Chapter 304 Good Things Must Remain Inside The Family
Somewhere in Southshire…
Five days had passed after Ethan’s Battle with Connal.
Since Lily’s Older Brother and Sister knew that she didn’t want to see them right now, both of them decided to return to Southshire to report to their father.
Currently, Connal and Lyall were kneeling in front of their father, while their Mothers, Brothers, and Sisters were looking at them with curious looks on their faces.
“You lost to a Dud?” a voice filled with disbelief reverberated inside the Main Hall of the Langley Residence.
Conall wanted to say that he didn’t lose, and actually won his duel against Ethan. But his Pride wouldn’t allow him to say such a thing.
The fact that the young man had forced him to take his Werewolf Form was proof that he had recognized his opponent's strength.
Also, even in his Beast Form, Ethan had managed to break his nose.
If those countless lightning bolts had landed on his body, he was certain that a broken nose would be the least of his worries.
Sighing inside his heart, Conall nodded his head.
“Yes, Father,” Conall replied. “I lost to Lily’s Mate.”
The people inside the room look at Conall in disbelief, and some of them even gasped after hearing his confession.
All of them knew how strong he was, and for someone to defeat him… wouldn’t that mean that Lily actually made the right choice in choosing Ethan as her Mate?
“Lyall, were you there when they fought against each other?” Lily’s Father, Seff, asked in a calm tone.
“Yes, Father,” Lyall answered in a heartbeat. “I was there.”
“Then, can you tell us what happened?” Seff asked.
Lyall shook her head. “Rather than tell, it would be best if I showed you what happened.”
The young lady took out a crystal ball from her storage ring, which was the size of a ping-pong ball.
This was a magical artifact that had the ability to record images in real time.
The downside was that it could only store one memory at a time, and each memory only lasted for half an hour.
It was a decent artifact, and it was quite expensive as well.
Even so, Lyall thought that this was a good investment when she bought it.
Originally, she wanted to record Ethan’s one-sided beating, which she would bring back to her family.
But, unlike what she had expected, the handsome young man actually managed to fight on par with her brother, which forced Conall to use his Beast Form.
The small crystal ball glowed and a projection appeared above the Crystal ball.
Everyone inside the Main Hall silently watched the battle with great interest.
However, as the battle progressed, looks of disbelief appeared on their faces. This was especially true for Lily’s biological mother, Leah, who originally thought that Ethan was a Dud.
The Witch watched as Ethan bombarded Conall with magical spells, forcing the latter to get serious.
However, near the end, when Conall successfully landed a blow on Ethan’s body, which sent him flying towards the stands, something unexpected happened.
As if the recording had a glitch, the Red Werewolf and the handsome young man disappeared mid-air.
They only reappeared a few seconds later with Conall crashing down on the arena and Ethan kneeling on top of it, while coughing out a mouthful of blood.
Everyone saw how Lily immediately jumped on the arena, and stood between the injured young man and her brother.
She was in her Demi-Wolf form and her hate-filled eyes, boring into Conall, were clear for everyone to see.
They saw how Professor Barret and Professor Rinehart appeared in the arena to end the battle.
At the end of the recording, only Professor Rinehart and Conall remained in the scene.
They watched as the Headmaster of Brynhildr Academy looked at the Red Wolf with a calm expression on his face.
———————————
“Are you satisfied?” Professor Rinehart asked.
“Is he really a Dud?” Conall asked back.
Rhea watched as Professor Rinehart smiled before answering Conall’s question
“Even I do not know the answer to that question,” Professor Rinehart replied. “We tested him twice with the Appraisal Stone, and the result was always the same. He is a Dud.”
Conall stood up before shaking his head in disbelief.
“If all Duds are like that, they would have already ruled the world,” Conall stated.
“Those are the same words that the Founder of Eques Manor, Eileifr Eques, once said,” Professor Rinehart replied. “He stated that if there were more people like Fortis Dud, they would have certainly ruled the world.”
———————————
The projection ended there, and a pin-drop silence descended inside the hall.
Lily’s family was still digesting what they had watched.
Since everything was captured perfectly, with the exception of the few seconds that Ethan and Conall disappeared from the arena, they recognized that they had underestimated Lily’s chosen partner.
A few minutes later, the silence was broken when Lyall spoke up, which made her biological mother, Zella, cover her face in embarrassment.
“Um, Father, if you planned to break Ethan’s and Lily’s relationship, can I have him instead?” Lyall asked with a flushed expression on his face. “I’m sure that our babies will look good together!”
Everyone looked at the teenage beauty, with the exception of her mother, with weird looks on their faces.
Seeing their gaze, Lyall lightly cleared her throat.
“Good things must remain inside the family,” Lyall stated. “Even if he is a Dud, his strength alone is enough to qualify him as a worthy partner to our lineage. Personally, I don’t want him and Lily to end their relationship. I have a feeling that, if he is given enough time to grow, he will certainly make a name for himself here in the Shire Continent.”
Seff arched an eyebrow after hearing his daughter’s high appraisal of Ethan. He had seen how the boy fought, and he had to admit that he was slightly impressed by his performance.
“Conall, tell us what happened in those few seconds that you and the boy disappeared from the arena,” Seff ordered.
Conall nodded. “I think he forcefully sent me inside a Domain. When I realized I was no longer inside the arena, I found myself in the open sea, where a raging thunderstorm was brewing.”
He continued to tell everything that happened, without leaving out any information.
How Ethan suddenly gained overwhelming strength, and punched him twice in the face, breaking his nose.
And how Ethan had summoned a lightning bolt in his hand.
When Conall mentioned the part about countless lightning bolts descending upon him, his siblings subconsciously shuddered as if they were the ones about to receive that kind of heavenly tribulation.
“Fortunately, his Domain shattered before those lightning bolts hit me,” Conall stated. “If they did…”
He left the rest unsaid, but everyone inside the room understood what he was trying to tell them.
“Brother, I have a feeling that Ethan only did what he did because you targeted his lovers,” Lyall said in a disapproving tone. “Truth be told, the moment I saw him, I felt that he was similar to Father. Even his reaction, when you targeted his lovers, was how Father would have reacted if our mothers were to be harmed by someone.”
“What?” Seff looked at Conall in disbelief. “He has other lovers aside from Lily?”
“Yes, Father,” Conall replied. Although he regretted what he did in involving others in their battle, he decided to come clean. “Because of that, I was a little pissed off and wanted to punish him a bit.”
“You shouldn’t have involved other parties in your duel.” Seff growled, “even if you feel pissed about that brat having more lovers. After all, strong men attract strong women.”
Conall lowered his head in shame. He had no rebuttal for his father’s words, and decided to accept whatever punishment Seff would give him.
After a few minutes of silence, the Head of the Family lightly tapped the armrest of his throne, a determined look could be seen on his face.
“A month from now, Brynhildr Academy will have their Winter Break,” Seff stated. “Send Lily a letter and tell her to bring Ethan here. I want to personally see this boy.”
Seff’s wives also nodded their heads. Just like their husband, they wanted to personally meet this handsome young man, who had piqued their interest.
Unfortunately for them, Ethan had already promised Luna that he would spend the winter break in the Oswald Barony, so that he could meet her parents.
He wasn’t aware that Lily’s family was paying close attention to him.
Attention that he didn’t know if it was a good thing or a bad thing at that time.
—----------------------
(A/N: I was suffering from a bad stomach ache yesterday so I was unable to post any chapters. Will see if I can post bonus chapters tomorrow to make up for it.)
Th𝓮 most uptodate nov𝑒ls are published on freew(e)bnove(l).𝓬𝓸𝓶