Eliz walked happily toward the dining room. A lot had happened today; she had worked hard and deserved a good reward.

Chicken on a peach! She felt like she had not eaten properly since she had been here. It was her fault because she always had something to do and had no time to enjoy the benefit of having a cook in the house.

She looked around as she arrived in the small dining room. It was set for four, but she was alone, except for a couple of servants preparing dinner. Except for a few servants setting the table for dinner. It may have been called a small dining room, but it was definitely larger than her living room. In the center of the room was a long, shiny wooden table that could comfortably seat ten people.

An ornate tablecloth was in the center of the table, and at each end and in the center was a vase of fresh roses, which were changed depending on the setting. Today they were yellow roses. The room was large enough for the servants and their carts to move around the table easily. The walls were papered in light green with gold patterns, and a large crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling to illuminate the room.

Eliz was a little surprised by how many people she would eat with?

Eren was unconscious, Donovan hadn't been allowed to show up yet, and her father should be back any moment, but otherwise? She had to eat with someone, or she would not be here at all. Why would she eat in the dining hall if she was here alone?

Eliz shrugged and sat down.

Of course, she did not choose the head of the table reserved for the head of the family but sat at the left side of the table. Eliz did not know the dining etiquette exactly, but she always thought where the ladies and gentlemen sat had some significance. At least, that's what she thought. She didn't really care.

The servants had come to pour her clear water into one glass and wine into the other, but they had not served anything yet.

Eliz was beginning to feel out of place.

"Alobela?" She spoke, looking around. As usual, Alobela suddenly appeared at her side.

"Yes, young lady?" She bowed.

"Who am I waiting for? For whom is the table set?" Eliz wondered.

Alobela looked at her. "The lord should be back soon. Young Lord Eren might wake up and want to come for dinner. Then your mother, Lady Roseblood, returned half an hour ago. And finally, for you, young lady." She explained.

Eliz blinked, nodded, and looked ahead.

'Mother!?" she thought, a little confused and startled.

Eliz could not remember Elizabeth's mother. Had she even been mentioned in the story?

What was that supposed to mean? If the author does not mention certain things in the story, do they show up on their own? Is not Elizabeth and Eren's mother a very important character?

No, wait... she vaguely remembers that the beautiful rose garden had some reference to Elizabeth's mother. But since she was not in the story, she assumed her mother had died or something.

Eliz stared at the empty plate and frowned.

This was an unexpected complication. Her earlier thoughts reappeared in her mind. When the author did not mention things or only hinted at them, they naturally formed or vivified themselves. Was the same true for the characters?

In this case, Eliz had to be even more careful. More characters might appear that she did not know, but Elizabeth should have known them.

Why must she be stuck in a story that the author slacked off so much? What a pain in the ass.

Suddenly the door opened, and Eliz looked up at the pretty middle-aged woman who came in. She was wearing a black formal dress, nicely but discreetly styled.

Eliz quickly realized who she was, for the resemblance to Elizabeth was undeniable. It was as if she was looking at an older version of her, except the woman's eyes were pink instead of purple. She seemed to have inherited it from her father.

[https://i.ibb.co/LJTrJsX/Hotpot.png]

The woman smiled at Eliz as she approached her. "Elizabeth. How are you, my little girl?"

Eliz stood up. "Mother. Welcome back. I did not know you were home. Ah, I was fine."

Lady Roseblood walked up to her and put her hands on her shoulders before she got a look at her. "Really? When I heard what happened, I came right back. I expected to find my little girl here, devastated like a body without a soul, but here you are. It's like nothing happened."

Eliz didn't have time to answer. Her mother released her and brought her hand to her cheek in an innocent gesture.

"That girl, Selene, has true courage. To publicly steal your fiancé like that. Such courage to challenge House Von Roseblood. That little illegitimate slut deserves a proper lesson. Uh, uh, how about you leave it to Mommy, and I'll give her a good social thrashing?" She smiled softly as if she were talking about the weather.

Eliz blinked. Ah, so Elizabeth not only has a doting father but a doting mother as well?

Besides, Eliz had to admire her a little. She had never seen anyone use words like 'slut and thrashing' with such elegance and innocence.

Eliz already liked her.

She took her mother's hand and smiled. "Yes, please. Crush her properly." Eliz nodded her head in agreement. She had stopped her father before because she really did not want him to go on the warpath with Ironhound House. But social destruction was another matter entirely.

