As Victoria Caelestis contemplated the cause behind the pillar of blue light appearing in the Black Rose Kingdom by the small pavilion on the edge of the mountain peak, a young lady with a slight resemblance snuck up on her.

Suddenly, the young lady pounced once she reached within a few steps of Victoria.

However, Victoria had already noticed the person's presence. Still, she chose not to evade the young creature's sneak attack.

"What do you want this time, Valerie?" Victoria calmly asked as she was hugged affectionately from behind by her granddaughter, Valerie Caelestis, knowing she came with a purpose.

Valerie Caelestis, the firstborn of Victoria's second daughter, Vivian Caelestis – she also shared the common trait of Darkans.

After all, the Great House of Caelestis was a household of Darkans and possibly the most publicly recognized and prominent Darkan household.

"Grandma, I want to join the others on the trip to the Black Rose Kingdom," Valerie requested with a puppy look, hoping to soften Victoria's heart and receive her approval.

Unfortunately, Victoria immediately frowned with strong disapproval when she heard Valerie's request.

"Absolutely not!"

Victoria's firm rejection shook Valerie's heart, causing her eyes to turn dull with disappointment. But after a moment of consideration, she bit her lips stubbornly, and her eyes glazed with defiance.

"Why can't I go when others can, Grandma?!" Valerie argued.

"Because it's too dangerous, and you are not nearly as strong enough!" Victoria firmly stated with a stern, decisive glare.

"But I am already a Senior Witch!" Valeria stubbornly argued.

"So what if you are a Senior Witch?! Is a Senior Witch strong!?" Victoria thundered before mentioning, "The Black Rose Kingdom has thousands of High Witches now! Do you think becoming the youngest Mid-stage Senior Witch in your current generation makes you strong, Valerie? Wake up!"

"Without the backing of our great house, you are nothing on your own! The world is full of hungry wolves and scheming foxes. You will not survive very long out there while holding onto whatever pride you have as a member of our great house. And do not think that my words are harsh; I am trying to make you aware of the brutal reality to save your life!"

"Your Fourth Aunt had also been a great talent, perhaps even the greatest talent our great house ever had since the dawn of magic! Everyone believed she would become a Transcendent Witch one day, but what happened to her in the end?"

"When I let her out to experience the outside world, she fell in some unknown place and time before anyone could witness her full potential!" Victoria bellowed loudly, eyes and tone filled with remorse and sorrow as she recalled the past.

She blamed herself for each and every one of her children's deaths. She felt like she had failed them by not adequately preparing them and educating them well.

Her fourth child, Vivienne Caelestis, naturally wasn't the only child she had lost in her 333 years of life.

In her life, Victoria Caelestis had given birth to five daughters and three sons. Given the low fertility of witches, producing eight offspring in three hundred years was considered somewhat impressive.

Unfortunately, only two daughters were still living and breathing among the five daughters and three sons.

The rest had met with untimely deaths one by one.

"I only have you, your mother, and your Third Aunt left. I will not risk losing any more of my children and grandchildren. I have already lost too many," Victoria firmly stated without any intention of ever changing her mind.

She was tired of seeing her children departing the world of the living before her.

As such, for dangerous missions outside the family's territory, Victoria would only assign them to indirect descendants and outer members.

After Valerie listened to her grandmother's words, her head somewhat cooled down before she frowned in thought. Being reminded of the untimely deaths of every direct member of the family who had ever gone out for experience, she couldn't help but have some doubts.

"Grandma, isn't it strange that our family is always dying outside our territory despite our great prestige across the seven witch kingdoms? Are we being targeted by someone?" Valerie asked.

"That's right!" another woman's voice answered from afar.

Valerie and Victoria glanced over and found a beautiful, fairy-like lady approaching their location from some distance away. The lady appeared young but possessed an age that did not match her appearance, like Victoria.

Furthermore, the lady shared some resemblance to Victoria.

"Third Grandma," Valerie greeted respectfully upon the lady's arrival at their small pavilion by the edge of the mountain peak.

The lady was Victoria Caelestis's younger sister, Vera Caelestis. She was also a powerful High Witch like her siblings.

Besides Vera Caelestis, Victoria also had an elder sister, who was the current acting head of the Great House, and three other younger sisters.

Vera Caelestis was the third eldest child in their family.

If their nine brothers had not all passed away from old age, they would still be a family of fifteen siblings. Their family wasn't small before the dawn of magic. In fact, their Caelestis family was even larger before Gehenna's appearance.

It wasn't strange for a great house to have many direct family members of the same generation.

After all, it was the oldest and most straightforward trick to building up a powerful, wealthy, or influential household.

If one lacked the talents to create power, wealth, or influence, then one should produce an offspring who could. If having one wasn't enough, then have three more. If having three more still wasn't enough, then have an additional five, and so on!

In a bad pool of ten children, if nine turned out to be talentless idiots, the tenth child was bound to be a talent, at least!

"Mm."

Vera Caelestis acknowledged her granddaughter's greeting with a casual nod before she shifted her attention to Victoria with a smile.

"I knew I would find you here, Second Sister," Vera commented, implying she had been looking for her. But then, she looked back at Valerie to continue their topic, reaffirming her previous claim, "Our family is, indeed, being targeted."

"It's even possible that the ruler of every country on the continent wants everyone carrying the blood of Caelestis to die out," Vera added, startling Valerie.

"Why?" Valerie furrowed her brows in confusion and doubt.

"I don't remember learning about our family having big feuds with anyone... In fact, besides our relationship with the Black Rose Kingdom, which had become estranged, our Great House of Caelestis seems to be on good terms with every other witch kingdom, Third Grandma?"

"Haiz… Even if we are on good terms with others, it doesn't necessarily mean they won't secretly plot against us for their own interests. You don't need to be enemies for others to want to kill you," Victoria interjected with a sigh.

"That's right!" Vera fully agreed before her eyes flickered with a fierce glint full of anger and hate.

"But if it wasn't for that damn prophecy made by that wretched old sack of decaying bones from the Great Ratholos Empire, would our siblings, children, and grandchildren continuously die outside for no reason?!"

"Prophecy? What prophecy?" Valerie blinked with a blank look.

She had never heard of any prophecy.

Moreover, were such things even worth believing?