At the Fairy Castle, the border count's mansion.

“Master Antonio, I've prepared the equipment and tools that you wanted—50 gold-tier weapons and armor, 500 silver-tier equipment, ten gold-tier recovery potions, and 100 silver-tier potions, a total of 710 items, which are worth more than 200,000 gold coins.

They were in a pavilion; the border count clapped his hands and said, “Nightingale, bring the things for Antonio here.”

“Yes, Lord Sylvan!”

The pet.i.te girl with black hair and blue eyes behind Sylvan answered respectfully. She teleported and disappeared from view. When she reappeared, there were many golden treasure chests at her feet. There were seven chests, each half the height of a man.

“Master Antonio, these things are equivalent to half of my family's property. Do you want to count them?” Sylvan's platinum hair fluttered in the wind as he looked at the flower bed not far from the pavilion.

An old man stood in front of the flower bed; he seemed to admire the flowers that had bloomed.

It was winter, but the flowers were still in full bloom. When he heard Sylvan's words, the old man reached out and picked the most vibrant flower from the flower bed. He turned around and said, “Sylvan, I'm not worried about your work. There's no need to check it. It looks like most of the flowers in your garden are Celias that are unique to the Southern Elves Forest, and they grow near the Spring of Life. Can you give me some to make the life potion?”

“Of course,” Sylvan replied politely.

No one knew what was in his mind, but his eyes flashed. “Why do you need a life potion? Is it for your new disciple? I heard that you took Blackmoon Castle's eighth child, Watson, as your disciple.”

The life potion was a silver-tier potion that could replenish one's lost vitality. The astrologer planned to take it back and make some potions to help Watson practice the Time Stripping spell. He nodded when he heard Sylvan's words. “I did not expect you to hear about this already. Yes, that's right; Watson is my disciple.”

It seemed like Watson had told people to spread the news about their master-apprentice relations.h.i.+p.

Watson would not have been idle for the past week, and Sylvan controlled the border, so of course, he would have heard of that news.

“Sylvan, Watson is your junior brother, which means your family is my disciple; such fate! Don't you have more things to give me?”

“Family? Are you talking about Watson and me?”

Sylvaine raised his eyebrows at the astrologer's inquiry. He did not know why he said that. Watson and him—they had used each other. Watson was almost destroyed because of his battle with the manor owners' allied forces. It would be good enough if he did not hate the border count, let alone be his family.

Subconsciously, Sylvan looked at Nightingale, who was beside him. Did something happen between Nightingale and Watson? Was that why the astrologer said that?

Nightingale, who had served as his personal bodyguard for many years, quickly grasped what he meant. She shook her head, indicating that she had nothing to do with the situation. Sylvan was about to inquire again when she heard the astrologer say, “Sylvan, you don't have to act. I already know that Watson is your illegitimate child! Tell me, who did you have Watson with?”

An illegitimate child?

“Why aren't you saying anything, Sylvan? Is Watson the son that you secretly had with Edward's wife? I can't control your private affairs, but if you did cuckold another man, then you have gone too far. After all, Edward is a member of the Saint Laurent family. Even if he isn't, it's not right for you to mess with another man's wife. Anyway, I have bothered you for a week now, I think it's time for me to head home. Will you tell me the truth before I go?”

The astrologer had spent a long time in the border count's mansion. On the one hand, he was hiding from Watson, afraid that he would be pestered to teach the boy magic again. On the other hand, he wanted to learn more about Sylvan and Watson's relations.h.i.+p. When he arrived, he discovered that Sylvan had not married anyone. The maids had no idea if Sylvan even had a lover.

He was not surprised. After all, Watson was an illegitimate child. If everyone knew about Watson and Sylvan's relations.h.i.+p, he would not be an illegitimate child. He had initially intended to let Sylvan confess to him. Unfortunately, he did not say anything, so the astrologer took the initiative to inquire about it.

“Master, did Watson say that to you?”

Sylvan had a strange look on his face. He thought that Watson was very bold. He had been filled with rage because of his sister. How could he marry before exacting his revenge on the king? How could he even consider marrying, let alone having children?

The astrologer was his most respected teacher; he had taught him most of his magic. When he and his sister, Avril, first arrived at the Holy Dragon Kingdom, many people discriminated against them because of their elven ancestry. Only the astrologer valued his talent, and he even took him as his disciple and eventually made him the strongest mage in the kingdom.

He would not be who he is now if it were not for the astrologer.

He was confident that his teacher would not deceive him. Watson must have made that up. Perhaps Watson was unsatisfied with how he orchestrated the conflict between Blackmoon Castle and the manor owners' allied forces, so he invented such a tale to brand him as a villain.

“Was he not afraid that I would punish him since I am the border count?”

No, from all the rumors, he knew Watson was an intelligent person who would not have done such a thing to incite enmity for no reason.

Sylvan pondered about that as he glanced at the astrologer. Perhaps Watson knew that the astrologer would be so brazen.

