The Ugly Duckling Of The Tiger Tribe

Chapter 460: Side Story 15: The Dragon’s Gaze

The deep woods in the Northern part of the West Way territory were silent, buried under a heavy, pristine blanket of mid-winter snow.

Here, the grand slate walls of the palace were nothing but a dark silhouette against the distant, jagged mountain peaks. The air was thin, biting, and smelled entirely of ancient pine needle resin and frozen earth.

​A sudden, silent distortion rippled through the frost-laden air.

​He didn’t walk into the forest; he simply materialized out of the shapeless fog of the upper realms.

The Dragon God stood amidst the towering pine trees, his ethereal, towering form clad in robes the color of starlight and midnight smoke. His eyes, vast and glowing with the ancient, terrifying wisdom of cosmic cycles, blinked slowly as he looked toward the distant valley.

​He had come to take a peek. Just a single, silent glimpse at the life Arinya was living after The End since that wasn’t included in the book.

​He expected to look from afar. He expected the realm to remain completely oblivious to his divine presence, as it usually did. But...

​"The wind shifted three seconds ago, but your footsteps made no sound against the powder," a cool, flat voice stated flawlessly from the shadows of a massive, fallen cedar trunk. "That is an anomaly."

​The Dragon God paused. His glowing, ancient eyes drifted downward, cutting through the dense pine branches to lock onto a low, snow-covered bark of wood.

​Sitting there, completely unbothered by the sub-zero temperature, was a small girl.

​Lyra’s silver hair was perfectly braided down her back, like always. Wrapped securely around her ankles was a long tail that glided lazily against the frost.

Sprawled across her lap, bundled in a heavy, fur-lined cloak, was four-year-old Nadir. The little silver-haired sweet-tooth prince was fast asleep, his face buried against her knee while his striped tiger tail gave a slow, rhythmic twitch in his dreams.

​Lyra didn’t flinch. She didn’t drop into a defensive beast stance. She simply sat on the bark, her tiny hands resting flat on her knees as her fierce, emerald eyes locked directly onto the divine entity towering over her.

​"You do not possess the scent profile of any registered tribe in the West Way," Lyra continued, her voice entirely too rational, flat, and clinical for a child. "Your clothing lacks the structural stitching of our textile mills, and your mana displacement is... inefficiently high. Are you a spy?"

​The Dragon God stood entirely still, a profound, deeply amused silence stretching between them. For the first time in millennia, a mortal child was interrogating a deity as if he were a common trespasser.

​A spy, the entity thought, his vast voice echoing not in the air, but as a low, cosmic vibration directly inside the forest’s spiritual lines. A bold deduction, little serpent. Do you not fear the dark?

​Lyra’s emerald slits narrowed just a fraction, her silver tail giving a single, logical thump against the fallen log.

"Fear is an inefficient use of emotional resources. My father, King Damar, says that a true Sovereign does not calculate fear; we calculate threat levels. And according to my instincts, you possess no immediate malicious intent toward my brother."

​She glanced down at Nadir, her cold expression softening for a split second as she gently adjusted his fur cloak to shield his face from the mountain breeze, before locking her gaze right back onto the starlight robes.

​"And... if you had bad intent," Lyra added calmly, crossing her small arms over her chest, "I would’ve known."

​The Dragon God let out a low, silent chuckle that made the frost on the pine needles vibrate. He looked past the silver-haired girl, his omniscient gaze traveling down the mountain path, cutting straight through the stone walls of the Sovereign Wing.

​There, inside the roaring warmth of the grand hearth, he saw her. He saw Arinya—the girl once named Stephanie—sitting on a mountain of plush pelts, her face glowing with a vibrant, fiercely beautiful life.

She was surrounded by her four powerful, ridiculously devoted Beast Kings, her laughter echoing through as the younger twins crawled across the cedar floors.

She was no longer invisible. She was no longer a backdrop of water in a lonely pond. She was a Queen. A Land Mother. The center of an unbreakable, chaotic empire.

This was the life she had wished for, and he had given it. He was glad that at no time did she regret being here.

​The deity’s glowing eyes drifted back down to Lyra, the sharp, brilliant guardian of that future.

​Your mother has built a sturdy foundation, little one. The Dragon God’s voice resonated softly inside Lyra’s mind, carrying a weight of ultimate, divine satisfaction. The architecture of this world suits her well.

​"Mummy is an architect," Lyra agreed seamlessly, tilting her head as her silver braids swung over her shoulder. "She handles the logistics. I handle the perimeter."

