Lex had a tremendous amount of experience keeping his expression neutral, so even now, it wasn't really hard for him if he wished. But he did not wish. Of his sisters, Belle was the only one he hadn't been able to have a reunion with. She was the only one he hadn't brought to the Inn, so she was the only one whose difficulties he never got to learn about.

For the things that happened to Liz and Moon, Lex was mentally prepared. But this was the first time he was hearing about what happened with Belle, so his anger couldn't help but rise, which showed on his expression.

For the most part, his anger was aimed at Damian, yet both his parents did not escape being targeted by it either. If one was to go by their story, they were innocent bystanders, doing their best to survive persecution. To a large degree, that was also true.

But it was also that the priority from the very get go was the heritage, or whatever mission it gave to them.

They had such an incredible heritage, one that allowed Serene to give birth to babies with legendary physiques as a Nascent Soul cultivator, yet it could not give them a way to check their own baby thoroughly? To check their baby's spirit despite the tantrums and mood swings she was displaying?

Maybe Lex was accusing them wrongly. Clearly they had tried their best in their circumstances. To him, it just wasn't enough though - not when their intentions were never entirely focused on them to begin with.

After all, Serene had said it herself. The kids were born so that she could unlock deeper levels of the heritage...

"You're going down a spiral," Leon said, looking at Lex, interrupting his

thoughts. "You're finding ways to blame us, because you haven't forgiven us for what happened to you."

Lex raised an eyebrow.

"Do I even need to find reasons to blame you? You said it yourself, I was merely born so that you could unlock deeper levels of the heritage. More like extra baggage that came with what you truly wanted," Lex said evenly, not letting much emotion into his voice.

Leon shook his head.

"You're saying you're not angry, but you're holding onto it tightly. You were always like that, since you were a kid. Back then you used to pout, but pretend like you weren't pouting" Leon said, smirking a bit as if he was thinking back to those times. "Yes, we were focused on the heritage, but for good reason. It was about the mission, the fate of the entire human race, yes. But it was also to protect you all - it was also so that we could have a happy, homely family life. That was something neither your mother nor I ever had. It was just that... fate had other intentions."

Serene placed a hand on Leon's shoulder, and continued the story.

"Belle was very young, her spirit was very fragile. The cues left behind by Damien were mostly dormant, but over the years they had begun to slowly affect her. But she also had the heart of a Valkyrie, and they are the strongest of the Angels, the bravest, the most dedicated.

"Her own heart had begun to influence the rest of her body, and so it had also begun to resist the external influence of the cues left behind by Damien. Yet because Belle was so weak, the heart did not have enough strength to counter the influence of an immortal.

"Yet when you were born, and you caused a bloodline resonance with Belle, you allowed her body to fuse with her heart on a deeper level, skipping years of growth, and allowing the heart to activate its ability.

"Her body was washed in divine energy, suppressing the cues since they could not be removed. It was that suppression that put an immense strain on her spirit, causing her psyche to break.

"When that happened, we finally realized what the issue was, and I treated her immediately. Back then, my skills were not as they are now, but since my original interest had always been treating people, I had learned a lot about how to treat all kinds of issues.

"But that left us with two problems now. The first was that Damian... was clearly far more ruthless than either of us expected, with intentions far more nefarious than we realized. The second was that you were born with the William family bloodline, and as soon as we left the protection of our hideout, your bloodline would be detected.

"After what had been done to Belle, we did not want to risk anything happening to you. The best case scenario would be to hide you entirely, and not let your birth be detected. So, we came up with a way to suppress your bloodline, keep you hidden, and to keep you protected.

"I found the requisite knowledge from the heritage, and your father spent a tremendous amount of his sword intent to carve those protective characters into your body. It was not an easy task. Those characters were very difficult to carve, and the only reason your father succeeded was because of how high levelled his sword intent was. Yet as a result of that effort, your father was left weakened once again, even unable to cultivate for a couple of years afterwards while he recovered from his wounds."

Lex pursed his lips, though he did not know why. They were telling the truth, as far as he could tell, so why would he be upset that they had actually tried to help him? Maybe because if they really were such selfish people as he had imagined them to be, this would be much easier.

"You skipped out on Belle. What happened to her?" Lex asked.

"Belle..." Serene said, the name evoking a sense of sourness in her throat. "My sweet, sweet daughter was never the same after that. We could not erase the cues, but we found temporary measures to suppress them. Her own heart would help with that, and over time erase as long as Damian did not refresh them.

"Yet after that, despite treating her spirit to the best of my ability, she became highly aggressive, even more than before. She started to have anger issues, and she liked fighting more than anything. She would hit and bite anyone who came close to her. You... were the only exception in the sense that, instead of fighting or biting you since you were a baby, she would only gently poke you till you started to cry. By the way, she was also the one who named you."