The Dragon King's Substitute Bride

Chapter 22

CH22

Morgan

The entire table went quiet. The king cocked an eyebrow at me.

"Pretending?"

"As lovely as this... welcome dinner is, you don't decide to revive the Trials lightly or without reason." I sat forward. "So what has been so important that thousands of young women have had to die?"

"You cross the line, human," someone hissed down the table.

He lifted a hand with a wry smile.

"You are truly... chosen by the heavens, aren't you? Speaking like a beam of light: straight and precise." He sat back. "My wife would speak the way you do. It made it impossible to capitulate. I appreciate it. It's refreshing... I've missed it, and given the situation, it's necessary."

Ignoring the hostility from further down the table, I focused on the king. He worked his jaw before speaking again.

"Our realm and the human realm rely on each other. It is believed that our realms sit side by side, but in truth, they are intertwined, not just through mirrors and portals and gateways but by their very essence. The veil, as we call it, is the borderline and the connection. It keeps us separate but also connects us. When the veil is open, the magic that is naturally generated in our room can spill out into the human room, allowing for longer life spans, healthier people, and richer land, but when it is closed, humans grow weaker, the earth suffers, and the magic that would usually spill out and have somewhere to go stagnate and corrupts us."

I thought of Ael's worry about their little magical garden dying.

"It has been five years since the veil closed with my wife's murder. We estimate that if the veil remains closed for another ten years, the human realm will fall, and ours will fall soon after. We

have been warned of this in the Visions of Queens.

"And you're certain."

salready begun," b

"The corruption said. "Tsuneo's coma is thought to be the first sign."

"What do these... visions say?"

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will

will burn out, and all will turn to darkness as

his eyes. But beneath that

which you longer you are here. I suspect that

grow into the

blinked, thinking back to when the sky turned

"Frightening."

and she is always as

"So, what

He grinned. "A hurricane."

it was time for dessert. I turned the information over in my mind. Glancing down the table, it was clear

are like now, or at least very little.

magical kind for their own ends," one of them sneered. "Butchering our kind in

her "I've heard myths about

myths currently."

veil has

"No fixes perfect, and honestly, thousands of young women have been killed at this

bright red. Her eyes changed like a fish's, and I figured she

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CH22

Like tigers

chuckled. "As sovereign over the human realm, you very well

My eyes bulged. "Sovereign?"

the queen can control the veil... representative

that wasn't what I was

would say she

said, his voice firm. "But the danger we would

your lingering resentments do not cloud your

what you

am grateful for your

shook his head and gestured to one of the servants nearby, a

lips.

lighter now. "Let us celebrate the

eyes twinkling with amusement. "Indeed, Father. Perhaps

his side, bearing a silver tray laden with two intricately carved goblets filled with a shimmering, golden liquid. One of them was set in front of me. The other was in front of the king. The others were brought other goblets.