Ereka’s face twisted.

‘Who does she think she is, lecturing me just because she’s a direct descendant?’

Honestly, all the direct descendants don’t know their place.

Parasites born with nothing but good bloodline who live in luxury without ability.

‘The one who knows her place the least is that filthy blood.’

That person had said,

“If this goes well, you’ll receive education in a place fitting for you.”

“R-Really?”

“Yes. Ereka is a precious child.”

Ereka bit her lip tightly and shouted,

“Don’t worry. He cares about me.”

Then she ended the communication.

‘We’ll see.’

I’ll handle this well and wipe away all the disgrace.

In the temple dining hall,

the direct 3rd generation heirs finally gathered to eat together after a long time.

‘Calling it a meal is a stretch—it’s more like a meeting to find the spy.’

A task given by Marquis Debussy. In other words, with just one day left to find the spy, the pressure was on.

They were desperate to find the spy by any means.

“Come to think of it, didn’t you say last time that your maternal relatives demanded information about Astra?”

“If someone heard that, they’d think it was some huge secret, sister! My maternal grandmother just wanted to have a drink with grandfather!”

“Wait, two people left the castle on the 13th... Joffrey and Loreina, where did you go?”

“I told you, we went to a party invited by the Zodiac nobility! Father reported the schedule in advance to grandfather before going!”

I shook my head.

When pressuring the collateral branches, they pretended to be ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) on the same side.

But if nothing special happens, they’re quick to bite each other.

They were the kind of people who’d tear their own cousins apart just to get results.

‘That’s Astra for you.’

Joffrey, who was puffing angrily, looked at me.

“Don’t suspect the wrong person. Think about who the truly strange one is!”

“Strange one?”

“What Ereka Gilard said is true. The one who had the most contact with outsiders was...!”

As soon as Joffrey shouted, a loud bang sounded.

Balzac slammed his fork down roughly on the table.

Joshua also had a deep smile.

The twins sitting on either side glared, so the cousins quickly looked away.

Balzac growled like a dog.

“Clear your nose. There’s nothing to sniff here.”

Joffrey flinched and shrugged.

His older sister Loreina sighed, annoyed.

“Stupid.”

“Si-sister...”

Tsk, Loreina clicked her tongue and shouted at the cousins,

“I don’t know who the spy is, but if they keep hiding, it won’t be fun.”

“...”

“Have you seen grandfather just let the spy be? Even now, the top intelligence bureau under grandfather must be moving.”

“...”

“The spy will be revealed eventually, but if they keep hiding, the collateral branches will have to undergo kinship training. Then all the complaints of the direct descendants will flow to the spy.”

“...”

“Remember, you won’t survive grandfather’s hand without the help of the direct descendants.”

“...”

“If you reveal yourself now, the cousins might pity you enough to say a word to grandfather.”

“...”

“If not... after that, the spy will know best what happens.”

Loreina stood and delivered the final blow.

“There’s not much time. Reveal yourself by tonight.”

Then she turned and left the dining hall.

Joffrey hurried after his sister, glancing nervously at our older brothers.

At least near his sister, he could avoid their sharp gazes.

Watching the siblings’ backs, Liantin whispered,

“You know, could it be those two?”

“Loreina and Joffrey?”

I asked, and Liantin nodded.

“Their father, Uncle Balderic, is the one who mingles the most with nobles of other families.”

“Maybe.”

“I think they’re suspicious.”

I narrowed my eyes and looked at Liantin.

“You don’t actually want Loreina and Joffrey to be the spy, do you?”

“That’s...”

“I know they gave you the hardest time, but that doesn’t mean they’re the spy.”

“I know too, but I have no clue.”

Liantin looked very irritated.

“They don’t even give hints. We don’t even know what info the spy stole from the retainers or administrators.”

“That’s true.”

“Finding a needle in a haystack, with no time given. Are they telling us to find it or not?”

“...”

I quietly rolled a pea around my plate.

‘It really is strange.’

If they really wanted to find the spy, they should have given at least some hints.

Without any explanation or clue, they just ordered us to find the spy blindly.

