Reborn as the General's Useless Daughter-Chapter 237: The Ancient Ruins (Part-9)

Judging from the outcome, the two of them had gained immensely.

Even if the other spirit warriors had obtained many treasures, there was still a clear gap between their harvest and what he and Zora had received.

Zora shrugged gently. "I don’t know."

"But I believe the owner of the ruins must have had a deeper meaning," she added softly. "It’s just that we haven’t realized it yet."

As Zora and Prince Kael quietly pieced together the intentions behind the relic owner’s arrangements, the gazes of the others inevitably drifted toward them.

"Half a month," Sigmund said slowly, disbelief written all over his face. "She broke through to the first stage of the innate realm in just half a month?"

The words tasted unreal on his tongue.

He still remembered how long it had taken him to advance from the middle stage of the Sky realm to the first step of the Scarlet Realm. Countless nights of cultivation, countless bottlenecks, and endless pressure. Compared to that, Zora’s progress was nothing short of terrifying.

"It looks like she encountered a great opportunity inside the ruins," Zephrin said quietly, his tone carrying a trace of regret. "Otherwise, it would be impossible to leap directly from the acquired realm to the innate realm."

If such an opportunity had fallen into his hands, his strength would have soared as well, perhaps even surpassing Sigmund and the others.

Elowen’s delicate brows relaxed slightly, her calm expression tinged with contemplation. She had never looked down on Zora before, but now she realized that this woman was even more unfathomable than she had first thought.

"Zora and Prince Kael were the first to break out of the illusion," she said softly. "That alone proves they’re not simple. We were simply too slow to realize what was happening."

Sigmund frowned. "But Zora was with Prince Kael the whole time. How can you be sure this has anything to do with her strength? Maybe it was entirely Prince Kael’s doing."

When it came to Prince Kael, no one dared to underestimate him.

His reputation had spread early, and among the younger generation of the Holy Mystic Continent, his name carried undeniable weight. Losing to him was not something they found difficult to accept.

But losing to an illusion they didn’t even recognize?

That was far harder to swallow.

Elowen lifted her brows slightly, a faint, knowing smile touching her lips.

Sigmund caught it at once. "Elowen, if you know something, don’t keep us guessing. Just say it."

"Yes," Zephrin added. "If you’ve noticed something, it’s better to speak up. We should analyze this properly."

Elowen glanced at them both, her smile deepening just a little. "Before today, when you heard the spirit warriors talking about the illusion, did either of you realize that what we encountered earlier was actually a fantasy and nothing but an illusory realm?"

Sigmund and Zephrin exchanged looks, then shook their heads almost in unison.

"No."

"Exactly," Elowen said lightly.

Sigmund’s frown deepened. "What do you mean?"

"I overheard a conversation between Guinvere and Prince Kael," Elowen explained calmly. "Prince Kael mentioned that what he had seen earlier was an illusion. He himself didn’t recognize it at first, until Zora told him."

Her voice remained gentle, but every word landed with weight.

"That means Zora knows things we don’t," she continued. "And not just a little more. Possibly... far more."

The expressions of Sigmund and Zephrin turned solemn.

As children of great families, they had always believed they were well-informed. Yet when it came to illusory realms, this was the first time they had encountered such a concept, and the first time they had even heard it explained.

"Maybe Zora just happened to know some rare, special knowledge," Sigmund said after a pause, though his tone lacked conviction.

Elowen let out a soft chuckle. "The family spirit warriors didn’t realize it was an illusion either. They were still struggling inside it, thinking they were moving forward..."

Her unfinished sentence lingered in the air.

And with it, a quiet, unsettling truth began to take root in everyone’s hearts.

As soon as those words fell, the expressions of Sigmund and Zephrin changed at the same time.

They had always assumed that the concept of an "illusion" only spread after the experts of the great families analyzed the situation. But from what Elowen was saying, it was clear that the very first person to recognize the illusion had been Zora herself.

That realization hit far harder than expected.

"According to what you’re saying," Sigmund said slowly, disbelief creeping into his eyes, "Prince Kael and Zora were able to break out of the illusion so quickly... because of her?"

The thought sounded absurd the moment it left his mouth.

How could a mere general’s daughter know so many things, things even the heirs of great families failed to recognize?

"Otherwise?" Elowen replied calmly, her gaze steady. "With your intelligence, you shouldn’t need to deceive yourself."

Sigmund’s expression stiffened.

As she said, no one who could secure a place within a great family was foolish. Comforting oneself with excuses was pointless. The truth mattered more.

And now, everything pointed toward Zora.

Her knowledge of illusions, the acupuncture technique she had displayed earlier, her calm and decisive judgment... taken together, it became impossible to dismiss her as ordinary.

Zephrin let out a quiet laugh and shook his head. "I once thought that the woman Prince Kael liked must be nothing special. Now that I think about it, that idea was laughable."

Sigmund also added, in a bit of a serious note. "It could only make sense if she were connected to one of those ancient guilds."

"Eh?" Elowen blinked, "You mean the Immortal Guild?"

Sigmund nodded, "The Lost Art of Acupuncture, those detoxification medicinal pills she made for the academy students to cross into the miasma, and the knowledge of the illusory realm... none of this made sense unless it is the Immortal Guild."

At that, Elowen couldn’t help but furrow her brows, "I highly doubt it, though. Immortal Guild doesn’t allow their people to interfere in the material world and moreover, she was merely in Sky realm earlier. She couldn’t be the disciple of the Immortal Guild."

Sigmund laughed at that. "I know. I was just trying to make everything sense, that’s all..."

Nearby, Fiona had also heard their words. Yet she remained silent.

She didn’t want to believe that Zora was so capable, and neither did she want to believe that Zora was someone connected to the world’s undisputed strongest organization. But the fact remained that Zora had saved her life. If she openly opposed her now, everyone would only see her as petty and resentful.

Still, no matter how she tried to reason with herself, the bitterness in her heart would not fade.

This time, she had truly lost face. Completely.

Meanwhile, Elowen understood Sigmund better than most. Compared to Zephrin, who was relatively restrained, Sigmund was someone who never hesitated to dig into others’ wounds. She was certain that after leaving the ancient ruins, he would spread everything he had seen and heard.

Just thinking about how to deal with that made her head ache.

Not far away, Guinvere appeared calm and composed, as though Elowen’s conversation had nothing to do with her at all.

Yet anyone paying close attention would notice the truth.

Her hands were clenched tightly around her sleeves, and the calm in her eyes was fractured by deep unrest.

For three days and three nights, Prince Kael had barely rested, his gaze fixed on the stone door, worried sick over Zora’s safety. Even when Guinvere tried to speak with him, his responses had been distant and perfunctory, as if his heart were no longer there.

This was the first time she had ever seen him care so deeply about someone.

In the past, aside from the guild master, Prince Kael treated everyone with the same detached courtesy. He neither cared nor concerned himself too much with others.

And she had tried so hard to become the one he cared about.

She had failed.

Instead, another woman had effortlessly taken that place, making Prince Kael forget about food and rest, exposing emotions he had never shown before.

The image of his anxious, guarded expression pierced her heart like a blade, leaving her breathless.

Now, hearing everyone speak of how extraordinary Zora was, what kind of mysterious background Zora might have, or how unfathomable she had become, Guinvere’s emotions churned violently.

She refused to believe it.

Zora was just a general’s daughter. Nothing more.

It had to be Prince Kael who was blinded.

Blinded by sentiment and gratitude.

Guinvere sneered inwardly.