The flash of memory came back to him.
A memory of the white-haired girl secretly trying to hide her pain before they went on the rescue mission.
pαпdα-ňᴏνê|·сóМ Emery had only now found out that apparently, months before the mission, Silva underwent a procedure called Gene Sequencing carried out with the help of his mutated mythical blood. Thanks to that she managed to achieve a similar breakthrough to his, raising her bloodline from Rank 6 to Rank 7 Mythical Bloodline [Kimoyin Nightmare Serpent].
He had truly never expected such a thing to be possible because of his mutated bloodline. The revelation she was in such a dire situation for the same reason was also depressing to him.
"Is there a way to save her? What about a new body? A cloned body?"
As soon as he finished saying those words, Emery realized such a solution was impossible to accomplishe. Silva had not yet broken through to the magus stage, thus she had no spirit soul that could be transferred to the new body.
"The mutated blood is now like cancer that devours every single blood cell in her body. We have managed to stabilize her condition, however as you can see, her body is resisting the treatment and deteriorating. Unless we make a breakthrough on the solution, she will only have a year or maybe two years if we are lucky."
All of this was so shocking to Emery, he quickly questioned their motives for doing such a dangerous thing to their own princess. No matter the reason, he couldn't fathom doing something like this.
"Why!? Why did you do that procedure on her? Why did you do that!?"
Asking the two of them, Annara said she didn't know in a very convincing manner. On the other hand, Bob couldn't hide he knew something about it. When he saw the man would not speak, Emery was prepared to force the truth out of him.
Just when he was about to act, he stopped as he sensed the arrival of a powerful figure in the facility.
Knowing who was coming, Emery refrained from his forceful approach and decided to wait for her. After all, hearing the explanation directly from Silva's own mother, the Ouroboros Queen, would be the best.
When she finally entered the room, she walked past him over to the machine where Silva lay. After stroking the transparent glass that exposed the white-haired girl's body inside, she finally spoke.
"I guess we cannot hide this forever…" She said, causing Emery's eyes to narrow. "And yes, it was me. I was the one who agreed to the gene sequencing… I am the one responsible."
Emery clenched his fists when he heard such an answer. "Tell me why…? All because of power?!" He was unable to see the logic of doing such things to one's family, the Ouroboros Queen's answer only fed the burning urge within him. "How could you do that to her?!"
The queen's face twisted in anger when she heard that. With her powerful gaze, she forced Emery to fall to his knees.
In response, Emery's expression turned ugly. He was about to throw a tantrum demanding answers when he was stopped in his tracks by the sight of tears streaming down the queen's cheeks.
A feeling of deep despair emanated from her, replacing the anger she was showing. This compelled Emery to restrain his bubbling emotions, wanting to prevent escalating the situation as he sensed there must be more reasons to it.
Turning his gaze to Silva's body again, Emery closed his eyes and heaved a sigh before saying, "Tell me, what can I do to help her?"
She wiped her tears before turning towards Bob, her gaze told the that she wanted an answer. The frog hybrid gave an apologetic look as he started to speak.
"With the new samples we received these past few weeks, we have managed to identify the mutated blood genes with up to 98% accuracy. Unfortunately, the serum we came up with still doesn't have much effect on the princess' condition."
The Ouroboros Queen deeply frowned at the news. It was apparent she had really hoped that Emery's blood would be the solution to her daughter's condition, hence the lucrative deal he was awarded.
Before the queen could say anything, the frog hybrid quickly added, "Maybe… if I could obtain a better sample… a more purified one." He looked at Emery hopefully while saying, "A mutated blood from a 50% purified gene essence. That might be what we need…"
Hearing those words, the Ouroboros Queen glanced at Emery and said.
"Will you be able to do that?"
Emery heaved a deep sigh, in the last three weeks, he had consumed almost 20 [Fey Serum], although it gave him some rapid increase, it had been slowing down the past few days.
Looking at the unconscious Silva, he said, "I can, I will!"
The queen then gave her order to Bob. "Provide him with more dosage of the serum, and let's hope he progresses better next month."
She then returned her gaze to Emery and said, "That's what you can do to help her. Now leave."
Emery glanced at Silva again before turning away, leaving the mother and daughter alone as Annara and Bob followed him out as well.
The frog hybrid provided him with the serum he needed. "These are not easy to make as the ingredients are extremely hard to find. But that will be my problem, for you… you know what to do…"
Within the flying vehicle on the way back to his residence, Emery stared at the red-haired girl and asked for details about what had happened while he was unconscious during the last three years.
"You told me I could ask you anything. Now tell me what I need to know."
Unfortunately for him, Annara couldn't tell him much. She wasn't present at the Ouroboros when Silva did her gene sequencing. She was also away for missions most of the time after she was accepted into the faction. Nevertheless, she told him what she knew and thought.
She suspected the procedure was carried out at the orders of the Serpent Patriarch, as she did not believe the queen would be willing to take such a risk with her own daughter. On the other hand with the serpent currently standing alone outside the alliance, they were in need of power more than ever.
In the end, Annara showed an unusually emotional expression as she said.
"She has been waiting for you to awake all this time… you just took too fucking long!"