Chapter 424

Edmund studied Evelyn's face carefully. "Harrison likely came to the same conclusion. Had he known about Ms. Isabella's daughter, he would have claimed you immediately. Harrison isn't foolish - he understands the left-wing faction might exploit your connection."

Evelyn's eyes widened momentarily before recalling Harrison's chilling words to her.

"You're Isabella's child, so I won't harm you personally during my vengeance against the Goldmanns. But I can't speak for others."

Those "others" clearly meant the radical leftists.

A sudden realization struck Evelyn after a prolonged silence. She met Edmund's gaze steadily. "There's something else I need to know."

Edmund raised an eyebrow as she asked calmly, "Was my mother's illness connected to that virus?"

The atmosphere in the study turned glacial.

After what felt like an eternity, Edmund lowered his eyes and murmured, "Yes."

His gaze drifted toward the window. "She contracted a rare dormant strain linked to the pandemic three decades prior. Your mother was among those infected."

"The outbreak thirty years ago?" Evelyn whispered, pieces clicking together from the reports she'd seen.

Edmund recognized the futility of concealment now that she'd become a target. As long as Evelyn remained in Stoslo, danger would follow.

"Your mother volunteered during the crisis. Hundreds were infected in Cornelia then, though it wasn't the initial outbreak. Besides the princess incident, the epidemic thirty years back was the second major occurrence."

Evelyn gasped. "The princess was—"

Edmund nodded grimly. "Do you honestly believe the royal family would announce their princess died from a virus?"

The answer was obvious.

With the princess infected, the palace had claimed she succumbed to natural illness.

Evelyn fell silent. Though born years after these events, she'd studied this history. The princess's epidemic had been far deadlier than the later outbreak, wiping out nearly half of Stoslo's population. Over 390,000 lives lost—truth would have sparked chaos.

The later outbreak infected a thousand, with only a dozen fatalities thanks to advanced treatments.

Public records claimed the epidemic's containment resulted from a vaccine breakthrough. During the princess's era, no such remedy existed.

"But if there was a vaccine, why couldn't my mother—"

"It controlled symptoms but couldn't cure," Edmund interrupted. "The dormant virus shows no early signs, like rabies. Both have year-long incubation periods. Early vaccine administration could suppress it, allowing potential recovery."

"So my mother..." Evelyn's voice faltered.

Edmund answered quietly, "Your mother discovered her infection a year post-outbreak. She sought Sebastian in Morwich—only he possessed a solution. Without that journey, she wouldn't have survived long enough to bear you. Sebastian maintained viral suppression and developed an antiserum."