In the burst of Rainbow Light, Luna's Golden Hair floated without wind.
She pressed her Chubby Palm against her elder brother's Spider Web scar, and suddenly, the Thorned Crown projected an illusion of the Magic Arena from three years ago—the moment her brother won the championship, where half a Dragon Scale was hidden within the falling ice crystals of the Judging Table.
"So it turns out the Frost Dragon's reverse scale is the source of the backlash!" exclaimed the youth in the Wheelchair, Zhen Chan.
His damaged Right Leg suddenly emanated an Ice Blue Halo, and from the rotting area sprouted seven Ice Crystal Roses, entwined and consuming the Residual Shadow of the scale.
Luna Yi Ya crushed the Ice Rose, and a Poison Curse talisman fell from its petals.
Aelia's Wedding Ring suddenly reflected a cold light, pinning the curse onto the surface of the Ice Coffin. Everyone could see that the edges of the talisman were embroidered with Leonard's personal Emblem.
"Father..." Her brother's fingers turned white as he clenched them. The torn sleeve suddenly formed an Ice Crystal Chain, which reassembled into a brand-new staff in the Rainbow Light.
He slowly rose from his Wheelchair, with Ice Blue Magic Circuit lighting up along his Spine inch by inch.
Three Months later, the Magic Arena erupted in a roar like a tsunami. When her brother's Ice Dragon tore through his opponent's Fire Barrier, Aelia's Pearl Necklace in the stands suddenly snapped.
Luna caught a falling pearl and arranged it on the VIP Golden Handrail to spell out Lucius, her Second Brother's close friend.
"Oleg gave you that Anshen Incense Pouch; it hides Black Slime from soul-devouring slugs." Luna drew a magical manifestation array on the pearl's surface with her saliva.
Second Brother stared at the writhing Silver Thread inside the Scent Pouch and suddenly tore apart his cufflink embroidered with Twin Lotus—exactly what he had gifted to his friend as a Rite of Passage.
When the Moonstone Lantern from the Library of Hidden Books exploded, Brother San was staring blankly at Error's Talent Assessment Report.
Luna crawled over and gnawed at the edge of the parchment. The ink soaked by her Saliva revealed hidden Tiny Inscriptions: "Water Elemental Affinity 98%," while Brother San clutched a Fire Element Crystal in his hand.
"So all these years I've been training in opposing attributes?" The boy trembled as he crushed the Crystal, splattering Xing Huo, revealing his mentor’s sinister face emerging from within.
Luna suddenly laughed into the void, her breath of milk foam reflecting the cellar—a dark compartment filled with the water system and magic tome that should have belonged to Brother San.
On the night of the celebration banquet, Aelia wiped the jam from Luna's mouth when the wedding ring suddenly burned her ring finger.
Seizing the opportunity, Luna grabbed the silver spoon handed to her by Qin Si and drew two overlapping family crests on the tablecloth—one half belonging to Leonard perfectly aligned with the outer chamber family crest emerging from the ice coffin.
The petals of the ice crystal rose shattered into powder on Qin Si's skirt, and the maid's fingers trembled slightly as she held the silver plate.
Luna, with a crystal pacifier in her mouth, reached out to her. The milky bubbles burst with a pop, reflecting two overlapping emblems in Qin Si's pupil—the griffin emblem belonging to the lord intertwined with an unfamiliar serpent crest.
"Miss means... Master is keeping..." Qin Si hurriedly covered her mouth, spilling linden honey tea onto the lace tablecloth from the silver plate.
She caught a glimpse of Luna drawing a trident star map on the napkin, which was a secret mark used by spies tracking Leonard's concubine in the magic castle.
As moonlight filtered through the stained glass, Aelia was at the grooming table painting Liu Ye Mei.
Qin Si's hands trembled as she held rose essential oil; suddenly, light refracted from the gilded bottle, projecting Luna's magical projection from earlier that day—a blonde woman wearing serpent-shaped earrings gently caressing her rounded belly, with a tapestry behind her embroidered with a northern snow wolf totem.
With a thud, the eyebrow pencil dragged an awkward ink mark at Aelia's brow tail.
The moonstone necklace around Madam's neck suddenly emitted cold light, overlapping the snow wolf totem in the illusion with Leonard's northern territory map hidden in his study room's secret compartment.
Ten years ago, when she and her husband fell in love at Snow Wolf Lake, he had pointed at the ice surface and vowed, "In this life, only Aelia can wear my wedding ring."
"Madam, be careful!" Qin Si steadied the staggering Aelia as the ruby in her wedding ring scorched a mark on the dressing mirror.
Suddenly, ripples of magical retrogression emerged from the mirror, and they clearly saw Leonard yesterday in his study handing over a swaddled baby embroidered with a snow wolf to a spy.
As the Cold Wind extinguished the candlelight, Aelia's Emerald Earrings suddenly shattered into pieces.
Barefoot, she rushed through the chaos towards the master bedroom. The frost on the Gilded Door Handle cut into her palm, but it was nothing compared to the pain in her heart—a Serpent-Shaped Ruby hidden within the Magic Portrait above the marriage bed, concealed beneath Leonard's brooch, was identical to the one in her vision.
"Look me in the eyes and answer!" Aelia cried, swinging her staff to shatter the Crystal Chandelier. Three hundred sixty-five Prism Shards floated into a True Word Array.
Leonard's Family Crest suddenly cracked open, and the Northern Secret Letter hidden in the Dark Bag was swept away by a magical gust, revealing a Fire Seal on the Magic Letter emblazoned with a Serpent Emblem.
The Defensive Barrier of the Castle Dome suddenly trembled, startling a Night Owl resting in the bell tower.
