While most eyes were locked on the brutal scene in the courtyard, Sevette Moonshade had not looked away even once.
Others saw chaos. Others saw madness. Others saw a weak fourth-stage Blood Infusion fledgling humiliating a noble far above his realm and could only feel fear and disbelief. But Sevette’s gaze was sharp, focused, almost hungry. She wasn’t watching the beating itself. She was watching Cain.
She rembered too much.
In the past, when the news had first spread that the three daughters of Baron Rivik Moonshade had all married the sa man, confusion had rippled through every noble circle in the Crimson Blood Kingdom. It had been discussed in whispers, debated in private halls, laughed at behind wine cups. Even Sevette and her father, an elder of the Moonshade family, had been deeply unsettled by it.
Three sisters. All proud. All powerful. All with no lack of suitors.
And yet they had chosen one young man with no clear background, no visible power, no noble lineage worth ntioning.
Why?
What is the reason?
Is sothing special about him?
She and her father were curious.
Very curious.
Sevette rembered sitting late into the night with her father, stacks of reports and blood-sealed docunts spread across a long stone table. Nas crossed out. Bloodline charts rewritten. Witness accounts compared again and again.
They investigated Cain’s origin. They sent agents to trace his early years. They dug into records from minor territories, border cities, even abandoned blood registries that no one bothered to keep updated anymore. Nothing stood out. No secret Duke bloodline. No ancient awakening. No hidden inheritance.
So why? Why would the three sisters marry her?
They even considered the possibility that Cain was a political shield, soone the sisters used to avoid marriage alliances forced by higher nobles. That theory had seed the most reasonable. Three sisters chose one man so they could maintain control of their freedom and avoid being married off like tools.
In the end, Sevette and her father had been forced to give up.
There was no answer.
Nor was there any connection why they married him.
Until now.
Sevette’s fingers trembled slightly as she watched Cain lift Vance by the hair again, dragging his battered face up without effort.
Vance was sobbing openly now, his earlier arrogance crushed into sothing pitiful and ugly.
"Stop!"
Cain’s aura was still that of a fourth-stage Blood Infusion realm mana user.
She could see it clearly.
Fourth stage holding down an eleventh stage like a child.
Not suppressing him with formation tricks. Not using hidden artifacts. Not burning his blood essence.
Pure strength.
Raw dominance.
Her heart beat faster.
Seven stages.
The difference was seven full stages.
In the entire history of the Crimson Blood Kingdom, only monsters existed who could cross such a gap using scrolls by empowering themselves to surpass their enemies.
Those who have the talent are special.
Not barons, not viscounts, not earls, not viscounts...
But sothing higher than them...
Which are the Blood Dukes.
They are destined to rule.
Those whose bloodline alone could crush weaker mana users regardless of technique.
Even empowering magic scrolls had limits. Seven tis amplification was already a miracle, and even then, a mana user’s body would collapse under the strain.
Looking at Cain who stood there breathing evenly and not even a single sweat could be seen in his forehead, his movents controlled, his strength terrifyingly stable.
If she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, Sevette would have called anyone who told her this insane.
Her lips parted slightly.
So this is it.
This is why.
Her gaze sharpened, and she finally stepped forward.
"Cain," she called out.
Her voice was calm, but it was swallowed imdiately by the sound of flesh eting flesh.
"You dare use your status as a Viscount to threaten ?" Cain roared as his palm ca down again. "Do you think a title makes you untouchable?"
Cornelia stood beside him, eyes blazing.
"That’s right!" she snapped. "Beat him again!"
Slap.
Vance cried out.
Sevette frowned and raised her voice. "Cain, I—"
"You think being a Viscount lets you walk into the Blood Moon Tower like it’s your backyard?" Cain shouted over her, lifting Vance again. "You are nothing here!"
"Harder!" Cornelia added sharply. "He attacked you first!"
Another slap.
Sevette stopped short, her brows knitting together. She tried again, louder this ti. "Cain, stop for a mont. I need to speak with you."
Cain didn’t hear her.
Or perhaps he pretended not to.
"How many tis do I need to teach you?" Cain snarled, shaking Vance slightly. "Status without strength is trash!"
Cornelia folded her arms, watching with a fierce, almost proud expression. "Exactly. Trash should be treated like trash."
Sevette clenched her fists.
This was ridiculous.
She took another step forward. "Cain!"
Still nothing.
Vance coughed, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. His eyes were swollen, his voice broken. "Sevette... please... make him stop... please..."
Cain’s grip tightened.
"And now you cry to your fiancée?" he said mockingly. "Disgusting."
Sevette’s eyes flicked to Vance, cold and distant.
Her voice dropped.
"Shut up."
Vance froze.
He stared at her in disbelief, hope flickering and then dying in his eyes.
Sevette stepped past him as if he were already irrelevant and looked straight at Cain.
"Enough," she said.
This ti, Cain heard her.
His hand stopped midair. Slowly, he turned his head and t her gaze.
The courtyard fell into an uneasy silence.
Vance collapsed weakly to the ground, sobbing in relief, clinging to the belief that his suffering was finally over.
"Cain," Sevette said calmly, her voice steady.
"You just want to enter the Blood Moon Tower, right?"
Cain narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Yes," he replied.
"Then co," she said without hesitation. "Let’s go."
The words hit the crowd like a shockwave.
Cornelia turned sharply. "Sevette?"
Sevette didn’t look at her yet. She walked toward the blood guards stationed at the massive doors of the Blood Moon Tower.
"Open the way," Sevette ordered.
The guards stiffened.
"Lady Sevette," one of them said carefully, sweat beading on his forehead. "This matter—"
"I will take responsibility," Sevette said. "Along with Madam Cornelia."
Cornelia stepped forward imdiately. "I agree."
The guards hesitated, torn between fear of the family law and fear of the people standing before them.
Behind them, Cain casually turned back and kicked Vance once more, sending him rolling across the stone floor.
That single movent was enough.
The guards’ faces went pale.
"O-Okay," one of them stamred. "As you command, madams."
The massive doors began to open.
Cornelia reached out and grabbed Cain’s wrist, pulling him forward. "Co."
Cain followed, his expression unreadable.
As they passed through the gates, Sevette stood still for a mont, watching Cain’s back disappear into the shadows of the Blood Moon Tower.
Her heart pounded.
So this is the man they chose.
Behind her, Vance struggled to sit up, his face swollen and streaked with tears.
"Thank you... Sevette..." he said weakly. "Thank you for stopping that madman..."
Sevette didn’t look at him.
Her eyes remained fixed on the dark entrance, her thoughts swirling with realization and ambition.
"No," she said softly. "I didn’t stop him."
Her lips curled slightly.
"I chose him."
User Comments
0 comments from readers