Chapter 1134 - I Believed in Him (1/2)

Xin Lan thought back to the day he had opened his eyes in the dragon king's palace, his expression hovering between pensive and a little entranced. The other men couldn't help but feel even more eager to know the story behind this. Just what kind of man was the dragon king to inspire such a look in someone?

Finally, Xin Lan pulled himself out of his reverie, remembering that he couldn't let them find out about his feelings for Jinde even if he told them everything else. ”Back when I met him, he was pretty young, both as a person and as a king. To be honest, it had only been a few months since he acceded the throne.

”At that time, the dragon realm wasn't doing too badly. The old king had abdicated of his own free will and actually chosen a successor or maybe it should rather be said that he had had two candidates in mind with a clear favorite among them.”

Hua Lin Rong's eyes were sparkling when he heard that. ”The dragon king must've been really great if his predecessor was so convinced of him.”

Xin Lan gave a faint smile. ”Oh, he definitely was great but the clear favorite of his predecessor wasn't him but the other candidate. In the end, he was still the one who did a better job at the tests that were conducted beforehand.

”Anyway, I felt that he was a good king. He cared about his people and he was willing to listen to advice and learn. Something that the other one might not have done to the same degree. But with a fight happening before his enthronement, some people were split on whether to accept him or not. The first few months had been very hard for him.”

Xin Lan fell quiet for a moment, thinking back to the way Jinde had looked back then. That lost expression in his eyes, the happiness at actually being given attention for once … After he found out everything else, it had been so clear that he had just been basking in that and never really been interested in him as a person.

Anyway, the personal story between them didn't really matter at this moment. ”It would be hard to tell you about everything that happened but in the end, he did manage to convince everyone that he was the best candidate as the dragon king. From the day I met him, I stood at his side, convinced that that was the case.”

Hua Lin Rong leaned over the table, his eyes inquisitive. ”So, in other words, it could be said that you actually helped him be accepted by the others?”

The Huo brothers didn't look happy about that but Xin Lan still gave a slight smile and inclined his head. ”I did play part in this. I think much more important was that he was just very well-suited for being the king though.

”After that problematic time, he reigned for many, many millennia. And he managed to prove over and over just why he had gotten that position. In one of the worst wars in the history of the immortal realms, he was even the one who finally managed to kill the demon king that had been raining terror upon our people.”

”That must have been awesome!”