Super Righteous Player
Chapter 696 - 237: Corpse Curse_1

Chapter 696: Chapter 237: Corpse Curse_1

——The Melvin family is the greatest rebellion.

This is definitely a truth only spoken under duress, in a moment of urgency.

It might be somewhat exaggerated, but it is by no means false...

This is one of the truths that Annan wanted to obtain through destructive means, from her.

Apart from Rasputin, the only noble family in the Winter Principality with a gold-tier Transcendent was the Melvin family.

Yet, whether it was the rebellions of the past or the attacks Annan encountered later on... their house has been too quiet.

As rare holders of strategic gold-tier Transcendents, would they usually remain this quiet during such national crises?

And it’s not just their quietness that’s noteworthy.

The Hand of Winter actually let them remain quiet.

No one examined them, and no one doubted them. It’s as if every time a disaster occurred, everyone subconsciously forgot about the Melvin family.

As Annan had speculated before——

What exactly was the Winter Reverser’s betrayal for?

What was his goal? What was the necessity of his actions? What could be the reason for his absence now?

There is only one answer.

——His mission is far from complete.

Annan had already guessed one of his objectives.

That would be the infiltration of the Underworld.

The "Winter Reverser," with his resounding reputation, exceptional abilities, and ruthless methods, quickly raised an armed force in the Underworld after his arrival, effectively gaining control over several cities.

If he were still the Hand of Winter of the Winter Principality, such actions would undoubtedly be condemned by other nations—this would be an unquestionable act of aggression.

But after he initiated the rebellion... regardless of the actual truth, from the outside world’s perspective, he was the instigator of the rebellion. Therefore, even if it is for political asylum, the Underworld couldn’t stop him from building his own power.

——Because this was for his self-preservation.

Moreover, in the Underworld, the original political structure was very loose. Gaining control of a city after purchasing the "Digger" title through buying discovery rights isn’t something the Winter Reverser was the first to do.

——They can do it, why can’t I?

Beyond that objective.

The remaining purposes might have something to do with the Melvin family.

"...What did you say?"

Even Selicia couldn’t help being surprised by these words, "That’s not what you said when you arrived."

Especially in admitting to rebellion before the face of the next Duke of Winter—although Euphemia Melvin doesn’t yet know that "Elle" is Annan, Selicia does.

"Because that was a lie."

Euphemia Melvin’s expression was bitter, "I couldn’t have possibly escaped the family just in pursuit of freedom.

"Do you know... apart from the divine child who inherits the ’God of Mankind’, all the other children of the Melvin family are nothing more than tools for passing on the bloodline. Since we are tools, naturally we would not learn skills meant for ’humans’."

To preserve their divine nature, Melvin children are kept away from the secular world from birth, never engaging in earthy tasks. Activities like farming, cooking, smithing, hunting are all strictly forbidden, even learning about them is not allowed—books on these subjects are off-limits.

Among the many teachings of mankind, the only ones allowed for the children of the Melvin family are the "studies of killing and saving people"... that is, assassination and medical knowledge.

But, it was limited to "learning" only.

The Melvin family would never truly allow them to do such things. The reason being they feared external interference with their "cultivation"... and whether it is killing or saving someone, there would be a "target" for the application of their skills.

The subject’s words, actions, gazes... all could potentially shake the divine nature of the God-child, pulling them into the secular world.

This action was meant to cultivate divinity, but it also severed the possibility of the Melvin family’s children escaping their clan—they had no exposure to any knowledge related to the ordinary world.

Not to mention making money, they didn’t even know which items were edible and which were not; they had no idea what poison was, what the shelf life of food was, let alone what kinds of food were safe to eat.

They lacked even the skill to buy things... what items could be purchased where, and what their prices might roughly be. Or rather, they didn’t even know "this item can be bought," never mind carrying money on them.

For example, a child of the Melvin family was like a friend who entrusted their EVE account to you—utterly clueless upon opening the game.

What’s this? And that? What am I supposed to do? What are they doing?

—To this degree, one could be called "far removed from the secular world."

"But, the children of the Melvin family were by no means fools. It’s difficult to cultivate intellect under such harsh conditions... Mere education is not enough. Special potions are also needed to abstract their thinking,"

Euphemia Melvin explained softly.

In simple terms...

It’s that the children of the Melvin family had consumed too many "nutritional supplements," resulting in each of them being very intelligent.

"So we naturally knew that if we left the family, even just surviving would become difficult... it is an understatement to call it difficult. Yet, even so, there have always been those who fled from the family. You haven’t seen them because... they’re all dead.

"The family was already adept at Icon School spells, and if one couldn’t escape fast enough or far enough, it was enough to simply use common items left at home to curse and kill a traitor... Whether it was fleeing the family without permission or leaking the family’s rules to others, it was considered a ’betrayal’."

"If it’s a direct curse killing, isn’t that a bit too..."

Elle furrowed her brows slightly upon hearing this, "And a ’betrayal’ to the ’family’? Just leaving the family counts as betrayal?"

Isn’t that a bit too ruthless?

And such an unreasonable clan law almost made Annan instantly sense something was wrong.

—Could such a strict clan law really just be for inheriting "the god amongst men"?

"However, that’s exactly the case."

Yufimia smiled bitterly, "That’s why I planned my escape... and that’s why Lily employed such a method to help me escape the family."

"As far as I know... that ’Wolf Professor,’ Frederick, is also from your family, right?"

Elle asked, "How did he escape?"

Although Annan knew that the present "Wolf Professor," Frederick Wolfheart, was in fact "Dream Eater," Tricino Seti.

He still decided to ask, as he might receive some answers in other directions.

"He escaped by faking death,"

Yufimia answered promptly, "I’ve studied his method. He allowed himself to die once to throw off the precision of the curse that was killing him. Then he wore ’The Remains of the Not-Yet-Dead’ on his person, channeling the curse into it.

"On one hand, he could use this method to evade tracking and curses. At the same time, he was also able to create a large number of cursed objects."

...Such as "The Charlatan and the Missionary," perhaps?

Annan asked, "What exactly is ’The Remains of the Not-Yet-Dead’?"

Upon hearing this, Yufimia fell silent for a moment.

"...This is why I say that the Melvin family is the greatest rebellion,"

She slowly removed her mask.

Revealing a delicate face that resembled Frederick’s by about forty to fifty percent.

And the largest difference from Frederick,

Lay in the green triangular rune on the center of her forehead, the sharp end pointing downward. At the heart of the triangle, set another dark green equilateral triangle, dividing it into four parts.

That rune was still faintly glowing at this moment—undeniably, this was the reason she always wore a mask.

"This is the Corpse Curse. If I die with it on me, I’ll become ’The Remains of the Not-Yet-Dead.’"