After some thought, the Count's eldest son felt that the first possibility was the most likely.
He knew his younger brother well. Laciel had always wanted to prove to their father that he was no worse than his older brother, constantly seeking to compete for the position of heir to the count title.
If Laciel hadn't been caught by House Callis, he would have joyfully returned to the estate after obtaining their cultivation knowledge.
He would have used it to prove his capability to their father, thereby securing his chance of becoming the heir.
“Young lord, is it possible that after obtaining House Callis's cultivation knowledge, Young Master Laciel was too afraid of their retaliation to return to the family?”
The guard beside the Count's eldest son spoke up. Although he also felt the first speculation was more reasonable, the consequences of being caught by House Callis were simply too terrifying.
It wouldn't just be Young Master Laciel; House Callis would absolutely direct their wrath toward the Ronal Count's estate.
“If it was just Laciel wanting to run away, what about Ronya?”
Knight Ronya seemed to be Laciel's guardian knight, but he was actually the Count's eldest son's man.
The reason Laciel was foolish enough to plot for House Callis's cultivation knowledge was largely due to the Count's eldest son using Knight Ronya to instigate him.
The Count's eldest son naturally knew how dangerous this was; House Callis was notoriously unreasonable.
But they had no other choice. Currently, the only Seventh Circle practitioner in the Ronal Count's estate was his grandfather, the old Count.
A normal Seventh Circle expert only had a lifespan of a thousand years. Furthermore, the old Count had been injured in the past, which greatly reduced his lifespan. Now, his days were numbered.
Meanwhile, his father, Count Ronal, was still stuck at the peak of the Sixth Circle, unable to make any progress.
Before long, once his grandfather passed away, the Ronal family would lose their last Seventh Circle Transcendent.
Without a High-level Transcendent, could a great noble family still be called a great noble family?
When that time came, they would not only lose their title of Count and be demoted to Viscounts, but their territory and resources would also be severely reduced.
Most importantly, as a great noble family that had once been glorious, how many treasures were left within the Ronal Count's estate?
Wouldn't other count families covet these treasures? And how could the Ronal family, having lost their High-level Transcendent, possibly stop them?
If they encountered someone with dark designs, they might simply launch a night raid to slaughter the members of the Ronal family and plunder everything. In the end, it would likely just become an unsolved mystery.
After all, who would go to the trouble of offending an active Count for the sake of a demoted Viscount?
Other viscount estates certainly wouldn't dare. And if another count's estate got involved, would they really be there to seek justice for them, or just to sit down and divide the spoils?
In the transcendent world, the game of power had always been one where one must advance or perish.
Those who fell behind would be ruthlessly crushed by others.
The Count's eldest son wanted to change this outcome, so he needed more powerful cultivation knowledge.
But cultivation knowledge was something that any family would guard with absolute secrecy; it was virtually impossible for an outsider to get their hands on it.
After searching through various methods, the Count's eldest son discovered that, surprisingly, only House Callis fit the criteria.
First of all, House Callis's cultivation knowledge went without saying—they were one of the few families that could consistently produce Demigods.
Secondly, House Callis's cultivation knowledge wasn't restricted to the direct line; all family members could obtain it, which greatly reduced the difficulty of acquiring it.
Lastly, and most importantly, House Callis punished failed reserves by stripping them of their noble titles; even a Baron would be directly demoted to a commoner.
Just how difficult could it be to seize a top-tier inheritance from a mere commoner?
The Count's eldest son had mused.
In any case, if House Callis found out about the theft, they would die; if his grandfather passed away and no new Seventh Circle stepped up, they would also die. Since both paths led to death, why not take a gamble?
However, he hadn't chosen to go himself. Instead, he had enticed Laciel to snatch it. If Laciel succeeded, he would immediately sever all ties between Laciel and the Ronal Count's estate.
Laciel could die, but he must not drag down the Ronal Count's estate.
“Damn it, how could that fool mess up such a simple matter?”
Just thinking about how Laciel could fail at something as simple as stealing cultivation knowledge from a commoner made the Count's eldest son incredibly frustrated.
At this moment, he even began to wonder if it had been a mistake to manipulate Laciel into stealing the item in the first place.
After all, the boy was so stupid.
But then again, if Laciel weren't stupid, he wouldn't have been manipulated into doing something so foolish.
Boom!
Just as the Count's eldest son was fretting over this matter, a sudden, deafening crash echoed from outside.
Even sitting inside his office, he could feel the ground tremble.
Immediately after, the clanking of iron armor resounded outside the villa—the sound of the estate's knights rushing about.
“What happened?”
The Count's eldest son stood up and headed outside with his guard.
Outside the palace-like villa, a woman of peerless beauty, her face as cold as frost, wearing a black combat skirt, kicked open the gates of the Ronal Count's estate.
Boom!
Boom!
The two massive iron gates flew dozens of meters through the air before slamming into the ground, letting out two dull, heavy thuds.
If Tyr were here, he would have recognized that the person storming the Ronal Count's estate was none other than his eldest sister, Luna Callis, who had gifted him his first sword back in the Sword Prison.
Luna strode into the estate. Behind her, two corpses already lay on the ground.
They were the gatekeepers of the Ronal Count's estate. Seeing Luna walk straight toward them, they had just been about to step forward and shout at her when they felt a sharp, stabbing pain pierce their bodies. In the next instant, all life drained from them.
Clank, clank, clank, clank...
The commotion at the entrance quickly drew the attention of the estate's knights. Amidst the clanking of armor, more than thirty knights rushed into the front courtyard, surrounding Luna in tight layers.
“You're from House Callis?!”
Seeing Luna's iconic white hair and crimson eyes, along with the uniquely sharp magic power radiating from her, the commander of the knight order leading them felt his pupils constrict sharply.
The commander of the Ronal Knight Order was a Sixth Circle Transcendent. As one of the current pillars of the Ronal Count's estate, he was naturally aware of the Count's eldest son's plan.
Initially, he had strongly opposed the plan. After all, many noble families years ago had already served as grim examples of what happened when one plotted to steal House Callis's cultivation knowledge.
But the Count's eldest son had convinced him with a single line: “To steal is death, but to not steal is just a slow death. Since both end in death, why not go wild?”
That was House Callis's cultivation knowledge, after all. If they actually succeeded, let alone preserving their current count title, it wasn't entirely impossible for them to climb even higher and become a Marquis.
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