“...”

No one said anything for a while, but they all understood the gravity of the situation. Adam, Nathan, and Olivia were still left in shock, not only because their 1-year-old little sister comprehended Sword Intent but because she just used mana!

What does that mean?

It means Mika, their little sister who just came out of the womb, has formed her Mana Pathways and Mana Core—officially stepping into the Black Core Realm.

The three were intelligent people and immediately started piecing things together based on this information.

Mika’s increased appetite, abnormally high weight while staying the size of a normal baby, Elizabeth’s high praise of Mika, and how the little girl can already walk and talk…

It didn’t take long for them to come to the same conclusion.

‘She’s also in the First Realm of Body Cultivation, too??’

The three of them were even more bewildered by the notion that they had such a strong and talented little sister without them even knowing.

To make things worse, they might have never found out about this information if not for what happened today.

“Why… Why didn’t you tell us how talented Mika was before?” Adam asked with a complicated expression.

“I’m sorry, son, but we couldn’t risk this information getting into the hands of the wrong people. I trust all of you, but I don’t trust our enemies. What if they somehow learn of Mika’s talents? She’ll never live a peaceful day in her life!” Cain explained with apologetic eyes.

“I see… Haaa… I understand, Dad. It’s just… this information is a bit too surprising,” Adam sighed and nodded in understanding.

He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t a little disappointed, but he knew that his father’s decision was correct. In fact, that’s how all the kids felt.

They knew some techniques could allow a person to look into someone else's memories, and that’s what Cain and Elizabeth are most afraid of.

Adam, Nathan, and Olivia simply aren’t strong enough to prevent that from happening.

Cain could give them a device capable of protecting their minds from outside sources, but that would only make them look even more suspicious.

With today’s technology, it would be easy for most people of similar status or wealth to discover this device.

Cain and Elizabeth were genuinely stuck between a rock and a hard place. Thus, the best course of action is not to tell them. What they don’t know can’t hurt them.

Nevertheless, here they are, experiencing Mika’s talent firsthand.

From what they just saw, Mika’s talent with the Sword seemed to be on par with her other talents. She might even be more talented with the sword than with her Mana Cultivation! They have no way of knowing, as someone of Mika’s talent has never appeared before.

The five of them stared at each other for a few more minutes as they all processed this information, and it was actually Olivia that decided it was time to break the ice.

“I suppose we’ll have to keep quiet about this, yeah?”

She tried to say it in a carefree tone, but it came out forced instead.

Cain and Elizabeth glanced at each other and then nodded.

“Yes, that would be for the best, Sweetie,” Elizabeth said.

“Did you always know about her Mana and Body Cultivation talent?” Nathan asked

Elizabeth nodded, “Actually, she came out of the womb, in the 1st Realm, for both Mana and Body Cultivation.”

Adam, Nathan, and Olivia’s mouths opened wide as they stared at Elizabeth in disbelief.

“...I-I’m sorry we were unable to tell you all this. We just didn’t want anything bad to happen to Mika.”

Elizabeth explained with tears threatening to fall from her eyes, a clear indicator of how much she hated the fact that she couldn’t even tell her own children the truth about Mika and that they had to find out like this.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Before anyone else could open their mouths to comfort her, Adam spoke up.

“It’s fine, Mother. We understand. Thinking about it now, I would have done the same thing as you if I were in your position. Although I may not know the exact details, I know that sometimes being too talented is a sin in and of itself. You did nothing wrong by keeping this information to yourselves, but now that we know, I hope you can keep us in the loop and help us understand the reality of the situation.”

Adam spoke firmly and eloquently, deserving of being the next head of the Zoller House. Cain and Elizabeth looked at their Eldest son with eyes full of pride as they were glad he caught on so quickly.

Nathan and Olivia nodded as well. They weren’t the Duke’s children for nothing, after all.

They may look young and inexperienced, but each has experienced their fair share of difficulties.

Their parents also seldom withhold information from them unless it’s confidential or will only make them needlessly worry over things they can’t control.

