Oreos, the White Rock City Lord, felt a small but distinct shift in his life.
It wasn’t an illusion, but a tangible strangeness that had begun right after Westheid arrived in White Rock City.
His gentle sister no longer ca ho at night. She even neglected her duties as Guard Captain, eagerly seeking out Duke Qinghui every day to spar.
And his pure and lovely younger sister, after tasting the Imperial Capital’s special cream puffs, seed to have beco infatuated with the noble dessert, frequently visiting Duke Qinghui along with her sister.
Oreos was utterly bewildered. He simply couldn’t imagine how Duke Qinghui managed to balance swordsmanship practice with baking pastries!
If it were only that, it would be fine; he could write it off as normal social calls.
What truly unsettled Oreos were the changes in his sisters.
They had always been beautiful, but in the past two days, they had beco conspicuously more voluptuous and radiant, like flowers that had been pollinated to excess, watered until they were overflowing.
Oreos couldn’t quite describe it.
Even on the rare occasions he saw Jocelyn and Daphne at the manor, they were like strangers. His sister no longer held him in a doting embrace, and his younger sister no longer followed him around like a shadow.
Not only that, but they would dress up ticulously every ti they went out, appearing in their finest attire.
His sister Jocelyn was one thing, but even his pure younger sister was no longer content with her youthful, energetic image. She started dressing up in all sorts of ways. Seeing his sister’s skirts beco outrageously short, even in the relatively open-minded Imperial culture, Oreos had to say sothing.
That’s indecent!
However, his usually well-behaved sister cursed at him with a look of unprecedented contempt:
"I’ll do as I please! Mind your own business, you good-for-nothing!"
His cute, sensible sister had insulted him for the first ti. Oreos was devastated.
And when Oreos turned to his sister for answers, the tall, brown-gold-haired beauty would at first give him a perfunctory response. When pressed, she even slapped the young Lord twice across the face.
"Enough! How long are you going to act so unreasonable?! Don’t you dare be disrespectful to Duke Qinghui again!"
"!!!"
More than the physical pain, Oreos found it impossible to accept that the sister who had always doted on her younger brother would actually strike him!
The changes in his sisters made Oreos deeply uneasy. He wasn’t a complete idiot; it was hard not to connect his sisters’ transformations with so dreadful possibilities.
But Oreos repeatedly asked Marine to investigate the situation, and her response was always the sa: "No problem. Nothing unusual at all."
Yet even with his trusted maid, Oreos felt that she, too, had changed. Marine no longer looked at him with that adoring, fervent gaze. She was no longer by his side at all tis; sotis, when he wanted to call for her, he couldn’t even find her.
’A trusted confidante like this... can I really still trust her?’
Oreos grew more and more agitated, as if everyone around him was hiding sothing from him.
Unable to trust his sisters or his subordinates, the White Rock City Lord had no mind for work. He decided to give himself a break and go visit his fiancée to clear his head.
Oreos’s fiancée, Liliana, was an engagent arranged for him by his father before his death. In the Imperial, political marriages weren’t actually that common. For the most part, the most crucial factor for Imperial Nobility when choosing a spouse was "assessing genetic traits." Genetic Ascension was always paramount.
If the power of both families was roughly equal, then who would get to keep the SSR child they produced?
Therefore, the Imperial Nobility preferred to keep things within the family rather than form marriage alliances, unless the match was truly suitable.
And Liliana was an excellent match for an alliance because she was an Apprentice of the Ring of Clear Skies.
That’s right, the secret Society [Ring of Clear Skies] that was wanted by the Imperial. However, Liliana had a public identity as a noblewoman; very few knew her true identity as a Witch Apprentice.
In the Borderland, even the Imperial Capital’s influence was limited. Oreos’s father had weighed the pros and cons carefully before deciding to align with the Ring of Clear Skies. After all, the Witches’ influence in the borderlands was undeniable.
The heavens are high, and the Emperor is far away!
