Transmigrated: I Became My Nemesis's Woman
Chapter 190: I couldn’t risk leaving anything behind
Later that evening, Ivy sat alone in Xander’s study, waiting for him to return.
The room was unusually quiet.
An untouched cup of tea rested on the coffee table while she sat on the sofa, absentmindedly staring at the notebook lying open in front of her.
Her mind, however, was miles away.
Ever since she had visited the burned house, fragments of memories had continued to surface.
They weren’t complete. Just brief glimpses.
Laughter. Footsteps. Warm embraces.
And two names that refused to leave her mind.
June...
Luna...
She silently repeated them to herself.
June... Luna...
The names felt unfamiliar, yet strangely comforting.
She drew in a slow breath.
"So... before Hardley found me..." she whispered to herself, "my name was June."
The realization made her chest tighten.
"And Luna..."
A faint smile appeared on her lips before quickly fading.
"My little sister."
Unlike before, the faces she had seen were no longer blurry.
She could clearly remember her mother’s gentle smile, her father’s reassuring voice, and the bright, innocent grin on Luna’s face.
The memories no longer felt like dreams. They felt real. Painfully real.
A soft knock interrupted her thoughts. Before she could respond, the study door opened and Xander walked inside.
He had returned home nearly half an hour earlier, but Ivy had asked him to freshen up before meeting her.
She had expected him to ask why she wanted to speak with him so urgently.
Instead, the moment he entered the room, he walked straight toward her.
Without saying a word, he wrapped his arms around her.
Ivy blinked in surprise. She hadn’t expected the sudden embrace. But after a brief pause, she slowly lifted her own arms and hugged him back.
"What happened?" she asked softly.
Xander buried his face against her shoulder for a moment before finally speaking.
"Bernard didn’t kill my parents."
His words made Ivy freeze. "What?"
He slowly pulled away, his expression unusually solemn.
"I met him today."
"He came to Phantom Headquarters himself."
Ivy searched his face.
"I thought everything pointed to him."
"So did I."
Xander let out a weary sigh and sat beside her.
"I believed he was responsible. He admitted to many of his mistakes. He admitted he had failed my mother. He admitted he had been a terrible father. But..." He shook his head.
"He never admitted to murdering them."
Ivy frowned. "And you believed him?"
"I didn’t want to."
He leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees.
"But everything he said made sense."
"He had already signed a peace agreement with my father."
"My father had enough evidence to destroy Black Veil if Bernard ever broke that treaty."
"There would’ve been no reason for Bernard to risk starting a war he knew he couldn’t win."
The room fell silent as Ivy slowly processed his words.
"So someone deliberately made it look like Bernard was responsible."
Xander nodded. "Someone planted every lead. Every clue."
His expression darkened.
"They wanted me to spend my entire life chasing the wrong person."
Ivy’s brows knitted together.
"Which means..."
"The real mastermind is still out there," Xander finished quietly.
Neither of them spoke for several moments.
The weight of the revelation settled heavily between them.
Finally, Ivy reached out and took his hand.
"Then we’ll find the truth."
Xander looked at her.
"There has to be someone connecting both cases."
She hesitated before continuing.
"Because... I found something today too."
His eyes immediately sharpened.
"What did you find?"
Ivy drew in a slow breath.
"I went back to the burned house. The one where Federick’s family died."
"You... what?"
Xander stared at Ivy in disbelief. His calm expression vanished the instant she mentioned returning to the burned house.
"You went there alone?"
"I didn’t—"
Before she could finish, Xander was already on his feet.
"Ivy, do you have any idea how dangerous that place could have been?"
She immediately raised both hands. "Don’t panic. I wasn’t alone."
She pointed at him with a meaningful look.
"I had the guards you secretly assigned to follow me."
The moment those words left her mouth, Xander’s stern expression froze.
An awkward silence settled between them.
"Right." He rubbed the back of his neck. "About that... I was actually planning to tell you."
Ivy slowly raised an eyebrow.
"Oh? You were planning to tell me? Eventually. When?"
Xander opened his mouth, but nothing came out.
Ivy folded her arms. "Exactly."
A helpless smile crept onto his face. "I was only trying to keep you safe."
"I know."
She sighed, "But you could’ve trusted me enough to tell me I had four shadows following me everywhere."
Xander cleared his throat.
"I admit... that part may have been a mistake."
"A mistake?"
"You’ve been monitoring me for weeks."
"I prefer the word protecting."
"I prefer the word stalking."
Xander wisely decided not to argue.
"So..." he said, smoothly changing the subject, "what were you saying about the burned house?"
Ivy couldn’t help shaking her head.
"Nice attempt. It almost worked."
"It worked enough."
She let out a quiet laugh before her expression became serious again.
"I found something."
Xander’s attention immediately shifted.
"What was it?"
"There was a hidden underground storage room beneath the backyard."
His brows shot up.
"An underground room?"
She nodded.
"It had been buried beneath years of dirt. If I hadn’t tripped over the hatch, I never would’ve found it."
"What was inside?"
"Documents."
She pointed toward the far corner of the study.
"Lots of them."
Only then did Xander notice the stacks of dusty cardboard boxes resting against the wall.
His eyes widened.
"...Those came from the underground room?"
"Yes."
He stood and walked closer.
There weren’t just a few files.
There were dozens of folders stacked neatly inside several storage boxes.
Some were covered in dust so thick it was obvious they hadn’t been touched in years.
Xander slowly turned back toward her.
"You brought... all of them?"
Ivy nodded matter-of-factly.
"I couldn’t risk leaving anything behind."
"There was no way of knowing which file might contain something important."
Xander let out a quiet laugh of disbelief.
"So instead of choosing..."
"...you emptied the entire storage room."
She shrugged innocently.
"It seemed more efficient."
He looked back at the mountain of files before looking at her again.
"Ivy..."
"Do you have any idea how many hours it’s going to take to go through all of these?"
She smiled sweetly.
"That’s why I brought them home."
"So we can go through them together."
For a moment, Xander simply stared at her.
Then he chuckled and shook his head.
"Only you would think bringing an entire archive home is easier than sorting it on-site."
She grinned.
"I learned a long time ago never to leave potential evidence behind."
His smile gradually faded into admiration.
"Good thinking."
He walked back over to her and gently squeezed her hand.
"If someone went to the trouble of hiding those documents underground, they wanted them to survive."
"Which means," Ivy finished, "they were important enough to protect even if the house was destroyed."
Xander nodded slowly.
His gaze drifted toward the boxes once more.
"I have a feeling..." he paused, "...the answers we’ve both been searching for all these years are somewhere inside those files."
The room fell silent. Neither of them reached for the boxes immediately.
Both understood that once they opened them, there would be no turning back.
Whatever secrets had remained buried beneath the ashes for nearly twenty years...were finally about to come to light.