Chapter 582: The Problem Is His Last Name

"With all due respect, Patriarch... I object to this decision!"

The voice of the Pendragon family elder echoed across Verendal’s central square.

The applause that had risen moments earlier to announce the family’s new heir had now completely died down.

Thousands of people were sitting in different sections, their gazes moving between the man who had raised his objection, Lian Vorhelm, and Rhaenar Pendragon.

The family elder was still standing.

His fingers were gripping the armrest of his chair tightly, and his expression made it clear that he had struggled with himself for a long time before raising his objection.

He wasn’t the only one dissatisfied with the patriarch’s decision.

In the younger generation’s section, Caelen had clenched his right hand into a fist, the same hand that had held the Crown Mark until yesterday. Now, there was no trace of the Mark left.

Lysandra was also looking at the altar with a serious expression, even some elders who usually never caused the slightest disorder during official ceremonies were now openly waiting for Rhaenar’s answer.

However, the patriarch wasn’t in a hurry to speak, he looked at the man who had objected for a few seconds, then placed his hands behind his back.

"I’ve heard your objection, and I’ll keep it in mind as advice when making future decisions." He finally answered in a calm tone.

The man raised his head for a moment, and several other elders also sat up a little straighter.

But Rhaenar hadn’t finished speaking yet.

"However, it seems you’ve forgotten something." His gaze moved across the other family elders for a moment before returning to the man.

"I announced my decision, I didn’t ask you to vote on it."

An even heavier silence fell over the square, Rhaenar hadn’t even raised his voice, but his words were clear enough.

He continued.

"You’re free to express your opinion, even if you disagree with my decision. But deciding who deserves to use the family’s resources is my responsibility. As long as I’m responsible for the Pendragons, I won’t ask anyone for permission to do that."

The man who had objected pressed his lips together.

The patriarch briefly glanced at Lian.

"And if your only problem is that Lian carries the Vorhelm surname, you’d better find a stronger reason."

This time, several people in the Vorhelm guests’ section instinctively looked at one another.

Lian, who had been standing calmly until then, slightly raised the corner of his mouth.

Well, at least I don’t have to answer this one myself.

But the man who had objected still didn’t back down.

"Patriarch, the problem isn’t just his surname." His tone had become lower, but he was still speaking firmly.

"Our children lost the Marks they had spent years trying to obtain yesterday. No one even knows why yet, and now you’re saying that someone from outside the family has received an Ancestral Mark and is even allowed to train in the Dragon Blood River for a month."

He paused and looked toward the younger generation’s section.

"How do you expect them to accept this decision?"

This time, Rhaenar didn’t answer immediately.

His gaze remained on the faces of the family’s young members for a moment. Some were angry, some were confused, and others still hoped their Marks could somehow return.

Then he spoke.

"Regarding the lost Marks, you have the right to ask for an explanation."

The murmurs in the square grew slightly louder.

"Yesterday, the very foundation of the Dragon Marks was threatened by something that could have destroyed the entire legacy of our family, to prevent that from happening, the energy of the active Marks was returned to the Dragon Pearl."

Several of the more experienced elders became more serious when they heard the words "the very foundation."

They knew about the connection between the Dragon Marks and the family’s ancient Pearl, although even most of them didn’t know the truth about the being imprisoned deep beneath Verendal.

Rhaenar continued.

"If that decision hadn’t been made, there might never have been another Dragon Mark Ceremony in the future."

This time, no one answered immediately, losing the Marks of the current generation was a disaster, but losing the main source of the Marks?

Such an event could have destroyed one of the Pendragons’ most important legacies forever.

The family elder frowned slightly.

"Then who decided to sacrifice all the Marks?"

Rhaenar hadn’t even opened his mouth when a calm voice came from beside the altar.

"Me."

Seris took a step forward.

Her formal black and white clothes looked calm under the golden light of the altar, and all eyes turned toward the family’s new heir.

She looked directly at the man who had objected.

"I sacrificed the Marks."

The man remained silent for a moment.

"My Lady... you?"

"Yes."

"So you knew all the Marks would disappear?"

Seris nodded.

"I knew."

