"Huh?" Penny stopped by the door when it opened from the inside. "What is another patient doing in soone else’s room?"
She blinked innocently at Henrik. "Are you asking my brother if you can move into his ward? Don’t even think about it. He’s the worst roommate you’ll ever have."
"I... don’t doubt that," Henrik shrugged, already fed up with their antics. "Move aside. I’m going back to my hell of a ward."
With that, Henrik pushed his IV pole and walked away. As he passed, Penny’s eyes fell on the papers in his hands, and she nodded in understanding.
I guess he already saw the DNA results about his wife.
Penny stepped into the ward, and as she closed the door behind her, she asked, "Will he be alright?"
"Why wouldn’t he be?" Atlas humd, still focused on the reports in his hands.
"His wife was an accomplice to all of this," Penny said, hopping onto the edge of the bed. "To make it worse, she was squashed like a mosquito with the cardinal. Not to ntion, she’s the one who sent people to attack him in your territory. It’s kind of tragic. Renren would rather die if I did that to him."
"Your husband would die with a smile if you were the one to kill him." Atlas finally put down the papers on his lap and looked at her. "What do you need?"
"First Brother, why do you always assu I need sothing whenever I co to see you?" she frowned. "Am I that kind of sister to you?"
Atlas pondered for a mont before nodding. "Yes."
"Tsk." She clicked her tongue and glared at him. "I don’t think so."
She thought about it, trying to recall a ti she had co to Atlas without needing sothing from him — or at least without a reason that suggested she wasn’t just checking on him.
She couldn’t rember a single instance.
Her face soured. "Seriously?"
"What is it?" Atlas asked.
"First Brother, just because I can’t rember coming to you without needing anything doesn’t prove there wasn’t a ti!" she protested. "Anyway, I ca because I found sothing interesting."
Just as she said that, the door suddenly slid open.
Penny jolted in surprise, only to sigh in relief when she saw Lola.
"First Sister! That scared to death! I thought we were being raided or sothing!"
"And why would we be raided?" Lola asked as she walked in, closed the door behind her, and approached them. "Did you do sothing that’s why you’re here?"
"First Sister!" Penny yelled while Lola laughed. "First Brother is already teasing — not you too!"
Lola chuckled as she dragged a chair over and sat beside them.
"If not that, then what is it?"
"Isn’t it just to check on First Brother?" Penny pouted.
Both Atlas and Lola raised their brows in unison.
"Fine!" Penny huffed. "But this ti I don’t need anything. I’m here because I found sothing interesting."
Lola and Atlas tilted their heads slightly, curious.
"Well, you see, I’ve been bothering the nuns lately," she cleared her throat. "And earlier today, Mother Reverend told sothing interesting."
She straightened up. "As it turns out, Mother Reverend was the one who poisoned on Pierson Island!"
"..."
Atlas and Lola fell silent. They had already suspected that. But with everything happening lately, it slipped their minds.
More importantly, why did Penny sound like this was a happy announcent?
"And that child with her has grown up a bit!" Penny continued. "Anyway, she did it because she thought I was the woman in her vision. She said it was a warning she left behind — and a clue. She believed that if she left evidence, it would lead to the Church. But instead, it led us to Nathalie."
She sighed.
"Since her relationship with the cardinal had already been strained, she had to be careful. Did you know he cut off so of their funding and even threatened a few senior nuns to stop them from doing anything suspicious?"
"Anyway, that’s not the point!" Penny clapped her hands. "I’m here to tell you... good news and bad news. I’ll start with the bad news."
"Why?" Atlas asked imdiately.
Penny looked at him and replied just as quickly. "Because I want to."
"Anyway," she continued, "the bad news is that First Sister’s accident was caused by the cardinal. He wanted the kids dead. Good thing Mother Reverend had been watching him closely. She learned about Lola’s photos in the cardinal’s drawer while she was pregnant. So she sent Roth to stop whatever he was planning."
"Unfortunately, Roth was late. The accident had already happened. All they could do was damage control."
She sighed again.
"According to them, although the children were safe, they were worried the cardinal would try to use them for sothing else. There had already been discussions about taking the children if they survived."
Penny leaned back.
"So Roth took the children to the Bennet family ho. She didn’t think Lola had the capacity to protect them at the ti, so she had to make that decision — even though it was difficult."
"Oh..." Lola’s mouth ford a small O. It was the first ti she had heard this. "I didn’t know that."
Even Atlas frowned slightly, though with everything that had happened, he was no longer surprised.
Mother Reverend had been opposing the cardinal in her own way. And although she couldn’t act openly, she had tried to sabotage him however she could.
One of those attempts was leaving clues for Penny on Pierson Island.
But that had only led them to Nathalie Zorken.
It only showed how the cardinal had always been a step ahead.
Living four lifetis... that wasn’t surprising.
But targeting their unborn children?
Even though it shouldn’t be surprising, Lola and Atlas’s expressions darkened.
"That... bastard..." Lola hissed through gritted teeth.
Penny quickly continued. "Anyway! The good news is Mother Reverend is also behind the sterilization."
Both Atlas and Lola snapped their heads toward her.
"What did you say?"
"I an — don’t get mad yet. It’s not like that," Penny cleared her throat. "From what I heard, it was Lawrence Young and Jasmine Young who wanted the procedure. But the doctor who perford it was a follower of the Church. That’s why you were told you were having one child and not twins, and why Mother Reverend beca suspicious of the cardinal’s intentions toward you. Did I already ntion there were talks that the cardinal might take the children if they were alive?"
"So Roth forced the doctor to give you birth control instead."
"Birth control?" Lola tilted her head. "You an..."
"There are a lot of advanced things in the secret society," Penny explained. "The one they gave you lasts about five years. That’s what the doctor implanted. I checked the dates, and the birth control probably dissolved completely by now. It’s been over five years, after all—"
Penny stopped when Lola suddenly grabbed her hand.
"Say that again," Lola breathed, forgetting everything else.
Penny smiled. She placed her other hand over Lola’s and looked between her and Atlas.
"I confird it," she said as her smile widened. "Sent samples back to the lab. They verified everything. First Sister never needed surgery."
She giggled as she leaned closer.
"First Sister, please have ten more children. Congrats!"
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