The Lord Is Too Overbearing

Despite how apparent of who had held his mother hostage, there is something that made him doubt Iliana. "Instead of immediately killing her, why did the Church hold her hostage?"

Iliana quirked her eyebrow in curiosity at Basil's question. "Aren't you going to ask me how your mother could take care of me if she was held hostage?"

"She was only being supervised, and not allowed to get out of Braxtein Kingdom." Basil showed Iliana a face that was saying, 'Am I Right?' and Iliana nodded her head in confirmation. "That is why I wonder; why did they do that in the very first place?"

"Simple. It is because of your mother's status. I don't know much about the detail, but your mother was apparently one of the important people in Pacifer Clan. So, they held her hostage to bait the rest of the Pacifer Clan out."

"So..."

"Yes." Iliana nodded her head. "Your mother died because no one from Pacifer Clan showed up. The Church didn't see the worth in your mother anymore; they killed her afterward."

"..."

Basil had Irene as his mother figure; she had been by his side since the beginning of his memory. For him, Irene was more of a mother than the mother he hadn't even seen once, so he shouldn't be able to feel anything about his mother ... Or that's what he thought.

Clenching his hand in a fist, he stared at it in puzzlement and wonder. "I have never even seen her face or bonded with her ... Why do I feel angry?"

"It's because you are her son—her one and only son," Iliana surely responded.

Turning his gaze back at Iliana, Basil softly said, "Tell me about the details." He didn't want to talk about an emotional matter; it was useless in his opinion.

Iliana was silent for awhile, before started speaking. "I wasn't there when it happened; Maya had left me with Master Lawson the moment she knew the Executioners would come for her."

Basil was about to nod his head in understanding, when Iliana added, "However, I know where she died."

"Where?"

"Parteron—the Garden of Parteron. Due to her obsession with flowers, she asked the Church to be buried there; they complied to her request, and killed her there ... She was only buried there, mind you? She didn't have a proper grave."

Basil lowly hummed to himself. 'No wonder why she loved visiting Parteron so much back then. Her beloved mentor ... My mother was buried there. Still...'

"I thought she could only stay in Braxtein Kingdom. How could she know about Parteron that is located in Grittenhein Kingdom?" Iliana's eyes froze for a second, and Basil noticed it.

Of course in the next second, she already regained her composure. "Living in Randalvine naturally made her one of the most up to date women. As her nature made anyone who came across her instantly liked her, she got many friends. She heard many things from them."

"That includes the existence of the Garden of Parteron?"

"Yes." Iliana nodded lightly.

Basil softly sighed, and muttered, "Very well."

Iliana's control over her facial expression, and emotion was perfect; he didn't even detect a single emotion was leaked by her Mana. Still though, for the experienced him, he could easily figure out the part where she was lying the more she talked.

There were only a couple of fundamental things that Basil was sure Iliana didn't lie about: his mother's character and appearance, his mother's death, and his mother's last resting place. In other words, Iliana had lied about almost everything about her.

Here is the reason why.

According to what Nicholas had recounted him, his father had been chased by six figures wearing white attire with him in his father's embrace. Since his father had married a Pacifer—his mother—he could now confirm that the figures had been Executioners.

According to Irene, he had been around three months old when he had been entrusted to Nicholas by his father, which means, he had gotten to spend a few months together with his mother before the day of tragedy happened.

Irene had also said that his father had liked to take a vacation for months to an unknown far place. If his mother had stayed in Randalvine, his father wouldn't have to spend months just to see her.

If that had been actually the case, his father could have just traveled from his territory to Randalvine in a day, and meet his mother everytime he wanted. Therefore, Basil concluded that his mother's status as a hostage is a lie made by Iliana.

That way however, the story became even more complicated. If his mother hadn't really been held hostage, which is the only explanation of how his father could still meet her before the Church decided to kill him, why was his mother in Randalvine, and why didn't she meet him?

Then again, there is a possibility that his mother had only been held hostage after his father's execution. If that was the case however, the story became paradoxical since his father had been killed due to his tie with his mother, which makes it illogical as to why his father was killed, but his mother wasn't.

'I feel like I am missing something ... Why did my father run away with me in the very first place?'

Basil thought of another possibility: his father must have been in the way of bringing his mother to his territory, when the Church caught a whiff of a Pacifer's presence. This way, he could explain the reason why his father had run away with him.

