*
Earl Quinn was so stunned that he did not even notice that the wine glass in his hand had slipped to the ground.
The moment he saw her, two names involuntarily appeared in his mind. The former had accompanied him for most of his life, but died of depression because he lost his true love. The latter was the true love that he had lost and would never be able to see again. Even though she had grown a lot taller in the ten years since they last met, and her appearance was even more outstanding, he could still tell that the two of them were so similar that he almost blurted out the former's name.
"Father, do you know her?" Horn's words made him recover from his trance with great difficulty.
Horford slowly stood up and asked in a deep voice, "Are you... Andrea?"
"What? You mean she's... that, the one who has passed away... "Horn's eyes widened as he looked back and forth at the two people who were looking at each other and murmured in disbelief.
"Master, it's really the young lady!" The old butler looked more excited than anyone else. "I can't be wrong. She has inherited all the characteristics of Madam!"
"It seems that you still remember me," Andrea said with a blank expression. "Then the rest will be much easier to talk about."
Horford's heart skipped a beat. His daughter's awakening as a witch was a secret to most people. Even his wife, Fantay, was kept in the dark. When Andrea's servant reported the incident to him, he made a prompt decision. He pushed the servant who knew about the incident into the river and made it look like an accidental drowning. Then, he used his trusted aides to plan the carriage falling off the cliff.
Although he knew that doing so might make Andrea hate him, hatred was also a way to remember someone who had been separated forever. However, when they met again, this indifferent feeling became a sharp thorn.
Especially when he wasn't sure if what he did back then was correct, this prickling feeling was even more obvious.
But the earl knew that there were more important things at the moment — why did Andrea appear in the City of Glow, whether her identity was true or not, and what did she mean when she said "I don't think so". These were more important than questioning the right and wrong of the past.
He suppressed all the doubts and thoughts in his mind and waved to Horn. "You can leave first."
"Father!" the latter said worriedly.
"Do as I say!" Horford said in an unquestionable tone.
Seeing that he had made up his mind, Horn reluctantly left the room.
"Do not disturb the others," continued the count, addressing the steward, "and close the gates of the court, and put out the lights in the hall. If any one in the house asks, say that I am drawing up some papers, and that no one is to disturb me. Is that understood?"
"I'll do it right away! But … "The butler scratched his head." What about the friends that Eldest Miss brought? "
"Friend?" He looked at Andrea suspiciously. "Bring her to the banquet hall and treat her well."
"Yes, Master!"
As the door closed with a squeak, the study room suddenly fell into silence. The two of them looked at each other for a long time until the count could not help but break the silence. "Although you look quite similar to my daughter, I can't be so hasty to say that you must be Andrea. After all, she was only sixteen when she left, and it's been almost ten years … "He paused." I mean, do you have any other way to prove your identity? "
In fact, he had already believed in Andrea's origins. He only asked this question to seek confirmation — even the most perfect disguise could not change a person's inner self. From her every move, the count could see the shadow of the Flower of Glow in the past.
Andrea did not answer. Instead, she opened her hands, and then a golden magic bow appeared in her hands. The shining longbow gradually condensed and shrank little by little, and finally evolved into a unique appearance — it was a gift that he had specially asked the craftsmen to make for his daughter's birthday.
At this point, Horford no longer had any doubts in his heart. This bow suitable for beginners had long been destroyed along with the carriage. Now, even he could not accurately describe its appearance.
Andrea, who had been particularly interested in archery since childhood, obviously still remembered it.
"It's really you …" The count sighed. "Why did you come back? The reason I sent you away back then was because I hoped that you could live on unscathed. "
"That's all?" Andrea put away the longbow. "Not because you're afraid of outsiders knowing that the Prime Minister had a daughter who was seduced by the devil? I don't feel like I'm being protected, not abandoned. For a witch, there's no real safe place. If I wasn't lucky enough to meet a group of people who shared the same fate as me, I'm afraid I would have died in a foreign land. "
He opened his mouth, but could not refute, because this was also one of his concerns at that time. If the fact that Andrea was a witch was exposed, the whole family might be in danger — not everyone could shackle their loved ones and send them to the hands of the church or other nobles with a clear conscience. Rather than let the Quinn family face this difficult choice, it was better for him to make the decision alone.
"But that's all in the past. I'm not here to bring up the past," Andrea said seriously. "You must be very curious about how I could openly enter the Earl's Mansion. After all, the guards won't easily believe my words. After seeing the butler, I deliberately waited for a while outside the door. Is the man who called your father the heir of the family? When did I have a brother like this? "
"He was adopted from a branch … Your mother died of illness a year after you left, and the Quinn family needs an heir," Horford said in a low voice.
If it had not been for the accident ten years ago, this position would have belonged to the eldest daughter.
After hearing this news, Andrea was stunned at first, and then her eyes became gloomy. She was silent for a while before she said, "In any case, there's no way to change the head of the Quinn family for the time being. His Majesty hopes that you can go further, instead of retreating behind the scenes. In the current situation, he doesn't recognize any representative except for Earl Quinn, the head of the three big families. "
"What do you mean?" Horford could not understand the meaning of her words. "You mean by His Majesty —"
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