Lu Li had never asked Anna about her past. All he knew was that her mother's na was Anlei and that they seed to co from a noble family.
In truth, calling them aristocrats wasn't entirely accurate, unless you added the prefix "impoverished." By the ti Anna was born, at least, her family had already lost their title, retaining only an estate and a seldom-visited art gallery.
Anna recounted this with a hint of embarrassnt.
A few months after Anna died from an infectious disease, her mother, never having recovered from her grief, passed away as well.
“Is there no one left in your family?” Lu Li asked. The news raised more questions for him.
Sorrow clouded Anna's eyes. “No... It was just my mother and , and then...”
And then they were both gone.
Lu Li dismissed the idea of a murder for inheritance. “What happened to the estate?”
His gaze fell upon a painting on the bookshelf, which depicted a lush green garden with a three-story mansion in the background.
Lu Li already knew what had beco of the gallery. Before her death, Madam Anlei had gifted it to its stingy new owner, Benjamin. It was this act that had indirectly led to Lu Li and Anna eting.
“I think... I think it was donated...” Anna's voice trailed off, growing quieter.
Lu Li asked, his tone casual, “Tell
about the treasure.”
“‘Little Anna, I’ll tell you a secret. Our family has hidden a treasure, one that holds the most precious things of the Lott family and the dearest things to .’ That's what my mother told
when I was six... or maybe seven.”
Anna had been too young then, and perhaps Madam Anlei had only wanted to comfort her, and there was no treasure at all. But as an educated woman from a once-noble family, she was unlikely to have deceived Anna.
Distinguishing fact from fiction would be simple enough.
“Did she tell you where it's hidden?” Lu Li inquired.
“Hmm... Let
think...” Anna sank into her mories.
Warm afternoon light poured through the window, bathing the room in honeyed hues, like autumn leaves. A little Anna sat on her mother's lap, clutching her dress.
“And where is the treasure?” she asked.
Her mother's face had faded from mory, but Anna rembered how she had smiled gently and said, “You know where it is.”
“How would I know?” Little Anna tilted her head in surprise.
Madam Anlei stroked her hair. “The treasure is hidden where your brightest mories are kept.”
“Oh...” Little Anna nodded obediently, pouted her lips, and fell silent, not pestering her mother for more details like other children might.
Madam Anlei gently pinched Anna's cheek. “When you're a little older, I'll tell you.”
Little Anna tried to squirm away but couldn't escape the warm, soft hand, and she giggled.
The scene gradually blurred, like the faded pages of an old book, replaced by cold, gray-blue tones. The sharp contrast between warmth and cold stirred an unpleasant feeling in Anna. An icy aura instantly enveloped her, and a crimson glint ignited deep within her eyes.
Her shadow began to swell, but then it froze.
Lu Li placed a hand on Anna's shoulder, his dark eyes eting her sorrowful gaze. “Calm down.”
His voice, his presence, pulled Anna back to reality. She looked at him, at his ever-calm, dark eyes, and suddenly felt a lump form in her throat. She turned away and whispered, “I miss my mother...”
Lu Li remained silent. He wasn't skilled at offering comfort and didn't know what to say or do in such a situation.
But he knew he had to say sothing.
After a mont's thought, he added, “The water in the pot is boiling.”
From the kitchen ca the bubbling of boiling water and the clatter of the lid against the pot.
Lost in her mories, Anna snapped back to the present and hurried into the kitchen.
‘It seems to be fine,’ Lu Li thought.
‘I seem to be fine...’ Anna thought, reining in her aura as she watched the crimson tinge in the depths of her eyes slowly fade.
She lifted the lid from the pot, stirred the contents with a spoon, and covered it again.
Having composed herself, Anna returned to the living room. Lu Li was already sitting at his desk. A little flustered by his recent touch, Anna said, “My mother told
I know where it is. That it's hidden where my brightest mories are kept.”
“And where is that place?”
Anna just blinked at Lu Li in silence.
“You've forgotten?”
“Mhm...” Anna averted her gaze.
Her mother never did tell her where the treasure was when she grew up.
“It probably isn't too difficult to guess,” Lu Li said suddenly. “At six or seven, you wouldn't have had that many important things in your life. Just think back to what was most precious to you then.”
“Hmm...” Anna humd thoughtfully.
“Friends, relatives, family,” Lu Li prompted.
“Hmmmm...” Anna continued to muse.
“Servants, food, favorite things.”
“Hmmmmm...?” Her long hum ended on a questioning note.
It seed Anna had rembered sothing.
Lu Li continued down the list of favorite things: “Potted flowers, dolls, plants, drawings...”
“I rember! I rember the brightest mory!” Anna exclaid, her eyes shining. “I buried it at the roots of my sister!”
Lu Li said nothing, only giving her a questioning look.
“It was a doll nad Nini... um, my sister is a tree that my mother planted after I was born. I used to play with her a lot when I was little... When my doll Nini ‘died,’ I buried her under that tree.”
“Died?”
Anna blushed. “Well, I was little, I didn't understand. I saw her cotton stuffing coming out and decided she had died...”
“And then?”
“And then... I don't rember exactly, but the treasure must be there!”
Anna couldn't recall the details, but she rembered her mother saying sothing about the “treasure” back then.
And that truly was Anna's brightest mory from that ti. She even rembered waking up in tears several tis, calling for Nini.
“Do you rember where the estate is?”
“Of course, I do,” Anna murmured, and she told Lu Li the estate's address and the spot where her “sister” had been planted.
“I wonder how she's doing now...” Anna said, a note of sadness in her voice. Of course, she didn't think of the tree as a real sister, but she did have a special fondness for it.
Stirred by her mories, Anna returned to the kitchen.
Lu Li had no reason to doubt her.
Anna's forr estate was in Khimfast, in the central part of the Allen Peninsula. The journey there wouldn't take long. But not now. Lu Li decided to go in a few days, after the Trader arrived.
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