Starry Kingdom, Sword Flower University.
Looking at the blond young man standing in the middle of the road, Felix took a deep breath, pulled the car over to the curb, and rolled down the window.
"Whether a handsome younger brother or a beautiful younger sister, you are family I am proud of," Dimi said as he walked over. "Do you still have no intention of revealing your true identity?"
"None of your business," Felix replied calmly. "I wear whatever I please. What do you want?"
"That night, you said you would talk to me," Dimi said. "I've been waiting until today."
"You came back again in the second half of that night, and our misunderstanding was cleared up. What is there left to discuss?" Felix said coldly. "Are you actually expecting me to pour my heart out to you?"
After a moment of silence, Dimi said softly, "I at least hoped you would speak to me face-to-face rather than sitting in your car so discourteously."
"My apologies. An illegitimate bastard like me simply lacks upbringing." Felix gave him a sideways glance. "After all, unlike you, who has a wonderful mother, my mother died long ago."
"You are not an illegitimate child, much less a bastard."
"Really? Have you asked your mother?"
Another long, oppressive silence fell. Even when passing students leaving class recognized Dimi—Jialesi's most celebrated new Sanctuary sorcerer, 'Little Star Caster'—they were repelled by the sorrowful aura surrounding him. The crowd naturally steered clear of the two, parting around them like a torrent breaking upon a reef.
"I have become the acting family head," Dimi said suddenly. "From now on, there will be no more assassination attempts against you. I swear in the name of Vosroda that not even Mother will be able to act over my head."
"You went out of your way to come to Sword Flower just to deliver this good news?" Felix chuckled. "Congratulations, Acting Patriarch of Vosroda.
"If you ever become the true patriarch, I'll be even happier. After all, that would mean our dear father has finally returned to the embrace of the stars."
Dimi had tolerated all of Felix's earlier sarcastic jabs because she spoke the truth, but now he could endure it no longer. "I know Mother and I owe you a great deal, but Father never wronged you. He loved you just as much as he loved me."
"You and your mother haven't wronged me. I am the sinner who ruined your happy family, the stain on Vosroda," Felix said. "I never thought Beverly did anything wrong. Put in her shoes, I would certainly assassinate any bastard who threatened my own son's position."
Felix's counter was deft. By stepping up to defend Dimi's mother, she left Dimi with no choice but to say Felix was blameless as well. But if no one was in the wrong, then who was to blame?
Dimi opened his mouth, only to let out a sigh in the end. "Father wronged you, and he wronged us too.
"Yet he has always done his utmost to make amends. Bound by the Blessing of the Stars, there was little he could do. After all, the moment he became Duke, he completely dedicated his life to this country.
"He has always loved you and me, in his own way."
"Whatever you say." Felix started the engine. "If you're done, I'm leaving."
"I heard you've neglected your swordsmanship lately," Dimi said. "If you continue cultivating the swordsmanship faction, the family can tilt substantial resources in your favor."
"Forget it. I don't possess swordsmanship talent like yours," Felix said indifferently. "Besides, I despise swordsmanship. Utterly despise it."
"Do you still remember the summer you turned eight, when Father taught us swordsmanship himself?"
The sleek silver sedan pulled away, leaving behind only three words:
"I don't remember."
Dimi watched the silver sedan disappear into the distance and sighed softly.
"Are you... Felix's older brother?"
Dimi turned his head and saw a quiet, pretty young woman. After a brief hesitation, he asked, "And you are...?"
"I'm Celia, two years Felix's senior," the quiet girl said. "Felix has been skipping a lot of classes lately and deliberately avoiding me. I'm very worried about him."
"If you're worried, why not ask Felix directly?" Dimi inquired.
Celia's words caught in her throat. Clasping the hem of her skirt with both hands, she looked down and whispered, "Because... I'm only his ex-girlfriend."
Dimi froze, his gaze toward Celia filling with pity and apology.
...
Returning to the villa, Felix glanced up at the brilliant river of stars across the sky. Pushing the door open, she hung her coat on the rack, unbound her hair, and reached beneath her shirt to unhook her chest binder and toss it onto the sofa. The shirt buttons instantly strained against the fabric's limits to the point of popping, and she let out a long breath of relief, as if shedding heavy shackles.
Too lazy to put on slippers, she walked barefoot up to the second floor.
