Chapter 312: 312

After walking out of the hall, Michelle followed Vincent to her courtyard. Once there, they sat down at a stone table, and she locked her gaze on him.

“Father, why does the family head not take me as his granddaughter? Why is Amelia considered his only granddaughter?” she asked with a frown. If she wanted to stage as Ana, she needed to know details like that, even if she was to keep her presence minimal.

Vincent understood Michelle had to know all that. “You aren’t his granddaughter, did you forget?” he spoke in a way that would seem strange to a person who knew what was going on. It was so that if someone was listening, they wouldn’t find out that Michelle wasn’t Ana. “My daughter, did you forget parts of your memories? You are adopted.”

“I am?” Michelle knew why Vincent was speaking like that, so she went along with the act and put on a surprised expression. Touching her forehead, she acted like she really didn’t remember.

“So I’m not really the Ostrich family’s child?” she tilted her head a bit.

Vincent shook his head. “You are. Just not mine. Your parents died when you were young, so I adopted you.”

Hearing that, Michelle raised a brow. “Who were my parents? And how did they die?”

Vincent explained things quite simply.

Ana’s father was the youngest son of the family head’s father. He was over sixty years younger than the family head. His wife was a woman from the Heavenly Realm.

Both of them were basically geniuses. Ana’s father was a light element spirit master, and he was the family’s best healer. Meanwhile, her mother was a skilled Array Master.

Unfortunately, they died in an ambush. When Ana’s grandfather, the family’s ancestor and the family head’s father, was celebrating his two hundredth birthday, the family was ambushed and many people died.

In the process, Ana, who was only three years old at the time, ended up orphaned. And because she wasn’t showing any talent in cultivation, no one wanted to adopt her.

Back then, Vincent was on a long expedition, so he didn’t know something like that had happened.

Because no one wanted to adopt Ana, the ancestor, her real grandfather, took her in and started taking care of her. But that old man didn’t know how to take care of a child, so even though he really didn’t want it to happen, Ana was basically neglected.

Luckily, Vincent got a message about the ambush and rushed back. It took him a few months because he was quite far away.

Once back, he told the ancestor he would adopt Ana. Even though formally, he was of the same generation as her.

The ancestor promptly agreed because he could see that he couldn’t take care of the child properly. Especially since most of the time, he couldn’t even find her.

Back then, no one knew those disappearing tendencies of the little girl were the first signs of the characteristic which later grew within her: that she would have barely any presence, and everyone would overlook her.

After that, Ana grew up under Vincent’s care. He noticed how she could disappear without anyone noticing, so he started making sure she was always within his sight. In just a few weeks, he learned to sense her presence more than that of anyone else. Without even planning it, he started to be able to instantly sense concealed presences.

That was also why he was able to follow Michelle when he first saw her. Because he was used to being around his daughter, who had no presence.

After listening to Vincent, Michelle grew curious about a few more things. “When my parents died…” she spoke as if she really was Ana. “Why didn’t the family head adopt me? Wasn’t he my uncle?” she asked.

Vincent shrugged a bit. “That, I don’t know. But it could be because he had never really liked your father, his youngest brother.”

“Oh?” Michelle leaned on the stone table lazily. “One more question. Who was the old man sitting next to the family head? The one that was concerned about me?”

“That was your father’s second oldest brother. Unlike the family head, he really liked your father. Since your father died, he has cared for you dearly,” Vincent answered.

“Then why didn’t he adopt me?” Michelle was more and more feeling that the relationships in the Ostrich family were extremely twisted.

Vincent sighed. “His wife has always been focused on power. And since you were born, it had been known that your spirit veins are weak and that your cultivation won’t progress. She refused to adopt a cultivation trash.”

Hearing that, Michelle nodded a bit. So she was an outcast in the family. “Father, when I address people, do I address them from the position of your daughter, or from the position of the daughter of my biological father?” she suddenly asked. She needed to know how she should call them.

It was a great difference whether she would call the family head grandfather or uncle. And the ancestor grandfather or great-grandfather.

“Everyone from the position of my daughter. The only exceptions are my father and the ancestor. You call the family head by his title, Family Head, and the ancestor from the position of your biological father, grandfather. He wanted to be called grandfather by you. That’s also a reason the family head isn’t your grandfather. Your grandfather is his father.”

Michelle shook her head in disbelief. The whole Ostrich family was just way too complicated.

Luckily, she wouldn’t have to deal with them all for too long. In a week, the Ostrich Academy was opening its gates for new students. They would take tests and then be accepted.

Michelle, as Ana, wouldn’t have to take the tests. She would just be accepted into the academy.

So, in the upcoming week, Michelle’s days were quite peaceful.

The first few days, she stayed in her courtyard most of the time.

On the outside, she looked calm, but in reality, she felt like ants were eating her alive. She was bored to death.

Her only redemption was when Amelia came to play with her.

And there was also one time when she went to visit the ancestor, Benjamin Ostrich.

At other times, Michelle couldn’t really do anything because there were servants nearby. It was true that most of the time they couldn’t even see her, but if she started doing something, like cultivating or training, those were activities that would attract attention and she would instantly be noticed.

And if the servants saw she could cultivate, it would be very easy for someone to put two and two together and realize she wasn’t the real Ana Ostrich.

Bored out of her mind, Michelle asked Vincent what Ana usually did. And his answer was quite surprising.

She sneaked around the mansion, testing what she could do before she was noticed.

After hearing that, Michelle started doing just that, testing her own presence. Of course, while testing it, she made sure she wasn’t doing anything that would give away her real identity in case she was seen.

In one of her expeditions around the residence, she saw the family head from a distance and observed him for a while.

She didn’t really find anything useful, but it still raised a question in her mind.

Back when she was in the meeting room with Vincent and the family head agreed to let her go to the academy, Vincent promised not to cause bloodshed while investigating who tried to kill his daughter.

That made Michelle frown. He clearly wanted revenge for his daughter, so why would he agree not to do it?

It wasn’t like he really wanted to protect her by sending her to the academy. He was just following their deal. And the deal was about taking revenge. So why would he make things harder for himself?

Thinking about that, Michelle went to find Vincent.

She had to wait for a while because he was talking with someone. Michelle guessed it was his older brother, the headmaster of the Ostrich Academy, Francis Ostrich, because he looked quite similar to Vincent.

When Francis left, Michelle sat in his place. “Father, why did you agree not to cause bloodshed when avenging me?” she asked curiously.

Vincent remained calm, though deep inside, it was clear he was feeling turmoil thinking about the death of his beloved daughter. Even if she was adopted, he loved her like his own.

“I promised it because it was never within my plans,” he answered truthfully.

Michelle raised a brow. “Then what is your plan?”

Vincent showed a slight, cold smirk. “I’ll take revenge by making my enemies cause the bloodshed on their own. And then, it will be the family head and the elders who will have to finish them off.”

Hearing that, Michelle’s gray-green eyes gleamed. Her right eye showed a hint of red. The disguise mask couldn’t contain the color shift caused by Spirit Soul Blood. She liked the way Vincent was thinking.

He was not only planning to take revenge on his enemy, but also on the family, since they let the tragedy happen.

And that revenge would be in two parts.

First, they would have to stop the enemy from causing bloodshed. Members of the Ostrich family would die.

And the second would be that they would have to go against their own principles and shed the blood of their own kin.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep