“Victoria, I have brought her here!”


  In the midst of the battlefield, Ponte Ascart descended from the sky together with a young girl in his arms, landing into a shield formation formed by his trusted soldiers. Victoria quickly passed command rights over to her vice commander before rushing over to Ponte’s side.

  Victoria looked very different from how she seemed back at the Labyrinth Villa. The usual lofty look on her face was nowhere to be seen; on the contrary, she looked deeply worried. As a member of the royal family, she lived her life with a mask. She would usually play the role of a graceful and obedient woman, but at this time, she was revealing her true emotions.

  As easy as it might have seemed for Ponte to strut into the middle of the enemy camp alone, it was, in reality, a mission fraught with danger. Both Prince Wade and Marquess Felder possessed powers that rivaled Ponte. Nevertheless, using his advantages as a magician of the Hextongue Faction, he still managed to shake them off with ease. His valiant exploits had not just made Roel’s heart pump in excitement, but it had also further captured a certain woman’s heart and boosted the morale of his allies.

  “Welcome back, teacher. What’s wrong with this child?”


  Victoria heaved a sigh of relief on the inside after seeing Ponte landing safely on the ground before turning her sights toward the young girl he was holding under his arm. When she saw that the possessor of the royal bloodline was actually a female, she snatched the young girl over from Ponte’s hands without any hesitation.

  While Ponte was an upright man, as the saying went, there was no human without some sort of peculiar fetish. Due to the cost of his spells, his preferences in women were fully exposed to Victoria, and this was also Victoria’s greatest trump card in keeping Ponte in check.

  Yes, she knew that Ponte liked flat-chested, petite women. So far, from her observations, it didn’t seem like Ponte was actually into children, but still, better safe than sorry, right?

  On the other hand, Ponte was also rendered speechless by how sensitive Victoria was about this matter. He had intentionally held Nora around her waist in order to avoid any weird misunderstandings, but who could have thought that it was all futile?

  “I…… I really am not…… Ey, forget it!”


  Seeing the soldiers that were surrounding them at the moment, Ponte couldn’t bring himself to say those words out loud. He knew that it was probably going to be useless anyway, as evidenced by the many times before he had tried to clarify the misunderstanding.

  Meanwhile, Victoria was taking a closer look at her newly discovered blood kin, and her body froze up as soon as she saw the girl’s face. The girl had beautiful facial features reminiscent of a saintly angel, golden hair that shone like sunlight, and a graceful figure. It was an appearance that even Victoria herself was awed by.

  However, that wasn’t the reason why her body froze up. The reason why she was so shocked was because they were simply too similar……

  How could this girl look so much like her? Be it appearance or disposition, the girl looked exactly like the Victoria of 10 years ago. If not for the girl’s much younger appearance, she would have thought that their mother had triplets instead of twins back then!

  What’s going on? How could an illegitimate child look so much like me?

  Ponte was also taken aback once he had a good look at the girl’s face. He was too focused on dealing with the enemies earlier that he didn’t have any time to pay attention to her. But now that he was taking a closer look, he couldn’t help but be confused.

  They look so alike even though they don’t have the same mother? Are the genes of the royal family that powerful?

  “Hold on. Why is she unconscious?”


  “I’m not too sure either. She was already like this when I rescued her. Could it be that Wade did something to her?”


  “No, that’s not right. This child has a high fever…… It’s her bloodline! Her bloodline is awakening!”


  As someone who had been through a bloodline awakening herself, Victoria was able to immediately identify the reason for Nora’s abnormal condition, and it astonished her.

  One must know that the successors of this generation, Victoria and Wade, had been known as prodigies ever since a young age. Their talents as transcendents were amongst the top even when considering the long history of the Xeclyde House, but they only managed to awaken their bloodline to Silver-tier when they were 13.

  On the other hand, how old was this girl?

  ? 12?

  Victoria was not sure, but it was certain that the talents of this lost-long blood kin were at an unbelievable level. As long as she was carefully nurtured, she would definitely become an incredible figure who wielded the power to impact mankind as a whole in the future.

  I must protect her and keep her from falling into Wade’s hands!, Victoria thought resolutely.

  She began using her Compassion Origin Attribute to gently direct the flow of energy in Nora’s body, allowing her powers to flow smoothly.

  Meanwhile, Ponte also felt relieved to see that Victoria was in control of the situation. He turned his attention away from these nearly identical sisters to assess the battlefield. At the same time, he also took out a colorful gemstone. It was the magic tool he used to control the labyrinth, as well as the family heirloom of the Ascart House. While the colorful gemstone had some defects, the power it held was unimaginable.

  Even though Victoria’s forces seemed to have the upper hand at the moment, it was mostly due to them launching a surprise attack and catching the enemy off guard. Once Wade’s allied armies managed to recover and get their momentum back, they wouldn’t stand a chance at all.

