Chapter 73

Turan was not accustomed to politics, as he had not lived closely interacting with others. However, he had learned the basic concept to some extent.

Flattering superiors, coaxing colleagues and subordinates, ensnaring enemies in schemes to frame them, and solidifying one's own position.

Ordinary humans had to conform to society to survive, so they were naturally governed by such political logic. Even the most powerful nobles could not escape from it.

They had to manage relationships with their kin within their own house, as well as with nobles from other houses that made up the larger society in order to continue living.

And the larger the group, the more complex and tangled these political structures became. The internal politics of a great noble house, a house of nobles among nobles, was far more insidious than an ordinary person could imagine.

For the past few days, Turan had wandered around in the daytime disguised as a young knight, identifying which nobles lived in which mansions. Then, every night, he would infiltrate their mansions, ransack their studies, and collect documents.

Each study had its own unique security measures, but fortunately, none were thorough enough to be impenetrable.

Perhaps it was because they believed the study to be the safest place.

There, the more he dug, the more filth he unearthed.

Receiving bribes and interfering in the distribution of magic artifacts or magic power within the house was so common that it was hardly worth mentioning.

Framing people for crimes they did not commit, disguising the strength of magical beasts that were to be hunted, and even treating human lives as mere playthings, such stories were numerous.

There were even documents that, albeit subtly worded, indicated direct orders for assassination.

After reading through various documents and piecing together the information, Turan came to realize that there were currently three factions within House Aravion.

If he were to name them, they would be the Elder Faction, the Middle-aged Faction, and the Young Faction.

The Elder Faction consisted of nobles between three hundred and four hundred years old, slightly younger or of the same age as the current head of the house.

They were widely respected for their long-standing achievements, but they rarely involved themselves in the house’s affairs.

The second was the Middle-aged Faction, which included Cadrum and consisted of nobles aged between one hundred and three hundred years old.

They were essentially the core of the house, monopolizing key positions and wielding immense power.

Notably, they actively supported the wife of House Nagin, who was the consort of the house’s head, as well as her children, while opposing Meisa.

The last faction was the Young Faction, composed of promising young nobles.

Naturally, they were the weakest of the three factions. Though they supported Meisa, the rightful heir, they had not managed to form a proper bond with her.

Among these factions, Turan primarily targeted the studies of the Middle-aged Faction. Through his investigation, he confirmed that they were systematically isolating Meisa.

First, they asked the Reto of House Zahar to make Meisa constantly suspect that she was being targeted by Zahar’s assassins.

At the same time, they pushed the narrative that the existence of assassins was mere paranoia, making Meisa appear as a lunatic.

Not only that, but they sent away all the servants who had built a certain level of familiarity with Meisa to distant locations.

They also harassed, or in extreme cases, even killed young members of the Young Faction who attempted to befriend her.

This was the reason she lived in a desolate mansion with only a few elderly maids.

Turan could now understand why Meisa had fled to the mansion of House Berk at the time.

Perhaps they had left that house alone because it was a vassal house, making it troublesome to touch, or because they feared that if they destroyed even that last support, Meisa might truly commit suicide.

Fortunately, there were no signs that they treated House Berk with special favor or had any communication with them, which meant they were not allied with the Middle-aged Faction.

Had that been the case, it would have been disastrous not only for Meisa but also for Ashiz.

With this newly gathered information, Turan was also able to decipher the meaning of the letter sent by Meisa’s half-brother, Renaud, in the past.

"Judging by the circumstances… it seems the Middle-aged Faction was the one who killed Meisa’s mother and younger brother."

Though it was not recorded in the family tree, Meisa had a younger brother.

Ten years ago, in the year 2207, an eight-year-old child who had not even awakened magic power lost his life along with his mother.

And Renaud’s letter had also been written in the same year.

Was it not too much of a coincidence to say there was no connection between the two?

"Officially, it was an accidental death."

Meisa’s mother, Orin Berk, was merely a low-ranking noble who had barely awakened her bloodline ability, yet she had borne the head of the house a powerful child and was favored for it.

However, one day, she died in an accident and was simply buried away as if she had never existed.

Even Ashiz, her relative, had only heard that she "died in an accident" and did not know what that accident actually was.

There were numerous records stating that the legitimate wife from House Nagin was displeased with the existence of a concubine who had given birth to an heir-worthy noble. Considering that this wife’s supporters were controlling nobles from House Zahar, it was no surprise that they had been involved in this accident.

