Volume 3 Chapter 247

Volume 3 + Chapter 247: I’m Sorry

At this moment in White Swan City, heavy rain was falling, and people had all gone to take shelter.

In the park within White Swan City, it was the same.

Only the white swans in the lake swam leisurely in the rain, letting out quacking cries.

A golden-haired girl sat on the swing, holding a packaged rose in her hand.

Her once dull and weary eyes lit up with some radiance upon seeing Xia Yi.

“Wright, I knew it… you would come to find me.” Tia smiled.

This scene made Xia Yi think of the past.

That day’s date with his fiancee—at that time, Tia had also been waiting for him, alone, on the park swing.

“It’s raining,” Xia Yi said.

“Mm, I know,” Tia nodded, “but I had already decided to wait for Wright to come to me. If you didn’t come, I would just keep waiting…”

“How long have you been waiting here?”

“For several days now. I haven’t slept at all, a few times I nearly fell asleep from exhaustion.” Tia explained.

Now Xia Yi understood why Tia looked so tired.

For a moment, she didn’t know what to say.

“In front of those reporters, did you deliberately say those words?”

“Yes, because only Wright would understand what I meant. After I said that in front of the reporters that day, I secretly came to White Swan City, and I’ve been waiting for you here all along.”

“You know my current situation… What if I couldn’t come?”

“Then I would keep waiting… until you did.”

“Are you an idiot? Who waits like that?”

Xia Yi showed a pained expression, smiling bitterly.

“But you still came, didn’t you? You’ve never once gone back on a promise—you’ve always been like this.”

In the rain, Tia began to rock the swing.

Perhaps because it was old, the swing let out creaking sounds.

“Wright, I want to have a good talk with you.”

“Mm.”

Xia Yi walked to the swing beside her and sat down.

“Last time was my fault… At that time, I lost control of my emotions, was far too impulsive, only questioning you again and again, without giving you the chance to explain.”

Tia’s shoulders drooped.

“Wright, I have always seen clearly who you truly are. If you had really been a traitor who sought power and chose to join the dragons, I would have realized it long ago. So I think things cannot be as I imagined… Perhaps there is a misunderstanding. This time, I want to truly communicate with you.”

“Don’t say that—it was my fault. I shouldn’t have hidden it from you all this time… As you see, I’ve become like this.”

“Wright, what exactly did you go through?” Tia asked. “Why did you go to subjugate the Silver Dragon Queen?”

“I was never actually a blood descendant of the Schubert family, but a wandering orphan.”

“So… you weren’t?” Tia’s eyes widened in surprise.

“The Schubert family adopted me because they saw my talent in swordsmanship and planned to cultivate me into the clan’s Sword Saint. As they wished, I succeeded, and became the Human Sword Saint, known to the world under the name Wright Schubert, which also raised the Schubert family’s status.”

“Then why, later…”

“Later, the Schubert family’s originally slumbering heir awoke, and I became a redundant existence. So they abandoned me, and gave me an order, to go to the land of dragons, as humanity’s hero, to subjugate the evil Silver Dragon Queen.”

“…”

Now Tia seemed to understand why Wright had suddenly disappeared back then, carrying out such a mission, unwilling even to say goodbye.

And when she finally heard news of him again, it was already the news of his death.

“The dragons are stronger than humans. I failed to defeat the Silver Dragon Queen. I should have died, but before death, I managed to slay a great dragon, and was inflicted with the dragon’s curse…”

Xia Yi hesitated for a moment.

She had never spoken these secrets aloud to anyone before.

But this time was different.

At last, she spoke, telling Tia.

“Under the dragon’s curse, I became a dragon, and also lost my memories. Only recently did I recover them, and learn everything about my past.”

“I see… I understand now.”

Though to others it might seem far too unbelievable—

But that aura of the Human Sword Saint from the silver-haired loli before her—Tia would never mistake it.

This also explained why, even after becoming a dragon, she still bore the Holy Sword’s engraving and could wield the Holy Sword.

“That’s wonderful, Wright. You didn’t die—you’re still alive…”

Tia’s body trembled slightly, her voice gradually choking.

Because Wright had always been the softest place in her heart.

When she had learned of the Human Sword Saint’s death, the Knight Princess had once fallen into utter despair.

In this world, there could be no second person who could become her companion in spirit.

Now finally confirmed, the fact that Wright still lived—was the greatest comfort to her wounded heart.

“Wright, come back.”

“…What?”

“Come back to me. You don’t have to worry about what comes next. Just return to the human world as the Human Sword Saint. I will protect you, won’t let the Schubert family touch you, and won’t let Rhine Alchemy approach you.”

A smile blossomed on Tia’s face.

“I will protect you—forever, even for a lifetime! As for others doubting your identity, I will prove it! Even if your appearance has changed, you are still our Human Sword Saint!”

“…” Xia Yi was silent.

“Just like before, let us fight side by side, and rely on each other. In this world, no one could be more in tune with you than I.”

Tia walked up to Xia Yi.

“We need each other.”

Xia Yi was deeply shaken.

Go back… to the human world?

That would mean abandoning her identity as a dragon.

To forever leave the land of dragons, never return to the dragon palace, never again see Serra, Gran, Lucia, Elly, Atiya…

“Come, Wright.”

Tia stepped forward, preparing to embrace Xia Yi.

But at that moment, the person who surfaced in Xia Yi’s mind was…

Xia Lulu.

There was still someone waiting for her to return.

“I am not Wright. I am Xia Yi.”

Xia Yi gently pushed Tia away.

The rejection left Tia stunned, staring at the most important person, her eyes filled with disbelief.

Yet the little princess still spoke those words.

“I cannot return to the human world. I already have a place I must go back to. Today, I came to say goodbye to you… Tia, I’m sorry.”

—

[Author’s Note:]

Plot Explanation: Because many readers are spreading misunderstandings, I’ll open this chapter specifically to explain.

The Human King was corroded by the dragon’s curse, becoming a dragon (×).

The Human King was corroded by the dragon’s curse, becoming a half-dragon monster (√).

I wrote in the story that after being corroded by the dragon’s curse, the Human King lost all reason, becoming a half-dragon monster that knew only slaughter and destruction.

The Human King was taken away by the dragons and imprisoned. The Dragon King deliberately did not allow him to die, but chose to preserve his life, which prevented the human world from giving birth to another Human King. Thus the Human King lived out a tragic latter half of life as a half-dragon monster, unable to think, unable to end his own life.

Humans did not understand the difference between half-dragon monsters and true dragons. They mistakenly believed the Human King had become a dragon. The Dragon King used this very point to cause humanity’s faith to collapse. The Small World Tree records exactly this history as seen from humanity’s perspective during the mythic age.

Why did I mention the Golden Dragon when describing the curse? Was it because the Human King became a Golden Dragon?

Not at all. The Human King has no connection with the Golden Dragon.

I only mentioned the Golden Dragon because the Golden Dragon clan possesses powerful bloodlines among the dragons. Even a weakened Human King required countless dragons’ corpses for the curse’s erosion to take effect. Among the tens of thousands of dragons who died then were black dragons, silver dragons, blue dragons, green dragons, red dragons… and so on.

I hadn’t expected some readers to still misunderstand, even thinking the Human King became a dragon, lived on in the dragons, and even more absurdly, ended up with the Dragon King…