Future Beast World: Becoming A Pampered Beauty-Chapter 333 - 272: Unexpected Visitor

Sang Luo had eaten some bread earlier, so she wasn’t very hungry. After eating a palm-sized egg toast and half a portion of cold beef salad, she was so full she burped.

Minos pulled the remaining half of the beef salad in front of him and ate it leisurely.

"Reporting to Your Highness, the noble female Anano has come to visit."

Someone announced from outside the door.

’Who’s Anano?’

Sang Luo didn’t know this person. She glanced suspiciously at Minos. After all she’d been through, she subconsciously assumed this was another childhood sweetheart or old flame, though she had never heard of the Saint Heir having any lovers.

Minos set down his silver fork and said unhurriedly, "Aunt Anano has time to go out today. It seems her illness is mostly under control. Please, have her come in for a chat."

"Your aunt? What kind of illness does she have?" Sang Luo asked curiously.

Minos gave her a meaningful look, keeping her in suspense. "You’ll know when she gets here in a moment. It might even have something to do with you."

When Sang Luo saw Anano approach, she froze for a moment, almost thinking she was seeing things.

She had long, wavy golden hair and rose-pink eyes. Upon closer inspection, she wasn’t that young anymore—she looked to be in her thirties—but at first glance, she gave off an impression of youthful beauty. However, she was wearing a black, form-fitting fishtail gown that didn’t quite match her style, making her seem overly somber and solemn.

’Isn’t this... a middle-aged, high-fashion version of Sophie Asate?!’

If Sang Luo hadn’t known for a fact that Sophie Asate was dead, she would have truly thought she was meeting her again. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Of course, after staring blankly for two seconds, Sang Luo quickly put it together. Sophie Asate herself was an artificially created female, a replica made by Egarli Yalan using genes left behind by the late Queen of the Empire before her death. Therefore, her appearance was almost a perfect inheritance from the late Queen. That made the identity of the female before her self-evident. It was impossible for two people in the world to look so alike.

The late Queen who was long rumored to be dead, Anano Iyar.

She was alive and well.

’So there was a hidden story back then,’ she thought. ’Egarli Yalan had deceived the entire world.’

"Aunt, has your health been better these days?" Minos asked.

"Yes, much better," Anano replied with an indifferent nod, her eyes betraying little emotion.

Anano didn’t look at Minos. From the moment she entered, her eyes had been fixed squarely on Sang Luo. It was obvious she had come to see her.

’Anano is Duotu’s biological Beast Mother. Is she here to test me because of that connection?’

"Saint Heir, may I have a private word with the Holy Consort?" Anano said, sitting down across from Sang Luo.

Minos looked at Sang Luo. "Aunt Anano has something to say to you. You probably want to know about this matter as well."

"...Alright. As it happens, I also have some questions for the late Queen. Lord Minos, could you give us some space?"

Hearing her playful form of address, a hint of a smile flashed in Minos’s eyes. He nodded. "I’ll be in the study for a while. I happen to have some matters to attend to. I’ll come back later."

"Okay."

Minos left.

Sang Luo turned to Anano, adopting Minos’s form of address. "I wonder what Aunt wanted to talk about?"

Anano’s gaze rested on her for a long time before she finally said, "That cub... he actually looks a lot like you."

"..." A lump formed in Sang Luo’s throat. She knew Anano was talking about the little lion, Hephis.

’She couldn’t really tell who a cub that hadn’t transformed yet resembled, but she had always assumed they would favor the Beast Father more. So the little lion actually looked more like her?’

"It seems Aunt Anano knows about it."

"Yes."

Another moment of silence passed between them.

Sang Luo, however, wasn’t in a hurry. She poured a cup of coffee for each of them.

Anano didn’t drink hers. She stared down at the floor, her eyes slightly unfocused, lost in thought. Then, she suddenly said, "My sister and I were very close."

’Huh?’

Sang Luo’s hand paused. ’What does she mean by that?’

Anano seemed to sink into a long-forgotten memory. "My sister and I were the only two female Pure-blood Angels in the Angel Clan. We were showered with glory and adoration from a young age. Later, my sister became pregnant, and I was overjoyed for her. She gave birth to the Angel Clan’s only Divine Angel descendant in tens of thousands of years. I should have shared in her joy, but I never imagined that gestating a child with such high talent would be so dangerous... that it could even... cost a life!"

Sang Luo froze. She saw Anano’s fingers tighten around the rim of her cup, her expression turning to one of terror. "I witnessed the entire process of my sister dying in childbirth!"

She shook her head, her breathing growing ragged. "Every time I think of that scene, I’m too terrified to sleep. I refused to see any of the male Angels who pursued me, rejected all their advances, and even gradually distanced myself from my Angel Clan partner, the one I grew up with..."

"The Holy Hall demanded that I bear children for the Angel Clan, but I didn’t want to give birth to a Pure-blood Angel child... Later, I represented the Holy Hall to crown the new Monarch of the Yalan Empire. That’s when I met him—Egarli Yalan."

"..."

"Egarli Yalan fell in love with me at first sight during the coronation ceremony and began to pursue me intensely. And he... he was my compromise. If I was with him, the child we conceived wouldn’t have such high talent. I wouldn’t have to be afraid of losing my life for a child!"

Sang Luo said nothing, quietly listening to Anano’s outpouring. "Later, after I successfully gave birth, I wanted to take the child and leave the Empire to return to the Holy Land. But he... he became like a different person. To possess me forever, he imprisoned me in the palace! I could never leave!"

"Metheus came looking for me, wanting to rescue me, but I never expected him to fall victim to Egarli Yalan’s slander and wicked schemes! It was only then that I realized how terrifying and vicious that Male Beast was! So scheming and cunning!"

"He had put on such a good disguise before. He forged my name to make Metheus lower his guard and then murdered him... He killed my most beloved partner..."

"I hate him! I hate him! I even resent the child I had with him. I wish he and that child would just die!"

"The entire Yalan family line is just as despicable! You... you shouldn’t make the same mistake I did and propagate the bloodline for his family..."

"That child is no good either... That little lion is no good! They’re no good..."

"They all deserve to die!"

As Anano spoke, her voice grew louder and she began to rave incoherently. She knocked something off the table, nearly scalding herself with the hot coffee. Sang Luo rushed forward, grabbed her, and used her spiritual power to calm her down before helping her to the bed to rest.

Sang Luo didn’t like to use her spiritual power to probe the memories of others, but this time, she whispered an apology to the unconscious Anano on the bed as her faint purple spiritual power slowly seeped into her sea of consciousness.

Sang Luo closed her eyes. Countless doors appeared in her mind.

These were Anano’s doors of memory, constructed from spiritual power.

Each door represented a preserved memory.

One door among them was particularly conspicuous. It was jet-black, wrapped in layers of chains, and bore a seal.

Sang Luo raised her hand and broke the chains.

The door opened.

Just as she stepped through the door, a flowerpot passed through her spiritual form and smashed against the wall.

CRASH!

Sang Luo’s heart leaped. She watched the two people arguing in the room, then looked down and saw the... little thing by her leg.