Chapter 4

Without the slightest hesitation, Evelyn walked up to the Bloodline Resonance Crystal with the chubby orange kitten in her arms.

Ripples spread gently across the crystal's silver surface.

The next second, a tiny orange ball of fur slowly appeared inside it. Curled into a little ball, it let out soft, sleepy purrs. It was the kitten as a baby.

A wave of shocked murmurs swept through the ballroom.

The crystal had proven it.

Evelyn and the orange kitten were unquestionably mother and son.

Finally... it was my turn.

Holding the kitten, I stepped in front of the Bloodline Resonance Crystal.

Slowly, I closed my eyes.

At that moment, only one thought filled my mind.

'Do not appear.'

'Please... do not appear.'

If the crystal showed no reaction at all, it would prove that the orange kitten in my arms was not my child.

Then I would still have a chance to uncover the truth.

However, the very next moment... the silver light flickered.

A plump little orange kitten slowly materialized inside the crystal. It stuck out its tiny pink tongue at me.

Every eye in the ballroom instantly turned toward me.

The bloodline resonance had been established.

The father-son relationship...

Confirmed.

Helen, who had the hottest temper of everyone present, slammed her hand onto the table. The wineglasses jumped from the impact.

"Simon! Have you lost your conscience?

"The surveillance footage is right there! The doctors and nurses all testified! And now even the Bloodline Resonance Crystal has confirmed it! What could possibly be more trustworthy than blood itself?"

"Evelyn has devoted herself to you and this is how you repay her? By doubting her?"

The other elders could only shake their heads and sigh.

At last, the former Director of the Supernatural Affairs Bureau, who had remained silent until now, finally spoke.

The old man gently set down his coffee cup and let out a long sigh.

"Simon...

"You've trapped yourself in your own obsession."

That single sentence hit me even harder than Helen's outburst.

The last voices in the ballroom that still might have supported me disappeared completely.

However, no one noticed... my eyes never left the kitten inside the crystal.

I stared at it for several long seconds.

Beneath its orange fur... there were several faint tiger stripes. They were so pale that almost no one could have noticed them on such a young cub.

However, that was not what mattered most. The edge of its left ear... was missing a tiny piece. That had been a White family tradition for centuries.

Every tiger cub, shortly after birth, had the tip of its left ear clipped by the head of the family. It was the mark of the White bloodline. Every child born into the White family carried the same notch.

It was not just proof of identity, it was a family mark that no magic in existence could imitate.

However, the orange kitten in my arms... on the day it was born... I had bathed it with my own hands. I had dried every inch of its tiny body.

I remembered it perfectly. Both of its ears had been completely intact. There had not been a single notch.

Which meant... the kitten inside the Bloodline Resonance Crystal... was not the one I was holding. It was a real tiger cub.

I remained silent. Even if I tried to explain, who would believe me? The surveillance footage, the witnesses, the Bloodline Resonance Crystal… Three irrefutable pieces of evidence stood before everyone, and every one of them pointed against me.

If I said something as simple as, "The ears are different," they would only become more convinced that I had lost my mind.

No. I had to investigate this myself.

At some point, Jack quietly walked over to my side. He reached out as if to steady me.

"Mr. White. You've seen it for yourself. The surveillance footage doesn't lie, and neither does the Bloodline Resonance Crystal.

"You just became a father. Maybe the pressure has been too much..."

The instant his hand touched my arm, I slapped it away. The force of the blow sent him stumbling backward into a chair.

The ballroom fell deathly silent. Everyone was stunned by what I had done.

Evelyn hurried over and helped Jack to his feet. Then she turned back to me.

For the first time, tears filled her eyes as she shouted, "Simon!

"The doctors are here! We've seen the surveillance footage! Even the Bloodline Resonance Crystal has proven everything! Why won't you admit that he's our son?

"He's my child! I carried him for ten months! I nearly died bringing him into this world!

"What is wrong with you?"

…

Evelyn's cry echoed through the ballroom. Everyone looked at me as though I were insane.

However, I was not. What truly sent a chill through me was the cold creeping deeper and deeper into my bones.

The man in the surveillance video... the "Simon" holding the baby, smiling through tears...

That was not me.

However, I could not say those words. Because no one would believe them. They would simply assume that becoming a father for the first time had broken my mind.

If I wanted to uncover the truth... I needed to look somewhere else.

The Supernatural Affairs Bureau. The seventh floor of the Archives Center.

That was where the soul contract Evelyn and I had signed eighty years ago was kept. As long as that contract remained intact, we were still legally husband and wife.

However, once the contract was dissolved... Evelyn would permanently lose her status as the mistress of the White family.