"Young man, don’t be nervous," said Nicholas. "Since the boss asked Number Six to bring you here, it means she trusts you."

"And of course, it means she trusts us too," Nicholas added.

Wanderers were no longer the rats that used to be chased and butchered through the streets.

"Take a seat and let’s talk, shall we?" Nicholas gestured to a small stool in front of him.

Hesitantly, Cloudreach moved forward and sat down.

As soon as he sat down, Nicholas straightened up a bit and said, "Having wandered around our camp for so many years, haven’t you discovered anything?"

Cloudreach remained silent.

"Looking for someone or something?" Nicholas continued. "Name them, and I’ll help jog your memory."

Nicholas moved his pipe aside, looked up, and exhaled as if blowing smoke rings.

But there was nothing.

His treasured tobacco had long been hidden away by Hannah.

She claimed it was because the smoke smelled bad, but in reality, she was worried about his health.

That girl, hard-mouthed but soft-hearted.

Cloudreach hesitated. After a while, he finally spoke: "Do you know of Cloudreach?"

"Cloudreach?" Nicholas stroked his pipe thoughtfully as he tried to remember.

After about a minute, it came back to him.

Cloudreach was a small planet, known for an abundance of flowers, among which the lily of the valley was the most famous, considered their national flower.

The lily of the valley was said in legends to be a flower that could weave beautiful dreams.

Its deep blue petals and crystal-clear stamens shone otherworldly in the sunlight.

For a long time, because of Cloudreach’s remote location, the outside world’s tales of the lily of the valley became increasingly mystical.

There were even rumors that the lily of the valley could turn people into puppets, utterly at one’s bidding.

The more he heard, the more ludicrous it seemed.

Of course, that wasn’t the most absurd part. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

"Cloudreach was destroyed fifty years ago," Nicholas continued. "At the time, the word outside was that our Wanderers’ leader coveted the lily of the valley and wanted to seize it. When the ruler of Cloudreach refused, the Wanderers supposedly razed the entire planet."

Nicholas looked at Cloudreach. "What I’ve said shouldn’t be too different from what you’ve heard, right?"

Cloudreach’s hand had already reached for his longsword.

Had it not been for the words Hannah had said before she left, he would have drawn his sword as soon as Nicholas finished that statement.

That was the hatred in his heart,

A nightmare he had been unable to let go of for a full fifty years.

The flower fields of his homeland stained with blood, the lily of the valley crushed and trampled, and those pale, agonizing faces.

Nicholas didn’t rush to explain or clear anything up; instead, he became curious about another question, "How did you guess our leader’s identity?"

Very few across the stars knew Hannah was still alive, and even fewer knew she was the leader of the Wanderers.

How did Cloudreach know?

"I’ve seen her," said Cloudreach.

"Seen her?"

Nicholas was puzzled.

"In Cloudreach, on the day I returned, I saw the Wanderers’ starship, and Hannah was standing right at the forefront."

At the time, he only managed to glimpse a blurry face before being pulled away by a friend who had come with him.

When he saw Hannah again in the Blackwood Forest, those vague memories were awakened.

Even though he wasn’t a hundred percent sure, at that moment, he truly wanted to kill Hannah.

Hannah was very smart.

She saw what he was really thinking right away.

After listening, Nicholas asked, "Then why didn’t you act on it at that time and instead traveled with our boss for a while?"

Cloudreach was silent for a moment before replying, "I couldn’t beat her."

This was the truth.

Nicholas nodded, "So you based your conclusion that it was us just on that one scene you witnessed?"