"What does he mean? Could it be...?"

"Is my sister actually my mother? She has been sealed by magic for so long that she still looks so young..."

"No, that can't be right. The real Oedipus is not my mother. My mother should be Lucifer, an angel."

"But according to what he said, does that mean I have no Altria blood at all?"

"Shouldn't I be the legitimate heir of the Altria family?"

"But if I don't have any Altria blood, what does the Altria family mean to me..."

"Damn it! It's really getting more and more confusing."

"One last question! Is that woman underground the one you sealed?" Turing shook his head, placing his hands on the table, trying to appear more imposing.

"Is she Aphrodite..." Turing suddenly realized something, and a white flash emerged from under his eyelids.

The dazzling light was like lingering ghosts, covering Turing's petite body completely.

Turing looked down at the stone table, and the smooth surface reflected his astonished face.

On his cheeks, at the corners of his mouth, on his arms, and on his neck, there were letters of various sizes emitting light.

Foreign letters that Turing couldn't understand.

ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR

"Do you... do you know what's underground? Have you been there?"

Pushkin's sinister questioning seemed to roast the shrubs in the forest, like brittle rib bones, through the thin aurora columns shrouded in hazy morning mist.

"I... Turing suddenly felt as if he had traveled through time and space. The previous dream-like sensation gradually became like a layer of frost covering his body, blocking his ability to question.

"Darn it... why is it this situation again!"

Turing suddenly understood that this glowing symptom all over his body was similar to the sudden appearance of blood words on his hand. They were both preludes to losing consciousness.

"Please wait, I still have a lot... There are still many things I want to ask!"

"What exactly are angels? How did they come to be? Why do they hide in our lives?"

"Why does obtaining angelic power mean one can control and become the head of the ruling family? Isn't the Firework Festival a competition based on the overall qualities of the young children in the family?"

The light on Turing's body gradually became stronger and blurred.

"Mother... is Oedipus really my real mother? Please tell me!"

Turing yelled at Pushkin as if the power had been cut off.

"Please, I beg you... this is very important to me..."

Overwhelmed by a long-forgotten drowsiness, Turing couldn't hold up his body with his hands anymore. With a thud, Turing fell sideways from the stone table.

-----------------------

"Child, you have arrived." In Oedipus's left hand hung a red chalk, and in his right hand, he held a delicate pipe, calmly smoking.

As soon as Merka entered the room, all the arguments he had just simulated in his mind were instantly shattered by Oedipus's gentle yet heavy tone.

Merka glanced nervously around the room and discovered that the entire room was covered in unfamiliar arrays, filled with unimaginable magical power.

"Madam Mother..." Merka didn't know what to do, but it was never wrong to first greet politely.

Dozens of pitch-black tentacles violently shot out from behind Oedipus, and before Merka could finish speaking, he was instantaneously knocked unconscious, his limbs pierced with several holes, firmly pinned to the wall.

Oedipus, who had always worn a calm smile, changed her demeanor and walked over to Merka with a serious and indifferent expression, gently stroking Merka's forehead with one hand.

"It's really a substitute." Oedipus's complexion became worse, as if there were cold lightning flickering in her eyes.

"At this point, does Maria actually have the audacity to do something like this..."

"In that case, searching his memories would be useless. Maria wouldn't leave any traces in his memories."

"Should we kill him? No."

"Based on his memories, he is probably the so-called Merka. If we kill him, Turing will never return."

"With Turing's power, it is impossible for her to be imprisoned."

"Poisoned? Ambushed? Impossible."

"I have always instilled her with a strong sense of suspicion since she was young, and as a half-human, half-angel, she is not afraid of ordinary ambushes at all."

"She was probably deceived. Maria wanted to create a rift between me and Turing."

"If I kill Merka, that would play right into her hands."

"So should we keep him? I believe Turing wouldn't dare to not return for the competition..."

"That won't work either. This brat is on Maria's side. As long as I keep him, Turing will continue to do things like what happened in Red Port, Lachésis, beyond my control, due to their relationship."

"Or should I openly announce that the Agio family has deceived the Altria family and has detained our heir? Then use this as an opportunity to confront Maria?"

"That won't work either. On the day of leaving Lachésis, every family bid us farewell, and Turing boarded our family carriage in front of everyone's eyes."

"It seems she even predicted this step."

"Maria... you really have played a good game on me." Oedipus gently pursed her lips, her eyelids twitched slightly.

If there were maids by Oedipus's side, they would probably be scared to death — they had never seen Oedipus angry before!

"Anyway, let's at least disarm the bomb on him."

"While it won't kill me, it might explode and kill the kid himself."

Oedipus reached out one hand towards the right lung lobe of Merka, hesitated for a moment, and chuckled softly.

"Never mind, you've got your wish. This is the first time."

"As a reward, let's see what moves you have in store for us."

"Let me see what interesting script you'll come up with next."

One violent hand of Oedipus plunged into Merka's right chest, directly pulling out the lungs covered in gushing blood from the rib cage, along with the severed blood vessels.

Unconscious Merka woke up, screaming in agony.

"Sleep, child, for pain is the soothing medicine for your slumber," Oedipus whispered to the once again unconscious Merka.

Under Oedipus's abundant power, Merka's empty right chest gradually restored to its original state.

——————————————————————————

"Is the light too bright, Bishop?" Paris sat upright, next to Maria, who was sleeping in a rocking chair, speaking gently.

"Don't be silly, Bishop likes to sunbathe during naps," Bordeaux scoffed at Paris, as if mocking Paris for being from the Agio family, implying that she didn't understand Maria as well as Bordeaux did.

Every day, Maria arranged two different disciples to follow her, not only to teach and enlighten them, but also as a means of self-defense for Maria.

"Did I... fall asleep?" Maria asked.

"Yes," Bordeaux said, "You were lecturing and somehow fell asleep yourself. Can we blame it on us saying your lectures are boring and dull?"

Bordeaux always spoke straightforwardly, but it didn't rule out the fact that some people might actually like this kind of personality, just like Maria.

"You can sleep a bit longer, we'll be by your side," Paris, unlike the rough Bordeaux, spoke smoothly and gently, like a lychee.

"I can't, there is something that needs to be done," Maria said with a bitter smile.

"The seal on Merka has been broken," Maria's excited words seemed to reveal a hint of complex sadness. "It's his right chest."