Williams returned to his bedroom.
The Storm that had raged all night had softened into a drizzle over the mountains by the next day. Williams looked at the Ancestor Stone on the table and placed his hand on it.
Before Ancestor Victor's complaints could reach his ears, Williams asked him who Annan was.
Ancestor Victor insisted Annan was an impostor. Williams listened in silence, then suddenly asked, "He said you're a Demon Stone, a monster born from a Vampire's remains."
"He's talking out of his ass! That lowly Blood Slave dares slander me? Kill him!"
"He also said we can wake Ancestor Lydia..."
Ancestor Victor fell silent in the middle of his tirade.
Williams had his answer.
"Really?"
The Crimson Princess looked doubtful.
"Of course not."
Getting the Bloodstone mattered more than an alliance with the Morel Family, so Annan first had to force Williams to make a choice.
"But Victor is their ancestor too..."
"Victor is just a stone, and he might not even be genuine. The real Lydia is lying in the Slumbering Ground."
The next evening, Annan received word: Williams's father, the head of the Morel Family who stood behind the Prince, had returned from the front.
Annan wasn't sure whether news from the Old Castle had reached the front. He couldn't think of another reason the man would rush back.
Late that night, the current head of the Morel Family landed at the Castle.
Williams took him to see Annan, recounting everything that had happened over the past three days, including Annan's insult to him... Even if it had been a misunderstanding, he hoped his father would teach the man a lesson.
Following his father into the Lounge, Williams watched smugly as the man approached the figure by the fireplace and bowed deeply.
"Grandfather Oroda..."