With some novels, Eliz sometimes wondered why the main character didn't use more of the powers of others. Why do everything herself? Eliz was different. Why not use others if it did not interfere with her plans?

'Yes, mommy. Destroy her pretty well. For your little girl.'

But Eliz's smile quickly faded as her mother continued.

"Great. Great. Then you will not have to go to the Blue Rose estate. Mommy will take care of everything." She smiled gently.

Eliz stared at her. She had not expected such a turn of events.

"Haha, Mommy, what are you talking about? I have already started planning and arranging everything. I am quite excited to get Blue Rose in order." Said Eliz with a renewed smile.

Lady Roseblood's eyes rolled up into a crescent shape as she smiled. "Hoho, but why would you go there when everything is settled, and you can return to society?" She argued.

"But I do not mind; I am sick of all the balls anyway, haha; the change will help, and so will the new responsibility." Eliz did not give up and put on a friendly smile.

"That may be true, but what about the courtship? Hoho, social gatherings are the best time to make new acquaintances." Lady Rosebloot laughed lightly, but Eliz recognized the feigned laughter.

"But mother. We have not even sent out the official announcement of the engagement breakup, and already you are pushing me into another relationship, haha?" Eliz's eyebrows began to furrow as she grew more irritated.

"Time waits for no man, hoho." The corners of Lady Roseblood's mouth also dropped a little.

"Haha, Mother, I am only nineteen. It can wait a little while." Eliz felt her jaw ache as she tried not to clench her teeth.

"You may be, sweetheart, hoho, but what about your poor parents? We are getting old and love to live to see the grandchildren."

"Mommy, who are you trying to convince, haha? You are still young and fresh. You could easily have another child."

"Ho ho, you flatterer, but I think I should leave child rearing to the next generation."

It was an art to argue without arguing. The servants present hid behind Alobel as the tension between mother and daughter escalated. Alobela watched disinterestedly while birdsong echoed in her mind, and only occasionally, her happy place was interrupted by a strained Hoho and Haha.

It probably could have gone on for a while if the door to the dining room had not opened and the energetic duke had walked in. His footsteps stopped almost immediately when the air around him suddenly turned cold, and he saw his wife and daughter staring at him without blinking.

A cold sweat of evil foreboding came over him. "Ehm. I'll come back later." He said and made his way out.

"Husband." His wife's sweet words made him freeze.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

He looked at her warily. "Yes, dear?"

"Did you not tell me that our beloved daughter is completely distraught and so desperate to flee to the other side of the kingdom, where she plans to spend the rest of her life in solitude?"

Eliz stared at the Duke just as her mother had. "Is that what you told her, father?" She asked.

The Duke looked from one to the other, raised his hand, and rubbed the goosebumps on his neck.

"Haha, something like that."

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Eliz was still tense for a while, but it turned out that Elizabeth's mother was not opposed to her going to the Blue Rose estate. Her father was panicking and using silly lies to get his wife to force Eliz to stay. It was cute, but she was also a little disappointed that he had not shown some of his supposed brilliance as a strategic mind.

Lady Roseblood toasted her foolish husband for a moment longer before they finally sat down at the table, and the servants started bringing dinner. Lady Roseblood turned to Eliz again at that moment. "While I do not mind you being a little independent, you still can not run away." She announced.

Eliz looked at her. "I suppose that's because of my social status?"

Her mother nodded her head meaningfully. "Even though you turned the situation in your favor at the ball, the idea that Gray broke up with you is etched in everyone's minds. If you back out without an explanation, it will tarnish our name, and that's not acceptable."

Eliz closed her eyes momentarily as if she cared about her good name! She would just let the evil tongues do what they do best. But Eliz knew that, in this case, she would have to comply. She was not part of the crowd now, and gossip carried far. It could even reach the Blue Rose Estate. And Eliz relied heavily on her status.

"So what do you suggest?" she asked, opening her eyes.

"You need to show up at some social events. Show everyone you are not broken and present your plans." Announced her mother.

Eliz found it hard not to grin in annoyance. She'd rather avoid that. For one thing, it's annoying, and for another, she might run into people there she did not want, like Selene. She had no desire to deal with that crazy witch.

"And it could not hurt to get an escort." Added her mother with a smile.

Eliz did not resist this time and wrinkled her nose. "I do not need..." She began and then paused because something had occurred to her.

Suddenly she lit up as if with excitement. "Ah, excellent. I know exactly who to find for this."

Her mother raised her eyebrows questioningly. "Who?"

Eliz giggled. Yeah. She really giggled. "Miel Hadfield."

