"What? Duze saved Drusilia? And Duze was the one who entrusted Shadow Grandmother to Prince White, leading to all those wonderful developments afterward? Are you sure?"
After Murphy left Shadow City and told Triss the story of Prince White and the little slave girl at the Super Hacker Corps' base outside the city, the Scarlet Witch—who had inadvertently brought about a good deed—widened her eyes in shock and exclaimed,
"Are you sure the 'Duze' Drusilia mentioned was the same guy who acted as my guide back then?"
"Absolutely. No doubt about it."
Murphy held Triss in his arms, letting her sit on his lap, and spoke softly.
"Shadow Grandmother said Duze's daughter and son-in-law still keep a memorial tablet at home for a certain 'kindhearted vampire' lady. They burn incense and pay their respects every holiday. If you hadn't intervened, that unlucky bastard Duze would've died far from home. But you brought him back to the ancient kingdom of Kallam and reunited him with his family.
"That's one of the few good deeds my wife did in her reckless past.
"But I'm curious. When you bought Duze from the slave traders in the Eternal Rift, didn't you realize he was a lesser dragonkin?"
"I did. Why else would I have bought him?"
Immersed in this extraordinary tale, Triss remarked,
"I actually wanted to bite Duze back then and turn him into my blood kin, just to see what a vampire dragonkin would be like. But I was worried that doing so would bring the Cloudmist Monastery down on me, so I gave up.
"Well, it's lucky I held back my urge to experiment. Otherwise, that little girl Drusilia's fate might have taken a complete turn.
"But that guy's got quite the constitution!
"He managed to bear four children for an