The silence that envelloped the secret room felt tight. The only sound that could be hear was Gyllena’s suppresed sob, colliding with the soft rustle of the spores in the air.

Dorita went silent. Her sharp and wary eyes slowly softened, but not fully friendly yet. She wanted to chase them away at first, thinking that they were trying to use her ability, but after she watched Gyllena closely, she didn’t think that was the case anymore. She stopped looking at Gyllena as a Noble, but as a mere young girl who bad just realized that her world was destroyed.

"Don’t cry," This time, it was Dorita’s real voice, came out of her own lips, not from the mushroom medium. Her voice sounded raspy and didn’t used to talk for long. With a sigh, she stood up. "Your tears will only hasten my mushrooms’ growth."

Gyllena flinched. She immediately wanted to wipe her eyes with her handkerchief, which had became dirty of the dust and smell from the drainage. But Dorita stopped her. With a cloth, she gently wiped her wet eyes.

"Forgive me.." Gyllena stammered, her cheeks became red. "I just don’t know where I have to turn to anymore."

Dorita stared at Gyllena for a long beat before turning at Theo. "Layver Family... It was the one I thought of, or..."

"The one that ranked as the second most powerful in the Dungeon City, of course," Theo cut swiftly. Theo smiled, then started patting Gyllena’s shoulder. "She had plenty of supplies you need—money, power, people, and more. You can research all you want with her."

"Not a bad offer, no?" Theo asked with cheerful tone. The atmosphere of the room had became a bir awkward because of Gyllena’s cry, so he wanted to lighten the mood a little.

Dorita didn’t immediately gave him the answer. She began pondering. Her eyes scanned the room, the same room she had spent almost 5 years of her life.

The pots of newly developed mushrooms. The broken vials she had piled at the corner, too lazy to throw it out. The mushroom tables. The mushroom bed. Everything was the home she made by her self. The only thing that accompanied her all these hard and lonely years.

Parting with them would be too sad. However, she knew one cruel truth.

"Now that they have moved, it was only a matter of time before they find this room," Theo said, saying her thought out loud.

"Lady Dorita," From behind, Gyllena called out. "I am willing to do anything as long as you can get rid of their influence from my mansion. I don’t want to see the mansion my parents left for me to be constantly being endangered by those cultists!"

Dorita slowly turned around, her eyes widened. "Parents?"

For some reason, Dorita’s mind recalled the faces of a middle-aged couple that had once saved her before.

Gyllena blinked her eyes. She didn’t know why the witch suddenly showed such surprised face. They looked at each other in silence for a moment.

Theo sat on the mushroom table and raised his hand to attract their attentions.

"Let me explain," Theo stated, geaturing the two to sit down.

The witch and the Noble lady exchanged glances. They nodded, noticing either sides’ confusion and curiousity. They felt it instinctively, that there was something that connect them.

They pulled a mushroom chair for each other and sat down facing Theo, this man who seemed to know a lot about everything. The man himself looked at them with a calm, interested smile.

"Gyllena," He called out, looking at Gyllena. "This is the continuation of what I will say to you before."

His words made the two focused on him. Even the light from the mushroom got stronger slightly as if wanted to listen better to what he was about to say.

"What the Abyssal New Gate had done to the Layver Family until now?"

Theo started with a question. Of course it was not supposed to be answered by anyone but him.

"The answer is, actually, not much, but fatal."

Theo took a deep breath, his smile left his face. With a solemn face, he continued.

"One of their plan was to pull the Layver Family into their side."

Gyllena gulped. Her fingers cluthed her dress tightly.

"They stopped their attempt after your parents disappeared, but they had sent more than twenty assasins before that. Some came kill, while other came to poison or weaken the two faces of the Layver Family. All for one and only goal, that is: to gain control over the Dungeon City."

Gyllena and Dorita’s faces changed. They had begun to guess what he wanted to say. Gritting her teeth, Gyllena asked Theo. "Was it them? Was it them who kidnap my parents?"

Theo’s response was a no. He shook his head. "No. Not that simple."

"And," Theo then looked at Dorita. "What happened next was involving Lady Dorita, although all of that happened purely coincidental."

Dorita frowned and lowered her head. Gyllena glanced at her inquiringly, silently demanding an answer from her. Fortunately, Theo immediately gave her the answer.

"One day, the head of the Layver Family was on his way to a ceritain mining site with his wife when their carriage stopped abruptly. They found a dying woman lying on the road, and decided to take care her wounds at the next town. However—"

"They were dead," Dorita interrupted Theo curtly, which shook Gyllena greatly.

With her head still lowered, Dorita continued. "The cultists from the Abyssal New Gate who were coming after my life attacked them and their knights. We fought together, but their ambush had crippled and killer most of the knights. While my mana was running low at that time. In the end... I was forced to abandon them."

Dorita lowered her head even further. She couldn’t bring herself to see Gyllena’s face. "I didn’t see their ends, but considering how those cultists handled their enemies, their fates were already sealed."

Gyllena felt like her world was spinning the moment she heard about her parents’ deaths. Her fists clenched, her eyes tear up. This time, the tears were the tears of fury. A petty, umatured anger of a daughter who was facing someone who had failed to save her father and mother.

"Weren’t you strong?" Unexpectedly, her voice still came out as considerably calm. "So why... Why..."

However, her calmness only made Dorita felt the guilt stronger. The reason she even decided to fight the Abyssal New Gate was to protect innocent people, so sacrificing someone else was never tolerable for her pride. She never forgot about them even after years passed. Who could have thought that she would meet their daughter now?

Her lips opened, but no word came out. She couldn’t think she even had a right to say anything in this matter.

Right then, Theo raised his voice. "Okay, that’s enough, Gyllena."

Gyllena looked at him with her wet and furious eyes. She didn’t say anything, but her look told him everything she had in her mind.

He sighed. "Lady Dorita was not as strong at that time. They sent more than four Apostles and ten or so Abyssal Knights to catch her, you see."

Only after she heard that, that Gyllena calmed down a little. Her eyes widened at the sheer number of the high-level members of the cult being said.

"Four Apostles?" She stammered out, doubting her ears.

Theo nodded firmly. "That’s right. Surviving alone was already a miracle. Then again, it was you father and mother who told Lady Dorita to leave them when she tried to fight the cultists even when she was dying."

He looked straight at Gyllena face to show that he was serious. "You can’t truly blame her for this."

Gyllena’s face became blank. She realized her mistake. She knew that she had to apologize, but the news of her parents’ deaths had made her doubting her reality. She couldn’t even talk properly at her current state.

When the heated atmosphere died down, it was Dorita now who spoke up. "Even if that was the case..."

She raised her head and faced Gyllena. "It was still my fault. If only I was stronger."

She patted Gyllena’s head, her face a mask of self-blaming. She looked at her the back of her hand, which was gently patting the girl’s head. It was the same hand the girl’s mother held before. Dorita found a new purpose in her life. That is: to repay Gyllena’s parents with protecting this girl, just like what the couple had done for her.

"I am sorry," she muttered, her fingers caressing the Noble lady’s silky hair. "Now I’ve decided it."

A weak, reinvigorated smile appeared on the witch’s face.

"I’ll follow you."

The process was not as smooth as expected, even complicated and also painful for the two. However, the goal was successfully obtained.

With this, Dorita would start to live with Gyllena.

Now, Gyllena would have an access to the source of weapons that the Abyssal New Gate most feared.

Gyllena understood that, though her unmatured side still wanted to refuse the existence of the witch who had failed to save her parents. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Theo clapped, attracting their attentions. "Then, let’s get started!"

The first work that was waiting for them was to transport Dorita’s luggage.