In another part of the mansion at the hospital wing, Iris opened her reddened eyes and finally seemed to have regained her full consciousness.
She turned her head to the side and saw her husband sleeping while sitting on a chair with his head on her bed. Their hands were clasped together. He looked so uncomfortable that it made her heart ache.
She shifted to take a closer look at him but her movement alerted him. He awoke with a start. His first concern was her condition as always.
"Love, how are you feeling?" he asked while already checking her temperature with the back of his hand.
She smiled. "I'm fine. How are the twins?"
He paused.
"You haven't checked on them?" she asked, frowning.
He didn't answer.
She sighed but didn't bother scolding him. She had already long known that she was her husband's first priority always. It was a good thing that they were both privileged to have trustworthy people who could watch over their babies in their stead.
"Little Mochi and Little Matcha must be missing us, their mom and dad," she said. "Ketchup."
"Here, Mommy! The cute and mighty Ketchup is here! Meow~"
"How are your twin baby brothers?"
"Little Baby Mochi and Little Baby Matcha have been crying for almost the entire day! They only stop crying when they get tired or hungry. Oh, my poor baby brothers! Ketchup feels so sad for them! Meowuwuwu!"
Iris' heart ached after hearing how her twin babies missed her and their dad. Jin Liwei also looked pained.
"Go check on our babies first, darling," she told him.
"I don't want to leave you alone."
"I won't be alone. I have Ketchup and the doctor does regular checks on me. Please, darling. I'm fine now. Our babies need you more."
Jin Liwei's mouth pressed into a thin line but he still nodded.
"Thank you, Liwei."
He stroked her head. "Are you really okay?"
She knew that he wasn't asking about her physical condition but about her emotional state after what happened last night. The bombshell that her big brother dropped last night was too gigantic. She needed time to process it.
"Go check on our babies first," she could only say to her husband. "We'll…talk about the other thing later."
He studied her expression for a few more moments before nodding again. "Alright."
After he left, Dom soon came to replace him. Jin Liwei didn't want her to be alone for too long.
Dom's lively chatter made Iris temporarily forget about last night's shocking bombshell. The best friends chatted while Dom helped her eat some freshly cooked rice porridge.
Afterwards, Dom left the room to give her privacy while she pumped milk. The female doctor accompanied her instead while also checking her condition.
"How long do I need to stay here in the hospital wing?" Iris asked.
"Young Madam's condition has now stabilized," the doctor replied. "But I want you to stay here for another night for additional monitoring just to make sure that everything is really fine."
Iris sighed. "I understand. I just miss my babies so much."
The doctor smiled in understanding. "I know, Young Madam. But please don't worry. Your mother-in-law and the others are taking great care of the two little masters. They're in good hands."
When the doctor left with the newly-pumped breast milk, Dom also returned.
"I'm going to take a nap, Dom."
"Go ahead, Boss. Don't mind me. I'll just quietly do some work here."
With that, Iris closed her eyes but she didn't fall asleep right away. She continued thinking about everything that happened.
Saying that last night was a huge shock was an understatement.
Hearing from her own brother's mouth that her corpse, Evelina Vetrova's dead body, was still being kept by other people like some kind of a rare collectible creeped her out to no end. It disgusted her!
What kind of sick people would do that? Did they treat her corpse as a prize of war after claiming victory for annihilating the Vetrovs?
Although she didn't want to care about her old body especially now that she was living a happy life as Long Xiulan, she couldn't help but feel violated. Try as she might not to let it affect her, rage started bubbling inside her.
She had no idea what the enemies did to her body. She didn't want to think about it because she might literally choke from fury.
If that was what those sick people did to her body when she wasn't even an active member in the Vetrov organization, then she could only imagine what kind of horror the bodies of her parents and brother received.
This…was unforgivable.
The Vetrovs were not saints. Many had called them the Devils on Earth for many generations.
Their downfall could only be considered as retribution for all the sins they committed.
Before last night, Iris had believed that the Vetrovs—all of them, including her—deserved being wiped out from the face of the planet.
Now, however, she found herself changing her way of thinking.
Yes, the Vetrovs were evil. That was a fact.
But were the forces who partook in their annihilation the saviours of humanity? They might have done a good deed by erasing a big source of evil from the world, but did they deserve all the righteous praise and glory?
Profitting off the Vetrovs' treasures and resources after the powerhouse's downfall was understandable. It was common sense in war.
She wasn't expecting for the enemies to give the Vetrovs a proper burial or anything like that after killing them all off. However, she found it unacceptable that her body and who knew if the bodies of her parents and her brother's or other important figures in the Vetrov organization had also been collected and were still being kept by the enemies until this day.
For her, this was desecration of the dead.
Yes, the Vetrovs were evil but the forces that annihilated them weren't any different.
Iris opened her eyes. They flashed with contempt.
Fine, if her past life refused to let her go in peace, then she could only face it head on and use her own strength to break all of the chains holding her back one by one.