“Very well. I’ll give you a brief rundown of the situation, but before that, let me say something. What I’m about to tell you are just a few possibilities. Whether or not they’ll happen, even if others learn of Mika’s talent, only time can tell. I’m only giving you the basic information so that you understand that this is no laughing matter.”

Everyone nodded, and Cain gave them a smile before continuing.

“Alright. I’m sure you’re well aware that talents, people with unique body constitutions, and children who have formed their Mana Pathways with a high synchronicity rate are all highly valued by Humanity. If someone is especially talented, then even other races and the rest of the world might value them. This can be good as long as one is considered an important or potentially important ally, but oftentimes people in power see exquisite talents as a thorn in their side.”

“As someone born with what we believe to be perfect Mana Pathways and Core, Mika would definitely be seen as the latter for most people. It could still be manageable if it were just that, but unfortunately, Mika is just too special. Everything about her is special and would most likely be considered great research material.”

“As you probably know, Humanity is constantly looking for ways to improve our Mana Cultivation Techniques so we can reach even greater heights and compete with the other races that dominate this Universe.”

“So, in short, most of Humanity would most likely rather use her as some sort of lab rat only to be disposed of when they are done with her. As for the rest of Humanity and even the other races? Well, that’s not hard to answer, considering we are hated by just about every other race on the planet. They would kill her, no questions asked. Maybe some humans would take her in… Maybe, but those people are few and far between, as the reward for her head would be too enticing for many to give up on. Even if there were people like that, they would most likely be too weak to protect her until she becomes strong enough to deal with this on her own.”

The kids listened to their Father with rapt attention as they soaked in all this information.

What they didn’t know was that it pained Cain to share this information with his children.

He understood that they need to know and understand these things, but what he’s doing right now is forcibly shifting their worldview to make them understand just how important it is to keep this information a secret.

He didn’t know what sort of consequences this conversation would bring in the future, but he would make sure to keep an eye out for any major or even minor changes in his children.

He didn’t want them to grow up distrusting everyone around them because not everyone is like this. So, he decided to nip those thoughts in the bud right now.

“Don’t start thinking that all humans are bad people or anything like that because that’s most certainly not the case. I just want you guys to know that there are people like that out there.”

Cain finished with that and inspected his children to see their reactions. Adam kept a neutral expression on his face as he already knew most of this information, and even the things he didn’t know weren’t all that surprising.

Nathan was similar, as he and Adam are fairly close. Not only that, but he spends most of his time reading and studying; history is naturally included in that. So, he understands that humans aren’t all great people.

Olivia didn’t quite understand some of it, but she was also no stranger to seeing some of the things humans can do to people of their own race.

Of course, she hasn’t seen anyone getting killed or anything like that, but she has witnessed others being bullied for little to no reason. She’s heard and seen people’s lives getting ruined by bullies, so she understood that if children can be so mean, then what about adults?

So even though Olivia might not understand the nuances of the conversation, she realized the meaning behind her Father’s words.

If she talked about Mika’s talent to others, then bad people might come after her little sister.

Naturally, as a responsible older sister, she would never do anything that could cause her little sister harm!

That being said, Olivia would definitely keep her mouth shut, but it seemed to Cain that Olivia only cared about Mika’s wellbeing. She wasn’t burdened by the fact that Humanity isn’t as great as some people make it out to be.

However, this is simply because she barely understands the concept. She might be smart, but she lacks proper knowledge and experience, so most of the information given to her by Cain flew over her head.

Cain smiled in relief as he saw the reactions he hoped to see before he decided to end the conversation.

“Well, that’s about it. Just go about your life like normal. You can still talk about Mika to your friends, but never reveal this information to anyone, not even your closest friends. Mika is just like every other baby, except maybe she’s a bit smarter. Unfortunately, we’ll have to make an appearance with Mika soon anyways, as we received an invitation to celebrate the Third Prince’s birthday in a few months. But just act like she’s any normal baby.”

They all nodded and proceeded to ask questions. Most of them were regarding Mika and her talent, but some were about unrelated subjects. Nevertheless, the tone was considerably less heavy as they continued their family conversation.

This went on for about an hour before Mika eventually woke up, hungry. Very hungry.