"Mu-"
Covered in black scale armor, Valente let out an enraged roar. His reddened eyes were engulfed by a ferocious tide of memories, images of dragons dying flashing through his mind like slides.
Within this tide of thousand-year-old hatred, built from countless departed dragon souls, Valente could barely cling to the last few anchors in his memories. Apart from the anchors he had deliberately planted in his heart at the beginning, the one etched deepest within him was his father.
*
Valente's father had been an ordinary doctor in Sicily. Thanks to his handsome appearance and easygoing personality, his father had met a beautiful young lady from Fog City's aristocratic circles-his mother.
As a child, he had not been as rigid as he was as an adult.
He had been exceptionally mischievous, always pestering his father to play with him. If his father refused, he would climb a tree in the courtyard by himself in protest.
In a loving family, to a young, innocent child, his parents were satellites orbiting him, while he was the only source of light and warmth. Children always believed their parents existed for them, so they thought hurting themselves could make their parents give in.
Faced with this situation, some parents would compromise with their children, while others taught their children society's etiquette and rules too early. His own father had taken a different approach.
His father always wore a brown suit when he went out to see patients. Faced with his unreasonable tantrums, his father always yielded to gain ground, claiming to be old and frail to win his sympathy and compassion. His younger self had often been fooled by his father's convincing acting. His father had always been like a fox.
Father always let me have my way in small matters, because,