Chapter Six: Twists and Turns, Twisted Love

On the descending staircase, Hailey was questioning Emma.

“Can they really escape? We still don’t know how Carola and the others were discovered.”

“Sister Hailey, why think about that now? They’re in bed at the moment; everyone assumes they don’t have time to care, so they made their own choices. Father said everyone has their own freedom, so each choice is right for each person,” Emma said with a smile.

“It’s better to leave quickly than to worry about this now.”

Hailey said nothing but seemed to recall something. She cast a cold glance at Emma and distanced herself a little.

Seeing this, Emma’s expression slightly faltered; she turned her head away, no longer looking at Hailey.

Mary looked confusedly at her two older sisters, not quite understanding their conversation. Oh well, she thought, just following Brother Louis was enough.

Louis shook his head.

Emma had deliberately led those children to escape. She had been pretending and earning the children’s trust these past days, perhaps preparing for something, and just happened to seize this moment.

Was Emma’s behavior right?

It could only be said that it was beneficial to them.

If there was no underground secret chamber route, perhaps Louis and the others would have chosen the same escape path as those children, which would have been riskier. As a beneficiary, what could Louis say?

Still, Emma was truly a little sinister at her core, utterly unlike a child’s mind, calmly manipulating so many to achieve her own ends.

She needed to be watched carefully!

At that moment, they finally arrived at the underground chamber and saw the middle-aged man imprisoned there.

Upon seeing them, he anxiously said, “The timing is wrong, mother—”

Before he could finish, thundering footsteps echoed swiftly from the dark staircase.

Louis and the others instantly fell into panic. Who else could appear now but Emilia?

Questions flooded Louis’s mind, but there was no time to think. He rushed to the door and pulled out the blood-gold clasp that had already been successfully obtained.

The iron piece had automatically transformed into a key, faintly glowing red.

Click!

The heavy lock opened in response.

A long-missed, dazzling light streamed in from outside.

“Hurry, leave!”

But—

Buzz!

The door suddenly slammed shut, and Louis felt a force slam him against the wall.

Bang!

Dizzy...

Forcing himself not to fall, Louis shouted, “Hailey!”

The next moment, all sounds ceased.

Louis shook his head and looked downward.

Emilia stood there, hair disheveled, her face several years older, her body bearing wounds, glaring fiercely ahead. Hailey held a sharp iron shard pressed against the man’s neck, blood seeping out.

Louis quickly descended, holding another iron shard against the man’s throat as insurance.

“Let him go!” Emilia growled, veins bulging on her face, the whites of her eyes rapidly overtaking her pupils, but she did not unleash any power.

Louis felt a measure of relief. The man was right—she truly loved her son. Choosing to tell Hailey and the others seemed to have been the right decision.

However...

Louis glanced toward the shadows within the basement.

“Let us leave, or I’ll kill him.”

Emilia’s lips twitched. “Fine, I’ll let you leave.”

Click.

With a mental command, the door slowly opened.

Louis gave a signal. Mary quickly dashed out, while Hailey and Louis exchanged a glance and pulled the man backward.

“Now, step back.”

Obediently, Emilia retreated into the darkness.

Because the man was bound by chains, he couldn’t be brought out of the basement.

Both sides knew that if they released him, Emilia would surely pursue them. So, they needed to lock the door again to buy time.

Louis gestured toward the corner, signaling to retreat.

But then—

“Mother! I’m coming!”

Noël’s voice suddenly rang out.

The next second, Noël and Emilia charged out together, Emilia moving at alarming speed.

Bang!

From the dark corner, a nailed wooden plank swung down fiercely, striking Noël’s head. Blood gushed instantly; his scream caught Emilia’s attention, and she abruptly stopped to look back.

Meanwhile, Hailey’s eyes hardened as she slashed the man’s throat.

Both sides screamed and bled.

“Ahhhh!!!”

Emilia let out a piercing scream.

She stared in horror at the scene. After a brief moment of hesitation and torment, she ran to the man, carefully covering his throat wound. The man embraced his wife as if he were a child nestled in his mother’s arms.

A fleeting sense of warmth lingered.

Suddenly, she looked up at Hailey, who was fleeing toward the door, and Louis, who had not left. Her eyes rolled back.

Ssss!

A sharpened iron shard appeared violently from her grasp, slicing her neck. The searing pain once again interrupted her powers. She wailed and struggled, but the man held her tightly, continuously scraping her neck.

“Mother... Mother... die... die with me... we are filthy...”

Emilia hesitated, struggling but not breaking free.

Squelch! Squelch!

Seizing the moment, Louis swiftly moved forward, driving the sharpened iron spike into Emilia’s eyes with precise, strong thrusts.

“Ahhhh!!!”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Behind her, the nailed plank swung down again, striking Emilia’s head fiercely.

After three consecutive blows, Emilia’s struggles weakened suddenly.

Louis breathed deeply, while Emma was also panting heavily, her arms trembling unnaturally, her whole body shivering.

They exchanged a glance, sharing a tacit understanding.

Indeed, Emma had been hiding in the dark corner all along, intending to ambush Emilia if necessary, but unexpectedly, it had worked out even better.

There was no time to dwell on this now. Louis took the wooden plank from Emma’s hand and swung it hard at Noël, who was still writhing on the ground.

Bang!

To cut the grass, one must remove the roots.

The man holding Emilia tightly began to loosen his grip as blood loss took its toll.

Hearing Noël’s screams grow faint, Emilia reached out, groping toward him, wanting to hold her child as she had in the past—to sing lullabies, nurse him, dance together under the afternoon sun, and feel the happiness that belonged to their family...

Behind her,

Emma’s face darkened as she looked at the contented Emilia and sneered coldly.

The iron shard in her hand pressed against the back of Emilia’s neck.

Ssshh!

All sound vanished.

Louis and Emma collapsed to the ground, utterly exhausted. For children only six years old, such exertion was incredibly taxing. Louis even suspected adrenaline had helped earlier.

After a while,

They stood up. Louis did not rush to leave but headed upstairs. Emma hesitated briefly, remaining behind to check whether the three were truly dead.

Then, Louis found a black book inside a dressing table compartment on the second floor and smiled.

“A valuable find.”

According to the intelligence Emma and the others had gathered, no one was allowed near the dressing table, so he took a chance.

...

At the basement exit,

Louis and Emma stepped out together, greeted by fresh air and bright sunlight.

“Louis, Emma, thank goodness.”

Behind a tree, Mary and Hailey emerged, holding wooden sticks.

It turned out they had not left immediately.