Leonard stumbled back, knocking over an Enamel Vase, his denials silenced by Aelia's thrown Wedding Ring.
The Ring, adorned with an Eternal Heart, rolled across the carpet and transformed within the True Word Array into a totem of intertwined serpents.
"You used my father's forged ring as a token for your illegitimate child?" Aelia's pearls fell from her hair, transforming into twelve Memory Crystals within the magic circle—each reflecting Leonard's excuses for patrolling the barrier while disappearing towards the Northern Territory on Leonard's Last Night.
In the last crystal, a Blonde Woman cradled a baby while stroking the Griffin Emblem of Luna.
Suddenly, a resonance from an Ice Coffin echoed in the Magic Castle Cellar as Leonard's sword emitted a hum, turning all of the castle's Moonstone Lanterns blood red.
The servants watched in terror as cracks appeared in the Head of the Family's Sleeping Chamber Dome. Aelia's Ice Blue Hair danced wildly in the Magic Turbulence; her shattered Wedding Ring absorbed energy from the True Word Array, branding the Double Serpent Totem into Leonard's pupil.
As the first rays of dawn pierced through the Northern Territory Wu Yun, Lucius paused while wiping his Jian Feng at the Training Ground.
The young man gazed at his palm where the sword hilt had inexplicably frozen. He turned towards the main castle—his mother's beloved Emerald Earrings lay quietly amidst Frost Flowers, with an Ear Needle glistening with Blood Pearls embedded with Ice Shards.
As Lucius bent down to pick up the Emerald Earrings, Frost Flowers at his fingertips suddenly bloomed into Hexagonal Ice Crystals.
The Young Swordsman's breath crystallized into white smoke in Han Wu. He saw reflected in the ice crystals a crack in the main castle's Castle Spire—the spiderweb-like fissures eerily spreading to form the word "betrayal" in Ancient Elvish Language.
"Third Young Master, it's time for breakfast." The old butler appeared, his hunched back supporting a cane that suddenly slipped on the ice surface.
Lucius reached out to steady the elderly man, but caught sight of the indigo ink stains on his sleeve—an unmistakable color from Father's study, used for Huo Qi.
Ice shards fell from the hilt of his sword as the boy turned to hide the moonstone earrings in his dark bag.
As he walked through the corridor, morning light streamed through the stained glass, casting a golden hue over Luna's silver cradle.
The infant suddenly waved a jam-covered spoon, splattering milkshake against the bronze candlestick in the corner.
Melted cream dripped down the griffin relief, pooling into a blood arrow that pointed toward the cellar through the stone brick gap.
"Yi Ya!" Luna's golden hair shimmered with an ice blue glow as she tugged at Lucius's leather strap, using her milk tooth to bite a crescent-shaped notch into its edge.
The boy realized that this shape was identical to Father's fire seal on the secret letter; even the broken pieces of the enamel vase that Mother had shattered yesterday formed the same pattern.
A sudden sound of an ice blade slicing through the air came from the training ground.
Lucius leaned against a stone pillar and looked over; his older brother was practicing a newly realized cold frost step amidst the ice mist.
With each step taken by the young mage, ice crystals formed on his right leg, leaving behind frost flowers that exuded dark energy on the stone slab.
Luna suddenly coughed violently in her cradle, and the milk foam she expelled landed perfectly in the center of a frost flower, transforming the dark stain into dragon scales that had fallen from the judging table three years ago—residual shadows of their past.
"Young Masters, it's time to attend the family meeting." Qin Si hurried over, holding a gold foil invitation, her maid skirt dusted with rainbow light powder unique to ice coffins.
As she brushed past Lucius, he caught a whiff of northern cedar in her hair—an aroma reminiscent of Father’s cloak that had been stained last night.
Luna suddenly tapped her spoon against the crystal plate, producing a chime that startled a silver-throated sparrow outside the window.
The sound of shattering crystals echoed from the direction of the platform, as twelve Memory Crystals projected morning light through the gap in Jian Qiao.
Lucius noticed that the track of the Light Spot moving across the wall perfectly matched the rotation pattern of the password lock in Father's Study's Dark Compartment.
The veins on the back of the boy's hand bulged as he gripped his sword. When he turned, his cloak swept away an Anshen Incense Pouch that Second Brother had left behind.
The Jin Nang embroidered with Twin Lotus split open, and several strands of Silver Thread crawled along the floor towards the direction of the Cellar.
Luna's blue eyes suddenly transformed into Shu Tong. She pressed her honey-coated fingertip against the tear in the Scent Pouch, and as a drop of honey enveloped a Silver Thread, it emitted a cry like a young beast.
When the Noon Bell rang for the seventh time, Lucius paused outside the Family Council Chamber.
He gazed at the twisted Griffin Relief on the Golden Gate and suddenly noticed that Mother's shattered Wedding Ring was embedded in the Griffin's left eye—a Ruby sealing Frost Magic, which was now seeping tiny ice crystal tentacles through the Door Gap, quietly wrapping around each family member's wrist.
Luna's cradle had somehow been pushed to the Emerald Corridor's turn corner, where she giggled while holding half a muffin.
As she watched Brother San rush by and drop a Crystal Fragment, she suddenly blew out a stream of colorful bubbles into the sunlight.
Each bubble floated with different images of Leonard's Last Night: the black mist condensed by Elder Brother Zhang Jian, the Silver Thread spreading from Second Brother's cuff, and fragments of Water Element Crystal seeping from Brother San's pocket—yet all these illusions shattered into a flurry of icy dust when touched by the cold wind heading towards the Cellar.
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