He had been waiting at her bedside, barely sleeping, nearly losing his sanity each hour she remained unresponsive.
If she hadn’t woken on the sixth day, he would have broken rules, found forbidden healers, and done anything to drag her soul back into her body.
Ivy sensed all of that emotion pouring from him. She felt the panic beneath his calm tone, the desperation in the way he held her tighter.
As she relaxed in his arms, she opened her eyes slowly. Her voice quivered. "What... happened?"
Ember stepped forward, eyes glossy with tears. "We were terrified. You suddenly collapsed. What happened? Why did you lose consciousness?"
Ivy swallowed hard. "I was... in my office. Talking with Bella. About so things. And then..."
The mont those words left her lips, Ember stiffened.
"Bella was the last one to see you?" Ember asked sharply. "We already placed her under house arrest."
Ivy couldn’t help but frown the mont Ember’s trembling words reached her ears.
A faint chill clung to the room, and Ivy felt it settle on her skin like a thin layer of frost.
Before Ember could continue, Ivy drew in a breath and spoke, her voice steady despite the unease curling in her stomach.
"Bella wasn’t the one at fault. The mistake was mine. I... had a vision, and after that, I don’t know why I was unconscious for five days."
Hearing that, Ember’s shoulders slackened.
A hint of pity flashed through her eyes as she stepped closer, her boots scraping softly against the marble floor.
"We never wanted to suspect Bella," Ember murmured, her tone trembling with guilt.
"But she was the only one who stayed by your side the entire ti you were unconscious. That made her the first suspect."
Ivy inhaled sharply, tasting the faint tallic scent of the antiseptic still lingering in the air, and exhaled slowly.
"You don’t need to detain her anymore," she announced.
Her gaze shifted toward Hector, then drifted to Helena and Victor.
They stood stiffly under the dim warm lights, both looking as if they had been holding their breath for hours.
Their worried eyes followed Ivy, and sothing in their expressions made Ivy’s heart twist with dread.
She narrowed her eyes.
"Is there sothing you want to tell ?"
The sudden shift in topic froze Helena and Victor where they stood.
A tremor passed through Helena’s fingers, while Victor’s jaw tightened as if bracing for impact.
They opened their mouths, almost ready to deny everything, but Ivy’s voice cut through the tense silence with chilling clarity.
"Why do our DNA tests show only a five percent parentage match? Even if we had no blood relationship, the similarity shouldn’t be that low. It should at least be more than ten or twenty percent."
The words echoed sharply in the room, and Helena and Victor instantly exchanged a panicked glance. Ivy watched their reaction with a sinking feeling.
Victor swallowed hard and replied slowly,
"Ivy... now isn’t the ti. We cannot tell you the real reason yet. But you must understand that everything Helena and I have done has always been for your good."
Ivy lowered her head. A faint tremble ran across her fingertips as a mory surfaced like a subrged stone breaking the surface of water.
"I had a strange vision," she whispered, her voice distant, as if she were still standing in that dream.
The room seed to grow quieter. Even the air felt thicker.
"In that vision, I was in a completely different world. The sky had two moons. Everything looked more advanced than anything on Earth. It felt like... I was living inside soone else’s life."
Helena and Victor stiffened visibly, panic flickering across their faces like firelight caught on glass.
Ivy’s breath shuddered as she continued, her voice hollow and unfocused.
"What shocked the most was... I saw my own face on a billboard. Or at least sothing like a billboard. It was floating in the air, and my image kept flashing."
Repeating the mory made her skin prickle, as if a cold wind brushed against her neck.
"Even though I don’t rember everything," she whispered, her lashes trembling.
"I know one thing. Whoever the host of that world was... they looked at like I was a joke. Not soone to be cherished."
Her gaze lifted slowly toward Helena and Victor.
Her eyes narrowed with suspicion and fear.
"Are you... so kind of rmaid vampires from another world? And because of that, I sohow dread about your world?"
For a heartbeat, both Helena and Victor stood speechless, their eyes widening in disbelief.
Ember’s mouth fell slightly open, stunned that Ivy would utter such words.
However, Silas’s expression sharpened; instead of disbelief, he studied Helena and Victor with the serious, unwavering gaze of soone who sensed truth hiding beneath chaos.
Even if Ivy’s theory sounded absurd, Silas felt a heavy certainty settle in his chest; sothing was being hidden.
Victor finally exhaled deeply. He exchanged a long, weary glance with Helena before turning toward Ivy again.
"I cannot explain everything," he admitted, voice low and defeated. "But... I can explain the DNA issue for now."
Ivy straightened slightly. Despite her racing pulse, a flicker of hope lit her eyes.
Victor continued, almost reluctantly.
"When you were in Helena’s womb, your chances of survival were almost zero. The doctor begged us to abort. He told us you wouldn’t make it to full term, and even if you were born, you would... die shortly after."
The words hit the room like a hamr.
Faces grimaced, breaths hitched, and Silas’s hand tightened around Ivy’s as if afraid she might vanish.
His heart clenched painfully, and he pulled her hand closer to his chest.
Ivy gently patted his hand, steadying him and herself.
Victor continued, though every word sounded heavier than the last.
"Helena used a serum. A new serum that helped you survive. You grew stronger, stronger than anyone expected."
He rubbed his temples, his voice trembling.
"When Helena was eight months pregnant, she suddenly insisted on a DNA test. The results revealed that our parentage with you was only five percent. No one could explain why. We suspected the serum altered your entire genetic structure."
Ivy looked at them quietly. Helena and Victor watched her with hopeful expressions, almost begging her to accept their truth.
But Ivy’s heart remained painfully still, refusing to let belief settle in.
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