Leila offered no explanation as she pushed open the stone door and walked out.
As the heavy stone door swung shut, the secret chamber fell back into silence.
Bell did not give chase. He stood before the altar, his gaze fixed on the remnants of the red dust.
The dust was settling at an agonizingly slow pace.
Something wasn't adding up.
Leila had left too quickly.
He turned to Grant.
“Could you try once as well, please?”
Grant straightened up from the pillar. Without asking any questions, he walked directly to the altar and pressed his right hand flat against it.
The dark red lines writhed and climbed.
They disintegrated at the exact same spot.
The dust fell onto the back of Grant's hand, leaving nothing behind.
Grant stared at the back of his hand for a moment before withdrawing it.
“It is exactly the same as the Queen’s.”
He spoke calmly and returned to his original position.
Elizabeth, clutching her stuffed bear, leaned in from the corner to take a look.
“What's so strange about that? You haven't received the joint approval of the ancestors, Grant, so of course you can't get in.”
Bell didn't respond to her. Instead, he turned toward the tall figure on the other side of the altar.
The Third Ancestor, Altan, stood just over two meters tall with shoulders significantly broader than a normal person's. He had remained silently stationed at the very edge.
“Ancestor Altan, you know the conditions for the inheritance ritual better than anyone.”
It wasn't a question; his tone was perfectly flat, even carrying a hint of certainty.
Altan turned his head and remained silent for a moment before speaking. He was a man of few words, and each one carried significant weight.
“There are only two conditions. First, the joint approval of the ten ancestors. Second, the one holding the Bloodline Aria must be the one to trigger the inheritance sarcophagus and step into the land of inheritance.”
He lifted his chin, gesturing toward the scepter in Lilian's hand.
Bell followed his gaze.
“In other words.”
He pointed at the scepter.
“This is the key to entering the inheritance.”
“Correct.”
Altan’s answer was concise.
Bell nodded and said nothing more. He turned and walked toward the inheritance stone pillar in the center of the secret chamber.
The surface of the stone pillar was covered in the Ancient Blood Tongue, and dark red light flowed slowly through its core.
He placed his hand upon it.
There was no wait.
A force surged from within the pillar, pushing his hand away. He was forced back half a step, the soles of his shoes making a sharp scuffing sound against the floor.
Elizabeth’s laughter rang out clearly at that moment.
“A human dares to touch the inheritance stone pillar?”
She held her stuffed bear a little higher, obscuring half her face, and stared at Bell from just above the bear’s ears.
“How truly... absurd.”
Bell looked down, his tongue touching a trace of blood that had seeped out, and then he looked up at Lilian.
“Your Majesty.”
He pointed toward Elizabeth.
“Lend the scepter to her.”
A silence lasted for two full seconds in the hall.
Elizabeth’s laughter cut off.
She looked down at the stuffed bear in her arms, then up at Bell.
“You want me to—”
“Try once,” Bell interrupted her, his tone low. “Just this once.”
A trace of oddness appeared on Elizabeth’s face, but before she could speak further, Lilian had already held the scepter out horizontally, presenting it to her.
“Take it.”
Elizabeth tucked the stuffed bear under her arm, freeing a hand to take the scepter. She turned it over and inspected it for a few seconds before casually walking to the inheritance stone pillar and pressing her hand against it.
Then, she was repelled.
It was exactly the same as before.
The lines climbed, disintegrated at the same spot, and the dust fell away, leaving the back of her hand as clean as ever.
Elizabeth stared at the back of her hand for a long time.
No one in the hall spoke.
She slowly tossed the scepter back to Lilian, pulled the stuffed bear back to her chest, and retreated two steps to stand in the corner again.
The mocking attitude she had been maintaining was completely gone.
Bell stood where he was and began to sort through the facts point by point.
Lilian, who had the ancestors' approval and held the scepter: failure.
Grant, who had neither the approval nor the scepter: failure.
Himself, a non-vampire with neither: failure.
Elizabeth, who had no approval but held the scepter: also a failure.
The failures themselves didn't matter; the main point was that the results for all four people were identical.
If Lilian was being repelled, then someone in his situation should have faced a penalty instead.
Four different permutations, four identical results.
This already exceeded the scope of the conditions themselves.
Whispers began to break out in the secret chamber. The ancestors each had their own theories; some thought there was a problem with the inheritance stone pillar itself, some believed Lilian's approval was incomplete, and others turned to question Altan, but Altan only shook his head.
Lilian walked down the steps and stopped in front of Bell.
“It's my fault.”
Her voice was kept very low.
“My fear of her has never disappeared. The inheritance sensed this, so it will not accept me no matter what. As long as that shadow remains, this ritual will not be completed.”
Several ancestors nearby nodded in silence, accepting her judgment.
Bell did not respond.
The logical chain in his mind continued to extend downward.
Something was stuck.
He lined up these four results in his mind and ran through them again from a common perspective.
Lilian's eligibility for inheritance was, theoretically, complete. Approval from ten ancestors, plus the scepter. Both conditions were met, yet she was still repelled.
Grant had neither condition.
Himself—non-vampire—the conditions didn't apply to begin with.
Elizabeth...
Elizabeth was the Fourth Ancestor.
In terms of age, strength, and bloodline purity, she was far superior to Grant. If one were to pick someone from the vampire hierarchy with the potential for inheritance, Elizabeth would definitely be a top candidate.
Yet, even holding the scepter, she was repelled.
The scepter was a key in Lilian's hands.
In Elizabeth's hands, it was not.
The key itself hadn't changed; the owner had, and it lost its function.
This meant—
It wasn't that Lilian was disqualified, but rather...
Bell’s train of thought reached this junction and stopped abruptly.
Ahead of this junction was a direction he was unwilling to pursue.
But logic cares nothing for willingness.
He re-examined the details of Leila walking out.
The speed with which she pushed the door.
The fact that she left without any explanation.
And the split-second reaction in her muscles when she detected that fluctuation—
That wasn't confusion.
That was wariness.
It was the most primal defensive posture exposed by an ancestor who had lived for thousands of years when facing something.
The blood energy beneath Bell's skin receded rapidly.
The stuck junction loosened, and the entire logical chain began to roll forward. Every gear clicked into place; there wasn't a single contradiction.
The deduction held up.
And once this deduction was established, the situation everyone faced was far more troublesome than they realized.
The discussions in the secret chamber continued.
Lilian stared at his profile, her brow twitching slightly.
“Bell?”
Bell looked up.
His gaze passed Lilian and landed on the closed stone door.
Where was Leila now?
The words remained stuck in his throat for nearly two seconds.
“No...”
He paused.
“I think I probably know the reason.”
The discussions in the secret chamber came to an abrupt halt.
Everyone's gaze focused on him.
Bell did not speak further.
He stood before the inheritance stone pillar, his eyes fixed on the dark red light flowing across its surface. The light moved slowly through the Ancient Blood Tongue carvings, never ceasing.
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