Furthermore, during Turan’s raids on the estates of the Middle-aged Faction nobles, he even found circumstantial evidence that they had "handled" Orin.

[Utilize Reto to eliminate mother and child.]

[Confirmed.]

The document did not specify whose mother and child it referred to, but given that it was written in the year 2207, the implication was clear.

Later, Turan also found records reprimanding the incident.

[Eliminating both the mother and child was excessive. The target is broken.]

[It was necessary for the state of isolation.]

[Find a way to restore the target.]

Meisa’s aversion to food seemed to have stemmed from the deaths of her mother and younger brother. Judging by the way they described her as broken, they were not pleased with the outcome.

Perhaps it was because the body that was supposed to be used by the god had deteriorated.

Even amid all this, they continued their efforts to keep Meisa isolated, complaining in several documents about how difficult it was to overcome this issue.

From this, Turan was nearly certain that a divine entity was backing the Middle-aged Faction.

Just as Solif had been sculpted into a specific personality, it was clear that they were manipulating Meisa’s circumstances to shape her character.

"From the very beginning, tormenting Meisa like this wouldn’t have been possible without such a powerful backer."

To antagonize an heir with no clear replacement, someone who was an indisputable next head of the house, was nothing short of a suicidal act.

Especially with the current head already aging, the moment leadership changed, the entire Middle-aged Faction would undoubtedly face immediate purges.

Yet, despite this, they still carried out such actions. The most likely reason was that they knew the secret of soul replacement.

Once the soul of the Preah God Tribe took over, there would be no reason to address the injustices Meisa had suffered in the past.

No, rather, it was highly probable that the god itself was the one who had ordered this in order to make the soul transfer easier.

It was also likely that the deaths of Meisa’s mother and younger brother had been part of the plan to isolate her.

Although there were no documents explicitly stating that the head of the house had given orders regarding these matters, it was impossible for even a group of powerful nobles to oppress the heir to this extent without his tacit approval.

The problem was that there was no definitive evidence of soul replacement or the murder of Meisa’s family.

Even if a study was a private space, leaving behind explicit records of such secrets would have been too risky, which was likely why no such details were found.

"Should I gather more information, or should I inform Meisa immediately?"

Turan pondered for a long time before finally deciding to make direct contact with Meisa.

He had already searched through the estates of most of the influential nobles. Now, the only options left were to infiltrate the main estate of the house head or to capture and torture some Middle-aged Faction nobles for information. However, both options were too risky to attempt without first securing Meisa’s cooperation.

He was perfectly prepared with the necessary evidence to persuade her.

Using thoughtography, a technique that replicated documents by sketching them with ash and paper, he had copied all the relevant records.

Considering Meisa’s current predicament, simply handing over these documents would likely be enough to gain her trust.

*

On the tenth night since his infiltration, Turan decided to make contact with Meisa.

During the day, there were too many people moving about, increasing the likelihood of drawing attention if an unexpected noise occurred. Additionally, if things went wrong, it would be easier to escape using Concealment.

Emerging from the mansion where he had been hiding, Turan flew toward Meisa’s residence, heightening his senses through the Sacred Relic to their maximum.

Countless living beings within the main estate entered his perception.

As he briefly scanned them one by one, he soon realized that, once again, he had failed to locate his target. Letting out a faint sigh, he muttered to himself.

"Still not here, huh?"

For the past few days, whenever he had spare time, Turan had used the Sacred Relic’s senses to check whether there were any non-human entities within the estate.

Considering the past cases of Dark Elf necromancers, if there was a White Elf Spirit Necromancer present, he too should be detectable.

There were roughly two possible hypotheses in this scenario.

Either they did not need a Spirit Necromancer for their soul transfer process, or they had confined such individuals outside the main estate or in a special space that prevented detection.

Personally, Turan believed the latter was more likely.

From past experiences, the senses of the Mimic Relic were surprisingly easy to obstruct in absurd situations.

While entertaining these thoughts, Turan approached Meisa’s residence, only to realize she was not at home.

It was two in the morning, an unusual time for someone to have any particular business outside.

"Where did she go?"

Could it be that she had slept too much during the day and was now out for a nighttime stroll?

Fortunately, Meisa’s presence was so large that, by expanding his perception, he could locate her without much difficulty.

On second thought, her being away from home was actually an opportunity.

Initially, he had considered secretly leaving the relevant documents in her room, in case there was some undiscoverable surveillance system inside.

However, if she was outside, he could directly approach her and speak.

