A Villainess Should Be Strong

"..?" Estelle was puzzled at the sudden barrage. She felt left out.

After compiling the information and matching it with each other, they reached the ultimate conclusion. Indeed, Duke Miller's powers should just be the remnants and nothing more.

The [Spectre] in question adhered to the suspicion they had, it really was a spirit that made him gain the [Contractor] title.

According to Yulia's search, the mansion had traces of the [Spectre]'s powers, but it was already faded and easy to breach. Most of it was concentrated around the Duke's physical body, so it could be assumed that the Duke had something on him that preserved the power.

If the Duke's status didn't display the magic as [Spectre's Magic Code], she wouldn't have came to this theory. The 'Magic Code' in question should be due to the reduced magic- from the original [Spectre] into its remains.

Heine's records, on in the other hand, showed that the Duke was active up until three decades ago. Before that, the Duke frequently went on missions and traveled all around the world. He even went through the Sylvania and Vaitral, which were known to reject other races multiple times. This could be achieved with the help of a [Spectre].

The way to utilize a [Spectre] was very diverse. You could use it as a shield, become proficient in illusions, or even make it seem like you disappeared into thin air.

Minerva's information showed his downfall. After an unlisted tragedy happened, the Duke's powers were lost and he couldn't perform his feats anymore. Her acquaintances roughly knew about the Duke, but Glenn, her former top mercenary friend provided her with more details.

The key they were looking at was how Duke Miller got a [Spectre]. Rumors might be rumors, but Glenn had told her that Duke Miller rose into fame a short while after his six - year - old daughter died. At that time, the Duke was in his late thirties.

There were those who believed that Duke Miller had strengthened himself with his daughter's death as a basis, but the unsaid rumors were still engraved in everyone's hearts.

First of all, A [Spectre] was an otherworldly spirit that was not born as a full - fledged spirit. Their souls originated from a living being. If someone died with grudged, unresolved troubles, or anything of the sort, there was a high chance that they could become a [Spectre].

A [Spectre] would only make a contract with someone close to them.

It wouldn't be a surprise to see people constantly theorizing about how Duke Miller's young daughter was the [Spectre] he contracted with, due to the matching clues.

Not only was his daughter dead, the Duchess also passed away during labor, leaving him with the current heir apparent son.

Duke Miller was now in his seventies. His fame died down, and along with it, the story was buried. In addition, the Duke was rarely present in the public's eye, so people didn't discuss his matters that much. At most, the speculations would be ignited for a short while.

His son, the heir apparent, was now in his thirties. Once Duke Miller passed away, he would inherit the title and continue the legacy.

With both the Duchess and the daughter dead, and the heir apparent not knowing the past incidents, it could be said that the Duke Miller was the only one who truly knew what happened. Aside from that would be Estelle's grandfather, Richter.

"That doesn't explain the acknowledgement thing, though," Estelle mumbled.

"..Maybe you need a blessing?" Minerva brought up her idea.

"Blessing? From whom?"

"I mean... If your grandmother was really a royal elf, you could be accepted in the Elves' community," Minerva said. Even if she was disconnected from both the Elves and the Humans, she definitely possessed basic knowledge about the two.

Yulia leaned more towards the Elves, so her knowledge about the humans were a bit lacking, but it did not matter that much.

"Didn't they hate half - bloods? Wait, no, forget half - bloods, even if it could be true, I only have a quarter of it,"

"If you are a royal, they'd have to acknowledge you no matter how far the blood had spread. Like I said before, they worship their royals like deities. If you have the royal blood, your Moon Goddess' Blessing could be activated.. Probably," Yulia said, earning a nod from Minerva.

Estelle thought back to her status. The eerie question mark beside her racial information glared at her every time she opened the window.

'Human (?)'

If the only reason her bloodline was vague was the mixed Elf blood, the status should've displayed it as a quarter, just like how Yulia and Minerva's information was written as Half Human, Half Elf.

[The Moon Goddess... It's very.. unrealistic.]

Then again, her existence was the most unrealistic thing.

[What other element is there?] She questioned.

After further consideration, she decided to give it a go. She currently had the [God's Blessing] and the [Spirit's Blessing], the [Elf's Blessing] title was harder to get, but if the royal theory was really possible, it would make sense on why Duke Miller phrased it as 'her' acknowledgement and not the rest of them.

She also wondered if the [God's Blessing] would overlap with the Moon Goddess' own.

