Chapter 133: The Value of an Hour
Thirty-four minutes and twenty-nine seconds.
That was how long it took for the noodle to finish talking about what he had to talk about.
And maybe, just maybe, if Kael hadn’t shown up, it would have stretched into hours. With how long it took, he could have also counted the milliseconds, but wouldn’t that just further test his patience?
The crunch of footsteps across the gravel path was the first sign, followed by a familiar weight in the air that made the leaves of the garden trees shiver. Riley turned his head, and his stomach flipped.
Kael.
The dragon lord strode into the garden with the same measured gait he always carried, like he owned not just the ground but the sky as well. Both Riley and Rowan froze mid-conversation, caught like students with contraband.
Kael tilted his head, golden eyes sliding between the two of them. "By the looks of your expressions, should I also be surprised?" His tone was mild, but there was something sharp under it. Then his gaze drifted lazily upward to the afternoon sky. "Ah, though maybe I should be, since I didn’t expect an heir to a territory to be this free when it’s still bright outside."
Rowan blinked, momentarily caught off guard, as once again the dragon lord had strung together so many words to form a sentence. Thankfully, recovering quickly, he inclined his head with a polite smile. "Ah. I see. My apologies, I did not notice the time." His eyes flicked sideways toward Riley, as if to share the realization.
Riley, however, was too busy trying not to gape.
Because what came next was nothing short of shocking.
"Well," Kael said, his tone casual, as if remarking on the weather, "you should. For humans, an hour or so is a lot of time. If everyone were to take up that much of their time, then what would they be left with? You are aware of their life spans, are you not?"
Riley’s jaw nearly hit the stone bench.
What.
His boss. His boss, the dragon lord who had single-handedly devoured years of Riley’s life with endless overtime, sudden assignments, midnight summons, and the occasional death march disguised as paperwork—that boss—was standing there, speaking with all the sincerity of a philosopher about how valuable an hour of a human’s time was.
Riley stared at him, mind blown. Was he serious? Was he poisoned? Was this some subtle warning of terminal illness? Had someone swapped the dragon lord out for a look-alike?
He continued to gawk, unable to reconcile the words with the man he knew.
If Kael noticed, he didn’t comment.
At least the noodle wasn’t as slow in leaving as he was in speaking. Prince Rowan made his exit gracefully, slipping away while Kael’s patience still dangled by a fragile thread.
Kael seemed to appreciate that. Riley, on the other hand, was not as pleased. Because now he was left with this mutant who looked like his boss but spoke like anyone else but him.
He squinted suspiciously.
"What?" Kael asked, his tone dipped in judgment, as though Riley had just committed a crime by breathing.
Riley hesitated, then remembered his earlier grandstanding about speaking up when necessary. Fine. He shouldn’t be such a hypocrite. "Well," he said cautiously, "I was wondering if you’re alright, My Lord? Did something happen to the investigation for you to return like that?"
The wary aide studied him carefully. Kael’s brow shot up, that familiar sharp expression settling into place. For a moment, Riley thought with relief, ah, there’s the normal one.
Then Kael opened his mouth.
"Why? Should something have happened? Or would you rather I return at a much later time?"
He put a weight on the last words that made Riley’s stomach twist. Riley’s eyes narrowed.
Was his boss... ill? Poisoned? Terminal? There had to be a reason he was acting this uncharacteristically considerate and yet somehow pissed at the same time.
"No," Riley said quickly. "In fact, I guess it’s good you’ve come now so you could hear about what happened."
The words came out steady, but his mind was still racing. Because really, who was this man?
Meanwhile, as they walked back into the room, Kael was thinking. So, he had gotten something out of the noodle instead of just sitting there staring at his teeth. Good.
Then again, considering how long they had been facing each other earlier, Kael thought it had better be a full list of worthwhile things.
But what was this? Erecting the sound-blocking barrier probably took longer than the time Riley needed to finish recounting their conversation.
"Sir," Riley began, "for one, you were right about the change in treatment. But surprisingly, unlike the others who are keen on convincing me to change my mind about leaving, the prince was offering a method to hasten the investigation so I could go home faster."
Kael just stared at him. The silence stretched, heavy with expectation. Riley, interpreting it as an order to continue, soldiered on.
He explained about something supposedly only the dragons could do—a blood ritual that might bypass the no-artifact, no-mana restrictions inside the sanctum. He added that the prince had admitted it was only a rumor and hadn’t wanted to tell Kael directly in case it backfired. So Riley, being the helpful aide he was, had offered to mention it instead, just so they could at least check.
Kael listened without a word until finally he said flatly, "That’s it?"
"Huh? Should there have been more information?" Riley asked, blinking.
"Well, there’s also talk about the garden being his brother’s favorite place. He said it was remodeled and reconstructed to feature the things his brother wanted...?"
"..."
"?"
"So that’s all you got after talking to him for that long?" Kael tilted his head, and Riley felt actual whiplash. Did he want every detail of their small talk? Or was he seriously expecting Riley to have marched up to a prince and gone straight to the point like it was a grocery list?
"Sir," Riley said, his brows knitting, "I apologize, but I did try to be efficient. But I believe it’s not my fault noble speech requires so many unnecessary words. Using his full title alone ate up half the conversation. Now, if I could just call him by his name, that would cut things shorter. He did offer, but I thought it wouldn’t be appropriate, so I humbly rejected. But if you’re really pushing for shorter conversations, I could probably ask again?"
Kael’s ears twitched at that. His face didn’t change, but his voice carried an edge. "Yes. It is impolite to drop honorifics when you are speaking to strangers. Always use his title. Even if it takes an additional minute each time."
"Uh... okay?" Riley said, staring at him like he had grown an extra head. "But more than that, what do we do about his suggestion?"
"We’ll decide after confirming something."
And that was good and great, he just didn’t think the confirmation would require going back into that hell hole of a sanctum again!
What about an hour being too much for a human’s time?
What about spending more than twenty-four hours just to go up?!