Westminster Bank

Isabella suddenly froze. She then fixed Baron with a deep look from her sharp phoenix eyes, her expression turning cold. She put away her Red Spear, sat down, and said coolly,

"My father, Andes Beowulf, the former Patriarch of the Beowulf Family, abandoned my mother for that woman and followed her to the United States. American Exorcists launched a hunt for the Witch. My father died, and she escaped."

Wait... Hold on. Baron thought the story sounded familiar.

Wasn’t this the same simp Demon Hunter Carmen had talked about back in Prole? The one who abandoned his wife and child just to take the Witch to the United States to see the Statue of Liberty.

’Back then, Baron had felt sorry for the guy, thinking what a tragic simp, toyed with by the Witch like he was Tom and she was Jerry. Who knew that, after all this, it would turn out to be his childhood friend’s old man?’

’What a ridiculous plot. The author who came up with this stuff for real life must be a real genius.’

’Still, "abandoned his wife and child"... If I remember correctly, aren’t Isabella and her siblings, like Jose, all half-siblings? The timeline doesn’t quite add up.’

Baron chose his words carefully. "Since your father abandoned you and your mother, then what about Jose and the others..."

What he meant was that, judging by their age differences, Jose and the others were clearly the result of her good-for-nothing father’s "efforts" from different periods of his life.

’Besides, she used the word "abandoned," so it couldn’t be that he divorced her mother before marrying Jose’s... Wait!’

Baron suddenly noticed a blind spot. Recalling the conversations he’d overheard among the Attendants at the manor, he couldn’t help but inwardly curse himself for being an idiot.

’I’ve really been slacking lately. How could I not have even considered that?’

As expected, Isabella’s expression grew even colder at his words.

"Because my mother was his mistress in Italy," Isabella said coolly. "Dragon Slayers often take on a Dragon’s wicked traits, including its lust. It’s not unheard of for warriors who live on the edge of life and death to be unable to keep their pants on."

’How can you look so damn calm while airing your own father’s dirty laundry?’ Baron thought. ’It’s a shame his tombstone isn’t here. Otherwise, you could totally put on a show of lecturing him from beyond the grave.’

’Wait, you’re half-Italian? I figured the only connection a peerlessly beautiful and fiercely martial woman like you would have with Italy is if you were invading it...’

Having killed Roy to avenge Master Zophie and successfully made his escape, Baron felt relaxed enough to start cracking his usual terrible jokes in his head again.

Isabella said, "But my mother didn’t know she was a mistress. My father told her and me that he was a pilot for an Italian airline, flying to different countries and regions every day.

"He bought my mother and me a nice house in Milan, and we were quite well-off. No matter how busy he was, he always made time to spend every weekend with me and my mother."

’Talk about a master of time management,’ Baron thought.

’So "work at the airport" meant going on missions around the world, or returning to his legal wife in Britain... or maybe visiting the Dragon Witch?’

Isabella continued, "This life went on until I was about six or eight. Then, he stopped coming for many days. After some more time had passed, people from my father’s so-called clan, the Beowulf Family, came and took me away. By the time I had passed the Beowulf Family’s Trial, learned everything, and returned to Italy, my mother had already committed suicide."

’Carmen, you’re a monster.’

After hearing Isabella’s story, Baron could understand why she hated the Dragon Witch so intensely.

He also sighed in his heart, thankful he had a strong will. ’Otherwise, the Witch might have sold me and I’d still be helping her count the money.’

Isabella stood up again, the gold and silver rings in her hair clinking softly. "What do you plan to do now?" she asked. "Even though you cleared yourself of any connection to the Dragon Eater Association by killing those Dragon Devourer Cultists in the mountains, you still killed Roy."

"The Hestia Family’s influence on the Inner Side is beyond your imagination," Isabella said. "After this, you’ll be a wanted man across the entire Inner Side, and probably the Outer Side, too."

"What else can I do?" Baron was surprisingly calm, lying on the Flying Dragon’s back—a space as vast as a town square—and watching the sun fly slowly toward the far horizon. "I’ll just take it one step at a time."

Isabella looked at the Golden Dragon Spear he was using as a pillow. After a moment’s hesitation, she said, "In the ancestral teachings of the Beowulf Family, the one who draws the Dragon Spear is the Master of the Dragon Spear... The Beowulf Family might be able to protect you."

But Baron shook his head, rejecting her proposal. "We’ve mostly lost our pursuers," he said. "We’re still in Wales. I’ll drop you off here."

Isabella scoffed. "You still have the real Dragon Helmet, don’t you?"

"The Dragon Helmet..."

"The Taboo Item you all call Petra’s Helmet of Cowardice."

This time, Baron didn’t hesitate to take out the real one. He was immediately stunned by the helmet’s brand-new appearance.

"Don’t be surprised. This is the true appearance of Petra’s Helmet."

Isabella said, "Or perhaps, the Dragon Spear Baptism awakened Petra’s Helmet’s true form. An ancestor of the Beowulf Family originally wore it to vanquish the Poison Dragon Glanville. The helmet’s initial function was to unleash the potential of an Old Race’s body. But after being cursed by the Poison Dragon, its greatest effect became activating the Blood Curse within an Old Blood."