Westminster Bank

Watching the Dragon Guide’s figure vanish into the night.

Lucy bit into an apple and said, "Isabella, sometimes I think he’s so much like him, and other times, not at all. It’s strange."

Isabella shook her head. "None of that matters anymore. The most important thing now is the position of Patriarch."

"You’ve already activated the Dragon Spear’s guidance and obtained a Dragon Scale from a Third Generation Species. Your top rank is indisputable," Lucy said. "So, don’t we just have to follow the guidance to the plaza? Why do you need to drag me along to continue Dragon Hunting?"

Isabella said, "The position of Patriarch has never been about one’s rank in the Dragon Spear Baptism. It’s about who can manifest the most markings from the Dragon Spear."

"Jose and Tune have the support of the Clan Elder Council. With their family crests, they have an advantage over me when it’s time to draw the spear. What’s more, Jose has also awakened his own Dragon Slayer bloodline, which means his will is at least not much weaker than mine.

What I need to do next is maximize any advantage that will help me draw the spear."

Lucy sighed. "Isabella, you, Jose, and Tune weren’t always this tense with each other. Is being the Patriarch of the Beowulf Family really so important that it’s worth this endless struggle?"

She pulled another green apple from her clothes, taking a juicy bite. "In my opinion, it’s not even worth as much as this apple."

"Or is it still because of what Jose said six years ago? It was just a thoughtless comment. Baron Constantin really is a Bloodless... Besides, Jose never meant for his words to reflect on your mother. You know as well as I do that the Old Blood Clans have a nasty habit of looking down on all Bloodless equally."

She quickly finished the green apple, leaving only the core. Lucy buried the core in the ground and formed a hand seal for a Magic Technique. Instantly, the core sprouted into an apple tree with a crooked trunk. She hopped up and settled back against the curved trunk, her dangling calves swinging along with the gentle rise and fall of her chest:

"It’s really not worth it, you know. Jose, Tune Denero, and you... you’re all like siblings to me. Why does everything have to be so tense between you all?"

She gently tapped her own cheek with the tail of her duster. "I really miss the old days when we were all happy together, Isabella."

"I never blamed him for what he said. It was simply the moment I realized what I truly needed."

Isabella said coldly, "Grandfather used to say the destiny of the Beowulf Family has never been Dragon Slaying, but the battle itself. My mother killing herself after my father abandoned her was a result of her weakness. Thankfully, I didn’t inherit her cowardice."

"The Beowulf Family has never had a woman, let alone the descendant of a Bloodless, become Patriarch," Isabella murmured, stroking her Red Spear. "If I can... I’d like to be the first."

"But you’ll have no freedom as Patriarch! I remember Uncle Lidton was always so swamped with duties he couldn’t get a moment’s peace."

Lucy jumped down, hugged Isabella, and rested her head on her shoulder. "If you ask me, you should just come with me to the Celestial Master Sect. The mountain scenery is gorgeous, and if you wanted to be Sect Leader, I’d raise both my hands and feet to vote for you!"

"So what would you even do if you became Patriarch? Make those Silver Elders in the family fight you every day? Or are you planning to have the Beowulf Clan join the ’Hunt for Baron Constantin’ initiative?"

Seeing Isabella’s stony expression, Lucy sighed again:

"Are you that sure the Dragon Witch will show up for Baron Constantin? I know the court said he colluded with her, but you know how those old geezers on the Inner Side are. Twisting the truth and calling black white is just what they do.

For a while, there were even rumors on the Inner Side that the youngest daughter of the Beowulf Family was a lunatic! And besides, the Baron is just a Bloodless."

At this, Lucy’s cheeks puffed out in a pout, making her look like an inflated pufferfish.

"I’m not so sure that was a rumor."

Isabella said coolly, "At the time, based on your behavior at the manor, Uncle Lidton was actually thinking of sending you to the Spanish Old Inheritance Mental Hospital. I was the one who stopped him and chose to entrust you to Daoist Zhou Yuantao, who just so happened to be visiting the Inner Side."

"As for whether the Baron truly colluded with the Dragon Witch, we’ll only know the truth once we’ve caught him."

"But what if it’s true? He was your childhood friend, Isabella..." Lucy said. "Though, judging by his reaction last time on the Outer Side, he’s already forgotten you thanks to the Law of Oblivion."

"I’ll torture him. Force him to reveal the Dragon Witch’s whereabouts. What fuels my will to fight is vengeance, not some so-called bond."

Isabella said, "The Dragon Witch is responsible for the deaths of my father and mother. All things must come to an end."

"Isabella, Grandfather told you to let go of this hatred..."

"No one who hasn’t lived through what I have has the right to tell me to ’let go of my hatred,’" Isabella said, looking at Lucy. "That includes you."

"Haven’t you noticed?" Lucy said suddenly. "The Dragon Scales on your face are gone."

Isabella froze. She touched her face. It was true—the Poison Dragon Scales from the Blood Curse were gone.

But they weren’t completely gone. On closer inspection, the faint outlines of the scales were still there.

"A Magic Potion that can break a Blood Curse..." Isabella raised an eyebrow. "Perhaps it was a mistake not to force him to stay."

"You’re so black-bellied," Lucy grumbled.

"’Black-bellied?’ What’s that supposed to mean?"

"I don’t know either. It was in the note that guy left," Lucy said, waving the slip of paper in her hand. "Maybe he’s making fun of black people?"