Beauty, Let Me Explain!

Beauty, Let Me Explain!

"Forget it. I'm not interested in men." Raven gritted his teeth, drove his knee up hard to cock the hand crossbow, and aimed it at the monster before him once more.

Seeing this, Donald couldn't help scrutinizing his distant nephew.

He was six feet tall with a well-proportioned build. His black hair was slicked back, revealing a broad, full forehead. Beneath deep-set eye sockets were a pair of black eyes. His nose bridge was high and straight, his nostrils full, giving his face a strikingly sculpted appearance. He was a handsome man overflowing with masculine charm.

A typical member of the Griffith Family.

"Oh, my dear nephew, I must admit I misjudged you. Who would've thought that a scum who knew nothing but swindling people and crawling beneath women's skirts would possess such calmness and courage?"

"Not everyone can choose to fight back the moment they face a situation like this."

"Perhaps this is the inheritance of the Griffith Family bloodline."

Donald lowered his gaze, his voice full of nostalgia. "If Ted and Monka had lived until now, they should've been about your age too."

"How did they die?" Raven knew the answer, but he still asked. He needed time to recover his strength.

Donald sighed. "Ted was the son I valued most. He'd been calm and decisive since childhood, and his talent in combat techniques far surpassed ordinary people. I hadn't wanted to kill him!"

"But he was too weak!"

"I merely slit his wrist, and he cried out in pain, begging me to spare him—the Griffith Family has no need for such weak descendants!"

Looking at Donald's twisted face, Raven's lips twitched. "What about Monka?"

"Monka was a bastard!!" Donald's voice suddenly rose several pitches as he cursed. "I discussed it with him as his father and asked him to offer half his blood, but he drew his sword on me and told me to go repent at the Holy See!"

"A disobedient son like that couldn't be allowed to live, so I killed him!!"

Raven forcibly held back the urge to curse at him. "And Lisa? Was she too weak, or did she defy you?"

"Oh, little Lisa, my little angel." Donald revealed a gentle smile, and his tone softened. "She truly was the kindest, loveliest girl in the world. She inherited her mother's red hair and was as lively as a little deer. Her apple-like face always wore a sweet smile."

"You know, as a baron, I had many matters to handle. But no matter how busy I was, the moment I saw her, all my troubles vanished."

Donald's lips trembled as he revealed a sickly smile. "I still remember that night. It was her twelfth birthday. Lisa was brought here by me, dressed as beautifully as a doll."

"Daddy needs a little of your blood, just a little. That's what I told her."

"Do you know how she answered me?"

Before he could finish, Raven decisively pulled the trigger.

He had always been proud of his ability to imagine things. He'd watched countless films, yet remained pure at heart!

But merely through Donald's description, Raven could feel that despair and suffocation rising from the depths of the soul.

And he had found the best opportunity.

Thud—

The crossbow bolt pierced skin and sank into Donald's forehead, yet the sound was as dull as if it had struck a lump of rubber.

Donald's head snapped back violently, nearly touching his back, then slowly straightened amid a creaking sound.

The immense pressure suddenly flooding his skull squeezed both his eyeballs out of their sockets, and his jaw twisted crookedly. He looked like a broken doll, but his voice didn't stop.

"She said,

Daddy, it hurts a little.

But I can still hold on. It's okay!

...Lisa's so cold... Can you hug Lisa?"

Raven's brow twitched wildly. He slowly retreated while loading his last crossbow bolt!

Donald grabbed the shaft of the bolt in his head, pulled it out, and tossed it onto the ground with a clang. The wound on his forehead began healing at an eerie speed.

"Oh, my little Lisa, I truly never wanted her to die. But she was too young, there was too little blood in her body. To complete the ritual, I had no choice..."

"Raven, this is all your fault!"

"If you'd come to the castle earlier and finished everything sooner, they wouldn't have had to die. They wouldn't have had to die!!!"

The distance between them wasn't great. Donald rushed before Raven in two steps, while Raven finished loading the last bolt and raised the hand crossbow.

