Chapter 96 - 93. The Blood of The Covenant
The first thing he did when he woke up at dawn this morning was to access the encrypted folder and unlocked it.
There was a comprehensive conclusion, but there were also separate details documents that led to that conclusion, including the note and photograph of Lucia’s letters to her friends, the records of her activity in Eiyuta, and notes of her history with Marshall Todres.
What Zein looked up the most, however, was a single blurry picture. It was from her mother’s guide license, dug up from an archive dated more than thirty years ago, so the quality wasn’t that good. The only other photograph of his mother was a tiny group picture of the Eiyuta Guide Center’s staff--so it seemed like she wasn’t part of any guild.
The report mentioned that they still hadn’t found out how she met the esper who imprinted her, just speculation about a certain commission. Obviously, they had no idea who that esper was, and she never mentioned names or affiliations in her letters for those women.
"That’s a pair of unmistakable eyes," Bassena said when Zein showed him the picture.
It might be low quality, but it was enough to discern her face and the striking deep blue phoenix eyes. Those eyes and the fair complexion--just like Zein, her mother was also a beauty.
"So you got your hair and lips from your father then," Bassena threw the guide a glance, whose eyes were narrowing at the mention of the father. His brows frowning too, as if he despised the mention of the unnamed esper. "Do you hate him?"
"...I don’t know," Zein replied after a long silence. So far, that person didn’t give him a good impression. Taking Lucia so suddenly, basically kidnapping her out of Eiyuta, putting her in danger...
"I don’t know how he imprinted her, whether it was consensual or...I don’t know," Zein bit his cheek to hold back the surge of emotions. He didn’t know if he felt angry, disappointed, or disgusted.
It was the whole reason he hated the imprinting concept between an esper and a guide.
And then he just died like that after imprinting someone and impregnating her. A young woman, alone and pregnant, ended up in a hand of scum like Todres. She was younger than Zein now when she gave birth to him and died not long after.