Chapter 404 A Gift for Soraya
Several days later.
When Zara came out of her room after waking up, Karen immediately shoved a package in front of her.
"Zara, someone sent Soraya something!"
"Soraya?" Zara took the box from her and looked it over.
She used her senses to make sure it contained nothing dangerous.
Still, the fact that the package was addressed to Soraya was strange.
Who would send anything to a three-year-old?
The package was about the size of a shoebox, though it clearly did not contain shoes. Zara could not find any information about the sender, so she carried it into Soraya's room.
"Soraya, someone sent you a package."
Soraya walked over, her little face turning serious with curiosity. "What is it?"
"Want me to open it?"
"Go ahead."
Zara opened the shipping box and found an exquisitely wrapped gift box inside.
The moment she lifted the lid, a rich floral fragrance drifted into the air. Inside were several brightly colored glass bottles, each containing flowers that gave off a faint glow.
There was also a pure white feather in the box.
When Zara picked it up, she noticed a small line of writing across it.
[These used to be your favorite flowers.]
Zara fell silent.
Cyranth was heading into some seriously questionable territory here.
The moment Zara saw that the package was for Soraya, she knew it had come from Cyranth.
Cyranth might have gone off to search for Soraya's spirit, but that did not mean he had stopped thinking about her.
Now, at last, he had made some kind of gesture.
Soraya's little face remained solemn. "Throw it away."
Zara fell silent. "Wouldn't that be a little rude?"
Soraya clearly did not care.
Cyranth could hardly expect a three-year-old child to understand longing or nostalgia.
The box contained nothing besides the glass bottles.
Even with the lids sealed tightly, they gave off an unusual fragrance. The flowers inside were orange and blue, clearly a species that did not exist on Earth.
They resembled lilies, but a faint azure glow shimmered across their petals like fireflies.
Zara opened one of the bottles.
A rich fragrance instantly filled the entire room.
It was remarkably strong, yet not overpowering. Instead, it was so intoxicating that one could not help wanting to breathe it in again.
The scent was incredibly refined, more natural and luxurious than even the finest perfume.
One flower could probably perfume an entire neighborhood.
Zara clicked her tongue. "With a fragrance like this, these flowers would sell for a fortune."
And they were beautiful too.
The glowing petals did violate just about every law of science on Earth, though.
Soraya did not seem impressed. She merely regarded the flowers with complete indifference.
"They're for you," Zara said. "Why don't you keep them in your room?"
Soraya turned away. "I don't know why, but I think they're ugly. Throw them out."
Zara fell silent.
Children's minds truly were impossible to understand.
Soraya supposedly had no memory of her past, yet Cyranth had said these were once her favorite flowers.
Then again, it had been more than a thousand years.
Perhaps her tastes had changed.
"Throwing them away would be such a waste. I'll put them in the living room instead."
Zara had no idea how the flowers were supposed to be stored, so she casually placed one bottle on top of the refrigerator and another in the kitchen. She scattered the rest around the corners of the living room.
The fragrance was strong but never irritating. In fact, the longer she breathed it in, the clearer her mind seemed to become.
Anything Cyranth sent had to be valuable.
Zara understood that much perfectly well.
She still handed the white feather to Soraya. "Keep this with you. It'll be good for you."
Apparently, Cyranth was no miser. The feather he had given Lucian last time had been a life-bound feather, and now he had casually sent another one.
Did these things grow on trees?
******
Zara received an urgent call from Lucian's secretary, whose voice sounded unusually tense.
Lucian had collapsed again.
By the time Zara reached the hospital, he had already regained consciousness after emergency treatment. The doctors, however, still could not find anything wrong with him.
Zara let out a sigh. "I think I need to talk to my dad."
Lucian frowned. "What for?"
"I honestly don't know what's happening to your body, but I have a feeling he might know something. I need to ask him."
Lucian fell silent.
After a while, he spoke in a slightly hoarse voice.
"Wouldn't my death be good news for you? Don't worry. I won't donate my fortune. But if anything happens to me, Martin Family Group will be in your hands. If I lose my spirit, only Uncle Robert will be able to help you run it."
After all, his parents had built the company from the ground up, and Lucian was hardly selfless enough to give it all away.
A corporation that large was not something he could simply donate on a whim.
He could give away his personal fortune, but the company itself would continue to exist.
No one else in the Martin family was fit to inherit it. At least Zara would still have Robert to guide her.
"What kind of nonsense are you talking about?"
Zara raised her voice. Her thoughts were in turmoil, but all she said was, "I only like spending money. Even when I make money, I earn it using my own abilities. I have absolutely no interest in running your company. It's too much trouble, so manage it yourself."
She continued, "We're nowhere near that point yet. You just passed out. There has to be a reason, and once we find it, we'll deal with it."
She added, "Since when does fainting mean you're going to die?"
"It's hard to say," Lucian replied.
His mood had clearly darkened. "I keep feeling like something inside me is separating from my body. It's happening slowly, but I have this sense that once it's completely gone, I'll die."
He did not know whether it had anything to do with the half-wing hidden inside him. He could not see the wing himself.
It had only appeared twice, both times when he was in immediate danger. The rest of the time, it showed no reaction whatsoever.
Even so, Lucian could feel it slowly pulling away from him.
He had no idea why.