The Ring of Clear Skies also needed connections within the Imperial, so it was a perfect match. Oreos was engaged to the Apprentice of a Great Witch.
Although it was a political marriage, the first ti Oreos t her, he was captivated by his fiancée’s aura.
That unique, ethereal, and aloof quality of a Ring of Clear Skies Witch—a cool, intellectual air, a perfectly sculpted, lovely face, and silken hair as black as ink.
She was the woman of his dreams at first sight.
The reason Oreos was still a virgin was because of his fiancée’s request; he had been saving himself specially for her.
Brimming with excitent, Oreos headed to his fiancée’s residence and pushed the door open.
"Liliana... Liliana!"
But he didn’t see the cool, beautiful face he had longed for day and night. His voice echoed through the mansion.
’Strange, did she go out?’
The White Rock City Lord was puzzled. As a prospective Witch, Liliana was a complete hobody. She usually never left her residence unless there was an experint that interested her.
He entered his fiancée’s room. Unsurprisingly, it was strewn with experintal equipnt and research reports.
’Sigh, that’s so like Liliana. If these research materials are so precious, she should take better care of them.’
Oreos sighed and began to tidy up the docunts on the floor. In the past, he had often helped Liliana organize her research materials, so he could now sort and file them with practiced ease.
"Hm? What’s this...?"
Oreos picked up a thick volu of docunts from the floor.
[Topic: An Investigative Report on the Pure Holy Spirit Bloodline]
[Objective and Background: Out of curiosity about the effects and modifications of different Holy Spirit Bloodlines on the human constitution, this report was written with the cooperation of Duke Qinghui.]
[Subject of Investigation: Westheid Qinghui]
’Liliana’s research report on Duke Qinghui?’
’This... isn’t entirely unexpected. The Branch of Prosperity is a once-in-a-lifeti opportunity. For a Witch with insatiable curiosity, he’s a research subject that simply can’t be missed.’
It was just that she had quietly completed such a thick report, which left a sour taste in Oreos’s mouth.
So, despite the risk of angering his fiancée, he began to flip through the report.
[Physical Strength: S. Superior to mortal bloodlines, with clear advantages in bone density and muscle activity.]
[Magic Adaptability: S. The Holy Spirit Bloodline possesses Caster qualities that achieve Transcendence over ordinary humans. This is not obvious in other lands, but it increases significantly when in proximity to the Qinghui Territory.]
The contents of the first page were fairly normal. But when Oreos turned to the next page, he couldn’t help but clutch the report tighter, his eyes wide with fury.
[Charm: SSSSS . Absolutely perfect. Possesses muscle definition like a master’s sculpture, a flawless physique and appearance. His charm can effortlessly awaken the most primal instincts of life.]
[Reproductive Ability: SSSSS . A despair-inducing pleasure that guarantees absolute, irreversible submission! Possesses an exceptionally outstanding bloodline and seed; both quantity and quality are terrifyingly high.]
[Male Attraction: SSSSS . Extraordinarily outstanding masculine features, extrely superb technique. He is the most, most, most, most excellent male!]
[Summary: As a Pure Holy Spirit Descendant, Duke Qinghui possesses the ultimate masculine charm. Using my fiancé, Oreos, whom I interact with daily, as a point of comparison... although I have not experienced it firsthand, it no longer matters. As a male, Duke Qinghui is one million tis superior to Oreos!]
’What... What in the world is this?!’
’Liliana! What in the world have you been investigating?!’
Oreos gripped the research report so tightly he nearly blacked out and fainted.
"A joke... heheh, it must be a joke, right?!"
The young man’s handso face twisted as he spoke these words of self-deception, a mouthful of furious blood rising in his throat.
"Cough, cough... COUGH COUGH COUGH COUGH COUGH!"
Oreos was on the floor, coughing for a long ti before he could finally catch his breath.
Just then, a cold voice ca from the doorway:
"What are you doing? I rember telling you... you’re not allowed to look at any of my research reports, right?"
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