Descendants of Gibbous
Chapter 54: Rivalry

Chapter 54: Rivalry

"Jae-Yoon Kim," Lord Clement nodded in the dragon King’s direction, but no reply came.

Instead, the king’s eyes were focused on the Vampire Queen. A hint of something Damien couldn’t quite decipher was in them. Was it anger? Envy? Lust? Damien couldn’t quite tell what it was, but the coldness in those blue eyes didn’t miss the boy’s attention.

It made him shiver a little despite the beefy King’s main focus not being him.

Clement not about to give up bowed to the King’s wife instead. "Your Highness, Eun Kim."

"Lord Clement, it’s always a pleasure meeting you," the dragon King’s wife gave the man a toothy grin, a refreshing radiance that was much needed after her husband’s draining attitude.

"Likewise, Your Highness," Clement replied, smiling at her and ignoring the glare he was now receiving from her husband.

"Please, we’re both royalty."

"Oh but we’re in your territory," the Vampire Queen finally spoke, a jab that Damien soon realized was meant for the man glaring at her.

"So you can speak after all, Red?" Jae-yoon taunted, scanning the Queen and her husband up and down with his nose wrinkled.

’So it was disgust,’ Damien noted, a bit delighted he wasn’t jealous of Lord Clement or something like that.

"I thought for sure the symptoms of your heroic acts during your daughter’s birth were finally getting to you."

The remark made the atmosphere between the four royals darken in an instant, with Red Bloodhorn nervously glancing at her daughter as if to make sure she hadn’t caught on to what was being said. To her relief, Eden was busy whispering something in Damien’s ears to pay attention to their conversation, so she turned back to the dragon King.

Unbeknownst to her though, her daughter was a cunning fox.

Damien had seen Eden’s eyes narrowing at her mother’s back after the dragon King’s remark, but when the Queen was about to turn her head and glance at her, she was quick to act—hence her whispering gibberish into Damien’s ear. Lucky for her, Damien was too overwhelmed by the royal presence and guards surrounding them to react to her antics, otherwise, he’d have flinched at her suddenly grabbing his ear and revealed her secret.

As for Queen Red, her eyes were now fixated on her rival, her normal poker face now pale and fuming.

"My health is perfect enough thank you very much, although I’d prefer you don’t keep track of it," she retorted in a surprisingly calm voice.

"Of course, you’d say that, who wants to acknowledge that their bad decisions are haunting them now?"

"Jae-yoon Kim!" The dragon’s wife hissed, tugging at his coat—but he did not yield.

Clement tried taking a step between his wife and her foe, but Red pulled him and took the step instead until she was in Jae-yoon’s face.

"My decisions are mine and I will bear the consequences alone, but I won’t have you insulting me in public. I’ll spare you this time for old time’s sake, but the next time you try shitting on me, I’ll rip your scales one by one until every part of you is covered in ulcers."

"Old times sake my foot," the King scoffed, taking a step back, the disgust in his eyes now more evident and almost lethal. "I don’t fight women, and I don’t fight half-baked Gibbits, but if you’re in desperate need of a lesson that I couldn’t teach you fifteen years ago, then I’m more than willing to take you on."

"Keep pressing my buttons and you’ll see me there," Red hissed back, her face turning a color the same shade as her name. "I hope your day is as pleasant as you are."

Not waiting for her foe’s reply, she grabbed her husband’s arm and pulled him along, disappearing down the stairs with a flock of guards behind them as they left Eden to deal with whatever contempt was left in her mother’s rival. The princess simply lowered her head enough to avoid making any eye contact with the dragon king.

She was right on time too because no sooner did she bow did the man flicker his eyes in her direction, curling his upper lip and turning on his heel in one sweeping motion.

"Come on, we don’t have all day to waste," he announced to his family as if he wasn’t the one making them wait in the first place.

His beet-red wife immediately followed after him but not before waving animatedly at her husband’s victims. As for Yong, he stood rooted before Damien, his eyes focused on Eden with an unreadable expression on his face. She was still bowing, waiting for the entire Draconic royal family to disappear, but it seemed Yong had other plans.

The boy strutted towards the girl, completely ignoring Damien as he lowered himself until he was looking up at Eden’s lowered face. Then he smiled.

’He smiled?!’

"Raise your head princess, you’re royalty too," his voice came out sounding more like he was trying to soothe her, but she ignored him.

"Yong Kim you get away from her this instant!"

At his father’s warning the boy backed away from Eden, giving her one last saddened glance before walking in his parent’s direction.

Their guards immediately swung into action—showing up in front of everyone who witnessed the drama and touching their temples. Damien didn’t know what they were doing, but when they tried to do the same to him, the royal guards who had been assigned to Eden’s care immediately stopped them.

"Memory forgery will be done by us since they’re Fangpeak’s royal guests," one of the guards said, making Damien shiver a little.

’They’re forging people’s memories?’

He looked at the people whose temples had been touched and sure enough, after the guards would leave their heads, they walked away as if they hadn’t just witnessed two members of the Quartet of Gibbous fighting before them.

It was during his gut-wrenching discovery that Damien heard what sounded like a sniffle coming from Eden. He almost snapped his head looking at her still bowed head, wondering if he had hallucinated. But when Eden sniffled a second time, the boy knew he wasn’t hallucinating—she was crying!

"Hey, are you crying?" Damien cooed, nudging Eden’s arm.

He didn’t know what to do, and when he turned in Ahara’s direction to ask for help, she was already getting her temple massaged by one of Eden’s guards.

"Hey, Eden. Are you okay?" Damien asked her a second time, about to grab her chin and tip her head up, but she did so without needing his assistance.

"Why wouldn’t I be?" Came to her voice as she raised her head, tucking her long hair behind her ears.

She sounded okay, and her expression looked like it too for she had wiped the tears off her eyes, but if there was one thing Damien prided himself in, it would be his people reading skills and right now, Eden was not okay.

"Well, you were sniffling just now and—woah!" Damien paused when a guard suddenly flipped him around.

"Please close your eyes to avoid dizziness," he warned, already reaching out for Damien’s temples.

However, before his fingers could make contact with the boy’s skin, Eden suddenly yelled:

"Stop!"