It felt so good to be close to the witch!

And a human being holds such a position in the eyes of a witch?

Having seen the white-haired Grand Witch's true face, Fuma Soros, who was particularly interested in information about witches, recognized her identity.

—The Ice Witch.

It is said that not long ago, the Ice Witch appeared in Blackrock Territory and colluded with the son of the Blackrock Lord.

At the time, Fuma thought it was just a rumor, but later events indirectly proved that the so-called collusion was just a lie fabricated by the Second Prince's faction to seize Blackstone Territory.

But now, Fuma is surprised to find that the lie she told back then has actually come true.

Lord Roy, son of the Blackrock Lord—no, now Lord Roy himself—is indeed in league with the Ice Witch.

Faced with Roy's question, Fuma paused for a moment, then spoke in a flat tone:

"I can tell you the reasons as a sign of good faith in the transaction."

"However, this involves the secrets of the Soros family. Could we discuss this in a quieter place?"

Upon hearing the girl's words, Roy noticed the approaching footsteps outside—the knights guarding the Blackrock Lord's mansion.

Although Ais only launched one attack, its scale was so great that it almost destroyed half of the lord's manor.

Among the approaching knightly auras, Roy also sensed the aura belonging to Uncle Red.

"Wait for me."

Roy spoke to Fuma Soros, then with a flash, he jumped out of the ice shield and arrived in front of Red, who was rushing towards him at high speed.

While Roy was on his way, Ais kept her eyes and senses firmly on Fuma. If Fuma made any inappropriate move, Ais would attack without hesitation and without mercy.

The sense of impending danger made Fuma hesitant to make any rash moves, but since she hadn't planned to ambush Roy in the first place, it didn't really matter.

On the contrary, Roy's strength greatly surprised Fuma. The intelligence reports stated that Roy Tulumbel was merely a Bronze-level warrior? Now it seemed he was at least a Silver-three-star warrior!

Although she herself reached the Gold Peak at the age of fifteen, Fuma knew very well that she was special and an exception. A knight like Roy, who achieved Silver Three Stars at the age of sixteen, was undoubtedly a true genius!

The figure that suddenly appeared in front of him startled Red. He instinctively tried to draw his sword to strike, but before the sword was even drawn, a hand pressed down on his wrist, preventing him from making any further moves. Just as Red was filled with shock, a familiar voice entered his ears.

“Uncle Red, it’s me, Roy.”

"Don't be nervous. I caused the commotion inside. Please go and direct the knights to leave."

"Master?!"

Reflecting the familiar smiling face in his pupils, Red felt an indescribable surge of excitement.

Even the title "Master" has been changed to "Young Master," which has been used for over a decade.

God knows how anxious he's been these past few days.

On the night of the Feast Festival, Roy told him he would disappear for a while, but he didn't expect that Roy's disappearance would last for more than two days.

In the past two days, the strange changes at Star Lake and the arrival of the border duke's daughter have gradually increased Red's sense of unease.

Now that young master Roy has appeared, Red finally felt a huge weight lifted from his heart.

"I have urgent matters to attend to, so I'll leave this to you." After giving Red his instructions, Roy vanished in a flash.

Staring at the spot where Roy disappeared, Red belatedly realized that young master Roy's strength seemed to have far surpassed his own.

With that simple pressure, he had absolutely no chance to resist.

For a moment, Reid was filled with mixed emotions.

Shaking his head, Reid quickly rallied and directed the approaching knights to leave.

Although he didn't know what Young Master Roy had gone through these past few days, or why his strength had improved so quickly, the fact that the young master was back was a good thing. As for the rest, he had neither the ability nor the desire to care.

Now, he is just a bronze knight who is gradually becoming useless. The only thing he can do is to carry out the young master's orders diligently.

……

A few minutes later, in the middle of the now-ruined courtyard, inside an exquisite igloo constructed of ice crystals, Roy and Fuma sat facing each other, while Ais stood behind Roy, watching Fuma warily, mainly at the longsword in her hand that contained the fluctuations of a legendary domain.

Fuma's strength posed no threat to her, but this longsword was different.

Even though her strength has improved considerably since the Star Lake incident, Ais still has no confidence in facing a legendary-level attack.

