My Dragon King System-Chapter 235: An Attempt At Laela’s Life

A few people nearby glanced around in confusion, but no one paid it much attention. They were in a city filled with magic after all.

Laela had already turned back toward Bernard, who was haggling with a vendor over the price of flour.

She took a step forward to join him when suddenly her chest tightened painfully.

Her breath hitched. Her heartbeat felt wrong.

Bernard glanced over his shoulder at her and immediately noticed the strange look on her face.

"Laela?" he asked, with a concerned voice. "You alright?"

Laela opened her mouth to respond, but before she could say anything, her legs gave out.

She collapsed and Bernard’s eyes widened in shock as he dropped his basket and rushed toward her. "Laela!"

He knelt beside her quickly, shaking her shoulder gently. "Hey! Can you hear me? Laela!"

Her eyes were half-open but unfocused, and her breathing was shallow, and growing slower with every passing second.

A small crowd also began forming around them.

—-

Back at Ravens Grave, inside the main room, Aiden sat at one of the long tables with Arianna beside him.

They had been talking quietly when suddenly Aiden’s entire body went rigid.

His supernatural awareness flared for just a split second, just long enough for him to sense the unmistakable presence of a god nearby before it vanished.

But that wasn’t what made his blood run cold.

It was the Dragon’s Bond connection he shared with Laela and Arianna that sent alarm bells ringing through his mind.

Something was wrong with Laela.

Arianna felt it too at almost the exact same moment.

Her hand flew to her chest as if someone had struck her there, and her eyes widened in panic as she whispered: "Laela..."

Aiden didn’t say anything more, he simply teleported away with void step.

He reappeared directly in front of where Laela had collapsed on the street.

Bernard was still kneeling beside her, frantically trying to wake her up while people crowded around them with worried expressions.

Aiden’s gaze locked onto Laela immediately, and her skin had gone pale.

Without saying a word, Aiden bent down and scooped her up gently into his arms.

Bernard looked up at him with wide eyes full of fear and confusion, but didn’t even have time to speak before Aiden vanished again, this time taking Laela with him.

Aiden reappeared inside Ravens Grave’s main room with Laela still cradled in his arms.

The moment they materialized, every head in the room turned toward them instantly.

Piers stood up abruptly. "What happened?"

Katherine moved forward immediately with concern written across her face.

Arianna rushed forward as well with tears already forming at the corners of her eyes as she reached out toward Laela.

Innis pressed both hands over her mouth as shock filled her expression.

Laela’s breathing was slowing down visibly now, each breath coming slower than the last.

Aiden noticed everything happening around him, the panic spreading through everyone present, the way Arianna looked half-way ready to collapse herself and the way Elena kept asking "what happened? what happened?"

And then Laela’s body temperature dropping rapidly; frost beginning to form along the edges of her fingertips despite being indoors.

His eyes widened suddenly, and the same panic running across the room, caught up to him too and even more.

Without thinking twice, he whispered a single word under his breath:

"Stop."

Time froze instantly around Laela specifically, keeping her suspended in the exact state she currently existed within, preventing further deterioration.

In that same moment, Aeris groaned loudly, clutching the sides of her head tightly, wincing from pain shooting through her skull.

Everyone turned to look in her direction immediately.

Aeris straightened slowly after a moment passed, letting her hands drop away from her temples, though her expression remained troubled.

"It’s Goddess Lucina," Aeris said quickly, looking directly at Aiden and meeting his gaze.

She continued speaking rapidly, urgently: "Laela is only the first one. Next is Arianna, then every other member of this guild, and then your family."

She paused briefly.

"This is to remind you that even as a dragon, you still possess so much weakness, and it won’t stop until you do what she wants. You know what she wants."

Aeris took a breath and continued: "You shouldn’t bother with the potion you used to bring everyone back from the dead once before. She said this curse rends the soul itself, and Laela dies in thirty minutes."

Gasps erupted throughout the hall immediately.

"Impossible! Elena!" Katherine called out, expecting that Elena would immediately start with casting one of her spells.

Aiden turned toward Aeris, and his eyes were filled with fury unlike anything anyone had ever seen.

He was so mad he couldn’t say a word, and that the same time his mind was thinking up methods to save his woman.

So instead he lifted Laela’s time-frozen body carefully and vanished again from sight.

Reappearing inside his Pocket Domain.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

—-

From Rhyos’s temple in Eden, three gods watched as the scene unfolded below through the gateway.

Lucina had a devious smile spread across her face, clearly pleased with what she’d just orchestrated.

Herxes stood to the side with a deep frown, looking deeply uncomfortable.

Rhyos stood with his arms crossed, and his expression utterly disappointed.

"That was too much," Rhyos said finally. "In fact, you crossed the line."

Lucina turned toward him with that same smile. "This is how we press the advantage we have at the moment."

Rhyos shook his head. "So you would risk the anger of a fast-growing dragon. one who will soon rise to the apex existence of their species, over this boon?"

Lucina’s smile didn’t falter. "Do you think I got to this point as a high goddess without taking certain risks like this one and doing what had to be done?"

Rhyos sighed heavily. "Lucina... you’ve gone insane."

He lowered his hand and met her gaze directly. "And should that elf actually die from this, then this is the last time you are going to use my gateway to ever watch them. It will be the last time I get involved in any of this."

Lucina’s smile faded, replaced by a sharp glare. "You would dare refuse me?"

Rhyos pointed sharply at the glowing gateway behind him. "That gateway is mine. And unless the All-Father says otherwise about how it is going to be used, then any other way is my decision to decide."

He stepped closer. "You may be a high goddess, Lucina, but I am done with your threats."

With that, Rhyos turned and walked away in vexation, leaving the temple.

——

Back in the Pocket Domain, Aiden stood motionless for a moments, forcing himself to calm down.

The avatar stationed nearby watched from a far corner with clear anger written across its face but said nothing.

The demon woman also watched from another corner, her expression somewhere between confusion and cautious observation.

Aiden took one more deep breath before kneeling beside Laela’s time-frozen body.

He activated his Dragon’s Sight immediately, scanning through her entire form.

There it was on her left palm: a faint black mark shaped like a circle.

That was where the curse resided.

He reached out and placed his hand over hers, feeling the divine magic radiating from it.

Which means, it was actually "breakable."

But first, Aiden activated his Replication Authority skill: Alter Duplicate.

A duplicate version of Laela materialized beside the real one, identical in every way—locked in that same near-death condition.

The duplicate lay still beside the real Laela.

Then Aiden turned his full attention back to the real Laela’s palm.

He held it gently and said, "Zero Effect."

The black mark shuddered once, then dissolved, and the curse shattered instantly.

Aiden felt it immediately, life returning to Laela’s body. Her skin regained its color and her breathing deepened

He let out a long sigh of relief.

Lucina must have thought the Life Restoration Potion was the only way he could save lives. She had underestimated his power as a dragon.

Once Aiden was certain life had fully returned, he undid the time stop around her.

Laela’s eyes fluttered open slowly as consciousness returned, then blinked several times, with confusion over her face.

Her gaze darted around before landing on Aiden kneeling beside her.

Without hesitation she threw herself forward into his arms and hugged him tightly.

"I’m not sure what happened," Laela said. "I only remember falling..."

Aiden held her close for a moment before pulling back slightly. "It’s fine," he said gently, brushing a strand of hair away from her forehead.

That’s when Laela noticed the other body laying beside her, almost dead and looking exactly like her.

Her eyes widened in shock and she

shuddered. "Why is there another me there?" she whispered.

Aiden smiled. "Don’t worry. That body is exactly how I kill that bitch for good."​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​