Avery smiled faintly. "I guess that Zilvia’s test scores were very high. It caught the Rose family’s attention, leading to her being specially grood by the family. Seeing her fake daughter’s success, Nellie would naturally go to great lengths to hide her real identity."
"To this day, I haven’t found a single photo of Joy before she was alive. I think Nellie must have burned or hidden all the photos of the real Joy to keep this secret."
Avery felt really tired, exhausted both physically and ntally
She took out so chocolate from her bag and a thermos, slowly eating and drinking to regain her strength.
Joy slowly rotated the coffee cup in her hand, "I must admit, you are indeed a genius. I might have truly lost to you She had never felt so defeated in her life and this feeling was too unbearable"
"So, after figuring all this out, what do you want to do?" Joy asked with a hint of mockery. "Do you want to acknowledge my ancestors, kneel before the Carter family, cry, and beg for forgiveness? Or do you want to take revenge on , make pay for what happened back then, ruin my reputation, and make my life miserable?"
Avery didn’t imdiately answer her question. Instead, she finished the rich, flavorful chocolate and drank half a cup of warm water before looking at Joy and saying. "If I tell you I actually understand your choices and actions back then, that I don’t intend to bla you, and I don’t hate you, would you believe ?"
Joy was surprised. After a few seconds, she smiled faintly and said. "Aren’t you very concerned about the Carter family? My choices back then had caused the Carter family a lot of suffering. You should hate "
Avery calmly said, "You and I are twins, with many similarities. In essence, there’s not much difference between us. If I found a place uninteresting or lacking what I wanted, I would make the sa choice as you." Such a statent sounded cruel and cold.
However, for people like them, with high intelligence, strong willpower, and clear, grand goals, ordinary emotions, ethics, and morals, it didn’t really constrain them.
Of course, they wouldn’t challenge ordinary moral standards and rules unless necessary. Simply put, blending in with society was far easier to achieve success than being rejected by it.
A look of surprise flashed across Joy’s face, and the repulsion eased a little. "So, what exactly do you want? Writing Zilvia’s case won’t do any good"
After a mont of silence, Avery said, "Whether you return to the Carter family and apologize is your decision. But you owe the Carter family, and you have to repay that."
Joy frowned. "What do you an?*
Avery took a stack of docunts from her bag, placed them in front of Joy, and shone her phone’s flashlight on them. Joy looked at the docunts and fell silent.
The top page of the newspaper showed a photo of the two elderly mbers of the Carter family kneeling at the spot where Zilvia disappeared, tears streaming down their faces, begging passersby to help find their granddaughter.
The high-definition close-up captured not only the wrinkles, age, and weariness on their fates but also their pain, regret, sadness, and endless worry and fear.
Anyone with any feeling or emotion would be moved.
Avery’s voice was calm and steady. "I think Zilvia never thought about the harm and pain her leaving would cause the Carter family, especially the two elders."
She tapped the newspaper with her finger. "Now, you see a part of it"
Joy did not flip through the stack of docunts. She only looked down at the top page and did not move for a long ti.
Avery could not see Joy’s expression, let alone her gaze.
She sighed softly. Tve always thought that after you left, if you could have called the Carter family or written a letter, left a ssage, sothing to tell them you were safe and doing well, that they shouldn’t look for you because you could take care of yourself, they wouldn’t have suffered so much and blad themselves.
"Of course, you were just a child back then. No matter how smart you were, you were still just a child. When you saw sothing interesting or attractive, you would instinctively chase after it without thinking about the dangers ahead or the consequences.
Just like a child playing by the sea, who would unknowingly walk towards the ocean without considering its dangers. Or a child engrossed with a new toy, playing so much that they forget to go ho or where ho even is. So, I have no intention of blaming you." Her tone changed. "But you grew up, and now you understand these principles. You should give the Carter family at least so form of compensation."
Joy slowly raised her head and nodded. "You make a good point. But what does the Carter family lack now? If they need Zilvia’s regret, apology, and atonent, I don’t have that."
Regret was self-denial. People like them could face death and bear all the consequences, but they never regretted it.
Avery looked at her. "At the very least, you can’t hurt the Carter family anymore. I believe that even if the Carter family knew the whole truth, they wouldn’t resent you. They would only think, Zilvia is still alive and doing well. That’s wonderful. There’s no better news than that." This ti, Avery saw a faint, subtle emotional response on Joy’s face.
Joy tightened her grip on the coffee cup. "So things are beyond my control. Just like I can’t stop you from writing about this case."
She looked straight into Avery’s eyes. "The Rose family might have already noticed. With things in this state, you’re also part of the cause. You might make lose everything"
Avery glanced at her phone; the ti had co.
She calmly said, "Let tell you which choice will truly make you lose everything. The latest Chapter of The Mystery of the Missing Young Genius has just been updated. You can see how Lara loses everything."
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