Luca finally understood.
Everything Luna and Lulu had said about their father—calling him a liar, a manipulator, a cheater who deceived people with words—it all made perfect sense now.
At first, he thought the girls were exaggerating, maybe just blinded by resentment toward a neglectful parent.
But now, watching him at work, Luca realized they hadn't been exaggerating at all.
They had been understating it.
Because what Julius was doing now was the work of a master manipulator.
He wasn't attacking head-on.
He was instead sculpting the entire conversation, molding emotions, and guiding the crowd exactly where he wanted them to go, step by step, like a puppeteer pulling invisible strings.
Luca could see it clearly.
If Julius had simply stood up from the beginning and said,
"The hero is a monster who killed thousands."
The elves would have immediately defended him.
They would've reasoned that war always brings bloodshed, that killing enemies is sometimes a grim necessity.
