Madam Penelope's Disfavor

History does not exist; one can only speculate about the customs and social development of the past through various knightly novels.

This was Liszt's understanding of the matter.

He likewise had no idea when humanity originated in this world.

What he did know for certain was that the Sapphire Grand Duchy had been established for one hundred and fifty years. Last year, they held a grand anniversary celebration, an event that had left an impression on Liszt.

There were many knightly novels about the Sapphire Family within the country, and some recorded that the family possessed a heritage spanning a thousand years.

As for the Tulip Family, there was no such thing as a genealogy. All Liszt knew was that his great-great-grandfather—the father of his grandfather's grandfather—lived at a time when the family possessed neither a Tulip Great Sprite nor even a Tulip Sprite, and thus, they did not have the surname "Tulip."

Their original surname was "Tile," which indicated that the family had once belonged to the commoner class. According to the family history passed down from father to son, his great-great-grandfather was born with immense strength and followed a noble, serving the newly founded Sapphire Family. He performed meritorious service in war and was enfeoffed as a Baronet Knight.

From then on, the family rose into the ranks of the nobility.

By his great-grandfather's generation, they became Barons; by his grandfather's generation, they became Viscounts and acquired a Tulip Sprite.

It was not until Leewilliam inherited the title that the sprite evolved into a Great Sprite, leading to the family surname being changed to Tulip. A few years later, Leewilliam became a Sky Knight, and due to his illustrious military achievements, he was enfeoffed by the Sapphire Grand Duke as the Count of Coral Island.

To signify the family's ascent into the upper echelons of nobility, the Snake Script "L" from Leewilliam's name became the prefix for the names of his descendants. Every descendant would carry the Snake Script "L" to show respect for the family's founder. They could be named "Li XX," "Li X," "Li XXX," or "Li XXXX"... As for how many "X"s there could be, that depended entirely on the mood of the person doing the naming.

Liszt's interpretation was that this "Li (L)" character functioned much like a clan name distinct from the surname.

His mother's family had a similar custom, though they used "M" (Mei).

Thus, the Tulip Family had a history spanning only six generations, covering a period of about one hundred and fifty years.

Beyond that, there was no knowing who their ancestors were.

Progenitor, remote ancestor, grand ancestor, fierce ancestor, great-great-grandfather, great-grandfather, grandfather, father... A dignified Count's family, and instead of eighteen generations of ancestors, we only remember six. Truly a barbaric age. Liszt sneered at this; how could a civilization without history speak of heritage?

In his homeland, his own family possessed a genealogy with precise names that could be traced back to the Ming Dynasty.

As for tracing bloodlines, they could even be traced back to the era of the Yellow Emperor.

"And these knightly novels that boast about the Sapphire Family are all nonsense. The origins of their thousand-year heritage are bizarre and varied. Some say they originated in the south of the Iron Ridge Kingdom, others say they migrated from the Blast Furnace Kingdom, and still others say they drifted from the distant Blue Dragon Empire... If the Sapphire Family is behind the boasting in these novels, they are certainly not very diligent."

He very much wanted to piece together a rough history of this world, but he felt there was little hope. The knightly novel he had read that recorded the most distant history was a book titled The Foolish Knight and the Red-Tailed Fire Dragon.

The story in this novel took place ten thousand years ago in the Everlasting Glory Empire—but Liszt had verified that the Everlasting Glory Empire had been established for no more than three thousand years.

The Everlasting Glory Empire was also the nation with the longest reign on the continent.

Many countries were founded alongside the friendship of dragons, only to decline due to the death or departure of those dragons. Some even met their end midway through a dragon-slaying war, which was quite normal.

At the beginning of the Sapphire Grand Duchy's founding, a dragon-slaying war had occurred.

At that time, the Sapphire Dragon was nearly killed by invaders from the Eagle Kingdom and could not gain a foothold on the vast continent. During its flight, the dragon's blood stained a mountain range, causing countless sapphires to form within it, which became the important mineral-rich mountain range of the Iron Ridge Kingdom—Blue Blood Mountain.

Although the dragon did not die, the first Sapphire Grand Duke was severely wounded and had to withdraw from the continent, fleeing to the islands to establish his nation.

Of course, this piece of history was Liszt's own deduction.

In the knightly novels that flattered the Sapphire Family, the origin of Blue Blood Mountain was that the Sapphire Dragon had bitten the White Cast Iron Dragon of the hostile Eagle Kingdom, and its blood had stained the mountain into a mine.

As for why the blood of a White Cast Iron Dragon would create a mountain capable of producing sapphires, well... to each their own interpretation.

As long as it fooled the common folk, there was no need to explain it so clearly.

Knock, knock, knock.

"Please come in." Liszt looked up from a book titled Guide to Fire Attribute Battle Qi Development.

Entering was the castle's vice-steward, Silva, who was in his early forties. He was Louis's deputy and the designated successor to the position of family steward.

"Young Master Liszt, your grandmother, Lady Penelope, has arrived. She is currently in the drawing room, accompanied by Young Master Levis and Miss Lvera."

"Grandmother is here? I shall go over at once."

Liszt rubbed his forehead, feeling a bit annoyed—his grandmother did not care for him.

His father's aversion had been mostly due to disappointment, but since his return, his temperament had changed, and the Count no longer showed such disdain, clearly pleased by the transformation. His grandmother, however, was different; she disliked Liszt simply because he reminded her of Melissa, her daughter-in-law.

Penelope lived in a small castle in Coral City. The reason she did not live with her son was Melissa—the two women did not get along.

Liszt, who looked so much like his mother, became Penelope's punching bag.

But no matter how annoyed he felt, he still had to go downstairs to pay his respects.

"Grandmother, you have arrived. Seeing that you are in good health brings me great peace of mind."

"Oh, look, look who it is!" The wrinkles on Penelope's face were already quite deep; she was nearly sixty years old. "Liszt, if you hadn't spoken, I would have thought Melissa had come to oppose me again. This pretty face... thank heavens she has gone to the Heavenly Kingdom to enjoy her rest, so this old woman finally dares to visit her son's castle."

Liszt's face remained expressionless as he sat down quietly, not saying a word.

The old lady did not care for him, so why should he ask for trouble? They rarely saw each other anyway; he would treat her as a stranger and maintain a facade of respect.

Lvera smiled and said, "Liszt, Grandmother heard you had returned and rushed to the castle immediately. At this time of day, she usually spends several hours praying for the family."

Penelope turned her head away from Liszt and muttered, "I didn't come specifically to see him."

Is this what they call being sharp-tongued but soft-hearted?

Liszt thought to himself that Lady Penelope likely loved her grandson, but she was simply in the habit of attacking Liszt because he resembled Melissa—a habit spanning over a decade. In truth, whether she loved him or disliked him did not matter; Liszt only wanted to be a quiet, handsome man.

"I heard from your sister that Flower Town is even more crude than imagined, practically like a small village?" Lady Penelope inquired.

"It is indeed a bit crude, but that makes it all the better for stretching one's limbs and developing. I already have a plan for the development of Flower Town."

"Look at that, just look at that—such a grand and imposing tone, that's finally a bit of the Tulip Family spirit. Don't always imitate Melissa's unhurried, calm demeanor, as if she were born a cut above everyone else. You already look enough like her; if your temperaments were the same, it would truly be the death of this old woman, a shadow I could never shake off."

Liszt did not take the bait.

He did not have many memories of his mother, who had passed away from illness when he was very young.

Lady Penelope continued to grumble and pick at Melissa's faults, which could be summarized as: the Marquis's daughter looks down on me and opposes me at every turn, so you must never inherit her shortcomings.