Chapter 276

Chapter 276

Golden sunlight, filtering obliquely through the branches, scattered on the ground like shimmering coins. In the garden of the Sector Governor's residence, two figures, one tall and one short, stood listlessly by the fountain, skipping stones.

Luo Lin picked up a coin and tossed it into the water. "I think they found out we snuck out."

Frank threw one too. "It was never actually forbidden anyway," he said.

"Was that really your mother?" Luo Lin asked. "How could she show up here?"

Frank had no answer, for he, too, wanted to know.

He had believed his mother was dead, but then the Medici family informed him that Zuo Li was alive and that if he wished to see her, he must return and work for the family. When Frank angrily rushed back, Lorca then told him that Zuo Li had appeared in the Cygnus system in deep space.

Though they hadn't seen each other for years, with just one glance, Frank recognized the woman who had mercilessly taken lives amidst the flames last night as his mother.

Even her appearance was almost unchanged from his memory—young, beautiful, with gentle gray eyes, save for a blood-red scar on her neck.

He lowered his head, dispirited. "...I feel like I never truly understood my mother."

"Don't be too down. At least she's alive," Luo Lin comforted him. "As long as she's alive, there's a chance for reunion. There's still a long road ahead; don't dwell too much on the past."

Frank knew her family had their own extreme circumstances. Though still feeling low, he murmured "mm" in response, masking the confusion on his face, and quietly continued skipping stones.

A slender figure descended gracefully from the steps. Zuo Tan, now clad in the Medici family's silver-white uniform, waved at them from a distance, relaying a message from indoors.

Lorca was preoccupied with departing the Cygnus system. The aftermath of the legion's internal conflict, including Murphy's unexpected possession incident and subsequent serious illness, had yet to be fully addressed. Hoping to uncover more clues, Luo Lin and Frank voluntarily remained in the Cygnus system to assist with the cleanup. Once matters were settled, Legion Commander Luo Yuan of the Third Legion inquired if they wished to travel back with her, as interstellar travel in and around the Cygnus system had been suspended due to the Insectoid threat. Thus, they followed Luo Yuan back to the Governor's residence.

The Governor, also a Medici, had met Frank once before, so after brief greetings, they settled in.

They had arrived as two, but now they were returning with an additional person—Zuo Tan. Frank wasn't the only one preoccupied with Zuo Li; this former Fourth Miss Zuo was also deeply concerned about her elder sister's current situation.

Moreover, having now awakened her Spiritual State, she yearned to return to the capital planet to find Eve and see if she could assist her benefactor in any way.

After days of extensive interviews, Viceroy Medici finally pieced together what had transpired in the Cygnus system, not far from her jurisdiction. She raked her hair in disbelief, utterly baffled that her neighboring system could cause such chaos while she was merely asleep.

"No, no, how did no one tell me about this?" Viceroy Medici exclaimed, utterly exasperated. "And you, Luo Yuan, who gave you permission to deploy the legion without my approval? Do you even remember you're still under supervision for your last Spiritual State loss-of-control incident?"

Luo Yuan replied, "You can extend the penalty duration."

Viceroy Medici snapped. "Bullshit! Extend it so you can keep pretending to comply while doing as you please, is that it? With that attitude, even a life sentence wouldn't mean anything, you self-righteous, self-willed, self-absorbed bastard!"

Luo Yuan: "..."

She opened and closed her mouth, but being naturally inarticulate, she couldn't formulate a retort. She could only maintain her aloof expression, arms crossed as she leaned against the wall, letting the scolding go in one ear and out the other.

The sight of Luo Yuan infuriated Viceroy Medici, who waved her off impatiently. Left alone, she paced around the room, fuming, while mulling over what Lorca had said to her days earlier.

Others might not know, but she was well aware that although Lorca was nominally Eve's widower, his actual status was tightly bound to Eve. With Eve missing, how long would that heartless bastard Sparti even remember them? Once new heir candidates emerged, these two would be cast aside without a second thought.

But what if Eve wasn't dead?

Viceroy Medici's expression shifted uncertainly. Her gaze dropped, finally settling on a contract on the desk—another item Lorca had brought over days ago. It was a gem import-export agreement for the Cygnus system, offering massive concessions, signed by that old fox of the Garcia family.

With such an invaluable commercial contract at hand, Viceroy Medici's resolve was already wavering. But choosing sides was no trivial matter. If only Eve were still alive—then she would bet everything on her without hesitation.

