After the speech, all the dragons stood and began congratulating the 19 Dragons who were selected, shaking their hands and wishing them the best in the games. Two different families were congratulating Lance at that moment. Each family shook one of Lance's hands. "Congratulations, Lance! Your achievement is a giant step forward!" One of the men shaking his hand was a tall, portly man. He was wearing a black tuxedo and a coat similar to the one his father wore. Black with golden accents. "A good performance here will set you up for a life of success!"
Lance gave a fake smile to try and placate these old men. "Yeah. Yea. It's a…great honor!" He gave a fake laugh. Looking around, he saw the other 18 dragons dealing with the same thing. His eyes widened as he saw his aunt congratulating Beatrice. The event meant that she was sitting just one table away from him. He had to avoid that at all costs. His aunt would tear the skin from his cheeks down to the bone. "Thank you, guys! But I have to go find my mom. Have a wonderful one!"
Turning from the two, he slipped through the crowd of nobles. He was rather tall for his peers. So he had to duck down to hide himself from the others. He moved slowly to not arouse attention. And as he got out of the crowd, he speed-walked to the door. He closed the door and then made his way to the hallway.
"Whew! Close one there." Turning away from the closed door, he walked down the hallway. "Maybe I can finally get something to eat." He continued making his way down the marble-white floor. As he walked, a small noise played in his head. Letting him know he got a skill level up. He pulled up the notification.
[Congratulations! You have unlocked the Stealth skill! This skill will make it easier for you to stay unnoticed. A true master of this skill can walk through a crowd without a single eye falling on their form.]
Cool! A new skill. He knew that he would need to train harder if he ever became one of God's Knights like his dad wanted. There were many vague threats made about what their training was like. He realized that his current experiences were not comparable to the training of God's Knights.
As he mused about what would be in his future. He heard some faint sobbing come from one of the side rooms he passed. He normally wouldn't have paid it any mind. But it sounded like his mother. Approaching the door, he cracked it open. Peeking into the room. He did in fact see his mother sitting on the couch inside the guest room. Softly crying into her hands.
Seeing his mother distressed. Lance walked into the room. Lance shut the door and made his way to the couch. "Mom? What happened?"
Looking up, Lily dried her eyes quickly. "Baby! What are you doing here? You should be at the party." As he got close to her, Lily raised her hand to put it on his cheek. "God. I can't believe it. My baby boy…"
Lance sat down on the couch next to his mother. "Mom. Why are you crying? If someone did something, let me take care of it."
Lily moved her hands to lay on top of his. "Baby, don't worry about it. It's nothing new. Nothing I need you to worry about." She made an effort. Hearing that it wasn't new made Lance want to help even more.
Lance knew that his mom wouldn't budge on the same line of questioning. She was too stubborn for that. So he decided to go another route. "Mom, why did you leave the party?" He made eye contact with his mom when he asked that question.
She could feel the sting of his stare as Lance asked his question. "I…I just needed some fresh air, baby. You shouldn't be worrying about this! Go back and have fun."
The stare didn't waver for a second. He looked down at her with a fierce intensity. "Mom…please. You don't have to lie to me. Tell me what's going on."
There was a pregnant pause between the two. Lily stared back into the eyes of her son. Instead, she didn't see the little boy to whom she could tell white lies. Instead she saw a fully grown man. Begging to help her with what he saw as a problem. "O-ok, Baby. I'll tell you why I had to leave the party."
She moved both of her hands to rub on one of his. Lily took in a deep breath as she steadied herself to tell the truth. "I am not a Celestial Dragon."
Lance squinted his eyes a bit after she said that. "W-what?" He couldn't comprehend what she was saying. If his own mother wasn't a world noble, then… "Where are you from?"
Lily gave his hands a small back-and-forth rub. "Maybe… I should just tell you my story. You deserve to know where your mother comes from." She grabbed a tissue to blow her nose in. "Firstly. My name isn't Lily. My real name is Lilith." Lilith grabbed his hand and stroked it with her thumb.
"Eighteen years ago. I was the captain of a pirate crew. We were the Sin Pirates." Thinking of the past brought out some repressed emotions. But she kept a strong place. "We were sailing to an island in the New World. Horyo Island. What none of us knew was that your father's people were running a Native hunting game on the island at the time. When we saw them, we wanted to raid their ships. Something no pirate would ever do in their right mind. But we certainly paid the price for it."
"The fight didn't go well for us. I fought against your father. And we eventually came to a stalemate. But by that time all my crewmates had been defeated. We were completely laid out."
Lance took in all the information she gave. It began to make other things click in his head. "Wait. What happened to your crew? You're here. So where are they?"
Lilith took a moment. Guilt weighed her down on this question. "After I was taken prisoner by your father. He'd keep my crew alive. And keep them as slaves. He would ensure their safety from the other dragons. As long as I…gave him an heir." Her eyes slowly met with his. She realized that he now understood the truth. And there was nothing left to keep from him. "I'm sorry, Baby. I didn't want you to know."
Lance didn't know how to react to any of this. He would have never imagined that his mom wasn't a Celestial Dragon. He turned away from her and faced her toward the door. "Wait. You said your crew were slaves? Does that mean that…is Abigail?"
"Yes. Abigail was my right hand. Second in command of the Sin Pirates. I guess she still is my right hand." Lilith turned to face the same direction as her son.
"What was it like?" He had always heard tales of pirates being despicable scum that had to be eradicated when met. Lance would certainly have never assumed that of his mother. "Being a pirate. What was it like?"
Taking a deep breath in. Lilith held her arms to her body. "It was freedom. Freedom incarnate. The only thing that could possibly compare to that." She put her hand on Lance's thigh. "Was raising you. By far, that is my greatest achievement."
Lance looked down at her hand. He glanced back into her eyes. "I…I need some time." Lance stood up and walked out of the room. Unable to think while she spit such crazy facts at him.
With his world turned upside down, he was unsure of what to think. There was only one place Lance could clear his head. He knocked on the door of his personal guard. Lance was huffing and out of breath when Tess opened the door. The other four girls watched from inside the room. "All of you get naked. I'm confused and need to clear my head."