Heiress Unmasked: Shaking the World With Geomancy novel Chapter 2193

As time passed, Thalia gave up on trying to win Louise's affection or protection through crying and begging. In her eyes, she was no longer her mother but the untouchable Ruler of Foxes.

…

As Thalia spoke, Louise seemed to fall into her own memories. Her eyes lowered slightly, and after a long silence, she finally confessed, "I left because something happened in the clan."

She had thought it would be resolved quickly, but when she returned to the clan, she found that things weren't as simple as she had imagined.

It was never her intention to abandon her family, nor did she ever consider that, for a fox's life that spanned thousands of years, five short years would feel like an eternity to a human.

Thalia watched her intently, wanting to understand what kind of event could have kept her mother away for five years, and why, during that time, she hadn't even sent a single word back.

If she had sent a single message, Edmund would've stayed in the mountains and waited for her.

It seemed Louise understood the question lingering in her heart, and this time, she chose not to hide the truth from her.

"A man named Vlad Grimshaw had infiltrated our clan and controlled some of our members."

Louise's words made Thalia widen her eyes in shock. "Vlad?"

How could it be him again? Also, why had she never heard of this among the clan all these years?

Louise continued, "It took quite a considerable amount of time to locate and eliminate those clan members, but we still couldn't purge them completely."

Vlad's malice was intangible. It was hard to detect before the host revealed any obvious malice.

Louise wasn't sure how many more of their clan members had been corrupted, and she couldn't risk exposing Edmund or Thalia to such dangers.

In the end, she still failed to protect them. Edmund was just an ordinary man, after all.