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"Leiden, do you comprehend the gravity of your words? She is your daughter! Are you doubting her, or are you doubting me?"

Eleanor’s eyes brimmed with tears: "How could you utter such words!"

"…Eleanor, it’s not about doubt towards either of you, please, calm down and listen to me."

Leiden, massaging his temples, the weariness evident in his demeanor, exhaled deeply:

"Do you realize the significance of the toy he gave to Venna? It’s the final challenge of this year’s Alchemy Association level three membership examination! Completing it within two minutes qualifies one for intermediate membership… but Venna… Venna solved it in just five minutes, do you grasp what this implies!"

"She is a prodigy!"

Eleanor raised her voice, "Is that so astonishing? Did you only now realize your daughter is a prodigy?"

"This is not mere prodigiousness!"

Leiden, now agitated, paced the room, his expression fraught with unease:

"She’s only four years old, four! She began reading at one year and two months, not even three years have passed! While normal children’s brains are just starting to develop, she’s already solving problems that would challenge a third-level alchemist… Even the grand duke’s children are merely learning etiquette at this age!"

The man, hands on his wife’s shoulders, spoke with exhaustion and sorrow: "Tell me… Eleanor, do you truly believe ’prodigy’ suffices to describe this?"

The woman, initially ready to retort, found herself chilled as the anger of a mother and wife subsided, equally feeling a cold dread.

"…But Venna, perhaps she really…"

She struggled to articulate her thoughts, but Leiden interjects firmly: "I know him too well, Eleanor, too well, that madman—"

"He will certainly not abandon his absurd, damned ideals…" Leiden paused, cautiously peering out the window to see his daughter still engrossed on the lawn, then, after forcefully drawing the curtains, continued solemnly: "He will never cease pursuing them."

"So…" Eleanor’s voice trembled, "So you mean to say, Venna, she—"

Leiden loosened his grip on her hands, closing his eyes in torment and murmuring hoarsely: "She… is not normal."

Eleanor covered her mouth, staggering back several steps, tears beginning to well in her eyes.

"Our child… has Mr. Eileen done something to her… is that what you’re implying?"

"He’s a fifth-stage alchemist! Even now, in his decline, the empire scarcely boasts three alchemists of his caliber! If… if he truly intended something, we would be none the wiser, and his attitude towards Venna, Venna’s attitude towards him… it’s all abnormal, isn’t it?"

"Eleanor, listen to me, the Etheric Academy… no, not even the Etheric Academy can be trusted, I will find a way to seek someone capable of discernment…"

The subsequent silence was deafening, for in Ravenna’s recollection, her former self had already departed without a sound, leaving her home and racing towards her grandfather’s humble abode.

Ravenna gazed upon the anguished expressions of her parents in the grey chamber, knowing this was merely a scene she had constructed within her own reminiscence.

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Yet why —

Within this illusion, had she so vividly manifested the sorrow and helplessness of her parents?

Ravenna caressed the phantom form of her chest, yet felt no emotional turmoil stirred by the presence of her parents.

Years of resentment had ultimately culminated in indifference.

This lingering query remained unanswered as the vision faded away. Ravenna was unaware that in that true past, in the final words she had not heard, Leiden, embracing Eleanor, had said with unwavering resolve, despite his weariness:

"Even if Venna becomes something else, she will always be our daughter."

This hazy recollection merely shifted, coldly and cruelly exposing the scars Ravenna most wished to avoid.

"Grandfather…"

Little Ravenna softly inquired, watching Eileen elegantly command the alchemy workshop like a conductor, "am I truly abnormal?"

After that incident, Ravenna had seldom returned home, instead residing permanently with her grandfather, experiencing a joy and freedom she had never known before.

For Eileen could answer all her questions and respond to her every utterance. Following her grandfather, Ravenna witnessed the wondrous splendor and infinite mystery of the world, things she had never encountered.

A young child could not refuse such beauty, and her remarkable talents made her intolerant of mundane mediocrity, so the kindly, erudite grandfather soon supplanted the image of her parents.

Eileen patted little Ravenna’s small head, speaking gently, "You are normal, Venna. It is simply that your father could not comprehend your gifts. Just as I cannot fathom his own banality."

"Banality," the girl softly echoed Eileen’s words, "was that my father’s failing?"

"...No, child, it was not."

The elder sighed, yet said no more.

Little Ravenna stared intently at Eileen, then asked, "I heard Uncle Hendrik say that Father and Mother... betrayed you. Is that true?"

"That was years ago," Eileen replied.

"So, was it they who caused your current..."

Ravenna surveyed the humble alchemy workshop. How could such a great fifth-stage alchemist be relegated to such a simple environment to exercise his talents? She could not comprehend her grandfather’s fall from grace.

"No, Venna. Do not blame your parents, their actions are unrelated to my circumstances."

"Then why—"

"This was my own choice, child."

The furnace blazed, metals chimed, and the ether flowed, linking various materials without the need for a chisel to carve circuits, creating a masterpiece that seemed as if it were forged by nature itself.

It fell into Eileen’s hands, a complex cylindrical device. Ravenna watched as it released a gentle breeze, then spurted flames, and soon after, stirred up crackling thunder and lightning, enveloped by an invisible energy field, a marvel to behold.

Yet, before long, it exploded with a minor roar, confined within Eileen’s palm.

He gazed at the explosion for an extended period, feeling numb and despondent.

"I have chosen... to relinquish," the elder lowered his gaze, "This is not an endeavor I can fulfill; my limitations lie here."

"Even Grandfather cannot achieve it?" Little Ravenna asked, somewhat incredulously.

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