The backlash from the severed mana link echoed through my mind. It felt like an arrow had really pierced my eyeball. Immersion mode was easier to control, and close-range observation felt better too, but if the unit got destroyed, it was also much easier to suffer psychic backlash. It was like how amputees sometimes still felt pain in limbs they had already lost. That lingering sensation, phantom pain, was truly awful.

The self-destruct system should've worked properly. Even if Freud picked up the wreckage, he'd only find a pile of twisted metal scraps. Anything useful had already been destroyed.

Thinking that, the pain in my eye eased a little. My ragged breathing gradually calmed as well. I placed my small hand over my chest and steadied my heart, still thrilled from getting my revenge. Then I rolled out of bed, limped to the door, and locked the room tight.

The construction of Observer Unit No. 2 might have to start ahead of schedule. Still, hiding in my room right now was definitely the smart move. Even without an Observer as my eyes, I knew the count's manor had already exploded into chaos.

My selfish, idiotic father had finally realized his wife had cuckolded him. And the man she'd cheated with was his most trusted steward. I'd originally planned to make use of this matter, but now it seemed completely unnecessary. Thanks to Thomas blowing himself up, it was like I'd lit the powder keg of this whole house. Now the entire family was in an uproar. Hahahaha, this feels amazing!

"Katherine! You bitch, get out here!"

Father's voice echoed through the corridor. He was searching room by room with soldiers for my stepmother, yet somehow skipped my room alone. Looks like he was physically disgusted by me. Out of sight, out of mind. What a coincidence. I felt the same way.

Blood ties really weren't something you could just cut off. Even our thoughts were alike. As expected of a biological father and daughter.

"Victoria, look at the mess you made. My dried fish almost got ruined."

A pitch-black shadow stepped out of the darkness, its movements wrapped in shadow itself. Only those golden eyes gleamed. The black cat nimbly leaped onto the old wooden table I used as a workbench. Its tail swayed lazily. You couldn't tell whether it was happy or unhappy, but the dried fish in its mouth said enough. It had clearly sold its body to the kitchen auntie again—by letting itself be petted—in exchange for snacks.

As expected of a demon. It was completely at home doing this sort of thing.

"Be happy, Chris." I focused on writing the alchemical program. "Your first sacrifice has already been placed on the altar. It'll become your bait very soon."

"Hmph. A soul that lowly... still better than nothing."

"Don't worry. This is only the beginning." I spread the completed transmutation circle across the table. "Next, I'll turn this house into a hell filled with poison gas."

With that, I poured the mana I'd borrowed from Chris into the transmutation circle. Amid flickering red arcs of light, Observer Unit No. 2 was molded into shape all at once.

Heh. This was the proper use of Ancient Alchemy. Skip assembly, skip calibration, and form it in one step.

"Oh right, Chris." I picked up Observer No. 2 and checked its optical lens. "That thing I told you to do while you were out taking a walk—did you finish it?"

"Put House Lude's family register on the count's desk and open it to page 137? Already done," the black cat said. "Don't order me around like that next time. I charge fees."

"Yeah, yeah. Once my leg gets better, I'll go catch fish for you in the creek."

"Not that kind of fee! I'm a demon. I want souls! Delicious souls! Not dried fish, hmph~"

Heh. Just admit it. No cat could resist the temptation of dried fish. That was an absolute truth written into the laws of causality.

The farce in the count's castle settled down an hour later. The reason was simple. The moment Katherine saw Thomas get captured, she took the valuables she'd packed in advance, fled by carriage through the back gate, and brought her son Royce with her. The only one she left behind was Elizabeth.

She probably thought Count Lud adored Elizabeth so much that leaving her behind could become a chance to repair their relationship. After all, she'd given the count a lovely daughter.

That's right. The premise was that Elizabeth was actually the count's biological child.

"Observer No. 2, activate."

I infused mana into the newly made Observer, and its main camera lit up. The complex optical components inside the lens adjusted focus slightly, making a faint rustling sound. The image reflected a frail girl. She looked terribly thin. Her gray hair was messy, like dried grass. Only her golden eyes shone with a mad light.

Yes. This was how I looked in other people's eyes.

"Testing control system." I let go of it. "Take off."

Beep beep—!

Observer No. 2 let out a soft sound. An anti-gravity formula lifted it into the air. The optical camouflage engraved on its shell activated one after another. Countless hexagonal concealment modules erased its outline, until it became nothing more than a faint shadow.

"Good," I ordered. "Go to the count's study."

Beeep—!

The Observer turned and flew into the ventilation duct in the wall. It moved all the way toward the third floor. This ventilation system, designed by my ancestors, was barely used anymore. It was full of cobwebs and rat droppings. Still, I had to admit it was an extremely ingenious system. Nearly every room had an outlet. It was perfect for letting my observing eye move around freely.

Visual sync, ENTER.