Watson's claim to be his illegitimate kid was not entirely detrimental to him. He had always suspected that Blackmoon Castle was the king's spy. Watson would be bound to his favor if he became his illegitimate kid. He would not only be able to interact with the king, and he would also be regarded as an adversary by the king.

After careful consideration, allowing Watson to become his child might not have been such a bad idea.

During that week, he learned that Watson had become the astrologer's disciple and that Blackmoon Castle had a real dragon, despite the fact that he had not been able to handle such a formidable beast.

Nightingale had wanted him to compensate and apologize to Watson for manipulating the Blackmoon Castle into a battle with the manor owners' allied forces. He had declined because of his pride, but he regretted that decision.

Blackmoon Castle had developed much faster than he had antic.i.p.ated. It would have been preferable if he agreed to that request back then. Of course, it was already too late. Watson's rumor was a gesture of goodwill toward him. The boy was still young, but it seemed like he was very adept at scheming that it might affect his cause of vengeance.

The more he thought about it, the more he realized that Watson was exceptional. Sylvan nodded. “I have nothing to hide because you have already uncovered it, Master. Watson is my child, indeed! I did not wrong anyone, but Watson's mother's ident.i.ty was a unique one. Please accept my apologies as I can't tell you right now.”

Watson's mother's ident.i.ty was unique, of course, because she did not exist at all.

“You finally admitted it.”

The astrologer looked like he did not think it was a bad thing.

It seemed like Blackmoon Castle's progress was very smooth, and it had a lot to do with Sylvan. The border count might have given him 700 items and said that those were half of his a.s.sets, but the astrologer was not a fool. He knew that Sylvan must have had a plan.

Sylvan smiled and waved his hand. “Nightingale, get another 500 pieces of silver-tier equipment for Master Antonio.” He cursed inwardly. Watson must have received the astrologer's tacit approval when he said that he was the border count's illegitimate son. Otherwise, why would his master come to him for an explanation?

He might as well go along with it. Why did he have to figure that out by himself? Why did he have to go through so much trouble?

Sylvan turned his head, a little disgruntled, and saw that Nightingale was still in a stupor. He frowned and said, “Nightingale, I told you to get the armor. Why are you still here?”

“Ah, I'm sorry, Lord Sylvan!”

Nightingale snapped back to her senses as if she had just woken up from a dream.

Sylvan's words had shocked her. She had been in Fairy Castle for many years, and that was the first time she had heard that Lord Sylvan had a child. Perhaps she was not sent to Blackmoon Castle to test Watson but to protect him.

She had misunderstood Lord Sylvan. She blushed when she recalled how she had advised Lord Sylvan to treat Blackmoon Castle better. They were father and son, so they must have a close relations.h.i.+p. They did not need an outsider like her to get involved in that matter. It was no wonder Lord Sylvan had ignored her suggestions at that time.

She wanted to know when Sylvan had a child, but the astrologer was still there. She could not ask the question because it was inappropriate, so she had to depart quietly.

His right hand was encrusted with rings. He removed the rings from his index and middle fingers and set them on the table in front of him. “These are my platinum-tier tools, the Song of the Nibelungs; there are ten of them. They can use a magical effect to trigger the heroic epic skill and temporarily improve one's combat aura. You gave them to me, Master, and now, I will give Watson two of them. What do you think, Master?”

Sylvan knew that Watson's value was not only in himself but also in the astrologer. He wanted to express his goodwill toward the astrologer; he was willing to share his platinum-tier equipment.

The astrologer curled his lips when he heard those words.

“Two is too little. The Song of the Nibelungs is only equivalent to an ordinary gold-tier item. If you want to give them, then hand over all the rings.”

The astrologer's thoughts were very simple. He had given his platinum-tier item, the Sun and Moon Divine Staff, to Watson. He had even imparted many precious spells. One could say that he had spent a lot on Watson. As his father, Sylvan would have to give more to Watson so that the astrologer would feel better about it.

“But, Master, the rings are a bit—” Sylvan was dumbfounded. He thought he had acted very generously, but why did he seem like a miser in front of the astrologer. One should know that it pained him to part with those two rings.

However, the two did not realize that they were not even on the same page since the start of the conversation. Watson would grin from ear to ear if he knew that the two had fought and schemed because of a beautiful misunderstanding that caused them to argue about what they should give to Blackmoon Castle.

Just as Sylvan was ready to bargain, Nightingale, who had just left, returned with a worried expression on her face. She did not have a box on her person. Instead, she yelled, “Oh, no! Lord Sylvan, the sky has changed. It is now snowing heavily, and there's a group of magical beasts! It looked like they had run out of the Misty Forest and are now attacking our walls. Is it winter already?”

What?

As he stared up at the sky, the astrologer's face became solemn. Sylvan had lost interest in the rings. He rose from his seat abruptly and glanced upward. The sun in the sky had turned blood-red as it lost its color. The sky was engulfed in falling snow.