My older sister is a villainous rich girl

"Keep going, keep going!"

Roy urged impatiently.

As the newbies gradually became more skilled, the game between the remaining four players became very close, and everyone enjoyed themselves immensely.

However, only Wayne noticed that Tasia, who was "watching" from behind Roy and Vivian, was emitting a faint glow in her hand.

It remained silent, hidden by the bright and dazzling sunlight.

In the center of the courtyard, a small patch of shadow huddled under a parasol seemed to be surrounded by the omnipresent light.

Chapter 608 A Seed Is Sprouting

In that instant, Wayne felt an extremely uncomfortable feeling rising from the depths of his heart.

It's like a lone boat adrift on a turbulent sea, surrounded by dangers with nowhere to hide.

The faint emotion was fleeting, making it difficult to discern whether it was merely an illusion. Before Wayne could pinpoint the source of that discomfort, the strange sensation vanished.

He paused for a moment, then said nothing.

Although it was just a simple game, Roy and Vivian's shouts and yells created a thrilling and tense atmosphere. Chris even seemed to have regressed in her mental age to the same level as the two siblings, thoroughly enjoying herself in the evenly matched battle.

Happy playtime is always short-lived. By the time Wayne and his friends said goodbye, it was already nearly dusk.

"Thank you for your hospitality today. Perhaps we'll come back to visit Roy and the others in a few days," Wayne said to Marquis O'Neill before saying goodbye.

"Welcome!"

Marquis O'Neill's smiling face did not reveal his true attitude.

Instead of accepting Marquis O'Neill's invitation to dinner, Wayne gave the two siblings a deck of cards as a gift.

The three left the Marquis's mansion with the O'Neill family escorting them, and boarded their own carriage.

“Although Roy and Vivian aren’t exactly brilliant, their intellectual disability isn’t particularly severe either. With a little patience, they can still be communicated with properly.” Stretching lazily, Chris said with a hint of annoyance, “But Marquis O’Neill doesn’t seem to care much about his children.”

"They probably just used them as necessary tools for family succession."

The moment Roy and Vivian returned to Marquis O'Neill, the joy in their expressions vanished completely.

Instead, there was the same numbness that I always felt, just like the day I first met them.

Wayne sat opposite Chris and Tasia, carefully reflecting on what he had seen and heard throughout the day.

"Whether it was Marquis O'Neill or that butler, their welcoming attitude towards us was based solely on family interests... He didn't care whether Roy had actually made friends or not; he only cared whether the Winchester family could provide him with assistance."

Clearly, he was not content to remain excluded from the elite circle at the heart of the capital.

This is different from what Wayne had heard before—that the Marquis of O'Neill had withdrawn from high society because he felt sorry for his children.

So, if the desire for fame and fortune is so strong, why did you deliberately put on an act of indifference to fame and fortune before?

Is it because... there are some things you don't want others to notice?

“Tsk, family lineage…” Chris frowned. “I really don’t understand whether the so-called ‘family’ in the eyes of those nobles includes their closest family members.”

“There are many people like him in this world.” Wayne paused. “Perhaps, people like Father and Mother are the very few.”

Family honor is a dazzling gem that everyone in this era yearns to pursue.

Important people would wipe it clean and wear it in the most conspicuous place on their chests, never forgetting to show off its brightness wherever they went—as if only in this way could they prove that their existence had some special significance.

Chris couldn't help but snort with a hint of annoyance: "What a rigid and boring idea."

Tasia listened quietly beside her, without uttering a word.

The carriage started moving, and there was a moment of silence inside.

Wayne wanted to ask Tasia if she had discovered any clues about dark magic, but Chris's gaze was fixed on him so intently that he hadn't found an opportunity to speak with Tasia alone.

However, just as Wayne was struggling with how to start a conversation, Tasia took the initiative to speak.

"When we were playing games together before, I took the opportunity to check on Roy and Vivian's physical condition."

Chris was only slightly taken aback before her attention was immediately drawn to her words.

"How was it? How was it?"

Chris also had high hopes for Tasia's amazing light magic.

With a strange sense of unease, Wayne looked at her face, which was as calm and gentle as ever.

"Anyway... something's strange." Tasia hesitated for a moment before saying vaguely, "Their bodies are healthy, and I didn't sense any external influence."

That means the so-called 'curse' wasn't caused by dark magic?

Wayne seemed to be deep in thought.

"Isn't that better?" Chris asked, puzzled. "Why does it seem strange?"

“Because this response of ‘health’ is itself the biggest abnormality,” Tasia pondered. “The special ability of light magic is healing; even for illnesses that exceed their limits, it can at least provide some relief on a mental level.”

"However, when I tried to channel light magic into their bodies, there was no loss of energy along the way—which is almost impossible; I couldn't even sense any damage to Vivian's vocal cords."

After listening to Tasia's explanation, a thought suddenly surfaced in Wayne's mind.

"...Could it be that he wasn't truly unable to speak to begin with?"

Tasia and Chris both looked at him in surprise upon hearing this.

“Actually, I think that Roy and Vivian’s current state is not entirely due to their innate nature, but rather influenced by many later experiences.” Wayne recalled the stark difference in how the two siblings behaved in front of their father versus in front of him and others.

“Think back carefully, isn’t that numb and dazed state a kind of self-protection? Especially when they have to face situations they don’t like, shutting themselves off may be the only thing they can do.”

