Serena had no idea what Prince Nolan and the elder discussed, but afterwards, that Assassin Alliance elder kept trying to make conversation and get close to her.
That fierce, intimidating face tried—and failed—to pull off a friendly smile. Even his rough, gruff voice softened a little as he kept trying to bond with Serena, nearly scaring her out of her skin.
As someone hunted by the Assassin Alliance, Serena found herself seriously unnerved facing one of their top elders—especially when he acted so friendly toward her. That only made her more anxious.
Serena didn’t want the elder to notice her nerves, so she did her best to look calm and collected. But inside, her mind was a tangled mess—answering his questions while constantly wondering what he was really after.
After rambling on about nothing important for a while, the elder finally started asking about Serena’s parents. When he heard she barely remembered them, a flash of disappointment crossed his eyes.
“You really don’t remember anything? Did your father never tell you anything?” The elder looked at her with such hope that Serena almost felt bad saying no.
But the truth was, she genuinely didn’t.
“I was barely five when my father died—he fell on the battlefield. I didn’t even get to see him one last time.” In other words, even if he’d wanted to tell her something, he never got the chance.
“Did your father leave anything for you?” The elder wouldn’t give up. The longer he spent with Serena, the more convinced he became that she was connected to that clan.
But unfortunately, he was just a collateral branch member, always busy managing affairs outside, so he couldn’t be sure.
The elder silently resolved that, once he returned, he would write to the hidden clan members and have them send someone to verify things.
"My house was stripped bare. Even if there was anything, it was all taken away." Was it theft or just looting? After her parents died, the servants in the Feng Manor saw that the young mistress was just a child who didn’t understand the world, so they bullied her and, within half a year, emptied the entire manor.
The elder sighed, "I didn’t expect you to suffer so much at such a young age."
He asked for a long time but got nothing useful, and with his own calculations in mind, he stopped questioning Serena, just lowered his head, lost in thought.
Serena finally relaxed, walked over to Prince Nolan, and secretly wondered if her father had any surviving relatives—could they be connected to the Assassin Alliance? If that were true...
Then this world would be very small indeed.
Serena kept mulling over the elder's words. She wanted to ask Prince Nolan, but with the elder right there—and not believing Prince Nolan knew anything anyway—she decided against it.
Besides, she never planned to rely on her father’s clan for support. Whether she had relatives or not didn’t matter to her anymore—she was past the age of needing family to help her.
The three of them, each lost in thought, continued forward in silence. Because they were all preoccupied, the elder and Prince Nolan didn’t walk as fast, so Serena could keep up without difficulty.
After a day’s journey, by dusk, the three had crossed the woods and reached the other side. Here, they no longer needed to worry about Southlyn’s people catching up.
"Let's rest for the night. Tomorrow, we'll meet up with Doudou."
Neither Serena nor the elder objected to Prince Nolan's arrangements.
By rights, the elder should have left at this point, but for reasons unknown, he kept following them. Serena and Prince Nolan didn't question it—after all, they'd just been saved by him, and couldn't simply discard their rescuer once he'd served his purpose.
That night, Serena lay in bed, turning over the elder's words from earlier. The more she thought, the more confused she felt. Seeing that Prince Nolan was still awake, she rolled over and half-climbed onto him.
"What's wrong?" Prince Nolan lay flat, letting Serena rest comfortably atop him, his hands circling her waist and their legs intertwined.
They didn't do anything beyond this, but the posture was intimate enough. Still, their eyes were clear—there was nothing more to it.
"I was wondering if my father had some connection to the Assassin Alliance." Serena rested her chin on Prince Nolan's chest.
"Why would you think that?"
"Didn't you hear what Doudou's master asked me today? Every question was probing into my family—especially about my father."
"I heard it. I asked him myself long ago what he wanted to do, and he said he wouldn’t kill you. After that, he even tried to fish for information about you from me." Prince Nolan spoke lightly, turning the elder’s earlier probing into a one-sided curiosity.
"Weird. Why would he want to know about me? If he wanted to kill me, there’s no need to check my family background for eight generations." The Feng family doesn’t even have eight generations—she doesn’t even know where her grandfather is.
Prince Nolan glanced at Serena’s confused face, a hint of cunning flashing in his eyes, and teased, "Maybe he wants to arrange a marriage for you. Usually, when an old man asks about a young lady’s family, that’s what he has in mind."
He’d meant it as a joke, but Serena took it seriously: "You might be right. I’m probably just overthinking things—getting all mystical about my background. I already have an extraordinary mother from the Lu pirate clan; how likely is it that I’d also have an extraordinary father? If that were true, I’d be way too legendary."
Rather than dwell on unrealistic things, Serena would rather think about how to keep the Feng family alive.
For the sake of the Feng family, maybe she should have a child sooner rather than later. Otherwise, if the Feng family dies out, it will truly become extinct.
As a Chinese woman, Serena was deeply protective of her family name. The child didn’t have to be a boy, but they must be able to carry on the Feng surname.
In her previous life, she was an orphan, nothing much to say. Now, she had a family and a surname; of course she had to pass it on. She couldn’t let the Feng family die out in her hands.
"You’re already extraordinary. If you had a distinguished father, it wouldn’t be surprising. Maybe your father really is connected to the Assassin Alliance." Prince Nolan recalled his earlier suspicions and silently resolved to investigate the Assassin Alliance and those old monsters when they returned.
"That’s impossible." Serena didn’t believe it at all. "If my father really had ties to the Assassin Alliance, he wouldn’t have died so miserably back then."