Kiernan silently walked down a hallway, but he then grabbed his suit jacket and ripped it apart before tossing it aside like trash.
'I now know what happened. Bella had two options: kill the baby or leave it to Karma. She decided on the latter. I don't know how to feel.'
He was walking in an empty hallway only a moment ago, but then he saw Nevaeh, the sister of Bella, leaning against the wall while tapping her right foot against the ground.
She didn't have her baby with her.
Kiernan wanted to ignore her and just walk straight past her, but then he heard her speak.
"Did your meeting go well?" Nevaeh looked over. "With my sister?"
"You knew?" Kiernan asked.
"I saw you talk with my sister. I then saw her leave, and shortly after, you left in the same direction, and then I saw my father follow after you."
"It must've been an eventful one, right?"
"That's one way to describe it." Kiernan said and walked past her. "Anyways, I gotta leave."
"Are you sure?" Nevaeh asked with a smile. "This might be your last chance to know more about Bella."
Kiernan frowned and looked at her. "Why would you want to tell me anything?"
"Why wouldn't I, my dear nephew?" Nevaeh said with a giggle and opened the door beside her. "Come in—I'll tell you everything you might want to know."
"You heard the conversation." Kiernan said. "How? You weren't there."
"Hehe." Nevaeh lifted her hand, and a short-winged pigeon landed on her hand. "This is my martial ability—Pigeon Summon—I hear and see everything my pigeon does.
"None of you saw it, but my pigeon was there, perched on top of a tree. I heard everything perfectly~"
Kiernan entered the room. It was a dark room. Nevaeh flicked the lightswitch and saw the room fill with light.
It was an empty room as if this one had never been used before.
Nevaeh closed the door behind her.
"So, what do you have to say?" Kiernan asked.
"First of all—your name," Nevaeh said. "Kiernan—did you know that Bella chose that name for you?"
"Huh?" Kiernan looked surprised. "I didn't know about that."
"When Bella took you to your father, she wrapped a cute necklace around your neck. It had your name engraved on it. You never saw that necklace anywhere?"
"No, never heard of it." Kiernan said with a frown.
"My sister is a very cold woman." Nevaeh said suddenly. "She usually doesn't care about anyone, but suddenly she seemed to care for you.
"Even gave you regenerative medicine. It's rare for her to do something like that, and she didn't even know you were her son.
"However, I might know why she did that.
"It's because your age resembles that of her son, and your name—Kiernan—is the exact same. She probably thought about her son when she was looking at you.
"To her surprise, you were actually her son!"
"Whew…" Kiernan took a deep breath. "Your father really told her to kill me?"
"Yes…" Nevaeh said. "Bella was supposed to marry this up-and-coming navy officer. According to our father, he was supposed to become an important and influential figure in the future.
"Thus, to have him support in a form of marriage was important. Bella was greatly opposed to that idea and thus did something that shocked us all.
"She gave up her virginity to some nobody. Luckily for that nobody, he left the island before our father found him.
"The marriage fell apart immediately.
"Father was furious, of course.
"He grounded Bella, and we thought that's the end of it, but oh boy, we were in for a surprise when her belly started to grow, and she started to feel sick.
"Still furious and feeling betrayed, our father wanted her to abort the baby. She was sent to the best abortion clinic in World Seas.
"However, she then went missing. She disappeared. She came back about ten months later, carrying a baby in her arms.
"Sweet Bella thought that our father's anger had lessened, but it hadn't. He ordered her to kill the baby.
"Thus, she traveled to Irio and handed the baby to your father. She came back to Nightingale without the baby. Some thought that she really killed the baby, but I never did."
"Bella told you all of this?" Kiernan asked.
"We're close." Nevaeh said. "I've kept her secrets with me."
"Your father didn't kill me now." Kiernan said. "Is he looking for a better time to strike? When I am in some dark alleyway, he will ambush me and stick a knife into my heart?"
Nevaeh giggled and shook her head. "No, he's not like that. Your life will be safe. However, you cannot stay on this island any longer."
"Yeah…" Kiernan nodded with a sigh.
"I always wondered what kind of man Bella slept with." Nevaeh said. "Bella said that she just chose a random person from the bar, but I was always curious."
Nevaeh then touched Kiernan's cheek and smiled.
"She sure gave birth to a beautiful boy. I am sure she was happy to see you, so I am thankful for you coming all the way here, it must not have been easy."
"Yeah…" Kiernan opened the door and said. "I must get going now. Take care."
"I don't think this will be the last time you will hear from Bella." Nevaeh said with a wink. "Keep an eye out for pigeons. They might be carrying a message once or twice."
"Uh. Alright?" Kiernan nodded and then left.
Nevaeh left the room as well, headed in the other direction, and soon walked past the courtyard. There was no one there. She kept moving and soon arrived by Bella's room.
She heard the sound of sobbing inside.
Nevaeh opened the door and saw Bella lying flat on her stomach on the bed, her face inside the pillow, crying her eyes out.
"Oh, Bella." Nevaeh sat by the bed, putting her hand on Bella's back, and said. "I happened to meet with your son."
Bella looked away from the pillow, her eyes red and puffy.
"Mm~" Nevaeh nodded. "Strong and gorgeous boy. You must be proud."
Bella bit her lip and turned around to lie on her back, the tears still falling from her eyes.
"The last thing I told him was that I am not her mother. And now he's gone. I might never see him again."
"You can still talk to him, my dear sister." Nevaeh wiped her tears with her thumb and summoned a pigeon from her hand. "I can always send a message on your behalf."
"You will do that to me?" Bella asked with teary eyes.
"Of course~" Nevaeh put her finger on her lips. "Father will never find out."