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Boom.
Just as Reiner finished speaking, he saw a small group of people and horses arriving at the gate.
Leading them was Elymia, followed by Anvina and Fina, Claire, Dana and others.
There was also a man lifted in the air by the hands of a mage, which was Edward.
Edward was placed on the ground, letting out a muffled groan.
He was covered in injuries: his once elegant ceremonial robe was now tattered. Several protective magical ornaments were engraved on Edward’s body, but they were useless against Dana’s absolute power. The layers of protection were torn apart abruptly, and Edward soared into the sky, only to fall back down after quite some time.
He had three broken ribs, a severely fractured leg, burns from explosions all over his body. He could barely breathe, gasping for air.
“Father…”
After these tumultuous events, Edward gradually regained consciousness. Leaning against the wall of the hall, he noticed everyone staring at him. Edward found William’s figure and exerted his last bit of strength, reaching out to his father.
But William didn’t move. Reiner’s words echoed in his mind.
“But Edward Albione is not your biological son.”
William’s first wife quickly approached, accompanied by servants to treat Edward, while his second wife stood there at a loss.
“It’s okay, my Edward.”
Edward’s biological mother lovingly caressed his once handsome, now mostly damaged face. Then, she viciously glared at Elymia, cursing.
“You illegitimate bitch, you dare…!”
Claire shielded Elymia behind her, and upon seeing Reiner, she felt somewhat reassured.
William remained silent, looking at Reiner.
“You say Edward is not my biological son? Ridiculous! He looks like me, and he has awakened the Albione family bloodline. How can he not be my biological son!?”
Other pure-blood families were also paying attention to this matter, not just for the sake of curiosity, but because of Reiner’s mentioned inheritance theory and chromosomal theories. Although recognized by high-level mages,they were only experimental results on paper to them.
If Reiner could not prove, there would be obvious loopholes in the inheritance theory, threatening the foundation of the pure-blood faction.
“Please don’t be agitated, Mr. Albione. I will explain everything.”
Reiner flipped a page on the white wall, projecting statistical data of Albione family members over the past three hundred years.
“In fact, Mr. Albione, you have two reasons to believe Elymia is not your biological daughter. One is her red hair, and the other is her lack of awakening to the Albione family bloodline ability. Due to the continuous intermarriage within the Albione family, external blood factors are almost nonexistent, making the statistical results similar to those of self-pollinating peas, which eliminates many troubles.”
Reiner smiled, and in the face of his sarcasm, William remained calm, only looking at the contents on the wall.
The statistical data on the white wall compared the hair color and awakening ability of Albione family members.
“According to inheritance theory, I first verified whether these two traits are inherited with gender. As you can see, in these three hundred years, there were twenty people in the Albione family who did not awaken. The male-to-female ratio among these twenty people is close to fifty-fifty, almost evenly split. Therefore, it can be concluded that these traits are not sex-linked.”
Reiner systematically began to demonstrate his hypothesis.
“Among the eighty-five members of the past three hundred years, twenty did not awaken. You can see that the ratio of those who awakened the bloodline ability to those who did not is close to three to one, following the laws of dominant and recessive bloodline factors. The Albione family’s bloodline ability is a dominant genotype.”
Due to the evidence from the pea and the moon owl experiments, this conjecture was more easily accepted. In fact, the existence of squibs in major pure-blood families had always been an unresolved issue. Now, Reiner’s speculation plunged many family heads into contemplation.
“Simply put, Mr. Albione, if we assume that the bloodline factor type in your bloodline ability is ‘Aa,’ and Mrs. Martha is also ‘Aa,’ then it is entirely possible to give birth to Elymia, an ‘aa’ recessive type.”
Reiner spoke methodically, leaving no room for refutation.
“But this cannot explain her hair.”
William said in a deep voice. He seemed thoughtful, but for the reputation of the Albione family and the future of the pure-blood faction, he still questioned.
At this moment, Edward, who had been listening silently to what Reiner was saying to his father, roughly understood. He stared at Reiner intently, wanting to curse him, but his weak body forced him into silent acceptance of treatment.
“Yes, if squibs, who fail to awaken the ability, are not uncommon in pure-blood families, red-haired individuals like Elymia are not so common. However, in the history of the Albione family, there have been members with red hair.”
Reiner waved his hand, and the white wall turned another page, showing five portraits.
“These five are red-haired members of the Albione family. The earliest was Weber Albione, born 291 years ago, and the most recent is Elymia.”
William quickly began to calculate in his mind. Among the eighty-five people, only five had red hair, which did not conform to the three-to-one ratio. Even if the nine people who died prematurely were included, it still didn’t match!
The inheritance laws were wrong!
He felt a bit excited inside, but on the surface, he remained expressionless, waiting for Reiner to contradict himself.
“If we simply follow the conclusions of dominant and recessive bloodline factors, we will find that the ratio of blonde to red-haired individuals does not meet the three-to-one ratio. The number of blondes far exceeds this figure, and it seems that there is a problem with the inheritance laws.”
Reiner deliberately made a troubled expression, waiting for a while before continuing.
“But we know that humans are not like peas, either black or white. In fact, the bloodline factors controlling hair color are not just two, at least from my current observations, the Albione family has three hair colors.”
As soon as this statement was made, everyone turned their eyes to William and other members of the Albione family.
Elymia had a fiery crimson color.
William had a dazzling golden color.
Edward had a soft, pale gold.