Chapter 68
― In principle, Duke Recardo’s words are correct. In a hostage exchange deal, the Taylors’ second son, who had been sent there, returned after suffering an accident. Naturally, he has every reason to be furious.
― And shouldn’t we also hold them accountable for failing to educate their child? Taylors exhausted a great number of people searching for the missing hostage.
Through her water sphere, Vanessa observed the monthly council meeting.
Recardo’s presence was so overwhelming it made the sphere tremble, and Chenoa did not back down either.
They hadn’t changed one bit, whether years ago or now.
Elysion tried to mediate, but it was in vain.
With a faint smile, Vanessa scattered the water sphere.
The sphere dissolved into vapor and vanished.
She turned a corner and arrived at a garden filled with blooming Erasinis flowers.
It was a scenery that didn’t suit the Winchester household.
And amidst that scenery stood Sasha Winchester, who had come alone and unguarded to look at the flowers.
“……”
The child’s silver hair resembled Recardo’s perfectly.
Even her emerald-green eyes—hard to read—were amusingly similar.
So when Sasha looked at her, Vanessa unconsciously flinched.
Though she quickly regained her composure and sat down naturally.
“Would you like me to tell you a secret, Head of House?”
The child asked her.
Vanessa chuckled softly. At best, a seven-year-old’s “secret” might be that she had hidden a pie under her bed.
“Go ahead. I’m curious.”
“Othello has woken up.”
At those words, Vanessa’s brow twitched.
Sasha was staring right at her, with eyes that seemed to know something.
“Really? Oh my, that’s a relief. When did he wake?”
“Three nights ago.”
Sasha spread out three fingers.
Vanessa felt the hairs on her neck stand on end.
Yet the garden around them remained peaceful.
“…Then Othello must have told you what happened.”
Sasha nodded, then stood up from her chair.
Vanessa watched the child’s defenseless back.
The Behemoths were creatures the Halo family had been training as living weapons.
To tame such beasts that refused human control, powerful sorcery was required. Vanessa Halo found her solution in Caïsa.
They kidnapped Taylors’ collateral blood relatives, brainwashed them, and infused their blood into the Behemoths.
Though the beasts’ fur hid Caïsa’s markings, after countless attempts, Vanessa succeeded in controlling them.
― What are you doing here?
Othello had witnessed the kidnapping of another Taylor blood relative.
And so he discovered that the Halo family was behind the recent attacks on Sasha.
Had Vanessa not urgently stopped him upon hearing this, Othello would have rushed to the Taylors and revealed everything.
Vanessa used the Behemoths to hunt him down.
For seven long days, Othello kept running, making it all the way to the Winchester mountains.
He ran without rest—so young, yet so tenacious.
“Why did you do it?”
Sasha asked in a quiet, genuinely curious voice.
Vanessa twisted her lips as she watched the child’s back.
“I heard your ability manifested. Do you truly not know?”
Blue streams of water rose from Vanessa’s hands.
Her eyes filled with venomous killing intent.
“I received the prophecy of the Water Dragon. Mekius chose you.”
Vanessa Halo—none within House Halo dared challenge her authority.
As the legitimate heir, she had ascended smoothly to headship, and in the Empire only Recardo or Chenoa could be considered her equals.
She never married, even past the usual age, considering herself already wedded to her House.
― What use is serving the Water Dragon, when the lands of our House are barren and our people starve?
― The southern deserts can’t be farmed. Had Winchester not taken Roxen lands as payment for debt, at least we’d have some fertile soil.
The family was riddled with problems.
Halo’s lands were neither as fertile as Arcada’s or Taylors’, nor as vast as Winchester’s.
They even sold their few remaining fertile lands to pay for storm damage repairs, leaving their territory even harsher.
― O Water Dragon, please protect Halo.
One day, after lying with a collateral relative, Vanessa conceived a child.
― Fulfill the prophecy, I beg of you.
It was an auspicious event. Though she wasn’t married, the child in her womb was undoubtedly Halo’s heir.
The due date coincided perfectly with the day the prophecy foretold the Key of Mekius would appear.
