"Who do you think would become the successor out of Felix and Rune?" Nux questioned and Cleo, who had just recently experienced the Slave Seal's pain answered honestly,
"That would be Lady Rune."
"Huh?"
Hearing that answer, Nux couldn't help but frown.
The people supported Rune, Nux half expected things to not go this smoothly for Rune and there being some complications in the City Manor, but to think even a Guard protecting the City Manor in secret has the same views.
"How certain are you?"
Nux questioned.
"Lady Rune would become the successor 9 out of 10 times."
"Even Felix is a Saint Stage Cultivator, even if he is weaker than Rune, how come his chances of becoming the successor are so low?" Nux questioned.
"It is not Lord Felix's fault," Cleo shook his head.
"Lady Rune is just better in every possible way."
Cleo replied.
In the Feline Cat City, choosing the successor depended on various factors,
Strength, Future Potential, Bloodline, Character, Public Image, and Political Influence.
Just the Bloodline factor was enough to remove most of the competitors to the throne since there were only five children who inherited Oberon's Blood, adding the strength factor remove the other 3 competitors as well since the strongest out of them was merely a Great Sage, which was nowhere near enough to compete with Rune and Felix, who were Saints.
Rune was stronger than Felix, however, since she was older, that advantage was nullified when it came to just two of them. Since both of them inherited their father's Bloodline and Talent, their future potential wasn't doubted by anyone and both were expected to become Divine Stage Cultivators before Oberon died.
Nobody could find any fault in their characters either.
Honestly, the current Feline Cat City's successor candidates could be called the best successors seen in the last 100,000 years.
However, even if both candidates were amazing, only one had to be chosen.
Public Image, this was a factor where Rune was far ahead in comparison to Felix.
Felix's public image wasn't bad and most people liked him, however, Rune was the first child of the City Lord who treated everyone well, the impact she had left on people's minds was far stronger than what Felix had left since she often went out of her way to meet normal people and helped them out.
Her image was quite strong.
To the point where more than half of the catkins living in Feline Cat City were crazy over her.
Seeing his disadvantage, Felix tried to better himself in another field, Political Influence.
In the Feline Cat City, the only major power was the City Manor, the rest of the powers were in the form of Clans. Yes, the Clans in Feline Cat City had the power to influence and get involved in the city's politics.
Felix aimed to get most of these Clans to support him, if he did that, Rune's strength and the public image wouldn't matter and he would obviously become the successor,
However,
"In front of Lord Felix stood Lord Aragorn Grimal.
Lady Rune's husband.
Lord Aragorn actively participated and helped his wives gain influence and power. While his wife strengthened her public image and focused on increasing her strength, Lord Aragorn worked to help Lady Rune gain the support of the majority of Clans.
The two of them were like a perfect team.
A power couple that many envied.
Even Lord Felix.
He had purposefully married 3 daughters of different clan leaders to ensure their support, however, other than getting their clans' support, his three wives didn't do much.
On the other hand, Lady Rune decided not to marry other men even though Lord Aragorn couldn't give her a child, this even strained her relationships with some major clans, however, Lady Rune still didn't budge.
And Lord Aragorn didn't hold his wife back either, for each clan that moved away from Lady Rune because she didn't accept the marriage proposal, he brought 2 more.
So even though Lord Felix gave his all, in the end,
Two Third of the Clans were on Lady Rune's side.
Lady Rune is winning on all 3 sides, strength, public image, and political influence."
Cleo explained the situation in detail.
Nux on the other hand, was focused on another thing,
"Lord Aragorn couldn't give her Lady Rune a child?" He questioned with a curious look on his face.
"That is correct, Lord Aragorn is infertile. It is an innate disease that couldn't be healed, even by the Elves."
Cleo nodded.
"And this doesn't affect Lady Rune's position?"
Nux couldn't understand.
This wasn't his first time experiencing a battle of heirs, he knew how things worked,
Children and Bloodlines were extremely important in these matters.
"It does not, it is already decided that no matter who becomes the successor and the next Lord, the position for the next successor would be inherited by Lord Felix's children."
Cleo replied.
Nux nodded in understanding.
Though he still found it strange, he could understand it. One shouldn't just throw away the better candidate just because she doesn't have a child, should they?
"This is getting difficult…"
Melia, who was listening to everything silently commented.
"Mhm, she has the influence and better image, her position is almost guaranteed. Then why is she reacting like that to an Assassination Threat? Simply reporting this to Lord Oberon would take care of everything."
Nux spoke.
Hearing his words, Cleo's expression changed.
"A-Assassination attempt!?"
"Stay silent." Nux, however, simply ordered. Cleo's body moved on its own and he lost the ability to open his mouth.
"Could it be that Rune doesn't wish to report this to her father in order to not look weak?"
"It still doesn't explain why she chose us instead of contacting any strong clans."
"Is it because she saw Eisheth coming in and helping us? But I made it clear that she wouldn't help no matter what…"
Nux muttered as he continued thinking about different possibilities.
"Or maybe it is her way of allying with our clan?" Nux guessed.
"There are better and more direct ways to do that," Melia replied.
"What if she wanted to check what we are capable of?": owner of this content.
"She has already seen it, hasn't she?
Also, if she actually wanted to test if our abilities are beyond what she already saw, don't you think the 'test' should be more complicated? This conclusion, does it feel satisfying to you?"
"…"
Nux turned silent.
Then, he turned towards Cleo and,
"Give me the list of all the Clans that support Rune."
It still wasn't over.