Westminster Bank

Chapter 262: Chapter 163: That Son of a Bitch, Roy

"Father..." Freya bit her lip.

Cosso said, "Lankao died in prison, Freya. He was the Blood Biter... Everything he did was for his wife and children. You were his student. You are not only the legitimate daughter of Lancelot’s Family but also Jill Hestia’s fiancée..."

He looked at the silent Freya, his expression softening slightly. "I don’t want to see you going to your grandfather to plead for Baron Constantin again. Someone must pay the price for your brother’s death, Freya."

"Do you still remember the ancestral teaching of Lancelot’s Family? Recite it. Recite it just like you did as a child, Freya," he commanded in a tone that brooked no argument.

"All sacrifices are necessary."

After Freya finished speaking, the conflicted look on her face quickly faded into stillness. Her eyes grew as serene and lustrous as molten jade.

It was as if she had become a different person.

...

After the guests had returned to the bedrooms prepared by the Beowulf Family and the other attendants had been dismissed, only Lidton and his nephew, Jose, remained in the drawing-room.

Lidton rubbed the bridge of his nose. "They’re all a bunch of old foxes."

Jose said, "The old fox from the Hestia Family has his eyes on the Constantine Family’s territory and plans to use this incident with Baron Constantin to apply pressure... After Fran Constantin’s death, the Constantine Family is already a spent force. I’m afraid our families’ long-standing alliance is also..."

He didn’t finish his sentence, but the meaning was clear.

Lidton knew exactly what his nephew was thinking. In the current situation, the correct course of action for the Beowulf Family would be to make a clean break with the Constantine Family, then join forces with the Hestia and Lancelot families to carve up the Constantines’ power and territory.

As for an Old Blood Clan like the Frank Family, who just wanted a piece of the pie, they could be told to get lost. They were only blaming Baron for the death of their family’s second son, Bill Frank, to angle for some benefit.

Lidton sighed. "The Clan Elder Council believes that we absolutely cannot abandon the Constantine Family right now..."

"Why?" Jose frowned. This was what he could never figure out.

Out of sheer loyalty and their families’ long-standing alliance, the Beowulf Family had supported the Constantine Clan for many years after Fran Constantin’s death.

They had continued to provide financial support even after the Constantine Clan expelled the Constantine siblings, who were of the direct lineage, from the Lake Castle.

If the Beowulf Family wanted something from the Constantine Clan, they should have made some progress after all these years.

As if sensing his nephew’s thoughts, Lidton said, "Do you know about the Fall of the Red Dragon a century ago?"

Jose nodded. It was something all Law Enforcers in Britain knew; it was hardly a secret.

The gist of the story was that near Traitor’s Cliff, the Dragoon Family, who had been Dragon Knights for generations, were annihilated overnight by their adopted daughter, Carmen Ray Dragoon.

The adopted daughter had apparently used some sort of taboo Alchemy ritual to summon an entity and obtain immense power—or perhaps the entity had directly seized control of her body.

In any case, that night, besides the Dragoon Family, the Lion Eye Knight Order, which was stationed at Traitor’s Cliff to guard the Mad Dragon alongside the Red Dragon, was also slaughtered.

Even the legendary Red Dragon did not escape.

It was said that by the time the Law Enforcement Organization arrived at Traitor’s Cliff, everything had vanished. Besides the burning buildings, the skeletal remains of the Red Dragon that had been gnawed on by a Dragon Descendant, and the roars of the Mad Dragon from below the cliff, everything was gone.

The only thing left of the thirty-two members of the Lion Eye Knight Order were charred bone fragments.

Where the Dragoon Family had been, only a vermilion totem remained.

Some said it was a prayer of faith to some god, connecting to a world never seen before.

Some said it was a wicked sacrifice, that the adopted daughter had sacrificed everything she had in her thirst for greater power.

Still others claimed it was the Mad Dragon’s temptation from beneath the cliff; that the Dragon, infected with Madness, had used some special means to corrupt the adopted daughter and destroy the Dragoon Family, the Lion Eye Knight Order, and the Red Dragon... all to pave the way for its own return from the chasm.

For a time, all sorts of theories ran rampant, and opinions varied wildly.