Looking at the igloo she was in and the table, chairs, and tea set in front of her, with their lifelike patterns, Fuma sensed the Ice Witch's—no, to be precise, the Ice Crown Witch's—unparalleled and unmatched control over ice elements.

As a fellow witch, she greatly envied such control over the elements.

"It's quiet enough here, and no one will disturb our conversation. Your Highness, you may now tell us why you insist on the Class A forbidden item - the Lost Ice Coffin."

Roy pushed a glass of ice water in front of him toward Fuma and said.

A wisp of icy mist rose from the ice water, a special ice water made by Ais. It seemed a bit out of place in the late autumn season, but since everyone was a knight with superhuman physique, such a trivial matter didn't matter.

After all, if there's no hot water, you should at least offer something to drink, right? That's the most basic way to treat guests!

Without touching the ice glass in front of her, Fuma organized her thoughts for a moment, then began to speak softly:

"Fifteen years ago, on the Feast Day, a day of national celebration, the Soros family welcomed a brand new member."

"It was a baby girl."

"Due to special circumstances, the baby girl was born with magical powers and awakened extremely special talents."

Such a being is also known as a witch in the eyes of the world.

"However, individuals like her, who are born with magical powers and awakened talents, are extremely rare, even among witches."

"Only through the union of a human and a witch can a miracle be born with an extremely small chance."

"The baby girl is lucky because she was born into the Soros family, a powerful noble family that ranks among the top three in the empire. Under the protection of her family, even though the temple knew of her existence, it did not take any open action. Compared with other witches, she is undoubtedly lucky."

"But she was also unfortunate, because she was born extremely weak and her heart was congenitally missing a small part."

"As a noble family, the Soros family naturally has no shortage of excellent doctors, but after countless tests and treatments, the conclusion was always the same: the missing part of the baby girl's heart was congenital and there was no way to make up for it later in life."

"The head of the Soros family, who is also the baby girl's father, refused to believe it and took great risks and costs to invite a witch who had reached the Grand Rank in the field of healing to treat the baby girl."

"But the result was beyond everyone's expectations."

"This Grand Witch stated explicitly that with her abilities, it was impossible to heal the baby girl, because the missing part of the baby girl's heart was not due to disease, but due to a curse—a terrible curse called 'fairness'."

"The source of the 'Curse of Fairness' is an A-level forbidden item called the 'Scales of Displacement'."

"Someone paid an unimaginable price by 'replacing the scales' just to replace a small part of a baby girl's heart that was congenitally missing!"

"The missing small part of her heart has not only severely impacted the baby girl's magical abilities, but has even threatened her life. Doctors estimate that the baby girl will not live past the age of sixteen."

"The person who uses the 'Displacement Scale' is hiding in the vast empire; finding him is like looking for a needle in a haystack."

"Although she couldn't cure the baby girl, this Grand Witch still showed the Soros family a bright path."

"That is: to prevent the baby girl from increasing her magic power as she grows up, and at the same time, to teach her the cultivation of battle qi with a large number of precious life-replenishing medicines. Although this cannot change the fact that the baby girl will die at the age of sixteen, at least it can ensure that she is not so weak as to be unable to get out of bed while she still has life, and that she has a healthy body."

"After leaving this method behind, the Grand Witch departed."

"Even if the head of the Soros family was furious and resentful, he was helpless. For the sake of the baby girl's health, he could only follow the instructions of the Grand Witch to 'alleviate' the situation."

"As time went by, the baby girl grew into a young woman and displayed an unprecedented talent for cultivating battle qi."

"She began training as a knight at the age of six, and in the same year she advanced to the Bronze rank, officially embarking on the path of the extraordinary. She broke the record for the youngest Bronze Knight in the Empire. Before her, the youngest Bronze Knight was a full twelve years old."

"Another year passed, and at the age of seven, the girl advanced to Silver rank. Two years later, at the age of nine, the most talented among her peers had barely completed their training as a formal knight, while she had become a Gold Knight."

"The title of the Empire's strongest genius has fallen on the head of a young girl. Everyone firmly believes that being a legend is just a small threshold on her path to advancement. Even the supreme realm above legend, which no one in the Empire has ever reached, is by no means impossible for her."

"She became the most dazzling jewel of the Glorious Empire!"

