Chapter 532: Chapter 532: Past Self
Hearing that answer, the past self finally seemed slightly relieved.
Then she softly spoke again. "Lana..."
Her voice carried endless exhaustion. "They may be your blood-related family in this life..."
A bitter smile appeared on her lips. "But to us..."
Her eyes gradually dimmed. "They’re still strangers from another lifetime."
The moment those words entered her heart, Lana’s eyes slowly turned red again.
"I’ll never forgive them."
This time... Lana genuinely was not lying.
Perhaps someday she might acknowledge their existence. Perhaps someday she could calmly interact with them.
But forgiveness? That was something she could never truly give.
Especially not in this lifetime.
As if understanding her completely, the past self slowly began fading away.
However, before disappearing entirely, she repeatedly whispered one final sentence.
"Just love yourself. And don’t love anyone else too deeply again."
The moment those final words faded away... Lana slowly opened her eyes.
The fever had finally decreased slightly.
The first thing she saw was Axel, Conrad, and Lucian standing nearby.
The moment Lana saw Lucian, a small smile immediately appeared on her pale face.
Meanwhile, Lucian instantly rushed toward her.
Without hesitation, he carefully hugged her before gently patting her back.
"Why did you run into the rain?"
His voice sounded filled with worry. "Do you not know you’d catch a fever?"
His brows furrowed tightly while looking at her pale face.
"You’ve worried me to death."
Normally, with Lucian’s healing spirit, ordinary sicknesses should never affect her this badly.
Yet strangely enough... this fever simply refused to disappear completely.
Lana herself also found it odd.
After hearing Lucian’s worried words, she could only chuckle weakly.
"I don’t know either."
Her voice still sounded slightly hoarse. "I just suddenly got a fever."
Then she frowned slightly. "And honestly..."
A strange confusion appeared in her eyes. "My body feels weird."
She slowly touched her chest.
"It feels like some strange kind of heat is spreading throughout my entire body."
Hearing those words, everyone instinctively assumed Lana merely said that because of the fever itself.
Therefore, nobody questioned her further.
Meanwhile, Lucian gently hugged her again before speaking firmly.
"You don’t need to meet the Peterson family anymore."
The moment those words fell, Lana subconsciously glanced toward Conrad.
Conrad himself remained silent for several moments.
Then finally...
He quietly nodded.
At this point, even he felt the Peterson family no longer deserved approaching Lana carelessly.
Seeing the heavy atmosphere surrounding everyone, Lana suddenly chuckled softly.
"I’m really not as fragile as all of you think."
Her golden eyes curved faintly. "I was just... slightly overreactive."
Lucian completely ignored Lana’s attempt to brush things off lightly.
For the next several days, he, Axel, and Conrad practically guarded her like she was some fragile treasure that might disappear at any moment.
Even whenever Lana tried leaving her room alone, someone would immediately appear beside her carrying medicine, warm soup, or another lecture about taking care of her health.
The entire situation honestly made Lana feel both helpless and amused.
Meanwhile, during those few days, Lana mainly focused on improving her own cultivation.
For some reason, she could vaguely sense that she was approaching another breakthrough.
The moment she informed Axel about this feeling, his expression immediately turned serious.
Without hesitation, he quickly contacted several researchers from the university to examine her condition.
After all, Lana’s cultivation path was far too unusual. Nobody dared take any risks regarding her breakthroughs.
Finally, on the fourth day, Lana’s fever completely subsided.
The moment she felt better, she immediately planned a date with Lucian.
Unfortunately... that exact same day happened to be the day she already promised to spend with Conrad.
Originally, Lucian absolutely refused to let her leave.
However, after seeing Lana repeatedly glance toward him with hesitation and guilt written all over her face, he finally sighed heavily and reluctantly gave up.
"Go."
His voice sounded filled with helplessness.
"I’ll let you spend today with Conrad."
Meanwhile, Conrad secretly felt extremely pleased internally.
From his perspective... Lana choosing him over Lucian today naturally meant she cared about him more.
Otherwise, why would she hesitate so much before rejecting Lucian?
Only Lana herself knew the real reason.
She simply did not want to break promises casually.
Soon afterward, Lana and Conrad finally arrived at their destination.
However, the moment Conrad stepped out of the car and saw the building in front of him clearly, he became stunned.
An orphanage.
It was small and slightly old, yet the surroundings felt unexpectedly warm and lively.
Children’s laughter echoed faintly from inside the courtyard while several colorful drawings hung messily across the fences.
Before Conrad could even process things properly, Lana had already walked inside casually.
The moment she entered, more than a dozen children immediately rushed toward her excitedly.
"Sister Lana!"
"Sister Lana is here!"
One childish voice after another echoed loudly throughout the courtyard.
Seeing this chaotic yet heartwarming scene, Conrad froze completely.
Meanwhile, Lana simply laughed softly before crouching down to hug several children naturally.
Then she looked toward Conrad and casually introduced them.
"These are the children from the orphanage I secretly sponsor."
The moment those words entered Conrad’s ears, genuine surprise appeared on his face.
There were more than sixty children here.
Even though Lana herself was not officially associated with the Peterson family yet, she was still quietly funding over sixty children at the same time.
That alone was already an astonishing feat.
At the same time... it also revealed just how kind-hearted Lana truly was.
Meanwhile, Lana calmly continued speaking while watching the children play nearby.
"These children are all very talented."
Her golden eyes curved slightly.
"In the future, they’ll definitely become amazing people."
Then she suddenly smiled mischievously.
"And once they become successful, I’ll definitely earn a huge return on my investment."
Hearing her say that, Conrad immediately chuckled.
"So that’s your real motive for helping them?"
Lana instantly looked offended. "Of course."
She crossed her arms dramatically.
"Why else would I help them if not for future profits?"
However, before Conrad could continue teasing her, a small child suddenly rushed over and tightly tugged at Lana’s skirt.
"Sister..."