But before he could pull the trigger, Donald grabbed him by the chest, swung him in a huge arc, and slammed him viciously into the ground!

"Urgh—"

A mouthful of blood surged from Raven's mouth, but he still gripped the hand crossbow tightly and aimed it at Donald's back without immediately pulling the trigger.

Donald turned around, a trace of appreciation in his eyes.

"It seems you already understand that an Enchanted Weapon of this level can't kill me as I am now."

"Raven, my dear nephew, I have to admit that you're calm, steady, and tenacious. You truly are a qualified Griffith."

"Unfortunately, only one Griffith will walk out of this Secret Chamber today, and it won't be you!"

Donald raised his foot and kicked Raven hard in the ribs. Raven flew into the corner like a torn sack.

But he immediately struggled upright against the wall, raised the hand crossbow with both hands, and aimed it at Donald. His head was tilted back, his eyes filled with disdain and contempt.

"Raven was already complete trash, but compared to you, he was practically a saint!"

He suddenly coughed violently. Blood trickled from his nostrils, his face growing paler and paler. Breathing became increasingly difficult, and every inch of his body hurt as if he'd endured a fever of over a hundred degrees!

But those eyes burned with the fire of unwillingness as they locked onto Donald!

"I was complaining before, wondering why the hell I'd been sent into this damned body. But now I understand.

I came here to kill you!"

Donald burst into loud laughter. "Hahaha—kill me?"

He spread his arms. "This is the Pure Black Mother's gift, the Indestructible God-given Body!

What can you use to kill me? That toy in your hand?"

Perhaps Raven truly had a few clever tricks, and he had displayed more toughness and calmness than Donald expected. But so what?

He was still only a mortal, not even a First-tier Transcendent.

Donald could already foresee the despair that would appear on Raven's face after this attack failed, along with that helpless humiliation!

"Yes, kill you." Raven suddenly lowered both hands by an inch. The sharp bolt, originally aimed at Donald's heart, now targeted his lower abdomen. He decisively pulled the trigger.

With a puff, the bolt pierced skin and sank completely inside!

Donald's expression changed abruptly. His hands trembled as he tried to reach for his abdomen, but his body was gradually slipping out of control. His fingers began twisting and spasming in extremely unnatural ways, as if their bones had been snapped. His face was filled with disbelief. "You... How could you... How could you discover my weakness!?"

With a clang, Raven tossed the hand crossbow aside and reached into the corner to grasp the Magic Rapier. "That seemingly transparent skin is actually camouflage, like painted color. It makes people instinctively believe that you're still a humanoid creature."

"But you aren't."

"You don't have a skull." He pointed at Donald's slightly deformed head. "No humanoid creature lacks a skull, and no humanoid creature hatches from a pupa."

"Compared to a human, you're more like an insect."

Leaning on the rapier, Raven slowly rose against the wall. "And as it happens, I know exactly where an insect's weak point is."

"Impossible... Impossible!!" Donald roared, black blood spilling from his mouth. "The existence of Pupa People is a secret that can't be found even within the Church of Light. How could you know!?"

With a sharp ring, Raven drew his rapier, a mocking smile curling his lips.

"Never eaten silkworm pupae?

They're great with drinks."

Donald's pupils contracted violently. Insects had never been part of a noble's diet!

"Don't... Don't kill me!" Donald's body had completely stiffened, and black, viscous fluid seeped from the wound in his abdomen. "I... I'm an Imperial Baron. If you kill me, you won't be able to leave this castle alive!"

Raven smiled disdainfully. "The Griffith Family bears a curse in its bloodline. No man has ever lived past forty."

"Uncle Donald, if I remember correctly, you're already thirty-nine, aren't you?"

"If you die here today, what's so surprising about that?"

Donald's pupils shrank in despair, and his lips trembled. "This... this..."

Raven pressed his advantage. "I am now the first-in-line heir of the Griffith Family."

"Once you die, I'll become the next baron—Raven Ota Griffith."

