The moment she heard the name Wei Yenwu finally spoke, Fumizuki could hardly believe her ears. She even wondered if there was something wrong with her hearing.
Regarding Jeanne's identity, Fumizuki had made several guesses before. She had even considered the possibility that she was a highly skilled assassin sent to take her and Wei Yenwu's heads. But who could have guessed that Wei Yenwu would say this child was related to their Talulah—the one who had been missing without a word for over ten years? This point truly exceeded all of Fumizuki's conjectures.
She stood there now without a word, taking deep breath after deep breath to calm the emotions that were surging like a giant wave within her heart, trying to return to a state of peace.
Seeing Fumizuki's agitated state upon hearing the news, Wei Yenwu wore a "just as I expected" expression. He didn't interrupt her thoughts; instead, he pulled a chair behind her and helped her sit down to stabilize her mind.
Never mind Fumizuki—even the moment he had heard the news, his own heart had been unable to remain calm. Even now, he was only maintaining a state of relative composure.
For certain reasons, he and Fumizuki had never had children of their own. Therefore, they had poured the care they would have given their own biological children into these two children who were related to them by blood. Yet, many years ago, due to various reasons, that fellow Kashchey had taken one away. Since then, they hadn't even known if she was alive or dead.
"Are you truly sure... it wasn't your subordinates who misidentified her? Since you can speak to me with such certainty, you must have confirmed that your men didn't make a mistake."
Although Wei Yenwu said the person who discovered Talulah was one of his Black Raincoats, Fumizuki still maintained a degree of skepticism regarding the accuracy of the matter. After all, they had been separated for so many years. To confirm someone was that child who disappeared years ago based only on a few glimpses from her childhood was still open to debate.
"It is confirmed. Besides, you know Talulah's situation; once you've seen her racial characteristics, it's basically impossible to mistake her. After all, she is essentially the only hybrid of a Lung and a Draco."
Wei Yenwu had great confidence in the observational skills of his subordinates. Moreover, Talulah was quite different from ordinary Dracos or Vouivres; she belonged to a type that was particularly easy to identify.
Hearing her husband's confirmation, Fumizuki was quite happy in her heart. Although she didn't know how the child was doing now, at least she was no longer in a state where even her life or death was unknown.
"Then what are you still worried about? Are you worried that this child was sent by Talulah to gather intel or to seek revenge on Lungmen?"
Fumizuki thought back to the emotions Wei Yenwu had displayed earlier and naturally guessed why he suspected Jeanne. She also understood Wei Yenwu's internal conflict; he didn't know how to test Jeanne—or rather, Talulah's—attitude toward this city, and he feared his actions might cause a misunderstanding.
"You know as well as I do that the child was raised by Kashchey for so many years. Kashchey's evil ideology has already been poured into her soul. It's impossible for Talulah to still be the Talulah in our memories."
Wei Yenwu took another deep puff of smoke, let it brew in his mouth for a long time, and finally exhaled. He watched the smoke gradually dissipate into the air around him, looking like a grey snake coiling about his body, ready to strike with venomous fangs at any moment.
"But he is already dead, isn't he? Didn't you also tell me that it was highly likely Talulah killed him with her own hands?"
Fumizuki had a different view regarding Wei Yenwu's concerns. Since Talulah chose to kill Kashchey, didn't that mean she and Kashchey were not the same kind of person? She couldn't believe that the child of the past would deliberately target Lungmen, hiding behind the scenes waiting for the right moment to give Lungmen a painful memory.
Wei Yenwu naturally agreed with Fumizuki to some extent. However, based on his understanding of Kashchey, the fact that Talulah could kill that fellow suggested there were many tricks involved. Wei Yenwu knew that the man was known as the immortal Black Snake. In the long history of Ursus, the name Kashchey had always existed within that nation.
What terrified him even more was that every generation of Kashchey would inherit that evil ideology from the previous generation. For so many years, there had never been an exception.
"But that is Kashchey. Talulah is the successor that fellow chose. According to this curse-like pattern, Talulah will one day become Kashchey's successor."
After saying this, Wei Yenwu shook his head and took another deep puff. However, the tobacco in his pipe had burned out. Just as he intended to refill it and continue smoking, Fumizuki, sitting beside him, snatched the pipe away.
"Smoke less. At the rate you're smoking today, do you still want your life? In the past, one bowl of tobacco would last you half a day."
Hearing Fumizuki's words, Wei Yenwu could only scratch his head helplessly. After all, what she said made sense; his smoking today was indeed much more aggressive than usual. It was his habit—whenever he encountered troublesome matters, he liked to smoke, especially sitting in his chair puffing away. If Fumizuki hadn't stopped him, it wasn't impossible that he would have smoked two bags of tobacco in a single day.
Sitting there, Wei Yenwu felt quite uncomfortable without his pipe in hand. He could only look at his wife with a smile and scratch his cheek helplessly. He knew Fumizuki was concerned for his health, but this habit of smoking whenever he was worried had been with him for many years; it was difficult to change now.
"Even though I know what you say is a fact, I don't believe someone with eyes like that would collude with a character like Kashchey. She and Kashchey are absolutely not the same."
Fumizuki picked up the photo of Jeanne on the desk and examined it closely, then spoke to Wei Yenwu. Although it was just a front-facing photo, one could still see Jeanne's extremely clear eyes—clean and bright.
If you want to understand a person, you can roughly see what kind of person they are through their specific appearance and eyes; such a thing is actually very simple, and the accuracy is quite high. Because everything a person has experienced in the past will eventually be carved into their face and eyes in some way. By observing carefully, one can read these things from a person's appearance.
While Fumizuki wouldn't claim to be an expert in this field, it wasn't too difficult for someone like her, who had seen all kinds of people, to get a general understanding of someone.
The Jeanne in the photo had various temperaments that didn't quite match a child of her age, giving off a very strange feeling that would make others heighten their guard. But what all these temperaments couldn't cover—or rather, the temperament that shone like a bright pearl—was actually her purity. Other temperaments stood around this purity like decorations.
This point was very similar to the believers in Laterano. Fumizuki once had the honor of attending a prayer ceremony hosted by Sankta. When those Sankta prayed collectively, this kind of pure emotion flowed from their eyes.
"Yes, such a person shouldn't be teaming up with a fellow like Kashchey. Kashchey wouldn't go looking for someone like this to cooperate with either; their compatibility could be said to be pitifully low."
Wei Yenwu agreed with Fumizuki's view. The possibility of such a person appearing by Kashchey's side and cooperating with him was even more ridiculous than the idea of his own brother no longer being wary of him.
But now, this matter was already happening before them. A successor of Kashchey and such a person walking side by side... no matter how one thought about it, there was a sense of dissonance. This situation might be a hint that things aren't as bad as they think; perhaps Talulah hasn't been completely brainwashed by Kashchey's evil ideology, and there is still a chance for things to turn around.