According to later investigations into the Fall of the Red Dragon by Alchemy Historians, what was surprising was that from this event onward, the mysterious and bizarre ritual known as the "Dragon Feast" made its debut on the stage of occult history.

"Fall of the Red Dragon"—that was the headline on every occult newspaper and journal at the time.

In 1887, news of German physicist Hertz experimentally confirming Maxwell’s electromagnetic theory, France finalizing the construction of the Eiffel Tower as the landmark for the 1889 Paris Exposition, and even the earthquake in Venice, Italy, all took a backseat to the Fall of the Red Dragon.

"Dragon Witch"—that was the title the press gave the adopted daughter.

This title lay dormant for decades after the incident, until the outbreak of the World Wars and the emergence of the Dragon Eater organization. With the woman’s reappearance, the name "Dragon Witch" was once again thrust into the spotlight.

She obsessively searched for Dragon scales all over Europe, and her followers, the Dragon Eaters, traced her footsteps, hunting the Dragon Race and Dragon Descendants.

This drew the ire of the Pure-blood Dragon Race, which led to the creation of the Red Dragon Ordinance.

The Law Enforcement Organization, acting on the judgement of the Prole Court, began hunting the Witch. The closest they ever came to success was at the recent Hestia and Lancelot engagement banquet.

Lidton said, "According to your grandfather, the Red Dragon’s remains are very likely on Constantine land. They may hold something related to the Dragon Law."

"Even without the Dragon Law, the corpse of a Red Dragon, a being on the same Tier as a Dragon King, is of incalculable value."

Jose reacted quickly. "So the Hestia and Lancelot families chose Plains because they’re after the Red Dragon’s corpse?

If that’s the case, how could the Constantine Clan just hand over Plains?"

"It’s not necessarily because of the Red Dragon’s corpse. The Constantine Clan might not even know the truth about it."

Lidton shook his head. "According to the original contract, only your grandfather and the successive Patriarchs of the Constantine’s direct lineage knew about the Red Dragon’s corpse. I only learned of it myself from the contract when I became the interim Patriarch..."

"Then, Patriarch, why did you..."

’A thought struck Jose. According to the contract, no matter how much Lidton favored him, as the Patriarch, he should not have revealed such a secret.’

Lidton, knowing what Jose was thinking, said, "Aside from Baron Constantin, the other two members of the Constantine’s direct lineage are Bloodless. Now that they’ve been expelled from the family, the position of Patriarch is held by their maternal uncle and others.

According to the terms of the original contract, if the Constantine Clan no longer has a Patriarch from the direct lineage, the contract can be broken."

At this, Jose said, "Since Baron Constantin can be a Dragon Knight, is it possible his brother and sister are also just pretending to be Bloodless?"

"That’s precisely what everyone wants to know," Lidton said. "However, after the incident with Baron Constantin, his sister and cousin disappeared shortly after. Other organizations might have been involved."

"But that’s not our concern. Prepare well for tomorrow’s Dragon Hunting Ceremony. The glory of the Beowulf Family may rest on your shoulders."

Lidton patted Jose’s shoulder and rose to leave.

Jose watched his uncle’s back, his gaze flickering with thought, before following him out.

...

In the confinement cell, Baron laid down the listening headset, a new model developed by the logistics department of Westminster Bank.

When Jack infiltrated Beowulf Manor in disguise, he had planted listening devices in his own guest room and several adjacent bedrooms to ensure his ’operation’ wouldn’t be discovered.

The original intent was to listen for the footsteps of approaching attendants, but now he had unexpectedly eavesdropped on a secret conversation between the Hestia and Lancelot families.

Baron quickly summarized several key pieces of information:

’There might be remains of the Red Dragon under the territory of Plains.’

’The Hestia Family is trying to pressure me into submission by targeting my sister, Yelena.’

’The Hestia Family is planning to make a big move during the Dragon Hunting Ceremony.’

’Freya’s state is completely different from how she was on the day of the engagement. And her father mentioned Lankao, which might involve the [Twin].’

...

’Oh, right. And the most important thing—that son of a bitch Roy Hestia is here. I need to see if I can find a chance to kill him and avenge Master Zophie.’