Chapter 1143

Only those entrusted with the Fuller clan’s most guarded secrets had the right to sit within the ancestral hall—and now, every one of those figures had their eyes fixed on Frederick. Their gazes were like blades, like hungry wolves circling their prey. They knew abruptly deposing him would fracture the line of succession, throwing the family's power structure into chaos. But even that risk seemed preferable to keeping a live wire—a ticking bomb like Frederick—at the heart of their legacy. Yet… Augustine’s jade flute trembled between his fingers as he played, its tune increasingly dissonant and frantic. Each note, once crisp and commanding, now grated through the air like broken glass. The sound wormed into the listeners’ ears like a parasite gnawing at the mind—but Frederick stood still at the center of the hall, utterly unmoved. A cold, amused smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth. His dark eyes, bottomless and unreadable, settled on the sweating elder in front of him like a predat