Regulus of Hogwarts: Lord of the Stars

Chapter 304 If You're Not Crazy, How Can I Be Crazy?

The smoke dissipated slowly in the banquet hall, and gray mist spread outwards along the cracked floor, broken into pieces by the collapsed long tables and crooked stone pillars.

The situation on the field is already very clear.

Regulus had no intention of having a proper talk with Bella; that was his goal from the very beginning.

Bella's previous performance—circling around him, patting his shoulder, leaning down to whisper in his ear, and bringing up the ketchup incident in public—was all part of her act.

The tone was that of an elder disciplining an ignorant junior.

She thought everything was in her hands, that this was just a bit of entertainment after the event was over, and that Regulus was a child she could easily put down and deal with.

As a result, the child had grown claws and fangs.

When he passed the buck to Rodolphus, some people thought he was just changing the subject.

When Sirius Black was sent to fight Rabastan, some people thought it was an impulsive decision.

When Bella drew her wand to strike Sirius, Regulus stopped her. Only then did everyone realize that he was pushing her toward Sirius.

The methods weren't particularly sophisticated; each step was straightforward and straightforward, without any clever tricks or intricacies.

But the result was beyond everyone's expectations.

Yuan La was shot and killed by a thirteen-year-old boy named Xiao Ping at a banquet on his own estate.

He was covered in bruises, with cuts on his shoulders, burns on his arms, several holes burned in his robe, a section of his hair broken off, and he was thrown four or five meters by an explosive spell, crashing into a stone pillar and sliding down.

Orion stood by the fireplace, his hand still on Walbuga's wrist, his eyes fixed on the center of the court.

He knew this wasn't the real beginning.

Others saw Regulus as the winner, or at least the one who had the upper hand, but he knew that wasn't the case.

Regulus used only conventional spells from beginning to end: the Ironclad Charm, the Cutting Charm, the Exploding Charm, the Shattering Charm, the Polymorph Charm, the Distortion Charm, plus Sidestep and Sprint.

His performance in the battle demonstrated a precise mastery of spells and a combat prowess far beyond his years, which truly exceeded everyone's expectations.

But this is just a contest of ordinary spells; it's far from a real battle.

Bella is the same.

It looks like they were at a disadvantage, injured, and even knocked away, but aside from the embarrassment, the actual damage was negligible.

Even those wounds weren't worth the price of warming up for her.

Bellatrix was the core of the Death Eaters and Voldemort's most trusted follower.

The name Death Eaters has not been officially used in public yet, but it is no secret in private.

Bella is involved in all of these cases: the disappearances that happened in the corners of the world, the Muggle-born wizards found dead in their homes, and several attacks that were suppressed by the Ministry of Magic.

She had done the work, more than once or twice.

Murder, interrogation, crime scene cleanup, traitor disposal—she has tortured more people with her dark magic than the guests at tonight's banquet.

She wasn't just all talk; she put all that enthusiasm into practice.

The scent of dark magic seeping into one's soul could not be hidden from a skilled wizard.

Even without using dark magic, the skills honed on the battlefield and the spellcasting techniques honed solely for killing are deadly enough.

But she hasn't really used these things yet.

In their previous encounter, Bella had been fighting with the mindset of disciplining a child, gradually increasing her power, from probing to taking it seriously to going all out.

But there was always a bottom line: she didn't want to cripple the Black family's heir. That bottom line held her back, preventing her output from ever reaching its full potential.

Now that they've been knocked out of the game, it's hard to say whether that bottom line is still there.

Orion's self-light retreated from the center of the field and landed on the hand that was holding Volbuga's wrist.

From the moment Sirius attacked Labastan, he held her down and hasn't let go since.

She struggled a few times, each time with less force, until finally she stopped struggling altogether.

From the outside, they looked like a loving couple, as if she was relying on him, standing hand in hand watching the younger generation compete.

Of course not, she just didn't know what to do.

Volbuga looked towards the center of the field, where Regulus was walking through the gray fog toward Bella.

She still remembered the words she had said to Regulus before she came.

She told him in the foyer to have a good talk with Bella, that there's nothing a family can't resolve.

She said Bella was one of them, that Bella was now the mistress of the Lestrange family, and that the lord valued the Black family.

She made Regulus bow his head because she believed Bella was of higher status.

This wasn't flattery; she never flattered anyone. The lady of the Black family didn't need to flatter anyone.

But Bella is a recognized powerful dark wizard, and her reputation is quite high among certain groups in the pure-blood circle.

Families attacked by Death Eaters, people whose doors were broken into in the dead of night—their voices tremble when they mention the name Bellatrix.

Walbuga knew this, so she used social hierarchy to manage her relationship with Bella.

