CHAPTER 47: TRUTH UNRAVELING

Lady Catherine ultimately couldn’t suppress the affection in her heart and stepped forward to embrace Julian, gently stroking his hip-length silver hair. Buried in the lady’s surging "snowy peaks," feeling two distinct but simultaneously present sensations—the balloon-like fullness and elasticity, and the cake-like softness and sweetness—Julian’s original thought process was immediately interrupted.

This feeling reminded him of his long-unseen "Mother."

That had once been his safest, warmest harbor.

Although he had long been abandoned by her, the memories of the past still seemed beautiful upon reflection, though most had been almost entirely faded by time. Now, nestled in the lady’s arms, he seemed to pick up that memory once again.

Lady Catherine’s build was quite similar to Losiya’s, but her figure was exceptionally voluptuous, truly the look of a noblewoman cultivated by a long life of ease. A rich, delicate fragrance wafted from her.

Julian then realized his actions had been misunderstood...

Although his appearance and demeanor would often involuntarily give people an impression of softness and fragility, in reality, having experienced a past life, he was far more resilient than those around him, even Losiya.

His earlier silent contemplation was about how to prepare an alibi if Grand Duke Kelden truly arrived tomorrow.

Now, being misunderstood, Julian found it difficult to "escape" and could only let the lady hold him, letting out a helpless whimper.

A ticklish sensation came from his chest, along with warm breath. Lady Catherine’s pale face unwittingly flushed, and she only released Julian after sensing his attempt to break free.

Leaving the embrace, Julian’s eyes began to dart around again. If Losiya hadn’t caught him from behind in time, he would have nearly lost his footing.

Losiya, while steadying Julian’s waist, imperceptibly gave Lady Catherine a resentful look.

Earlier, facing Grand Duke Kelden’s aggressive and intimidating presence, the childhood psychological trauma made her instinctively timid. Even when she later saw Julian standing there being questioned, she didn’t step forward to defend him immediately. Instead, Lady Catherine was the first to intervene, separating Julian from the Grand Duke’s confrontation and protecting Julian.

This left Losiya with incredibly complex emotions now.

"I didn’t expect the Grand Duke would arrive tomorrow..." Alice exclaimed from the side.

"She’s always been a tempestuous person," Lady Catherine said, easing the awkwardness. "Don’t worry, with me here, she won’t have the chance to make decisions on her own."

Hearing Lady Catherine’s confident assurance, everyone couldn’t help but feel a great reduction in pressure.

Losiya looked at the gentle, captivating, and reliably strong Aunt Catherine in front of her. The proud Losiya was both yearning and secretly determined in her heart.

Far away in the Lily Estate, Myris dragged Tania along the road. She held Tania by a chain with one hand, as if dragging a dead dog.

As they walked, Myris suddenly stopped. Several people in grey robes respectfully approached and stood before her.

"Greetings, Your Highness." They all knelt on one knee before Myris.

Myris immediately tossed Tania to them as if she had found a great reprieve, a disgusted expression on her face. "I hope your efficiency will also be quick after I complete this annoying task."

One of them took Tania and hesitated for a moment before asking, "Your Highness, you mentioned that someone nearby has awakened a Mid-tier or higher Holy Seal. Do you have any clues now?"

Hearing this, Myris couldn’t help but curve her lips into a smug smile.

Searching high and low for something nowhere to be found, Myris’s biggest original purpose in coming to the Lily Estate wasn’t even to capture Tania, but to meet Lady Catherine herself and incidentally give Losiya a hard time.

"Combining public and private matters" might be the most apt description for Myris.

Unexpectedly, by a strange coincidence, she found a clue to something originally as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack.

Thinking of the Holy See’s unusual reaction that night, the vague term "Holy Child" almost certainly referred not to a girl, but to a boy.

A boy who awakened a High-tier Holy Mark?

Myris merely thought about it to herself and felt surprised, even a little startled.

If this were true, that boy would absolutely be the continent’s greatest "heretic" to date.

It wasn’t that his beliefs were heretical, but that his very existence was wrong, undesirable to those above.

He would become the greatest Shock to the continent’s inherent class system to date. This meant that extraordinary talent was not an insurmountable chasm for males. Regardless of whether such a person would appear again in the future, the potential impact he alone would create was unimaginable.

Therefore, once this boy was found, the Inquisitors of the Heretic Aribitration Bureau would proactively assist Her Highness in discreetly eliminating this "heretic" without the need for the Holy See’s command.

However, the Radiance Continent was truly vast. Finding a person without precise information was no different from searching for a needle in a haystack. Originally, someone who awakened a High-tier Holy Seal would cause significant magic tide fluctuations, but this time there was no abnormality at all, clearly due to artificial interference.

Only a few people on the continent could artificially influence magic tide surges, either possessing magic of Holy Realm level or higher, or whose own Holy Mark had relevant abilities.

Even within this scope, while finding someone wasn’t as difficult as searching for a needle in a haystack, it only narrowed the scope from an ocean to a river, still very challenging.

That’s why Myris was so shocked and even excited when she saw Julian, despite her cold temperament.

A white flower replacing a single right eye was not significant on its own; there were all kinds of strange people on the continent. Surely, he couldn’t also be the Holy Son? Being a man yet possessing a beauty comparable to a goddess was extremely rare in history, but she could explain it by Julian’s bloodline having a connection to elves.

It wasn’t until the end, when she discovered the magic fluctuations on Julian’s body and Lady Catherine’s personal concealment methods, that she truly reacted. Perhaps she had indeed inadvertently found the needle dropped into the sea.

The three conditions, taken individually, explained nothing, but when put together, combined with Catherine being one of the candidates capable of concealing magic tides, the answer was fundamentally confirmed.

"I want you to investigate someone for me."

Myris looked at the distant Lily territory, recalling Losiya’s provocative look and Julian’s clear eyes peeking through his stubbornness. With a sense of delighted satisfaction, her voice couldn’t help but lighten considerably.

After informing these Inquisitors of Heresy Bureau about Julian’s information from the auction not long ago, Myris watched them depart in various directions, then stood in place and softly hummed a lament.

Suddenly, a pair of fiery wings woven from magic appeared behind her, and Myris vanished from the spot in an instant.