"No…"

Adrien's smile slowly began to diminish as Rey muttered the word of disagreement. Tense silent followed this dissent, and the two parties stared at each other for what felt like hours.

"What do you mean no?"

"I mean there could be another explanation that you're not considering. One that makes your theory fall apart."

"Really?" Adrien raised an eyebrow, and then gestured to Rey to enlighten him.

"I believe I've covered all possible grounds. There are a lot of complicated thought processes involved with my theory, and how I arrived there, but I don't want to waste your time or bore you with the details…"

Narrowing his eyes, he focused on Rey and smiled. "So, why don't you tell me—?"

"The Chamber Of Ancients… haven't you considered the possibility that its origin doesn't have anything to with the Dragons?"

"Hm?"

"I mean… based on what we know, the Dragons appeared nearly eleven years ago, and they took the Northern Continent as their territory. They killed a lot of members of the other races, taking the largest land for themselves to build their Draconic Empire." Rey began, his finger on his chin as he spoke with all seriousness.

"Using your logic, isn't it possible that the Chamber Of Ancients belongs to one of the Races that were exterminated by the advent of the Dragons? I mean, it—"

"Pfft!"

Adrien suddenly burst into a loud exhibition of laughter. His sounds of amusement filled the hall, spreading to every corner as he rocked on his chair.

One or two beads of tears even fell from his eyes as he laughed heartily.

"What's so funny?" Left in a state of utter confusion, Rey had no choice but to ask the question. Somehow, it seemed like he had just said something stupid. Adrien opened his lips to respond to Rey, but only more laughter came out of his lips.

This lasted for a few more seconds before Adrien finally began to settle down.

"Haha… sorry… sorry… ahhh, it's just so… ahh…" Wiping off the beads of tears that leaked out of his eyes, he sniffed and chuckled a little more.

"This is one of the reasons I like you, Rey. You somehow manage to entertain me every time, and this time, you've been particularly hilarious."

"I don't think I was being funny about anything." Rey responded with a completely serious demeanor, slowly getting agitated by Adrien's amusement.

It was clear that the two were in completely different worlds.

"Well, maybe you didn't do it intentionally, but… wow. I expected you to have figured it out by now, but I guess it's my fault for making too many assumptions."

"What do you mean by tha—?"

"You mentioned the Chamber Of Ancients belonging to some other Race, right? Well, you're wrong. It's not possible, since the Dragons have inhabited their land for over a thousand years, at the very least."

Upon hearing this, Rey raised an eyebrow and parted his lips in complete opposition.

"What? No."

"The history of this world… it's quite contradictory, isn't it? When we arrived at H'Trae, we were told that it had only been a decade since the Dragons invaded. It was after things got so intense that the human kingdoms banded together and formed the United Human Alliance… and so the story goes."

'Exactly so!' Rey's face seemed to show, but something about how Adrien addressed the whole thing so flippantly made him fear that perhaps things weren't as simple as that.

And no, they weren't.

"The Dragon Empire has existed for centuries at the very least, Rey. No… over a thousand years, I suspect. And yes… they have occupied the Northern Continent during that time."

'H-huh…?' Rey maintained his poker face this time, but his thoughts were swarmed with as many questions as there were refutations to Adrien's words.

He was no fool that would just take the Royal Council's words at face value, after all. All those times he spent at the library, learning more about the world and everything about it… he used it to learn about the world and its history.

The Royal Council wasn't lying.

'The war indeed started over a decade ago, and it coincides with the information that exists within and outside the Royal Library.'

All over the United Human Alliance, that was also the consensus. Even the smaller human nations that Esme visited confirmed this to be the case in their stories.

Everyone already knew this as a fact… yet Adrien was spouting nonsense.

"Perhaps the purge of the other races happened over a thousand years ago… or maybe it didn't even happen, to begin with. I do not have enough information to be sure, but what's obvious is that the Dragons have thrived in H'Trae for a very, very long time."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Well… let's just say that I have a way to gain access to the memories of people, and I have also studied some of their literature and text. I have dated some of the items they possess, and I have listened to some of their conversations. I even had a few Dragons I captured tell me what they knew about their Empire. Everything coincides with a completely different history from what both the humans and Elves believe."

'For real…?' Rey's eyes slightly widened upon hearing this.

He didn't think Adrien was lying, and honestly… there was no reason for him to.

"The history of the Dragons, their invasion, and their true identities… it's all so inconsistent. What we know is different from what the Dragons know, and it hints at a much larger issue that I have found to be too pervasive to ignore."

Rey was still recoiling from Adrien's revelation when he took note of the eeriness that dwelled within the latter's words. With a sense of dread, he asked the only question that came to mind at that very instant.

"What larger issue?"

"That this is all some sort of grand game… and we are all just pawns in it."