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Chapter 182: The Albione Family’s Secret (2)

Morale Support: Scherzo

Patreon: /ScherzoTranslations

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The atmosphere at the scene became somewhat solemn.

Previously, everyone thought that whether it was bright blond or light blond, it was at least blond. At most, it was just a result of individual differences. However, with the introduction of the inheritance theory, these subtle differences could no longer be ignored.

“I initially conducted verification using pure blond, but quickly found it was not right. It wasn’t until I was reminded that, among a litter of kittens, that not all individuals are similar to their parents.”

When Reiner spoke, he glanced at Fina, making the student smile discreetly.

“I boldly speculate that bright blond hair and light blond hair are brought about by different bloodline factors. With this assumption, I created a table.”

A table appeared on the white wall, categorizing Albione family members into three types: bright blond hair, light blond hair, and red hair. It could be seen that, excluding the nine individuals who died during infancy, among the remaining seventy-six people, there were five with red hair, fifty-seven with light blond hair, and fourteen with bright blond hair.

George, Lady Martha, Edward, and his two sisters all had light blond hair.

Elymia had red hair.

“Based on the observations, I made a hypothesis that there are mainly three bloodline factors controlling hair color. Since light blond hair is the majority, I assume it is the dominant factor, designated as ‘A,’ while bright blond hair, due to its smaller quantity, is designated as ‘a.’ As for red hair, it can be considered a variation of bright gold hair passed down due to the Albione family’s tradition of intermarriage. It is designated ‘i’.”

Reiner explained, making his presentation easy to understand. Therefore, many pure-blood mages began their calculations in their minds.

“Since a pair of chromosomes carries only one pair of bloodline factors, there are many combinations for these three bloodline factors. You can see that the number of bright blond hair individuals is greater than that of red hair, so I believe the combination of bloodline factors for bright blond hair and red hair, designated as ‘Ai’ type, should also exhibit bright blond hair characteristics.”

After some simple calculations, Reiner quickly announced the results. According to his conjecture, the ratio of dominant bloodline factor light blond hair to the relatively recessive bright blond and red hair was 57:19, close to three to one. At the same time, the ratio of bright gold hair to red hair was 14:5, also close to three to one!

“According to the proportions of the combinations of these three hair colors’ bloodline factors, the final expected trait ratio should be 12:3:1. Currently, the distribution of family members in these three hair colors is 57:14:5, approximately matching the theoretical ratio. This validates my hypothesis.”

Reiner concluded, and at this point, those pure-blood mages with quicker minds had also calculated the same results in their own minds. In their minds, the inheritance laws had been verified.

“Wait a minute. If light blond is the dominant bloodline factor, then…”

Someone quickly realized the problem and looked at William.

William had bright gold hair. If Elymia was indeed William’s biological daughter, it could be inferred that William’s bloodline factor type was ‘ai,’ and Lady Martha’s was also ‘ai.’

As for William’s two wives, they might be ‘aa’, or ‘ai.’

As for Edward and his two sisters, they all had light blond hair, indicating that they all had the bloodline factor ‘A,’ possibly ‘AA,’ and ‘Ai’.

The problem arose. Regardless of whether it was William or his wives, none of them had the bloodline factor ‘A.’ So, where did the light blond hair bloodline factor come from for Edward and his two sisters?

From the perspective of genetic theory, Elymia could possibly be William’s biological daughter. However, Edward, along with his two sisters, Isis and Margaret, could never be the biological children of William and his two wives.

Realizing this, some people turned to look at the silent figure of another member of the Albione family standing on the side.

George Albione, William’s younger brother, a mid-level mage of the fifth level, responsible for handling various family matters. He was intelligent and capable and deeply trusted by William.

At the same time, he had light blond hair.

The entire banquet hall suddenly fell silent, and you could almost hear a pin drop.

After a long time, William looked at his brother and asked with a hoarse voice.

“George?”

The person involved, George, remained silent for a moment before revealing a bitter smile.

“I’m sorry, brother.”

With just one sentence, he had proven everything. In an instant, William swept his gaze across the banquet hall. He saw his two wives, one by Edward’s side and the other standing nearby in confusion.

He saw his son, Edward, whose character needed polishing but had decent magical abilities, capable of inheriting the Albione family business.

He saw his daughter, Isis, biting her lower lip in disbelief.

Margaret was nowhere to be found. The young daughter had recently been getting close to people from other families, and William was planning to have a talk with her.

All of this, everything that belonged to William, was now being told by Reiner that none of it was his.

None of it was his!!!

The only ones who hadn’t betrayed William were Lady Martha and Elymia. Yet, for eighteen years, he had been persecuting this mother-daughter duo. In the end, Lady Martha was tortured to death, and Elymia almost became Edward’s slave.

“Why?”

William questioned, but his voice had lost its original confidence.

“Because I am better than you, brother.”

George said calmly, his voice containing the anger that had been suppressed for many years.

“Clearly, I am obviously better than you, be it in magic or other aspects. However, just because you are the eldest son, everything has to belong to you!”

He spoke, and that calm expression, combined with the intense words, created a vivid contrast.

“Haha, you probably don’t even know. Before you got married, Angie, Catherine and I did everything. Whenever you and your friends got drunk and didn’t return, I was the one comforting my two sisters!”

George spoke word by word, making William’s two wives bow their heads.

“Only Martha, she was the only one who remained loyal to you. But so what? Haha, you killed her with your own hands, letting your only daughter fall to such a state.”

George was so aggressive that William took a step back involuntarily.

“William Albione, you took away what should have been mine. Now, everything that’s happening is your own fault!!!”

This accusation made the entire banquet hall fall into silence. All eyes were focused on William and George.

However, in the next moment, a scream came from an unexpected direction.

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T/N:

[1] Translator’s further explanation. The previous experiments done with the peas and Moon Owl were all examples of “complete dominance”. Basically there are two factors controlling a trait and one factor has higher priority than the other: being more “dominant” than the other, hence one factor being the “dominant” factor and the other being the “recessive” factor. In this scenario however, there are three factors controlling a trait. In this case, ‘A’, ‘a’, and ‘i’. ‘A’ is more dominant than ‘a’, and ‘a’ is more dominant than ‘i’. Light blond hair requires ‘AA’, ‘Aa’, ‘Ai’, bright blond hair requires ‘aa’ or ‘ai’ and in order for red hair to happen, they must be ‘ii’.

Author about to show why this arc is called Elegy of Blood.