Chapter 265: The Blood-Colored Family (Part 1)

Chapter 265: The Sanguine Family (Part 1)

Cullen stepped toward Ophelia, intent on assessing her condition, when a faint stir echoed from outside—whisper-thin, yet to Cullen, hyper-vigilant from Ophelia's poisoning, it was instantly clear.

Four figures clad in attendants' garb burst through the threshold; upon seeing the scene within, two slid short swords from their sleeves, while the other two brandished compact crossbows.

Reacting instantly, Cullen scooped the hot spring waters with both hands, unleashing the primal ice-and-water power of First Ancestor Allen within him to crystallize the airborne spray into sharp blades that pierced the chests of two attendants, flinging them to the ground.

The remaining two attendants pulled their triggers, sending a pair of bolts streaking toward Cullen and Ophelia.

Cullen opened his palm and invoked the Blade of the Dark Moon; sensing the call, the greatsword beside Ophelia unsheathed itself and flew before him, spinning into a brilliant shield of sword-light that ground the incoming bolts to dust.

In the next heartbeat, Cullen vanished and reappeared right before them, thrusting his sword through one attendant's chest.

"Order—Cage."

Just as Cullen moved to confine the final attacker, a trickle of dark blood leaked from the man's lips; he had bitten down on a poison capsule hidden in his molars, ending his own life.

No survivors remained, yet Cullen felt neither disappointment nor panic.

Did they truly think silencing someone before a Cleric of Order was that simple?

Especially... committing suicide right in his presence?

But now was not the time for interrogation; Cullen hurried back to Ophelia, whose lips had already turned a bruised blue, her face contorted in agony.

Cullen raised his hand, preparing to cast Order Purification, but Ophelia immediately stopped him, gasping out with great effort:

"No... I just used 'Dark Moon Guardian' on myself, but instead of clearing the toxin, it provoked it into becoming even more violent. This is no ordinary poison; it is a corruptive toxin."

As she spoke, her chest heaved violently, and the veins on the backs of her hands and along her neck bulged starkly.

The sheer virulence of this toxin was staggering.

"I am taking you to a physician."

Cullen was about to lift Ophelia onto his back, but she let out a sharp cry of anguish as a gray film gradually overcast her eyes.

This poison was terrifying.

For a moment, Cullen was stunned; he realized that carrying her to a physician now would be too late, for the toxin was spreading and deepening at an impossible speed.

If the corruption continued to expand and invaded her soul, then even if Ophelia survived, she would endure terrible, unyielding torment for the rest of her days.

Just like Dora and Dorine...

No,

this toxicity was countless times more severe than theirs!

Cullen set Ophelia down, resolving to use the power of Light to attempt a purification, as Light-affinity magic was universally recognized as the greatest counter to corruption.

Yet he hesitated, not because he feared exposing his nature to Ophelia, but because she had just warned him that purifying forces would inversely stimulate the toxin; Cullen feared that invoking Light would only accelerate that process

Ophelia pointed to the four corpses on the ground and said, "Dispose of the bodies."

Karen spoke up, "Leave the bodies here for now; they are still of use."

Pamir looked toward his Highness.

Ophelia whispered to Karen, "I know the Church of Order is skilled in 'Awakening' spells, but this place is not suitable for an interrogation. We must suppress the impact of this incident as much as possible, so as not to disturb the negotiations between the two great Churches."

"No, it must be here. As you said, the target of the assassination was me, so the interrogation must take place here."

"What is going on here?"

"Yeah, what happened? Why are there so many people?"

Fanny and Peg came back from their stroll, immediately realizing something was amiss upon seeing so many guards drawing their blades in the private hot spring pool. Their faces turned serious the moment they stepped inside and caught sight of the corpses.

"Fanny, notify the Captain. Tell him I have been poisoned."

"Understood."

Ophelia looked at Karen with a somewhat helpless expression, but she could only acquiesce.

Even though she was the one who had been poisoned, she still instinctively thought of the bigger picture, but Karen did not share her position.

In fact, Karen was furious. This was the first time he had ever been poisoned. Although the poison had not reached him, he could be considered to have indirectly "enjoyed" this treatment. No matter who wanted to murder him, he was going to root them out.

He was not about to suppress the matter along with Ophelia; he intended to use his identity within the Church of Order to forcibly blow things out of proportion right here in the Church's hot spring bathing area.

The four corpses still lay on the ground, while Karen walked over to the cabinet, opened the ice bucket, and took out another ice cube to examine, finding nothing unusual inside it.

It was impossible. Could Ophelia's luck really be so good that she happened to choose that exact ice cube?

Karen picked up the wine glass and inspected it.

Ophelia walked over and said, "There is nothing wrong with the water. Every time I consume anything outside, I always check it."

As she spoke, Ophelia lightly tapped her wrist, and a gold-inlaid section of her bracer transformed into a silken thread and flew up. This was likely some sort of sacred tool for testing medicine, used to detect toxicity in advance when eating or drinking outside.

Even if she wasn't wearing armor and had on other clothes, this clump of gold could attach to the cuff of her sleeve to look like a gold-rimmed pattern.

Because Ophelia had checked the water when pouring it, she had assumed the poison was in the ice.

Karen said, "The other ice cubes are normal."

"What?" Ophelia naturally realized it too; her luck couldn't possibly be so good that she just happened to choose the poisoned one.

Karen picked up the untouched wine glass Ophelia had poured for him and looked up from underneath. He discovered that the glass was specially designed with a tiny pit at the very bottom, covered by a subtle membrane.

Pouring out the ice water from the glass, Karen reached in with his finger and gently punctured the membrane, revealing a tiny insect egg inside.