‘...Feels like they just want to scare us.’

In reality, the 2nd generation were scared their own children would be the spy, so even though the collateral branches ran rampant, they couldn’t move.

“Erilot?”

“...”

“Erilot!”

“Ah, uh-huh.”

“What are you thinking about?”

Liantin narrowed her eyes and asked.

“Nothing much.”

I answered and looked at my older brothers.

“You guys got the assignment too, right?”

“Assignment to find the spy?”

Balzac asked with a fork in his mouth.

“Yeah, that assignment.”

“No. We didn’t get it.”

“You didn’t get it...?”

“Yeah.”

If this was really a test, it would be fair for them to get the order to find the spy too.

They also have to take the test.

‘But if not... then they were just trying to scare us!’

Why did the direct descendants forbid themselves from moving recklessly?

Why let the collateral branches run wild?

As I pondered quietly, I suddenly opened my eyes wide.

“Ah!”

I gasped.

“Erilot?”

“Eril?”

“What’s wrong?”

“...?”

Liantin and my three older brothers stared at me.

I stood up suddenly.

“I’m going ahead.”

“Without looking for the spy?”

“No need to look.”

Because the spy never existed among the cousins from the start.

This was grandfather’s plan to capture those related to Count Gilard!

I hurriedly left the dining hall.

My three older brothers followed.

Balzac asked,

“Erilot! What’s going on?”

As I went upstairs, I explained what I realized.

Joshua nodded after hearing everything.

“That might be true. That’s why they let the Gilard father and daughter go so easily.”

Balzac frowned.

“Why do they have to go that far to catch the collateral branches? If suspicious, they could just arrest and interrogate them like always.”

Richmond answered instead of me.

“If there’s something powerful involved they can’t just ignore?”

“What?”

“If what the collateral branches hold is big enough to endanger the main family, they can’t move freely.”

“What’s so huge that threatens the main family?”

Holding the door handle quietly, I murmured,

“Ereka Gilard created a new blessing through experiments at the Magic Tower.”

“What?”

“What if other collateral branches also created such a tremendous blessing? What if that blessing... was an attack blessing as strong as Dad’s ?”

“...!”

The experiment was a success.

We don’t know how many blessings Count Gilard experimented on or how many people.

‘That’s why they gathered the young collateral branches in the estate.’

They held their children hostage and stopped the adults from moving.

My brothers’ faces hardened.

I went straight into the room.

And headed for the sofa table piled high with documents.

Han Ji-hyuk, buried in papers, looked up like a zombie.

“Sorting the data isn’t done yet... Yo.”

“I need the list of people Count Gilard contacted after April 3rd (the day Ereka manifested the new blessing).”

“Ah, I have the list sorted... Here it is.”

Balzac snatched the parchment Han Ji-hyuk handed over.

We siblings focused on the documents.

“Wow, met this many? You didn’t give blessings to all of them, right?”

Balzac said, and Joshua answered.

“Of course not. If they gave blessings recklessly, information would leak somewhere.”

Richmond, reading the list, suddenly paused.

“Wait... Let me see.”

Balzac handed over the list with a puzzled look.

Richmond quietly stared at the list with an unusually hard expression.

I asked,

“Why?”

“Baron Eilots here. He was close to Dad when Dad developed the blessing extraction method.”

Then Balzac and Joshua looked at each other wide-eyed.

“Baron Eilots?”

“Yeah.”

They seemed to know something, so I furrowed my brows.

“What is it?”

“My father, that is, my biological father.”

“Uncle Lissian, Dad’s twin?”

“Yeah. He was Dad’s aide.”

What?

I was shocked.

‘Uncle Lissian, called the King of Mages.’

He developed hundreds of magical tools.

He created amazing magic and special tools still treasured as heirlooms.

“Wait a moment.”

Joshua hurried out and came back after about ten minutes.

In his hands was Uncle Lissian’s magic book that Joshua tried to steal from Dad when I was three.

“Why that?”

“This book isn’t the only one.”

“Huh?”

“Look here.”