Flying in her direction, Turan soon arrived at a massive bakery, filled with the lingering scent of old bread and flour.

This building supplied freshly baked bread throughout the Aravion main estate.

However, with all the bakers having gone home and the lights turned off, it looked utterly desolate.

Following Meisa’s presence, Turan entered the building, quickening his pace at the strange noises coming from within.

"Ugh... ugh…"

The voice, as expected, belonged to Meisa.

To his shock, she was shoving stale bread into her mouth in a secluded corner of the bakery.

She clamped her lips shut and held her mouth with her hands, as if trying to keep it down.

But a moment later, she could not endure it any longer and vomited everything out.

"Haah…"

Catching her breath, Meisa then used Ignition Magic with an intense heat that left not even a trace of smoke as she burned away the vomited bread.

Then, as if compelled, she grabbed another piece and stuffed it into her mouth.

Even as tears streamed down her face from the repeated retching, she did not stop.

It was then that Turan realized what she was doing.

She was desperately trying to force some form of nutrition into her body despite her inability to eat properly.

"Damn…"

It was a sight no one should witness.

Would it be better to pretend he had not seen anything and wait for another opportunity to speak to her?

Turan hesitated for a moment but then deactivated his Concealment.

Feigning ignorance after seeing everything would be no different from deception.

More importantly, there would not be many chances to speak to her so freely again.

By morning or daytime, Meisa would return to that empty, desolate mansion.

In contrast, this bakery was sturdily built, offering far better soundproofing than that ruined estate.

Above all, there was little chance of a dedicated surveillance system being in place here.

"Meisa."

At the sudden call, Meisa flinched and turned around in shock.

As Turan quickly raised both hands to show that he had no intention of fighting, the Lightning that had formed at Meisa’s fingertips crackled before dissipating into the air.

Judging by the power behind it, if he had been struck directly, even if he had fully activated the Guardian Magic Artifact, he would have taken considerable damage.

"Turan? How are you here? Wait, are you… an illusion?"

Perhaps it was because someone who had no reason to be here had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Meisa cautiously poked Turan’s shoulder with her finger to confirm that he was real.

If he had not just witnessed what she was doing moments ago, he might have even chuckled at her reaction.

"You’re real. How did you get here…? No, more importantly, did you… see everything just now?"

"It wasn’t intentional. I apologize."

Meisa’s face, which was far too thin, made it difficult to read her expressions, but if he had to guess, it seemed to be a mix of anger and embarrassment.

For a young woman to be seen repeatedly eating and then vomiting her food by someone else, especially when it was tied to personal emotional scars, was something she would naturally never want to reveal.

However, in an instant, the emotions on her face shifted to shock and wariness.

Only now did it seem she had fully processed what it meant for Turan to be here.

"How did you even get in here? Are you here with Ashiz? If you entered as a guest, there’s no way I wouldn’t have heard about it."

"I snuck in. But before that, could you look at this first? It’s important."

Speaking casually about something that would leave most people horrified, the fact that he had infiltrated the main estate of a great noble house, Turan immediately handed over the documents he had copied from the Aravion nobles’ mansions.

Even as she took them, Meisa did not press further and instead unfolded the papers.

"What is this?"

"I obtained them from the nobles here."

The truth was for her to determine on her own.

With that, Turan fell silent. Meisa glanced between the documents and Turan, then, with her large, protruding eyes, began scanning the papers frantically.

As she immersed herself in the contents, Turan casually added,

"By the way, the ‘Reto’ mentioned in there is the same maid from the main house. She’s a noble of the Zahar Bloodline."

At the shocking revelation, Meisa’s entire body flinched.

However, even in that state, she did not stop reading.

She was already deeply absorbed in the information.

About ten minutes later, she suddenly crumpled the papers in her hand and burst into laughter.

Her gaunt hands trembled violently.

"I knew it. Of course. I wasn’t crazy after all…"

Turan had been worried she might pass out from the overwhelming emotions, but fortunately, she only let her tears stream down her face while managing to keep herself composed.

It was almost baffling how such a frail body could produce so many tears.

A moment later, after somewhat calming herself, Meisa looked at Turan and spoke.

"Now, will you explain? How did you get this, and why did you come to show it to me?"

Despite her words demanding an explanation, the blue eyes staring at him were already filled with trust.

Turan could sense how desperately Meisa had wanted this information, how much she had longed for someone to bring her the truth.

And because he had delivered exactly what she needed, she now trusted him deeply.