"So, those factions with real ambition and lineage, whether they operate in the light or in the shadows, have never truly taken their eyes off this place. The Silver Tower has gone to great lengths to infiltrate, the Inheritance Sect has been secretly building its influence, and undercurrents are surging within the Church Court... It’s all so they can place their own pieces on this chessboard and fight for the authority that comes from being closest to the Origin."

"The conflicts on the New Continent? They’re just sideshows, far from the main battlefield. They’re nothing more than a last resort for those who failed or were forced to the fringes back in their homeland."

"Wizards seek knowledge... That’s true. But knowledge doesn’t automatically become power just by being written in a book. It needs to be verified, replicated, and requires specific environments and phenomena."

"In a remote place like the New Continent, where the Law is thin and the Origin is distant, many Magic Models and principles of Energy that are stable in the Old Realm become extremely volatile, or even fail completely. It’s like trying to build a deep-sea tower in shallow water—the foundation is weak and the materials are insufficient. Without the right environment and natural phenomena to serve as a reference and support, even the most exquisite theory is nothing more than a castle in the sky, an idea that can never be put into practice."

Murphy listened quietly, his gaze falling on her bowed head. Suddenly, he asked a seemingly unrelated question:

"What about Othilia?"

The name seemed to carry a kind of icy Magic Power. Her head froze, as if she were an exquisite doll that had suddenly lost its power.

After a long moment, she spoke with extreme slowness. "Master... Why are you asking about Othilia...? What are you planning to do?"

Murphy didn’t answer.

He slowly lifted his right hand from the armrest of his wheelchair. He spread his fingers and sank them deep into her thick, smooth black hair.

Margaret shivered lightly at his touch, her head bowing even lower.

"Master..." Her voice grew hoarse, tinged with something morbid. "Are... are you looking to get revenge... on my dear cousin?"

"Back then... she was... just a hair’s breadth... from actually killing... you."

"Just like... what she did... to Maggie..."

"I’m not that petty." Murphy’s voice remained level, but his fingers, tangled in Margaret’s hair, showed no sign of relaxing.

’With his current status and power, what kind of woman couldn’t he have?’

’Authority, power, wealth... It was enough to make countless people throw themselves at him.’

’He could even have a new companion every day. Age and appearance would be no object.’

’But ultimately, he wasn’t that kind of person.’

"Petty? How could that be petty, Master? She’s the enemy who nearly took your life! The one who trampled your dignity! To repay everything she inflicted upon you a hundred times over, to watch her fall from grace and struggle in the filth... what a wonderful, what an intoxicating sight that would be!"

Her voice trembled with excitement, as if she were already picturing the scene in her mind. A feverish blush appeared on her cheeks. "Master, don’t you want that? Don’t you want to see the eternally high-and-mighty Othilia, the one who treated you like dirt, groveling at your feet and paying the price for her arrogance? Maggie can make it happen for you. All you have to do is say the word..."

"Enough," Murphy interrupted her. His voice wasn’t loud, but it carried an icy authority.

Murphy’s fingers tightened slightly, his fingertips pressing deeper against her scalp and forcing her head down a little more.

"Let me ask you," his voice was low, yet exceptionally clear by the silent lakeside, "the traces of Othilia’s Magic Power that she left on me back then... you’re the one who helped conceal them, weren’t you?"

Margaret’s body shuddered again.

She didn’t answer immediately. She just buried her head lower until it touched Murphy’s lap, her thick black hair completely obscuring her face and hiding any expression that might betray her feelings.

Murphy’s fingertips pressed harder. "Why? Why would you take such a risk back then? Why help a ’master’ you could have easily broken free from, and defy your own cousin? Defy the ancient covenant of the Witches?"

"Master... why... must you always doubt Maggie’s devotion?"

Margaret finally lifted her face, slowly.

In the moonlight, her face—so similar to Eleanor’s—held no trace of obsession, no fanaticism, no cunning, no feverish blush. There were only her pitch-black eyes, staring unblinkingly at Murphy.

"If it had been Aurora who did the same thing, would you still be asking her ’why’?"

Murphy fell silent.

His fingers, still tangled in Margaret’s hair, loosened their grip slightly.

He looked into her pitch-black eyes, at the utterly blank expression on her face.

He fell silent.

The night wind swept across the lake, carrying a damp mist and the faint, elusive fragrance of night-blooming flowers from the distant garden.

The branches of a weeping willow swayed gently above their heads, casting shifting patterns of light and shadow.

A sudden, soft chuckle shattered the stagnant silence by the lake.

Margaret was laughing.

Her laughter started low, then grew clearer, echoing in the night. It carried a cheerful quality that shattered the evening’s tranquility. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

She tilted her face up, her dark eyes curving into crescents as they sparkled with an almost child-like excitement.

"You see? Our daughter, Eleanor... she’s so incredible!" Her voice returned to its former cloying sweetness, now tinged with a boastful pride. "She’s so young, and already an Official Wizard! And her talent in the Prophetic Series is so pure and powerful... I bet even those condescending old fossils in the Inheritance Sect would have their jaws drop if they saw her!"

"Tell me, how far do you think she’ll go? Will she become a great figure in the Wizard World, like the ones before the Dawn War? Will she solve prophetic riddles that left even the ancients stumped? Might she even discover a Path that the Wizards of old never even dreamed of?"