​Keep your watch then, Lyra, the entity murmured as his starlight form began to slowly dissolve back into the shapeless cosmic fog, the distortion in the air smoothing out like water. The horizon belongs to your bloodline.

"I did not tell you my name," Lyra noted, her eyes slightly widened, and he closed his own eyes.

"You did not need to. Because... I know everything."

​Within a second, the towering entity vanished entirely, leaving nothing behind but the crisp winter wind howling through the pines.

​Lyra sat in the silence for a moment longer, her emerald snake-slit eyes scanning the empty snow before her tail did that familiar, hidden ’thing’—giving a rapid, joyful little wiggle against the bark because she was thoroughly pleased with her own guard work.

But then again... who was that?

​"Sister Lyra...?" Nadir mumbled sleepily, his big emerald eyes fluttering open as he rubbed his nose against her tunic. "Is the sky cleaning its teeth again? I heard a big rumble."

​"No, little brother," Lyra murmured softly, her icy demeanor completely melting as she effortlessly hoisted the four-year-old onto her back, her long, elegant stride carrying him back down the mountain path toward the distant, glowing slate walls of the palace. "The sky is perfectly stable. The perimeter is secure. Let’s go home; Mummy is planning to make mint pastries."

​As they broke through the tree line and approached the lower courtyard gates, the heavy wooden doors were already open.

​Standing right by the stone archway, wrapped in a thick wool shawl that caught the golden afternoon light, was Arinya.

She had been scanning the perimeter, a lingering trace of worry on her face as she felt something the moment the dragon’s gaze locked on her, and she wondered where her children were.

But that worry completely vanished the moment her eyes locked onto her silver-haired pair.

​A brilliant, radiant smile broke across her face—the kind of smile that made her look entirely unburdened, entirely whole.

She raised a hand, waving them in from the cold with an eager, welcoming warmth. Behind her, through the open doors, the deep, rumbling laughter of the four Kings drifted out into the snow, alongside the delicious, sweet scent of warm mint and honey broth.

​Lyra’s silver-scaled tail gave a sharp, incredibly happy wiggle against the snowbank, though her face remained a picture of stoic, perfect calm as she quickened her pace.

Nadir grinned over her shoulder, waving his little woolen mittens wildly in the air. "Mummy! Mummy! We’re back!"

​Arinya hurried down the stone steps to meet them, her arms opening wide to gather her brilliant, chaotic children into the warmth of her chest.

​Watching from the high, invisible ridges of the upper realm, the fading presence of the Dragon God let out one final, deeply satisfied breath.

​This truly was the best. To see her happy... Content... This was why he was able to go on with this for hundreds of years, giving her true happiness. The satisfaction He got from it was more than he could ever get from forcing her to remain by his side.

The invisible girl who had once stood alone under a gray sky had rewritten the layout of her destiny entirely.

She was surrounded by an unbreakable fortress of love, a family that would echo through generations, and a life that was completely, beautifully full.

(CONGRATULATIONS TO ME AND TO ALL OF US!)

A/N: So, we’ve officially come to an end to this series. I am so happy I could cry. Wait, no, I’m already crying.

ಥ⁠‿⁠ಥ ༎ຶ⁠‿⁠༎ຶ

Someone, give me a tissue.

Anyway, this is truly the end, and we won’t be seeing more of Arinya or the kids, but I do say I did a great job. Maybe not the best in regards to the side story, but I just wanted you readers to get a feel of how their daily lives worked when the kids were older. And Kaito and Marina, those two are genuine menaces, wah. They torment me even in my sleep. And they used to look so innocent as children. Sniff.

Well, that’s that! I’ll stop rambling now, but I’ll say this last thing. If you, my dearest reader, truly enjoyed this tale, I would very much appreciate it if you recommended it to your friends and... gave me gifts. Lots and lots of gifts. Please give me lots of gifts, and I’ll give you cookies. UwU.

Oh, right, and for those ten people who made it here first, there is a reward of ten free passes pasted below in the author’s note section. So copy it out, redeem it, and once you do, hit the comment section up with a thanks, okay? And please don’t snatch it to multiple accounts. Be honest, okay?

Anyway, bye now.

See you in my other novel. Yeah, that’s right. I’ll be waiting for you there. Apocalypse Rebirth: Making Billions With My Fortune-Telling Skill. I want to see you there and hope to see you there. Smiles. And goodbye.