Observer No. 2's vision synchronized with mine. There I saw the furious Count Lud drinking alone in his office. His face was as red as liver. Because he was incapable in that department, his wife had gone to sleep with the steward. And to make things worse, the ducal knights and judicial officers had heard about this humiliation too. It wouldn't be long before my father became a laughingstock in high society.

As the head of a count's house, social death in noble circles was even harder to accept than the destruction of one's family. I really wanted to see how dear father planned to solve this.

Suddenly, father noticed a thick book on the desk. It had been placed there abruptly on the otherwise empty surface, opened to a specific page. Resting on top of it was a holy emblem of the Triune Church.

As the most influential religion on the continent, the Triune Church had countless believers. My father happened to be one of them. Every year, he donated a huge sum to the church. He hadn't even stopped when the family was on the verge of bankruptcy.

Now it was time for the "Three Gods" to repay him.

Father picked up the holy emblem and examined it for a second. His chaotic emotions seemed to settle a little. Then he turned his gaze to the thick book.

So it was House Lude's family register. It recorded the detailed information of every family member, from birth year and age to physical traits, all laid out clearly in chart form. I truly had to thank the ancestor who made this absurdly thorough family register. It saved me a lot of trouble.

The holy emblem had been placed on the line for eye color.

Father frowned. He reached out and began flipping through the yellowing parchment pages, one by one, moving backward. As the register grew thinner in his hands, his expression became more and more grave. In the end, he clenched the holy emblem, knelt before the desk, and let out broken cries toward the statue of the Three Gods in the corner of the room.

He seemed to be praying. Or maybe accusing them. In the end, he broke down into sobbing tears.

Ahahahaha, this feels incredible!

Watching father suffer so much filled me with immense satisfaction. I'd thought my conscience might torment me for doing something so vile, for kicking him while he was down.

But my conscience was long gone.

It had burned to ash on the execution stake. Not even scraps remained.

That's right. Not only did I not feel even a trace of guilt, I was actually delighted.

"The color of the eyes... why didn't I ever notice?" Father stopped sobbing. "No child with blue eyes has ever been born in House Lude... and I actually failed to notice even that..."

Blue symbolized nobility. Only a beautiful girl with blue eyes was qualified to become empress. It was an unspoken rule of the Empire. But House Lude seemed cursed. It had never once produced a blue-eyed girl. Not a single one.

The counts of every generation had tried to obtain the blue-eyed trait through marriage. Quite a few countesses had possessed beautiful blue eyes. Yet that noble symbol had never appeared in their children.

On the other hand, the first Count Lud had possessed a pair of golden Demon Eyes. But that eye color had never appeared again in the following centuries.

Not until I was born.

This was my second card—denying Elizabeth's bloodline. And I played it at the exact moment my stepmother Katherine's affair had come to light. By using the holy emblem, this religious symbol, I completely shattered my father's fragile mental defenses and made him believe this was a "revelation" from the Three Gods.

To save this pitiful man betrayed by his wife, the Three Gods had sent down a revelation!

Ahahaha, what a wonderful story. It was the kind of plot that only existed in fairy tales. Elizabeth had been left behind as Katherine's backup plan. But now she'd lost her mother's protection and would have to face father's wrath directly.

This was wonderful. Absolutely wonderful!

I couldn't wait to see how father would deal with Elizabeth. I watched as he took a sword down from the wall and headed for her room.

My observing eye moved through the cobweb-filled ventilation shaft and entered Elizabeth's room ahead of him. I'd prepared myself a front-row seat and waited for the show to begin.

The door opened. Count Lud entered Elizabeth's room with sword in hand. Elizabeth, who had been drawing at her desk, immediately showed a joyful smile and skipped over toward him. But when she saw the cold gleam of the blade, she realized something and stopped at once.

"Father..." That little bitch put on a pitiful expression. "Do... do you not love me anymore?"

Clang—!

The sword fell from Count Lud's hand to the floor.

He walked over, gently pulled Elizabeth into his arms, and burst into tears, as if he wanted to wash away all the sorrow in his heart with them.

What the hell! What the hell! What the hell!

What kind of soap opera was this? What the hell just happened?

Wait. That mana reaction... could it be?!

I ordered the Observer to fly in front of Elizabeth and magnified the image of her pupils through the optical camera. There, inside her eyes, a heart-shaped crest was flickering.

That was... the Beguiling Eye!

The weakest of the twelve Demon Eyes, and at the same time the strongest. A powerful enough wielder of the Beguiling Eye could even control dragons. And that kind of power was actually on Elizabeth?!

No wonder everyone showed her goodwill, then joined her in bullying me!

It was all because of those Demon Eyes!

Why? Why exactly?!

I schemed so carefully to drive the parasites out of this house, yet my fake innocent little sister still got all the benefits while doing nothing! Why was this world so unfair?!

A world like this... would be better off destroyed.