Upon returning to the palace, Iris took Leo to the palace’s laboratory and locked him in a secret room, personally casting over a dozen spells to block magic inside the secret room.
However, knowing that Leo might use teleportation magic from another world to escape, she understood that the world’s typical anti-magic spells might not work.
To address this, Iris instructed other dragon mages to inject Leo with signal magic fluid, causing him to emit a constant magical signal. With the corresponding magic, they could always detect his location. This way, even if Leo managed to escape, they would be able to track him down.
Besides that, Iris also ordered the guards to monitor Leo closely without breaks, so they could inform her immediately if anything unusual happened.
After dealing with Leo, it was close to dusk.
At the same time, the experiments on Zelan were complete.
Iris listened to the report from her specialized magic research team.
Finally, the magic research team gave a final conclusion they present.
“Your Majesty, we still cannot extract that energy against its will from the host. It seems to have a consciousness of its own, and we cannot interfere with or deceive the host’s dreams to make them willingly release the energy.”
“I see,” Iris responded.
The results of the research on Zelan were no different from the other captured heroes. They could only observe the mysterious energy within their consciousness but couldn’t communicate directly with it.
Five years ago, Iris began focusing on studying the changes in Naya. Although she still hadn’t fully figured out why Naya turned into a dragon, the research team found inspiration from her transformation. While they couldn’t replicate Naya’s exact changes, they did develop a unique method to turn humans into dragons.
Naya’s body, however, was different from typical dragons. It wasn’t that she wasn’t truly a dragon—her genes were indeed draconic, and she could mate and bear children with dragons without any reproductive isolation.
But she carried a mutation, which had been passed down to both Illya and the soon-to-be-born dragon children.
This mutation, catalyzed by the strange energy found in Heroes, was positive. It wouldn’t harm Naya’s offspring and would preserve the dragon king’s lineage.
Typically, when the Dragon King, the strongest of dragons, mates with a weaker dragon, the offspring would be slightly weaker, as their genes would be mixed with lesser traits.
Over time, as this process repeats, the power of the dragon king lineage would diminish, the royal blood becoming increasingly diluted.
To ensure the Dragon King remained the strongest, ancient ancestors developed a method known as the “Dragon King’s bloodline.” Once someone became the dragon king and was acknowledged by the bloodline, they would awaken its power, ensuring the new Dragon King retained the full strength of the original Dragon King.
This is why other royal families always coveted the throne—if they gained recognition from the bloodline, they could awaken it, purify their genes, and become the strongest, ascending to the Dragon King’s throne.
However, Naya’s children were different. After Illya’s birth, Iris conducted research on her. The results showed that Illya’s genes contained no impurities, she was the purest Dragon King, with powers matching Iris’s from birth. With enough experience, when Iris grew old and retired, Illya could take the throne immediately.
Naya, in both physical and emotional ways, was Iris’s treasure.
Iris loved Naya—not just for her beauty and the warmth she brought to their family, but for the homey atmosphere she created. This was an experience Iris had never known within the royal family.
When the ancestors developed the bloodline awakening function, they ignored the dragons’ quest for power. As long as one became the “victor” in the throne struggles, they could awaken the bloodline and become the strongest, leading to a royal family devoid of warmth for thousands of years.
This is why Illya had faced what she did—betrayed by fellow young dragons she thought were her friends.
After organizing the scholars’ reports, Iris sighed deeply. It was time to go home and see her wife.
Leaving the laboratory, she made her way to the Sky Dragon Palace. The warm glow of the sunset bathed her, making her feel light, as though a joyful bird was fluttering in her chest. Each day, she eagerly looked forward to reuniting with Naya.
Walking through the front hall to the dining room, Iris found Illya kneeling on Naya’s lap, giggling as Naya told her a story, seemingly unaffected by the afternoon’s events.
Hearing Iris’s approach, Illya turned and called out cheerfully, “Mother, you’re back!”
“Mmm,” Iris responded.
“Time to eat! Time to eat!”
To avoid running back and forth, the maids had placed a warming cabinet in the dining room. If Naya finished cooking before Iris got home, she would put the food there, ready to be served as soon as Iris returned. This way, there was no need to go back to the kitchen.
Dinner was served!
Illya grabbed her big bowl and started devouring the food. The afternoon’s battle had drained her magic, and she needed a hearty meal to replenish it. Luckily, Naya’s cooking had magical replenishing properties. Otherwise, Illya would have needed a whole table’s worth of food to recover.
Today, Illya was especially well-behaved. After her bath, she didn’t cling to Naya like usual but graciously let her spend time with Iris.
When the two wives entered the bathhouse together, Naya slipped into the bath, leaned against the edge, closed her eyes, and asked softly:
“How are we going to handle this situation?”
“What do you think we should do?”
“I’m asking you. Don’t answer my question with another question.”
Her tone carried a hint of annoyance, a rare display of Naya’s temper. After returning in the afternoon, she had been focused on comforting Illya, cheering her up and helping her forget what had happened. But Naya couldn’t forget. Whoever dared to harm her daughter would pay for it.
Still, since the culprits were royal offsprings, the final decision had to be Iris’s. Naya wanted to see how much Iris loved their daughter and whether she would seek justice for her.
Iris turned and pulled Naya into her arms. Feeling her beloved struggling, Iris rested her chin on Naya’s shoulder and whispered her thoughts:
“Is executing them acceptable?”
Hearing this, Naya finally stopped her sulking and quietly let Iris hold her.
The wizard Of SILVER
…. What?