Chapter 93: What They Found

Chapter 93: Chapter 93: What They Found

Damon’s expression became serious.

The moment Cornelius said they had found something, the atmosphere in the hall changed.

Caelia also sat straighter.

Cornelius didn’t keep them waiting.

"First, thank you for acting quickly yesterday."

His eyes settled on Damon.

"Because you discovered the purpose of those crystals, we searched the entire Birthground again. We found several more."

Damon nodded slowly.

"How many?"

"Enough."

Cornelius’s voice became heavier.

"Enough that if we had continued without knowing what they were doing, the consequences would have been severe."

Damon’s eyes narrowed.

Cornelius picked up one of the crystals from the table.

"On its own, this crystal is nothing unusual. It has a common use in Ice elemental formations. It helps stabilize and carry elemental energy through a formation."

Damon already understood.

"Someone changed the way it was being used."

"Exactly."

Cornelius placed the crystal back down.

"Someone modified the arrangement and used several of them together. Instead of stabilizing the Ice Aether, they created a resonance that continuously increased the Ice elemental concentration around the Birthground."

Damon’s expression became colder.

"And around the mansion."

Cornelius nodded.

"That was the real purpose."

The pieces began falling together.

The crystals weren’t directly summoning beasts.

They were making the Winterbourne territory more attractive to them.

And with the Frostveil Expanse already mutating and producing stronger Ice beasts, the effect had become much worse.

The beasts were being drawn toward the Winterbourne territory again and again.

Damon leaned back.

"That’s actually clever."

Caelia looked at him.

Damon wasn’t praising the people behind it.

He was looking at the method.

"If I hadn’t known what the crystal was doing, I probably would’ve walked past it too."

He tapped his finger against the arm of the chair.

"That’s why you missed them."

Cornelius nodded.

"They were hidden among materials that had legitimate uses. The formations themselves weren’t suspicious. Only when we looked at the way the crystals were positioned did we find the problem."

Damon gave a small nod.

"It was a good opportunity."

His expression became serious again.

"They used the Frostveil Expanse’s changes against you."

That was what made the plan dangerous.

They hadn’t created the problem themselves.

They had simply found a way to make an existing problem much worse.

The increasing number of Ice beasts would naturally look like another consequence of the Frostveil Expanse’s growth.

Nobody would immediately suspect the Winterbourne family was being deliberately targeted.

Cornelius’s hand tightened slightly.

"If we hadn’t discovered this..."

He didn’t finish.

He didn’t need to.

The Winterbourne family was already struggling.

The Frostveil Expanse was becoming more dangerous, their resources were being stretched thin, and their territory was constantly dealing with beast attacks.

If the crystals had remained in place, the attacks would have continued increasing.

Eventually, the family would have been forced to retreat.

Or destroyed.

Damon could understand the frustration on Cornelius’s face.

They had been played inside their own home.

And worse...

They had been played for years.

"You found the person responsible?" Damon asked.

Cornelius’s expression changed.

"We did."

Caelia’s eyes sharpened.

"The majority of the crystals were recovered from the storage facilities belonging to Elder Marcus Veyron."

Caelia froze.

"Marcus?"

Damon looked at her.

She clearly knew the name.

Cornelius continued.

"Elder Marcus was the Keeper of Resources."

Damon understood the importance immediately.

That position gave him access to storage records, materials, formation supplies and the people responsible for moving them.

He had practically been given the perfect position for this kind of operation.

Caelia looked genuinely shocked.

"He..."

She struggled to finish.

"My father trusted him."

"So did everyone else," Cornelius said quietly.

Elder Marcus had served the Winterbourne family for generations.

His family had been part of the inner circle for just as long.

He had also been second in line for the position of family head for generations, but circumstances had always kept him behind Cornelius.

That made him even more useful to whoever had approached him.

Damon asked, "What did they offer him?"

"Wealth."

Cornelius paused.

"And the position of family head."

Caelia’s face fell.

Damon wasn’t surprised.

After a moment, Cornelius continued.

"We arrested Marcus and the members of his household who were involved. They denied everything at first."

"Of course," Damon said.

"They maintained that the crystals were ordinary formation materials."

Cornelius’s expression hardened.

"But after hours of questioning and evidence being placed in front of them, their story changed."

Marcus eventually admitted it.

The arrangement had started years ago.

He had been approached and promised wealth, resources and, most importantly, support when the time came for him to claim the position of family head.

In return, he had helped introduce the crystals into the Birthground little by little.

He used his position to make sure they were placed where nobody would question them.

And because the effects were gradual, nobody connected the increasing beast attacks to the crystals.

Damon exhaled.

"Years."

He shook his head.

"That’s not an infiltration anymore. That’s someone building a second root inside the family."

Cornelius didn’t disagree.

Caelia remained silent.

She was still trying to process the name.

Someone she had grown up seeing as one of the family’s trusted elders had been working against them for years.

And she hadn’t noticed.

Damon could understand why that bothered her.

But there was something else.

"The information didn’t end with Marcus, did it?"

Cornelius looked directly at him.

"No."

Damon’s eyes narrowed.

"They talked about me."

Caelia looked at him immediately.

Cornelius nodded.

"Among the information we recovered were plans involving you."

Damon wasn’t surprised.

He had already expected to become a target after exposing the crystals.

Still, hearing it confirmed made things more serious.

"What kind of plans?"

"We’re still investigating the full details," Cornelius said. "But some of the plans involved making your death look like the result of the beast attacks."

Caelia’s expression changed.

Damon remained calm.

"They wanted to remove the person who discovered the crystals."

"Yes."

Damon leaned back.

"That’s reasonable."

A/N:

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