Jiliang turned the photo over. On the back, written in elegant handwriting, were two names she knew all too well:
Kira & Cagalli
Jiliang and... Cagalli?
That blonde, ever-energetic princess of Orb? That girl who had made her feel an inexplicable sense of closeness even when they first met?
If what this man said was true, if this photo was not forged, then her real mother was the woman in this photograph—
The overwhelming flood of information instantly shattered Jiliang's ability to think. Countless questions rose like bubbles. Did this masked man know the truth? About herself, about Cagalli, about why they had been separated, about their inexplicable resemblance, about... these so-called "secrets of their birth."
And who was the woman in the photo? Where was she now?
If that was true... then yes. An unprecedented thirst for knowledge, almost like hunger, overwhelmed her fear. Jiliang wanted to know the truth, even if it might hurt more than any lie.
"When I heard your name from Athrun, I never imagined it. You were her... After all, I had always thought she was dead. Those twins—especially you."
As though he had seen through Jiliang's thoughts, Rau Le Creuset slowly offered his explanation.
Twins.
The word left his heartless lips with a strangely clinging sensation. There was no need to ask; he meant Jiliang and Cagalli—the two babies nestled together in the photograph. So that familiar feeling had not been coincidence, but the bond of blood?
"Because you, along with your biological father, Dr. Hibiki, were Blue Cosmos's greatest targets at the time..."
This name was unfamiliar to Jiliang. "Dr. Hibiki." Was that stiff-sounding title the person who had given her half her life? And the other half, "Blue Cosmos," that extremist organization that fanatically hated Coordinators...
"What... did you say..."
Jiliang