Chapter 112: The Illegitimate Child of the Red Dragon Family

I had no choice but to put down the chopsticks I was holding in my mouth.

I wanted to enjoy the delicious food to my heart’s content, but the gaze of Jeokrin, who was sitting next to me, was too much to bear.

“What’s going on?”

“It’s certain that she’s a child of the Red Dragon Clan…”

“But you don’t know whose child she is…?”

Jeokrin nodded at Cheonga’s question.

He then asked me a question.

“What is your name?”

“It’s Seris.”

“Seris…?”

Jeokrin looked back at Cheonga and Cheongbin at my answer.

The two, receiving his gaze, frowned and shook their heads.

“No matter how much I ask, she won’t tell me her real name. It’s been like that since we met.”

“I see…”

I fiddled with the empty plate, carefully watching Jeokrin’s expression.

What they wanted to hear was a name made up of the language and letters of this place. But how could I make up a name that didn’t exist?

“My name is Seris, and I’m not a Dragon Blood or anything. I’m just an ordinary human.”

“She doesn’t have the dignity of a Red Dragon Clan’s bloodline…? She must have had a difficult childhood… Child, you can tell me.

Tell me the names of your parents. Perhaps they used the name Jeokpung?”

“Does he think she’ll know if he tells her…? Now that I see it, it seems like she doesn’t even know her name… Wouldn’t it be better to call all the people of the Red Dragon Clan and do a cross-examination?”

“Hmm. That would certainly be better…”

Jeokrin didn’t believe me, just like the two members of the Blue Dragon Clan I met earlier.

Rather, even when I tried to explain, he just looked at me with pity.

“Cheongbin, I will take this child to the Red Dragon Clan.”

“…I’ll come to pick her up later.”

Jeokrin said to Cheongbin as he got up from his seat.

Hearing Cheongbin’s answer, he held out his hand to me.

“Let’s go.”

“No, I’m telling you, I’m not a Dragon Blood.”

“Don’t worry about anything.”

Jeokrin grabbed my hesitating hand and forcibly pulled me up from my seat.

It felt like he would forcibly pick me up if I tried to resist.

I had no choice but to follow Jeokrin out of the room at a hurried pace.

They don’t believe me even if I tell the truth.

It seems like they see me as a real Dragon Blood. At this point, I started to wonder if there was a hidden secret to my birth.

‘No way…?’

As I was about to leave the Blue Dragon Clan with Jeokrin, I remembered the things I had forgotten: my luggage and Nightmare.

“Ah, excuse me.”

“What is it?”

“My luggage and horse are at the Blue Dragon Clan…”

Jeokrin stopped at my words. He called over a servant who was busily walking around and said,

“Bring this child’s luggage and horse to the Red Dragon Clan.”

That was it. Jeokrin smiled lightly and turned to me, as if to ask if that was okay now.

“How old are you this year?”

“Fourteen…? Or is it fifteen?”

I tilted my head at Jeokrin’s question.

Since it was winter when I left home at the age of thirteen, I must be getting close to fifteen by now.

“Oh my… To not even know your own age…”

Jeokrin clicked his tongue, looking at me with a pitiful expression at my answer.

The place I arrived at with Jeokrin was a large mansion built on the opposite side of the Blue Dragon Clan.

The sign read “Red Dragon Clan” in a calligraphy style that looked like flames were spreading.

“Whoa…”

It was a large building that exuded grandeur.

It had a different kind of charm than the Blue Dragon Clan’s building.

“Let’s go in. This is where you’ll be staying from today.”

“Ah, no, I’m really not a Dragon Blood, you know?”

“Yes, I know.”

“I’m serious. I wasn’t even born on this land. I came across the sky on an airship.”

“I see.”

“This appearance is just because I absorbed the dragon’s mana…”

I sighed, touching the horns that had sprouted on my head, and Jeokrin smiled slightly and said.

“Be proud of that appearance.”

“I can’t get through to him…”

I sighed in resignation.

Since they wouldn’t believe me no matter how much I told the truth, I thought it might not be bad to just watch and see how far this misunderstanding would go.

Jeokrin took me to the large main building. His steps were firm.

Inside the Red Dragon Clan’s building, I could feel a hot heat.

It was a very similar energy to Jeokrin, who was walking next to me, but the size of it varied.

There were two that were incredibly huge.

And three that were similar to Jeokrin. About six that were smaller than that.

Creak-!

Jeokrin opened the door to the main building without hesitation.

It didn’t seem like there was an option to ask the owner of the room for permission to enter.

The owner of the room was a middle-aged man.

He was sitting at a wide desk, reading a thick book, and he only slightly raised his head to stare at me.

The flames burning in his eyes were hot.

Then, Jeokrin, who was standing next to me, stepped forward and opened his mouth.

“Father.”

“Is she your child?”

“No, she is not.”

“Then…”

“I don’t know whose child she is.”

The middle-aged man frowned at Jeokrin’s answer.

The two exchanged complex words with their eyes without speaking.

After how much time had passed like that? The middle-aged man sighed and said to his son, Jeokrin.

“Go and call all the members of the family. That child… what’s her name?”

“That’s… she doesn’t even have a name yet…”

“That’s enough. Go out quickly.”

