Rufus patted me tentatively on the shoulder.
“Stop crying. We will find Beryl, I promise.”
“Of course…”
I pressed my hand against my mouth, but the tears just wouldn’t stop.
“Sorry, I just can’t control] myself.”
“It’s all right. I’m worried myself, and I just don’t show it. If I were in your shoes, I would have probably bawled harder than you.”
I closed my eyes and wrinkled my nose.
Rufus had always been clumsy when it came to comforting others.
It seemed that that hadn’t changed at all. I opened my eyes to his embarrassed face.
“Look, don’t cry anymore, okay? It’s all my fault. I didn’t look after Beryl properlynovelebook. That little kid calls me Daddy. The least that I should do is protect her, but I failed. I even lost her.”
He took out a handkerchief from his pocket and held it out, like he was about to wipe my tears.
But he hesitated at the last moment, and his hand remained up in the air.
If I didn’t know any better, I would think that he was afraid of offending me.
I smiled despite myself.
I smiled despite myself.
I took mercy on him and plucked the handkerchief from his fingers, and -hen dabbed at my tears with it.
I figured I should comfort him as well, and I was about to do just that when something else occurred to me.
That cryptic message from last night. I shot a look at Rufus.
“I received a strange message last night from an unknown number.
Whoever it was seemed to be targeting me.
They must have something to do with Beryl’s disappearance.”
Crystal’s POV
“What did it say?” Rufus asked, turning serious now.
I lied without missing a beat.
That message had called me by my original name. Rufus must not see it, no matter what, or things would only get even more complicated.
“Do you still remember what it said?” Rufus frowned, his eyes never leaving my face.
I nodded. “I didn’t recognize the number, and I have no idea who the sender might be. But whoever it was, they knew my name and made some threats. They even mentioned Beryl.”
“Do you think you can recall the phone number?” Rufus asked, never doubting my words for one second. “I can have someone trace its IP address.”
“Yes, I remember. ” I had pored over that message repeatedly last night, unable to sleep. Naturally, I had come to memorize the cursed number.
I cited the numbers without batting an eye, only for Rufus to hold up his hand. “Too fast, I didn’t catch it.”
“Huh?” I frowned in confusion. This man had a photographic memory. How could he have missed a short series of digits?
Nonplussed, Rufus took out his phone and handed it to me. “Add me on your contact list and send me the number.”
For one brief moment, I found myself at a loss. What was he up to? But our priority was to find Beryl, so I quickly swapped our contact details on our phones and sent him the mysterious number.
Rufus then turned his back to me and made a few phone calls. When he faced me again, we finally had results. “The IP address was traced back to the imperial palace, and it was last active in. the forbidden forest.”
His face turned dark as he spoke, and I knew that my expression mirrored his.
“Let’s go there right now. ” Without a moment to lose, Rufus barked at his men, and we all headed to the forbidden forest.
The place was shrouded with a foreboding aura, just as it had always been. The only difference I could tell was that the woods seemed to be denser, and a veil of mist hovered among the branches. Rufus divided his men into several groups before sending them out to search the forest.
I was left with Rufus. We walked side by side, our senses keenly attuned to our surroundings.
Perhaps Rufus and Beryl had a special connection, after all, because he strode straight in a certain direction like a homing missile set on its course.
We went deeper into the woods, where the sky turned darker, and the ground beneath us was covered with thick moss so green, it was almost black. If we weren’t careful, the moss could swallow our feet whole.
Twigs and vines intertwined on massive tree trunks in a strange, almost symmetrical pattern.
Although it wasn’t my first time coming to the forbidden forest, I was still as creeped out as any newcomer would be.
I sneaked a glance at Rufus. Sure enough, he was calm and focused, like he already knew where he was going.
Soon, the scenery around us became more familiar. I didn’t realize until then that Rufus had brought us to the spot where Noreen was buried; we had just taken a different path.
In the distance stood a tall, prominent tree, and I recognized it immediately. This was how Laura and I remembered the spot we chose to bury Noreen.
Rufus turned to me and said, “Beryl is probably over there.”
My heart sank. He moved forward, and I trailed behind him. My own intuition told me that Beryl was indeed there.
My mind had gone blank, but I preferred it that way. I didn’t dare to think about anything else beyond finding my daughter. My heart picked up its pace as we drew closer to the tree, until it was hammering so fast inside my chest that I could hardly breathe.
I couldn’t feel the ground beneath me. It felt as though I was floating, untethered to any semblance of reality.
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