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The evening glow heralded another pleasant day.

Clop clop clop…

Amid the rapid thundering of hooves, a knight raced northward.

The rider on the horse was quite disheveled, his loose hair fluttering in the evening breeze. His once opulent attire was now tattered in several places and his entire body was stained with blood, evidently having just survived a great battle.

This man was none other than Viscount Lawrence, who had escaped from the Uman Clan’s military camp.

In his hand, he tightly clutched a knight’s sword, stained with still fresh blood. But at present, he was employing it more as a riding crop, incessantly lashing the war horse’s hindquarters, urging it to gallop faster.

In the distance behind him, smoke was faintly billowing up.

A number of horse-riding silhouettes were fast in pursuit, waving their sabers and bows, and refusing to give up.

This chase had been ongoing for an entire day, and Viscount Lawrence felt he was nearing his limit.

But he dared not stop.

For from their previous brief skirmishes, he could distinctly sense that those pursuers truly intended to kill him!

His mother, he feared, was likely doomed.

And likely, Count Uman had come to know, he was not his biological son!

Bitter regret surged in Viscount Lawrence’s heart.

If he had known this would happen, he would not have acted impulsively and tried to assassinate Count Uman alongside his mother.

He should have waited for his father’s arrangements.

But immediately, he forcefully shook his head and tossed this thought out of his mind.

He couldn’t wait for his father to arrange everything!

Viscount Lawrence knew that his true father, Mr. Ji, had more than just one son.

Although those were all illegitimate sons, he himself wasn’t his father’s legitimate son either.

More than that, if his father became the new Northern Duke, he would never be able to marry his own sister, Penny. Incest was a taboo love in this world and was not socially acceptable.

Therefore, if those bastards had even a slim hope of being legitimized, then Lawrence was destined not to become the legitimate son.

Of course, Lawrence also knew his father and mother’s agreement, he would become Mr. Ji’s adopted son, changing his surname to St. Sean.

But what if Mr. Ji had his own legitimate son in the future?

Mr. Ji did not have a wife now, but what about after becoming the Duke of the North Territory?

Would he never marry?

This sense of crisis prompted Lawrence and Penny to take the risk of assassinating Count Uman and then attempting to seize control of the Uman Clan’s army.

Once they had the army, they would have a bargaining chip.

They, as mother and son, would also have some confidence.

But they didn’t expect…

It went terribly wrong.

Various emotions churned in his heart, and the distracted Lawrence failed to notice that his war horse was nearly spent.

Foam was frothing from its mouth, clearly about to collapse from exhaustion at any given moment.

The pursuit had quickly covered another six or seven miles.

The war horse that Lawrence was riding was drenched in sweat, and thin traces of blood began to seep from the froth at its mouth.

Sure enough, in the next second, the war horse stumbled, rolling onto the ground with a distinct, piercing sound of bone fracture.

Viscount Lawrence was immediately thrown out, filled with shock.

But, as a third-grade knight, his skills were far superior to those of ordinary people. In mid-air, he forcefully pulled his body together, curled into a ball, rolled a few times when he hit the ground, then sprang up agilely.

Viscount Lawrence took a few breaths, looking at the approaching cavalry behind him, a sense of despair rose in his heart.

But very quickly, he shook his head vigorously, suppressing the emotion.

A cruel and vicious light sparkled in his eyes, Viscount Lawrence gripped his sword with both hands, slightly bending his knees, getting ready for the fight.

Since he had failed, he had to bear the consequences.

Viscount Lawrence cast all useless emotions aside, focusing on the steadily approaching cavalrymen.

Thump thump thump…

The hoofbeats grew heavier and the earth shook increasingly violently.

“Come on! The House of St. Sean will never surrender!”

Lawrence bellowed, his grimacing expression was like a wild tiger trapped in a dead end.

The faces of the oncoming cavalry had become clear, they raised their swords, with the cold light gleaming like a forest of steel heading straight towards Lawrence.

Closer… even closer…

Lawrence took a deep breath, ready to meet the impending head-on collision.

Time seemed to slow down, and the air felt like it was heating up.

No, not like it was!

The air was actually getting hotter!

Within just an instant, Lawrence felt a wave of heat that was as intense as standing before a large furnace.

Boom!

Just when he was puzzled, a wall of fire abruptly appeared before him, the air was so scorched that it seemed to choke him.

Clop clop clop…

The pursuers were terrified, desperately trying to halt their war horses before the firewall. However, how could the war horses, already in a charging state, stop in such a short time?

Like moths to a flame, most of the pursuers ended up plunging into the fire due to their momentum.

The raging flames, as if possessing a peculiar kind of magic, instantly turned them into ashes.

The pursuers behind didn’t even have time to understand what was happening. They desperately turned their horses around, instantly trying to flee.

However, before they could get far, another massive fireball fell from the sky, completely engulfing the remaining pursuers.

The flowing flames instantly covered several hundred meters of the grassland. When the fire died down, only scorched earth and remnants of ashes could be seen.

The gentle evening wind blew, making the ashes fly like tiny stars. There was a strange and cruel beauty in the scene.

Lawrence dumbly watched everything that unfolded before him, seemingly not yet recovered from the drastic change.

After a while, he finally sheathed his sword, a smile of having survived a catastrophe spread across his face.

“Father, is that you?” Lawrence looked around and shouted loudly.

Soon, he spotted a unnoticeable figure not far behind him.

“Father!” Lawrence hurried over.

“Why were they chasing you?” Mr. Ji’s face was hidden in the hood of the mage robe, his expression unclear.

“They…” Lawrence was at a loss for words.

After hesitating for a while, he told Mr. Ji everything about what he and his mother had done.

Mr. Ji stayed silent for a long while after hearing this.

The sun gradually set, leaving only a hint of twilight to reluctantly light up the world.

Darkness was inevitable and was about to reign over the land.

Although the night breeze was slightly cool, Lawrence felt even colder.

Mr. Ji’s silence was slowly eroding his faith, leading him into the abyss of despair.

But just when darkness was about to fully engulf Lawrence, a ray of light suddenly illuminated his world.

Mr. Ji simply said: “I understand.”

His tone was remarkably calm, as though he didn’t care about the trouble Lawrence had caused.

Lawrence’s heart was uneasy and he asked cautiously: “Father, what…what should we do now?”

Mr. Ji suddenly raised his head, his wide hood fell backward, revealing his face—

What a face it was!

The left half had completely turned a strange ash-gray color. The warped blood vessels were like worms, moving beneath the skin. Even more frightening was his left eye.

There was no eye left, only a hole. A bottomless hole that seemed to suck the soul out of anyone who looked at it.

Lawrence backed away in shock, but he quickly realized his inappropriate behavior, and quickly moved forward three steps.

Barely suppressing the fear in his heart and the tremor in his body, He asked, “Father, are you okay?”

“Follow me.” Mr. Ji’s tone was cold.

After he said this, he didn’t answer Lawrence’s question. He just silently stood up and walked forward.

Lawrence dared not ask any more and hurriedly followed him.

The last bit of sunlight disappeared from the horizon and endless darkness completely enveloped the land.