Bella is backed by Voldemort, and Bella herself is a powerful dark wizard, so Bella's rank is high.

When those of higher rank speak, those of lower rank should listen.

These are the rules of pure-blooded social interaction, and she lived her whole life within these rules.

So she made Regulus bow his head.

It wasn't a matter of right or wrong; it was simply that, in her view, given the Black family's current situation, it wouldn't be worthwhile to clash head-on with the power behind Bella.

She is the mistress of the Black family, and for over twenty years, every decision she has made has been within this framework.

Who to befriend, who to avoid, what to say in what situations, when to advance and when to retreat.

They relied on the pure-blood circle, family marriages and connections, social networks, their seats in Wizengamor and their relationships within the Ministry of Magic, and the wealth and reputation accumulated by the Black family over generations.

This is how she runs a family business.

These things are useful, and they always have been useful.

But she was not only the mistress of the Black family; she was also a member of the Black family.

She believed in the glory of purebloods, she pursued the Black family's status in the wizarding world, and she knew where these things came from.

She understood even better that these things were useful because no single force could overturn them all.

The underlying logic of the magical world has never been these things; the underlying logic is power itself.

If the power held by an individual is great enough to bypass marriage alliances, industry, politics, and social connections and directly determine the outcome, and is great enough to overturn everything, then nothing else matters.

She knew this; she always had.

But knowing something and actually experiencing it are two different things.

The Black family doesn't have that kind of power. Orion is very strong, she knows that, but Orion's strength is within the framework of the Black family.

He protects the family and doesn't use his power to do things outside the established framework, so her approach is the only one that works.

Because within that framework, social connections, politics, and networks are the hard currency.

What about Bella?

After Bella followed that man, she became a different kind of symbol.

She possessed something beyond personal power; she had someone behind her who could change the entire situation.

This made Bella stand out in Walbuga's eyes.

So she spoke up for Bella, gave Bella a way out, and told her son to apologize to Bella. The wording didn't matter; it was essentially a concession.

Now she saw her youngest son send Bella flying, and they were locked in a direct confrontation, with spells being cast one after another.

Bella was injured and thrown against a pillar by the Explosion Curse, while Regulus wasn't even covered in dust.

The calculation method in her mind was still working, but one key element had changed.

She has always viewed these relationships in terms of social hierarchy; Bella is of higher status, so she has to give way.

But what about the hierarchy of power?

Her youngest son was walking through the smoke, his gait as usual in Grimoire Place, without a trace of anything superfluous.

Regulus was only twelve years old. Without Voldemort standing behind him, he single-handedly sent Bella flying.

The person who had been giving in all along was now kneeling on one knee in the pile of rubble.

Volbuga's lips moved slightly, but no sound came out.

Something in her mind was loosening; it hadn't shattered yet, but it was already cracking.

Orion felt the pressure under his hand change, so he loosened his grip slightly but didn't let go.

Bella got up from the ground.

He held the kneeling position for a few seconds, pressed his left hand on the gravel, and then straightened up and stood firmly.

The upper part of the dress was torn in several places, and the fabric on the right shoulder was pulverized by a shredding spell, revealing pale skin and spiderweb-like cracks underneath.

The burns on his left arm had formed a thin scab, his curly hair fell down and covered half of his face, the other half of his face was covered in ash, and his forehead was sweaty.

She stood atop the pile of rubble, wand gripped in her right hand, tip pointing downwards, trembling slightly.

She brushed her hair away from her face with her left hand, revealing a pair of bright eyes that didn't look like she had just been beaten. Her pupils were dilated, her breathing was shallow and rapid, and her whole face shone with an unhealthy light under the dust and blood.

A lingering smile remained on his lips, his expression more like an instinctive reaction. The muscles at the corners of his lips twitched slightly, like a smile, yet also like something deeper pushing outward.

Being knocked away did not deter her.

On the contrary, she was excited.

Regulus walked toward her, stepping over a broken table leg and swerving around a flipped-up floor tile.

He walked slowly, his arms hanging naturally, the wand held in his right hand with the tip pointing down, tracing a small arc as he walked.

There was no dust or scorch marks on the robe, the hair was neat, and the breathing was steady.

Bella's gaze followed him, and he looked back at Bella.

He knew her state; Bella was more excited and more dangerous than before, but it wasn't enough.

She was still using regular spells, which were already quite powerful, but they remained stuck on that line; she wasn't using dark magic.

not enough.

What he wanted was Bella's true madness, that kind of recklessness, that surge from the depths of her soul, something she couldn't even suppress herself.

Only when it reaches that stage can the rest of the story continue.

If she's not crazy, how could he be?

If he weren't crazy, what would Voldemort be looking at?

We need to give it another push.

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