  There was simply too great a disparity in their absolute military might. The Elric House had really gone all out to support Wade, and the heretics who had been living in the Holy Capital all along had thrown themselves in together with Wade too. These two powers formed an unprecedentedly powerful force that was nigh impossible to stop.

  On the other hand, the only ones supporting Victoria were the military units stationed in the Holy Capital. Of course, Ponte had also rallied his own personal army back at the Ascart Fiefdom to reinforce them, but Wade’s allied armies had already taken control over the city walls and gates, which meant that the bulk of the Ascart House’s military force wasn’t able to get in.

  Since Victoria’s forces were unable to win in a direct battle, Ponte wisely proposed for them to avoid a direct confrontation with Wade and save up their strength. They would await the return of Holy Eminence Ryan before staging a comeback.

  With this in mind, as soon as Ponte escaped from Wade and Felder’s clutches, he activated the colorful gemstone to summon the mist back in.

  However, his intentions were accurately grasped by the enemy too. Ponte looked at the golden-haired man, who was summoning crimson streaks of lightning to dissipate the mist, and he couldn’t help but be amazed by how fast Wade had matured.

  Ponte had once served as Wade’s teacher, albeit for a short period of time. He could tell that Wade did have the disposition of a ruler, and his outstanding talents would bring the Theocracy to greater heights. Yet, certain events that happened along the way changed Wade’s ideals, leading him to walk on a different path from Victoria. Those eyes that were once clear were now filled with burning flames.

  Wade had chosen to walk the path of a revolutionary, and he was determined to achieve his goal no matter how much blood he had to shed along the way. The old flag of the Saint Mesit Theocracy was going to be incinerated in his hands, and no one knew what would be born from the ashes.

  Just like Victoria, Ponte was also deeply convinced that Wade had to be stopped.

  “Commander, our brothers at the frontlines are getting stalled by the enemy forces!”


  The howl from one of the military officers interrupted Ponte’s wandering thoughts. He swiftly calmed down and focused once more, returning to his usual solemn self. He quickly surveyed the situation, then he began channeling mana in his hands once more.

  But before he could release his spell, he suddenly heard a scream right next to him.

  It was a cry from the girl in Victoria’s hands.

  Nora’s consciousness was extremely faint at the moment, but she could faintly sense that her condition was swiftly improving. Putting everything aside, the Angel’s Bloodline was renowned for its exclusivity. Other than the elders of the Xeclyde House, who shared the same bloodline, there was no one else in the world who could guide her powers and facilitate a successful breakthrough.

  Of course, it was not entirely impossible for a Xeclyde to awaken on their own, but it would be an extremely risky move. Furthermore, if the awakening process failed even once, it was likely that it would leave behind some irrecoverable internal trauma that would plague them for life.

  Given Nora’s young age, it was already incredible that she could keep herself together despite the energy rampaging within her body. However, if she were to be left in that state for any longer, there was a good chance that her condition would deteriorate. Due to that, Victoria was currently doing everything she could to preserve this talent for the Xeclyde House.

  “Where…… am I……”


  Under Victoria’s help, Nora finally regained consciousness. Her eyes fluttered open, but to her surprise, it was to the background of a slightly misty blue sky. There was a face hovering over her that was almost identical to her own except for a few differences. It felt bizarre, almost as if she was looking into a mirror.

  “Y-you are……”


  “Child, there’s no need to worry. You’re in safe hands. I am Victoria Xeclyde, the second in the line of succession to the Theocracy’s throne. You must have heard of me. Can you tell me your name?”


  Victoria looked at the shocked girl staring at her and asked with a gentle and composed smile. Illegitimate children were usually forced to hide in the shadows, never to be recognized by their family, so they tended to carry some enmity toward those in the main lineage. For this reason, she thought that the girl would view her in hostility, but the reality was different from what she expected.

  The girl was taken aback for a moment before she suddenly rose up and grabbed Victoria’s hand excitedly.

  “Your Highness Victoria! I am Nora Xeclyde. I know that it might be hard for you to accept, but I’m actually your distant relative.”


  As Nora spoke, a shocked expression that was at odds with the words she was speaking appeared on her face. It was not that she was suffering from a split personality, but that the words spoken came out differently than what she had intended.

  She was thinking of introducing herself as Victoria’s descendant, but those words seemed to naturally change into something else upon leaving the tip of her tongue. It was almost as if she was put under some sort of restriction spell, preventing her from revealing the truth of her origin to those living in this era.

  This situation surprised her, but it was not completely unacceptable to her. She had heard of places in myths that imposed a speech limitation on adventurers, and the situation she was in seemed quite similar to that.

  Actually, her attention wasn’t really on this matter either. In fact, it wasn’t on any matter but a person, or rather, the lack of one. After introducing herself, she began looking around the chaotic battlefield, seemingly searching for something. Unfortunately, no matter where she looked, it was to no avail.

  “Your Highness Victoria, help me look for someone, please! I’m begging you!”Nora grabbed Victoria’s hands tightly as she pleaded with her.