This is just a guess, but many clues are pointing to this.

This obvious clue should not be ignored.

"Hmm." Looking at the two people deep in thought, Wayne finally breathed a sigh of relief. "All in all, it seems a little better than I expected."

Although they had once again lost an opportunity to study dark magic, this at least showed that the two children's conditions could indeed be treated and improved through normal psychological intervention.

Perhaps by using this as leverage, they could get Marquis O'Neill to resolve some minor, inconvenient problem for them? For those guys whose minds are full of exchanging benefits, this kind of talk is their most common form of social maneuvering.

However... there's no need for Chris and Tasia to know these little details.

That night, Wayne drifted off to sleep, feeling slightly weary.

But in the dark of night, a seed that had been dormant for a long time was quietly sprouting.

Chapter 609 The Seed of Shadow

Lost in a dreamlike state of unconsciousness, they forgot the existence of their "self".

It's like floating in a time tunnel, with fragmented images so close yet seemingly projected through a transparent water curtain.

"This is...my child?"

The young man's voice, both strange and familiar, seemed to carry a hint of bewilderment.

"Your Highness, congratulations on having an heir! Now we have no more worries about the future. Please begin implementing the plan as soon as possible," another person said excitedly beside him.

But compared to the undisguised eagerness in the other person's tone, the man hesitated.

"Is it really okay to involve the children in this..."

"Your Highness! Now that things have come to this, are you still going to rekindle that pointless pity?!" The person who seemed to be a subordinate immediately raised his voice.

"Have you forgotten the blood feud that our entire nation bears? How heartbroken my comrades who gave their lives to protect you and the Duke would be to see you in such a cowardly state—"

"No, I will never forget!" The man clutched the corner of the blanket covering the sleeping child in his arms.

“I understand now, this… is the destiny of our Laird family.”

He slowly extended his palm and placed it on the child's forehead.

In an instant, the endless darkness that broke through the screen engulfed everything—

You can't see or hear anything, and even if you reach out, you can only touch an empty void.

In this darkness, deeper than the night itself, Wayne suddenly seemed to sense something.

Perhaps these are the original memories left behind by this body.

Why did they suddenly appear at a time like this?

Was it because he had "contacted" something with the O'Neill family during the day? Thinking about it carefully, there was indeed a very brief moment when he felt a strange unease about the presence of [light].

Perhaps a very long time has passed, or perhaps only a short moment has passed, and a new scene unfolds before our eyes.

"—I'm sorry, Selma."

The man who should be considered the biological father stood with a young child in front of a simple tombstone.

“You gave me the happiest and most unforgettable time…and now, even your departure has chosen the most opportune moment.” He murmured softly to himself. “Thank you for letting me not have to struggle.”

The young child was bewildered and did not understand what this scene meant.

After standing in the cold wind for a while, the child seemed to realize something and asked in a panic, "Daddy...where did Mommy go? We haven't seen her for days."

Hearing his voice, the man turned around.

In his light brown eyes, there was now only indifference and scrutiny.

"She fell ill with an acute illness and left us forever."

Yes.

This person is Norman Laird.

When I realized this, my perspective had shifted, and I was now looking directly at the person in front of me through the eyes of a young child.

"As for you," he paused for a moment, looking at Wayne, before continuing, "you'll just stay here and eke out a living for now. If I die one day and you have no other younger siblings, then it will naturally be your turn to bear this fate."

The words that came to my ears were indifferent and heartless.

"Pray... pray that we will never see each other again."

The world froze at the moment he reached out and gently patted his head.

Then, it violently collapsed inward around itself until all the scenery in front of it shrank into a single point.

Then he naturally understood—this was the so-called "seed" of dark magic.

The pure, colorless ground beneath my feet was gradually stained with black, and countless tiny sounds and fragments of memory poured into my mind from all directions, as if sharp blades were constantly piercing and stirring inside.

"You monster! You bastard who doesn't belong to our family bloodline at all!" the children shouted in a shrill voice.

"Get out! Bastard, get out!"

Mud-like shadows crawled out from the dark ground, like demons from hell.

Intense resentment, pain, and... a longing for warmth—all sorts of thoughts surged up, trying to take over Wayne's mind.

The shadows coiled around his legs, seemingly trying to drag him into the mud.

However, Wayne remained calm as he kicked away the shadows that were climbing up to him.

Perhaps you just witnessed a pitiful story and met a pitiful person.

But what does that have to do with me?

It's just a story.

What I wanted to gain from coming into this world has never changed in the slightest.

And... I've already gotten them all.

He silently recited the strange incantation as he walked toward the source of all malice and desire—that tiny, almost insignificant "seed".

The familiar power returned, and the seemingly ferocious shadow was utterly vulnerable under its trampling.

Whether they realized the crisis in the current situation or not, the strange shadows suddenly converged forward at an extremely fast speed, and finally transformed into a shadow that was exactly the same size as himself in front of Wayne.

Standing before the shadow, Wayne finally stopped in his tracks.

He examined the body, which had no facial features and was merely an empty shell.

Based on information gathered from previous clandestine investigations, dark magic seems capable of amplifying a person's malice to an infinite degree, until it completely distorts the caster's mind. However, the "malice" I'm currently experiencing seems more like it's targeting my past self.

how to say……

It gives the impression that the damage dealt by the opposing team is no longer up to par with the current version.