Rob took out a bottle of healing potion from his backpack and poured it into the old woman's mouth.
After a while, the potion took effect. The old woman opened her eyes, but there was nothing in her empty eye sockets. Her eyeballs had somehow disappeared.
"Mother Teresa?" The future Supreme Magister Your Honor asked.
The old woman nodded when she heard the voice. She looked a little puzzled. "… You are?"
Lolo had been waiting for this moment for too long. But when she stood in front of the old woman, she did not feel the slightest joy in her heart. Perhaps it was because the scene in front of her was too different from what she had imagined. She could not even feel the joy of revenge.
Mother Teresa looked old and weak, as if she could die at any moment.
She was like a tattered rag doll. There was not a single part of her body that was intact. She relied on the Divine Sigil beneath her to support her life.
Lolo could not understand why the old woman had become like this.
Back then, she had taken advantage of Eluria's trust to kill the latter. Then, she had quietly left under the protection of the Temple, evading the pursuers sent by the Scarlet Sword. Soon, she had disappeared from the Northern Region, and no one knew her whereabouts for more than a decade.
She was like the most outstanding magician, toying with everyone in the palm of her hand.
Lolo never thought that the old woman would be in such a miserable state when they met again.
The girl stood in the same place and did not speak for a long time.
However, Mother Teresa seemed to sense something. She turned her head in the direction of the girl and asked hesitantly, "Is there … anyone else there?"
Lolo was silent for a moment. "You don't know me. I'm here to ask you a few things."
The old woman shook her head. "I'm very old. There are many things that I can't remember."
"No, you must remember this." The girl took a deep breath. "Eluria, does this name sound familiar to you?"
"Of course. She was one of my students, my favorite student. Although we are not related by blood, she is like a daughter to me. I know that as a nun of the monastery, I should try to treat every child equally. But believe me, if you had met her, you would have fallen in love with her." A strange look appeared on Mother Teresa's face when she talked about Eluria, which actually brought a touch of vitality to her withered face. "Sincerity, kindness, purity … She seems to be the embodiment of all that is good in the world. Every time I see her, I sincerely praise the gods."
Although Luo Luo had never met Eluria, she had heard the descriptions of her mother from many people. Her father, the guards, the knights, the farmers in the territory... Everyone had a different version of Eluria, but without exception, all of them loved the innocent and kind little girl from the bottom of their hearts.
She was very gentle to everyone around her. She couldn't even bear to hurt a blade of grass. Who would have thought that there would be people who would extend their evil hands to her?
Tears fell from the corners of her eyes. Lolo looked at the old woman and finally asked the question that had been lingering in her heart for more than a decade. "Why?"
Mother Teresa did not answer.
Luo Luo pressed her right hand on the Elven sword named Fiasis and took another step forward. "Tell me, why did you want to kill her!"
"I did not." The old woman shook her head.
"Impossible! Only you were by Eluria's side before she passed away, and only you had the chance to kill her. If it wasn't for you, why did you run away the day before the funeral? Why didn't you meet the Scarlet Sword and explain everything? "
"I didn't run away. I was taken away." Mother Teresa sighed. "Those people didn't want me to meet Karov, worried that I would tell him what I knew. But you're right, in a sense, I did kill Eluria. That child had always trusted me, but I betrayed her trust and failed to protect her. Even now, I don't know how they did it. During that period of time, I stayed by her bedside, drank the same water and ate the same food as her, tasted every food that was sent to her, and kept an eye on everyone who tried to get close to her. I thought that way, those people wouldn't find a chance to kill her."
"No, I don't believe you. You must be afraid that someone would avenge her!" Lolo's heart was in a mess.
The old woman smiled. "Child, do I look like someone who fears death now?"
Indeed, rather than saying that the Divine Sigil beneath her was sustaining her life, it was more accurate to say that it was maintaining her punishment. Not only did she lose her eyes, but she also lost half of her hip bone and more than half of her toes. Other than that, the four iron nails were still firmly embedded in her limbs. Death was more like a release for her.
The future Supreme Magister Your Honor, who had been listening quietly from the side, spoke up. "What she said should be true. Constantine mentioned that she came here more than ten years ago. Looking at the time, she should have been captured and locked up here right after Eluria's death. This also explains why Karov hasn't been able to find her in the past ten years."
Before pushing open the iron door, Lolo had been so focused on avenging Eluria that she had overlooked many things. It was only after she heard Rob's words that she realized that she had been locked up here for more than ten years. In other words, she had been enduring unimaginable torture for the past ten years.
"Don't feel sorry for me, child. This is what I deserve. When I rejected those people, I knew that this day would come." The old woman's expression was calm.
"Who are 'those people'? Why did they want to kill Eluria? Why would they do such a thing to you? "
Teresa did not answer the girl's question. Instead, she asked, "Child, do you know what the name Hartfilia means?"
Lolo was stunned. "You know who I am?"
"Yes, Eluria is my daughter. How could I not recognize her child?" The old woman's pale and bony face revealed a trace of benevolence. "I was the one who gave you this name. Back then, when Eluria and I were discussing the child in her womb, your mother said that she hoped that you would live an ordinary life without worries. In ancient Vetelo, Hartfilia means to have no worries."
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