Granted the privilege of transporting me, the White Deer King had her nose up in the sky again, especially toward Dragon Mom . Lucia was slightly upset . With a hopeless smile, I said, “Don’t worry about me, Lucia . Head on back first . I’ll be back after some recuperation . ”

Lucia tugged on my cloak and cautiously asked, “But I don’t want to stay in a palace without you… Your Highness, can I bring the girls to Duargana? I want to see Mom and Dad, too . ”

I looked over to Mommy Vyvyan as a means of asking . She rubbed Lucia’s small head and smiled: “That’d be nice . Duargana is also Lucia’s homeland, so it’s a nice idea to let her visit her parents . That will give the girls’ grandparents a chance see their granddaughters . It’d be too unfair on Echte, otherwise . ”

As soon as Vyvyan said that, Elizabeth immediately said to Nier, “Okay, then, Nier, you return to Hilles City for now . Daisy should undergo her baptism, too, now . ”

Nier hesitantly looked at me . I nodded: “That’ll be good . I’ll be worried about leaving you alone in the Imperial Palace . With Mommy Elizabeth with you, I’ll feel more a.s.sured . Oh, right, Ying, Xia, you two should return to the Imperial Palace first . ”

Ying and Xia nodded . The two seemed eager to return . I speculated Xia wanted to return because she wanted to cook, though . Xia really enjoyed working as a chef .

Rea.s.sured, Nier nodded: “All right, Your Majesty . I will head back, and then bring Daisy over . ”

Elizabeth nodded: “All right . ”

Our group arrived outside the forest . Irina followed behind us and had her head down in silence the entire time . Camille silently gave her daughter a light hug around her shoulders . I occasionally looked back, but I soon stopped, as I didn’t dare to look her way . I couldn’t bear to continue looking at her . Irina had just gotten pregnant, which was something she should’ve been jovial about, yet she was so poignant that she was on the verge of crying . We knew we couldn’t be together . Still, reality was harsh .

I sighed and stopped turning around . Dragon Mom, who was walking beside me, touched my hand . Quietly, she said, “It’s all right, Son . That is enough . You don’t need to feel guilty anymore . Your life isn’t here . Mommy doesn’t want you to remain here forever, either . You should be at the Imperial Palace, not here . ”

I let out a gentle sigh: “I understand that . But nevertheless, I feel as though I’ve let Irina down and the child when I look at her . The child will be born without a father . I can’t acknowledge him even in the future if he was to stand before me . From your perspectives, he’s the future of the dragon race but to me, he’s just a kid . ”

Dragon Mom smiled: “… Some people are born with responsibilities . Son, you’re so kind as always . Don’t worry about things here, leave it to Mommy . The elves have Vyvyan, while humans have Elizabeth, so leave this place to me . ”

“I’m entrusting it all to you, then, Mom . ”

“Sure . ”

Dragon Mom revealed a consoled smile after hearing me called her “Mom” .

We could see the lawn outside . We turned around, but I was the only speaker, as the others didn’t have a good opinion of the dragons . After mincing the inside of my jaw, I said, “We’re off, then . A fair number of things have happened recently, so I guess we’re acquainted . ”

Camille nodded: “Uhm, I must apologise for what transpired . The entire world has been turned on its head in less than a month . I am very sorry about the misfortune you suffered . I apologise for what I did and for what my dragon kin did . ”

I shook my head: “It doesn’t matter now . It’s all in the past now . Plus, it’s not your fault . If Mommy Sylvanas isn’t angry, I don’t have any complaints . ”

“Uhm, see you next time, then . ”

Maybe we wouldn’t meet again, but we still said that phrase .

I s.h.i.+fted my gaze to Irina . It wasn’t so bad speaking to Camille, as I had put the past behind me… kind of . Irina, on the other hand, I just couldn’t ignore .

Irina’s shoulders trembled subtly, but I couldn’t leave the White Deer King to embrace her . All I could do was apologetically look at her . She didn’t want to raise her chin . I knew her face was smothered in tears .

Nier and Lucia were worried . I forced myself to take in a deep breath: “I’m leaving, then, Irina . Look after yourself and the child . Make sure to take care of yourself . You must make sure to be a good mother when the child is born . Raise him well . He is your son, after all . ”

Irina responded with a small nod . Nonetheless, she refused to raise her head . We fell into an awkward silence . We didn’t converse . I just looked at her shaking shoulders, but didn’t speak . A short moment afterwards, Dragon Mom patted me on my thigh to indicate that I could leave . I tugged the reins in my hands then looked ahead, where Irina was nowhere in sight . I sighed and softly said, “See you again, then, Irina . ”

I didn’t say farewell, but it was farewell for good . I wasn’t going to the Northwest again . Irina wouldn’t come to the Imperial Palace, and I wouldn’t acknowledge our child, either . He was never to be allowed in the palace even if he was a Prince . I guess that was sad in its own right .

After I turned around, Nier and Lucia felt relieved to see that I didn’t show any yearning or didn’t bring Irina along . They giggled as I moved around . Irina never spoke the entire way or chase after me . We trained our sight forward and headed toward the lawn . We went further and further away from the dragon’s lands . I didn’t turn back around, and Irina didn’t speak . It was as if we were strangers just as when I first arrived there . I didn’t bring anything . I take that back, I took a big batch of gold, but that was all .

Camille touched her daughter’s shoulder and quietly said, “They’ve left . ”

Irina jolted . She then slowly raised her head . Her tears coursed down her face as if she was unleas.h.i.+ng a storm onto the rotten leaves . She looked in the direction they left . She fused her fingers into steely clamps . The pain was so much to bear that she bit down on her bottom lip until it bled .

Camille pitifully caressed her daughter and softly acknowledged, “He’s gone . ” As she trembled, Irina softly muttered, “I know, I know… He’s gone… He won’t… He won’t be coming back again…”