But on the same day a woman of Cologne gave birth to a healthy baby, Vanessa’s child died moments after birth.
That day, as rain poured down so heavily the world seemed to vanish, the Water Dragon gave her a message.
The Key of Mekius had gone to Winchester.
― Why…
The prophecy that the Primeval Dragon Mekius would one day grant a “Key” for the unity and eternal peace of the Empire had long been whispered like a secret legend.
Power to Winchester, wisdom to Arcada, light to Taylors—so naturally, Halo believed the Key would be theirs.
But even the Key was given to Winchester.
― Why is Halo denied everything?!
“You are the seed of misfortune.”
Vanessa stared at Sasha with chilling eyes.
She had thought everything was proceeding as planned, only to find it was all a trap.
This child showing up to greet her proved it.
“I meant to kill you, then march the Behemoths as my army to strike Winchester and Taylors. But your brother found out before I could even begin.”
Her lips curled upward.
Chenoa hadn’t realized what was happening.
When she showed them her water vision of Caïsa, he had only looked shocked at its manifestation.
Vanessa had wanted Winchester and Taylors’ relationship to spiral into extremes.
She planted seeds of discord, pretended to mediate, and then stoked them into greater conflict.
“…Why do you hate us?”
Sasha asked softly.
Vanessa gave a cold laugh.
“I don’t hate you. I simply think it’s unfair—and so I want to tear everything down.”
The House of the Water Dragon, Halo—Mediator of peace, Protector.
All empty titles.
In their barren lands, even the hope of Mekius’ Key had been stolen by Winchester. As head of house, she had only struggled desperately.
If Sasha Winchester died, Mekius would grant the Key again.
And this time, Halo would be its rightful master.
Then waters would spring from their desolate lands, and she could create a paradise of abundance for her people.
Vanessa drew a dagger from her robes.
At that moment, Sasha clenched the hidden Soul Orb tightly.
“…!”
CRUNCH!
A massive hound sank its teeth into Vanessa’s wrist, making her drop the dagger as blood poured from the wound.
It was Kater, the three-headed guard dog of Winchester, summoned forth.
“Ugh!”
Sasha backed away several steps while Vanessa, grimacing, infused water power into her hand and shook Kater off.
Yelp!
Clutching her bleeding wrist, Vanessa glared at Sasha.
“Even if you resist, you’re already dead, Sasha.”
But Sasha showed no fear. Kater was only meant to buy time after revealing the truth anyway.
As Vanessa’s water gathered into a spear aimed at Sasha, a blazing surge of black flame crashed down upon her from afar.
BOOOOM!
The ground erupted with a deafening explosion and dust filled the air.
Sasha shielded her eyes with her sleeve as choking dust rose all around.
Vanessa had managed to barely defend herself with a water shield a second before the blast, but the ground around her was cratered and blood trickled from her lips.
“So… the Key means Sasha?”
Out of the dust strode a dark silhouette. Vanessa’s lips twisted.
Recardo Winchester. He had never been at Rosento at all.
He only pretended to attend the council meeting—he had been here all along.
“The enemy of my enemy must be of value, then.”
Chenoa Taylors appeared too, frowning, his face immaculate yet grim.
Behind him, Elysion Arcada looked at Vanessa with a complicated expression.
Sasha took a step back and hid behind Recardo’s legs.
Vanessa realized she had been caught. She laughed aloud.
“Sasha, I must admit it.”
If that many Behemoths had been deployed, Othello should have been torn apart with not even a corpse left.
But the fact he survived—alongside the Key, Sasha Winchester—proved the Key was indeed something more.
“But now that I’ve been exposed…”
Water energy burst from Vanessa’s fingertips.
It seemed she intended to end it all here today.
“It’s been a long time since we played like this, old friends.”
In the garden of blooming Erasinis, most of today’s flowers would not survive.
Recardo was already summoning cold black flames from the earth.
“This is my home.”
His icy eyes fixed on Vanessa.
“And the price for threatening my daughter is only pain and death.”
Recardo’s lips moved coldly.
