When he stepped into the high barrier with the holy sword in hand, Jelann still felt a sense of unreality.

Everything seemed to be changing too fast, making him feel dazed occasionally. It seemed that yesterday he was the eldest son in the family who was highly regarded and the future heir to the Dukedom, but today he was an abandoned child who rebelled against his father.

Brick stairs spiral upwards inside the castle. There are fallen corpses and bloodstains in the corridor, and the walls still have scratches and dents left over from the battle.

The roar of the dragon-wing aircraft's swooping roar could still be heard from the sky outside the corridor, mixed with the wailing of griffins and the sound of it crashing to the ground.

Gradually, when the corridors and stairs in the castle were finally finished, Jelann once again came to the last hall.

The old Griffin Duke still sat on the white marble throne, but there was no one else in the hall except him. There were only ruins, extinguished ashes, collapsed decorations, a few corpses and bloodstains.

The clothes on the corpses were not the armor and uniforms of the Fairywood, but the obvious style of the Salus family. These people were not unfamiliar to Jelann, as they were the housekeeper and the captain of the guard in the family.

After arriving at the hall, Jelann stood still, his eyes slowly shifting to the old Griffin Duke in front of him. One by one, fully armored White Lion Knights walked out from behind him and surrounded the old Griffin Duke who was sitting on the white stone throne.

"You're here." Compared to before, the old Griffin Duke has changed a lot, feeling dull and old.

"Yes."

Jelann stopped talking, and it seemed that there was no need to speak anymore. He no longer had the desire to point out the other person's mistakes or vent his emotions.

It was a victory, but a sad one, not so refreshing or exciting.

"Fan Huasilin is gone. She is restrained by other witches." The old Griffin Duke said something incomprehensible.

"I've become my old self again, and the wrinkles of time are clearly visible on my body."

"You are my son, but you are no better than me. When I was young, I fought with the then Crown Prince, who later became His Majesty the Emperor, and won your mother's favor. Later, I won the title of Champion Knight of Titaneia for five consecutive years..."

"At the age of twenty-eight, I led 300 people to wipe out the bandits entrenched in the Western Territory, slaying more than ten Sequence 7 monsters. At the age of thirty-four, I traveled to the East as an envoy. Five years later, I returned with a trade agreement from the Plantagenet Dynasty..."

…

"At the age of forty-one, I became the Duke of Griffin in the West. All the nobles in the West sincerely swore allegiance to me..."

…

"Everything was going so smoothly, but the times didn't give me the right stage. I could only wait in mediocrity as I grew older and slowly entered old age."

…

"Although you may seem quite good to outsiders, you're still far from what I was back then. As the heir, you haven't even been able to grasp your other half for a long time. You're compassionate and hesitant, and have no ambition. You're just like the funny lion in the circus, annoying people."

He spoke slowly, pausing occasionally. His voice was a little hazy, and his eyes were far less sharp than before, becoming cloudy and blurry.

He is really old and is no longer as energetic as he used to be.

Jelann watched this scene, sighing in silence. If it were his father in the past, he would have picked up the sword and killed him long ago. If he could speak with a sword, he would never speak.

Time passed bit by bit, and Jelann listened quietly to the old man talking about the events of the past years, some of which were about himself, some about Jelann, and some about acquaintances he knew when he was young. Among those names were the former emperor, the Duke of Raven in the North, and the head of the Landsworth family who was much younger than him.

The old Duke of Griffin had a wide circle of friends when he was young, far more so than Jelann. He had a generous and casual personality and was very free and easy.

But now it seems that his memory is a little fuzzy, and the time points of many of the things he described are confused.

Slowly, the fighting outside stopped, and the old man in the hall spoke slower and slower, more intermittently, and sometimes even incomplete sentences.

As if at some unintentional moment, he became quiet, lowered his head, and stopped talking.

The two White Lion Knights slowly stepped forward and carefully helped him up, only to find that he was no longer breathing.

Jelann approached the old man, looked at the familiar face that looked like a dead tree, stroked it for a while, and then closed his eyes.

"That's all, Father."

Half an hour later, he walked out of the hall and stood on the high wall of the fortress, looking down.

The battle was over at this time. Many surrendered soldiers of the Salius family were being disarmed and escorted out of the castle and defense areas. The flames that were originally burning were now extinguished, leaving only wisps of rising blue smoke. However, the messy ruins and bloody remaining soldiers on the ground all told of the fierceness of the previous battle.

The era of my father is over.

Jelann felt a sense of relief, but it was also accompanied by a sense of pressure. When his elders were still alive, he always felt he could rely on them and have a way out. But now that he was in charge, there was no one left to look after him or blame him. All power and responsibility fell on his shoulders.

He summoned a White Lion Knight and asked, "Where are my two brothers now?"

"Lord Garson has been captured by us and is being held in the military camp. Lord Black is currently leading another army and is probably still fighting Lord Guwas."

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!