She didn't know which God gave her a blessing. but she hoped that it wouldn't contradict other blessings.

"Where, and how can I get the blessing?" Estelle steeled her resolve.

"..The Elven Kingdom. Inside the Palace. So.. good luck convincing Alan..?" Minerva fiddled with her fingers, wishing her the best of luck.

The overprotective father, Alan Clareste.

"..Yikes," Estelle grimaced. She did not forget about how she abruptly left her home after one - sidedly declaring that she would be going to the Duke's house.

Would she be able to convince him?

Indeed, the scolding she had to face after returning back home made her regret all her choices.

Alan wasn't pissed because she sent a letter in his name, but he got angry over how Estelle seemed to forsake her safety.

No one knew what could've happened. Estelle was an easy target to people who didn't know her power.

They were only aware of her identity as the Duke's one and only daughter. People would want to capture her for their own profits.

Even if Estelle defended, it meant that her power would be discovered. The information would be spread across the country, and the higher - ups wouldn't miss this chance to take control of Estelle's life.

"Damned girl, when will you learn?!" Alan smoothed out the crinkles on his forehead. He was getting headaches thanks to this unruly daughter of his.

He stressed over Estelle's matters more than he did facing government work.

The fear of having his daughter on the risk of being treated like a caged bird by power - hungry trashes enveloped his thoughts.

"Well, well, don't be so harsh on our little star. If the baby heard, won't they feel aggrieved? They haven't come out yet, but their father is already angry here and there," Sheila pacified the two, hoping that the endless scolding would end.

Estelle observed Sheila. The pregnancy was nearing its end.

Sheila was five months in. A decent sized bump protruded out. Her motherly glow was certainly peaking, making her even more beautiful than what she normally looked like.

Her hair was braided loosely and swept to one side, the only clothes she wore were loose dresses that didn't put any strain to the body.

Her noble figure, however, could not be hidden. Her back was straight, the smile she never lost was still plastered on her face, and none of her manners were lost.

Estelle, who had heard of the dilemmas of pregnancy in great detail from her previous life could not help but praise her mother for not showing any changes.

"Right, right," Estelle nodded. Her father was too much!

In a second, a sharp glare was flashed at her, making her subconsciously turn her head to the side.

Alan also knew that just like he previous times, Estelle would forever be Estelle and would not learn her lesson.

"You... aren't you scared that your mother would worry about you? She's already five months in, shouldn't you care for her more?" Alan also didn't want to scold Estelle. However, the worry he feels every time Estelle makes a trouble would never decrease.

"Ara~ I'm not worried about our little star, didn't you see how great she was at protecting us a while ago?" Sheila was a huge fan of Estelle's prowess, unlike Alan who wanted to hide it.

"That- the things she's doing is escalating day by day, who knows what she'll do by the end of it!" Alan retorted.

Sheila, of course, only responded perfunctorily and did not take the complaints in a dead serious manner.

The two elders began bickering. Only Alan got heated up, whereas Sheila stayed passive and answered him normally.

Really, how could the Duke be titled as a cold person? Clearly, he was very emotional.

He wasn't doing anything wrong by being emotional, though.

Estelle thought about it and found her parents' words to be somewhat true. As a filial child, she should stop rampaging around if she cared about her parents' well being.

Just like the previous incident, what if an attack happened while she was away? She could open a space rift and arrive immediately, but it might be too late.

Since they were definitely being targeted by a certain someone, a form of protection was needed to ensure everybody's safety.

A pregnancy.

She heard that the stronger a baby's innate talent was, the harder it was for the mother to give birth safely. She had to linger around for the risks.

Preferably, she'd nurse her mother back to health after the delivery and set off afterwards.

For the basic safety, she could ask for Yulia's help in setting up barriers.

Furthermore, she had promised Yulia that she would help her in her researches, maybe it was time to settle down for a short while?

Focus on the things near her and forget about the hardships for a bit.

The impending things could wait.

She had to make sure her family could stand on their own before her departure.

Maybe leave one of the Witch sisters to protect the family?

If you got confused:

- When Richter was the Duke Clareste (30+): (Duke Miller (35+), daughter (6), Duchess (30+) - Daughter dies - Duke gets power - Active for 10 years or so - Duchess conceives the heir apparent - Dies in labor - Duke settles down as a single father and stops - Last heard: two decades ago.

- When Alan was the Duke Clareste (20+) : Duke Miller (60+), heir apparent son (20+) - 10 years passed - Estelle's birth - Current timeline.