Dimi and Felix stared blankly at their father, their little heads failing to grasp what he meant for a moment.
But very soon, Felix was so excited he nearly jumped up. He said in shock, "The Other Dukes and the Empress all liked our ancestor!?"
"Everyone liked him?" Dimi also could not understand it, his face full of confusion. "And it was two men and three women?"
But when Dimi looked up at the portrait ahead, he immediately understood his own shallowness—for their ancestor, gender had never been an unbridgeable chasm.
"They say the portrait captured only one-tenth of our ancestor's charm," the Starforging Duke said. "Aside from his appearance, what was even more lethal was his charisma. In his life of warfare, he survived countless brushes with death, and every time, subordinates were willing to sacrifice themselves to buy him time. His legions would fight to the last man and never retreat. He was captured three times, and all three times, high-ranking enemies betrayed their side for him... You could even say the other four dukes were all won over by our ancestor. They served Her Highness the Fourth Princess because of him."
Felix was already shaken beyond words, but suspicion appeared on Dimi's face. "Father, this sounds a little too... even more unbelievable than the knight Mother criticized."
"That's normal," the Starforging Duke said. "I didn't believe it the first time I heard it either, and the rest of the story is even more bizarre."
"What happened after that?" Felix asked expectantly. "Who did our ancestor choose to be with?"
"Among the five admirers, four were Legendary Arcanists, and one was the founding empress." The Starforging Duke lowered his head to look at the children. "What do you think would have happened if our ancestor had chosen one