At that moment.
In just an instant, the temperature inside the room plummeted, dropping sharply to freezing levels. Even the fireball in Samuel Cape’s hand was frozen solid. While everyone stood dumbfounded, a graceful figure stepped through the doors of the Main Hall.
Inside the 【Heavenly Key】, all the maids hailed from prestigious Blood Race noble families. Each one was a beauty in her own right, but the True Ancestor was a ravishing beauty in Sang’s mind, one who could bewitch nations.
He had thought no other woman could rival her.
Yet here she was.
Beneath a blue knight’s cloak adorned with panels of pure silver armor, the cloak bore the blue-and-white rose emblem of House Hill—one of the Four Great Duke Families. It was no less striking than the red Red Lycoris.
With silent footsteps, a female knight entered the Main Hall. She stood roughly six feet tall—likely a bit shorter without her knight’s boots. Her ice-blue hair fell to her waist, tied into a high ponytail with a pure white ribbon. The long ponytail swayed alongside her cloak in the breeze. Her hair parted in a regal middle style, with locks from her temples tucked neatly behind her ears. Though slightly tousled, it somehow appeared impeccably precise. At her waist hung an ice-blue knight’s sword.
Her features seemed sculpted to perfection by the hand of God himself, flawless from every angle.
Her almond-shaped eyes held a seductive charm, their icy blue hue paired with a gaze as calm and unruffled as a placid ancient well. She was a study in contradictions, like a snow lotus blooming amid an icy wasteland—commanding awe without a hint of anger.
Perhaps because the doors stood wide open, sunlight from outside poured in, bathing the woman in its glow. She resembled a ray of winter sunlight, warming the boy’s heart.
Sang stared in awe—there really was such a cool big sister!
However.
At that moment, Samuel Cape snapped out of it. He glared viciously at the approaching female knight and snarled, “Snow Hill! Don’t interfere! This doesn’t concern you!!!”
Snow Hill glanced indifferently at Samuel but said nothing. Instead, she turned her gaze to Aisha Hodhua, who was hiding behind a white stone pillar, and said softly, “House Hill has arrived.”
Her voice was chillingly aloof, like the howling winds of the far north.
Moreover, she had come alone, without even a single attendant knight.
Only then did Aisha Hodhua dare to emerge from behind the pillar. Without a moment’s hesitation, she dashed over to Sang, who lay sprawled on the ground.
Samuel seemed unwilling to let it go. He kept blabbering, “I’m going to kill that human!”
Snow Hill glanced at him again. Her serene eyes seemed to hold some irresistible force. Samuel appeared to sense something and, for reasons unknown, swallowed his words right there in front of everyone. He actually backed down.
The entrance to the Main Hall lay several flights of stairs and platforms away from its depths.
Snow Hill stepped onto the nearest staircase from the doors and ascended toward the hall’s interior, from low to high. Throughout, her eyes remained fixed straight ahead, without the slightest distraction—like a solitary Valkyrie.
It was the first time Sang had encountered someone so unattainably distant. Though only twenty meters separated them, she felt as remote as a snow lotus crowning the peak of a millennial glacier, viewed from its base.
“What’s up with this person!?”
So distant!
While Sang’s gaze followed Snow Hill, Aisha Hodhua had already reached his side and was anxiously checking him over.
Sang shifted his attention to the Pink-Haired Little Lolita.
“Hey, you okay?” Worry etched across the Pink-Haired Little Lolita’s pretty face as she asked.
Feeling playful, Sang lay on the ground and feigned weakness. “Pink-Haired Little Lolita, I don’t think I’m gonna make it. Before I go, I have one last wish… cough cough cough…”
“Ah… don’t talk! I’ll get someone to heal you right away…”
“Promise me!” Sang grasped the Pink-Haired Little Lolita’s small hand earnestly.
“Mm… okay, what is it? I promise.”
“Before I die, I want to hear you call me Big Brother Watermelon.”
Well… Watermelon was a nickname Sang had used for two lifetimes. Having the little lolita call him “big brother” once didn’t seem too much, so he combined them.
Aisha Hodhua found it a bit odd but lowered her guard for the moment. “Wa… Watermelon Big Brother.”
“Ah… I’m dead.”
“Wahhh, don’t die!”
“I was faking!”
“…”
…
Later on.
Representatives from the Four Great Families all arrived, though none of the family heads came. They were all direct heirs from the families—formidable figures in their own right. Even so, Snow Hill remained the most intimidating among them. Not because of an overpowering aura; quite the opposite, she exuded no pressure at all.
Yet she still gave off that sense of being utterly unattainable.
Even a fool could tell such a person was the most dangerous.
As for Sang himself.
Thanks to Samuel Cape and Adelaide Hodhua’s “blessing,” he got another chance to see Liyou and Hyacinth. They entered the 【Heavenly Key】 once more, this time legitimately as physicians.
Though Sang hadn’t provided Liyou with much intel this round, he still received ample comfort from her.
Liyou truly was like an angel.
After Liyou and Hyacinth left, Aisha Hodhua entered the room and sat by the bed. “You okay?”
“The physician said it—originally just some scratches, but your final punch was the real killer,” Sang said solemnly, as if it were gospel truth.
Yeah.
Right.
