The True Ancestor’s Unforeseen Delight

“You f***ing selfish bastard!”

“Just you remember this: once you’re in Scarlett territory, you won’t have it easy, I guarantee it!”

“You’re a f**ing btch, True Ancestor!”

After a fierce battle—or rather, a group beating…

On the crimson ground, the True Ancestor, still inhabiting Fulkarn’s body, lay haphazardly bound by Iqiyah’s summoned tentacles. She was slumped amongst the other defeated maids.

Meanwhile, Seraphina swung her fists. Alongside the invisible Cardo, they relentlessly “beat the corpse” of the True Ancestor, who now possessed Fulkarn’s chest, which was already disfigured from their “venting of frustration.”

“Damn you! Do you even know what a dirty trick is!?”

With a powerful right hook, Seraphina snapped the True Ancestor’s head from right to left.

While her actions seemed fueled by rage, a deeper sense of embarrassment, born from shame, truly drove her.

‘Damn it! She made me undo my English magic in front of everyone! Good thing they didn’t see, or my reputation would be—!’

A spinning kick from Cardo then snapped the True Ancestor’s head from left to right.

‘Damn it! After bothering our family for so many years, how could you be so selfish!?’

In stark contrast to Seraphina and Cardo’s furious assault, Iqiyah and Levian sat calmly on a nearby rock, quietly observing Seraphina’s retribution.

Naturally, their attention was divided, each focusing on something different.

Levian thought, ‘Ohoho… I finally have some alone time with Lady Iqiyah… I must seize this opportunity…’

‘What topic should I bring up?’

“Lady Iqiyah, I never imagined… that such a wondrous grotto existed beneath the manor~”

“Mm…”

“Oh, Lady Iqiyah, look at this crimson crystal… it’s as beautiful as fresh blood~”

“Mm…”

“Oh dear, these stones on the floor, they’re just so… stony…”

“Mm…”

Levian was drenched in a cold sweat.

Perhaps it was because her daily life was entirely consumed by her maid duties, or perhaps because she had no particular interests beyond Iqiyah. Whatever the reason, she now realized she couldn’t find a single topic for conversation.

‘What should I do? What should I do?’

Though Iqiyah merely sat there silently, watching Seraphina pummel the True Ancestor in the distance, Levian felt an inexplicable unease creep over her.

‘It’s over, it’s over, it’s over… If I don’t find a topic soon, this hard-won opportunity will slip away…!’

Scanning her surroundings frantically, Levian was desperate, willing to resort to any topic.

‘Perhaps… I could discuss furniture arrangements?’

“Lady Iqiyah… about this throne, perhaps when we return we could also…”

“Levian.”

“Yes!”

Hearing Iqiyah address her directly, Levian’s heart immediately fluttered like a trapped bird.

‘Is Lady Iqiyah going to talk to me first? I’m so happy, so happy, so happy…’

‘What will she talk about? What if I can’t keep up? I’m so nervous, so nervous, so nervous…’

Lost in her whimsical thoughts, Levian remained oblivious to the fact that Iqiyah’s attention wasn’t on her at all.

Seated on the rock, Iqiyah’s gaze remained fixed on the person she cherished most.

“Do you remember what the True Ancestor called Seraphina just now?”

“Huh?”

“Just now, didn’t the True Ancestor… call Seraphina ‘Cardo’?”

‘What in the world?’

Tilting her head, Levian’s eyes gradually lost their sparkle.

“Why would the True Ancestor call Seraphina ‘Cardo’?”

Iqiyah recalled the fleeting images that had flashed through her mind days ago, during her battle with Shest.

Even then, she had realized that Seraphina bore an uncanny resemblance to Cardo.

As for the reason, Iqiyah attributed it to her longing for her older sister. So much so that when she bestowed the [Initial Embrace] upon Seraphina, she had inadvertently molded her face into her sister’s likeness.

Yet, this was also something she had always tried to avoid.

After all…

‘Oh dear… if I subconsciously want to treat Seraphina as a replacement for Cardo… then wouldn’t me engaging in intimate acts with Seraphina be tantamount to…’

Iqiyah dared not complete the thought.

In her heart, Cardo had always been the warmest older sister, a figure who could have been her mother. She certainly didn’t want to harbor any inappropriate thoughts about Cardo.

‘Oh, oh dear… perhaps it’s best not to dwell on it too much…’

“Ah, never mind, it’s nothing… By the way, Levian, what were you saying just now? About a throne?”

Turning to Levian, Iqiyah sought both a change of mental scenery and a topic to engage her with.

However, what greeted her was a face as gaunt as a skeleton, looking even more desolate than utter despair.

