Chapter 72: It’s Not Over [Golden Tickets Bonus - ]

Chapter 72: It’s Not Over [Golden Tickets Bonus Chapter]

Although the instructors looked confused, they still withdrew, leaving only Victor, Leah, Cecilia, and Albert. Only then did Victor continue.

"She was an artificially created Astral vessel. Her body wasn’t that of a normal human, and her soul was incomplete too."

Leah said nothing. She simply stared at him.

"But..." Victor paused. "She had Elena’s memories."

The girl’s eyelashes visibly trembled. "How much?"

"I don’t know."

"Did she remember me?"

"Yes."

"Did she know I was..." For the first time, her voice visibly trembled. "Did she know I was her daughter?"

"Yes."

Leah’s eyes instantly reddened, but she didn’t cry. Instead, she forced herself to ask, "Then what did she say at the end?"

There it was. Elena had told him not to tell Leah that she suffered at the end, and then to lie to her. Victor had never believed that every truth necessarily had value.

"She asked if you’d gotten taller."

Leah pressed her lips together, and the next second, her tears finally fell.

"What else?"

"She asked me to give you this."

Victor took out Zero’s silver tag, but he didn’t immediately hand it over. Instead, he reached into his clothes, took out the small star shaped pendant Leah had given him, and placed it in her hand.

"She recognized it."

Leah lowered her head and stared at the pendant as tears fell one by one onto its silver surface.

Victor hadn’t planned to say anything else, but after thinking about it, he still spoke. "She also told me something."

Leah looked up.

"You were afraid of thunder when you were little. Every time there was a storm, you’d secretly run into her room, and you’d insist you just couldn’t sleep."

Silence followed for more than ten full seconds before Leah suddenly covered her mouth with her hand, unable to hold it back anymore, because that was something she had never told anyone. Not even the other members of the Vane family knew. It was a memory that had existed only between her and her mother.

So perhaps the woman inside truly hadn’t been her mother, but at the very least, before she disappeared, some part that belonged to Elena had truly remembered her.

Victor didn’t say anything comforting. He simply stood beside her until the girl voluntarily took a step forward and gently rested her forehead against his chest. She didn’t ask permission, nor did she care that Cecilia and Albert were still standing nearby. She simply stayed there.

Victor lowered his head and looked at her, but in the end, he didn’t push her away.

A few seconds later, the System quietly displayed a notification.

[Leah Vane’s Favorability has increased.]

Victor glanced at it, then immediately closed it. At a time like this, the number wasn’t important.

Cecilia stood nearby, her originally solemn gaze lingering on the two of them for a moment before she said nothing and naturally looked away.

Albert, on the other hand, turned his head away noticeably faster than she did. The old man clearly knew when he was supposed to pretend he hadn’t seen anything.

After quite a while, Leah finally stepped back half a step. Her eyes were already somewhat swollen and red.

"She really wasn’t in much pain?"

Victor’s expression didn’t change at all. "No."

"Really?"

"She was very peaceful at the end."

Strictly speaking, those final few seconds really had been peaceful, so it wasn’t entirely a lie.

Leah finally nodded. "Thank you." ℯℯ𝑙.

She put the pendant back around her neck, then took a deep breath. "I want to become stronger."

Her voice wasn’t loud, but it was more determined than it had ever been before.

"And then I’ll find the people who created her."

Victor looked at her. That was more like it. Grief was fine, but she couldn’t remain trapped in it forever.

"Don’t start thinking about revenge yet."

Leah frowned slightly. "Why?"

"Because you still have your screening the day after tomorrow."

"..."

The girl clearly hadn’t expected him to suddenly bring that up at a time like this, but Victor’s tone remained perfectly normal.

"Just because this happened early doesn’t mean the screening will definitely be canceled, and even if it is canceled, your combat training won’t stop. If you want to find the people behind this, first make sure that next time, someone can’t control your Astral Core from several hundred meters away."

Leah was silent for two seconds, then actually nodded. "Okay."

At that moment, Cecilia finally spoke. "About the screening."

Everyone looked toward her. The identity card in the princess’s hand was glowing.

"The academy board just issued a new temporary notice."

Albert frowned. "That fast?"

"A serious incident occurred at the Seventh Trial Ground, so the original screening location can no longer be used."

That wasn’t surprising. What truly changed everyone’s expressions was what Cecilia said next.

"But the screening hasn’t been canceled. They only changed the location."

Victor’s eyes narrowed slightly. "Where?"

Cecilia raised her identity card. There was only a single line of red text on it, freshly approved by the board.

[New Location for Freshman Practical Screening: Third Enclosed Ecological Zone.]

Leah didn’t know what it meant, and Victor was hearing the name for the first time as well, but Albert’s expression darkened instantly.

"Who approved this?"

"An emergency vote by the board," Cecilia continued reading. "Nine votes in favor. Two against. One abstention."

"What’s wrong with the Third Enclosed Ecological Zone?" Victor asked, noticing the seriousness in Albert’s tone.

The vice dean slowly raised his head. "It was once used by the academy for high risk magical beast ecological research. It’s been sealed for four years."

"Why?"

"Because four years ago..." Albert’s voice gradually sank as he glanced at Leah. "The last person responsible for the primary research conducted there was Elena Vane."

Victor stared at the newly approved screening relocation notice, and there was no smile on his face. Someone had just lost the Seventh Trial Ground, yet less than half an hour later, a new location had appeared, and of all places, it was once again connected to Elena.

This wasn’t a retreat, nor was it the failure of their plan. The other side was simply telling them one thing.

The Seventh Trial Ground was ruined?

It didn’t matter.

The chessboard could always be changed.