The Reincarnator's Inauspicious Route to Finding Love-Chapter 54: Assertion (3)

Mikyle inhaled heavily and his shoulders slumped slightly. "Do you know why I chose to hide a part of myself away from the public?"

"Wasn’t that so you wouldn’t be considered as an obstacle to your older brother?"

Mikyle gave a small nod of his head. "I see you remembered. Yes, that is true. But there is another part of me that I must hide away, a part that I didn’t reveal to you. A part of me that only two other people know about."

There was something else other than being smart and good with the sword? What? Is he some kind of magical genius too? Oh, he might actually be since he showed great control over his Mana. Unless others can do that too and I just happen to be really bad at controlling my Mana? Adrien wasn’t just bad at controlling his Mana, he still had a hard time accessing enough of it to even be able to release it.

"How much do you know about the royal family?" Mikyle asked next, throwing Adrien through a loop with his questions that seemed to have no correlation.

No, there is a correlation, I’m just not seeing it right now.

"Do you know the origin story for the Velron Royal Family?" Mikyle asked, puzzling Adrien even more.

Why is he asking me this?

Adrien nodded despite his confusion, he was curious as to where Mikyle was going with this. "Upon his death, Velron the Dragon bestowed his power onto his most devoted follower among mankind which allowed for that man and those born to him to possess some of Velron’s abilities." Adrien knew the origin story because he had seen it mentioned a few times in a few different textbooks.

Mikyle gave a curt nod of his head in the affirmative. "That is the story as has been told, though it isn’t exactly the truth." Mikyle leaned his forehead against Adrien’s head, his hands resting on Adrien’s waist. "What I’m about to tell you is only known to the royal family."

Adrien wasn’t sure to say, nor could he figure out how the conversation had turn in this direction, so all he could do was stay quiet and listen to him.

"In truth, upon his death, Velron bestowed a part of his soul and will onto the man who started my family line. This inheritance did not manifest in every single member like the history books stated. In truth, Velron’s inheritance was prophesized to manifest in only one person."

Adrien wasn’t sure why he was being told this, but he was starting to realize that there may have been a bigger reason behind Mikyle’s actions than he had first let on. That the reason he hid his true potential was probably because of this inheritance. At least, that’s what Adrien was assuming based on all the books that he had read before his reincarnation. And it was what his gut was screaming at him.

"After nearly one thousand years, Velron’s inheritance finally manifested." Mikyle leaned away from him and cracked a broken smile that showed just how vulnerable the confident prince was in that moment. "What I am about to tell you is only known by two others, my father and the Queen Reagent’s father, Duke Aaronson. I was born with a sturdy body that is hard to cut or break, just like the scales on a dragon’s hide, along with a nearly edict memory, which is similar to a dragon’s natural edict memory. I was also born with enhanced natural healing capabilities born from my Mana rich blood. And when I turned ten, I discovered that I possessed the capacity to use both the Fire and Light Elements, which were the two elements that made up Velron the Dragon."

He possesses the Light Element? Wait! The weird tingling feeling on my ass and back when he poured his Mana into me, was that the rare healing powers of the Light Element?

"After it was discovered by my father that I could use both elements, something that has not happened since the first ancestor, he gave me an artifact that was once a scale belonging to the Ancient dragon. When I infused my Mana into it, the scale glowed a beautiful golden color that lit up the entire room. After that, I began training in secret with the help of Duke Aaronson. I then hid away my natural abilities and decided to strive to become average so as to not garner any unnecessary attention. And most importantly, I began reading texts about the Ancient Kings and dragons in specific while avoiding looking for Velron’s personal journal which is said to be locked away in a secret space that only Velron’s inheritor can access."

I wonder why he avoided looking for the journal? Adrien found Mikyle’s hands which were loosely resting on his hips and gave them a light squeeze for encouragement. Though I did have a feeling that it would turn out like this, I wasn’t expecting it to be quite like this. It’s definitely a lot to take in all at once. He couldn’t imagine what went through the young Mikyle’s mind as he decided to change who he was for his brother’s sake. It was something Adrien wasn’t sure if he could do, or fully commit to. . .and he himself was currently living the life of someone else.

Even though he himself was going through a similar experience to what Mikyle had gone through. . .okay, so it wasn’t similar but it was on the similar baseline of having to live differently while hiding a part of yourself. . .he wasn’t sure what to say to Mikyle. Instead, he leaned up and pressed a chaste kiss onto the corner of Mikyle’s lips. "I can’t imagine what that was like," Adrien managed to say after he pulled away. "It must have been hard to hide that part of yourself–no, it must have taken a lot of courage to train yourself to that extent while hiding it from your family." He knew from their brief conversations just how much Mikyle’s family meant to him, so he knew that it had to have been hard on him to lie to them the way he did.

Mikyle cracked a smile, his eyes practically laughing. "Will you comfort me if I said that it was indeed a difficult time for me?"

Adrien huffed, his bangs flew up with the sudden exhale of air. "I think you’ve been comforted enough. But how does you possessing Velron’s inheritance explain how you found me?"

Mikyle rubbed his thumb under Adrien’s eye, running it along the flow of his cheekbone. "During all of my reading, I found a book that contains details on the unique traits and characteristics of the Ancient Kings and their kin. There was a particular paragraph located in the section about dragons that had caught my eye. I had placed it in the back of my mind, until yesterday that is. When I arrived back at the Academy, my head was filled with thoughts of finding you. Just then, my Mana flared up and guided me to you."

"Mana can do that?!" Adrien had no such knowledge of pure Mana being able to do that. You could create artifacts to locate objects by using Mana, but that was about the extent of it.

Mikyle shook his head. "No. It is a trait only found in the dragon race and it can only be used to find one specific person."

The way that Mikyle’s voice dropped and the soft look in his eyes when he spoke told Adrien that there was more to it. "What do you mean by "specific person"?"

"Dragons are the only known species to possess something called a life-mate," Mikyle explained. "A dragon’s life-mate is a person whose Mana is tied to the dragon’s, linking them for eternity. A dragon is given only one life-mate during their lifespan and it has been recorded that once a dragon has found their life-mate, the dragon can always locate them by using their shared Mana connection. It has also been documented that a dragon and their intended life-mate feel a strong physical connection that cannot be broken."

What? Wait, is Mikyle saying that because he inherited Velron’s legacy he also inherited a life-mate, and that life-mate is me? Could being life-mates be the reason why we feel this lustful heat every time we touch?

"You think we’re life-mates?" Adrien ventured a guess, giving voice to his chaotic thoughts.

Mikyle nodded. "I do. Though I do intend to hunt down Velron’s journal to see if he wrote anything about life-mates or exactly what his inheritance entails."

"What if we’re not actually life-mates?" It was a logical question, one that Adrien believed needed to be asked.

"Hmm. It doesn’t matter. I believe I have already stated that I have every intention of marrying you." Mikyle’s smirk was confident, and it soothed Adrien when he saw it because he knew that Mikyle meant every word. But there was a small nagging feeling inside him that couldn’t be soothed.

Could they even be life-mates when his Mana isn’t actually his own? And would Mikyle still feel this way after finding out the truth?