With one day left before the official start of the sester, the university library was already open.
After resting in the dorm for a night, Misha went out to work, while Everly—full of energy—headed straight to the library to search for books related to Alexander the Great.
This Macedonian king, who left a bold and unforgettable mark on history, was far more famous than a little-known Native tribe like the Winton people. There were plenty of books about him on the shelves. Although most of them praised his military conquests and glorious campaigns, after so careful searching, Everly still managed to find a clue in one of them.
It was a book that compiled notable figures from ancient Western history, with a dedicated chapter on Alexander the Great. In that chapter, the author ntioned “Alexander leading an expedition to the Land of Darkness in search of the legendary Fountain of Youth,” listing it as an anecdote in his life story.
Books like this tend to be quite rigorous in their writing. If a claim has a clear source, it is usually cited in a note. Beneath this anecdote, the author had indeed added a reference, stating that the story was based on “Alexander of Macedon in Paradise,” written by Jacob of Serugh.
This book must contain a detailed account of Alexander’s search for the Fountain of Youth!
Everly’s spirits lifted imdiately, and she began searching the library for the book.
Unfortunately, no matter how extensive a university library might be, it couldn’t possibly contain every book in the world. Everly tried every keyword she could think of in the catalog, but still couldn’t find anything that matched.
She then opened Amazon and tried to buy it online. This ti, entering the author’s na did bring up the correct book—but it was only available in Latin. Since the author was a dieval Syrian and the work was quite obscure, there was no English translation at all.
Well, having sothing was better than nothing. At worst, she could just find soone to help translate it…
Everly tried every possible thod and finally had no choice but to place an order. But the online bookstore also felt unreliable—after ordering, the status showed “preparing stock,” with an estimated shipping ti of at least 40 days.
Sigh, this kind of infuriating waiting experience really couldn’t compare to her previous life’s online shopping.
The Alexander the Great lead had stalled, but good news ca from Orff’s side instead.
He arrived at school that afternoon.
After arriving on campus, without needing any prompting from Everly, Orff very proactively sent her a ssage asking whether she and Misha were free that evening. He said he had found so leads regarding his family genealogy.
[You should ntally prepare yourselves though. These events happened a long ti ago, so the investigation was really difficult, and I’m not sure how useful it’ll be…]
He even added a self-protective disclair in the group chat.
[It’s fine. Just show what you’ve found first—whether it’s useful or not, I’ll decide after reading it.]
Everly had just left the library when she saw the ssage and imdiately replied.
The three of them eventually agreed to et at the trendy pizza shop where Misha worked.
Orff hadn’t changed much after the break—still thin, still pale, looking as if he hadn’t seen sunlight in years.
When Everly arrived at the pizza shop, he was already there, sitting at a corner table, staring intently at the television hanging above the counter.
As she passed the counter, she glanced up at the screen. It was airing a fitness program. In the center of the screen, the beautiful host Margaret, wearing a revealing aerobics outfit, was dancing energetically to the music, surrounded by several backup dancers, her slim and flexible body moving freely with the rhythm.
What is he doing, staring so intently… is he that bored?
Everly thought to herself as she turned her head back, already planning to add Orff to her “don’t contact” list for the mont.
But in the next few seconds, she saw that Orff’s gaze had clearly shifted in a completely different direction.
The boy’s gaze remained fixed, still staring without blinking. As he watched, a faint blush even crept onto his pale cheeks. But the object of his focus had clearly shifted to soone else.
—Wait. Hold on. Who was he looking at?!
Everly’s eyes sharpened like a blade as she followed Orff’s line of sight—and there she saw Misha, wearing an apron, holding a tray, moving lightly between tables like a butterfly weaving through flowers.
If she rembered correctly, just now when Orff had been staring at the screen, Misha had also been down at the counter picking up orders…
So this guy—don’t tell her he’s interested in Misha?!
A “romance radar” in her head flickered and lit up with a click.
Now looking at Orff again, Everly found nothing about him pleasing anymore. The more she looked, the worse he seed: too thin, like a weakling—couldn’t even take one punch from her, useless. Bad at talking, dull personality, terrible social skills—trash. His looks were passable at best, sowhat decent, but didn’t fit most Aricans’ taste anyway—just a minor character…
And this kind of guy still dared to covet the smart, beautiful, cheerful, and capable Misha? She really wanted to give him a couple of solid punches!
Orff should count himself lucky that Everly was a reasonable person.
