The First Vampire

Under the cold moonlight, Colin came to a balcony of Red Castle.

Behind him, the maids were busily arranging the table and chairs, bringing four glasses of champagne and a few plates of dried fruits, then tiptoed away.

“Sit down.” Colin smiled at Emon, Quincy, and Knight Shar.

“Yes, master.”

“Yes, Viscount.”

The three did as told, picked up their wine glasses, and clinked them with Colin’s.

After a sip of wine, butler Emon was just about to report the recent political affairs of Ice Rock City to Colin but got stopped by Colin.

“Don’t rush. Since I came back from Silver Moon City, a question has been lingering in my mind. I guess I can’t think about anything else unless it gets cleared up.”

“Master, what are you puzzled about?”

Colin stroked his chin and asked, “Isn’t Countess Uman the younger sister of the former Viscount Sudor?”

“Correct.”

“What is the color of her pupils?”

Emon turned his head toward Quincy, who had been working as a tax commissioner in Ice Rock City for decades, and presumably had the answer to Colin’s question.

“Viscount, the Countess’s pupil color is blue.”

“Are you certain?”

“I am! I watched her grow up. Even with my eyes closed, I can recall her face.”

Colin’s mouth twitched into a smug smile as though a certain speculation in his heart had been confirmed.

But out of caution, he asked again, “Have there ever been any legitimate members of the Sudor Family who had red pupils?”

“Red?” After pondering for a moment, Quincy shook his head, “No, red pupils are quite rare. As far as I know, there has never been a legitimate member of the Sudor Family with this color.”

“That makes sense!” Colin clapped his hands excitedly.

He finally understood the small secret that Queen Midela had only half-revealed in Silver Moon City.

Emon, Quincy, and Shar looked at each other, apparently unable to keep up with Colin’s train of thought.

Colin explained with a smile, “Count Uman has red eyes, his wife countess Uman has blue eyes, then why was their son, Viscount Lawrence, born with red eyes?”

Butler Emon frowned increasingly in bewilderment.

Quincy also cautiously reminded, “My lord, Viscount Lawrence’s red pupil must have been inheritied from Count Uman. There shouldn’t be any problem with that.”

“No, there is a big problem!” The corner of Colin’s mouth hung with a mysterious smile.

Nevertheless, explaining the concept of genetic inheritance, proved worrying to Colin.

There was no Mendel who grew peas in this world, people’s understanding of inheritance was very crude, they didn’t understand the differences between recessive and dominant genes.

In their understanding, a red-eyed father producing a red-eyed son, was perfectly normal.

But even a basic understanding of genetic theory would show this to be uncertain.

Red pupils are rare, which is an indicator of recessive inheritance.

To display a recessive trait, a child must receive a corresponding recessive gene from both the mother and the father.

That is, both Count Uman and the countess must carry the recessive gene for red eyes to produce a red-eyed son.

Count Uman is not an issue, his family has always possessed the gene for red eyes, but the Sudor family, has never had this!

What makes it more interesting is that Count Uman’s favorite lover―Penny, has red eyes!

Following the rules of inheritance, two red-eyed parents can only produce red-eyed offspring.

Just as if both parents have single eye-lid, the child will definitely have that as well (excluding the influences of neighbor Wang and gene mutations).

Hence, the circumstances of Uman Clan’s offspring’s eye color makes for a very interesting situation.

The legitimate son – Viscount Lawrence, who was not supposed to have red eyes, does have red eyes.

However, the supposed red-eyed bastard—Walra, surprisingly had blue eyes.

Concerned that he might have remembered wrongly, Colin asked Emon again, “What color are my brother-in-law Walra’s eyes?”

Although Emon was puzzled, he still replied, “They’re blue, my lord.”

Exactly!

Colin was now sure.

Excluding the extremely unlikely events of having another secret lover in the count’s castle or a genetic mutation, judging by the inheritance laws and the color of the count’s offspring’s eyes:

The illegitimate son, Walra, was actually the child of Count Uman and the Countess!

On the contrary, the legitimate son Lawrence was probably the child of Count Uman and his lover Penny!

But why would Count Uman raise his legitimate son as a bastard and yet treat the illegitimate son as his primary heir?

This illogical behavior can only be explained in one way — the status of his lover Penny, may perhaps be even more noble than the Countess who came from the Sudor Family!

Taking into account what Queen Midela had said, the St. Sean Family, whose lineage should have been severed, also possess the red-eyed gene.

Hence, it wasn’t hard to guess the truth —

Count Uman’s lover Penny, must be a descendant of the St. Sean family!

Only now did Colin understand why Count Uman paid so much attention to his bastard son Walra. Not only did he help him marry the legitimate daughter of the Angler Family, but he also attempted to assassinate Colin to secure a baron’s estate for Walra.

Could a regular noble’s bastard possibly receive such great assistance from his father?

Clearly, Count Uman did this out of guilt for his real heir, intending to make up for it.

Thinking deeper, when Count Uman initially suggested the lure-the-enemy-deep strategy to Duke St. Hilde, perhaps he held ill-intent in his heart.

His true intention was likely to incite civil unrest in the North Territory in order for the St. Sean family to return in triumph and avenge their past grievances.

Regrettably, the St. Hilde brothers were a step ahead and didn’t fall for his trap.

As for the recent political upheaval in Silver Moon City and the ongoing rebellion in the North Territory, the shadow of the St. Sean family probably looms behind the scenes.

Colin originally wondered who could have arranged for the Pegasus Army to ambush the Dark Cavalry in Shadow Gorge. Duke St. Hilde couldn’t have done this, but someone from the St. Sean family could have.

Three hundred years ago was the time when the then Northern Duke led an army that crushed the main forces of the St. Sean Family, which marked the beginning of the decline of this Holy Knight Family.

Gaining the trust of the Eastern Lands wouldn’t be difficult for them considering the deep-seated hatred between them and the St. Hilde Family.

Based on this, one could conjecture that the Silver Moon City’s coup likely also involves the St. Sean Family.

For instance, the Savoy Family, they might have always been pawns of the St. Sean Family.

Considering the time when the Savoy Family fell from power, it happened right after the downfall of the St. Sean Family, which indicates that the relationship between these two families surely isn’t simple.

The more Colin pondered, the more he felt his conjecture should be close to the real truth.

The only uncertainty for him was the role Duke St. Hilde has played in this series of conspiracies.

No matter how Colin looked at it, he didn’t think Duke St. Hilde was just being toyed with by the St. Sean Family.

If Queen Midela knew about the St. Sean Family lurking in the shadows, then her brother Duke St. Hilde would surely have known about it.

If we think about it, in the first conspiracy against the North Territory by the St. Sean Family, Duke St. Hilde was actually the one who benefited the most.

And in this second conspiracy, Duke St. Hilde didn’t lose too much. Although the decimation of the Dark Cavalry had significantly weakened the military power of the North Territory, it had also helped him eradicate internal threats completely.

Duke St. Hilde was deliberately concealing the true power of the Holy Field, probably to stabilize the current situation.

As long as he could continue to hold it steady, he might just be the one to have the last laugh this time.

Of course, the St. Sean Family certainly won’t let Duke St. Hilde get his way so easily again. The forthcoming situation in the North Territory is bound to be tumultuous.

At this point, Colin suddenly asked, “By the way, do any of you remember what the insignia of the St. Sean Family is?”

Quincy thought for a moment and replied:

“My Lord, it is a ‘Spotted Tiger’!”