“What do you think might be the cause of their sickness?”

“Miasma,” He replied.

Miasma could also be called corrupted mana, and what it did was to slowly corrupt one's mana core before finally destroying it, thereby leading to a person’s slow but painful death.

“Miasma?” Lilith repeated in surprise. 

“Yes.”

“But how? Wasn’t miasma supposed to be found only in the demon realm?”

“It was.”

“Then how did it find its way here?”

“Dungeons,” Orion replied.

“Dungeons? What do you mean?”

“Don’t you find it strange that dungeons suddenly appeared across the four kingdoms?”

“It is strange, but weren’t dungeons a gift from the gods of all the various realms?”

“You might be right, Lilith, but what if these dungeons weren’t from the gods but rather from the demon realm?”

“I do not understand.”

“It’s simple. Everyone has heard rumors of how the demon realm is a dangerous place that is filled with monsters, right?”

“Yes.”

“Good, but what if the dungeons are a symptom of the demon realm’s erosion?”

“Are you suggesting that dungeons are formed where mana is most dense?”

Orion smiled at how Lilith was quickly able to understand what he was trying to explain. “Precisely, since they are formed where mana is most dense in a kingdom, then it means that dungeons are formed in places where this realm overlaps with the demon realm.”

“Then that would mean, dungeons formed in dense mana areas could serve as a gateway between our two realms, leading to a possible demon invasion just like the beast continent?” 

Orion smiled and nodded his head in response.

Seeing the look on her master’s face, Lilith smiled as well. Since she spent most of her life in the human continent, she didn’t know anything about how demons and monsters made their way to other realms through dungeons, but with what Orion just explained, she finally understood why he thought miasma might be the cause of Lucretia and Mia’s illness.

‘That means while monsters could find their way here through dungeons, miasma could also ooze out of the demon realm and into the kingdom.’

‘This explained why many were falling ill every single day.’

‘The miasma oozing out of the demon realm is minute, and this was why it took a long time before it finally corrupted their mana core.’

‘If a human were to inadvertently find himself in the demon realm where the concentration of miasma is very high, such a human would die instantaneously,’ Lilith concluded in her thoughts and she couldn’t help but stare at her wonderful master who was able to deduce such an explanation even though he had barely stepped out of the castle.

Orion noticed that her gaze was fixed on him and his lips widened into a smile. “What’s wrong Lilith? If you stare any longer than that, you’ll definitely drill a hole in my head.”

Lilith smiled and giggled at his teasing, but then she suddenly recalled something important about Orion’s intention to create a potion for his sister and stepmother’s illness.

“Young master?”

“Hmm?”

“If you’re able to brew a cure, how do you intend to prevent the flow of miasma into the kingdom?”

“That’s easy.”

“It is?”

“Yeah, we just have to clear the five dungeons in the kingdom, but this still won't stop a possible demon invasion from happening in the future.”

“It won’t? What do you mean? Isn’t there only one dungeon across each city in the kingdom?”

“You are right, but once these dungeons are cleared, it just means a new rift could open in a different location where we might be least expecting it. Also, it might just incur the wrath of the demons from the demon realm and provoke them into executing a full-scale invasion.”

He continued. “Besides, there might already be spies sent here from the demon world, so whenever we decide to destroy all five dungeons in the kingdom, we would have to be very subtle and discreet.”

Lilith nodded her head in understanding as she marveled at how Orion had considered every possible outcome even before she could have thought of it.

However, thinking about everything he said, Lilith also acknowledged the fact that it wouldn’t be easy to clear all five dungeons without alerting the demons of what they were doing.

She could only hope that there was a way to clear all five dungeons at once and also locate any possible spot across the five cities in the kingdom that have a high mana density.

Meanwhile, Orion noticed how deep in thought Lilith was and this made him pull her nose teasingly, dragging her attention back to him.

“Don’t think too much about it. Everything I said was just a speculation of things we have to be mindful about, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it will happen. But we should still prepare for the possibilities of these things happening in the near future.”

Lilith nodded her head in understanding but then Orion suddenly recalled something.

“Oh, that reminds me.”

“What is it?”

“I want us to clean the alchemy room before Jarvis returns with the herbs.”

Since no more butlers and maids were left in the palace, it meant that Lilith would be the only one cleaning the dusty alchemy room, but Orion didn’t want her to do it on her own, which was why he wanted them to do it together.

However, Lilith had no intention of allowing a prince to do the work of a maid.

“Excuse me, young master, I’ll be right back,” She stood up from her chair and turned to leave Jarvis's room.

Orion found it odd to see her standing up so suddenly, so he called out to her. 

“Where are you going?”

“To clean the alchemy room,” She said, unable to lie to her master.

“No,” Orion stood up from his chair and made his intentions clear. “We’ll do it together.”

But Lilith could never allow her master to do a maid’s job.

“No, young master, we can’t do that. As your maid, it is expected of me to........mmm.”

However, while she was explaining how wrong it was for Orion to help her clean, she suddenly noticed him walking towards her before stopping her mid-sentence by sealing her lips with his and wrapping his arms around her waist to pull her closer to him.