"Yes, I am an hypocrite."

Orion opened his eyes and looked at the white ceiling.

"I despise human, I do. It is not a small feeling either. I could one day snap and wipe the whole continent of every humans."

'He is not lying?!'

Shivers ran down both Palarvina and Deveralna. Florian's face was shocked too, but he remained calm after understanding where he was going with this.

"But that would bring nothing to me besides pain and guilt. I am not the same as Elliot. I do not take lives because I cannot accept the existence of others."

He dropped his head and stared at the two lamias.

"The person I cherish the most is a human. In fact, I will even say that I love her. There is no 'she's human, so I cannot love her' in my mind. That will simply never happen."

"But, I despise humans. I despise their quickness to attack the other factions when something goes wrong. I despise them for thinking they are superior to everyone. I despise their incredulity."

"And even though I despise them, I decided to give them a chance to change my mind. Not everyone is born evil. Civilians are kept away from the world's problems, except where incompetent Apostles lives in."

"I cannot erase a whole faction like Elliot did with mine. I only turn my arrows toward the right people. Florian and Kamala, both Apostles in names, have proven themselves trustworthy. This is the reason for them still breathing today."

"Because they tread everyone, humans or not, like they should have been from the beginning."

He took a deep breath after talking so much.

"I apologize, I have let my emotions run wild unintentionally."

Bowing his upper body forward, his head almost touched the table.

"Well... Are you fine with saying all of this in front of Lord Florian? He is human after all."

With a strong shake of the head at Palarvina's words, Florian took over.

"I do not mind. There was three opportunities for him to kill me. The first one, he chose Kiel instead. The second one, he listened to my advice instead of shooting me down. The third time, he shook my hand and healed my wounds."

"From the beginning, I knew that it wouldn't be easy to get his trust, but my situation never changed. I plan on erasing the pain that we humans caused, or at least erase as much as possible. Both of our ambitions joined at one point, which led us to this meeting."

Palarvina nodded.

"If you think so, who am I to question you. You've already gave me hope back, please continue to do so for everyone."

"I will."

Florian placed a hand on his chest, where his heart was, and gently bowed forward.

"Orion, tell me."

Deveralna forgot any kind of honorifics and came straight at Orion.

"Why did you come to the lamias? I understood that you work toward improving how we are treated, but I do not see the link between this meeting, the dragons, and you."

He agreed with her. They were missing the point currently, to which he rectified.

"You are right, we have diverged from the main point."

"So I'll come straight at you with it. I know about your little 'male' problem."

There was no surprise, nor shock on Deveralna's face.

"Yes, I think most people know about it. We don't necessarily hide it either."

"So, is it a threat you are bringing? Because we already have our plate full with that."

She shrugged, and took a pastry from one of the tower next to her. Orion lightly laughed at that and found it cute that she thought that.

"Why would I come for that? It is the opposite in fact. Both Florian and I have learned of a solution from the dragons."

The pastry in her hand almost fell on the table, but she managed to juggle it back in her hands.

"WEAHHY?!"

"Don't talk with your mouth full, girl!"

She gulped the rest of food in her mouth and asked again.

"Really?!"

'She really is cute. That reminds me of Drania. These two would probably hit it off in an instant.'

Florian took over.

"What I'm going to say is coming straight from the dragons themselves."

-

"Orion, that little 'problem' is in fact not a problem at all."

"It's not?"

"No."

Monolavir closed his eyes, and reopened them a few seconds later.

"When I said that the lamias were made to befriend humans, I meant it literally. Velridar made them looking half-humans for a reason, even though they are reptilians."

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"Are you telling me that a Remnant tried to couple the two factions together?"

The dragon's head slowly nodded.

"Yes. The lamia faction needs to reproduce with humans to continue the cycle. At first, it was like this when they were created, but I supposed when that large scale eradication war happened, this custom was lost."

"But what about the male lamias? Why do they exist if there's no need for them- Oh!"

"You seem to understand fast."

Monolavir was pleased, less words to be spoken meant less energy spent.

'The males are like Monolavir and Ruminona, they are mutations. Because the lamias refused to engage with humans for almost two thousand years, their genes forced males to be born to continue their lineage. They are an anomaly!'

Orion couldn't contain it from there, and laughed.

'I get it now.'

-

"..."

"The fact that this is true is making me question my ability. Are you telling me that from the beginning, we were meant to reproduce with humans?"

Orion knew that this was a sensitive topic, so he only nodded.

*sigh*

"Mama, why did we fight for again? To be free from the humans?"

Deveralna was slowly losing hope.

"Yes. We tried to stop being their 'toys', and yet we are here. I wondered why it was so easy for us to bear human children that came as lamias in the end, but to think that it is natural for us... At least, it makes sense. Stupid Creator."

Everyone in the room felt stupid. In their history, they shunned the lamias that fell in love with humans. They separated themselves as much as possible from them, before their city fell to the hands of abusive humans for hundred of years.

"This is were it starts."

Florian's voice echoed in the room.

"You said humans that treated you like toys, but what about those that would treat you respectfully? The past in unforgivable, I agree. But can't you give the ones that never had the opportunity to admire the strong will of the lamia a chance?"

"Most of Albriar already know about the horrible treatment of your people, I made sure everyone understood how terrible such a thing was, and I made the men imagine placing their wives in such a situation. Can you imagine the outcome?"

They both shook their head.

"No."