"Oh!" Mother gasped in surprise, covering her mouth with her fingers to hide a small smile.

Father frowned. "The primadonna?"

Eliz and Mother looked at him critically. "And also the most popular and handsome bachelor of the last three seasons, my dear." She turned to Eliz with interest. "But how will you convince him to be your escort? He's very picky and has never shown any interest in you."

Eliz winked at her mother. "Let me surprise you. I have a way, and I know his weak spot."

"Oho? Well, good. I'll leave it up to you. There is a meeting at Madame Rionstel's house in two days. Madame Rionstel has acquired an exotic plant for her collection to show everyone. That would be a good start. Can you get young Hadfield on your side by then?"

Eliz thought and nodded. "I think I can do it."

Her mother nodded. "In that case, it's settled. Now to another matter. What happened to Eren to make him pass out?"

The duke almost spit out the wine he was drinking, coming to terms with the idea that his beautiful daughter had some rascal for an escort.

"Eren has fainted?" He asked in alarm.

Eliz discreetly watched out of the corner of her eye as they carried the chicken, saliva pooling in her mouth. She swallowed.

"I'll explain everything, but it's better after dinner. And in private." She did not want the servants to hear her. And it was not at all because of the good-smelling roast.

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After a great dinner, when Eliz finally felt full, they went to her father's study, which, along with their bedrooms, had the best protection against eavesdropping, burglary, and who knows what else.

This was Eliz's first time here, and she had to admit that the Duke was quite an organized man. The study was rather spartan in style. No decorations except pictures of his family, but nothing else to distract him. Just neat rows of filing cabinets, folders, and a meticulously tidy desk. Two chairs at the desk. One behind the desk, the other in front, and a small sofa squeezed between the filing cabinets in case he had to deal with several people at once.

Her father sat at the table, and her mother stood behind him on the left side. Eliz sat in the chair in front of the desk.

"So. What happened?" Father asked, his relaxed demeanor gone. He was serious now. Eliz felt like a schoolgirl sitting before the principal when she did something wrong.

"It's hard to explain. Its Selene. I do not know how she does it exactly, but somehow she influences other people's thoughts. Eren, Donovan, Gray, and Chad are all influenced by her. That's why they turned against me so quickly and are obsessed with her." She explained.

Mother raised an eyebrow, and her father rubbed his beard; Eliz could see they were embarrassed. They did not trust her, but they did not want to hurt her by saying it out loud. Well, Eliz had not expected much else either.

"I tried to fight it as best I could, but in the end, I had enough of everything at the ball. At least I managed to get Eren out; his house arrest helped a lot. But his friends came to see him. Selene, of course, too. They wanted to see him, which I would not let them. Only Donovan was showing signs of resistance, so I figured this would be a good opportunity to get him out of it, so I just let him visit Eren. But... I did not think things through. Donovan brought a gift from Selene that was some... cursed object. It reacted with the protective ring I gave Eren, and it caused him to collapse."

Eliz tried to sound as serious as possible, but she could see that her parents were no more convinced than before.

"Donovan has also regained his wits, so I recommended that he stay with us to recover. I want to keep a secret that he's recovering here. But Donovan also realized what the cursed object was. He said it was Dark Magic." She finished the explanation.

The words about Dark Magic finally made her parents react differently.

Lady Roseblood frowned, and Duke stood up abruptly; he placed his hands on the table and leaned toward Eliz with an intense look.

"What did you say? Dark magic?" he wanted to make sure he had heard correctly.

Eliz nodded. "Yes. It looked like dark tentacles of energy. Wild and powerful."

The mother looked at her husband. "Serlen."

Her father looked at her and shook his head before looking at Eliz. "This is serious, Elizabeth. Do you have any proof of that?"

Eliz sighed. "I have the talisman, but whatever was on it seems to have disappeared. And then the witness statements from me Donovan, and Eren. But nothing else."

Her father sat back up and rubbed his temple. "If Selene is a Dark Witch, that's really not a good sign. But without evidence, it's hard to investigate. I am sorry, Elizabeth, but even with the testimony of the three of you, it's too little."

His mother put a hand on his shoulder. "We could at least use someone as an undercover investigator."

Her father nodded thoughtfully. "It's not much, but it's better than nothing."

Eliz looked from one to the other as they considered what to do. Great. Eliz was glad he trusted her, at least to some degree. She just still did not understand why they suddenly trusted her when she even mentioned Dark Magic.

