"Huh? Their stories don't match at all." Lucy caught the discrepancy immediately, her brows knitting tightly. "Could there be some kind of misunderstanding?"
"Aye, smells like a conspiracy." Happy nodded in agreement.
Gray looked at the nearly hysterical Ultear before him, his expression conflicted, and asked in confusion:
"Why do you think Ur abandoned you? What exactly happened to you back then?"
Deep resentment flashed in Ultear's eyes as the painful past she could hardly bear to remember flooded her mind. Through gritted teeth, she said in a low voice:
"That woman dumped me at the Magic Development Bureau and let them develop my magic power however they pleased. Those people told me that Mom would only come to take me home if I did whatever it took to make my magic power strong enough."
"Day after day, I endured those inhuman experiments in terror and despair. Every day, I suffered the agony of having my body and mind torn apart!"
Images flickered through Ultear's mind: after every experiment, her younger self could only curl up alone in a cold, sealed room, hugging her knees and crying helplessly.
Her tone gradually steadied, as though she were desperately trying to maintain some semblance of calm.
"The only thing that kept me alive was my belief that Mom would come to take me home someday!"
"But one day, when I finally managed to escape that hellish place, I ran through the snow, my body and mind in tatters, but my heart full of joy. All I wanted was to return to Mom's side..."
Tears slowly filled Ultear's eyes. She abruptly raised her head, fixing Gray and Lyon with a venomous stare.
She remembered that scene-herself standing in the snow and ice in a thin hospital gown, her hands and feet bare. The