The family elder took a heavy breath and looked at the young people sitting in the lower sections for a few seconds.

"Do you understand how this decision will affect their future? Some of them needed their Marks for their Third Evolution, without those Marks, an entire generation of Pendragons won’t be able to form Dragon Bodies, do you understand how great an advantage we’re losing?"

She didn’t look away from him.

"I know." But her answer remained the same.

"So you knowingly sacrificed the future of the younger generation?"

The girl remained silent for a few seconds, not because she had no answer, but because she could understand the anger behind his question.

She also knew how valuable a Dragon Mark was, a Dragon Mark was valuable to her as well, but not as much as it was to the others, she didn’t care whether she had one or not because she knew she could remain the strongest even without it.

But for the rest of the Pendragon younger generation, the Mark was a major advantage that made them superior to other Awakened in the world and even to monsters.

But that day, deep inside the prison, the matter wasn’t just about a few Marks, a Demon-rank creature was about to be released, and she had been forced to make a choice, and the choice had been clear.

Seris finally answered.

"It was necessary to protect the family."

The man opened his mouth, but before he could continue, the girl added,

"If the same situation happened again, I would make the same decision."

Her voice wasn’t loud, and there wasn’t even the slightest sign of anger in it, yet the certainty in her words left several elders without anything to say for a moment.

Lian looked at Seris from a short distance away.

He knew that the girl wasn’t someone who gave long speeches, even when talking about something important, she usually said only enough to make her point clear.

But those few sentences were enough to show her decision, she didn’t want to leave the responsibility for what had happened to her father.

She had activated the command herself and was willing to accept the consequences.

"I have something to say."

Lucien Pendragon’s voice came from the younger generation’s section.

Rhaenar and Isolde’s eldest son calmly stood up.

Before the ceremony, he had been considered one of the strongest candidates for the family succession, at least from the outsiders’ point of view, and he had also managed to obtain the Sovereign Mark during the Dragon Mark Ceremony.

A Mark that no longer existed.

He looked at the back of his own right hand for a moment, then turned toward the family elders and spoke.

"I’m not happy about what happened either, I didn’t obtain that Mark easily, and losing it changes an important part of my future plans."

His gaze returned to Seris.

"But I know my sister, if she made such a decision, I’m sure the situation wasn’t normal."

One of the young men near Caelen muttered something under his breath, but Lucien paid no attention to him.

"If the choice was really between keeping my Mark and protecting the Pendragon legacy, I’d rather there still be a family around that I can complain to about losing my Mark."

Several family members let out short, cautious laughs, even Isolde smiled for a moment.

Seris gave her older brother a brief glance, Lucien nodded slightly to her and sat down again.

This support didn’t remove all the objections, but at least it made some of the young people look at the situation from another angle for a moment.

They didn’t even understand what this danger was, and no one was explaining it to them.

However, the elder who had objected still hadn’t let go of one issue.

"Very well, but we still haven’t heard an explanation about Lian Vorhelm’s Mark."

This time, his gaze was fixed directly on Lian.

"With all due respect to the patriarch’s guest, the Ancestral Mark is part of the Pendragon legacy, how did something like this end up in the hands of a member of a rival family?"

Lian smiled, apparently, it was his turn now, he took a step forward from the guests’ section.

His gaze rested on Seris for a moment before returning to the elder who had objected.

"Let’s make one thing clear."

The man frowned.

The young Vorhelm raised his right hand, and the black Dragon Mark on the back of it shone.

"I didn’t come to Verendal to obtain a Mark, even when I was helping Seris, I didn’t know I was going to receive one."

His voice was calm, but he spoke clearly enough for everyone near the altar to hear him.

"After the energy of the Marks was returned, that structure needed a new anchor to provide enough energy to the formation and keep it stable."

He deliberately used the word "structure" so that his statement could have more than one meaning.

The man listened silently.

"I accepted that responsibility, and this Mark is the result of that."

He lowered his hand.

"So if anyone thinks I took their Mark, they’re wrong."

"But that doesn’t change the fact that you’re a Vorhelm." The family elder narrowed his eyes and spoke sarcastically.