Luca always prided himself on being a smart man. He, unlike his sister, amassed his power quietly. He always allowed himself to live in her shadow. There, he was free to do whatever he wanted without others noticing. And all he wanted was to survive.

In truth, he never cared about his sister’s plans. But following them granted him the highest chance of survival. Lyra, despite her attitude, would always protect her brother.

But that being said, he didn’t have any negative feelings about betraying her either. Lyra was too weak to protect him from this enemy, so he simply switched sides.

It wasn’t as if he hated his sister or bore any ill will towards her; it was just that Luca would never be on the losing side.

That’s why even as he sat in the swiftly moving carriage accompanied by Weryn, Wolf, and Mae, he felt no fear. His expression was peaceful, and it was obvious that he didn’t think that they were going to hurt him. If anything, his current behavior could be considered too relaxed. He looked ready to drift off to sleep.

His attitude could be considered brave or idiotic.

But no matter how you categorized it, he rubbed Mae the wrong way.

To her, he was the biggest enemy. The one that she hated the most for ruining her precious experiment. Nonetheless, she kept her hands to herself. She was waiting for him to act out so that she could beat him down, but that didn’t seem likely.

And as usual, she couldn’t really do anything without Erebus’ permission. Weryn had agreed with her about messing with the fools a little bit, but that was as much as she was willing to do.

Erebus would probably get a real kick out of watching them prostrate themselves and beg for their lives, so Mae would have to grin and bear it.

It wasn’t like she had any idea as to what Erebus wanted to do either. His demands had been vague, and he seemed pretty blasé over the whole issue. He normally put up some sort of act, but it was impossible for Mae to tell what that man was thinking. He was known to do whatever he wanted. And his wants were always irregular.

And so, one step from grinding her teeth into powder, Mae continued to stare unabashedly at the tranquil Luca who had, in fact, drifted off to sleep. To be able to fall asleep despite being on the receiving end of Mae’s death glare was commendable--that’s what everyone else in the carriage thought. Especially Wolf, whose shoulder had been turned into a pillow.

“This is stupid,” is what Weryn wanted to say, glancing at the three others. Wolf was highly uncomfortable, Luca was too comfortable, and Mae was wearing her bloodlust like a goddamn coat.

At this rate, she was going to skin Luca alive.

Weryn turned his eyes to the scenery outside of the window, his heart weighing too heavily for a boy his age.

All these said things were technically progressing smoothly. Except for the mishap with Lyra--which had been more or less expected.

The cultists were too scared to act out against them now that they had seen their leader be taken care of so easily. Plus, even if they were dubious, the name Erebus carried a large amount of weight.

He was known as the most active dragon, so it wouldn’t be too unbelievable that he had happened to be involved. Still, King Nathaniel was considered small fry in Erebus’ world. It didn’t make sense in their minds, but they were too scared to question it.

Weryn understood all of this. This is why he had behaved the way he did and complied to Mae’s desire to stir them up a bit.

But why was he doing this? Why go to such lengths in the first place? Easy answer: for his teacher.

In Weryn’s eyes, despite how twisted Erebus was, he was still a great figure that the young dragon wanted to please. He wanted Erebus to be thoroughly amused by how these chickens ran around.

But if he failed… Weryn could only feel dread. It wasn’t like Erebus would punish him or anything, but it would be a huge blow to his ego.

There was too much on his mind right now.

How could he make these idiots dance? How was he going to present them to Erebus? Wouldn’t it be funny if they begged and groveled at his feet? Was Erebus even interested in such things? Though he didn’t deny it, Erebus rarely--if ever--flaunted his superiority. He always showed his hand at the end.

Weryn swallowed thickly.

Had he gone about this incorrectly? No, how else was he supposed to do it? They wouldn’t have complied unless they had forced them to.

“Ah,” a troubled moan passed through his lips.

Really, this was too much for him.

…

They had arrived.

Instead of this being Erebus’ usual place of residence (it would have taken a few days to get there by normal means), it was a manor that used to belong to Lilian.

She had happily allowed them to use it since it was closer to where the cultists had resided.

Quietly (no one dared speak out), the people in the carriages got out and beheld the sight before them.

Two beautiful women met them at the entrance of the building. Just by looking at them, the disarray in their heart was calmed with a relaxed sigh.

Though both were gorgeous, the one with white-blonde hair far surpassed the pink-haired rabbit-eared woman next to her. She was also the first to speak, her voice like a sweet song, “Hello, I, Tear of the Moon Goddess, personally welcome you to the home of our master, the holder of the fifth chair of the Dragon Council, Erebus.”

Lillian said a similar greeting, a soft and rare smile gracing her face. It was only seen when she played with her dolls… but that wasn’t the focus here.

