Is Miss Kobayashi'S Dragon Maid, Vol. 9 Worth Reading?

What exactly does it mean to be his bride? *** Every year, in each of the seven villages that made up the great Kingdom of Ignas, a Choosing Ritual was conducted. During this Chosing Ritual, one of the ladies in the village would be chosen to be the dreaded Dragon King's Bride. No one knew exactly why the ritual was being performed every year or what happened to the brides that had been chosen in the past. Was he turning them into slaves? Feeding them to his dragon? Or was he... feeding on them? That couldn't be ruled out. After all, there were rumours that the king wasn't like them, that he wasn't human. Yet the question relentlessly troubled the people's heart. What was he using them for?! But they dared not question the King, afraid of what fate daring to go against him would be. Anyways, none of these was Belladonna's business. Although it was her village's turn to produce a bride this year, she was certain she wouldn't get chosen. Why? Well, because she had a plan and she was absolutely certain it wouldn't fail her... or would it?

Amelia is a shy girl who had been sheltered by her parents all her life. She stumbled on an injured man one day and decided to help him. She later fell in love with the man, but he suddenly disappeared into thin air. All the young girls are asked to come to the palace so that the Dragon king would choose his bride, and when Amelia gets there, she finds out that the man she had threaten is none other than the Dragon king. Alaric tried to make it up to Amelia for what he had done, so she forgave him after a while and their love began to blossom. Just then, oppositions start to come up and try to tear their love apart. Will Alaric and Amelia be able to face their problems together, or will it tear them apart?

When enemy soldiers breached Drakefire Keep, the first people they seized were Liora Vale and me. My betrothed, Lucian Vale, Lord of Drakefire, chose to save Liora, his brother’s widow. Then he ordered the iron gates shut and left me outside, six months pregnant with his child. I was taken by the enemy and later thrown from a cliff. Everyone believed I was dead. Seven years later, I returned to Drakefire Keep with Kael Drakon, the Supreme Dragonlord. At the welcome feast, I saw Lucian again. His eyes lit up when he recognized me. “Elara, I knew you survived. My brother was dead, so I could not abandon Liora back then.” He looked at me as if nothing had changed. “Now that you are back, we should complete our dragon vow. You will become Lady of Drakefire and hatch the fire-dragon egg for me.” “With a fire dragon, I will surpass Kael Drakon and become the true Dragonlord of this continent.” I smiled. He did not know the fire dragon had hatched long ago. It hatched seven years ago, on the day I married Kael Drakon.

My husband was a Gold dragon. So was I. Yet I gave birth to a small Ice Blue dragon. Then came the news: my younger half-sister had borne a Gold dragon for his younger brother. Her fame spread like wildfire. Drakon Vexis, the Crown Prince, flew into a fury. He slaughtered my child. He threw me into the frozen dungeons, where I was tortured and starved until I breathed my last. When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the day of my coming-of-age ceremony—the day the dragon court chose its brides. Without hesitation, Drakon chose my sister. I knew then. He had been reborn too.

For generations, the women of House Silvermoon have carried a unique blessing. Our blood ensures high fertility. More importantly, it purifies the lineage of those we bind with. Because of this, the moment a daughter of our house comes of age, she becomes the most coveted prize in the realm. In my past life, my older sister, Clara, looked down on the brutal, cold-blooded dragon shifters. Her heart was set on the elegant Elven Prince. She fully believed she would rule the Nightwood at his side. She got her wish. And I was readily married off to the Dragon Prince, Kail, in her stead. No one expected that within a year, I would give birth to a pure-blood dragon—the first sole heir the Dragon Clan had seen in centuries. Overjoyed, Kail crowned me his only Queen the day he ascended the throne. Under his rule, the dragons conquered the continent. My position was secured, and I enjoyed endless wealth and absolute power. Meanwhile, Clara discovered the grim reality of the elven court. The prince was a notorious womanizer. Clara was merely an insignificant consort, drowning in tears while she watched the entire realm bow at my feet. Jealousy ate her alive. During a family gala, she lured me to the edge of a cliff and pushed me into the abyss. But when I opened my eyes again... the dragon bridal envoy was already at our gates. And Clara, without a single moment of hesitation, accepted the proposal. I knew instantly—she had been reborn, too. What she doesn't know, however, is that becoming the Dragon Prince’s bride is the easy part. Winning his heart? Surviving long enough to bear his child? That is next to impossible.

Valerie Ravenwood has led an inferior life for the past 4 years, being a useless hybrid — wolfless and a namesake mage. Desperate to prove her worth as a mage, she runs away from home after being denied to join the Medeis Challenge, an annual competition held exclusively for mages, and judged by dragons. She follows her elder sister, who has been chosen to take part but loses her way and stumbles, literally, into the territory of the last Dragon King, Clyde Basilisk. Clyde Basilisk has sworn off finding his mate after he witnessed his brother's destruction— physical, mental and emotional, and the betrayal he himself faced when the woman he loved deserted him as well after their lives took an ugly turn. However, when the youngest daughter of the Alpha King steps into his territory, he clambers with his emotions as his heart and mind rage into an internal war. [Book 3 in Mage's Mate series, can be read as a stand-alone or as a part of the series]