Although in her mind she had already stamped him as a toad trying to eat swan at, she still had strong boundaries and would never interfere excessively in other people’s private lives. Even if, in her eyes, Orff had a thousand flaws, if Misha was willing, she would firmly stand on Misha’s side…
—That is, as long as Orff behaved himself. If he dared to cheat, ss around in a love triangle, or abandon her, he could prepare to say goodbye to his little brother and beco a castrated rooster!
Still… Misha was smart. She had to trust her. A classy girl like Misha would never be fooled by such an unimpressive man…
Right… probably not?
With this complicated mix of thoughts, Everly pulled out a chair, sat down across from Orff with a cold face.
“Hey, Everly… lo—long ti no see…”
Faced with the oppressive low pressure radiating from Everly, within less than ten seconds of eting her, Orff seed to tuck away an invisible tail of his own and shrank into the corner like a little rabbit being stared down by a wOrff, trembling slightly.
“Everly, you’re here! Just a mont, I’m almost off work!”
At the critical mont, the one who broke the stiff atmosphere was Misha, who jogged over carrying drinks.
Everly gave a casual response, resting her chin on her hand as she lazily watched Misha skillfully finish serving the remaining two tables. After collecting her tips, Misha ran back to the staff room. A short while later, she changed out of her uniform and returned with two steaming plates of pizza.
Once Misha sat down, the atmosphere around the table ward up along with her arrival.
After a busy afternoon, all three of them were hungry. They first ate sothing simple to fill their stomachs, and only then did Orff take out a notebook and push it toward Everly.
On the first page of the notebook was a branching diagram resembling drooping vines hanging from inverted tree branches.
The diagram began with Orff’s great-grandfather’s generation. His great-grandfather Dali and great-grandmother Rosa had five children. The third son, Robi, married a woman and had two sons and two daughters. Robi’s eldest son, Ravi, was Orff’s father. Besides Orff’s branch, Dali also had about twenty other great-grandchildren from different descendants.
There were too many people involved. Even though it only covered four generations, the diagram filled two full pages.
Flipping further back, Everly could see that Orff had listed each person in the diagram in order from top to bottom, left to right, providing brief introductions.
Great-grandfather Dali Blade, great-grandmother Rosa Blade, uncle Victor Blade, great-aunt Mary Blade…
Everly scanned through all the information, focusing especially on Orff’s direct line—including his grandparents, maternal grandparents, and even the parents of his maternal grandparents… but no matter how she looked, they all seed like ordinary people, with nothing particularly useful.
“When did that poem get passed down?”
“Not sure. I only know that I, my father, and even my grandfather all learned this poem when we were children. As for my great-grandfather, he passed away early—I never t him.”
Everly nodded. She studied the family tree for a while longer, then asked, “Why does it only go back as far as your great-grandparents? What about before that? Didn’t your great-grandmother ever ntion her parents to you?”
Orff showed a troubled expression.
“This is exactly why I said my family situation is special—my great-grandparents eloped.”
“Huh?”
“In those days, young people didn’t have much freedom in choosing their marriage partners. My great-grandfather ca from a wealthy family—he could be considered a rich young heir. As for my great-grandmother, her family was very poor. When she was a child, because they couldn’t afford enough food, her parents—despite objections—sold her younger sister to a freak show troupe. After that, she cut ties with her family and left on her own, working as a maid in my great-grandfather’s estate…”
“Stop. Hold on a second.”
Everly suddenly felt that this setup sounded oddly familiar. She raised her hand to interrupt Orff and asked first, “What was your great-grandmother’s maiden na?”
“She didn’t talk much about her past, so I need to think… Oh, right, I think it was Barnes?”
Everly froze.
Great-grandmother surnad Barnes, a poor childhood, a younger sister sold to a freak show troupe…
Wait—could Orff’s great-grandmother be the sister of the ti witch Erica Barnes?!
The case of the Golden Anchor Ship had happened less than five months ago. Everly still rembered the ti witch’s journal clearly. After a mont of recollection, she quickly recalled that when Erica was young, she actually had an elder sister who cared deeply for her. She had been raised by that sister, and even after Erica entered puberty and awakened strange powers, her sister never abandoned her.
Unfortunately, when Erica grew a little older, this elder sister was sent away by their parents to work as a maid, and she was unable to protect Erica from their father.
Everly could not rember what na the elder sister was given in the diary, but she felt that Erica’s sister and Orff’s great-grandmother were very likely the sa person.
Because only in that case could Orff’s experience of a ti loop be reasonably explained—he had also inherited the “witch bloodline” across generations.
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