Drayce looked at the map. “It’s all white on the map. Is it cold there? Does it snow all year round?”
Esther laughed. “No, it’s similar to Megaris, and it experiences four seasons. Those further north are the ones that are truly cold.”
“When I grow up, I would go there and meet the king who has red eyes like mine,” he said and mumbled the name. “Draven…” Little Drayce realized something. “Mother, my name is similar to him.”
“Is it?” she patted his head.
The little boy wrote the names on an empty piece of paper. “Draven, Drayce…See? They’re similar!”
“Do you want to know why it’s similar?” Esther asked with a smile.
Drayce nodded with wide eyes.
“Because both your names came from ancient runes. Each character of the ancient rune is unique and has a meaning,” she answered. “My son deserves to have a name that suits him the best.”
“What is the meaning of my name, mother?” he asked curiously.
“Your name has the rune for ‘Dragon’,” Esther answered.
“Dragon!” Drayce laughed as he clapped his hands. “Oh, I remember they say I am blessed by the divine dragon. Does that make me a dragon too, Mother?” he asked, feeling excited and showed his neck to his mother. “I even have a dragon tattoo on my neck.”
Esther nodded and touched the left side of his neck as she traced that tattoo.
On the other hand, his nanny, Lady Saira, who was standing on the side watching the mother and son bond, let out a helpless smile hearing the little prince talk about his tattoo. She always felt amused as Drayce often claimed to have a dragon tattoo on his neck, but she never saw it. In her eyes, there was not a single mark or blemish on the prince’s skin.
However, she found the Queen’s reaction strange. It was like the Queen was seeing something she couldn’t see.
Lady Saira asked hesitantly, “Your Majesty, is there really a dragon mark?” Seeing the Queen nod, she curiously studied the skin once more. “Why do I never see anything on His Highness’s neck?”
“Because only I, his mother, can see it,” Esther responded.
Lady Saira was amazed. She had been serving the Queen for the longest time, and by now, she was aware that the Queen was not an ordinary person. She realized it mostly after Drayce’s birth as she had seen Drayce was not any ordinary child and guessed his mother must be someone special as well. Moreover, Esther didn’t try to hide anything about Drayce from Lady Saira as she was his nanny and the one to take care of him always.
Drayce also touched the tattoo. “So no one will ever get to see it ever, Mother?”
Esther shook her head. “There will be someone who can see it, I am sure. Once you find such a person, then that means the dragon inside you approves of that person.”
“Ohh! So there’s a dragon inside me? When will I see the dragon? Will it come out of me? What’s his name?” he asked innocently.
Esther laughed, but she gave him a vague explanation, aware that her young son wouldn’t be able to understand her well yet.
“When there is a need, the dragon inside you will show itself. But you have to try to never let that happen. We live among humans and we need to look and act ordinary like them,” she explained.
“Then…can I call out the dragon secretly? I was to see him. I want to see how a dragon looks,” he said and then realized something, “Is King Draven a dragon as well? Does he have a tattoo like me on his neck?”
“Hmm,” she nodded. “He has a black dragon tattoo on his heart.”
“Black Dragon!” both Drayce and Lady Saira exclaimed.
Esther somehow expected their reaction. “Hmm, there is a long complicated story behind this, but he is the Black Dragon that our Ivanov Family worships, though he isn’t a divine being or a god like in the stories from the temple.”
Drayce seemed to understand without really understanding, but he nodded. “Mother, does that mean I am a Black Dragon too?”
Esther shook her head. “You are a Red Dragon, Dray.”
“Is there a difference because of colour, Mother?” he asked. The curiosity inside him had no limits, and that was why he was always happy to talk to his mother who was patient enough to answer her questions. That little four-year-old child was hungry for knowledge that he couldn’t read from books.
Esther patted his head. “Yes, each dragon is unique. The Red Dragon is a sign of good fortune and prosperity” she replied. “That is why since your birth, our kingdom has become blessed, and Megaris is growing stronger than ever. Many people thought it was just a coincidence, but it is true that you brought blessings to our kingdom, Dray.”
Drayce let out a happy giggle, hearing such praise. “What about the Black Dragon? What is the meaning of a Black Dragon, mother?” he asked.
Esther quietly studied him for a moment. Black Dragon was mainly a sign of vengeance and revenge, but the words like vengeance and revenge seemed inappropriate for her four-yea-old son to hear.
“The Black Dragon is a sign of immense strength and power, a strong will to protect what’s dear to him,” she replied carefully.
“Is it more powerful than a Red Dragon?” he asked.
“We can’t compare them like this. Both have different strengths and weaknesses and are like the two sides of the same coin,” she explained.
Drayce got to know many things from his mother today. He simply stared at the barren land in the map where his mother pointed to be the location of the Kingdom of Agartha. He decided that one day he will go there and meet that other red-eyed person.
‘Dragons are real?!’
On the other hand, Lady Saira found herself sweating in one corner of the study, wondering if it’s all right for an ordinary human like her to listen to the mother and son talk about these things that she never knew existed in the world.