...How much of what Lorca said could be trusted? It had been so long; why hadn't any news come from the capital planet?

With a deep sigh, Viceroy Medici's expression hardened. She decided to take a gamble.

She would bet that the cunning fox of a girl had a backup plan, that Lorca wouldn't use Eve's name to deceive, and that her own luck and judgment hadn't deteriorated that much.

If she could gamble and win with a Luo Yuan before, she could now gamble on an Eve Medici.

Without further hesitation, Viceroy Medici summoned her subordinates, mobilizing the maximum force she could deploy without alerting others. She prepared to have them disguised as Medici family retainers and sent back to the capital planet with Luo Lin and Frank.

—This was what troubled her most, because what Lorca had asked to borrow was no ordinary thing but... troops.

And it had to be kept secret from the Medici Patriarch.

The thought of that damned, unscrupulous old fox Sparti made Viceroy Medici shiver involuntarily. Yet, she also felt a thrill—hey, this was actually kind of exciting.

It was all or nothing: either the house wins everything, or the loser eats dust.

-

Eve didn't care about her biological father; whether he was alive or dead was none of her concern. She was only curious about why Lorca had taken her birth father away.

Could it be that he had noticed something unusual about her and was starting his investigation with her family background?

If Lorca really thought that way, then he had miscalculated badly. Not only had Eve left her original family at sixteen, but even if questioned, nothing would come of it. She wasn't close to her father's family either; her first sixteen years felt more like being a boarder than family.

After returning from the divine realm, perhaps due to some additional service from Cionanado, much of her memories from her previous life had resurfaced. The neglect and deliberate indifference she had experienced now surfaced in her mind. She shook her head, feeling agitated—why return such utterly annoying garbage memories to her?

A gentle breeze drifted slowly through the corridor under a clear, mirror-like sky. Eve sat on the railing, one leg propped up, leaning against a marble pillar, wholly absorbed... in her terminal.

Her fingers flew across the light screen. Her silver hair, left untied, framed her face as she looked down. Her pale pink lips pursed in slight dissatisfaction, softening her usual sharpness. Focused on her chat, Eve finally looked somewhat like others her age.

To anyone passing by, the girl resting in the breeze might seem innocent and harmless, perhaps engrossed in the mundane worries typical of her years—whether chatting with a young lover or a close friend.

"Eve: You're back on the capital planet?"

"Eve: Want to meet up so I can return Isis to you?"

"Lorca: No need. It's fine with you."

...Like hell it is. Did he really take her for a fool? Eve distinctly remembered that this mech was part of a pair with Lorca's own, one of the engagement gifts from the Oliver Family.

She had questioned the Medici Patriarch. That cold utilitarian, he had purely thought the Oliver Family still held value to ally with, hence agreeing to the marriage alliance. He told Eve that if she was unhappy with the engagement, she could break it off herself—he was quite satisfied with Lorca and the benefits he brought and would never go back on his word.

Even so, Eve also remembered this wasn't the first time Lorca had been dumped. First by Luo Lin, now by her—even if the Oliver Family was exceptionally tolerant, they couldn't endure such repeated humiliation.

Eve wasn't the type to be considerate of others; she just didn't particularly want to hurt Lorca.

But she also couldn't quite imagine marriage or things like family—the very idea sounded utterly terrifying.

Sharing interests by day, exchanging breaths by night, sharing joys and sorrows, sailing the same boat, bound by loyal love and entangled bloodlines.

For an efficiency-obsessed planner, such a lifelong commitment was truly horrifying.

Agitated, she felt like finely mincing Sparti into filling over and over. She had meant to ask Lorca why he took her birth father, but what ended up in the chat was something else entirely—something she couldn't bear to reread.

"Eve: Are you going to the New Year's Glory Ball?"

"Lorca: If you're going, I'm going."

Eve: "..."

Are we kindergarten kids? Do we need to hold hands to use the bathroom too?

"Eve: I'm going with the family head. I'll be there as his heir."

"Lorca: Is he your date?"

"Lorca: It's rare for young women on the capital planet to choose their fathers or brothers as dance dates."

"Eve: Seriously?"

"Eve: I don’t want to dance with an old man."

"Lorca: The Duke isn’t that old, though..."

"Miss Eve."

A long shadow fell over Eve’s head. She looked up and saw the First Steward, cloaked in silver-gray, standing beside her, looking down at her.

She didn’t even bother to stand up, maintaining her posture as she let out a light laugh. "Good day, First Steward. Are you the real deal or a stand-in today?"