'As for my mother...'

Since catching a high profile Pacifer was a rare chance, the Church had held his mother hostage upon having caught her in hope of luring out the rest of Pacifer Clan. His mother had known of this, and managed to escape from the Church's clutch, thus successfully annulled her status as a hostage.

Different than his mother however, his father had failed in running away, and gotten instantly executed due to his sin of mingling with a Pacifer—a heretic. Knowing this, his mother had to lay low to avoid meeting the same fate as his father.

When his thought reached to that point, Basil was convinced that this is the reason why his mother couldn't escape Braxtein Kingdom, and had stayed in Randalvine without even meeting him once.

In other words, his mother hadn't been executed because the Church found her no longer held any worth; she had been found out, and she was aware of her imminent death. This is why she had entrusted Iliana to Lawson.

He was sure that the Church wasn't that benevolent to hear the last request of his mother—a heretic who had been running away from them for a long time—so she must've been executed in her residence.

That means, her body being buried in Parteron must have been solely Iliana's initiative. He doubted Lawson had even helped her in this matter.

'There might be a possibility that even Iliana watched my mother died in her residence.'

Basil clicked his tongue in distaste. He didn't know whether he should feel glad that he had uncovered another secret or be enraged by what the Church had done to everyone close to him.

Of course, Basil knew more than anyone to not let his emotion drive him. He still had another thing to talk about with Iliana. The talk hadn't ended yet; he was going to call Iliana out in one of her lies.

"I know you are a Pacifer too."

"..."

This way, every one of her lie regarding herself, and her story about his mother would be unveiled. He would force the truth out of her mouth this time.

If previously Iliana had only her eyes frozen, she was petrified this time. Looking at Basil with eyes widened in shock, she couldn't even open her mouth to deny what Basil had just said; she could only clutched her hands tightly, lowered her head, and kept her silence.

Basil looked at her silently for awhile, before opening his mouth. "I don't have any intention to expose you; as a Pacifer myself, I will never do that. I just want you to tell me about our Clan, and a little bit of yourself, if you are willing."

"..."

The silence was perceived, but Basil didn't urge Iliana to speak; he knew she was bound to do it. He merely looked at her silently, and observed every single detail of her that his [Eyes of Mana Perception] could perceive.

He could see that her Mana was threatening to burst out of her body due to her frustration—at the failure of her lie, he presumed—and he could feel the emotion that her Mana subtly conveyed.

Basil wished he could read her mind; if he could, he would be able to admire how many thoughts were going on inside her head in a split second.

Like him, Iliana, too, was a deep thinker. Therefore it didn't take her long to arrange what she should say to Basil to explain herself.

"I am not sorry for hiding my identity to you; it was for my safety, and Maya's sake." Despite of how sure her tone was, her eyes were true to herself: she was sorry for lying to Basil. "A female Pacifer cannot reveal that they are a Pacifer."

Ignoring the fact that Iliana said his mother was one of the reasons she had lied to him, Basil quirked his eyebrow in interest. "What makes a male Pacifer different from a female Pacifer? I can declare myself as a Pacifer."

Despite knowing that no one was actually around them, Iliana still looked around to make sure; she even quickly prepared an Isolation Spell to prevent a single ear from listening to their conversation.

"Your worry is unneeded; I have isolated us since the beginning." Of course, Basil, who was extremely cautious, was ahead of her. Therefore, she cancelled her Spell afterward. "You can tell me about it." Basil gestured his hand at her.

"Well, the reason why a female Pacifer is different from a male Pacifer is because... Pacifer Clan don't have a male member."

"..."

This time, Basil was the one who got speechless. 'What in my awesomeness does this nonsense mean? What am I? A fake Pacifer? Oh, let me guess. A female trapped in a male body?!' At the silly thought, Basil quickly shook his head.

"Can you please elaborate?" At his word, Iliana gazed at Basil silently, and lightly sighed in helplessness.

"Due to the Art we practice, none of the women in Pacifer Clan can give birth to a boy. Therefore, Pacifer Clan is filled with women; the husband of the women of Pacifer Clan can never be considered as a Pacifer. So, your existence as a male Pacifer is an anomaly."

Disregarding the fact that Caesar had confirmed that he was, in fact, a Pacifer, Basil suddenly doubted his heritage as a Pacifer upon hearing Iliana's word.