Dragon's Awakening: The Duke's Son Is Changing The Plot-Chapter 184 - 183 - The Proof.

For a moment, time itself hesitated.

The King, the ruler of the strongest nation in the four-kingdom alliance and a wielder of an ancient artifact passed down through centuries... was now locked in an intense staring contest with a floating squirrel wearing a paper crown.

The courtroom held its collective breath.

"What... is the meaning of this?" A minister finally whispered, as if saying it too loudly would awaken something foul.

"That," Raven said, eyes closed like a prophet in meditation, "is Nibbles. He is the Sovereign Arbiter of the Acornia Accord."

"The what—"

"He will speak for us," Jessy said solemnly, as if this wasn’t the most ridiculous thing in political history.

Nibbles floated upward with all the grace of a feather dipped in destiny, abandoning the acorn provided by Raven as if it weren’t a worthy enough place to be his seat.

His tiny paws folded behind his back. His paper crown fluttered. He landed gently atop Raven’s head, the highest point in the room he would acknowledge.

Then he squeaked.

Not just any squeak.

No.

This was a squeak that carried millennia of squirrel wisdom.

The kind of squeak that echoed across the divine realm and made gods pause their celestial chess games to go, "Wait, what did he just say?"

Everyone waited for a translation.

Clara blinked. "I think he just declared war."

"No, no," Alex corrected with a scholarly squint. "He said if anyone touches Raven, he will nibble their bloodline out of existence."

Rufus nodded. "Classic Nibbles."

The King leaned forward slowly. "You’re mocking this court."

"No," Raven replied. "We are protecting it."

In reality, he was buying time.

Because he was sure that help must be coming.

Even if not many people came, at least Crisaius would come. After all, no matter how stealthy the king was, he could not escape the eyes of information-gathering groups under the Vaise’s control.

Raven’s words, however, confused the court.

’What did he mean, ’Protecting the court’?’

They didn’t have to wait for long as the group continued.

Jessy added, "Would you rather be accused of treason by a group of children or by the Emperor of a Squirrel Empire who happens to control interdimensional nut-based warfare?"

A stunned silence followed.

"I’m sorry," the Queen said delicately, fingers twitching toward her fan. "Did you say nut-based warfare?"

"Crossbows that fire enchanted acorns," Clara confirmed. freeωebnovēl.c૦m

"Tailblade assassins," Siris muttered reverently.

"Traps disguised as bird feeders," Jake added.

"There’s even an air unit," Jessy smiled. "Flying squirrels in gliders shaped like leaves."

"B-but—!" The Crown Prince stood up, practically screeching. "This is nonsense! Do you think this is funny?! We are the royal family—"

A squeak.

Nibbles raised a paw.

A warning.

The Prince paused.

Slowly, with visible confusion, he sat back down.

He didn’t even know why he did, but he did. The light in Nibbles’s eyes reminded him of his father, who was sitting beside him.

The King’s eye twitched.

The Queen whispered something under her breath in a language lost to time, or maybe it was merely gibberish.

The ministers began leafing through scrolls frantically, looking for any clause, loophole, or divine rule that forbade tiny rodents from leading legal defenses in court.

They found none.

Finally, one minister dared to raise a hand. "Forgive me, Your Majesty, but—should we... proceed with the questioning?"

The King was silent for a long while.

Then he gestured subtly.

"...Fine," he said. "Let the beast speak."

Nibbles took this as his cue.

He floated down, spun midair, and raised his paw toward Alex, who, at first, seemed confused before his eyes widened in realization.

Then, like the loyal attendant he was, he took out a small chalkboard from his pocket and passed it to Nibbles.

No one knew why he was roaming around with that board in his pocket, but that wasn’t important right now.

Because, with a single dramatic motion, Nibbles smacked an acorn against the board, revealing a crudely drawn diagram.

Stick figures. Trees. A squirrel with angry eyebrows.

The courtroom leaned in.

"There," Alex whispered. "That’s me. See? My stick figure has a sword."

"No, that’s Jake. Yours is the one doing flips."

"Ohhh."

The drawing showed the Royal knights were marked as ’stickmen with angry eyebrows,’ Raven’s group as ’stickmen with bigger,’ Demons as ’evil clouds with fangs and flames,’ and Nibbles... drawn with six-pack abs and a massive cape, punching a demon into the sun.

Jessy coughed. "That’s accurate."

"Totally what happened," Rufus nodded solemnly.

A few ministers began to nod slowly, too.

"I believe this is a visual representation of the truth," one muttered. "It’s rough... but it’s emotionally compelling."

A second minister began weeping.

"The noble sacrifice! The bravery!"

"It’s a squirrel!" Barked the Crown Prince. "It doesn’t even TALK!"

