The Dragon King's Substitute Bride (Morgan and Tsuneo)

The Dragon King's Substitute Bride

CH90 Morgan

I opened my eyes, the sunlight filled my eyes and made the sea sparkle. The clouds gathered and condensed into the form of a bird that. simply drifted on the sea wind. The clouds caught fire, turning into a beautiful, glowing phoenix. It was like something from an old ta try. Sunlight danced through the clouds partings. I heard water.

The Phoenix stood before me, taking on my appearance, but her eyes filled with a knowing glint of gold.

"They were your past lives, weren't they?"

"Our," she said with a smile. "Our past lives."

My heart leaped into my throat. "I don't understand... all the pain, all the suffering."

The Phoenix nodded, her eyes filled with compassion.

"It is a heavy burden to bear," she said, her voice filled with a sense of understanding. "But it is a burden we carry."

"Why?" I asked, my voice filled with a mixture of confusion and despair. "Why did we have to

suffer so much?"

The Phoenix smiled. "Because there is no joy without suffering."

"But why must it be me? Us?"

Of the hundreds and thousands of creatures in existence, why did it have to be us?

She sighed. "We were born in war. Born of war... Born of the suffering caused when those three are left to their own devices. We were also born of hope. And loneliness and despair. She chuckled, shaking her head. "Haven't you read the Loneliness of a Single Flame?" recognized the phrase. It was a book of poetry that my dad used to read to me. I had always. thought that it was so sad that there was hope in it, too.

It dreams of kindling, of a warmth so bright,

Of a time when it won't face the endless night.

1/4

CH90

Yet what would a single flame be?

Without dark to illuminate.

And could of flame remain, grow, glow, or wee

Without kindling?

A tiny sun beneath the vast dark sky.

A sun without a moon.

"And it is better that we suffer a few moments of despair, than allow them to destroy all of creation.

I set my-jaw. I disagree."

She chuckled. "Do you? You are the one who will bring balance to the black dragon."

"What?"

"Did you think it was mere coincidence? Got your idiot of a cousin was chosen. That circumstances aligned just so that you were the one to take that trial in her place?"

My eyes burned. "You mean to say that my dad had to die."

She sighed. "The Phoenix is more than a symbol of rebirth in life. We are the crossroads between this world and the next. Between life and death. We are, essentially, the veil. for those who cannot cross that veil, like our husband and his troublesome in-laws, how could they ever hope to rule over creatures who do? How can anyone empathize with creatures without ever having experienced what they feel?"

I didn't have an answer to that.

"Come. I'll show you."

The clouds parted. For a moment, it felt as if a great wave of warmth enveloped me. The scene I was shown glowed with an ethereal light. There was a mari seated among the clouds, draped in a robe embroidered with ethereal light. The soft, golden radiance that filled the air was filled with a strange, comforting peace. I wasn't sure what I was watching, but I felt no fear. As a scene drew in closer, the light grew brighter, and soon I found myself standing on one of the shimmering clouds. The air was filled with the soft hum of distant voices, as if the wind itself carried the murmured

of countless souls. The crowd the man sat on seemed to shift and grow into a grand, prayers ancient tree, its branches reaching up into the circling clouds of the heavens.

2/4

CH90

My breath caught as I recognized the sound and the man beneath the tree made of a cloud.

It was my father.

He sat at a mortar and pestle, humming to himself, 1 recognized his medicine-making technique anywhere. I could almost smell it. There was a long line of faceless people near the cloud. I flew over them and hovered just above the line as one of them drifted down onto his oud. The soul came to him, faintly glowing. The forms suddenly turned into a little girl. His eyes softened and he smiled that same warm smile I remembered.

"Welcome, little one. How can I help you?"

My eyes stung as I watched him. He didn't look up, but I didn't need him to. I was close enough to see the deep compassion in his eyes as he speaks to the young soul. She giggled lightly,

rew in a few sprigs of a cloud and watching him the way I used to as he prepared medicine. He something else I didn't recognize.

Tears welled in my eyes. My heart swelling with a mix of pride and all the grief I hadn't been acknowledging.

I felt disgusted with myself for a moment. Selfish. If my dad had continued living, what then? Hundreds of young women would have been sacrificed still. And he would have continued living with the woman who didn't love him, a brother who plotted his death and still. completely unable to do what he loved. To see him able to do that to be as selfless, devoted, and caring as he had always been and could never completely be in life, eased my heart. I had never seen him so happy. I knew his real love had always been healing. I had always known that running the family had never given him any happiness. But to see him so blissful in his afterlife, it was hard to think that he had died for nothing.

"Rest now," he murmurs to the little soul. "You're safe here. You'll find peace."

"I'll come back to visit, mister!" She waved and turned into a little orb of light before flying away.

Eventually, he sent the little soul on his way, and I was prepared to go back, happy with what I had seen, but the Phoenix nudged me forward. I landed in front of him, shaken by the solidness of the ground beneath my feet. "Welcome, 1-

He broke off as he looked up at me with a smile then froze. His eyes were haunted. The fear that took over his face, the horror, shook my head.

"Dad?" I whispered.

3/4

CH90

He shook his head. "My little Ren, you can't... It can't have been that long. You're not even-"

"I'm not dead," I said quickly. Just.... visiting."

"Visiting?" He blinked. I have never heard of a soul visiting heaven."

"It's kind of complicated..." I chuckled and walked over to his table.

"I see..." He whispered. His eyes were misty.

"For old time's sake?"

He hesitated, but then he smiled and nodded. I hopped up on the observation table, feeling like a little kid again. His eyes flashed as he took my hand. His hand felt oddly warm-like he was still alive. I could almost believe that he was.

I couldn't hold back the tears as he pulled me into his arms.

"You've been through quite a lot, haven't you?"

Chapter Comments