Shortly after Vivienne Caelestis's Soul Lamp was discovered to be burning with a rekindled fire of life, Vera immediately departed from the Memorial Hall to deliver the news to her Second Sister, Victoria.
"Second Sister, you wouldn't believe what Valerie and I saw in the Memorial Hall," Vera quickly spouted upon arriving at the small pavilion. "Vivienne's Soul Lamp regained its small burning fire of life!"
Crack!
Victoria's ceramic teacup of blue and white suddenly dropped and shattered into countless shards on the hard floor. The shocking news broke Victoria's calmness and shook her heart, causing her to leap to her feet in agitation.
"Is that really true, Third Sister?! Please don't joke with me!" Victoria grabbed Vera's shoulders and asked.
"You should see it for yourself," Vera said with a helpless smile.
She wouldn't joke about such a matter, and she was aware her Second Sister also knew that. As such, her emotions weren't affected by her Second Sister's doubtful words.
After all, anyone else would have reacted the same if they heard their loved one's fire of life rekindled.
Swish!
Victoria vanished without another word and arrived at the Memorial Hall, appearing beside Valerie. Tears ran down her cheeks the moment she confirmed Vivienne's Soul Lamp had rekindled with a small fire of life.
The rekindled fire of life did not indicate her fourth daughter had come back to life. Such a small fire of life did not represent her fourth daughter's life status.
It did, however, represent the life status of Vivienne's offspring.
"It's true…" Victoria wiped her tears of joy and briefly relished in the newfound happiness before her gaze flashed with resolution as she made a decision, "I'll be joining the second team headed for the Black Rose Kingdom."
"Are you going to resume the search again, Second Sister?" Vera asked with concern, having followed Victoria back to the Memorial Hall.
Victoria nodded.
"You already searched for eighteen years without any success. Do you think this time will be any different with the same method?" Vera asked.
"Vivienne's child very likely doesn't have a spatial affinity. Thus, looking for a twenty-year-old child with a space-attribute detector is impossible. Furthermore, we don't know how much time has passed since the fire of life rekindled."
"As such, Vivienne's child could be anywhere. Heck, that child might not even be in the Black Rose Kingdom anymore," Vera added.
"I'm aware of that issue, Third Sister," Victoria acknowledged with a nod before saying, "But no matter what, Vivienne's child is also my grandchild, a direct descendent carrying the blood of the Caelestis family."
"My search will not end until the child is found and brought home to where that child belongs. Perhaps it's also a blessing that Vivienne's child didn't inherit her spatial affinity at birth," Victoria sighed with mixed feelings.
She was partly disappointed that her fourth daughter's child wasn't born with spatial affinity. But at the same time, she was also glad because the child might have been able to survive the outside world thanks to that exact reason.
Not all descendants of the Caelestis bloodline necessarily have to possess a spatial affinity.
However, it was still rare not to inherit it at birth.
After all, there weren't many families with a stronger elemental bloodline than the Caelestis family's spatial bloodline.
As such, Victoria still held onto a small glimmer of hope that the family's spatial attribute detector malfunctioned or it was simply too old and outdated to detect the spatial affinity in her lost grandchild.
Of course, there was also another possibility as to why she failed to find her missing grandchild, even after eighteen years of searching before her grandchild's fire of life suddenly extinguished – the search range was simply too small.
While it was improbable, it wasn't impossible.
It could be that she had missed her missing grandchild every time by searching in the wrong place at the wrong time.
However, there wasn't much she could have done about that.
It was too dangerous for her family, and she would have also brought danger upon her missing grandchild if she had expanded her search. After all, people who wanted them dead would definitely start looking for her missing grandchild as well, and only on a much grander scale.
"Well, I won't stop you, Second Sister. However, you must remember – safety first," Vera reminded solemnly.
"Don't worry, Third Sister. I have a feeling this time will go well," Victoria assured before convincing herself, "This time, I will find my grandchild for sure."
Although it was a mystery why an extinguished fire of life could be rekindled, that was not important.
Her lost grandchild was still alive – that was the most important.
"Right… You have 'that' now," Vera remembered.
Victoria had an obsession with finding her missing grandchild. That led her to develop a Rank 5 Detection Tool that could detect all members with the blood of the Caelestis family and spatial affinity within a ten-kilometer radius.
Although she failed to complete the magic tool before her grandchild's fire of life was extinguished, she was given another chance to finally use it and make up for one of her life's regrets.
"Can I also—?"
"No."
Valerie's request to join her grandmother's trip was quickly denied before she could finish asking. As such, she pouted unhappily.
Nevertheless, she didn't dwell on it.
After all, they already had this conversation regarding her permission to venture outside. She already knew the answer but still wanted to try her luck again.
That said, having listened in on her two grandmothers' conversation, she finally learned the meaning behind the small fire on life inside her Fourth Aunt's Soul Lamp.
Since the person was only one year older than her, which was very close to her age compared to everyone else, she quickly developed a strong curiosity toward this cousin, whom she suddenly had and never met.
'I wonder if my cousin outside is a boy or a girl?' Valerie silently wondered.
She also wondered what her cousin looked like and what kind of person her cousin had become growing up outside the territory.
If her cousin was a girl, they could become best friends.
But if it was a boy…
'Well, I'll have to see what he's like first,' Valerie thought. They couldn't be friends if her cousin were a perverted man.
While Valerie was having her own thoughts, Victoria had already bid her farewell to Vera before ripping open the space.
'Wait for me, my grandchild. I will definitely find you and bring you home this time!' Victoria vowed as she slipped inside the ripped space and disappeared.
Without parents or the family's support, her grandchild would have suffered a lot while growing up outside the territory.
Even now, her grandchild must still be suffering!