After seeing through Sang’s fake death, Aisha Hodhua had delivered a shy little iron fist that left him questioning his life choices.
“Cut the crap. Aren’t you alive and kicking right now?”
“Uh… right, what about the Four Great Families’ representatives now?” Sang dropped the banter and got to the point about the families’ reps.
He was an undercover agent, after all. Gathering intel was his job.
“Everyone left except Snow Hill.”
Well… so they really just came to pay respects, took a look, and bounced. This damn ceremony was such a waste of manpower and resources.
Snow Hill—that was her name?
Sang asked again, “Why didn’t Snow Hill leave?”
“She’ll be resting in the Earthly Pavilion of the 【Heavenly Key】 for a while. She’s different from the other Blood Race members. House Hill’s territory is exceptionally remote, in the far northern reaches… Just this trip probably took her a month.”
This world’s tech was seriously backward.
No cars, trains, or planes. Main transport was horse-drawn carriages, and even flying superpowers were rare.
“But speaking of which… what’s her deal?” Sang couldn’t help asking.
A Blood Race member standing up to another for a human’s sake? Sure, both were duke families, but it clearly wasn’t worth the cost.
Besides, Sang hadn’t sensed any fondness from Snow Hill toward him… no, toward humans in general.
She hadn’t spared him a single glance from start to finish.
Aisha Hodhua seemed to read his thoughts. After a moment’s pause, she explained, “Among the Four Great Dukes, House Hill is an ancient and enigmatic power. They always uphold strict neutrality. Unlike the varied superpowers of the other families, House Hill’s abilities are passed down purely through the bloodline: ice and snow, the most primal and unadulterated force. Generation after generation, they stand guard in the eternal snows and jagged peaks of the north, known as the Northern Monument.”
“The Northern Monument, huh?” Sang murmured.
He pressed further. “Guarding against what, exactly?”
Fair point.
The Blood Race had unified the continent. What was left was just petty infighting. No need to fend off external invaders.
So what exactly was House Hill protecting the continent from?
“First, human rebel organizations. The north, far from the Central, is one of their main strongholds. Second, werewolves. Though nomadic, they spend the most time in the north each year…”
“Wait, werewolves!? You mean the kind that look human normally but turn into wolves sometimes?” Sang genuinely had no idea this world had such things.
Aisha Hodhua shot him a disdainful look but then reconsidered. “Fair enough. You’re from the Far East; it’s normal not to know about werewolves… Werewolves and the Blood Race have long been at odds. An individual’s strength rivals that of a high-level Blood Race member, but they’re few in number and don’t gather in groups. They can’t truly threaten the Blood Race… Which brings us to the third threat.”
“The third?”
“Yes. This is the root reason House Hill has guarded the north for generations—it’s where an Ancient Titan is sealed…”
This world’s species overlapped somewhat with his original world’s: chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, cows, sheep, even some plants were identical. But differences existed too. Here, massive creatures akin to dinosaurs roamed—Titans.
Humans classified them as low-level Titans, mid-level Titans, and high-level Titans.
Sang had read about all this in local books, but he’d never heard of an Ancient Titan. He exclaimed in surprise, “An Ancient Titan… didn’t they go extinct!? Are you serious?”
Aisha Hodhua nodded, her expression grave. “You’re mistaken. The Ancient Titans haven’t been completely wiped out. There’s one final survivor, locked in eternal slumber atop the Northern Region’s grandest peak—Shivana Peak. The Hill Family’s innate ice and snow abilities have kept it suppressed within the mountains all this time… but…”
“But… what?”
“Bloodlines thin with each generation, eras shift and fade—the Hill Family’s strength has waned over time… Even before I entered the 【Heavenly Key】, back when I was just a child, I’d heard rumors that the Ancient Titan was showing signs of stirring… I assumed that while I was trapped in this impenetrable 【Heavenly Key】, it had already awakened and begun ravaging the world… But from what I can see now, the seal holds firm… I couldn’t quite put it together at first, but after meeting Snow Hill today, it all makes sense—the Hill Family has produced a truly formidable prodigy this generation.”
Sang seemed to grasp it too upon hearing this.
Even among the Four Great Families, Snow Hill stood out as exceptional, the Valkyrie reigning supreme atop her snowy peak.
The next moment, Aisha Hodhua pressed on. “She’s hailed as the Blood Race’s most perfect exemplar, eternally serene like a still pond, a born knight who embodies the Knight’s Way without flaw, shielding every vulnerable soul… She boasts not only peerless beauty to rival the True Ancestor’s, but also vast innate 【Mana】 reserves. She’s the mightiest wielder of ice and snow abilities in generations—and that’s not all. Her soul shines with noble purity… In the Far North Land, there’s a saying: if names are to be etched upon the Northern Monument, Snow Hill’s would claim the top spot.”
Very well.
Sang now saw it clearly—the Pink-Haired Little Lolita had become a total fan of Snow Hill.
Truth be told, Sang felt a bit of that pull himself. Her looks played a part, sure, but it ran deeper: a young man’s primal awe for a true knight.
In the fourteen years since he’d crossed over to this other world, this was his first encounter with one.
And she had saved his life, no less.
Maybe it was the way she’d stood bathed in sunlight that day, or perhaps the pristine white ribbon binding her hair—to the boy, she truly shone like light itself, the warm sun of winter.
