Dragon Genesis: I Can Create Dragons

Chapter 509: You should be more careful, Lady Lavinia.

A/N: Again, the Stonefangs here are talking in their own language, I am just translating it directly instead of increasing word count.

…

Back in Trogoth’s Rest, heavy snowfall had begun, blanketing the jagged rocks and old bone totems in thick, white silence. The mist in the surrounding area had deepened, swirling low across the ground like crawling spirits.

Every sound—every breath, every boot scraping against stone—echoed faintly through the frozen vale.

After Kael and Gruumak had left to talk, the two sides had naturally drifted apart. The Velmourns stayed near the slope where they had first landed, their beasts resting and their weapons close at hand. The Stonefangs gathered on the opposite end, near the towering cliff wall where their chief had been sitting earlier.

The distance between them wasn’t large—no more than twenty-five meters—but it might as well have been as big as an ocean.

Every movement drew a glance, every noise got a reaction.

Both sides were watching, waiting, and measuring each other in silence.

Amongst the Velmourn, Kayden stood tall, his body tense, his eyes locked on the Stonefang warriors.

They were massive—bare arms covered in scars, weapons made of bone and iron resting at their sides, faces rough and unreadable. Their breaths fogged the air in steady rhythm; their stances seemed relaxed, but… Kayden could tell that they were ready to move.

And because of this, his hand stayed close to his sword. His body was still, but his eyes never stopped moving.

To him, every Stonefang hand looked like it was reaching for a weapon, every shift of their foot looked like the start of a charge.

And he couldn’t be blamed. He had seen too much to ever lower his guard.

The Stonefangs had raided the Velmourns’ borders every winter since even before he was born. He’d fought them since he was fifteen—these warriors had torn apart his friends into pieces, some were even crushed under their heavy weapons. Just the idea of coming to talk to them felt like an insult to the dead.

How could he expect peace from people who only knew how to kill? People who had never once tried to communicate with them?

He could already picture it: one of them losing patience, charging across the gap, war breaking out right here, in this cursed valley.

So he stayed ready—muscles tight, eyes sharp, breath slow—ready for battle.

But his constant staring didn’t go unnoticed.

“Stop glaring at them.”

Lavinia’s sharp but calm voice broke through the still air.

Kayden didn’t move; his eyes stayed fixed on the other side, completely ignoring Lavinia.

“Even if they do not have any plans of doing anything, with the way you’re looking at them, they might.

Calm down, Kayden.

Do not cause trouble.”

The mage spoke with a solemn look on her face, her violet eyes staring at Kayden as if trying to read his face.

And Kayden—

He exhaled through his nose, and then, to her surprise, he chuckled. A small, humorless laugh that didn’t fit the tension in the air. He turned his head just enough to look at her—and the smirk on his lips wasn’t friendly.

“Of course someone who’s only been here for a few weeks would say that,”

He said, his tone laced with scorn.

“Reading books back in your big kingdom doesn’t make you all-knowing, Lady Lavinia.”

He dragged her title out with mocking sarcasm, his bitterness clear in his voice. Lavinia’s eyes narrowed at his words, but she didn’t say anything, not yet. After all, she did not expect this reply from Kayden, who she thought she had a neutral relationship with.

But…

It wasn’t the same.

Kayden had been part of a few Council meetings; Kayden had heard and even seen Lavinia constantly going against his mother, even today was no different.

He didn’t fail to notice the clash between the two women.

And when it came to choosing between a woman he had barely known for a few weeks and the woman who had raised him into becoming what he had become today—

The answer was obvious.

Yes, Kayden was bitter about Lavinia talking back to his mother in the manner she did, and while he managed to hold himself back that time, now, when she was turning to him, he could no longer stop.

“I’ve been facing Stonefangs since I was fifteen years old.

These people don’t reason.

They attack when they want, they kill who they want. If they strike while we’re unprepared, then it’ll be our fault for not expecting it.”

He looked back at the Stonefang line again, his hand brushing the hilt of his sword.

“And it’s not like I’m doing anything wrong,”

He added coldly.

“I’m merely preparing myself for the worst. Something you don’t seem to have any plans for.”

“Of course I have no plans for it,”

Lavinia answered in a cold voice. She could sense Kayden’s unfounded bitterness, and she had no intention of taking it lying down.

“I do not wish to make the situation worse.

I’m not a fool.”

She said in a sharp voice, but—

Kayden laughed again—louder this time.

“To not be on guard when the enemy is right in front of you just because you’re afraid of making things ’worse’…”

He said, his grin turning into a sneer.

“That’s not the mark of wisdom, Lady Lavinia.

That’s the mark of a fool… or a coward.”

Lavinia’s expression didn’t change at those words; she wasn’t someone who would react to such simple taunts.

But Kayden did not care. He took a step forward towards Lavinia and then—

“Tell me, what are you going to do if they do attack us?”

For a moment, there was silence, but then—Lavinia smiled faintly.

“Fight back,”

She answered in a calm voice.

But once again, Kayden laughed at her words.

“That is exactly why I said books alone do not make you wise.”

He repeated his words, then glanced at the Stonefangs standing at the distance and—

“You won’t be able to ’fight back’ if you’re not prepared,”

He said, chuckling under his breath as he turned back to her.

“You should be more careful, Lady Lavinia.”

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