Chapter 746: In the Name of Flame

Those not from this world would find it hard to understand a knight's feelings toward dragons—these emotions are brainwashed into them since childhood.

Even though Liszt himself is obsessed with dragons and admires their power, his fascination still pales in comparison to the reverence native inhabitants have for them. It’s a messed-up mix of feelings, twisted and almost pathological—both worship akin to deities and a possessive desire to destroy what they can’t obtain.

Decades ago, Marquis Merlin had once joked with the Sapphire Dragon, threatening to kill it if it didn’t make him Lord of Dragon Domain.

Perhaps it was just a joke, or something he dared say only while the dragon slept.

But now, the aged Marquis Merlin could no longer utter such youthful bravado. He simply gazed at Fire Drake Rio, whispering in awe, "So beautiful!"

Rio had always looked down on humans, so being repeatedly summoned by Liszt and stared at like some circus act left it deeply displeased. With a cold glance at Thorn Castle, it spread its wings and soared into the snowy sky, vanishing swiftly.

"Ah! The Fire Dragon—it flew away!" Meopo exclaimed beside him.

Liszt reassured him, "Rio is just circling above. It’ll return soon." Through their dragon-code link, a form of long-distance telepathy, he knew its movements.

Princess Angela, supporting Marquis Merlin, had grown up around dragons and was used to their presence. Yet her feelings toward Liszt’s Fire Dragon were the most complicated—it had saved the Sapphire, yet because of it, the Sapphire was losing its dominance.

Moreover…

She lifted her head, recalling the petite Archmage she had seen earlier in the parlor, and suddenly felt overwhelmed. In this joke of a castle with no defenses, lacking battlements or arrow towers, there resided both a Dragon Rider and an Archmage.

It was almost unimaginable.

The once-disdained Longtu Family, now connected by marriage to a Dragon Rider and an Archmage, had become a force to reckon with. She had no choice but to bite her tongue, dutifully playing her role as the future matriarch of the Longtu Family. And now, with her pregnancy, she was stuck with them for life.

*Sigh.*

Angela sighed inwardly—women could never escape the chains of family. Her wild, free-spirited days had come to an end.

"Grandfather, it’s cold on the balcony. Let’s go inside," Liszt suggested.

Parts of Thorn Castle were already outfitted with Thermostatic Pearls (climate-control gems), ensuring warmth in winter and coolness in summer. But Marquis Merlin refused. "Wait until the Fire Dragon returns. I want to see it once more."

Seeing this, Liszt called telepathically to Rio through the dragon-code, urging it to return quickly instead of wandering in the snow. Soon, Rio descended onto the flattened construction site near the castle—a space planned for a hundred-meter stone platform come spring.

Piles of rock lay nearby, ready for building.

Only after Marquis Merlin had admired Rio a while longer did Liszt gesture. In an instant, Rio took flight, turning into a fiery blur that merged into his body.

"Elemental Dragons are freaking amazing," Marquis Merlin marveled.

...

By the next afternoon, the Tulip family arrived at Thorn Castle.

Penelope, Lee William, Mary, Levis, Gloria, Lvera, Lytton, and little Richard all came with the entourage.

After the usual small talk, they settled in.

Penelope and Lvera planned to stay until the end of the New Year festivities, and Liszt naturally had no objections—Thorn Castle had plenty of room. However, the castle’s servants were now short-handed. The dozens of child servants still in training were still green for proper duties.

New serfs from the territory, who had once served in the Kingdom of the Eagle, were selected to assist. Their command of Serpent Tongue was poor, so they were assigned grunt work.

The original castle servants, like Thomas and Little Lily, took on guest reception duties. Though they weren’t as polished as highborn attendants, this was only the beginning. With Liszt’s rise, sophistication would come in time.

After the banquet, the ladies gathered to swap rumors.

The men went to Liszt's study, which could also be called a library. Rows of bookshelves lined the room, filled with various books—though Liszt hadn’t read most of them. They were just for show, meant to make him look like a well-read intellectual.

Once the servants brought tea,

the conversation mainly revolved around how Liszt would go about building his own nation in the future.

Neither the Tulip family nor the Taro family were old nobility; they had never experienced the founding years of the Sapphire Duchy and were clueless about starting a country. However, even if they hadn’t done it themselves, they’d at least seen how it was done—the way the Sapphire family operated was the best reference.

"Has the family decided on a new surname?" Lee William asked.

Breaking off from the family was inevitable, as Liszt was only the second son of the Tulip family and wasn’t legally entitled to inherit. The more he achieved, the more inevitable the split became.

"For now, 'Flame,'" Liszt replied.

He had more than one dragon, but the founding surname had to match the Fire Dragon he'd revealed.

He couldn't think of a better name—"Blaze" was too cliché, "Burning" too bland, "Skyfire" too over-the-top, "Wrath" too extreme, and "Dragonflame" too common. None felt quite right. After much deliberation, he settled on the straightforward "Flame," just as the Sapphire family used "Sapphire" as their surname.

Sometimes, the simplest choice carried the most weight.

The royal family of the Kingdom of the Eagle had branches with surnames like "White Iron" and "Moonlight Silver," equally direct, named after dragons.

Leo was a Fire Dragon, the embodiment of flame, and "Flame" was the purest term.

Perhaps it didn’t sound as grand as "Inferno," "Skyfire," "Lotus of Hellfire," "Eternal Flame," or "Wildfire Scorching the Plains." But upon reflection, "Flame" carried a back-to-basics charm. After all, noble surnames weren’t set in stone—once he had more dragon riders, he could always switch to something more imposing, like "Lord of Ten Thousand Dragons" or "Dragon Shepherd."

Marquis Merlin mulled over the word "Flame" and nodded approvingly. "Liszt Flame—I think it suits you well, matching your identity as a Fire Dragon Knight."

"So, when do you plan to split the family?" Levis followed up.

"After the New Year," Liszt replied. He didn’t particularly care—whether the family split or not, little would change, and the Tulip family wouldn’t distance itself because of the division.

For example, Gloria’s family, the Golden Wheat, maintained close ties with its offshoot, the Golden Grain, without treating them as strangers. When the lord of Little Papa Island was wiped out, the lord of Big Papa Island went out of his way to help the survivors of the smaller branch.

A family branching out meant growth.

Within the Blue Blood Alliance, many smaller families had branched off from the Sapphire family, serving as its protectors.

And so,

Liszt’s new identity was officially confirmed: Marquis of Flame, the Flame family, Fire Dragon Knight Liszt Flame. In the future, his nation would likely be called the Flame Duchy.