In the lead of Allen, Jasper, and Elder Guntor, the noble families of the Lustbound Kingdom departed the throne room one by one.
Those who remained in the hall belonged mainly to the Kielname family, the Holygrill family, the Florence family, the Redlife family, and, of course, the Velmora family.
From the Kielname family, Lady Talmora stayed behind with all her daughters, while her son Jeffrey followed Elder Guntor toward the dining hall.
From the Holygrill family, Matriarch Aria remained in the hall together with her aunt Synthia. Aria instructed her eldest daughter Delya to lead the rest of the family to the dining hall. Though Delya desperately longed to stay, she could not defy the Matriarch's command.
From the Florence family, Matriarch Cinthia remained inside the hall alongside her principal husband, Sherek Loveheart. She ordered her son Jackvert and her daughter Lisa to lead the rest of the family to the dining hall.
From the Redlife family, Lady Jumana and Lady Neria stayed behind with the young lady Aelema, while Patriarch Denford led his other wives and his youngest daughter Fiji toward the dining hall.
From the Velmora ducal family, only six people had attended the gathering from the very beginning. After Allen and Jasper departed for the dining hall, only Mia, Westeria, Amelia, and Veronica remained.
All in all, only twenty-four people were left in the throne room: four from the Velmora ducal family, two from the Holygrill family, two from the Florence family, three from the Redlife family, four from the Kielname family, and the final nine—those who had been personally recruited by Lucifer himself.
Seeing the returning figures of Westeria and the Grand Duchess, Amelia glared at Mia with searing, barely contained fury.
Mia met that burning stare and asked, "Why are you looking at me as if you want to devour me, Amelia?"
Amelia's voice cracked with raw rage. "Mother, you had no right to speak to Sister Veronica that way! Who gave you the authority to judge whether someone truly loves Lucifer or not? If you wish to judge anyone, then judge yourself! You are the one who shattered Lucifer's heart far more deeply than anyone else ever could. And if you have conveniently forgotten those moments, I will force you to remember every single one of them!"
Mia sighed, the weight of guilt pressing down on her. "Yes, my dear… you are right. I am in no position to judge anyone."
She turned to Veronica, her voice soft yet heavy with remorse. "I am so sorry, my dear. I should never have said those words. In that moment I was not thinking with my mind—I was drowning in the pain of my own heart.
"The way you reacted was completely natural. The very first time Amelia saw him like that, she reacted exactly the same way you did.
"Back then, unlike today, his body burned so fiercely that no one dared approach him… Veronica, please forgive me once more for wounding your heart."
Veronica's eyes brimmed with tears, yet she forced herself to nod and asked in a trembling voice, "Mother… you said his body was so hot that no one dared go near him. Then… how did my husband ever calm down?"
Mia answered, her gaze distant with memory. "Saying that no one dared approach him does not mean that no one did. I was the one who embraced him in that moment.
"His body radiated heat more intense than burning coal… yet the instant I touched him, astonishingly, I felt no discomfort at all. Instead, his skin was ice-cold beneath my hands.
"Amelia stood right beside me, recoiling from the waves of scorching heat pouring off him, while I—holding him tightly—felt the exact opposite. When I urged her to embrace him as well, she did… and she, too, felt only coldness. No heat. No burning. Only cold."
Veronica stared at her in stunned disbelief. "You mean that while everyone else felt those blistering heat waves pouring from Lucifer's body, you and Sister Amelia felt the complete opposite? How is that even possible? How can different people feel such opposite sensations from the same person at the exact same moment?"
Mia shook her head slowly. "I do not know how it is possible, my dear… but take today's events as proof.
"You all saw those blood-red tears falling from Lucifer's eyes. Every single one of us watched them. And every one of us saw my clothes turn to dust the instant those tears touched them—proving that this time his tears carried corrosive power.
"Yet look at me. My body is completely unharmed. Those same tears that reduced cloth to nothing left not even the faintest mark upon my skin."
Veronica's voice rose, edged with shock and desperate confusion. "How… how is that possible? Something powerful enough to reduce clothing to dust with a single touch… left your body completely unharmed? How can such a thing be?"
Mia's voice grew quieter, heavier with certainty. "I do not know, Veronica. No one truly knows. But what I have observed time and again is this: whether it is heat waves, tears, bloodlust, or aura—everything that pours from Lucifer in moments like these will never harm those who truly love him. Nor will it harm those for whom he truly cares.
"That is why I approached and embraced him without a second thought. Yes, he looked like a complete lunatic… but in truth, he was shattered. On the outside he laughed like a madman, spouting nonsense… yet inside he was crying. He was weeping. He was drowning in a pain so vast I cannot even begin to describe it.
"If you had dared to hold him in those moments, my dear, you would have felt exactly what I am trying to tell you."
