The next morning, the Seventh Prince awoke from a peaceful sleep, dressed, drew back the curtains, and looked out at the courtyard bathed in morning light.

This was the royal villa in the Holy City, situated in a district encircling the Central Great Cathedral within the Pure White Holy Land, yet belonging to no particular religious faction.

The Colorless Ring—such was the name given to this circular district, symbolizing a balanced and independent status, where unaffiliated individuals and non-church organizations gathered, free from direct church management.

The administrative agencies of the Kingdom and branches of the Five Great Guilds were also established here.

But even within the Colorless Ring, the Seventh Prince could feel the bustle and vitality of the Holy City early in the morning, in stark contrast to the half-ruined Capital, full of burgeoning vitality.

As the schedule for the selection of the Saintess approached, the residents of the Holy City welcomed guests from all over the Kingdom with utmost enthusiasm.

Yet this vitality could not erase the worry on the Seventh Prince's face; upon waking from his restful sleep, his first thought was last night's mysterious encounter.

The water-savvy Bishop and priests found nothing in their underwater exploration, nor did any trace remain of the anomaly on the sea's surface.

The encounter with that little Siren felt like a wondrous dream; if not for the presence of two guards witnessing it alongside him, the Seventh Prince might have doubted his own sanity.

And now, the warning from the Siren still echoed vividly in his mind, forbidding him from dismissing it as an illusion.

"Stay away from the ocean... Could Father know something about this...?"

[Siren Grandmother (70+ still alive)]

D100=d100(37)=37

Their grandmother, who was actually the mother of the current King, wasn't human, but a Siren.

Although the Seventh Prince knew this secret, not all the Princes and Princesses were aware.

In fact, the grandmother had passed away even before he was born.

Even the Grand Princess and the Second Prince had only seen her likeness in portraits, where the grandmother appeared no different from an ordinary human.

The Seventh Prince had learned of this secret only when he was first undergoing the transformation ceremony as a Magician, awakening his related Water attribute abilities, and the King himself revealed it to him.

[Origin of Destiny (influence with the entwining of the Saintess selection)]

D100=d100(55)=55

That was already half a century ago.

At the time, the scale of the Church was far from being as grand as it is today, and the so-called Holy City was merely a larger seaside town.

The Crown Prince of that era, his grandfather, like him now, came to the Holy City as a representative of the Royal Family to witness that generation's selection of the Saintess.

In that generation's selection, the person who later became known as the Liberation Saintess, who ended the Kingdom's slavery, was chosen.

But this Saintess did not end well due to her obsession with power and status in her later years and was eventually buried in the Church records.

Regardless of the Saintess selection, another event occurred at the time which had a profound impact on the Kingdom's history, but it was similarly unrecorded.

While still the Crown Prince, his grandfather accidentally found a stranded Siren on the Holy City's shore, then only large enough for small fishing boats to dock.

The Siren woman possessed a powerful Magic Power, able to transform her fishtail into legs without relying on Magic Potions, making her appearance no different from humankind.

Yet despite being such a powerful Siren, she was inexplicably filled with deep Fear of the ocean.

His grandfather brought her back to the Capital, and after a long time, they fell in love.

Despite her mysterious origins, the grandmother possessed an astonishing talent that won people over, and after his grandfather married her against all opposition, she assisted him in ascending to the throne.

Grandmother became the Queen and bore a son for his grandfather, who is now his father, the current King.

However, since leaving the Holy City, Grandmother never transformed back into a Siren or ventured near the ocean again.

When his father was still very young, Grandmother passed away from frailty.

"She did not pass away peacefully..."

The Seventh Prince vividly recalls, when the King spoke of his mother, the rarely seen solemnity on his usually smiling face.

"Though she suffered from no known illness, her body was always weak, constantly waking from Nightmares at night, then confessing and crying.

"Putting children to bed is typically a mother's duty, but it was reversed in our case; from a young age, I was the one comforting her to sleep.

"Sometimes, she would stroke my head and inexplicably apologize to me.

"Of course, I was curious about what her past entailed and what exactly she feared.

"But neither she nor father offered me any answers, so I accepted that my mother was just this kind of neurotic woman... as common sense when I was very little.

"Interestingly, the experience of comforting women, cultivated since childhood, has proved quite useful in my adulthood... Don't look at me like that, I'm just trying to lighten the mood.

"However unlike me, your grandfather had only one wife, her.

"He loved her very much, but I never once saw a genuine smile on her face.

"The only time she smiled was on the day of her departure, as if she was finally freed."

At this point, the old King sighed deeply.

Though his father spoke lightly, the Seventh Prince could sense his unsettled heart.

Whether dealing with complicated politics or more complex family matters, this King handled everything with ease, yet when speaking of his parents, he could hardly conceal his emotions.

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