Chapter 190: Chapter 185: Father-Daughter Talk, Another Attack

Inside the Lord’s Mansion, Reya and Yed, busy all night, finally found a moment to themselves. As the father and daughter sat across from each other for breakfast, the deep exhaustion was plain on their faces.

Reya’s was a spiritual fatigue, born from constantly casting Divine Techniques with her companions from the Sun Church to screen for traces of Evil Magic. Yed, on the other hand, was simply mentally drained from discussing various strategies and countermeasures with Paris and a host of other nobles.

In a way, they were both fated to a life of toil.

In front of her father, the red-haired girl couldn’t be bothered with ladylike decorum. She downed a bowl of sweet porridge in one go and let out a sigh of satisfaction.

"Ah... I’m alive again..."

Seeing his daughter’s genuine, unreserved display, Yed was torn between amusement and heartache.

"Reya, this has been so hard on you... You shouldn’t have had to bear any of this."

He was, of course, referring to everything that had transpired since Reya was first attacked.

Reya, who was about to put a piece of bread in her mouth, paused at her father’s words.

She looked at the deep compassion and guilt in Yed’s eyes, stunned for a moment. Then she shook her head gently, her red hair swaying in the morning light.

"Father, don’t say that."

Her voice was slightly hoarse from the long night, but it held no trace of reluctance.

"In the face of this all-engulfing chaos, no one can remain uninvolved. Everyone must shoulder their own responsibilities."

"This is no one’s fault. It was Destiny that pushed us all to this point."

She lowered her head, unconsciously stirring the last of the porridge in her bowl with a silver spoon. Her voice dropped a little.

"If... if I hadn’t been lured to Birch Town by that false report, if I had stayed behind at the family estate like most of the nobility..."

"I’m afraid I would have ended up like so many other unfortunate nobles—killed, completely defenseless, in the first Impact of the rebellion."

She paused, as if imagining that other, more brutal outcome.

The dining room fell quiet for a moment, the only sound the crackling of firewood in the hearth.

But after a brief silence, the girl looked up again. Her emerald eyes brightened, and her tone gained a soft quality that she herself didn’t even notice.

"Besides... if that had happened... I never would have... met Mr. Jon."

The moment she spoke his name, a pure, ardent light bloomed in her eyes. The undisguised adoration and reliance in her gaze was not lost on Yed.

Yed watched the radiance instantly blossom on his daughter’s face, saw the budding, girlish affection in her eyes, and his heart swelled with a complex mix of feelings.

He set down his teacup and let out a long, complex sigh. It was a sigh that held a father’s pride, but also a thread of indescribable melancholy, as if he were watching a precious fledgling spread its wings for the very first time.

"Reya... my daughter, you’ve really grown up."

His voice was gentle and deep.

"You’re no longer the little girl who always needed to hide under her father’s wing, waiting to be carefully protected."

Hearing her father’s approval, Reya subconsciously straightened her spine. She lifted her chin slightly and gave a firm, proud nod, her face breaking into a vibrant smile.

"Of course! From now on, I’ll become even stronger and more dependable! I will use my Power to guard everything!"

Her vibrant energy was infectious. The weight of their difficult situation seemed to lift, and a fond smile touched Yed’s lips.

He picked up his teacup and, in a deliberately light and teasing tone, asked slowly.

"Oh? You mean... as capable as Mr. Jon?"

Reya’s cheeks instantly flushed the color of a sunset.

"What are you talking about, Father!"

She glanced nervously at the other people in the dining room. Then, flustered and annoyed that he’d called her out, she reached over as if to cover her father’s mouth.

The authoritative, "dependable" air she’d had just a moment ago vanished without a trace. She was once again the young girl who would blush and act cute in front of her family.

Seeing his daughter so flustered and shy, Yed finally couldn’t help but laugh heartily. In that warm moment, the fatigue that had built up over the past few days seemed to melt away.

A moment later, several servants in plain linen aprons entered in single file, heads bowed, and began to quietly clear the table.

The warm light from the fireplace glinted off the silverware, bringing a fleeting moment of peace.

But just as the last maid, head bowed and carrying an empty soup bowl, was about to pass by Reya’s side, the lingering blush on Reya’s face suddenly froze, replaced by a flicker of alarm.

Her fingers, resting on the table, curled unconsciously. A faint, indescribable odor—like rancid grease fouling clean air—pricked her Perception.

"Halt!"

Reya’s voice rang out, sharp and clear, filled with an authority that allowed no argument. Her earlier bashfulness was gone without a trace.

"Remove your cap!"

At the same time, a dot of pure, warm, golden light quietly gathered at her fingertip, as if she concealed a miniature Sun in her sleeve.

The air instantly grew taut.

The fond smile on Yed’s face froze, replaced by shock and suspicion. He leaned forward instinctively.

The maid who had been ordered to stop froze in place.

But she didn’t panic, offer an excuse, or beg for mercy like a normal person would. Instead, in an inhuman silence, she slowly raised her head.

The face revealed from beneath the soft cloth cap was unnaturally pale. Her eyes were as vacant as polished glass beads, yet the corners of her mouth were stretched upward into a stiff, grotesque smile.

There were no words, only a sudden explosion of killing intent!

The "maid’s" hunched body shot forward, moving so fast it left an afterimage. Her withered fingers curled into claws, her nails catching the light with an ominous glint as they lunged straight for Reya’s throat!

"My Lord, protect me!"

Reya’s reaction was stunningly fast.

She showed no intention of retreating from the sudden assault. With a sharp cry, she thrust out her right hand, now gathering a golden radiance.

VMMMM—!

A golden barrier of pure, condensed light instantly materialized in front of her!

The edge of the barrier was traced with the thorny pattern of the Sun Saint Emblem, and it radiated a warm, inviolable, and holy aura.

The instant the barrier appeared, even the dancing flames in the hearth seemed to falter. A moment later, terrified screams erupted from the other nobles in the dining hall.

And those screams were joined by the sound of a dull thud!

BAM!

The imposter’s claw-like fingers slammed into the barrier of light as if they had struck a wall of solid runesteel.

The golden barrier didn’t move an inch; not even a ripple appeared on its surface. But the massive force of the Impact rebounded, and a sickening crunch echoed as the "maid’s" finger bones shattered. The recoil sent her staggering backward.

Yed had already shot to his feet at the first sign of trouble, his face pale with fury as he bellowed.

"Guards!"

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