Chapter 1218 — The Royal Dinner and the Hatchlings
Blade of Dawn · Page 2 of 5
Their drive and their innate mental development clearly set dragon hatchlings apart from other races, and this showed in their fondness for Cecil Palace and their affectionate manner toward Gao Yang. The two little ones seemed quite aware of where they had been born, and remembered the scent of everyone around them at the moment of their birth. Soon after they had learned to crawl with confidence, they had run all the way from Embassy Street to frolic on the lawn in front of Cecil Palace, and the chaos they had caused then was still fresh in Gao Yang's memory. And it was easy to foresee that the number of times they would come running here to make trouble in the future would certainly not be small...
But Gao Yang did not mind in the least. He was very fond of this pair of dragon sisters.
Soon after, the emperor's family dinner was ready in the dining room. Under the bustle of the cooks and attendants, the long table was already laden with ample but not extravagant food, and extra chairs (though they might not necessarily be used) had been brought out. Gao Yang sat in the seat of the family head, with Hetty, Rebecca, and the others arranged in order. As for Amber... as always, she sat boldly at Gao Yang's left hand, a chicken leg and a mug of beer already raised in her hands.
If some stubborn, pedantic soul were to see the emperor's family at their meal, they would likely produce several thousand words of criticism and discussion, for there was simply too much at this table that failed to conform to "aristocratic etiquette" and "royal dignity." Yet Gao Yang himself was thoroughly satisfied with this lively, rule-free "family dinner." He had always held that mealtime was the hour when one ought most to relax, especially in the company of family and friends; this precious time should never be conceded to those energy-wasting formalities and "habits of etiquette." That had been so from the moment he first established a pioneer camp here, and it had never changed even after he became ruler of this vast empire.
On this point, even Hetty—who had once cared greatly about tradition and "rules"—had long since grown used to it. She had even grown used to the spectacle of Amber and Rebecca fighting over the last chicken leg at the table.
Considering Hetty's temperament, that was really no small feat...
Gao Yang's gaze went to the far end of the table, where another figure seldom seen in the dining room had also arrived: a giant golden egg, its shell traced with faintly glowing runes that flowed across its surface. It stood with considerable presence in the spot opposite Gao Yang, a teacup and a kettle floating at its side, and the latest newspaper hovering before it.
The two hatchlings had already jumped down from the chairs prepared for them and were now scrambling joyfully around the golden egg, now and then climbing atop the shell to coil their tails and crouch there like the dragons in bardic tales that lair in ancient castles, craning their necks to let out utterly unthreatening cries of "ga-oh."
Had an ordinary person been charged with looking after them here, they would long since have been flustered by the hatchlings' exuberant energy and sturdy little bodies. But to a former god, this degree of mischief from two little ones was nothing worth mentioning. Enya simply let the hatchlings crawl all over her, and it did not in the least diminish her pleasure in tea and newspaper.
Of course, considering the dragon god's present form... whether she was truly calm or not was impossible for others to tell. At any rate, she was simply standing there.