"I don't think your charm is great enough to make others offend the current baron for your sake, is it?"

"And all of this was your doing." Raven staggered to a stop three steps away from Donald.

"Who told you to kill your own three children, along with your first wife!?"

He barely raised his arm. The more than three-foot-long Enchanted Rapier lit up with a faint white magical glow as he thrust it at Donald's lower abdomen!

"No—"

The rapier tore through skin and plunged deep into flesh, striking something hard. Faintly, Raven heard the cry of an infant. He gritted his teeth and drove the blade another inch forward!

Surging energy rushed back along the blade and poured into Raven's body. It rampaged up his arm before finally settling in his eyes.

Within his soul, dozens of voices overlapped.

"Unshaken calm in changing circumstances, wisdom that perceives Minute Detail, courage to challenge powerful foes, and a... soul that will never submit!"

"We bestow upon you... the key to unlocking the Griffith Family's Bloodline Shackles."

"Eye of Truth!"

The voices vanished in an instant, as though they had never existed, but the scene before Raven's eyes had completely changed.

He could see thick black mist dispersing from Donald's rigid, standing corpse. It was the trace of the Pure Black Mother's power.

The Magic Rapier in his hand and the Enchanted Crossbow Bolts scattered on the ground both glimmered with faint green light, the sign of Primary Enchantment.

At that moment, Raven understood that different enchanted items would display entirely different colors in his eyes.

Green represented excellent quality and Primary Enchantment. Blue represented fine quality and Intermediate Enchantment. Purple represented epic quality and Advanced Enchantment. Gold represented legendary quality and Legendary Enchantment. Dark gold... that was a Divine Artifact.

"So this is the Eye of Truth, able to see the essence of magical power?"

Like a child who had obtained a novel toy, Raven's gaze roamed around. Among the clothes Donald had taken off in the corner, he discovered a flash of blue light.

A fine-quality item!

For a moment, Raven even felt his steps become lighter.

After all, who didn't enjoy looting a boss's corpse after killing it?

After crouching down and searching for a while, Raven found a thumb-thick glass bottle in his hand. Inside swirled thick red liquid.

"A Minor Healing Potion?" Raven scratched his head in confusion. "It's clearly a Primary Enchantment item, so why is it giving off blue light?"

Still, having one was better than having none. Raven pulled out the stopper and drank it in one gulp. A warm current immediately slipped down his throat into his stomach, then flowed through all four limbs and every bone in his body.

A numb, itchy sensation spread through him. Raven raised his arm and saw the wound that had been cut open before quietly healing, without leaving the slightest trace. The dull pain in his chest and ribs also vanished completely.

"So this is the effect of a Minor Healing Potion? It really is miraculous. No wonder it sells for so much."

A Minor Healing Potion sold by the Church of Light cost a full five Gold Coins per bottle. Raven had never been willing to buy one.

Oddly, the blue glow around the potion bottle still hadn't faded.

"Strange. Could it be that the bottle itself is an intermediate magical item?" Raven was a little baffled. He put the stopper back in, about to store it away, when he noticed something wrong.

At the bottom of the bottle, which should have been completely empty, a faint sheen of water had gathered.

"This is...?"

Raven's eyes lit up. He raised the bottle and held his fingernail level with the water, watching it for a full minute.

One minute later, he discovered in surprise that the liquid in the bottle had increased by a tiny amount.

"Could this bottle continuously generate Minor Healing Potions on its own!?"

He didn't know how long it would take to produce a full bottle, but one bottle was worth five Gold Coins!

Five of them!

One Gold Coin equaled one hundred Silver Coins, and one Silver Coin equaled one hundred Copper Coins.

In Monen City, a pound of Black Bread cost three Copper Coins, while a liter of milk cost ten Copper Coins. Five Gold Coins were enough for an ordinary family to live on for a year.

And in the remote backwater of Eagle Town, most people had never even seen a Gold Coin in their lives. Having a few Silver Coins on hand already counted as being well-off!