This insect possessed a certain intelligence; it seemed to know exactly when it was supposed to come out. While someone prepared to drink, it would break out of its egg, pass through the membrane, and slip right into the person's mouth. Right now, it clearly knew it wasn't its time to emerge.

The poison wasn't in the water, nor was it in the ice cubes; it was in the glass, because whether one drank water or wine, a glass was always required.

The first to arrive at the scene was the Captain.

The moment the Captain appeared, his expression was utterly frigid. On the way over, he had already heard the sequence of events from Fanny, and subsequently, the Captain personally inspected the glass.

To be honest, at the very beginning, Karen had truly suspected whether this poison might have been planted by the Captain.

But upon closer reflection, the Captain simply didn't have the capability to pull this off. It wasn't as if these four attendants could be down-line agents the Captain had just developed over the past few days, right?

Furthermore, the Captain knew that he himself did not fear pollution, but Fanny and Peg had accompanied him to the hot spring; the Captain had no reason to place them in danger as well. Most importantly, the Captain had no idea that Ophelia would come here.

If the Captain truly possessed such far-reaching methods, then given another three months, he would probably be able to hollow out the authority of the Dark Moon Patriarch.

Judging by the outcome, his saving Ophelia from drinking the polluted insect was the kind of amusement the Captain enjoyed seeing, but that was purely from the perspective of the outcome. The process itself could not support that reasoning at all.

Therefore, Karen did not bother to ask the Captain if he did it; if he really asked that, the Captain might treat him like an idiot.

The Captain walked up to the attendants' corpses, pointed at one of them, and chanted:

"Order... Awaken!"

An attendant's corpse was awakened. He sat up in a daze, remembering that he was already dead, yet now he was alive once more.

"Who was your assassination target?" the Captain asked.

The attendant did not answer.

"Heh."

The Captain seemed to have anticipated this result long ago. He spread his palm open, and a ball of black flame rose up, covering the attendant directly.

Even though he was already dead, having been awakened, he could still taste the agony of torture.

"Him!"

The attendant immediately reached out a hand, pointing at Karen.

Karen realized that the man didn't even know his name.

"Who arranged for you to do this?" the Captain continued to ask.

The attendant grit his teeth, refusing to speak even while enduring the torture.

The Captain grinned savagely, "You had better be an orphan. In a moment, I will have people investigate your family situation. If you have family members, they will taste all kinds of tortures from my Whip of Order because of your actions and your current lack of cooperation. I will make their lives worse than death."

"It was His Highness..."

"Which Highness?" the Captain asked.

The only ones on Dark Moon Island who could be called "Highness" were Ophelia and her three older brothers.

"His Highness Dante."

The mastermind behind the scenes turned out to be Ophelia's second older brother, the second son of Vina, the Patriarch of the Dark Moon Clan.

Ophelia looked at Karen at this moment, her eyes filled with a pleading gaze.

Karen spoke up, "Captain, next, let the Dark Moon Clan handle this and give me an explanation."

The Captain understood. There were certain secrets he knew, but it was inconvenient for him to know them openly. So he nodded quite simply and said, "Fine. As the party involved, you stay. I will go back and await the results. If this matter isn't handled to my satisfaction, I will report it to the Church."

Neo turned around and left.

Just as the Captain left, a squad of warriors clad in red armor marched in, and they began to rearrange the scene.

An old man who looked like a butler walked over, bowing first to Karen, then to Ophelia, "Mr. Karen, the Patriarch and General Taffman have arrived. Please step over, both of you."

The private hot spring pools here were divided into tiers, and the highest tier was located in the most secluded area—a hot spring pool with its own courtyard.

The entrance was heavily guarded, and one could clearly see that the forces of both sides were guarding it in a cross pattern; it should be the Patriarch's guard detail and the General's guard detail.

This made Karen feel that the brotherhood rumored outside did not seem quite so pure.

Upon entering, Karen saw General Taffman and Patriarch Vina sitting in chairs on the left and right. On the ground knelt the Second Highness, Dante.

"Karen, I am truly sorry that our first formal meeting has to take place under such circumstances." Patriarch Vina's expression was warm, like a kindly elder, as he actively stood up and walked toward Karen.

Karen took a step back, avoiding his embrace.

"I was framed! I was framed!" Dante began to shout at this moment, "My captain of the guard betrayed me! He betrayed me! I did not give him this order, I didn't! Although I dislike Ophelia, and although I have cursed Karen at home, I never thought of killing him this way! I didn't! I was even preparing to duel him!"

"Shut up!"

"Smack!"

Vina turned around in great anger and slapped Dante across the face. Compared to a poisoned assassination, what he found even more unacceptable was the family scandal and private shame his son was exposing at this moment.

The second son, surprisingly, had harbored affections for his own half-sister all along.

Kallen remained silent, watching the entire spectacle unfold with cold detachment.

Ophelia, meanwhile, let a flicker of sheer disgust show on her face toward her brother.

Chief Wiener turned to Kallen, his tone grimly solemn: "Kallen, you too are a child of our Dark Moon Island, and the pure blood of our direct lineage flows within you. Please trust me, I will see to it he is punished appropriately."

"Yes, please place your trust in our Chief."

General Taafman rose to his feet, speaking even as he drew a sword from the hip of a nearby guard.

Splat.

Dante, his nephew, the Chief's son, and the Second Prince of Dark Moon Island—his head was severed just like that, blood instantly spraying and staining the carpet crimson.

This sudden turn of events struck everyone present into stunned silence.

General Taafman bent down and lifted his nephew's head by the hair.

"As his uncle, I apologize to you on his behalf, Kallen. Please accept his most sincere regrets."

With that,

Taafman loosened his grip,

The head fell,

Taafman raised his boot and kicked it, sending the head flying through the air until it finally rolled to a stop right before Kallen.

Just like a leather ball.