“Huh? Levian? What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing… please don’t mind me…”

Despite her words, Levian’s face conveyed anything but a ‘don’t mind me’ sentiment.

Though she didn’t know what had transpired, Iqiyah resolved to have a proper conversation with Levian next time.

In truth, after the Blood Feast, Iqiyah had already sensed that Levian might harbor feelings beyond mere servitude.

But… that wasn’t what was important now; instead, it was—

“Alright, hand over the [Fragment]!”

In a corner Iqiyah hadn’t noticed, Seraphina had already begun her interrogation tactics.

She held a glowing orb, dangling it at an exquisitely precise distance from the True Ancestor’s nose.

“Just so you know, I’ve checked your attributes with my [All-Seeing Eye].”

“You, you also have [True Ancestor’s Blood] in you, and it’s the ultra-plus-pro upgraded version, isn’t it?”

Her words were accurate; as the saying goes, ‘you can’t get wool from a goat,’ and the True Ancestor indeed harbored the essence of the [Fragment] / [True Ancestor’s Blood].

“So… let me guess, if I use [Purification] on you… just how much will your back arch?”

“Ugh… bullying a centenarian—no, a centi-millenarian—whose only intact part is their head, don’t you feel… guoooooohhh❤”

“Enough with the nonsense, hand over the fragment!”

Disinclined to endure the True Ancestor’s prattling, Seraphina thrust the [Purification] orb directly into her forehead. This instantly sent the True Ancestor’s eyes rolling back, her lips puckering intensely, and her mouth contorting into an exaggerated ‘O’ shape.

Simultaneously, even Fulkarn, the body she inhabited, began to struggle. Her body suddenly arched backward, her head slamming heavily against the ground, before she succumbed to unconsciousness.

Yet, even in her unconscious state, the physiological phenomena on Fulkarn’s body persisted.

‘Whoa, I never noticed before, but it’s a hidden feature!’

Gazing at the ‘mountains and rivers’ revealed beneath Fulkarn’s forcibly parted garments—a result of the True Ancestor’s inhabitation—and the ‘blossoming flower’ nearby, which had previously been hidden and restrained but now bloomed fiercely, Seraphina felt a long-dormant memory, distinctly masculine in nature, stir within her.

‘Come to think of it… was Iqiyah ever this… ‘robust’? I don’t recall. Probably not…’

“Hey, hey, don’t pass out now! I’ve barely used fifty percent of its power!”

Squatting, Seraphina flicked the True Ancestor’s head, aiming to snap her out of the daze brought on by the intense stimulation.

“Gu-uh… Gu-ehehehe❤… How could this be… that such a thing exists in this world…”

“Such what? Such a thing that restrains you?”

Gathering the orb of light once more, Seraphina pressed one hand against the True Ancestor’s head and aimed the [Purification] at her skull with the other.

“Only realizing it now? I distinctly remember… when I applied it to Iqiyah before, the system gave you an error message, didn’t it?”

“Don’t tell me you just dismissed it like a pop-up ad! You, the True Ancestor, who prides herself on unparalleled wisdom?”

Though Seraphina expended a torrent of words, rattling off a barrage of taunts, it was all in vain. The stimulation was likely too overwhelming, as the True Ancestor remained lost in its afterglow, completely oblivious to Seraphina’s words.

“Oh… ohh… I… I’ve lived for so long, how could I have never imagined…”

Her eyes glazed over, swirling with layer upon layer of vortexes, even faintly revealing a pinkish glow.

“Imagined what?” Seraphina slapped the True Ancestor’s face. “Stop babbling and snap out of it, or I’ll leave you to drown in this sensation for the rest of your life!”

However, the True Ancestor’s next words instantly froze Seraphina in her tracks.

“You, you’ve been a great help❤”

‘?’

“Ah, ahh…” Twisting her body, the True Ancestor raised her withered, branch-like hands, caressing her own cheeks like a woman in a trance.

“I’ve lived for countless ages… fruitlessly chasing myriad desires… yet none compare to the joy this [Purification] has brought me❤”

‘Huh?’

‘Huh!?’

“Seraphina… Seraphina!”

Twisting futilely against Fulkarn’s chest, the True Ancestor reached out to Seraphina as if grasping for a lifeline—

“Again… please… just one more time!”

‘Oh, for the love of…’

As if she had seen a ghost, Seraphina’s face turned ashen. She instinctively recoiled, only to trip over a stone behind her and stumble to the ground.

Even so, she scrambled backward on her feet, doing everything in her power to distance herself from the True Ancestor.

‘Seriously, what’s wrong with all of you?’

‘Did I mix something into my [Purification]… or are all you blood kin truly perverts?’