"Without Eluria, all of this is meaningless." Doran poured himself another glass of wine, a blush creeping up his sickly face.
Luo Luo reminded him, "Your injuries …"
"It's alright. Today is a memorable day. Perhaps I can indulge myself a little. Don't worry, I'm not weak enough to be knocked down by a few glasses of wine." Doran laughed self-deprecatingly.
"What do you mean when you said you promised my mother to protect me?"
"Eluria left two letters before she passed away. One was for Karov, and the other was for you when you were just born. The second letter was stolen by the Temple, but the Church doesn't know that there was actually a third letter." Doran swirled the purple liquid in his goblet.
"This letter is for me. It was secretly mailed by Mother Teresa when she was gathering herbs. No one else in this world knows about it." Doran's eyes lit up at this point. "Many people say that Eluria was mentally unstable in the last six months before she passed away, but that's not the case. She knew very well who to trust in the most critical moments."
"My mother wrote to you before she passed away?" Luo Luo was a little surprised. "Did she tell you the truth about that incident?"
Doran shook his head. "The main purpose of your mother's letter was to ask me to take care of you. She seemed to realize that something bad might happen to her in the future, but she didn't tell me the specific reason. She didn't want me to get involved, and judging from Karov's behavior, Eluria obviously didn't tell him either. This means that the enemy she faced was far more powerful than we can imagine. Heh, but a man of the Bretton Family wouldn't be a man of the Bretton Family if he retreated in the face of difficulties, right?"
This time, Doran did not finish the wine in his goblet, but took a small sip. "Your mother was worried about you and worried that your father would be too impulsive, so she wrote me a letter. She knew that I still loved her and was willing to do anything for her. As long as she was willing to ask, I would even give my life to her without hesitation, let alone a small request like this."
Lolo was silent for a while before she spoke again, "My mother passed away not long after I was born, so I heard everything about her from others. Everyone's memories of her are different, but there is one thing in common. They all said that she was a very kind person."
"If you had met her, you would know that no words could describe her beauty and kindness," Doran said emotionally.
"That's why it's hard for me to imagine that she would use someone else's love to entrust her child to them when she's in danger."
Doran's expression did not change. She sighed, "I wouldn't use the word 'use'. You're too young and childless, so you can't understand the love a mother has for her daughter. Anyone can be selfish for once for their own children. There's nothing wrong with that, and I've never blamed her for it. In fact, I'm glad that I was the first person she thought of at the most critical moment."
"Can I have a look at the letter?"
"I'm sorry, that's a very private thing. Forgive me for not being able to show it to a third person, even if that person is Eluria's daughter." Doran paused. "But I do have something to show you. You came all the way to Gotaris for Grandma Bernice's diary, didn't you?"
Lolo blinked, "Sissy said that the diary had been burned by the Temple. Do you still have a copy of it?"
Doran did not answer immediately. He twirled the goblet in his hand, "All these years, I've used the wealth I've earned to build my own power and train a group of loyal men of sacrifice. I've used them to investigate what happened to the Bretton family years ago. I guess we've both won and lost. I wasn't able to get Mother Bernice's diary, but I managed to find a way to meet her in person."
"You know where Mother Bernice is?" Lolo was overjoyed, "Can you bring me to see her?"
"I'm sorry, but even if you can break through the layers of seals of the Temple, it's impossible not to see her again," Doran said calmly. "When I met her, she was very ill. The Church sent an archbishop to treat her, but she refused. She passed away a week after we met, but before she died, she gave me a list of names."
Doran got up, walked to the bookshelf, and pulled out a novel called "Melancholy Kafka". He tore open the cover, revealing a yellowed page underneath.
Luo Luo took the piece of paper from the man's hand. There were about 20 names written on it. The ink at the top was the lightest and should have been written the earliest, while the ink at the bottom was darker and should have been written more recently. However, she did not know any of the names except for the name of Eluria at the end.
"Who are they?" Lolo asked, puzzled.
"It's them," Doran corrected. "They're all orphans who were adopted by the Sith Abbey in the last 60 years or so. But now, it's hard to find any traces of their existence. I've spent almost ten years visiting the people who lived with them in the abbey, going to the places they've been to, and confirmed the identities of 14 of them. I found some traces of their lives, but there's still 11 of them left. Other than their names, there's nothing left. Their ages, interests, friends, experiences … they've all been erased. If there's only one missing, it might be a coincidence, but for so many of them to disappear at the same time, there's definitely a deeper story behind it."
"What kind of place is the Sith Abbey?"
Lolo had never thought about this question before she saw the list. After Mother Teresa disappeared, Karov had investigated the Sith Abbey, but he did not find anything unusual. It was just a very ordinary nuns' school. Although it had more than 400 years of history, it was not very eye-catching in Stanton. It was neither too big nor too small, and the previous directors were basically old nannies of the abbey. They would take in homeless girls, treat the children of the poor nearby, and send them food and winter clothes. They had a good reputation among the people, but that was all.
In fact, apart from the people living in the city, very few people would notice its existence. Even the residents of the same city would only say, "Oh, that place, it seems to be a monastery." Other than that, it was hard to say anything else that left a deep impression on the place.
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