"I really want to visit Luna's grave, and with your permission, I wish to move her grave to the park behind this palace, so that she can be closer to home. What do you think?" asked Portia.

Alaric nodded, "Mother would be happy to be close to her family."

"Speaking of family residence ..." Sophia suddenly spoke up, "Actually, as Princess Luna's son, you inherit the palace in Yorkshire, which is owned by the Linden Family. I am currently living in that palace, only because I can't bear to see such a nice place left uninhabited. But if you want it, I'll give it back to you."

"I have a lot of residences," said Alaric, but he seemed to think for a moment, "You may stay there however you wish, but I would love to see it."

"Of course, we can go there this afternoon or tomorrow," Sophia said, smiling sweetly. She was happy because Alaric did not send her out of the palace.

She was sure that when Alaric saw his mother's palace, he would want to live there, and of course, Sophia would gladly accompany him there.

"Hmm ... there are a lot of things you should know about our clan, the Alchemists," Ned said, pouring wine for his wife, then for himself. "Not all Alchemists want the same thing as us."

"Could you please elaborate further?" Alaric asked attentively.

"At present, there are around 400 Alchemists in this world. We lost more than 300 Alchemists during the world war. The rest lived in the shadows, because clan regulations state that we must not show and make ourselves known to the public, especially when it comes to governing people openly. Therefore, many of us control businesses and governments in secret.

Sophia, for example, with the Meier Group, controls many financial and technological businesses. Then, there is the Schneider Group, who is one of the largest business groups in the world ... that also belongs to an Alchemist family."

"Is that so?" Alaric now remembered how difficult it was to fulfill his contract to kill the owner of the Schneider Group 20 years ago.

No wonder ... it turned out that person was an Alchemist who probably had far more resources than ordinary humans.

"That's right. In fact, Caspar Schneider currently serves as the clan leader, and he insists on implementing our clan rules that, in my personal opinion, are so outdated. We don't see eye to eye on many things, and since that incident 18 years ago, when, without consulting with us, he made a single decision to punish Alexei, Sophia's brother, with Death, I am eager to separate myself from his leadership."

"What did Alexei do?" Alaric asked curiously. He had heard several times about Alexei being sentenced with Death, but he still did not know the full story. "I remember Alexei contracted Rhionen Assassins to kill Caspar 20 years ago. Did Caspar take revenge on Alexei for that?"

Sophia took a deep breath. "My brother and Caspar used to be good friends. However, they had a disagreement, because Alexei embraced the purist ideology, that we Alchemists should not mix with the ordinary people we call commoners, because they are full of weaknesses, deficiencies, and they are harming the world. Bringing ordinary people into our clan would cause harm to the clan.

Our society is already perfect, but Caspar and his family loves commoners ... His younger sibling is married to a commoner. Caspar himself is also married to a commoner, and the Schneider family is against the reformation of purists, who want to purify our people, because they don't want to let go of the commoners they brought into the clan ... That's where the dispute began. Caspar started it by killing Famke, Alexei's girlfriend, and that triggered Alexei to seek revenge ..."

Portia nodded, "Killing a fellow member of the Alchemist clan is an unforgivable sin. Caspar should have been driven out of the clan and sentenced with Death, but Sophia was kind enough to defend him before the honorary council of five families. Sophia knew that Alexei was instigated by Katia, a woman Caspar used to date. She was a commoner whom he brought into the clan 70 years ago. You can see that these ordinary people only bring us trouble ..."

Portia's beautiful face looked very annoyed, remembering that Katia had succeeded in inciting Alexei to commit various evil actions which finally sent Alexei to his punishment. She hated innate humans like Katia, who only damaged the perfect order of the Alchemist society.

"That's right ... I defended Caspar and he was acquitted of all charges ... But instead he used his power and support from Lauriel to take revenge on Alexei and sentenced him with Death, without even consulting the five-family honorary council ..." Sophia clenched her jaw full of anger. "I lost my only brother ... I really hate Caspar and Lauriel!"

"Who is Lauriel?" Alaric asked with interest.

"Lauriel is the only remaining member of the Medici family. He is the most senior Alchemist at the moment, and by rule he should be the leader of the clan, but he disappears often and does not want to interfere in worldly affairs." Sophia turned to Portia and looked at Alaric with a complicated look, "Lauriel was almost married to Princess Luna. I don't know why they separated. Portia knows better."

Alaric was stunned to hear the information from Sophia just now. Lauriel almost married his mother? Was ... was Lauriel his father?

"You said my mother did not share her personal life with other people, so how did you know that she was close to marrying Lauriel? Is Lauriel my father?" he asked, frowning.

"Lauriel is a loner. He doesn't believe in marriage ..." Portia said, massaging her forehead. She was not happy that their first lunch together was ruined by conversations that were too serious and painful for her. But she understood that Alaric wanted to know more about his family.

"Lauriel is a free spirit, and the only thing he had in his head was adventure ... Luna followed him for decades, but after such a long time, Lauriel still did not want to settle down and get married to build a family. So when Luna found out that she was pregnant, she decided to take care of herself and go home to her family. After Luna died, Lauriel disappeared. For the next 100 years, I only met him once. He is indeed your father, Son ... but I'm not sure you will be able to find him, or if he is willing to be found ..."

Alaric nodded slowly. He already understood what had happened. His mother cared for him alone and risked her life to give birth and protect him, without the help of Lauriel, Alaric's father.

If he had known such information decades ago, maybe he would have been very sad, because he was apparently not wanted by his father ...

But now he would not let such weak feelings dominate his mind. Even though his father did not want him, his mother loved him very much and wanted him, and was even willing to die for him.

That was good enough for Alaric. He didn't need a father who didn't want him and didn't look for him.