The room fell silent, everyone focused on Lake.
Despite the emotional conclusion he had reached, his face remained expressionless.
Although he found the idea absurd, all the evidence seemed to point to one conclusion; mana, which he had always thought to be lifeless, had somehow acted of its own will to keep his mother alive—just long enough for her to deliver him to Arthur.
This question gnawed at him.
Out of the infinite number of people scattered throughout the multiverse, why had it chosen his mother? And why had it stopped supporting her after she had given him to Arthur?
No matter how hard he thought, he couldn’t arrive at a reliable answer.
As for his feelings on the matter...
That was even less of a concern. He never met his mother, and as far as his memory was concerned, he had no connection to her other than blood.
He had no reason to feel any emotional attachment or strain, assuming he was even capable of such a thing in the first place.
Despite what he thought, he found himself incapable of feeling anything toward this situation.
While the system had helped him improve his condition, Lake knew better than anyone that he was still far from being complete.
Melissa’s voice pulled him from his thoughts.
"I know this must be hard for you to believe... After hearing it from Arthur, I also struggled to accept it myself. But I eventually did."
"Why?" Lake asked, slightly confused. "What made you believe?"
Melissa paused, then a gentle smile spread across her face.
"The first time I laid eyes on you, you were so small." Melissa spoke, an emotion close to motherly affection showing through her eyes.
"Even then, I could see how much you resembled Nora. And now, looking at you all grown up, it’s like seeing a younger version of her. Although," she added with a soft laugh, "a bit more masculine, of course."
Lake smiled slightly at her playful tone. He noticed her eyes were still rimmed with red, but even so, she was trying to lighten the heavy atmosphere.
"Besides, Arthur and I took you for a DNA test almost immediately. Even though so much time had passed since she died, her data was still in the database, and after a quick test, we found a 99% match."
Melissa explained, causing any lingering doubt in his mind to vanish.
Lake sighed, leaning back into his chair and staring at the ceiling, contemplating his next move.
In a way, he had learned what he had set out to discover, but now he had more questions than answers.
"Ahem," Kate cleared her throat, drawing everyone’s attention. She had been there throughout the conversation but had found herself lost in the shocking revelations.
Lake’s mother was the First King? She delivered Lake to her father on the day she was born and then died? But hadn’t she already died long before that?
The revelations left her with a headache, but she had one last thing to clarify.
"So, when you said before that Lake almost became my brother..."
"Ah, we meant we wanted to raise him ourselves, but we didn’t want to go against Nora’s last wishes," Melissa explained with a smile.
Kate felt relieved, but felt a sense of unease when she saw her mother’s smile.
"Well, since we’re on the topic, what do you say, Lake? Care to officially join the Blackheart family?"
Arthur erupted into a coughing fit at his wife’s casual suggestion.
Kate’s expression darkened while Lake simply watched, slightly dazed.
After a few moments, Lake finally snapped out of his daze.
"Thank you, I appreciate the offer," Lake paused, the corner of his lips slightly raised, "but I think it’s a little late for something like that. I’m already an independent adult, and I already have someone to call family."
Melissa was slightly taken aback by Lake’s response. After a few seconds she recalled that Lake did seem to be living under the care of an older woman causing her to smile.
Giggling softly, she replied, "I suppose that’s alright too. I’m glad to know that you think that way."
At that moment, a soft knock came from the hallway door.
"It seems the food is ready," Arthur said after glancing at the door.
"I suppose we should eat first before we continue?" Melissa suggested with a smile.
Lake and Kate responded at the same time, causing both of them to pause and Melissa to laugh even more.
"Would you look at these two, dear? Don’t you think they already sound close?" Melissa asked her husband, who didn’t respond to her question, even after a long period of silence had passed.
As she looked over to see what was wrong, she saw that Arthur’s face had turned slightly dark.
He was staring at Lake who just so happened to make eye contact with him at that moment.
It was only for a brief moment, but Lake went on high alert. He could’ve sworn he had just sensed an incredibly dangerous aura from Arthur.
However, even after searching high and low with his plethora of advanced senses, he couldn’t find any trace of it.
’Maybe I was mistaken?’
Lake thought to himself, deciding to keep his guard up for the rest of the meal...
After the meal, Kate led Lake to the private training facility in their home while Arthur and Melissa stayed in the dining hall.
"...What do you think, dear?" Melissa asked while resting her chin in her palm.
"About what?" Arthur asked, not liking where this conversation was going.
"About Lake and Kate, obviously. Don’t you think they look cute together?"
Arthur shut his mouth, refusing to elaborate further.
"Hehe, Kate has always been so strict with herself, even when she was young. To see her act the way she did today... I never thought I’d get to witness that again," Melissa said, recalling Kate’s flustered and distressed responses during the meal.
It was especially amusing to see her ears perk up whenever the conversation shifted toward Lake’s love life.
As a mother, Melissa couldn’t be happier to see her daughter finally show interest in someone. However...
"...You saw something, didn’t you?" Arthur slowly asked, but even after a long time had passed, Melissa didn’t say anything.
Arthur didn’t need to hear a response to understand what she meant, as he began to rhythmically tap his index finger on the dining table.
It was something he often did when he had a lot to think about.
His wife was a Low Rank Martial Grandmaster, and while not the strongest, possessed a unique awakened ability that allowed her to distinguish herself from others back when she was active.
Heavenly Mind—the ability to peer into the world around her and predict what was to come. It was a skill she developed after mana had mutated and evolved her brain’s ability to perceive and process information.
The ability was similar to foresight, though its downside was that it mentally drained her every time she used it.
Arthur had noticed her using it during the meal but chose not to mention it. He wasn’t sure what she saw or predicted, but he’d drawn his own conclusions based on his observations.
"He was quite strong, wasn’t he?" Arthur spoke out loud, causing Melissa to sigh.
She didn’t know what to say to her husband.
To say Lake was strong would indeed be correct, but it still felt like an understatement.
What Melissa saw through her Heavenly Mind wasn’t something that could be easily described.
It was strange, something beyond her comprehension, yet it left an undeniable impact on her.
In the end, only one word came to mind to describe what she saw from him.
’It was like I wasn’t even looking at a human, but...’