DUSK staggered backward, that answer seemed to have shocked him greatly.  Frankly, Luo Yan couldn't blame him.  It's that kind of answer that would shock anyone.  Even he didn't expect that.  All along, they were expecting that it was just one individual.  Who would have thought that it would be a group?

Dusk suddenly stretched out his hand and grabbed the red dragon's neck.  "What do you mean by that?  Explain to this king this instant!"

"Ugh… I—"

The red dragon obviously had trouble speaking because of the sudden lack of air.  If this continued, this dragon might die before they could even get a concrete answer.

Luo Yan touched Dusk's extended arm.  "Dusk, calm down and let go of him.  If you accidentally kill him, then how would we know what really happened during that war?  All of Brother Ji Yun's effort of bringing him here would just go to waste.  Do you think it would be as easy kidnapping another dragon who knew of what happened then?  So, let go and let him answer our question."

Dusk gritted his teeth before throwing the red dragon like a dirty rag. 

Luo Yan let out a sigh of relief before turning to Rowan who was coughing like there's no tomorrow.  "When you said 'everyone', does that mean every dragon who was alive during that time?"

After the coughing, the red dragon's eyes went back to their dazed state.  "No.  It means all the dragons that were a part of the high council."

Yes, Luo Yan expected that much.  Although dragons didn't have that much of a big number compared to other races, it's impossible for everyone of them to betray Dusk.  The fact that he was able to wage war that time meant that he had quite a number of supporters.   

This high council was probably made up of all the high-ranking dragons in the clan.  If this Rowan was privy about it, that meant that he was also part of the high council.

"Why did the high council decided to betray your king back then?"

"Because we can't accept orders from that defective mutt.  We are proud dragons, the strongest in this land.  How could we let someone with dirty blood lead us?  Not only did he kill our rightful king, he also stole the Sacred Fire that only the heir to the throne should have.  And for what?  For a group of foxes that didn't have anything to do with our clan? 

"Do you think we would just stand-by as we watched the other members of our clan get killed by the dark mages for a war that has nothing to do with us?  So, everyone in the council decided to make a deal with the dark mages.  One of us would sabotage him as he was busy fighting and those dark mages would take care of him."

The red dragon didn't say those things dazedly as he did before.  Some of his emotions were leaking in his words.  Showing just how much this particular emotion had a hold on him. 

Luo Yan simply fell into a deep thought after he heard what Rowan had said.  Because there's a lot that could be taken from that answer. 

One, Dusk was most likely not a pure blood dragon.  Which would explain the memory Lhoris had seen about the other's childhood.  Being shunned by everyone, heck, not even having his own name. 

Second, this Sacred Fire that the red dragon was talking about, according to him it could only be passed down to the heir of the throne.  If they put that much importance to the concept of blood, then, it was natural to think that the seat of the dragon king was hereditary.  Which meant that only those with the blood of the dragon king could use this Sacred Fire. 

And third, this deal that the high council made with the dark mages, it couldn't possibly be as simple as them betraying Dusk and then letting those mages deal with him.  Because, surely, they could deal with Dusk themselves once their betrayal succeeded.  And could their pride really let another race deal with the so-called 'shame of their clan?  This could only mean that they wanted something from the dark mages, that's why they made that deal.

But what could it be?  Well, there's really only one way to find out.  As well as to confirm all his other guesses. 

"What kind of deal did the high council make with those dark mages?  Explain it thoroughly."

"I- I—" the red dragon stopped and seemed like he was choking.  He looked like he wanted to speak, but at the end, only choking sounds came out of his throat. As if something was preventing him from speaking.

"He must under some kind of strong spell that would activate if he tried to tell anyone about the details of that deal," Shen Ji Yun said while observing the red dragon.  "I suspect all the members of that so-called high council has this spell on them."

"But would those proud dragons really let anyone put this kind of spell on them?" Luo Yan asked, seriously a bit confused.

"There's only two possibilities. Either they didn't know that this spell was put on them or what the dark mages would give them was important enough that they could put down their pride for it," Shen Ji Yun shared his opinion.

Luo Yan nodded.  He agreed that it's probably those dark mages that put the spell on the members of the high council.  But what was so important that they could put down that sky high pride of them?

He tsked.  And he thought gathering information would finally be much easier.  Damn game devs getting in the way again. 

"Ahm, Mashter, I think the red lizard will soon choke to death," Eclipse suddenly interrupted.

Luo Yan turned to the red dragon and Eclipse was indeed right.  So, he decided to just ask another question so the other would stop trying to answer his previous question.  Thus, stopping the effect of whatever spell was put on him.

"You said that the former king has a dirty blood, what do you mean by that?" 

As expected, Rowan finally stopped choking..  And then he answered with a voice tinged with anger, "His father was a demon.  He defiled the rightful king's daughter and thus giving birth to that abomination!"

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