Elliana clutched her baby girl closer, her arms forming a shield around the tiny body. Nothing disgusted her more than watching Maxine’s hungry eyes devour her daughter. This was the precious life she had nearly died bringing into the world—and no one possessed the authority to steal her away.
Right now, Maxine teetered on death’s edge, yet her gaze remained locked on the baby girl. A savage impulse flickered through Elliana’s mind: she could send Maxine straight to her grave right then and there.
A string of broken sighs escaped Maxine’s lips as she shook her head.
“I’ve failed every ancestor who built the Griffiths legacy. I’ve abandoned the wisdom passed down by those who came before me. The family crumbles now, destroyed by my own failures—I deserve to die a thousand times over.” She raised her tear-stained face toward Elliana.
“Please, I’m begging you, take the Sovereign’s Orb and stand as the temporary leader of the Griffiths family. When your daughter grows strong enough, you can transfer the power to her. Could you grant me this? If you accept, I’ll reveal every secret you’ve spent years hunting about your mother.”
Despite Maxine’s desperation, Elliana’s face remained frozen in an icy, impenetrable mask. The others remained equally unmoved. Those tears sprang from Maxine’s bitterness at being reduced to this point—they earned no sympathy.
Only Aubrie wept. She and Maxine had been raised together, once bound tightly. Their entire generation had absorbed the Griffiths family’s tradition, each one carrying the crushing weight of the duty to preserve the family’s glory.
Even after Maxine had imprisoned her in a dungeon for years, abandoning her to endless torment, Aubrie still couldn’t stomach watching their bloodline vanish forever. Miguel had already demolished their core base—ripping the very heart out of their family—and nothing remained. The Griffiths family had breathed its last.
Maxine had burned her final reserves of strength to flee the underground ruins and track down Elliana. This was her last desperate wager, gambling that Elliana’s hunger to discover her mother’s origins would prove powerful enough to make her accept the Sovereign’s Orb and prevent the Griffiths’ name from dissolving into forgotten history.
Through a veil of tears, Aubrie watched Elliana, silently praying she would agree, though she understood she had forfeited any right to ask.
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Elliana didn’t reach for the Sovereign’s Orb. Her refusal emerged calm and measured.
“I carry no Griffiths blood. I possess neither the right nor the reason to”
“to lead your family. If I claimed this Sovereign’s Orb, my authority would be hollow, and no one would acknowledge me. You’ll need to search elsewhere.”
Maxine’s strength drained visibly from her body. She swayed, her voice fading to barely a whisper.
“Elliana, even if Griffiths blood doesn’t run through your veins, it flows through your husband’s—and through your daughter’s. Please, shoulder this burden just temporarily. Do it for their sake.”
“My husband wants nothing to do with the Griffiths family, and my daughter never will,” Elliana answered, each word coated in frost.
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