The moment Mia finished speaking, Aria—who had listened to every word—stepped forward, her expression grave. "Lady Mia… though it is difficult to believe such claims, I choose to believe you. Still, tell us—what is the meaning behind those broken, repetitive words he kept muttering while laughing?"
It was not only Aria's question. Every person remaining in the throne room burned with the same desperate need to know. Even Veronica longed for the answer.
Mia smiled faintly. "Did you all stay behind merely to ask me this? Why have none of you asked Amelia? She knows the truth all too well."
The revelation struck the room like a physical blow. Why had they not turned to Amelia? None of them could say. Yet somehow, subconsciously, every one of them had waited for Mia's return.
Seeing their confused and frustrated faces, Mia continued, "If I explain everything here, I will only have to repeat it all at the dining table so the others may finally silence their own questions and curiosity. Can you not wait a little longer?"
Synthia stepped forward, her voice tight with urgency. "Your Grace… at least give us a hint. Give us something—anything."
Mia repeated the title slowly, almost mockingly. "Your Grace… Your Grace… Your Grace…"
Then she fixed Synthia with a sharp look. "Why are you calling me 'Your Grace'?
"If you truly proposed to Lucifer and he accepted you, then call me Mother—or Mother-in-law."
Synthia's face flushed deeply, yet she still protested, "But you are so much younger than I am… you are barely half my age. How can I possibly call you Mother or Mother-in-law?"
Mia's reply was calm and absolute. "Veronica is older than I by several years, yet she still calls me Mother or Mother-in-law. Tristian is two years older than Luci, yet he still calls him Father or Dad. So why can you not do the same?
"Here in the Velmora family, age decides nothing. This is not your Holygrill family. In the Velmora family, as Lucifer's newest wife you are the youngest. Either accept that truth… or I will speak to Lucifer about you."
Thoroughly chastened, Synthia answered in a small, clumsy voice, her face burning scarlet, "Yes… Mother."
Even so, she pressed on. "Please… give us some hint. Something. Anything."
Mia's expression grew solemn. "Then listen carefully.
"The name Seren that Lucifer kept repeating… she was his daughter. His very first daughter.
"Tragically, her mother was Sarah—daughter of Christopher Purefield.
"In the past we once shared ties with the Purefields, but those ties were severed long ago.
"When we left, Sarah was already pregnant with Lucifer's child. Yet the day after we arrived in Westirifer, Lucifer somehow sensed that Seren had died.
"She did not die after birth. She died inside Sarah's womb. I do not know how he sensed it—and do not ask me—but he knew.
"The cause of Seren's death was the tansy herb… supplied to Christopher by Rotveil, that vile pope of the Church of Toxara.
"But that is not the end of the horror. Sarah consumed the herb willingly. And even before she swallowed it, she had already taken every possible measure to kill the child growing inside her.
"The inhuman cruelty of Christopher, Sarah, and Rotveil did not stop there. After Seren died, Rotveil—by some unspeakable method—extracted the dead infant from Sarah's womb… and… and… ate her."
The moment the words left Mia's lips, her own stomach twisted violently. Aria, Synthia, Cinthia, Talmora, Lady Lubava, Lady Neria, and Sherek Loveheart all nearly retched where they stood, faces drained of color.
After a brief, shuddering breath, Mia continued, her voice raw. "Even before these atrocities, Lucifer already stood against Christopher for reasons of his own. But when Seren died, he swore a blood oath to annihilate the entire Purefield family and to give Christopher and Sarah a fate worse than death itself.
"Yet when he learned that Rotveil had torn Seren's corpse from the womb and consumed her… Lucifer nearly lost all control. Days later he set out alone to destroy the City of Death—Morthveil—with his own hands. And from there… the story continued."
Having revealed this much of the past, Mia's gaze settled upon Cassian, Arlena, Arlira, Arlissa, and the other five standing attentively beside Lady Talmora.
"Who are they?" she asked.
Talmora answered respectfully, "Your Grace, they are the ones recruited by the Young Master himself. He has even bestowed upon them the Velmora family surname."
Mia nodded. "If Luci has given them our name, then he must trust them completely."
She looked at all nine and spoke with quiet authority. "I welcome every one of you into the Velmora family. May you never disappoint Lucifer."
With those words, Mia left the throne room to change her ruined clothes and to check on Lucifer's condition.
Inside the hall, faces twisted with rage and disbelief. Almost every person present cursed the names of Christopher, Sarah, and Rotveil with venomous fury.
Westeria, watching the storm of emotion, added coldly, "What Mother has just told you is not the entire story—not even half of it. Do not waste another moment here. Join the others in the dining hall. This time she will not begin the tale from the start… but I will tell it in her place, and I will omit nothing that she deliberately left unspoken.
"And Jasper is already there. He once encountered Christopher in Evorywood Town. It was Jasper who first told us that Rotveil… consumed Seren."
Having spoken, Westeria turned and left the throne hall with Amelia at her side. The rest followed close behind, hearts burning with rage and pure, visceral disgust.