The next morning, the three of them gathered their things and then left Xin Lan's estate to go to the capital instead. Xin Lan hadn't explained too much about either the capital or the dragon king's palace itself so far. This time, he didn't wait for Hua Lin Yu or Hua Lin Rong to ask though. Since they would arrive soon, he felt that it was important to give at least some basic information. This would also make him seem more dependable.
"As I promised, we'll go to the dragon king's palace next. It is located in the dragon realm's capital city. It isn't really closed off to the public but you do need a valid reason to get inside. If you want to see a person, you also have to tell the guards who you want to see and they will inform that person. So a commoner can't actually just go inside just because they want to."
Hua Lin Rong was slightly confused. "Will the guards allow us in then? I mean even though we're there with you, we're not even of the dragon race."
"That's true but, in a sense, it's like you were my visitors. Also, your brother is my fiance. It won't be a problem."
Hua Lin Rong nodded but he still had a few questions. Like how did these guards even know how Xin Lan looked? Had he been there before? Or could it be that Xin Lan was really that famous in the dragon realm that people actually just knew how he looked? That was honestly a little worrying if they did. Well, then again, this would explain just why Xin Lan had settled down in a location like that. He probably had had enough of always being the center of attention.
Since Xin Lan had only told Hua Lin Yu and it had been such a personal matter, Hua Lin Rong didn't even know why exactly Xin Lan's status in the dragon realm was like this. Thus, he was even more confused but he didn't dare to ask about it. That really seemed a little impolite.
Xin Lan could imagine was what was going through his head but didn't say anything about that either. Anyway, there were other things that were more important. "Do you want to go to the dragon king's palace directly or would you like to see the capital city first?"
Both Xin Lan and Hua Lin Rong turned to Hua Lin Yu, once again leaving the decision up to him.
"Mn … While I'm really curious about the capital city as well, I guess it would be best to go to the palace first. We can just take a quick look around I think and then we can go to the city. I guess we'll stay there for a bit, right? So we'd need to find a place to stay at."
Xin Lan wouldn't mind either way but couldn't help but point out that they might not necessarily need to do that. "I'm pretty sure that we could even stay in the palace if you wanted to. So it's not like it's going to be a problem if we take a bit more time. Just think about what you want. No need to take any logistics into consideration."
Hua Lin Yu smiled and shook his head. "I guess it would be pretty awesome. But even if we do that, it would also be good to familiarize ourselves with the place where we would live for the time being, right? After all, you wouldn't want us to get lost, right?"
Xin Lan chuckled and then glanced at Hua Lin Rong again. "Remember what I said back in the mortal realm? I think that now, you should slowly start to keep that in mind again."
Hua Lin Rong tensed, remembering very well just what Xin Lan had told him to be careful about. He nervously glanced around as if he already needed to be careful about the people around them.
In actual fact, they were still quite a bit away from the capital city and while there were already cities around, they mostly didn't even pass through them and just went around them so they wouldn't lose any time there.
Most likely, it would've been interesting to take a closer look at at least some of them but since they had a clear goal in mind, Xin Lan didn't want to waste any time on other things right now. They could still go and take a tour of the dragon realm when they had seen the ones that Hua Lin Yu and Hua Lin Rong were itching to get a closer look at. By then, they could also take their time and wouldn't need to rush anything just because they felt that they had more pressing matters.
Soon enough, the three of them did arrive at the capital city though. Even with his status, Xin Lan took the two brothers to the gate first. "The capital city is protected by an array so the people can't just go in there. It's a different thing for residents but all visitors will need to come and go through the gate. It's normally a quick matter though. We should be inside in a few minutes."
The two of them nodded and then looked around curiously. The ones in front of them were likely all dragons. Just like Xin Lan, they looked mostly human save for the fact that their hair colors were quite different.
Hua Lin Yu stared at a man with hair the color of cherry blossoms, wondering if there was any significance to what kind of color they showed. He really wanted to ask Xin Lan but he was afraid that this might be a rather sensitive matter that shouldn't be discussed in public like this. Thus, he kept quiet instead but the question was still burning under his nails.
Soon enough, the three of them reached the front of the line. The guard had barely looked at them when he wanted to start questioning who they were and what they had come to the capital city for when he suddenly realized who was standing in front of him. His eyes went wide and he suddenly straightened up, feeling like he had been discovered when slacking off at work even though he actually hadn't been doing anything wrong.
"Se— Senior Xin Lan!"