Five hundred years ago, there was a woman named Margaret Dantes in the Holy City of the Empire.

This unknown lady was born into a local wealthy merchant family in the Holy City and married a nobleman of illustrious background due to her beauty and affluent family.

The identity of this nobleman is quite vague in the records of the Dantes family; the family lineage only records that this nobleman was named Fernando, with an unknown surname, and his life is simply noted with a single line — he went missing on a route to Beitiao Port, whereabouts unknown.

This matter is also recorded in the archives of the Imperial Port Authority, registered by his direct relatives.

As for whether the Port Authority five hundred years ago verified it, it obviously didn't.

Even today, the Imperial Port Authority doesn't have the business of retrieving corpses deep in the Vast Ocean, and handling missing persons procedures is usually just for disposing of property; the relatives only need to publish a notice in the newspaper and wait for a certain period to complete notarization.

In fact, smart people can already see the problem here, the two utterly contradictory concepts of "illustrious background" and "vague account" cannot possibly appear together in a single family tree.

It is clear that Margaret was not formally married to this Imperial nobleman, otherwise, her children wouldn't bear her surname.

As for "Fernando," it is most likely an alias.

But that doesn't matter.

Just as Margaret is insignificant in the Empire's history, Fernando's story isn't worthy of a dedicated note in the historical records.

However, Margaret and "Fernando's" child was quite promising, becoming a Baron through his efforts and opportunities during the age of great navigation, named "Robert Dantes."

Although the title of Baron isn't high, it is part of the ruling class. And embellishing history is something almost every ruling class engages in, and this spirited Baron was no exception... he certainly couldn't let his descendants think he popped out of nowhere.

Therefore, the first thing Mr. Robert did after obtaining his title was to fashion himself a trendy, allegedly long-standing family tree.

The name Fernando was likely one he chose for his father, and the story of a maritime disaster might even be a malicious curse.

As for the blank surname, it was of course intentional, as he couldn't blatantly mooch off those famous prominent families?

As for mooching off smaller families, that would be meaningless... and may easily spark disputes over inheritance rights.

In any case, the blanks in the family tree were an inheritance he left for his descendants — in case the Dantes family prospered in the future, they could take this family tree and fill in the gaps!

Flourishing families never worry about allies and could use it to create claims for titles when necessary.

This is almost always the loophole left in the family tree by every Imperial noble — corresponding to the unfulfilled ambitions of the family tree's compiler at the time.

It's just unfortunate that Robert Dantes evidently didn't account for the fact that he was the pinnacle of the Dantes family.

His family didn't flourish, and generation after generation subsisted on the legacy.

By the time it reached the current generation, Edmond Dantes, five hundred years later, they had even lost the Baron's title, fallen to having nothing but an empty honorary "Sir" and a farm named Dantes Manor.

Due to the expensive manpower near the Holy City, this "Sir" occasionally has to personally work the fields, feed the cows, and milk them.

In his leisure time, he roams various taverns in the guise of "Lord Dantes," ordering a pint of ale that's not expensive, and boasts about the Dantes family's grandeur with the citizens, reminiscing over the twilight of the old days amidst the crowd's flattery.

The citizens didn't lose out because often, when Sir Dantes drank too much, he would buy them a drink too.

And the "Sir's" favorite story to tell is the legend of "Fernando." As for this ancestor's identity, it changes according to his mood.

Sometimes a Baron, sometimes an Earl... but more often a "Prince" of noble status but a vague fief.

He often boasted about how the ancestor Fernando was trusted by the Emperor back then and had vast lands and wealth overseas.

As for why the Dantes family has declined to this point, he dismisses it with a vague "maritime disaster."

Since he made it all sound vivid, he himself somewhat believed it.

Moreover... he didn't entirely lie, as the story was crafted by his ancestor five hundred years ago; he merely added some imagination during the process of filling in the blanks.

It turns out that as long as the boasting is loud enough, there's never a shortage of people keen to curry favor.

Just like the fortunate cheap father of the Dantes family ancestor, "Prince Fernando Colin," Edmond also encountered his springtime on a night when he got drunk — a naive yet ambitious young lady took a fancy to his gleaming noble title.

This Miss Anna, much like his family tree's great-great-great... grandmother Margaret, fell swiftly in love with him harboring dreams of marrying into a prominent family, and bore him a son.

By the time this lady realized "the notorious" Sir Dantes was nothing but an empty display, it was after she became pregnant with a second child.

She didn't have time to protest before a third little life cried into the world.

At this point, even if she regretted it, it was too late.

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