What a cramped tongue, was all Wolf could think after listening Tear and Lillian. He wasn’t suited for that eloquent, snotty talk. He just wanted this all to be over with and to receive his praise from Erebus.

“Follow us,” Lilian commanded before heading off into the building. The nervous humans all meekly followed the two women, sticking close to each other and still not saying a word. Well, all except for Luca, whose loud voice could be heard conversing with Lilian at the head of the mass…

Wolf moved to trail behind the group but Mae held out her hand in front of him. “We’re going somewhere else.”

“Oh.”

“We’re meeting with Erebus,” she expanded.

He blinked. “I thought that they were.”

Mae gave him a look. “Of course they aren’t. Do you think that Erebus would allow them an audience?”

Wolf paused. “I…”

Weryn stepped in at that moment, “Don’t worry about it. This was something that was discussed before.” He took a pity on the confused beastman. Wolf had clearly not been listening when Xaltiq had briefed them on what happened and that they were to bring the cultists to the estate, but not to Erebus directly.

“Let’s go,” Mae said, not displaying any of the wrath from before. Instead, she donned the demure smile of a beauty once again.

The change, in Wolf’s opinion, was terrifying. He repressed a shiver and followed Weryn and Mae. Ah… this place was really dangerous. He thought that he had lived a hard life before all of this, but the boss and subordinates here were all insane! It was too much for him to keep up. He wanted to stand out, but that was starting to feel impossible.

Part of him also wondered if standing out amongst these people was a good thing. Their twisted personalities were truly something else. Were all the strong as messed up as this?

They arrived at the room where Erebus was currently residing, Weryn silently pushed open the door.

“Erebus,” Mae started, “we have brought the cultists here as you ordered. Lilian and Tear are currently watching over them.”

The black-haired man that was currently slovenly laid out on a soft-looking chair nodded his head. “What are your impressions of them?” Mae’s killing intent could still be felt even though she was masking the majority of it.

Weryn answered, “A flock of fools.”

“Indeed. They’re simply power-hungry humans that ruined your enjoyment. I recommend slaying them,” Mae responded. “Of course, I will handle that part for you.”

Erebus let out a dry laugh. “Wolf, what do you think? Tell me about them.”

The young beastman blinked rapidly. He hadn’t been expecting Erebus to speak to him directly. “Well, uh… The ringleaders of it all seem to be the siblings, Lyra and Luca. They’re complete opposites. But the rest are pretty unremarkable.”

“Continue.”

Was this a test? It was making him itch. “Lyra seems to be very headstrong while Luca is far too relaxed. He is the one that lead us to the others, and he also fell asleep in the carriage ride here.”

This made Erebus’ eyes light up. “I want to see both of them. Bring them here, Weryn.”

The small boy nodded and exited.

Vyne, who was standing silently next to Erebus, said, “What are you intending to do?” He hadn’t been expecting Erebus to take any real interest in these stupid humans.

Erebus didn’t respond, but his attitude said it all, “I don’t remember you being allowed to ask me questions.”

Vyne promptly shut his lips and continued to stare forward.

After a short while, the door opened again and two humans followed behind Weryn.

“I have brought them,” he said, stepping aside to allow Erebus to see them clearer.

“Oo.” Erebus smiled at them. “Hello.”

“Hello,” Luca responded almost immediately.

Lyra glanced at her brother before quietly nodding her greeting for Erebus. Mae was standing near her, so the woman found it a bit hard to speak after having her pride be crushed so easily.

Erebus didn’t say anything else, simply staring into their eyes for a long while.

Of course, no one else dared to speak.

An awkward atmosphere settled over the group of people.

Lyra felt like she was crawling in her skin and tried to avert her gaze while Luca gazed back at Erebus, intrigued.

Was this man a dragon? A timeless being. One of those who had stood while this world was nothing but molten rock?

Everything about him seemed to be very subdued. He didn’t care about his appearance in the slightest, either, that much was obvious.

Once again, the man spoke, “Weryn, lead Lyra back to the rest of the group.”

The expression on the young dragon’s face changed slightly, but he still did as he was told.

Luca continued to stand there, also wondering what his fate was going to be.

Erebus glanced at Mae. “Except for Luca, I’ll give them all to you.” He paused before saying, “Well, have as much fun as you want.”

Mae didn’t appear to be pleased. Luca was one of the ones she wanted to kill the most. She restrained the urge to glare at the human male next to her. “Okay,” she answered.

“May I watch?” Mae had similar interests to Vyne. He could learn some new techniques watching her.

The dragon seemed to hesitate for a moment. “If you really want to…”

Vyne nodded his head, then silently followed behind Mae to the chamber that the cultists had been lead into.

When everyone had left, even Luca’s face tightened.

Did this mean he was left alone with Erebus?