"He talks with his heart!" Screamed the weeping minister.

Stupidly enough, some of the ministers were already in Group Raven’s favor.

But there were very few.

The number wasn’t even enough to defend Group Raven, much less fight for them.

One thing, however, was confirmed. Nibbles’s fan following had increased.

The group, on the other hand, didn’t seem to care about the court’s reaction.

Siris clapped once, slowly, and added, "This is art."

Raven reached into his coat again and pulled out a second acorn.

"I have here," he said slowly, "the enchanted core of the demon beast slain during that battle. It was delivered to Vaise’s verification department earlier this morning. It was signed, sealed, and evaluated as an entity far beyond sixth-circle magic."

He placed it gently beside Nibbles.

Proof.

Real proof.

Whispers exploded like wildfire.

The Queen frowned deeply, looking at her ministers. "Confirm this immediately."

Two scribes bolted from the room.

Now the King... hesitated.

"Then," he asked finally, his voice low, "why the silence until now?"

Nibbles squeaked again. Jessy translated.

"He says, ’You didn’t ask the right question.’"

Clara smirked. "What was the right question, you say?"

Raven opened his eyes, gaze calm and lethal.

"Why is the royal court not focusing on verifying the proof and is instead annoying a bunch of youngsters with their question? Don’t you have the proof already?"

The King, who was expecting something serious—well, not squirrel serious but actually serious—gritted his teeth.

He turned to the two scribbles, who had paused to hear what Raven wanted to say before growling, "Stop staring and proceed with the verification."

"Y-Yes, your majesty!"

With those words, the scribbles ran away with the acorn, leaving the court now filled with tense and awkward silence.

Raven, however, squinted his eyes as he sensed something from the King. It was something dangerous.

It was the threat of death—something the King shouldn’t have been capable of doing.

After all, the King wasn’t powerful. He was, at most, a circle-seven mage, someone Raven wouldn’t feel threatened by.

Yet, for a second, Raven felt like his life was in danger.

That meant something was wrong, and wherever there was something amiss, there were demons.

Raven turned to Nibbles, who, upon feeling his gaze, turned toward Raven.

The protagonist merely looked into the squirrel’s eyes and then glanced at the King.

The squirrel’s eyes widened in shock.

Squeak?

Nibbles, still in shock, asked for confirmation, and Raven nodded, making the squirrel close his eyes for a second.

When he opened his eyes, the squirrel was no longer a squirrel but someone who had a huge responsibility placed on his shoulders again.

Then, Nibbles glanced around the chamber, spotting many of his brave brethren, and nodded to them.

A single squirrel wearing a monocle blinked from atop a chandelier, nodding solemnly.

It wasn’t the time to move yet, so all Nibbles did was alert them, but when it was time, then everything would happen in a flash.

For now, they needed to wait for Raven’s orders.

These movements weren’t seen by anyone, but the crown prince, sitting beside the King and the Queen, suddenly felt a chill.

"It’s getting cold here," he muttered.

The King and the Queen glanced at him once before turning back to lock eyes with Raven and his group.

......................

A while later.

A tense hush fell over the courtroom as the two scribes finally returned, their robes disheveled, faces pale, and sweat clinging to their brows.

One was panting. The other clutched a scroll in trembling fingers.

They stopped just short of the King, exchanging a nervous glance before the elder of the two cleared his throat.

"We have... completed the verification, Your Majesty," he said.

The King’s gaze sharpened.

"Well?"

The scribe hesitated.

Then, with the solemnity of a man announcing the fall of an empire, he spoke, "...It’s... a normal acorn."

A breathless silence rippled across the chamber like a stone dropped into still water.

Clara blinked, glancing at Raven. Rufus scratched his head. Jessy tilted her head, curious. Siris was already reaching for her dagger.

Jake was silent like always, while Alex, well, he was now holding Nibbles like a loyal servant.

The King’s eye twitched.

He slowly turned his gaze toward Raven, his voice colder than a northern blizzard.

"...Are you trying to present false evidence before this court?"

But before the full weight of his fury could settle in—

Pop.

Another acorn was already in Raven’s hand.

"Oh, that?" Raven said with a sheepish grin as if he’d just handed over the wrong wine at a picnic. "That was my snack. This one’s the real deal."

He chuckled shamelessly.

Silence. Again.

A deep, horrifying, soul-dragging silence.

The ministers stared, unable to process whether they were in a courtroom or an absurdist play.

The Queen blinked slowly, her fan twitching.

The Crown Prince looked ready to bite something.

Raven held up the new acorn between two fingers as if it were the key to the universe—or just a really weird Tuesday.

The King didn’t speak.

He merely stared.

Visit freewe𝑏(n)ovel.co(m) for the b𝘦st novel reading experience