The Duke’s actions had a certain beauty of brainless calculation, forcibly holding the entire victorious family of the host as hostages, coercing Lana into the Duke’s house, stealing the fruits of victory, and even recklessly going forward without verifying if she still had the Heroic Spirit cards in her hand.

Or should it be said, they saw that only Miss Fairy was by Lana’s side, and thus thought it was okay to proceed?

In any case, Xue Dili felt that as a normal person, he couldn’t comprehend the logic of these abstract figures.

With just one glimpse, Xue Dili began to absorb all the information about the Duke’s mansion, and then he fell silent.

The old butler died. He was merely a butler, without any status, so he died quickly, as if he was dealt with at the first moment.

Although that butler was killed by the little beggar who summoned Xue Dili, and he was ready to give his life to Xue Dili, Xue Dili didn’t think the old butler did anything wrong. Perhaps his true host should have been the soul-twisted little beggar, which would require more strategic action.

As for what Lana truly cared about, her father and sister...

"The old Count is dead," Xue Dili stated directly.

Lana’s expression froze, and for a moment she was completely confused, unable to comprehend why her father was completely dead in such a short time since she had gone to find Xue Dili.

Yet, with eyes filled with hope, she looked at Xue Dili, her gaze pleading.

"He died 15 minutes ago, and even I can’t bring him back," Xue Dili said.

In that instant, Lana’s pupils turned completely white, and her entire complexion became extremely grim.

For Xue Dili, 10 minutes after Death is a threshold; 5 minutes is another. If the death is within 5 minutes, Xue Dili can easily use Netherworld Soul Chaser to revive the person without affecting them at all.

For someone dead for 5-10 minutes, revival might lead to memory loss, nerve confusion, etc., as seen when Cloud Star was revived and almost became paralyzed, likely dead for around 7 minutes.

Beyond 10 minutes, it’s beyond salvation, and any revival would fall under the domain of Undead Magic, with the revived one possibly being a possessing Transmigrator?

As for the old Count, whom Xue Dili had only met a few times, he felt neither good nor bad about him; at best, he viewed him as an exquisite egoist, someone to be used but not befriended.

For Lana, however, her father might have been her support.

Then, with the last glimmer of hope in her eyes, she stared at Xue Dili while asking, "What about Nina? My sister?"

"She’s okay, just implanted with a special contract technique," Xue Dili said.

At this moment, Lana’s tears welled up, and as she turned to look at the Duke’s mansion, her face was filled with venom and hatred, exuding an unimaginable aura of malice like a white swan wrapped in white gauze.

Just then, the Duke hurriedly came out from the mansion. Upon seeing Lana and Xue Dili at the door, he froze for a moment before cautiously saying, "Everyone, I sincerely apologize, especially to you, Niece Lana, my apologies. It was all just a joke, a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding..."

He seemed to start sweating profusely; if he had only seen Lana, or Lana with a Court Mystic Scholar from the Imperial Palace, he would have merely offered a "Master Plan" smile, thus accomplishing his goals entirely.

But when he saw Xue Dili, he immediately began sweating profusely.

"Niece, don’t misunderstand. Your father is an old friend of mine, and I just invited them to my home as guests. I will call your father out right away, please wait... please wait...," the Duke said immediately, quickly instructing the servants.

Lana hesitated for a moment, then immediate unparalleled anger surged through her.

She trusted Xue Dili’s words more than those of the Duke. Since the time in the Palace, when that Duke family’s second son disgusted her, she’d felt an urge to slaughter everyone in the Duke’s mansion.

Upon confirming with Xue Dili that her sister was currently okay, she stared intently at the Duke.

Then, they saw the Duke bring out the old Count’s body, and Xue Dili was momentarily taken aback.

The "old Count" smiled and said to Lana, "Don’t worry, daughter. I’m here discussing affairs with the Duke, it could be a misunderstanding, shortly I’ll take your sister back home."

The old Count smiled and said to Lana.

And Xue Dili stopped speaking because he suddenly sensed an indescribable undead aura from the old Count, a feeling he hadn’t encountered while absorbing information earlier.

Moreover, as time passed, this undead aura grew increasingly intense.

Lana stared blankly at the old Count, carried out by others. At that moment, her expression reflected pain, confusion, and struggle, her lips slightly parting as if to smile, but tears of anguish appeared in the corners of her eyes.

"My father never calls me daughter... never calls Nina ’your sister’..." Lana calmly said. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The Duke was stunned, then desperately tried to explain, but under Xue Dili’s full domain silence, he could only stand there babbling incoherently.

"He was a very selfish and detestable bastard. For the honor and future of the family, he would do anything, whether it was selling out his daughter or selling out himself.