As they kept talking, Adele looked at the faces of each single person deeply. She was currently using the knowledge she gained from her witchcraft inheritance. It included a physiognomy inheritance.
Although it wouldn't tell her directly what would happen, it was a very vague way of looking into destiny, combined with her Holle bloodline and some exhaustion of her soul, she was at least able to get a hint towards whether there was something deeper she should investigate.
This was better than using the ritual on every person. As they talked, hours passed and Isabel left the room at one point to send the guests away. She also asked Adele whether she'd want to follow, but Adele said she'd rather stay.
In the end, when it has already become dark, they decided to adjourn their talk to the next day. That time, they would directly come to the office in the Holle family instead of attending a small banquet before. It was better to be sure than sorry, and since it wasn't something that would be kept a secret from them, having fate as an overseer was indeed the best option.
Normally, holding the talks in either the imperial family or the two grand duchies would be enough, but considering that the Holle family was ready to possibly sacrifice an eight-circle prophet, they gave their respects.
As they all left one by one, Adele looked at the prince and said "Your highness, why don't you stay a bit longer? It would be very kind of you!"
The prince looked at Adele and nodded slightly.
Of course, everyone that left also left a gift for Adele, but she didn't pay that any mind. There was no current material gift that could satisfy her greatly, any that might were too high of a grade anyways, so she was fine with anything she got.
Friedrich and Isabel were also curious, while Ludwig was sent out. The thing with fate was that the more people knew of it, the more it would cost the prophet. The presence of other prophets were still fine, and if they decided to spread it, the cost would fall upon them, but even if Ludwig was married to the Holle, he wasn't of Holle bloodline and would thereby never be allowed to be present in a prophecy.
In fact, the little bit about prophecy Adele learned wouldn't normally be enough for her to do anything, but all high-ranking bloodlines also had bloodline inheritances that would awaken when they reach a certain age.
Adele's bloodline awakened when she was only one, she only told those in the family when she was five, and even that was an age that was seemingly very early. Regardless, no one told her for the specifics. Other bloodlines operated differently, but a prophecy bloodline inheritance also involved a lot of fate. Not to mention whether you'd be able to learn from the prophecy, just the inheritor himself would pay a great price to teach it to others.
The inheritance Adele only had extremely high-ranking spells, none of which she was able to cast just yet. She could only barely cast her ritual because rituals are in a sense 'large quantity brings qualitative change', while high spells require a lot of more soul strength and spiritual power.
Adele looked at the prince. He was the seventh prince called Karl the 'Giant Sword'. From the Trugbild records, which the Holle family was able to partially access, Adele learned that this man was able to create a huge sword with the help of the chants of others.
She was curious about how this worked, but didn't look at it anymore and stretched out he hand as she said "I need a curl of your hair and a drop of your blood."
Giving away your hair was one thing… but a drop of blood is normally extremely rare. In war, blood can be earned anyways, but the 'volunteer' giving of blood is a different matter – like a door you either open with a crooked key, or a door with a key gifted by the owner. Although the first might also work, it is still unlikely and doesn't work as well as the other.
Karl looked Friedrich behind Adele, when he saw that he said nothing, he finally agreed. After all, the reputation of the Holle family was truly great and they were the only prophetic family of their strength in the whole northern empire. It's not only the Kran Empire that seeks their prophecies, they are approached by everyone, even enemies!
He plucked a curl of his hair and pointed his finger towards Adele. Without any movement, an extremely small cut seemed to have formed on his finger and a little red-gold drop of blood formed out. The moment it left the finger, the wound instantly closed up.
The blood and curl flew towards Adele, landing in her hand.
She then closed her eyes and activated the ritual in her room. The eyes all casted spells individually, but as the spells aligned more and more, they seemed to create a circle, a ritual.
Ghastly power was flowing in the circle and the smell of an old ruin left it. When all spells were cast, a crack appeared above the centre of the circle. It extended a bit as an ethereal power escaped it. It was a small drop of water.
The drop extended and took on the form of a mirror in the centre of the eyes. When it formed, light escaped it. It was absorbed by the many eyes, and one eye after another diminished until it cracked and dissipated. When only a single eye was left, the old air that was kept before was attracted by the mirror and fled into it.
The mirror stabilised now and the last eye looked at it deeply.
…
On the other side, when Adele cast the spell, the curl started burning. The drop of blood that was below it burned with it, until finally, the curl was fully burned. It took much longer than usual, but when the curl burned and the drop of blood was gone too, Adele's closed eyes seemed to shine.
A purple light left her eyes and seemed to look into the depths, even her closed eyes didn't stop this illusion. She had to close her eyes because if she was to perceive too many things at one, the cost would be higher.