"If you are watching this, then that ans... I am in a situation where I can no longer work alone, and Slater or the twins managed to find this recording and the files I left in my ho."
Lola, Allen, Hugo, Atlas, and Slater gathered in the room, their eyes fixed on a recording of none other than Yuri. Based on the video, it was taken in her ho in town. She was looking directly at the cara, her expression stern—not the usual tired look she carried.
"This is so weird," Slater whispered, his eyes on the huge monitor as they watched one of the files he had recovered. "Feels like she’s staring directly at ."
"So, that’s... her," Lola also whispered, unable to brush off the strange feeling now that she was looking at Yuri’s video. "How did she know Slater would find these, though?"
"When you’re investigating sothing, one tends to rember every small and big detail—mannerisms, behavior before the incident, and the like," Hugo muttered, aware of how Slater had found the file. "Knowing Yuri, she most likely did that on purpose. She’s that smart... and I’m glad she’s not a bad person."
Everyone glanced in Hugo’s direction, quietly agreeing with him before shifting their eyes back to the clip.
"I’ve recorded this video just in case. Although deep in my heart, I wished none of you would see this. But if it ca to this, then... Atlas," Yuri paused, her eyes still looking directly at the cara like she knew where Atlas was. "I’m sorry."
"I know I should’ve told you about this, as we agreed when you let into the Order." She humd softly. "Allen, I apologize too."
Yuri lowered her head to express her sincerity before lifting it once more, looking straight into the cara.
"That being said, I’ll explain how I most likely ended up in a critical situation. To be honest, I have a lot of things to say, but for you to understand everything, I’ll start from the beginning."
Everyone adjusted in their seats, so leaning back, others leaning forward, ears open, not planning to miss a single word.
Yuri, in the recording, leaned her arms over the study desk. Then she began explaining how she ended up in a situation where she found herself recording this video before her entire disappearance.
"It all started... with the twins," Yuri began, her lips pressed into a thin line. "Or perhaps, it stretches back to Nina and Penny."
Everyone knitted their brows, listening more intently to understand what had been going on in Yuri’s brilliant mind in the months leading up to this.
According to Yuri, after joining the Order, she found out more about the Order, Penny, and Zoren’s connection, and then about Nina’s mother. Although that was resolved and everyone was happy, there was sothing that bothered her.
Initially, she didn’t think much of it, but over ti, it kept playing in her mind. Even when she solved cases, the thought lingered at the back of her head.
"I thought I was just overthinking or perhaps upset that I didn’t beco part of uncovering a big mystery... until the twins ca over one ti, crying," Yuri let out a shallow breath. "They were wondering about their mother."
Prior to the twins deciding to leave the Order to search for their mother, they had been gloomy. Their longing for their mother increased every day, and no gas could erase that feeling.
Hearing that, Lola’s chest clenched. It wasn’t like she didn’t know her children wanted a mother, but still, hearing it from Yuri weighed heavily on her heart.
"So, I told them... I’d help them," Yuri confessed. "So long as they asked for their father’s permission, I would help them find their mother."
And so, she did.
Lola was not hard to locate, to be honest. With the Order’s resources, she was easily found. It was just that, at that ti, Atlas didn’t want to waste his resources on soone who had left their children in his care.
Yuri understood Atlas’s logic and the reason he didn’t search for Lola.
For him, Lola didn’t want their children, and if he searched for her, it would be like setting his children up for heartbreak. Atlas adored his children more than he would ever say, and if Lola broke their hearts, his heart would break a hundred tis more.
"I understand all of that, and honestly, even if I told the twins I would help them, I was planning on making them believe their mother was already dead," Yuri confessed. "That way, they wouldn’t look for her anymore. I thought I was rescuing them from that kind of pain."
Everyone had different reactions to this confession, as none of them knew what to feel. Lola, however, didn’t feel offended at all.
"Even I would want the twins to think I’m dead," she whispered. "Instead of breaking their hearts and making them long for a mother who didn’t want them."
Atlas and the others shifted their eyes toward her, only to see the stern look on her face.
Admit it or not, they shared the sa opinion. Had Lola turned out to be a terrible person, they’d rather the twins think she was dead than trap them with the idea of having a terrible mother.
"Thing is..." Yuri huffed heavily. "The more I investigated Lola Young, the more I realized that we’re probably all wrong. Lola Young... wasn’t the one who left the children. Rather, her children were taken away from her before she could even hold them."
"Otherwise, she wouldn’t have a grave for a dead child right beside her mother’s grave," she continued. "And she wouldn’t have taken care of that place even after years."
Lola had maintained her "child’s" grave all those years. It was always cleaned, the grass always trimd, and even when she was barely earning, she still allocated a budget to maintain it.
If she truly were a terrible mother who left her children at their father’s door, she wouldn’t need that grave.
"So, the more I looked into it, the more things didn’t make sense to ," Yuri shook her head. "Then I concluded that... there is more to this than a night of lust and not wanting responsibility."
She paused. "So, when I saw a chance, I told the twins they might be able to find their mother if they searched hard enough. I’m the one who chose that flight to Novera that Lola Young would take. It’s a gamble, but it’s the first step to correcting everything."
The second everyone heard that, Lola’s eyes dilated while Atlas’s brows knitted.
"So, I apologize for that, Atlas," Yuri added. "But if I was right, whoever was behind all of this... doesn’t want you or that woman to et. Moreover, I believed that if this was a conspiracy, then the children are safer in their mother’s care than anywhere else in this world because..."
She trailed off.
"...she’s a mother."
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