bottom of my throat.

The dragon captain sneered. "Little snake, who the hell do you think you ar—"

I raised my hand and seized his throat.

Crack.

The sound was like bone crushing inside my grip.

The dragon captain's eyes went wide with disbelief. "You... Serpentkin... how—"

With my other hand, I grabbed the base of his dragon horn and yanked downward.

Craaack—!!

I tore the entire horn off by force.

Blood sprayed across the ground, and the dragon captain screamed.

The other dragon soldiers went deathly pale.

"She... she snapped off a dragon horn with her bare hand?!"

"That's an adult dragon's horn! How is that even possible—"

I tossed the broken horn aside like garbage.

Then I walked toward the remaining dragon soldiers, one step at a time.

They immediately backed away, their wings shuddering wildly.

"We're... Light Realm patrol... we were just... making a routine inspection—"

I grabbed one soldier by the base of his wing.

"Routine?" I said coldly. "Stomping on my people—stomping on him—is part of your routine?"

"We... we didn't step on you!"

I gave my wrist a light twist.

Crack!

That heavy dragon wing snapped in half.

The scream echoed through the entire cave.

The remaining dragon soldiers didn't dare stay another second. They stumbled over themselves and fled the Dark Realm in terror.

Darkness settled over the cave once more.

I turned around.

Kaelorn was still kneeling.

He was shaking badly, but he hadn't lifted his head.

"El... Elara..." His voice was so strained it almost sounded like he was crying. "Why would you... do this... for me..."

I walked over, crouched down, and reached out to help him up.

But Kaelorn flinched so hard he scrambled backward, his back striking the cold stone wall, yet he still didn't dare move too far away from me.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I shouldn't have made you do that... I shouldn't have made you angry..."

His blind eye was wet, as if he had spent his whole life waiting to be punished.

I gently took his hand.

"Kaelorn, you didn't make me angry."

His breathing stopped short.

I unwrapped the cloth around the base of his severed tail, preparing to treat the wound.

The moment my fingertips brushed the base of the injury, a faint glow suddenly lit up.

An ancient serpent marking lay hidden beneath his scales—like a curse left behind by the Serpent God.

Kaelorn jolted violently, as if an electric current had run through him, and a flicker of light flashed deep within his blind eye.

As though he were seeing me for the first time, he slowly lifted his head.

His voice trembled, but it was firm.

"Elara... I... I won't leave you again."

In that moment, it was as if he had reached out a hand from endless darkness, and I took it.

Outside the cave, a dragon alarm suddenly began ringing in the distance.

They had noticed.

The bloodline of the Serpent God... was awakening.