There was some wear on the cover, but faint letters were visible.

‘Is that a volume number?’

We all gasped.

“Everything started with Uncle Lissian’s books from the beginning.”

“Yeah.”

“My biological father found the blessing extraction method...”

“And Ereka Gilard created the new blessing.”

Someone had stolen other books by Uncle Lissian that should have been passed down in the Daymond jurisdiction!

‘Why didn’t I think of that?’

Noarigen, who found the blessing extraction method, wasn’t that talented.

Neither was Count Gilard.

They couldn’t have developed such incredible magic.

Joshua said coldly,

“My biological father left all his assets to Daymond jurisdiction when he died, entrusting us.”

“So everything they have belongs to Dad. It belongs to us and Daymond jurisdiction!”

Balzac ground his teeth.

‘They stole what was ours and attacked us?’

“Han.”

“Yes?”

“Hurry and inform grandfather. Tell him it’s urgent.”

Han Ji-hyuk dashed out.

We siblings gathered around the sofa and talked.

“We have to prepare for their attack first.”

I said, and Richmond picked up the communication stone.

‘To prepare for attack, we must summon the strongest.’

The empire’s strongest warrior.

Even hundreds of elite soldiers with blessings could never win against him.

War God (戰新).

Daymond Astra.

Dad’s arrival.

While we were communicating, Han Ji-hyuk returned.

“The duke has left the castle.”

“Why all of a sudden?”

“He seems to be holding an urgent meeting with the elders.”

Damn.

It’ll take Dad a long time to finish and come.

“I need to contact grandfather. Tell him it’s urgent and he must return even if he cancels the meeting.”

“Yes.”

Late at night.

Ereka Gilard’s eyes opened wide.

“Run away?”

[Yes! Come up with any excuse, leave the castle, and go far away!]

“Why suddenly?”

[‘That person’ ordered it.]

“Then why all of a sudden...?”

[Erilot urgently sought grandfather. Asked him to stop the meeting and come back! Since he was searching the Magic Tower and your father, why else would he make such a request?]

“Did he find something out?”

[Probably. You must not be investigated. Leave the castle immediately. Got it?]

And the communication cut off.

Ereka angrily threw her cup.

‘Damn girl. That unlucky...!’

If she runs away like this, she might become hunted from now on.

‘Our father and daughter will be blamed for everything.’

I trust ‘that person,’ but not the direct descendant I just communicated with.

A lowly person.

If things are exposed, she’ll pin everything on us.

Ereka’s hands trembled.

‘If my blessing is exposed as fake like this...’

Her eyes trembled.

I remembered the arrogant face of Erilot Astra.

“Why are you doing this to me? Why are you so eager to destroy me?”

Breathing hard, clutching her skirt.

‘No matter how jealous you are of me, this is too much.’

I was just living earnestly...

Just then, the door suddenly burst open.

“Ereka! You must have heard the news, hurry and get out of the castle. We have to leave Astra Manor!”

“What do you intend to do after leaving?”

“Until ‘that person’ calls us again...”

“Can you be sure they’ll call? Maybe they’ll give a special blessing to another collateral branch and use them instead of us!”

“I-I trust ‘that person.’”

“Even if ‘that person’ trusts you, they’re not other direct descendants. We can’t leave like this. If we leave now, we might lose everything.”

“What do you want to do then...?”

“Erilot Astra must be eliminated.”

“W-what?!”

“If we get rid of that girl, we can buy time. If we buy time, ‘that person’ will probably handle this.”

“But Erilot is the duke’s most beloved granddaughter.”

“Because you think she’s capable! Now I also have the blessing. I can push Erilot Astra out of the duke’s favor.”

“W-well... then...”

Ereka made the sign of the cross in the air.

Kugugugugugu...

A chilling sound came from somewhere.

“You’re going to use ‘that’?!”

“Erilot Astra has no dragon now. If she steps up, she’ll be dead within ten seconds, eyes rolled back.”

“That may be so...”

‘“That” is a special magical beast synthesized from Lissian Astra’s magic.’

The daughter and mother smirked at each other.