"Ehm. Now, could you explain to me what Dark Magic is?" she originally wanted to ask Donovan, but now that she had those two at hand, she might as well start with them.

Lady Roseblood started talking. "Dark magic is something you should not know. Only the old houses, high-ranking nobles, or powerful Enhanced Warriors have this knowledge. Unfortunately, you are neither, even if you are the daughter of a duke."

'Well, ouch.' Thought Eliz grimly.

"Is it something about demons?" Eliz asked, curious about this whole mystery.

Her mother smiled slightly. "I wish it was something that simple."

The answer was unexpected to Eliz. What in this world was worse than demons and the Demon King? She assumed that was the story's final boss, and everyone lived happily ever after until they died.

Eliz looked expectantly at her parents, who did not answer. Finally, the Duke stood up and walked over to one of the paintings behind which the safe was hidden.

He pulled out a thin book with a carefully wrapped leather cover from there. He returned to the table and flipped open the book. Eliz bent over and saw that it had only a few pages, which were densely written. But she could see from here that she did not understand the text. Somehow, the writing reminded her of Hindu—all the waves.

"The legend of the creation of the world. It says that there were once two gods. Brothers. One represented light, and the other represented darkness. The two brothers existed for all eternity. They saw the creation and passing of galaxies, the cycle of time and life. They never died and never slept. But then suddenly, one of the brothers went mad. He murdered his brother. From his flesh, he created the earth; from his brain, he created intelligent beings; from his belly, he created the underworld; from his blood, he created mountains; from his hair, he created rivers and seas. The whole body of the god was used and transformed into our planet." The father spoke seriously and somberly.

Eliz listened to him attentively. "So the god of darkness murdered the god of light?"

The father looked at her. "No. Quite the opposite. The God of Light murdered the God of Darkness. The God of Light was the one who went mad."

Eliz blinked. She had not expected that. Are not these things rather the opposite? Suddenly she let her gaze wander as one thing became clear to her.

"But is not... is not today's religion based on worshiping the god of light? So you are worshipping a crazy, murderous god?" She asked this very carefully. Naturally, it would have been logical to assume that since it was the Religion of Light, it referred to the God of Light. However, it wouldn't have been the first or last time a god pretended to be something else. So Eliz wasn't assuming anything.

"That's... hard to say. After the God of Light created the world, he never appeared. His only sign of existence is that some people are blessed with the power of light and purification."

Eliz found this quite ironic. Light and purification. That does not fit at all with the description of a murderous god.

"Good. I understand. But what does that have to do with dark magic?" She asked, wanting to hear the rest.

Her father carefully rolled up a page of the thin book with two fingers and turned it. "Dark Magic is something that comes from the center of the earth. It is said that the heart of the Dark God still beats, and our planet lives through it. It is what holds everything together. But the Dark God has not been completely destroyed by it, and he is trying to rebuild. But his powers are limited. That is why he is looking for the right people to whom he can give some of his dark energy. And so the Dark Ones are created. Therefore, dark magic can only be purified by the power of light. Now and then, these people or creatures show up." Eliz wondered if that was the case with Selene. Was she infected by the dark energy of the murdered god? That was much more interesting than the Demon King.

Her father flipped to the next page, but even looking at it; he did not seem to read it. "The dark god almost prevailed once. It's hard to say what would happen to our world if he came back to life."

Eliz ran her hand over her arm, feeling a slight chill. "And do they know what almost happened then?" She already had a clue, as she asked.

Her father nodded. "The cataclysm came. And we were almost destroyed."

Eliz swallowed. What must have happened then? And who stopped the whole cataclysm?

"Why is this not mentioned in the history books?" She wondered because there was certainly nothing about it there.

"It's kept secret for a reason. When this legend came up. People had long ago internalized the belief in the God of Light. How would people react if they found out their God was a brother-killer and a madman? That we and our world were created from the dead body of a god?"

Eliz understood what he was trying to say and nodded. "That would probably start a holy war. I understand. No one wants that."

Her father sighed and folded the book closed before returning it to the safe and sitting back in his chair.

"Of course, it's all just legend. Still, it does happen that people and creatures with dark magic show up, and that alone makes us wary. But it is not easy to prove dark magic. It can easily disguise itself as black magic or a curse. There is certainty only when the dark magic collides with the power of light. And the blessed are very few."

Eliz rubbed her palm and looked at it. But she had managed to get rid of the Dark Magic. And she did not seem to have any light power. Maybe it was because of the power of the system. But it said that she was the one who had destroyed the dark magic.

Another damned mystery.