“Yes…”

Jeokrin bowed his head and left the room.

As I was left alone, cautiously trying to back away, the middle-aged man opened his mouth.

“Come here.”

“Me…?”

“Then who else would be here besides you? Come quickly.”

“I’m not a Dragon Blood, though…”

The man sighed deeply at my answer and waved his hand in the air.

The surrounding mana began to react to his gesture, creating a hot wind.

Whoosh-!

The door behind me, which had been open, closed.

At the same time, the hot wind gently pushed my body.

I was pushed back a few steps, and as I cautiously approached him, he pointed to a small chair next to the desk with his eyes.

I went there and sat down.

“Well, do you know who I am?”

“Um… Aren’t you the head of the Red Dragon Clan?”

“Yes, I am the head of the Red Dragon Clan. Jeokmun is my name.”

“I see…”

“And you are also a child with the blood of the Red Dragon Clan flowing through you.”

“That’s a misunderstanding… I…”

I began to explain to Jeokmun what had happened so far.

How I came to be here, and why my appearance became similar to those called Dragon Bloods in this land.

Inevitably, the story had to be long, so I continued to explain as concisely as possible.

Jeokmun, who had been listening to the story silently, nodded.

“Do you believe what I’m saying?”

I looked up at Jeokmun with a glimmer of hope.

“It was quite a plausible story. Especially the part where you absorbed the dragon’s mana and fully embodied its power as your own was very impressive.”

“Then…”

“However, you must not forget your roots. Those horns and red scales, the hot heat felt inside your body, are proof that you are a Dragon Blood born with the blood of the Red Dragon Clan. Didn’t you know that you can’t hide that fact with lies?”

“No… Oh my…”

“To accept the dragon’s mana with a human body? Who told you such a preposterous story?”

“No, I did it…”

“It seems like they’ve gathered. Let’s find out what your parents’ faces look like.”

I thought he might understand, but Jeokmun was also a Dragon Blood.

He was a madman who believed that everything he said was right.

He dismissed everything I had explained so far as a delusion made up by a child.

Jeokmun got up from his seat and gestured forward, and the tightly closed door opened.

“Has everyone gathered?”

“Yes… Except for Uncle, who is out for a while…”

“There’s no need to worry about my brother.”

“Yes…”

Standing in front of Jeokmun’s room were fifteen handsome men and women.

Their long red hair fluttered here and there in the face of the energy that Jeokmun was emitting.

“Thirteen years ago. No, anyone who left the family fourteen years ago, come forward.”

“Does that include those who went out for a short time?”

“Is it you?”

“Yes…?”

The one who tilted his head and asked the question at Jeokmun’s words was a seemingly rowdy man.

The man, who had a languid atmosphere, looked at Jeokmun, who was striding towards him, with a sullen expression.

“Wh-What is it…?”

“I asked if it was your doing.”

“No, I mean, what…?”

The man’s question wasn’t even finished.

Jeokmun, who suddenly burst out with hot heat, grabbed the horn that had sprouted above the man’s head and pulled it off.

“Kuh, kuahhh!”

“Jeokpung, I knew it was you!”

“Kuaaaa! Father! My horn…! My horn is melting!”

Jeokmun didn’t care about Jeokpung’s screams and raised even hotter heat. The overflowing energy now looked like flames.

Jeokmun, shaking Jeokpung’s horn back and forth, turned his body and held out Jeokpung’s body to me.

“Jeokpung. You wouldn’t say you don’t know this child, would you?”

“A, a child…? Whose child is she? She’s cute… Ughhhhh!”

Sizzle-!

Was it because he didn’t like Jeokpung’s answer? White smoke began to rise from Jeokmun’s hand, which was holding his horn.

Jeokpung struggled constantly as if in pain, but Jeokmun didn’t let him go.

The rest of the Red Dragon Clan members began to whisper with pale faces.

‘Whose child is that?’

‘I heard she’s Jeokpung’s child…?’

‘As expected of Uncle Jeokpung…! Amazing!’

‘Crazy bastard… Did he abandon his child outside?’

‘It could have been a disaster if it weren’t for the young lord of the Blue Dragon Clan…’

“Child. You don’t have to be afraid. Tell me the truth.”

“The truth…?”

Jeokpung’s gaze reached me. He seemed not to understand what was happening to him right now.

“That person is not my father…”

The moment my answer ended, hot flames rose above Jeokmun’s body.

The heat was so hot that everything around him began to melt.

“Kueaaaaack!”

Jeokpung, whose body was set on fire, let out a painful scream.

After how much time had passed like that? Jeokmun threw the limp Jeokpung into the corner and said.

“I see. You didn’t want to call the parent who abandoned you ‘father.’ I understand.”

“No… That person is really not my father…”

“It’s okay. You don’t have to say any more…”

“Good grief…”

“Well, I’ll have to give you a new name… Forget the name that guy gave you.”

“No, I never received a name from him.”

“Hmm… What would be good… Yes, Ran, Ran would be good. Your name from today is Jeokrin.”

Why is he arbitrarily making someone else’s father into two people and even giving me a name?

I frowned and looked up at Jeokmun. He smiled contentedly at my gaze and nodded.

“It seems like you like your new name.”

Crazy bastard. That was my first impression of Jeokmun.