Ch-24 Ely's emotions...

Ely's mouth hung open as she gazed at me in astonishment. I lingered, forecast her response until my patience wore thin, prompting me to depart from the student council room.

Simultaneously, Ely grappled with the urge to keep silent, struggling against the impulse to articulate her thoughts.

She reminisced about the day Iris inscribed her as 'big sister.' It was an unforgettable moment; she had always long to have a younger female sibling by her side.

Their family consisted of four offspring. Ely was the firstborn, followed by Marvel as the second child, then Alex as the third, and finally, Mia, the youngest.

When Iris reached the tender age of five, Ely was extorted to leave the familial abode due to parental pressures, indebted to admission in a boarding institution.

This paved the way for her subsequent ingress to the Apex campus. That elucidated why Iris had scant recollections.

The anguish stemming from the abuse she suffered during her youth, particularly the harrowing details of the violation, rape case, Mia sustained, wreak unlimited pain upon Ely.

She had been a vigilant observer of every occurrence before Iris divulged her plight.

"If only I had stayed by her side." Ely lamented, slumping in her chair, her expressions hidden under her both palms. She drew respire long breaths to formulate herself.

Ely devices that Marvel had an indescribable antipathy towards Mia, mirroring Alex's bit of it, as their parents had always prioritized their little daughter, depriving the brothers of the affection they wanted.

He, too, had been pressurized by parents at a tender age to join the boarding school, similar fate of the other White family's child, with the sole exception of Mia, who was behind everything.

Mia was the recipient of familial dotness and never encountered circumstances necessitating her enrollment in a boarding institution, unlike her siblings.

Ely harbored no envy regarding this after or before learning of Iris's feeble constitution and diminished potential compared to her siblings. She understood her parents' judicious decision.

The same could not be said for Marvel, whose arrogance masked an inherent loneliness.

His jealousy molded into friction, itching him to bully Mia as a means of mitigating his weightage whenever he returned from the boarding entrenche school while Alex kept himself largely uninvolved.

As for their progenitors, they turned a blind eye to Marvel's actions, having designated him as the heir apparent, and brought him to navigate his own path of self-discovery.

"Had I made the effort to visit her, perhaps this tragedy could have been precluded. The blame and fault is on me for not returning sooner, after all these years." Ely thought to herself.

Her visits had grown inconsistent as her responsibilities mounted; both during her tenure as president at boarding school, and later at Apex campus.

"..." discontinue to gather her thoughts for several minutes, Ely finally inhaled a couraged breath and made a decision.

She slipped her smartwatch on her wrist and inserted earphones into her ears, preparing to make a crucial call.

—ri—i-ing!

—Click

"Hello, Ely, my daughter, it has been quite some time!" A woman's voice echoed warmly from the other side.

"Mom, there's something I need to confirm, and I need the truth." Ely spoke sharply to the point.

"Sure… What is that?" Nisho immediately intuited the urgency in her tone, her own voice had next level anxiety.

"You once told me that Mia had left because she grew weary of the constant Marvel's action or because of her Alcoholic habits." Ely grounded her teeth, "Was that...false? She informed me something…"

"Huh! S-She is alive?" Nisho swallows hard as she processes this revelation with a mix of astonishment and fear.

"So, you always assumed the worst, believed she had passed away? Yeah, In reality, she's alive, with a new identity — now known as Iris Hope, having registered herself as an orphan in Apex academy."

She felt like there was more to detect. "Was it true she fled due to enduring constant torment by Marvel? Are there more secrets you're withholding?"

Nisho's voice lowered to a whisper. "... There are certain truths children should not know..."

Ely already knew the answer but waited for confirmation. She still reiterated, "I'm already 23. Anyways, Does this mean that Marvel truly bullied her?"

"..." Nisho fell silent, As her mind blanked out: Ely had never talked with her in a frosty mood.

Taking a deep breath, Ely finally sees the most challenging tournament. "If true, there is one critical detail you should understand as a parent — maybe she left because she was r-raped by Ben!"

With a lump in her throat, she continued, "And, Iris wished to discard her name, erase her ties to her past. If it turns out that you and dad, in fact, were deaf ears to her hardships, be ready for a family reckoning — I will not shy away from disowning our family name."

"W-wait! Is it possible that you've misunderstood, dear daughter? We never knew she was mistreated by her fellow gang members." Nisho coldly defended her parenting.

Anger flared within her at the thought of neglectful parents. Ely shut her eyes tightly.

—Bang!

In conclusion, she slammed her hand on the table, her emotions running high and leaving no room for appeasement.

"Whether you knew or chose to ignore it, my sentence will be the same — prepare her papers and mine as well." Unmoved, Ely just continued,

"I fear there is little room for me in this family. Upon my return, make sure Marvel is… inculcates that there will be consequences for what has happened."

Nisho snapped back, "Mia is justified in disowning our family name due to her own and our failures. You cannot erase your own identity."

Left with no choice, Ely scratched her bridge of nose, "It seems I must use my influence from the student council to address my personal matters."

"As for Iris, she deserves so much more than just weakness. Even though she has suffered, I will never abandon her; instead, I will do everything for her to grow stronger and overcome the past."

Firmly, she pressed and emphasized, "I will make sure to love her better than you both ever could."