Belinda and Bertold sat on the edge of the lake and none of them spoke. They watched Sal playing with Lucia. The little cat was angered and she wanted to bite him.

„You don’t seem to be surprised...” Belinda said after a while.

„... Usually an orphan with single root related to the beasts.”

„Why? Can’t I be an illegitimate daughter of a big family?”

„Impossible!” Bertold mercilessly rejected the idea. „They never let their illegitimate children run around. They’ll be taken back after their birth and cultivated as the servants of the legitimate children.”

„Really?” Belinda was surprised. „Then what about you?”

Bertold watched the fishes in the pond and didn’t answer.

Belinda was curious, but she understood he didn’t want to say anything about it. She was a little upset because he knew everything about her yet she didn’t know anything.

Belinda sighed. „So now in the academy, everyone knows that I’m the daughter of a beast?”

„A descendant.” Bertold corrected her. „As Horác said a lot of families were banished. That time all the half-blood went to hide between the mortals and formed new families with them. The sects’ leaders were afraid they would form a new sect and took revenge on them, so they spent a lot of effort to find them. When they finally found some of them they already had families, but no one knows why almost all of their children were born without roots. They sent servants to look after their children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren... It was rare when one of their descendants was born with one colored root. The immortals thought that it was the curse of the beasts and they finally calmed down.”

„... So if I’ll have a child in the future, will it be destined to born without a root?” Belinda was shocked.

„If the father will be a mortal, yes.”

„Oh.” Belinda nodded, but she didn’t really care about it. In her two lifetimes, she never thought about having a child. She just wanted to spend her time peacefully. She watched Lucia playing around and thought - this one is enough.

„... So ’my’ father was a water type beast.” Belinda murmured.

„Not really. In the beginning, those immortals chose the beasts’ partners depends on their roots, but later they realized it wasn’t necessary. As the children were born as humans, they inherited their human parent’s strongest ability too. Not to mention, the children with the same roots as their beast parents have a higher chance to awaken their beast blood.”

„But if Médea was born in an immortal’s family, she wouldn’t be sent away into a nameless little village...”

„Maybe ’your’ parents had feelings or they cooperated because of something...” Bertold guessed.

„Cooperation...” Belinda remembered the mother’s face. „That’s possible... Is there a way to find out what kind of beast ‘my’ father was?”

Bertold looked at her and thought about it. „You have a strong yin body. This cold energy refined your body during the years and turned it into the best container for itself. It’s already impossible to find out if you are really a child of a beast, not to mention other things.”

Belinda was dejected but suddenly remembered about something. „Could it be...? I saw an ice beast during the day. It became crazy when it felt my presence. Was it because of my yin body?”

„And you have ice crystals too.” Bertold pointed it out. „Those two cold energy together can have the same effect as if you have ice root.”

Belinda used this chance and asked a lot of questions related to the things she saw during the day. She listened to Bertold’s explanation and smiled. He wasn’t that cold as she thought in the beginning. He just didn’t know how to start a conversation. Even now, when he came over he continued the topic from before. For others, it would be confusing and maybe they would think he had some brain problems, but Belinda didn’t mind it. She had some problems too.

She looked over to the other side of the lake and saw Horác. He stood there and thought about something. Sometimes he lifted his head and watched the two of them. Seeing his behavior, Belinda laughed out loud.

Bertold stopped speaking and confusedly looked at her. He didn’t know if he said something funny.

„I was an orphan before and now too. I never thought about having a family, but don’t you think we slowly became one?” she smiled. „But I never thought I’ll have such a childish father!”

Bertold looked over and watched Horác. He had a rare smile on his face.

Horác angrily stamped on the ground. He saw his two students laughed at him and turned away. He didn’t want to see them anymore!

„You are right!” Bertold said after he saw Horác went into the house.

The sky slowly darkened and Sal hugged Lucia and went in with her.

Belinda wanted to stand up, but she suddenly stopped. „Right! Why did you say that the children under 10 are protected by a world’s rule? I read about it in some books, but they only wrote that it was an agreement between the sects’ leaders after some wars.”

Bertold was taken aback and sat there without a word. He thought about something. „... It really wasn’t written down in any books...” he whispered, then looked at Belinda. „Some leaders knew that if it’s just a verbal agreement, then the others wouldn’t do their best to stop their followers. All of them chose a valuable treasure and went on a journey to find the Holy Land. There if you pay enough sacrifice your wish can come true. No one knew how much they paid for it, but a special curse was born. If you kill one, you’ll have strong bad luck. If you kill two, you’ll lose everything. And after the third one, you just die...”

Belinda felt the cold ran down on her spine. She never heard about the Holy Land, but if it really had such a power it was understandable. Maybe it was one of the biggest secrets of this world and Bertold knew about it! It showed that his background couldn’t be that simple.