Chapter 1766: Little Talk with Caroline!
Chapter 1766: Little Talk with Caroline!
Looking at Caroline, who was still crying while holding him tightly, Max did not know what to do.
Even so, he still raised his hand and gently placed it on Caroline’s back.
"It is fine, Caroline," Max said, his voice quieter than before. "Me and my sister are fine for now. And whatever happened in the past was not your fault."
Caroline trembled when she heard those words.
For years, she had carried guilt like a chain around her heart. She had blamed herself for failing to protect Caelira. She had blamed herself for not being there when the calamity struck. She had blamed herself for surviving when her sister’s family was torn apart, when the third faction was imprisoned, when children who should have been protected were declared dead.
Even in the Elf Prison, even while being tortured by the second faction, the thought that she had failed Caelira’s children had never left her. Now, hearing Max say that it was not her fault, something inside her finally cracked.
She tightened her arms around him again and cried harder.
"You do not understand," Caroline whispered through broken sobs. "I should have come for you. I should have found you. I should have done something."
Max looked down at her with a complicated expression.
"I was a child back then," he said softly. "My sister was also a child. None of this was something you could have stopped alone."
Caroline shook her head, tears still falling. "But I was her sister."
Max was silent for a moment.
Then he said, "And you are still alive."
Caroline froze slightly.
Max continued, "That means my mother still has family waiting for her. That means my sister and I still have someone connected to her. That is enough."
Caroline slowly lifted her head and looked at him.
Her eyes were red, her face was wet with tears, and her breathing was unsteady, but for the first time since learning his identity, she truly looked at him not as a ghost from the past, not as a miracle she could not believe, but as the nephew standing alive before her.
She saw the shape of Caelira in his face, but she also saw someone different, someone forged by hardship, danger, and a path of his own. He was not the helpless child she had mourned. He had become a young man strong enough to cross Witch God Valley, kill the hunters sent after her, and stand before her with the promise of taking back everything that had been stolen.
"You really are her son," Caroline said, her voice trembling.
Max gave a small smile. "Of course I am."
For some reason, that simple reply made Caroline laugh softly through her tears.
It was a broken laugh, full of pain and relief, but it was still a laugh.
Jessica, standing nearby, lowered her head as tears gathered in her own eyes again. She had never imagined that after all the suffering the third faction had endured, she would one day see Caroline holding Caelira’s son in the middle of Witch God Valley.
Nancy stood quietly beside them, watching the scene with a softened expression, though her eyes still carried worry because she knew this reunion was happening inside one of the most dangerous regions of the Eternal Hourglass.
Caroline slowly released Max, though her hands still rested on his arms as if she needed to confirm he was truly there.
"Your sister," she asked quickly, her voice filled with desperate hope. "She is alive too?"
Max nodded. "Yes. She is alive. And she is also somewhere in the Divine Realm."
Caroline closed her eyes as another tear slipped down her face, but this time, the pain in it was mixed with relief.
"Thank the heavens," she whispered. "Caelira’s children are alive."
Max’s expression became serious again. "For now, yes. But my parents are still missing, and the second faction still has answers I need."
Caroline’s face stiffened.
The warmth of the reunion did not disappear, but the reality of their situation returned like cold water. Seraphine and Fin had been killed, but they had other lives. Lumine and her group had been killed, but they might return.
The second faction was still out there, the Elf Prison still existed, and someone in that faction might even possess the bloodline stolen from Max during the calamity.
Caroline wiped her tears with the back of her hand and forced herself to stand straighter despite her injuries.
"You came to the right place," she said, her voice still weak but firmer than before. "There are things about that night, about your mother, and about the second faction that you need to know."
Max looked at her. "Then tell me."
Caroline glanced toward the deeper mist of Witch God Valley, and her expression became heavy.
"Not here," she said. "This place is not safe. Seraphine and Fin were not the only ones hunting us, and if they revive outside the valley, the second faction will know that you are here."
Max’s gaze turned cold again. "Let them come. I will kill however many comes."
Caroline nodded, then looked at Jessica. "Where are the others?"
Jessica answered quickly, "The four who came with me are injured, but alive. I told them to heal and wait for us."
Caroline let out a faint breath of relief. "Good."
Max glanced between them and then turned his eyes toward the cursed mist ahead.
"Gather everyone," he said calmly. "I believe at the bottom of the Witch God Tree, we will have a grand welcome from the second faction elves."
Jessica nodded.
Caroline looked at Max for a moment, and the emotion in her eyes slowly turned heavy. The joy of discovering that her sister’s children were alive had not disappeared, but it had been buried beneath years of painful memories, old hatred, and truths she had carried alone for far too long.
She took a slow breath, then glanced at the ruined battlefield where Seraphine and Fin had fallen moments ago before her gaze returned to Max.
"In the meantime, let me tell you everything I know," Caroline said.
Max did not speak.
Nancy and Jessica also became silent.
Caroline walked forward slowly, her wounds still glowing faintly beneath the healing light covering her body, while Max moved beside her and listened without interrupting.
The cursed mist drifted around them, the twisted trees of Witch God Valley groaned softly in the distance, and the entire place seemed strangely quiet, as if even the valley itself wanted to hear the truth hidden beneath the calamity that had shattered Caelira’s family.
"Your parents are alive," Caroline said softly.
Max’s steps paused for only the briefest moment.
His face remained calm, but the air around him grew colder.