The Palace Lord, who until now had maintained a calm or mildly amused demeanor, showed genuine surprise for the first time at my remark about his life force sustaining the Ice Essence.
"Ha," he muttered, before looking at me intently.
"Is that correct?" I pressed.
"How did you know?"
"Part guesswork," I admitted.
Among the many hypotheses I considered, it seemed the most plausible. It was merely luck that I struck the mark.
"I was planning to explain that part anyway, but you've spoiled the fun by figuring it out."
Even now, he was seeking amusement in this grim discussion. It was absurd.
"Just like him," I thought, recalling Yuseonâs penchant for finding entertainment in chaos.
Stillâ
"So that's why," I muttered.
The Palace Lord's admission clarified a point that had eluded me.
If the Ice Essence that suppressed the extreme cold relied on the Palace Lordâs life force to function, thenâ
"Itâs no wonder the Ice Palaceâs bloodline has been sustained this long."
Even though the thought crossed my mind that someone might exploit this arrangement, imprisoning and using the descendants purely as life-force batteries, it seemed the Palace Lordâs bloodline had reasons for avoiding such extremes.
"As you deduced," the Palace Lord continued, "the Palace Lord is necessary for maintaining the Ice Essence. More precisely, for preserving the safety of the North Sea."
I looked at himâa man partially transformed into a dragon. His appearance now made more sense in the context of what he had said.
"A dragon's vitality is⦠formidable," I thought.
The curse, which forced the transformation into a dragon-like state, wasnât merely an affliction. It seemed designed to forcibly extract and amplify vitality to sustain the Ice Essence.
"If thatâs trueâ¦"
"Then the Dragon Emperor was truly a bastard," I thought bitterly.
He installed a mechanism to spread perpetual cold in one part of the North Sea and a counterbalance requiring the Palace Lordâs life force to suppress it.
The Palace Lord had no choice but to endure this cruel existence, artificially prolonged and fortified by the curse to sustain the Ice Essence.
"Was the Ice Essence so important as to justify such measures?"
Orâwas there another purpose behind it all?
The reason didnât matter much.
What was certain was that the Dragon Emperorâs actions had plunged the North Sea into centuries of cold, all for the sake of awaiting a "pureblood."
And now, that "pureblood" had turned out to beâ
"Me."
For better or worse, I had been drawn here.
As I processed this, another question arose.
"Your child, Yuseon, is also a dragon," I said. "Does that mean heâs the next Palace Lord?"
The Palace Lord, partially transformed into a dragon, had a successor in Yuseon. That much seemed clear.