The First Steward didn’t rise to the bait. Behind the mask, a pair of gray eyes coldly assessed her, as if evaluating the danger posed by this new heir.

"I heard you were recently returned by the Alchemists’ Guild," she said, her tone full of suspicion. "So, were you really staying with the Guild all this time?"

Some lies were only meant for the Medici Patriarch’s ears. The First Steward was also an alchemist—a Four-Star Senior Alchemist, no less—and she knew full well that Eve had gone to the divine realm during the league competition.

The newly appeared Senior Alchemist on the capital planet lined up perfectly with the timing of Eve’s disappearance. Apart from the disbelief that Eve could bounce back so quickly despite her injuries, every detail about the alchemist "Lu Zhan" pointed directly to the girl before her.

The First Steward’s eyes darkened, and Eve wiped the careless smile off her face, saying calmly, "Do you suspect me, Steward?"

"Yes. While I was out on business, I met a young person who looked very much like you."

"Then you can report this to the Patriarch and let him decide. I believe he will give you a fair and proper outcome," Eve said, her eyes curving into a smile, looking utterly fearless. "...If you aren’t afraid of violating the Alchemist Convention and exposing the secrets of the divine realm, you are free to do so."

The most important clause of the Alchemist Convention forbade revealing the existence of the divine realm and that being. This group was extremely secretive and closed-off. Even if Zuo Li could use her status as an alchemist to access information unknown to others, what could she really do?

Her strength was also her limitation. Eve’s words were essentially an admission of her identity, but if the First Steward were to report her, the Medici Patriarch would undoubtedly question the source of these deductions. Bound by the prohibition against revealing the divine realm’s existence, she would be unable to prove that Eve had been stirring up trouble elsewhere under the identity of "Lu Zhan" during her disappearance.

"I have no intention of targeting you, and there’s no need for such hostility toward me," the First Steward fell silent for a moment. After leaving Qin Mengde’s side, she had returned to this reserved role, whispering, "If you need, I can also cooperate with you and fill you in on all the plans regarding the Fourth Princess. You are the family’s sole heir and the one I serve."

A gentle mother, a silent Steward, a bold advisor—each role could be her. Beneath layers of disguises that blurred her true face, it was impossible to discern her true desires.

Eve neither affirmed nor denied her words, nor did she trust her: "That won’t be necessary. Just speak less, do less, and interfere with me less. That is enough."

The First Steward remained silent and was about to walk away quietly when Eve called out to her again: "Wait, Steward. Now that I think of it, there’s something I want to ask you—do you still plan to reunite with Frank?"

"To be honest, I don’t think the Medici family is a good place to live," Eve began fiddling with her device again, her fingers tapping rapidly on the screen as if her words to the First Steward were just casual remarks. "If you don’t plan to acknowledge him, there’s no need to force him to stay here. He doesn’t like this place either."

"You seem quite concerned about Frank," the First Steward remarked.

"Do I?" Eve pursed her lips. "Just asking as a friend. It’s pitiful to see him acting out the 'tadpole looking for its mother' drama every day."

The woman hidden behind the silver-gray robe and mask went quiet again, her gray eyes fixed blankly mid-air as if the question was difficult to answer. Just as Eve was about to give up on a response and let her go, she uttered a barely audible murmur.

First Steward: "I don’t know."

Eve: "..."

She felt she must have been out of her mind to take the initiative to care about someone else’s family affairs.

"Forget it, you’re dismissed."

She waved her hand and picked up her device again, frowning deeply as if someone had sent her something totally baffling. The First Steward had no choice but to leave silently.

While speaking with the First Steward, Eve had repeatedly checked her device, so much so that the Steward thought there was something urgent requiring immediate attention.

But in reality, from start to finish, there were only a few tentative messages on the screen.

"Lorca: If you think the Medici Patriarch is too old, would you mind choosing me as your date?"

"Lorca: It’s fine if you choose someone else."

"Lorca: It’s just that, as your fiancé, I’d be a little sad."

In broad daylight, Eve shuddered.

How could someone be this calculating? Her expression was complicated as she pressed her hand to the screen. At first, she wanted to reply, "It’s not like I have other options," but she feared Lorca would become smug and even more insufferable, so she deleted the line. Then she considered replying with a simple "Okay," but that felt too cold. After editing and re-editing the message, she finally settled on an exceedingly restrained—

"Eve: Alright, then."