"They cried and hugged them. They apologized, and came to me asking to save them. That they would even come themselves to liberate the place if it had to come to this. Luckily, the matter was resolved after, but a lot of men wants to help the lamias."

This was hard for them to understand. All of their life, they were told that their sole purpose was to be used by humans, then thrown, before being used again. And now a lot of those same men that played with their feelings were trying to help?

"Why? Why now? Why not before?"

Palarvina almost choke on her words.

"The only reason I can give you is the worst excuse I can give you, and I apologize about it."

"Without Orion, the world would have never change. Even though some of us desired changes, we were too far apart, and the very moment we would have tried something, our efforts would have crumbled in an instant."

"And like Orion said, not everyone is born evil. The family that took over Lahro, the Varon, were disgusting people, but they had power. It is because Orion took him out in a moment of weakness that your situation improved. It is my turn to improve your life."

He bowed like Orion, but instead got further and placed his forehead on the table.

"Give me the chance to prove that humans can live together with the lamias."

*Tap* *Tap* *Tap*

The sound of a finger tapping on the table was heard, with each tap sending a little shockwave that Florian felt from his head being pressed on it.

Deveralna was thinking. In the end, she was the one having all the powers currently.

"Mama, do you trust them enough? I know we just met Orion, but he haven't lied a single time. I trust Florian enough to agree with his request, because in the few months we've passed since we've recovered our freedom, he displayed only goodwill towards us."

Her mother turned her head and looked at her. Compared to her, Deveralna did not experience the horror of being with humans.

'Maybe it is time to let our worries behind us, and grab the hands that are trying to save us?'

"I also trust them. Someone that is fighting the filth of this continent, and one that is fighting for coexistence. Can I... Can we place everything in your hands?"

'She's fighting herself not to refuse. I can hear it in her voice.'

Florian lifted his head with a red round shape forming from where he was pressing onto, and stared in Palarvina's brown eyes.

"I would never go back on my word. If you think that my method are endangering the lamias again, please ask Orion to kill me."

"!"

Even Orion showed shock at this.

'Florian, I do not consent to that. Her words could end you at any moment from now on.'

"I will do no such thing. Take your words back, I will agree to your demand of peace between us. Losing you would mean losing our hope in living in a better place."

"Thank you, Queen Palarvina."

"I am Queen no more, I said before. Deveralna is the one making the rules today."

"To me, you still are a Queen, and no amount of discussion will change that, please accept it."

*sigh*

"Fine."

She turned to her daughter.

"I said my part, now it is your turn to decide."

With one last exchange, the Queen of the Lamia gave her order.

"From now on, the lamia will cooperate with the human of Albriar only. We will slowly open ourselves to the city ruled by friends of Orion and Florian, and will observe how our citizens respectively act in front of each other."

"Guards included. You lot too, go find love."

Orion waited until the ruckus quieted down, before asking another question.

"What are you going to do with the male lamias?"

"Nothing. It's not like I want my father to disappear anyway, so we'll simply keep them as is. They are precious to us, and that shouldn't change."

"Good."

Satisfied with this answer, Orion stood up from his chair.

"The matter of the lamia was resolved quite smoothly, I think it is time for me to take my leave."

"A-Ah! Please wait!"

Deveralna stood up from her own chair and approached Orion.

"I have something to ask you, if it is not disrespectful to you."

"No, of course not."

Orion listened to the lamia, while her mother smiled warmly, since she noticed her daughter's interest at the man.

"Would a lamia like me disgust you? I-I mean, romantically?"

An unusual blush that even Palarvina never saw on her daughter was painting her cheeks.

And Orion wasn't so blind as to not understand the implications behind those words.

"I'll be honest, I wouldn't mind. I'm not so close-minded that I would refuse an outright invitation."

"But, I will say the same I did to my companion. My life is a constant conflict. At any moment my life could be taken. That is why I have refused her too."

She looked a little disappointed, but not dispirited.

"Could you at least come sometimes to talk? I would love to learn more about you. Is that possible."

"For someone that complimented me with such honesty, I can at least do that. Of course, I am pretty busy, so when I have time, I'll think of coming. Learning about the lamias is also something I want."

'Yes!'

"Thank you! I will be expecting you!"

She grabbed his hands and shook them happily. Florian and Palarvina both looked happy about this, until Florian imagined Amelia being here.

'I'll keep that a secret.'

But not for long, because Orion was honest with Amelia. She would know soon enough.

When everything was going great, and happiness was in the room.

*Clack*

"Your Majesty! Is Florian Delur here?!"

They all looked at the exhausted lamia that forced both door opened.

"Yes, he is here. What matter could make you sweat this much and make you lose your temper in front of me?"

"My apologies, but this is of the utmost importance! Lord Florian, an army is walking toward Albriar as I speak! Please return to defend it at all cost!"

Florian turned to look at Orion.

"He got us good."

"Yes, I had forgotten about Julian."

Worry filled the room, before the two men ran passed the sweating lamia.

"What do we do?"

While running toward the entrance of the castle, Florian asked Orion.

"You all wait here until I arrive to Albriar. Once I'm there, I'll bring you all to defend it. How does that sound."

"Please."

They began to increase the pace.

"Open the door!"

The last door leading outside opened, and both men stopped in front of the group.

"Orion?! What's the matter? Something happened in there?"

"Not in there. Urgent matter elsewhere. Julian is attacking Albriar."

He explained what he knew, before readying himself to warp toward the center of Triazils.