Inside lay an old book, its pages faintly yellowed, just as she remembered from her childhood. Time had left gentle marks on it—marks no forger could fake. The sight of it eased the doubt on her chest.

She picked up the codex with care and turned through its brittle pages. Every line confirmed it. This was the book her mother had left behind. Finally, she allowed herself to trust Davin. He was offering her something many people would kill for. That was no act of betrayal. It was loyalty—just as Dobbs had shown her mother.

Placing the book back in its box, Elliana met Davin’s eyes, a new warmth in her own. “Mr. Haynes, what do you know about my mother?”

“What specifically are you asking about?” Davin replied.

“Everything. I want to know it all,” Elliana said firmly.

Davin recalled Maxine’s instructions and paused in thought. “To keep the Medical Codex safe, your mother told me of her origins—and of this book’s history.”

Her mother’s origins? The history of the Medical Codex? A spark of excitement ran through Elliana. These were the answers she had been chasing for so long.

“Please, Mr. Haynes, tell me everything,” she urged.

“Sure.”

And so Davin did. He spoke of the Serpent Society, of how the Medical Codex had been guarded by the Griffiths line for generations. He explained how Rita had been adopted by Maxine, only to flee an arranged marriage and turn her back on the Griffiths family completely.

Since Elliana was Maxine’s chosen heiress, she would learn these truths eventually. Davin saw no point in holding anything back.

Elliana listened, wide-eyed, as long-buried pieces of her life slid into place. Yet even as mysteries unraveled, new questions rose. “Mr. Haynes, you said my mother was adopted by Maxine. Do you know who her real parents are?” she asked softly.

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“Only Maxine knows that,” Davin replied.

“And where did my mother go after leaving Ublento? Did the Serpent Society ever catch her?” Check latest chapters at Find[?]ovel.net

“Your mother was never captured by the Serpent Society,” Davin answered. “As for where she went, no one knows for sure. She left carrying a wish that was never fulfilled. Perhaps that’s the key.”

“What wish?”

“She longed to find a cure for Psychephrenia,” he responded. “She wanted to heal her friend, Sophie.”

Elliana raised an eyebrow. Sophie—Cole’s mother—was actually friends with her mother?

Davin hadn’t known Sophie was Cole’s mother, nor that Sophie and Rita had already contacted each other in Ublento back then.

The fa?ade Davin maintained when speaking of these slightly altered stories based on Maxine’s instructions was flawless, and Elliana found no reason to doubt him.

Following Maxine’s instructions, Davin recounted the story of Rita’s defection from the Griffiths family. Then he concluded, “Besides refusing to marry Miguel, your mother had another important reason for leaving, and that was to search for Sophie and cure her of Psychephrenia.”

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