Read Novel Full Chapter 472: Dowry
Chapter 472: Chapter 472: Dowry
She stepped inside, gently pulled Ivy up, and then placed a box into her hands.
Ivy blinked in confusion, staring at the box.
Helena inhaled quietly. "This is something I prepared for you," she said softly. "Your dowry."
Ivy froze for a moment before bursting into laughter. "Dowry?"
In their country, such a thing didn’t exist.
But seeing how traditional her parents were, she decided not to refuse.
She opened the box, and the moment she saw what lay inside, her smile faded. A black card rested silently within.
She stiffened, staring at it. Helena laughed lightly at her reaction.
"I’ve been preparing this for a long time," she said. "From the moment you were taken away, I started investing money under your name."
Ivy’s fingers trembled slightly.
"That money was always yours," Helena continued, her voice steady but heavy.
"I’m just returning what rightfully belongs to you. So you’re not allowed to reject it."
A lump formed in Ivy’s throat. Helena took a breath before adding,
"There’s nearly two billion dollars on that card. If you keep it invested, you’ll earn around two hundred and forty million dollars in dividends every year. That’s about twenty-two million per month."
Ivy stood there, dazed, her mind blank.
’If the apocalypse hadn’t happened... if my family had found me earlier...’
Perhaps her life would have been completely different.
She took a deep breath, forcing down the bitterness rising in her chest. Looking at Helena, she spoke softly, "Thank you."
Helena broke down instantly, wrapping Ivy in a tight embrace.
"Sometimes," she sobbed, "I really think this is karma."
Hearing that, Ivy’s eyes reddened. She gently patted Helena’s back, holding her close.
’Karma does exist,’ she thought.
Ever since obtaining the temporal storage, she had come to understand that deeply.
Good deeds always returned in unexpected ways, and bad deeds never disappeared without consequence.
Her parents had conducted experiments on countless people... some likely illegal.
Otherwise, how could it be that the daughter they loved so fiercely had been subjected to endless experimentation in her previous life?
It simply arrives in ways no one anticipates.
If Helena and Victor had been the ones experimented on, they might never have felt remorse.
They might have accepted it as fate or fought against it, convinced they were not wrong.
But when it was their own daughter who suffered, they finally understood just how terrifying and heartbreaking such an experience truly was.
Recently, they had begun investigating those organizations that conducted experiments on others. The deeper they dug, the heavier the regret in their hearts became.
They believed it was their own karma that had pushed their daughter into becoming a victim, and so they sought redemption by rescuing others like her.
Because of their actions, Ivy had gained several KB points.
Thinking about KB points, Ivy couldn’t help but smile inwardly.
’I’m truly lucky,’ she thought.
With the constant influx of people, her KB points were increasing at a terrifying rate.
By now, she had accumulated nearly ten billion KB points, enough to multiply everything she had been receiving over the past few weeks.
Medicines, vegetables, even fruits that had recently reappeared in the world were no longer scarce to her.
There were even oranges, bright and fragrant, something she cherished deeply.
The faint citrus scent still lingered in her memory, a reminder of a world that once felt normal.
Just as these thoughts passed through her mind, Helena hugged her tightly.
Her arms were warm, trembling slightly.
"In the future," she murmured softly, "may God bless you with an even better life. And may you never be haunted by your parents’ karma."
Ivy fell silent. After a moment, she smiled faintly.
"I have this life because of those experiments," she replied quietly.
"If I said I was grateful, that would be a lie. I’ve blamed you before, and I probably always will." Her voice softened.
"But I do hope you find the alien who was experimented on."
Her fingers clenched unconsciously.
Just thinking about the extracted DNA made her chest ache.
She didn’t even need to imagine how painful it must have been; her mother had already told her everything.
The alien’s body rejected anesthesia completely, leaving it conscious throughout the procedure.
Only milk could weaken it, yet even then, its pain receptors were amplified. It had felt every moment of its DNA being torn away.
’If I ever meet him,’ Ivy thought, ’I’ll thank and apologize him properly.’
Thank him for enduring that pain, for allowing her to survive.
Before she could dwell further, Helena gently cleared her throat.
"Your father wanted to continue talking about these matters," she said, forcing a small smile. "But I told him you should focus on your wedding."
The next day, Ivy heard the news about Martha.
She had cleverly mobilized the refugees, pushing them to fight zombies alongside the soldiers.
The result was immediate, casualties dropped drastically. Ivy felt a quiet sense of satisfaction.
’I made the right choice trusting her,’ she thought.
As Ivy prepared for her wedding, the door to her room was suddenly pushed open.
Ember stepped inside, her brows knitted with worry. Ivy noticed instantly. "What happened?"
Ember sighed, her lips parting as if she wanted to speak, but in the end, she shook her head.
Instead, she walked forward and hugged Ivy tightly.
"It’s your big day," she whispered. "I’m sorry I don’t have anything grand to give you."
Ivy laughed softly, patting her back.
"You already gave me the best gift in my previous life," she said warmly. "And in this life, meeting you again is more than enough."
Ember stayed silent. She thought about the news she had received earlier and swallowed it back. ’I won’t ruin her perfect day,’ she decided.
On the other side, Silas was growing increasingly nervous, even though he kept insisting he was confident.
Today was the day he would finally earn the title of husband.
The more he thought about it, the more excited his heart became.
Given the apocalypse, they couldn’t afford a long, elaborate ceremony.
In the end, they chose a simple church-style wedding, skipping as many rituals as possible.