If he returned to Monen City now, he could become a small fortune just by selling Healing Potions with this bottle!

"Donald, you really did have some assets!"

Raven jumped up excitedly. "The rewards from this starting boss are pretty good!"

After hanging the potion bottle from his belt, Raven calmed himself and turned his gaze toward the woman still lying quietly on the ground.

She had dazzling golden hair that rippled like waves and an exquisite oval face delicate enough to seem breakable with a breath. Her eyes were shut, her brows faintly furrowed, and her soft lips tightly pursed.

Her Priest Robe was woven from cotton, creamy white overall, with golden patterns embroidered along the edges of its split front. A sun-and-moon emblem of gold and silver thread rested on her chest. The robe hugged her tightly, squeezing her full figure and making every curve stand out.

90, 60, 92!

Having watched countless films in his previous life and seen countless people in this one, Raven had never encountered such a perfect figure.

And the brilliant white light flowing through her body represented her identity as a Second-tier Divine Spellcaster.

Laxus, the only Priest at Eagle Town's Church.

"Does the Church of Light eat this well?" Raven scratched his head, walked before Laxus, bent down, and reached toward her chest...

...toward the spot beneath her nose.

"Thank goodness. She's still breathing..." Raven let out a long sigh of relief.

The Church of Light held enormous influence in the Kendy Empire. Every king's coronation had to be presided over by the pope, and the status of clergy was absurdly high.

If this Priest died in Eagle Town without explanation, Raven wouldn't merely fail to inherit the Nobility Title. Being hanged would already be an enormous mercy; the stake would be his only destination!

After confirming she was alive, Raven's gaze shifted to Donald's corpse, still standing rigidly nearby. His brows knitted tightly.

In Donald's current state, anyone could tell at a glance that he was connected to an Evil God.

And whether it was the Church of Light or the Cairns Empire, they had only one attitude toward anything related to Evil Gods: better to kill a thousand by mistake than let one escape.

Just two years ago, Monen City had a case involving the suspected summoning of an Evil God. Afterward, half a street—sixty-five households and more than five hundred people—were taken away by the Church of Light's Inquisition. Not a single one had returned to this day!

If anyone discovered Donald's connection to an Evil God, Raven wouldn't merely lose his right to inherit the Nobility Title. Being allowed to walk alive to the stake would be a blessing!

"Heh, my luck's pretty good. I'm next to two stakes and still haven't been burned to death."

He joked about himself with a smile, but his expression was far from relaxed.

His most urgent task was to dispose of his cheap uncle's corpse before Laxus woke up!

But as anyone who killed people often knew, murder was easy; disposing of the body was hard.

Donald's body was over six feet tall and weighed at least two hundred pounds.

Raven was having trouble even standing right now. Even at his strongest, he couldn't move this dead pig!

"What should I do..." Raven slowly sat on the ground and began considering his next move.

Inside the castle were three guards, a cook, and a Butler.

Outside the castle were Donald's second wife, Denise, and his stepson, Weston.

A sealed Secret Chamber, temporarily conceal the news of his death?

No!

The chef aside, the Chief Guard and the Butler were both Donald's confidants. If they deliberately concealed things, these people definitely wouldn't obey his orders and might very well side with Denise.

Fictive kin were still kin. Although he ranked after Raven, Weston also had the right of inheritance.

He had to think of a way to bring these two important figures in the castle onto his side!

A plan began brewing in Raven's mind. After repeatedly working through it, the smile on his face grew wider and wider.

"That's how we'll do it!"

As he spoke, he swung his arm hard and slapped something soft.

It trembled slightly. The feel was really nice!

Wait, what did I just slap?

Raven slowly turned around and saw that his hand was resting on a taut Priest Robe, right over the sun.

"Mmm..." With a soft nasal murmur, Laxus opened her eyes, revealing enchanting azure eyes like gemstones.

Raven was incredibly nervous. "Beautiful, let me explain!"

But at that moment, his hand cramped up and squeezed twice hard!