Even the originally dejected head of the Soros family had his hopes rekindled. If he could break through to the legendary level before the age of sixteen and undergo the transformation of a legendary figure, could he reverse the girl's destined death?

"At the age of ten, the girl's fighting spirit reached its golden peak."

"But in the following five years, she made no further progress."

"People only think that the threshold of legend is relatively high, which slightly hinders the girl's progress, but in fact, the Golden Peak is the highest achievement that the girl can reach."

"The missing part of her heart not only shortened her life to sixteen years, but also prevented her from breaking through to the legendary level due to her weakened foundation."

"There is only one outcome to forcibly breaking through: death by exploding."

"Upon learning of this outcome, the head of the Soros family fell into unspeakable despair."

"The cruelest thing in the world is not despair, but giving you hope that is within your grasp after you have worked hard, only to take that hope away just before you are about to reach it."

"At this point, only one year remained until the day of his destined death."

"Actually, the girl herself was not afraid of death."

"She already knew her fate, but she didn't want to see her loving family grieve because of her death. So, even though she didn't care, she kept trying to find hope for life and try to break free from her predetermined death."

"Unfortunately, many things cannot be broken by hard work. Countless legendary attempts to break through have only resulted in repeated heart pain."

"A week before the appointed day, just when everyone in the Soros family was in utter despair, hope suddenly appeared unexpectedly."

“A mysterious man in black robes came to the Duke’s mansion and informed the head of the Soros family that the A-level forbidden item - the Scales of Displacement - is not insurmountable. Among the many A-level forbidden items, there is one that can perfectly counter the Scales of Displacement.”

"This forbidden item is called the 'Lost Ice Coffin,' and its effect is absolute isolation. It can isolate the influence of the 'Displacement Balance' on the girl, forcing the 'Displacement Balance' and its user to appear. Then, as long as the user is killed, the 'Displacement Balance' can return the girl's missing heart part."

"And the holder of the 'Lost Ice Coffin' is none other than Cecilia, the Great Witch of Moonlight, who has been sealed for over a hundred years in the magic ley line beneath Star Lake. The 'Lost Ice Coffin' is located within the sealed space of the magic ley line."

"The man in black robes said that his faction, the Second Prince's faction, was capable of breaking the seal and retrieving this Class A forbidden item, and wanted to use it to gain the support of the border duke for the Second Prince."

"However, the breaking of the seal on the magic pulse points will inevitably lead to a massive spread and rampage of magic. Under the stimulation of magic, wild beasts will most likely mutate into magical beasts, and may even form a wave of magical beasts, bringing a huge impact and disaster to the entire province of Lafa during the harsh winter."

"On one side was his daughter, and on the other side were countless people in the entire Rafa province. The head of the Soros family hesitated."

In the end, he still chose to refuse.

"As the head of the Soros family and the Grand Lord of the Rafa Province, he cannot sacrifice the lives of countless people for his own selfish desires."

"However, the girl's brother disagreed with his father's idea. He believed that fearing the so-called monster calamity was a sign of cowardice. Compared to the deaths of innocent civilians, he cared more about his sister. He firmly believed that the sharpness of the Soros family's Purple Thorn Sword was enough to wipe out any monster. So, without telling his father, the head of the Soros family, the girl's brother reached a secret cooperation with the Second Prince."

"He will support the Second Prince as long as he can obtain the A-level forbidden item - the Lost Ice Coffin."

“Once he, as the eldest son, chooses to support the second prince, the entire Soros family will eventually side with the second prince’s faction.”

"The head of the Soros family eventually learned of the girl's brother's actions, but it was too late. For the sake of his daughter, he ultimately chose to acquiesce."

"Of course, the girl's brother and father kept everything they did a secret from her. What they didn't expect was that the girl's talent allowed her to know the whole story clearly. The girl, who stayed in the Duke's mansion all day long, could see everything that happened there."

Unfortunately, the plan ultimately failed.

"The people sent by the Second Prince's faction into the magic vein space beneath Star Lake have disappeared without a trace, failing to obtain the A-grade forbidden item - the Lost Ice Coffin. The Moonlight Great Witch Cecilia broke free from her seal and engaged in an earth-shattering battle with the Temple's Divine Punishment Knight - the legendary Fang Wind Knight Sima."