The blood mist dissipated.
Colin returned to his seat.
Valla was a grade-3 knight, and according to Colin's experience of transforming Queen Aisha, Embracing a bloodline that was lower in rank should not cause him to lose a rank.
He quietly felt the changes in his body, and apart from feeling a little weak, he did not lose a rank.
Heaving a sigh of relief, Colin poured himself another cup of deer blood wine, drinking it as he waited for Valla to wake up.
To be honest, Valla's willingness to atone for his sins with his death had touched Colin greatly.
Facing such a knight who held fast to the justice in his heart, Colin felt that he had to slightly change his original plan.
After a long while, just as Colin was about to come up with a new plan, Valla finally woke up.
"I … I'm not dead?"
Valla sat up straight, looking at the longsword that was still stuck in his chest with a blank expression.
"You are indeed dead," Colin said calmly, "but I have granted you a second life."
Valla stared blankly at Colin. In her eyes, Colin's entire body seemed to be shrouded in a vast, holy, and irresistible radiance, causing people to have the urge to prostrate themselves in worship.
"Colin … What is going on?"
"Have you heard of the Blood Angels?"
… …
After a round of brainwashing, Valla's attitude toward Colin became extremely respectful.
He slowly pulled out the longsword in front of his chest, raised it above his head, and knelt on one knee, solemnly swearing an oath.
"Thank you, God's Chosen One, for your supreme grace! I, Valla Oman, hereby swear my loyalty to you. From this day onwards, until I return to the embrace of the Lord, I will serve you at all times. Your will shall be the direction of my sword, and your orders shall be the creed of my actions! "
Colin took Valla's sword and tapped his shoulder twice, accepting the knight's oath of loyalty.
With the knight's previous display of loyalty to the virtues of a knight, Colin felt that this oath of loyalty might be even more reliable than the bonds of the Blood Breeds.
"Valla, do you know why I forgive your sins and grant you a second life?"
"God's Chosen One, please instruct us!"
"Because you are just a pitiful person who has been kept in the dark."
Valla's face was filled with confusion.
Colin continued to explain, "You said that your mother, Penny, sent someone to assassinate me because she wanted to help you obtain a family business. Then let me ask you, is your relationship with Ms. Penny really that close? "
"Mother …" Valla hesitated. "Mother is not someone who is good at expressing her feelings."
Colin sneered, "Not good at expressing feelings? Do you really think that a mother would not know how to be intimate with her own son? "
"Maybe … maybe she's a little conflicted about my identity as an illegitimate child …"
"Hehe, she's just a rank one commoner. What right does she have to look down on an illegitimate child? Even if she was conflicted about your identity and was unwilling to get close to you, why would she take such a huge risk to help you obtain the Angele family's business? "
Valla did not know what to say now, and could only say respectfully, "God's Chosen One, please forgive my stupidity for not being able to see the reason."
"Actually, the real reason is very simple." Colin exuded a faint aura of might, and his tone became solemn. "Penny is not close to you because she's not your biological mother!"
"What?" Valla looked up in shock, and looked at Colin in disbelief.
"Don't forget that I am the Blood Angel's apostle. Naturally, I can use divine spells to tell that you are actually a direct descendant of the Oman family, and that Lawrence is actually the illegitimate child of Penny and the count!"
"I … I'm my father's son?" Valla was completely dumbfounded. "Lawrence … is the illegitimate child?"
Colin leisurely swirled the wine glass in his hand, and did not continue speaking. Instead, he let Valla digest this shocking news.
The reason why he did not mention recessive inheritance was that compared to the unproven genetic theory of this world, profound divine spells were more likely to gain the trust of a devout knight.
Valla indeed fell into a deep struggle because of Colin's words. He did not dare to question Colin's judgment, but he could not understand why he had been treated as an illegitimate child all these years if he really was Count Oman's son.
"Are you puzzled as to why you, a direct descendant, would be raised as an illegitimate child?"
"Yes, please enlighten me, God's Chosen One!"
"Because even though Lawrence is an illegitimate child, his bloodline is nobler than yours!"
"How … How is that possible?" Valla was even more puzzled, but soon seemed to understand something. He quickly asked, "You mean that Lawrence's birth mother, Penny, is not a commoner?"
"That's right. Penny is actually a descendant of the House of St. Theon. Therefore, even though Lawrence is an illegitimate child, he is obviously nobler than you in Count Oman's eyes."
"The House of St. Theon …" Valla finally understood. A descendant of a holy knight family was naturally nobler than him.
It was only then that Valla understood why Penny was always so cold to him, completely lacking the closeness and attention that a normal mother should have.
Knight Valla fell silent after understanding the whole story.
His expression kept changing as the years of humiliation due to his identity as an illegitimate child suddenly surged into his heart, finally condensing into a lingering resentment and unwillingness.
Colin's lips curled up slightly as he provoked again, "Valla, do you know about cuckoos?"
"Yes." Valla nodded with a gloomy expression. "Cuckoos lay their eggs in the nests of sparrows, allowing the sparrows to raise their own offspring."
"Then what will happen to the real offspring of the sparrows?"
"They will be squeezed out of the nest by the hatched cuckoos, falling to their deaths, starving to death …" Valla's expression was so gloomy that it looked like water could drip from it.
"Then, Valla, are you willing to see Lawrence take over the title of count that should have belonged to you, and let the Oman family become a breeding ground for the descendants of the House of St. Theon?"
"Of course not!"
"And that countess of the Sudor family, your real mother, is said to have died of an illness. Haha, do you believe that reason?"
Valla's eyes reddened as he squeezed out two words from his tightly clenched teeth. "No!"
"And your father, Count Oman. I can tell you with certainty that the reason why the trolls were able to defeat Marquis Charles' army, causing my father to die on the frontlines and you to be heavily injured, was actually because he secretly leaked information to the trolls!
Moreover, this time, in order to help the House of St. Theon make a comeback, Count Oman chose to betray his own lord and his own people once more, wholeheartedly wanting to cause chaos on the Northern Frontier!
Are you still willing to serve such a person and be ordered around by him? "
"Of course not!" Valla's veins bulged as he clenched his fists. He suddenly looked up and asked sincerely, "Lord Chosen One, what should I do?"
Hearing this, a satisfied smile finally appeared on Colin's face.
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