Marcel, nervous, walked into the room where the same flashy and gaudy-looking people stood orderly and calm in a manner that intimidated him. He gulped down as he walked across the path that seemed longer than it actually was, which only added to the immense amounts of stress he was already feeling.  

He walked, slowly and as calmly as he could, trying to size down his current situation. It seemed like he was walking so slow that time had stopped all around him, but in actuality, he was walking at a normal pace that soon brought him to the destination of the one who sought after him. 

He walked and walked until in front of him was a big and imposing throne, and inside of it, sat a gorgeous woman that exuded the presence and demeanor of what Marcel imagined to be a goddess. The throne that this goddess-like being sat in was beautiful. Even more so than the Demon Lord’s. Her throne was adorned in even more precious ornaments and gems than the Demon Lord’s, especially gems. It emanated a faint glow of brilliant light that increased the goddess-like presence of the lady on the throne. 

The servants, standing by all the way to the end of the corridor leading up to the throne looked only faintly at the brilliant sight of the woman. Marcel tried to do the same but alas, it was impossible, because the presence of the woman was too brilliant to look away from. Sure, he tried his best to avert his gaze but everywhere he looked, the woman’s presence seemed to spread itself there as well. In the end, he decided to look at the brilliance before him without hesitation. 

Marcel looked at the woman and was at a loss of words to describe her beauty. It was exactly like this whenever he tried to find complete, already-existent words to describe the entirety of the Demon Lord’s beauty. 

The woman had long and silky hair that swept the floor around her, just like the Demon Lord’s. Her hair looked gorgeous as it wasn’t of a single color. It had every color that Marcel could think of, all as different strands of hair beautifully ordered to make the woman look gorgeous. She had the fairest of white skins and her regal attire enhanced all the beauty the woman on the throne had. 

Her dress was a pure white long dress embroidered in flowers and dragons. Her dress itself was covered in precious ornaments as well; none of which seemed out of place. The dress embroidered in different colors enhanced the presence of an etherealness that the beautiful lady gave off. She looked oh so beautiful. 

Above the lady’s head was a crown adorned in different gems, gave off sacred vibes. It, like the woman’s hair, was carefully in place and was so detailed that it unified with the different colors of her hair perfectly, and so did the other ornaments and accessories in her hair.  

The lady’s face... was exquisite. She had crystal clear glass-colored eyes and connecting from her hair and the sides of her face were different-colored beautiful scales that accentuated all of her perfectly assembled beauty. This lady was the epitome of ethereal beauty. She was a beauty that made one feel unworthy of being in her presence and this feeling... Marcel also felt it when she looked at him.  

Her beauty added to her throne with two dragon heads on each side that looked imposing enough to crush a mountain under its pressure, made Marcel think that whoever this woman was, she was definitely no normal person. Not a normal person at all. After all, normal people don’t sit in fancy and imposing thrones from his experience, so he automatically assumed that the goddess-like lady must be a very important person. A very important person. 

After Marcel’s realization, he was as quiet as the word could mean. The room was filled with the echoing silence that only grew and soon, it felt very awkward to be in, well, until the woman finally did something about it. 

She raised her hand oh so slightly and all the servants waiting on her in the room left, leaving the two of them all alone. 

She then smiled slightly, looked towards Marcel, and said, 

“You’re here! Finally! I’ve been waiting for a while now.” The beautiful woman said, excited. 

Marcel took in the excited expression of the woman for a while, but then he found her words weird, so he asked, “Um, who are you? Have we by any chance met somewhere before?” He asked, not even adding the ‘your majesty’ or ‘your highness’ as any normal person would. 

“Oh, sorry. You’re right. We haven’t met in my current human form before. Let me fix that real quick.” She smiled, then she waved her hand and her face changed. The face she now had was that of a certain someone who Marcel had come with the messenger to meet. 

“Ah! Mysterious Ivory black-haired lady!!” He screamed. 

“Yes~ Although, my name isn’t Mysterious Ivory black-haired lady.” She said, pouting a bit after being called that by Marcel. It was a beautiful sight to behold. 

The woman after pouting for a while, transformed back into the goddess-like appearance that she had just a while ago, then she sat calmly and introduced herself, clearing her throat first, 

“Eh-hem, I... am Alverona Xioraha Dragos, the mother of all dragons... Would you care to be mine, little Marcel?” She said casually, then smiled. 

Marcel couldn’t stop himself from screaming, “WWHAAATTT?!?!!” 

She laughed after Marcel’s scream then, gave him time to process the information that he’d been given. After all, meeting her was enough to put any person into shock, even a hero, and so, he was going to need a while before he recovered. Oh dear, oh dear! 

She watched as Marcel froze up and looked out of it until about three minutes when he recovered and suddenly asked,  

“Then what about mysterious ivory black-haired lady? Isn’t she sick and on the verge of death?!” Marcel after recovering from the shock, said casually and once again, failing to honor the woman once again, which she quite enjoyed watching him do. 

