I, Valon, am frantically searching for my mother.

"roar--!"

A clear and majestic dragon roar exploded like thunder!

Immediately following was the piercing shriek of scorching lightning breath tearing through the air, and the agonizing screams of the enemy.

The danger was instantly dispelled.

Daphne looked up blankly, and through her tear-blurred vision, she saw a dragon taller and stronger than her, its scales shimmering with a beautiful cobalt blue luster, folding its wings and landing lightly on a rock not far in front of her.

This is a blue dragon.

A young female dragon that looks very proud, but is also very young.

Blue Dragon lowered his head, scrutinizing Daphne with his rather intelligent-looking blue vertical pupils, and tilted his head slightly.

"Hmm...it's a white dragon..."

There was a hint of obvious disappointment in her voice, but that disappointment was quickly replaced by a burgeoning, almost blind confidence and ambition.

She straightened her chest, slightly spread her wings, and spoke in a tone that conveyed a burgeoning ambition and an inexplicable confidence:

"However! With my magnanimity, Anna Russell, since I intend to have many, many children and establish a great Blue Dragon Empire that will rule the entire world, how can my kingdom be without the other five colors of dragons to adorn it?"

She took two steps forward, leaned down close to the still dazed Daphne, and said in a tone that was both condescending and slightly pitying:

"How's it going, Bai Lin? Can you understand me?"

"Rest assured! I, the great Blue Dragon Queen Anna Russell, will never abandon you! As long as you join my dragonflight, as Queen, I will grant you the same rights as my future children: the right to sign contracts and share glory!"

What a dragon! It was so proud and confident!

Daphne stared blankly at the blue dragon before her, which seemed to be glowing on its own. In her otherwise lifeless heart, something seemed to ripple very slightly.

But... if she becomes the empress, does that mean she's the mother of all the dragons?

In the tradition... something like that's what it says.

Tiamat, the mother of dragons, is the common mother of all five dragons.

From this perspective, becoming an empress does indeed seem... much like becoming a mother?

As for why I think this way...

By now, Daphne no longer wants to find her mother.

Becoming a cub seems to preordain that one will be abandoned, injured, and die alone in the icy wilderness.

What if... what if I could be the one who wouldn't abandon me?

If I could be a mother... the one who gives warmth, shelter, and promises never to abandon me...

In that case...would I never be abandoned again?

A tiny, almost invisible flame struggled to reignite in the deepest part of Daphne's frozen heart.

However, the ideal is full, and the reality is very skinny.

When Daphne, with a sliver of humble, nascent hope, follows the great Queen Anna back to the so-called Russell Dragonflight and tries to be a good mother, she discovers that being a mother is not such an easy thing after all.

Because although everyone is homeless, it seems... that they don't really need a mother, or rather, they don't need a mother like her.

Queen Anna, needless to say, was busy all day planning her Blue Dragon Empire, practicing her majestic demeanor, or grinning foolishly at a few glittering stones, and had no time to pay attention to a silly white dragon.

The other dragons in the herd are also very strange.

Red Dragon Cody would start breathing and spitting sparks impatiently whenever she approached, as if she were something filthy.

Blue Dragon Lyle doesn't breathe fire, but his blue eyes, which always gleam with calculation, make her look like a background or a useless decoration; he can't see her at all.

She wanted to help, but Lyle always managed to relegate her to the most marginal and insignificant positions in various ways.

The only person Daphne could occasionally encounter was Bella, the black dragon… who didn’t like her either. Once, when Daphne was just curiously approaching the edge of the swamp where Bella liked to hang out, Bella actually bared her teeth at her and let out a threatening growl from her throat, scaring Daphne so much that she scrambled away.

So... wanting to be a mother is such a difficult thing?

That tiny flame that had just been ignited gradually dimmed and became shaky under repeated, invisible cold treatment, neglect, and even rejection.

She seemed to have turned back into that helpless, useless, unwanted bad child in the snowfield.

Just when Daphne was almost ready to give up completely and retreat back into her "silly, carefree" shell, just to drift through life in a daze...

She encountered a strange dragon.

He was different from the other dragons in the herd.

He wouldn't be like Cody, standing arrogantly on a high place all day, looking down on other dragons.

Unlike Lyle, who always wore a polite but distant smile and spoke incomprehensible, roundabout language.

She would not be like Empress Anna, indulging in her imperial dreams.

He... will cry and ask for his mother.

She would use that childish, innocent voice to confidently shout, "I want to drink milk!"

After being rejected, she would get furious and jump up and down, but then quickly calm herself down.

He needs a "mother".

He needs to be hugged by "Mom", cared for by "Mom", and approved by "Mom".

When Daphne, hiding in the distance, first witnessed His Majesty Wayne, with such pure, almost willful arrogance, demanding a "mother's" hug and attention from Lyle and Cody...

Daphne's eyes welled up with tears.

He even started laughing foolishly.

Sure enough, Daphne isn't a bad kid; she can be a mother too!

This is very useful, isn't it?

However, just as she excitedly opened her mouth, ready to make a sound—

An embarrassing thing happened.

She realized... she had forgotten how to speak.

Since Daphne's siblings cannot speak, she spent a long time in the snowfield without any other white dragons to talk to.

Later, in order to fit in with everyone and protect herself, she deliberately imitated and acted like a fool, trying her best to express everything with babbling and silly laughter...

After joining Queen Anna's dragonflight, everyone assumed she was a mute fool and never tried to have a real conversation with her. At most, they would give her simple commands or ignore her.

In the end, as they acted it out, it seemed to become real.

So much so that now, when it's time to actually speak, Daphne finds herself unable to speak again, causing her to cry in frustration every time.

However, Daphne did not give up because of this small setback.

As the most intelligent white dragon, Daphne believed she could definitely do it.

It's just a matter of learning to speak again.

She's overcome so many difficulties already, this time it's just talk, she's sure she can do it!

So Daphne practiced again and again, and failed again and again...

Until this time, when Wayne came to her door again, he accidentally called out "Mom".

Long-lost memories, mixed with intense emotions, surged forth, causing Daphne to open her arms, trying to embrace the green dragon before her, which was much taller and stronger than her, yet whom she subconsciously mistook for her baby.

"...Don't...don't speak, okay?"

Daphne's voice was halting, yet exceptionally clear, carrying an undeniable, gentle insistence.

"Baby... Mom... Mom is... here..."