"Mm." Quentin Lian's eyes were sharp. "I've already had your eldest brother lock up all the servants involved with today's banquet! Go inspect every cup and dish your Mother Goddess used. Let Ryan help out inside the room."
Lucy Luan looked at her mother. She was drenched in sweat, her face an abnormal shade of pale green.
High Goddess Vivian Lu had given birth several times already and was an experienced mother. She sensed something was wrong, clutching Quentin Lian’s hand and asking, "Did I eat something bad?"
Quentin Lian replied, "No, it’s just a premature birth. Calm down and focus on delivering the baby!"
Lucy added, "Mother Goddess, I just checked your pulse—you're fine. Don’t be scared."
Vivian Lu felt a little more at ease and nodded.
Both her Divine Father and little sister were high-level Spiritual Alchemists with plenty of experience. Lucy got up and walked out.
Outside, she ran into a bewildered Ryan and a visibly anxious Tanya Lu.
"What’s wrong with Mother Goddess?" Ryan asked anxiously. "Wasn’t she supposed to have another month? Is this a premature birth?"
Lucy sent him a sound transmission: "She’s been poisoned. I’m going to investigate—you stay here and keep watch. Don’t let anyone, not even Little Aunt Tanya, get close!"
She glanced at Tanya Lu out of the corner of her eye. "Including Little Aunt."
"Poi—Poisoned?" Ryan’s eyes widened in shock. "How could she be poisoned?"
Lucy’s gaze turned icy cold, murderous intent flashing. "I’d like to know that too!"
She returned to the banquet hall and saw her eldest brother Ethan Lu standing there, face dark and grim.
"Big Brother!" Lucy hurried over. "No one’s touched the things Mother used, right?"
Ethan Lu: "No."
Lucy walked over and took out a specially crafted Spirit Artifact to inspect everything.
But none of the utensils or food Mother Goddess used showed any trace of poison.
Careful as ever, Lucy even checked the chair and table her mother sat at—still nothing.
The poison was extremely potent, and couldn’t have been administered before the banquet—it had to have happened just now.
Besides, she and her Divine Father were sitting together at the time. As Spiritual Alchemists, their noses are extremely sensitive to toxins—there’s no way a poisonous gas could have slipped past them without being noticed.
In other words, the poison didn’t enter through her mouth or nose.
So how did she get poisoned?
Lucy found no clues and could only return to the birthing room.
The baby came quickly, let out a single cry, and then fell silent.
Quentin Lian wept as he frantically tried to save her, but it was hopeless.
She died young.
All the poison was drawn into the baby’s body—thankfully, the mother was spared.
When High Goddess Vivian Lu saw her child die, she fainted from grief and shock.
After a frantic round of emergency treatment, they finally managed to stabilize her.
The Divine Race may live long lives, but conceiving a child is no easy feat.
A goddess can only bear a dozen or so children in her entire lifetime at most.
Not much different from short-lived humans.
The next morning, High Goddess Vivian Lu woke up, utterly consumed by grief.
Quentin Lian and the children tried to comfort her, but she sobbed so violently that everyone present was moved to tears.
After crying herself hoarse, Vivian Lu begged Quentin Lian, "Let me see her, just once!"
Quentin Lian frowned and didn’t respond.
"I carried her for eight months," Vivian Lu said. "At least let me see her once before we send her off."
Quentin Lian nodded and went to bring the lifeless child over.
She was fully formed, and even at a glance, you could tell she would have been a beautiful child.
But because of the poison, her whole body was suffused with an unnatural greenish hue.