Trouble was practically impossible, since the four surrounding villas had all been bought by members of the Four Pillar Cult; if anything stirred, Sonia would know before she did. Still, she needed to check on Yaxiu's main body.
*Creak.*
The moment Felix pushed the door open, she saw an enormous bronze phantom quietly dissipate. A delightfully adorable white-haired little girl was slumped on the bed, gazing at her with wide, innocent eyes. "Felix, you're back!"
"...Witch Seat, what are you doing here?"
"Daidalos was filming on set today, so I had nothing to do and came back early. Then Lisi said she wanted to play with Papa, so..." The Witch shrugged. "He's just lying there anyway."
Felix: "...Was it really Lisi?"
"What else could it be?" The Witch tilted her head. "Felix, you wouldn't go tattling to the Sword Princess, would you?"
"Of course not," Felix replied. "If you don't mind, Witch Seat, I need to wipe down the Watcher's body. Per the Sword Seat's instructions, you cannot be around while I work."
"Alright, alright, no problem." The Witch hopped off the bed and strolled out of the room as if nothing were amiss. "Make sure you clean him thoroughly. I heard people who stay bedridden for too long get bedsores."
"Oh, right." She suddenly turned back to add, "When Lisi was playing just now, she accidentally knocked over a cup of water, so Yaxiu might be a little wet."
"Understood."
"Actually, Lisi didn't just knock over a water cup, she also—"
"No matter what anomalies I find, I won't say a single word. Rest assured, Witch Seat!" Felix almost wished she could pull out contract paper just to prove her lips were sealed.
Once the Witch had departed satisfied, Felix sat on the bed and let out a sigh. Resting for a short while, she glanced at Yaxiu and couldn't resist giving him a kick.
She actually hadn't held any grievance against Yaxiu; in fact, before the Witch arrived, her impression of him had been quite favorable. But ever since the "Two Queens" matter emerged, her opinion of him had plummeted straight past the hatred threshold.
The more the Sword Princess and the Witch cared about Yaxiu, the more she loathed him.
What she detested most in this world were men entangled with multiple women. No one understood better than she did the misery such bastardry brought. If the Duke of Vosroda had loved only Dimi's mother, or loved only her mother, neither she nor Dimi would have suffered so much.
Yet Yaxiu happened to be the supreme leader of the Four Pillar Cult. Felix couldn't even voice her disgust, let alone refuse the duty of tending to him. Thus, she could only vent her frustration by occasionally bullying the cult's leader—and not too hard, either, given that under the Sword Princess's and Witch's meticulous scrutiny, even the slightest blemish would be uncovered.
Felix adjusted Yaxiu's posture, retrieved a damp towel, and began wiping down his body. As the work progressed, however, her expression underwent subtle shifts—
"Huh?"
"This..."
"What on earth did the Witch Seat do?!"
When the task was finished, Felix sat on the bed, propped both legs across Yaxiu, and stretched luxuriously.
No one would disturb her at this hour, so she withdrew her star diamond necklace, clasping it in her hand as she prayed in silence.
If anyone discovered this, she would surely be done for.
Because she was not praying to the Four Pillar Gods.
She was praying to the stars.
Not that she had betrayed the Four Pillar Cult—she remained staunchly opposed to the starry sky and the Starry Kingdom. It was merely that the Four Pillar Cult could not fulfill her inner longing, and the stars did not refer specifically to the Divine Lord of Stars, but rather represented a profoundly simple yearning.
A legend in the Starry Kingdom held that "the stars in the sky are transformed from the dead." The Church had never recognized this saying, so Felix did not consider herself to have defected to them either. She simply believed in the stars, praying for peace from the mother who had become one of them.
Yet peace eluded her. Dimi's words continued to echo relentlessly in her mind.
"Father, in his own way... deeply loved me?"
She murmured, "Who could he possibly fool at this point?"
Still, Dimi's visit had confirmed their suspicion: the Duke of Vosroda had indeed entered the Country of All Stars to guard the ritual, which was why he had passed the mantle of family head to his eldest son!
And not just the Duke of Vosroda. In Jialesi, aside from the Sword Flower principal, 'Painter,' the other Legends had completely vanished from sight; at least half had entered the Country of All Stars. Bound by the Blessing of the Stars, these Legends had no way to defy the Divine Lord of Stars' divine oracle!
