It was clear that Elder Wei didn’t think such a thing was normal; in fact, he looked like he had just swallowed a fly.

But if someone they all treated as an authority in the matter found what was happening odd, then what more Duchess Amelia herself?

She’d been listening to the conversation despite all the testing. She’d obviously been amazed when she first swung the sword and could already see possibilities in her mind.

So, as someone eager to experience more of this—and as a person who was rather objective and enjoyed discovering things as much as combat itself—she’d wanted to verify the findings with a different weapon.

She wanted to show how only the dipped sword would exhibit the new effects and how much more powerful the enchanted weapons would be.

Her original goal was simply to make a comparison.

But much to her surprise, hitting the ground with a fresh axe taken from the provided armory resulted in new growth on the ground.

"..."

"..."

Well, that was surprising.

Thinking that maybe the second attempt was a fluke, since she tested it too close to the ground with growing vegetation, she tried again.

This time, she faced a patch of ground that was just average dirt. But the result was still the same.

And even with something like a composite bow, where both the bow and arrow had nothing to do with the potion, it was still working.

Seriously?

However, upon unleashing the arrow, she also realized something rather odd. It was as if spiritual energy had been pulled out of her the moment she let that go.

Hm?

Now that she thought about it, she hadn’t paid attention to that when using the other weapons. Using spiritual energy in combat was already second nature to her, so it had gone unnoticed.

Did that only become obvious because the arrow could be classified as ammunition that had detached from her body?

Since being trapped inside that dungeon, she’d been used to letting spiritual energy course through her body, including her weapons.

It wasn’t only to prevent them from faster wear and tear, but to allow them to feel like extensions of her body.

Saying it like that, it sounded like an expert technique honed through training, but in reality, it was actually something she mastered out of desperation.

With only two combatants, no mechas, and facing the threat of eventual weapon degradation, there was only so much they could do to maintain battle readiness.

At some point, Duchess Amelia realized she might have to fight alone just to survive.

So she adapted.

She relied on her body’s instinct for self-preservation, even when she was on the verge of collapse.

Reflex or arc reactions—that was the gist of her admittedly dangerous master plan.

But to do that, her spiritual energy had to react for her when she was in no capacity to do so herself. So, it ended up becoming second nature.

It was still nothing compared to her son’s finesse and extreme precision, but she’d like to believe she was pretty skilled at it considering her circumstances.

Fortunately, that dungeon was saturated with spiritual energy that could sustain such a plan.

Originally, when she allowed herself hopeful thoughts, she envisioned it would take a lot of adjustment because the world they’d return to wouldn’t have the same level of energy.

But who’d have thought she’d be thrust from one dungeon to another by her own child?

Only this time, their lives had turned around for the better.

More importantly, thanks to having an adorable yet monstrous husband for a life partner, she didn’t have to be so worried about harming him if he made the mistake of surprising her from behind like some ambushing beast.

Leander was strong enough to dodge or take a hit. And with all the threats looming over them, particularly over her son, she felt more comfortable living with her acquired combat techniques.

But right about now, she couldn’t help but think of approaching her experiment differently.

Curious about what happened to that spiritual energy, she attempted the experiment once more, but this time with two separate blades.

__

The first exchange with the blades resulted in the same outcome as before. Life bloomed with every movement.

Normally, she would’ve stopped to switch to a different one. But this time, she didn’t.

Instead, in an attempt to check if her assumption was correct, she repressed her instincts and knowingly cut off the flow of spiritual energy to her right arm.

Ugh.

Honestly, that felt a bit odd—like cutting off a phantom limb she’d learned to live with—but it proved to be the right choice.

The ground showed a major difference this time around: growth on the left, nothing on the right.

"!"

Sure enough, her spiritual energy was needed for that to happen!

Then this?

Was this her bloodline ability?

By any chance, did she only manage to manifest it because she finally had a reference and experienced it firsthand?

Lia didn’t exactly see herself as someone aligned with flowers and sunshine. But she also couldn’t deny everything she had just experienced.

Maybe there were other ways to use such a gift? And it seemed like something their son would enjoy anyway.

Duchess Amelia finally stopped amidst the extremely quiet grounds.

She clenched her fists, tightening her grip around the blades before asking, "Elder Wei, is it possible that we have the same affinity?"

Everyone held their breath, now looking at Elder Wei for his response.

But before the Elder could say anything more, a confused-sounding stammer, followed by a series of loud thuds, suddenly broke through the air.

"N-no. I don’t believe Your Grace has the same affinity as Elder Wei."

Huh?

Oddly enough, when Duchess Amelia whipped her head toward the source of the voice, she was surprised to see an entire group of people skidding to a halt.

But perhaps most notably, she saw something warranting a double-take—

Because Count Alexander Taylor, of all people, was dangling like a shirt from a hanger by Leander’s hand.

And said Duke Leander of the ideally prestigious House Kyros looked like a desperate, worried husband who, in his distress, had run out of options and decided that physically presenting a solution might somehow work.

"???" 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

What the hell?

Just what in the world was going on?

And aside from that bizarre sight, why were her son and son-in-law wearing kitchen aprons... and mittens... in the middle of a testing ground?

However, her mouth—which was about to question the sanity of the newest arrivals—didn’t get to go off.

Because she witnessed Count Alexander covering one eye while saying, "I-it’s really not the same color. Instead of that vibrant green, what I see is grey!"

"Are you certain you’re not color blind, Count Taylor?"

"No! And even if I were, then they would’ve at least been the same shade, right?" Insisted the poor Count.

"..."

Duchess Amelia wasn’t sure what kind of insanity she was hearing, but the confusion on her face was unmistakable as she watched her son react with his entire body, as if he had been completely caught off guard.

At that point, she had had enough.

"Someone better tell me what is happening," she said, her tone sharp and commanding. "Before I pry the answer out myself—"

"Mom! Mom! Congratulations! You’re so amazing! You managed to discover a unique ability!" Luca cried out. He looked all happy—practically about to cry in happiness—as he ran toward his mother, his apron fluttering in the wind.

The Duchess caught him in an embrace, only to ask in confusion, "What...?"

"Yeah!" Luca nodded enthusiastically. "We just found out that Count Alexander can roughly identify a person’s affinity. He sees them as colors!"

"SAY WHAT NOW?!"