Vol. 2 Ch. 101

A few days later, at the Silver Dragon Sanctuary, nearly all the tribe members had been summoned back.

Rosvisser stood at the podium, delivering a passionate speech about their recent victory.

The crowd below was stirred with excitement.

Though she wasn't fond of public appearances, as a queen, she excelled at rallying her people and stirring their emotions.

Leon stood among the crowd, listening quietly.

Surrounding him, the Silver Dragon tribe members all tried to edge closer to their prince.

"Hey, you're pushing me!"

"I was here first, you're the one pushing!"

"What do you mean you were here first? Prince, wasn't I standing here first?"

"Prince, it was me! I even greeted you just now."

Leon gave a helpless smile, "Everyone, calm down, calm down. Let's all listen to Her Majesty's speech properly."

**Inner thoughts:** If you don't start listening to my wife's speech seriously, I'll string up you second-class knights and give you all a good beating!

After Leon's half-hearted attempt to calm the nearby Silver Dragon members, they quieted down and focused on Rosvisser’s speech.

After summarizing their victory, Rosvisser didn’t try to offer empty promises to the tribe.

She was a leader who dealt in practical matters, and this time the situation truly required the cooperation of the entire Silver Dragon tribe.

“Take a look at your fellow tribe members beside you. Have any of you noticed something?” Rosvisser asked.

The tribe members glanced around but no one spoke up.

There was an unspoken rule during a leader's speech—while a leader might pose a question, it was rarely meant to be answered directly. It was more of a rhetorical device, meant to naturally lead into the next part of the speech. If the leader wanted an actual response, it would have been arranged ahead of time.

Rosvisser scanned the faces of her people and continued, "Perhaps you've already realized—compared to a few years ago, there are far fewer of us now."

“Relentless wars have drastically reduced the Silver Dragon population. If we continue like this without making any changes, the next time war comes, we might not even be able to preserve our last flame.”

Rosvisser didn’t hold back, directly addressing the crisis her people were facing.

As she expected, the crowd began to murmur among themselves.

"Her Majesty is right, if we want to defend our home, we need enough numbers."

"But given the reproductive nature of our race, it's impossible for us to recover our population quickly."

"Should we ask Princess Yisha for reinforcements?"

"Princess Yisha’s situation is the same as ours. They just ended a war as well and are still recovering. Asking for soldiers... I doubt she can help."

"Then... what about using chrysalis birth?"

"If we use the chrysalis method, the mother becomes extremely weak after producing a dragon cocoon. If enemies invade during that time, we’d be in trouble. So, large-scale chrysalis births aren't a viable solution either."

"This is... quite the headache."

“…”

Rosvisser listened to their discussions quietly.

After a moment, she raised her hand slowly.

The crowd immediately fell silent.

"I’ve considered all of your points. Indeed, each option has its drawbacks."

“While we nurture the next generation of Silver Dragons, we also need to guard against opportunistic enemies. Finding a perfect solution… isn’t easy.”

“But, everyone, while we’re racking our brains, trying to solve this with traditional dragon thinking, have we perhaps overlooked something right in front of us?”

Rosvisser smiled, giving them a little tease.

"Something right in front of us? What is it?"

"I don’t know. Prince, do you know?"

Leon smirked to himself, thinking, **Your thinking is why you’re becoming an endangered species.**

But he couldn’t entirely blame these second-class knights. After all, Rosvisser had just said they needed to think outside the traditional dragon mindset.

And once they did, the answer would be obvious.

What Rosvisser was referring to was...

“How long are you planning to stay low in the crowd, my dear?”

Rosvisser tilted her head slightly from the podium, strands of hair falling gracefully as she smiled, showing a rare gentle side in front of the tribe.

That sweet “my dear” completely ignited the gossiping souls of all the dragons present.

“Wait, wait, wait—am I hearing this wrong? Did Her Majesty just call the Prince ‘my dear’? What?”

“Whoa, whoa! This is a public setting! How can they be so... improper! But... give me more, I love it.”

“I figured at most she’d call him ‘husband,’ since they’ve been married for three years now. But ‘my dear’... wow, I’m at a loss for words, folks!”

"Everyone, clear the way! Let the professionals handle the gossip!"

And with that declaration, Shirley and Milan raised two flags in the middle of the crowd.

Shirley’s flag bore a simple, clear slogan:

**"Restore the Glory of the Silver Dragons, It's Our Duty!"**

As for Milan's flag, it had a more cryptic message to the dragons:

**"Life continues because of love... Dreams are illuminated by children?"**

"What does that mean?"

"I recognize every word, but I have no idea what they mean together..."

“Oh look, the Prince is going up on stage!”

One reminder was all it took to redirect everyone's attention back to the podium.

Leon stood beside Rosvisser, lowering his voice, "I told you, empire slogans about having more kids don’t really resonate with dragons."

"That’s fine. I’ll just explain it to them," Rosvisser responded, shrugging.

Leon shook his head but said no more.

“Now, I’m sure everyone is familiar with the man standing beside me,” Rosvisser began, wrapping her arm around Leon’s. "Three years ago, we met, fell in love, and built the family we have today. In these three years, we’ve been blessed with three lovely daughters.”

“I wonder what you all think of them?”

Shirley cheered from below, “Lady Noa is the best!”

Immediately, others joined in.

“Lady Moon is the cutest little dragon! No debate!”

“In that case, I’ll claim Lady Aurora, sorry everyone.”

“…”

See? This was the part of the speech that had been planned beforehand. And it worked like a charm!

"It seems you all adore our little princesses," Rosvisser continued.

“And as you know, since I’ve become Leon’s wife, all our children have been born through live birth.”

“In the past, chrysalis births were the norm among the dragon race.”

“Compared to live birth, chrysalis-born dragonlings are thought to inherit more of their mother’s power.”

“And since chrysalis birth doesn’t require a partner, there's no risk of betrayal from one's mate.”

The dragon race deeply valued “pure love.”

But that didn’t mean there weren’t exceptions—dragons who turned their backs on their partners. Although rare, for those who placed so much importance on pure love, such betrayals left wounds that were difficult to heal.

This was another reason many dragons preferred chrysalis births.

The Silver Dragon tribe listened attentively to their queen, waiting for her to continue.

“I’m not here to insist that you all fall in love with someone, for love is free—it transcends age, status—”

Rosvisser glanced at the man beside her and whispered so only he could hear, “And race.”

Leon blinked in surprise, then a subtle smile crept onto his face.

He tightened his grip on her hand.

“But trust is the hardest thing to transcend.”

“True, I can’t promise the one you love will return your affections. This fear of betrayal has caused many of us to close our hearts.”

“Before I met Leon, I was the same.”

“I even wondered if I had lost the ability to love.”@@novelbin@@

“But then I met this man who changed my life.”

Leon took a deep breath. In a sense… yes, he certainly had changed Rosvisser’s life.

“I didn’t understand what ‘love’ truly meant.”

“Some say love is at first sight;”

“Others say love is in the small moments, day by day.”

“But my husband has shown me what real love is.”

Leon quietly turned his gaze toward the beautiful silver-haired woman beside him.

Her speech was no longer as fiery or impassioned as before. Instead, she spoke softly, her silver eyes trembling slightly, as if recounting a beautiful fairy tale.

“Love is understanding someone’s flaws and still choosing to stay by their side;”

“Love is knowing the world might end tomorrow, but choosing to spend today with him without any regrets;”

“Love is... the opportunity to witness the most beautiful side of this world.”

“And so, what I want to say is… I’ve never believed Leon would betray me.”

“Because from the moment we fell in love, we had eyes only for each other.”