The First Vampire

However, Colin caught it keenly.

No matter how Lady Sharon treated Isa before, even if she had tried to harm Isa, she was Isa’s birth mother after all.

“How did mother die?” Isa tried to maintain her calm tone, but this only revealed her inner unrest.

“She was poisoned.” Colin sighed, then said, “I have sent people to investigate who might have visited your mother’s room last night, but, I’m afraid there may not be any results.”

Isa nodded, understanding Colin’s meaning.

She also knew that the two of them didn’t pay too much attention to Lady Sharon’s security before, after all, they didn’t expect someone would attempt to kill Lady Sharon.

As things happened now, Isa realized something was wrong and asked, “Why would someone want to kill mother?”

“In the rebellion planned by the East, the Duke Miller and Lady Sharon were not included.”

Colin only stated one sentence, Isa understood the meaning and immediately followed up, “So mother was silenced. Is there another force causing troubles in Silver Moon City, in addition to the East?”

“Yes.” Colin nodded, and asked again, “Have you been paying attention to the Miller family recently? Do you know who they might have had contact with?”

Isa thought for a bit, and then asked, “Colin, do you know about my mother’s origins?”

Seeing Colin shake his head, Isa continued, “Mother should actually bear the surname St. Hilde.”

“What? St. Hilde?” Colin looked surprised.

“Yes. Strictly speaking, mother is actually the aunt of the current Northern Duke.”

“Why didn’t Vera ever mention it?”

“Because my mother is an illegitimate daughter and she is also a descendant of the last but one Duke St. Hilde and a half-elf of different race. Therefore, my mother never dared to serve as a descendant of the St. Hilde family, and the St. Hilde family would not publicly acknowledge her existence. ”

“However, even a lowly illegitimate daughter, my mother’s body still carries the noble bloodline of the Holy Knight Family. Although we Half-Elves might not think highly of her, in our eyes she is still important. Therefore, she later married my father.”

Colin nodded and suddenly realized, “No wonder the last Duke St. Hilde wanted to marry Vera to Prince Topaz, and your Miller family was so eager to facilitate this matter. There is still this relationship. Your Miller family and St. Hilde family are closely related, you can even be regarded as the side branch of St. Hilde family among Half-Elves.”

“Yes.” Isa continued, “At the end of last year, when Queen Midela came to Silver Moon City for my coronation, she was very intimate with the Miller family, especially my mother. At the time, I did not think too much about it, just thought that their intimacy was due to this bloodline relationship.”

“Queen Midela…” Upon hearing this name, Colin immediately narrowed his eyes, falling into thought.

While they were in Dragon City, even though Queen Midela had already made an alliance with Colin, deciding to join forces against the Church, Colin wouldn’t naïvely believe that Queen Midela’d always bear her “ally” in mind, without any secrets or plots.

Last year, when she came to crown Queen Isa, Queen Midela already had a craving for the Half-Elf Kingdom and tried to stir up trouble between Queen Isa and Colin.

Luckily, the relationship between Isa and Colin wasn’t as simple as Queen Midela had presupposed.

But Queen Midela may not necessarily give up just like that.

Looking at it now, Duke Miller and Lady Sharon might be the undercover agents she left behind initially.

Isa looked at Colin, and asked, “You suspect Queen Midela?”

“Indeed, it’s a possibility,” Colin nodded and pondered, “She certainly hopes that I would fight the Easterners to the death, so she has sufficient motive. If Lady Sharon hadn’t been exposed, and an accident occurred during your childbirth, I would have put the blame on the Easterners who incited the rebellion, and perhaps I would impulsively march east.”

“That makes sense. Should I send someone to interrogate the other members of the Miller family? Maybe they will reveal something.”

“You can try, but since even Lady Sharon has been silenced, I presume any contacts remaining in the Miller family might have already been taken care of.”

“Hmm, I also wanted to take this opportunity to straighten out the Miller family; we can’t allow a repeat of the previous incident.”

“Good.” Colin nodded, his gaze flashing with gravitas. “This time, show no mercy—clean up all the potential threats and the doubtful. We can’t possibly keep being distracted by the rebel forces within the Half-Elf Kingdom.”

“I understand.”

While they were talking, the two arrived at the artificial lake in the backyard of the Royal Palace.

The lakeside was filled with red maple trees. The autumn breeze gently blew, and the flame-like maple leaves began to fall one after another, fluttering down between the blue sky and the green water. A white seagull skimmed the lake’s surface, picked up a white belly fin fish, causing its fellows to squabble over the food.

Colin naturally embraced Isa, his chin resting on top of her head, immersed in the fragrance from her hair and this picturesque scene, enjoying the alone time with his lover and daughter.

At this moment, all the conspiracies and trickery had disappeared. Colin no longer thought about the multifaceted issues related to power struggle in Silver Moon City.

Sometimes, Colin even contemplated leaving everything behind and taking those he loved and those who loved him to live in seclusion far away from the world.

Of course, these thoughts were fleeting and quickly cast aside by Colin.

After all, Colin was not a fool. He knew such dreams were far from practical. If he gave up his nobility, territory, and army, what awaited him wouldn’t be freedom, but imprisonment and even death.

In this world, only power could guarantee his position.

Unless he learned from the Elves, and sealed off an entire forest, severing all ties with the outside world.

But even for the Elves, the time for seclusion might be drawing to an end.

The Savoy family’s cryptic prophecy, High Priestess Trissley’s strange actions, and the manifestation of the Phoenix Bloodline in Sylv seemed to portend that the Elves’ re-emergence was imminent.

Colin was unsure what kind of impact the lifting of Bright Moon Forest’s seal would have on the world.

But he knew that he was destined to be implicated in it.

Therefore, before that, Colin had to solidify his base—the North Territory and the Half-Elf Kingdom.

As for the Eastern Territory, at least for the short term, he had no plans to march his troops. After all, with the Angry River acting as a natural barrier, marching soldier was always a last resort.

Besides, the North Territory currently needed to recuperate. Continuing to wage war would only deplete the North Territory’s war potential, and after an exhaustive battle with the Eastern Territory, the Royal Family would be the one to profit.

But not marching the troops didn’t mean Colin had no other way to deal with the Eastern Territory.