Which meant...
Felix turned toward the sleeping Yaxiu beside her, lightly brushing the back of her hand against his cheek.
"If you meet that man," she whispered, "could you ask him...
"Did he ever love his daughter?"
...
Country of All Stars.
*"If you encounter the following wanted fugitives, please notify the police department immediately. Do not act rashly under any circumstances. These fugitives are desperate, heinous criminals!"*
Feili glanced at the notification pushed to her phone, skimmed the hand-drawn portraits of the pink-haired and purple-clad young woman, the black-haired boy, the white-haired man, and the tall woman, then locked the screen and turned the corner into a shortcut alley.
"Fight back! Why aren't you fighting back? Weren't you acting tough just now?!"
"Still running? You think you can get away?"
A sudden commotion drifted from the alleyway ahead. Ordinarily, Feili would have steered clear, but today she took a deep breath, clutched her sword bag tightly, and bravely marched inside.
A pack of hooligans was chasing and pummeling a vagrant in a filthy cloak, pelting him relentlessly with stones. The vagrant could only scramble in disarray to evade them. Strangely enough, instead of fleeing toward the main street, he retreated deeper into the deserted alleyway, as if his home were hidden somewhere within.
"Dodge, go on, dodge!" The gang leader threw a brick. "You broke my buddy's leg with one kick earlier! If you stand still now, I'll only break your two legs! If you dare dodge again, I'll break all four of your limbs!"
"That boy kicked at me first."
The vagrant's voice was heavy, weathered, and hoarse, clearly belonging to someone well past his youth. The brick struck his shoulder and shattered; his body swayed slightly under the blow. Seeing this, Feili could bear it no longer. Drawing a bamboo sword from her bag, she dashed forward to plant herself in front of the thugs and shouted, "Stop picking on him!"
The young ruffians stared in surprise, which quickly turned into gloating delight. "Look at that, a little lamb walked right into our pen!"
"Haha, you can't even protect yourself, and you want to play hero?"
"Brothers, I'm going in first!"
As the leader charged, Feili was about to swing her sword when a voice came from behind her: "Step back one pace."
Without questioning why, she instinctively obeyed the instruction, perfectly dodging the lime powder thrown by the gang leader. In the next instant, her sword thrust forward with precision, striking squarely at the leader's throat.
"Brother Black Wolf!"
"Don't let her get away!"
"There's only one of her! Rush her together!"
"We'll—aagh!"
"Her sword broke! She's dead meat!"
"Wait, no!"
"M-mercy..."
When the alley finally fell still, the thugs lay sprawled across the ground amid splatters of blood and scattered teeth. Feili let out a long breath, her cheeks flushed red, realizing she was drenched in hot sweat.
Handling ruffians like these was child's play for her; in the past, she could beat back a crowd with nothing more than a broom. Still, this was truly her first time wielding a bamboo sword.
Though a bamboo sword was handier than a broom, nevertheless...
She looked down at the broken half of her bamboo sword, her spirits sinking. "The bamboo sword I just bought for sword class... Why did it snap so easily...?"
"Sword class?"
Feili turned around and was surprised to find that the vagrant had actually stayed put. She hurriedly asked, "Are you hurt? Is it hard to walk? Do you need me to help you home?"
The vagrant offered neither confirmation nor denial, asking instead, "You practice swordsmanship?"
"A bit... well, not really." She tilted her head. "But I felt like I might have some talent, so I signed up for a sword class hoping to study properly.
"Though what they teach in class is all such basic stuff, I felt like I didn't even need lessons." She looked back at the thugs strewn across the pavement, resting her hands on her hips with pride. "Seeing as I managed to take down so many people, my swordsmanship must already be pretty impressive!"
"Atrocious. Absolute garbage. You even snapped your own blade. If I were you, I'd want to slit my throat with that broken sword," the vagrant critiqued bluntly.
Stung and unwilling to concede, Feili retorted, "You talk big, but why didn't you chase them off earlier?"
"If you hadn't come, I would have."
Feili stuck out her tongue. "Blehh! I could say my swordsmanship is the foremost beneath the stars too! Talk is cheap, shameless old man!"
"Yet my swordsmanship truly is the foremost beneath the stars."
The vagrant pushed back his hood, revealing messy, grime-streaked blond hair. "Do you want to learn?"
Chapter 851