Chapter 407: The Shape of Manipulation
In the days leading up to the human children’s visit, the Dravaryns took turns stopping by to visit and speak with the still-recovering red dragon.
There were, unfortunately, many things they needed to discuss.
The first order of business involved tracing Ilyss’s whereabouts.
Thankfully, they still had the last contact she’d made decades ago to work with, but just as expected from the once free-spirited and fiercely independent golden dragon, once Ilyss truly decided to vanish from the public eye, tracking her down became unbelievably difficult.
Still, difficult was far from impossible.
And for a family that had spent years believing reunion was little more than a hopeless fantasy, simply having a clear possibility to chase after was already enough to rejoice over.
So once that matter was temporarily set aside, the next critical discussion naturally shifted toward the circumstances surrounding Orryn’s disappearance.
Because no matter how they looked at it, someone as powerful as Orien’s father in the past should never have been overpowered by someone as weak, incompetent, and frankly idiotic as the recognized heir of the red dragon clan.
Ah, to be specific, the newly deposed red dragon who just lost his position as heir to a younger descendant.
Clearly, someone that disposable wouldn’t have been capable of taking down a person personally chosen by Ilyss herself.
So how exactly had their shrewd efforts succeeded?
Well...
Apparently, the mistake, no, the true turning point for Orryn Vathros had been trusting Chancellor Malrik.
Riley still remembered the expression on the red dragon’s face as he slowly recounted the day he disappeared...
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Inside the room shielded beneath multiple layers of barriers, a small group gathered to finally hear about the red dragon’s past.
Orryn sat on the hospital bed with his eyes lowered, teeth clenched tightly enough that the tension in his jaw became visible. His hands gripped the sheets around him as if he were trying to ground himself while recalling something buried deep in the distant past.
"I was a fool," Orryn finally said, his voice taut with restrained anger. "A complete fool for believing the Chancellor had good intentions when he summoned me to discuss my child with Ilyss."
The red dragon let out a bitter breath afterward.
"See, meetings like that were considered routine for new draconic parents. Any dragon expecting an egg to hatch was supposed to meet with the Chancellor to discuss when the hatchling would eventually be turned over to the Nest."
Now after having to live part of his life as a human, the practice suddenly sounded absurd.
But at the time? And as an apparently naive dragon?
No one truly questioned it.
"As ridiculous as that system was," Orryn continued quietly, "none of us really thought much about it because even dragons from branch families like me were raised through the Nest."
If anything, all dragonlings found—even those recovered from the wild—would be sent to the same place like clockwork.
His eyes suddenly narrowed into sharp slits as his anger flared.
"But looking back now..."
The sheets crumpled audibly beneath his grip.
"I can clearly see just how stupid I’d been."
Beside the hospital bed, Lady Cirila spoke up softly.
"We’re all at fault here," the older dragon admitted heavily. "If even we older dragons failed to recognize how sinister Malrik truly was, then it’s understandable that someone much younger like you wouldn’t have seen through him either."
Her expression dimmed with visible disappointment in herself. She had sent three children to that godforsaken place, so she truly had no right to speak when it came to raising them properly.
Even if she had never intentionally hurt them, she still carried the weight of responsibility for what happened.
"And for that, I’d like to apologize."
"My Lady, please don’t," Orryn responded sincerely almost immediately. "There’s no need for apologies when that man had been insidious from the very beginning."
"And honestly..."
He exhaled slowly.
"A lot of it had to do with circumstance. With how carefully he tailored everything depending on the dragonling he was targeting."
Only now, after piecing his memories back together, was Orryn finally able to see the full picture clearly.
"If anything," he muttered bitterly, "the reason it’d been so difficult to recognize his attempts at controlling or breaking dragonlings was because during my time, he never really treated everyone the same way."
"It was customized."
"Carefully adjusted depending on each child’s situation."
Orryn himself had spent most of his youth simply trying to survive.
Concealing his abilities. Enduring hostility from other dragonlings. Avoiding standing out too much.
And because of that, he never really noticed something deeply wrong.
No authority figure ever truly intervened.
It wasn’t that the attendants openly joined the bullying or directly targeted him themselves, but somehow, every assault, every altercation, every cruel incident always seemed to happen conveniently whenever no one important was around to witness it.
Still, because Orryn had been so focused on keeping his head down, unlike the other dragonlings who loudly complained whenever they disliked something, he simply assumed the Nest never interfered because he personally never asked them to.
And that assumption only made things easier for Malrik.
Especially during the mandatory review meetings the Chancellor regularly held with him.
"He was always cordial," Orryn recalled quietly. "Exactly the way everyone knew him to be."
"And every single time, he’d ask if there were concerns I wanted to raise."
Back then, Orryn genuinely interpreted those gestures as concern.
Now?
Now the memory only made him feel sick.
"At the time, I thought he was trying to make me feel comfortable enough to speak openly," Orryn muttered. "But now I realize it was probably just another method of lowering my guard."
A humorless laugh escaped him afterward.
"He definitely already knew I wouldn’t say anything anyway."
"So it worked perfectly for him."
"Especially when he was trying to slowly build trust with me."
The red dragon shut his eyes briefly before continuing.
"And eventually, being the naive dragon I was, I fell for it completely."
Honestly, even Orryn sounded annoyed with himself for saying it aloud.
"Sure, it may have happened after I had already survived the Nest, but the way he offered exactly the kind of comfort I thought I needed eventually trapped me in the end."