“Haa~ Like I said, I’m the mysterious ivory black-haired lady, and as you can see... I’m not sick or on the verge of death. I wish! This empress is perfectly fine; has been for many millennia. I lied.” She said, pointing at herself; pompous. 

“What?! You lied...” Marcel yelled, “...so mysterious ivory black-lady is indeed a very powerful person; the mother of dragons, in fact.” He said, still surprised and shocked after the revelation. He was still in the middle of processing the information that he’d received.  

“Yeah. I mean, I did show you mysterious ivory black-haired lady, now didn’t I? Wait, why am I following your example and calling myself ‘mysterious ivory black-haired lady again’?!” 

“Yeah, of course. I understand now that you are indeed mysterious ivory black-haired lady. So, what should I call you now?” Marcel asked, seriously contemplating. 

“Oh~, let’s see now. You can call me Alverona, Honey, Dragon Empress and that’s about it. I hate formal titles and names, so you can even call me Alvy and especially ‘honey’ and ‘baby’ if it’s to your liking.” She said, casually. 

“Ok, then I’ll call you Alverona Ms.” 

“Boo! You’re no fun! If you’re going to call me that, then drop the miss. Like I said. I hate formal titles, so simple Alverona will work just fine.” She spoke. 

“Ok, then, um... Alverona. Could you please tell me why you called me here?” Marcel said, having strangely gotten used to seeing Alverona already. It was like when he met the Demon Lord’s but fast-forwarded by a few weeks suddenly happening in a matter of minutes. 

“Oh, that... um... you see, I wanted to see your cute face so badly, but the thing is... uhhhhh, I got super lazy and just wouldn’t get up, so I wrote a letter which said I was sick and then sent my messenger to go deliver it to you, and as I had hoped, you came running and now I can see your new cute face.” She answered Marcel’s question and he didn’t even feel the need to be surprised as he had been earlier. From his experience, it seems like people of the demon realms will just do whatever it is they want, so one more insufferable person was no problem at all to endure. 

In Marcel’s mind, the Demon Lord, although regal, brilliant, and brimming with hotness and holiness, is a pesky and annoying person who teased him at his own behest. Alverona was quickly taking a familiar form to the Demon Lord’s in Marcel’s mind. She was becoming a pesky and insensitive person who did various things to get whatever it is that she wanted. Marcel wanted to face-slap himself upon that realization but now wasn’t really the time for it, so he controlled himself and waited for what would happen next with this new tyrannical being that he just met. 

 “Well, I’m here now, so what now? Now that you’ve seen me, should I go back home or what?” He asked, his tone turning even more casual than before. Alverona looked at him and already liked his way of speaking to her. It was just what she hoped for when she called him to come: a boy with no unnecessary filters. 

“No way! You’ll be staying with me for a while. We’ll chat and speak more like we did that time, then we’ll see what comes after that.” She answered happily. 

“Are you hungry?” She asked. 

“No. It’s still morning. I literally just ate before coming here.” Marcel answered, a bit freaked out as he thought about what Alverona meant by ‘what comes after that’ meant. He imagined a few things, like having to do something ridiculous to appease the demanding queen and many more. 

“Oh... that’s too bad. I had hoped to enjoy a nice meal with you right now, but fine. We can just do that when afternoon comes. There are a lot of things that we can do in the meantime, like... talk about your love life.” She said, pouting, then brightened up when she said love life. 

“So, tell me! Did anything interesting happen to you lately, especially in your love life?” Alverona asked, eyebrows raising. 

“No. But a few interesting things did happen. Let’s see... um, the Demon Lord forged me a sword, that is, after I got a new friend because of this weird tattoo thing that I’m connected to, then I entered an illusory dungeon, got a new skill then got transformed into what I currently look like now and gained these special eyes called Spirit Eyes, found out that I had gotten stronger because of the transformation and then I visited a dungeon where I almost died after meeting two of my newest friends...” Marcel began rambling about what had happened to him and Alverona listened. This... was better than what she’d hoped for when she asked, so she definitely wanted to hear more about it in clear detail. Marcel’s life was already more eventful than hers was by a long shot. 

“Marcel, tell me all of it! Explain everything that happened and don’t leave out a single detail! I want to know everything!” She said, delighted. She knew only about just the transformation that happened to Marcel from the Demon Lord and that’s about it. How could he leave out so much detail, that Demon Lord?! 

So, for the next few hours, Marcel told her all about the different things that happened to him over the past few months since their first encounter. Alverona thought that it was just as hectic as one would expect a hero’s life to be and was entertained all the way to the end of Marcel’s story. Afternoon came and it was time for lunch, finally the time she was waiting for... and she wasn’t going to be disappointed.