Olivia (Part 3)

"You—" Olivia froze. She wanted to refute him, yet could find no ground to stand on. Even she had to admit that this red dragon's sophistry was exceptionally cunning; despite racking her brain, she could not find a single flaw in his argument. After all, the emancipation of the serfs, the transformations in the townfolk's lives, and the prosperity of the city were all things she had witnessed with her own eyes. Even through a lens clouded by hostility and prejudice, Olivia could not turn a blind eye to these undeniable truths. "B-But..." "You still brutally murdered those who pursued justice!" After stammering for a long while, Olivia gritted her teeth and stubbornly forced out those words. Hearing the young silver dragon's feeble, pale retort, Cassius nearly burst into laughter, exhaling a plume of sulfurous, scorching heat beside her. "Silver dragon, aren't you being a bit too naive? They wanted to become dragonslaying heroes; was I supposed to bare my neck and let them slaughter me?" "Besides, that brings us right back to the previous question: what truly is this so-called 'justice'?" Olivia snorted coldly and deliberately turned her head away. "In any case, that is not for an evil dragon like you to define! No matter how you twist your words, the blood of Tiamat will ultimately betray the wickedness lurking in your heart, and the radiant light of Bahamut will never shine upon you!" Ignoring her outburst, Cassius continued, "The instigator behind those 'righteous champions' of yours, Schroeder the Grey Hawk, was the chief wizard of House Lackman. He was an accomplice to the slaughter of thousands of tieflings and the trusted right hand of that old vampire." "Th-That was merely an exception!" "Collaborating with Schroeder was an unavoidable choice! Among those who chose to stand against you, there were still steadfast souls like Anhel—" Olivia could not help but defend them. Cassius cut her off, pressing her directly: "Then when the tieflings were being massacred en masse, when the serfs were being ruthlessly exploited, when innocent people were reduced to blood thralls, where exactly were they?" "Why didn't your righteous champions show up then? Why did it take an 'evil dragon' like me to bring an end to it all?" He paused, a deliberate trace of mockery slipping into his tone. "As for that so-called gold dragon?" "Once you learn the truth, you'll realize you are nothing more than a complete joke." Olivia failed to catch the hidden meaning behind his words. She assumed the red dragon was merely mocking her over the gold dragon's death, trying to make her feel tiny and powerless in order to force her submission. At the thought of her companion whose fate remained unknown, tears welled in her eyes once more, and she screamed hoarsely: "Stop trying to drag his name through the mud!" "An evil dragon like you will never understand the justice within Anhel's heart!" "You might run rampant across the world for a time, and you might silence me with your sophistry, but their brilliance will endure forever!" Olivia's voice took on a weeping tone, growing raspy and choked with emotion. Her slate-blue eyes shimmered like welling springs, and streams of tears traced paths down her smooth, silver cheeks. "..." Watching the silver dragon defend his disguised persona with every fiber of her being, Cassius found the scene so absurdly comical that he could barely keep a straight face. He had never expected that a gold dragon persona concocted on a whim would leave such an indelible, romanticized impression in her heart after being beautified by her own memories. Cassius had originally planned to reveal his true identity on the spot, utterly shattering Olivia's mental defenses so he could seize the opening to exert mental domination over her. Yet seeing how stubborn this young silver dragon was, and how thoroughly convinced she remained of that so-called "Gold Dragon Anhel," he suddenly changed his mind. *Perhaps I can squeeze far more benefit out of this foolish silver dragon.* Cassius stroked his barb-covered chin as the thought crossed his mind. Suddenly, Olivia's weak voice interrupted his musings. "What... what do you really want?" Cassius turned his head, inspecting the silver dragon before him with careful scrutiny. Olivia's slender neck and delicate limbs were tightly bound together by scalding shackles. Around her streamlined silver draconic frame, coil upon coil of heavy enchanted chains bound her torso and gleaming plate-like wings tightly in place. A magic array capable of suppressing any dragon below the rank of an ancient dragon was, to her, an impregnable cage. Many of the scales across Olivia's body had cracked under the immense pressure, shedding silver flakes onto the floor. Bruises and lacerations marred her hide, and her posture was twisted into an agonizingly awkward contortion under the weight of her restraints. This pampered young silver dragon had likely never experienced such pain in her life. With half-closed eyes, she lay on her side against the cold stone, panting softly as her body rose and fell in slow, labored breaths. A dragon's aesthetic standards were practically boundless. Cassius had reached a point where he could even appreciate the beauty of an ogre, to say nothing of a metallic dragon that could be considered his kin. By draconic standards, this well-proportioned young silver dragon was undeniably beautiful. Cassius stepped before her, slowly lowering his massive head until their eyes met, paying no heed to the fear and hostility burning in her gaze. "I've changed my mind, silver dragon." "For the sake of Bahamut, I won't take your life. Even though you failed to observe the courtesy expected of a guest, I will still fulfill the duties of a host. Of course, if you persist in your stubborn delusions, I'll have no choice but to ask you to stay here for a few centuries." Meanwhile, on the other side of the hall, the white dragon Tinia caught her master's scent. Trembling with excitement, she scurried into the palace, only to be greeted by a scene she would never forget for the rest of her days— An extraordinarily powerful red dragon stood within the palace. Though his appearance had altered, Tinia recognized him as her master, Cassius, through the bond of their contract and the familiar stench of sulfur. Beneath his colossal frame of nearly thirty meters, even this majestic grand hall appeared cramped and narrow. And at the red dragon's feet lay a young silver dragon bound to the ground by a magical array. Battered, bloodied, and teetering on the verge of collapse, she glared at the red dragon with eyes brimming with hostility—a state clearly inflicted by Cassius. "Awoo?" Tinia let out a bewildered whine. How strange. That dreadful magic array was now occupied by another dragon. By all rights, she should have felt delighted; she no longer had to fear being dragged back into it by her master. Yet staring at the battered silver dragon lying helplessly before Cassius, Tinia felt a sudden, inexplicable surge of emotion welling up within her chest: jealousy. For a fleeting second, she desperately wished she could charge in and take the silver dragon's place, enduring the agony personally bestowed by her master, even if it meant being shackled by that Dragon-Binding Array all over again. At last, she understood her own deepest craving. *Damn you, you silver dragon wench, get away from Master!* *I am the only one worthy of being personally whipped by Master!* At that thought, the white dragon's scales shuddered with righteous fury. Tinia bristled as if facing a mortal enemy, glaring at the silver dragon with gnashed teeth.