Whispering Poems

Chapter 2608: Cumming Family Timeline
Although it was discovered that Baroness Cumming was an "abandoned baby" picked up in the woods by an old timber merchant couple, Gray Gloves was unable to find out how the Baroness ended up in the woods.

The timber merchant did not want everyone to know that he had lost his fertility, so he claimed that the current Baroness Cumming was his biological daughter. If Gray Gloves had not found the old servant who used to drive the merchant, he would not have even found out about the "crying baby girl found in the forest".

"According to the records, after the timber merchant and his wife died of illness, according to their will, two-thirds of their property was left to the two sons of the merchant's brother, and the other third was given to Baroness Cumming as a dowry. That's why the Cumming family is now qualified to intervene in the local timber industry as a 'foreign builder'."

He read the information, and Miss Winslet handed him another document:
"As for Mrs. Bennet's situation, it is easy to investigate. Her family used to be very prosperous and had their own farm and lumberyard.

My girls went to a village near Vestal City and found her former neighbor. The old lady, who was in good spirits, said that Mrs. Bennet's mother did give birth to a child before she did, but the child disappeared in 1809 when he was one year old.

Shade looked up:

"Was the time when the child disappeared close to the time when the timber merchant couple found the child?"

"Very nearly, or rather, exactly, on the same morning and afternoon in the summer of 1809.

These are the only results of the current investigation, but it can be inferred that Baroness Cumming, who was one year older than Mrs. Bennet, was stolen and then deliberately placed on the path that the old timber merchant couple had to pass.

Otherwise, Vista Forest is so large, it doesn't make sense for them to have seen the baby. And the child was taken away in the morning and adopted in the afternoon, which is really a coincidence."

These things are only related to Mrs. Bennet and Baroness Cumming. Although they seem to have nothing to do with the strange relationship between Baron Cumming and Little Cumming, but since there is a problem, Shade feels that it is likely to involve the Baron and his son:

"Are there any results from the investigation into the missing baby case?"

This time Miss Winslet shook her head:

"At that time, Creekwood was still in the process of transforming into Vista City. It was a small place and there weren't many police officers. The sheriff of that town at the time mobilized people to look for him, and the only clue they got was that a strange man appeared in the town at that time.

Afterwards, no one knew where the stranger came from or where he went. It was summer, and there was no rain in the area, so there was not even a footprint left.

"Does that mean there are no clues at all?"

"No, there is another person who clearly saw the thief who stole the baby. But the brain of a one-year-old baby is not fully developed, so it is probably difficult for that memory to be fully displayed."

Miss Danister reminded him, and Shade understood:

"Yes, Baroness Cumming must have seen the other party's method of extracting memory in the past. Are you ready?"

Both ladies laughed:
"I knew you would ask that. We had breakfast this morning and went out together before you came.

Extracting memories from infancy requires a strong level of expertise. Although none of us are ring sorcerers specializing in this, Danister simply borrowed the alchemical items made by the professors from your college."

Miss Bell walked to the window and drew the curtains. There was no need to turn on the lights during the day, so the room suddenly became dark.

The red-haired girl had a conical bottle in her hand, with a ball of warm white light swaying in it:

"The reason why we don't use relics is to avoid ordinary people from coming into contact with the Whispering Elements. We don't know if this memory contains what we need, so let's try our luck."

Miss Bell placed the basin on the coffee table, and as Miss Danister cast the light from the conical bottle into the water, the four of them saw an illusory projection appear above the basin.

A series of discontinuous images flashed quickly in the dark room, belonging to Baroness Cumming's early memories, which were more fragmented than Shad had imagined.

Fortunately, Miss Danister still had a way. She tapped her fingers in the air twice, and all the quickly flashing images unfolded at once, and soon hundreds of different images were spread across the room.

Most of the translucent images that flicker with a faint light are blurry, and require great patience to carefully distinguish the scenes.

Then Miss Winslet said to her apprentice:

"Call up all the girls who are not out on missions. Whoever finds the key scene can choose any middle ring secret technique to learn."

"That's not necessary."

Shade raised her hand and walked forward, and the three ladies followed her forward. "She" told Shade the results of his investigation, and Shade pointed to a picture that was probably a child's perspective looking at the nursery:

“Can you zoom in?”

"can."

The red-haired girl stretched out her hand and wiped it, and all the other images disappeared. Then she pinched her five fingers and pointed them at the image that Xia De pointed out. As her fingers slowly opened, the image also expanded. Finally, she flicked her wrist lightly, and the enlarged image moved to the wall. The outsider felt that this operation had a sense of déjà vu.

The four people all gathered near the wall. The details in the enlarged picture were still very fine, but the originally blurry parts were still blurry:

"Who is this?"

In the corner of the picture is the window of the room. I don’t know if it’s because the window glass hasn’t been cleaned for a long time or for other reasons, but the face that appears outside the window is weird and blurry, but at least it can be seen that it is a man.

"Can you think of a way to make this clearer?"

Xia De asked again. He had not held out hope, but unexpectedly, Miss Danister nodded:
"Yes. There are professors in the academy who specialize in the restoration of ancient murals. When time reversal is difficult to achieve, the painting can be divided into different points based on the remaining images and color traces. Combined with the color distribution of murals of the same type, a series of complex calculations can be used to simulate what the painting might have looked like when it was complete."

Xia De felt that this idea also had a sense of déjà vu.

"Of course, this method is only effective for images without elements. Fortunately, Baroness Cumming is just an ordinary person, and her memory has not been deleted or altered."

She gestured a few more times at the glowing screen, and the blurry man's face gradually became clearer as if it was filled with colors and details layer by layer.

Before the face became clear, Xia De recognized who it was. His eyes widened.

"Looks like a young man, huh, James Cumming?"

"No, don't jump to conclusions so early."

Miss Winslet stopped him, her golden eyes fixed on the face that was completing the final repairs:
“It does look a lot like James Cumming today, but if you look closely you can see the difference.

I specialize in animal deformation, and I am very sensitive to the characteristics and details of creatures. If Danister restores the hair color, cheekbone shape and eye size correctly, this is not James Cumming, this is Kane Cumming! "

"Who?"

Xia De was startled, and Miss Charlotte Bell reminded him softly:

"That is James Cumming's son and non-biological father, now Baron Cumming."

Now everyone was shocked, and Xia De asked again:
"Is Lord Cumming about the same age as his wife?"

"The age difference is five years, so when the baby was stolen at the age of one, the Baron should have been only six years old, not the early twenties we saw."

The red-haired girl nodded, and Shade covered his forehead:

"So Baron Cumming also has a time curse, and it's not because he was born through time travel. If our speculation is correct, then he probably also used the tree hole? What's going on with this family?"

Miss Winslet quickly used magic to draw the face that was restored in the memory. Everyone sat down again, and Miss Danister proposed a new idea:

"Since the book "Opening the Forest Door: Our Animal Companions" that Shad saw in the third tree hole was once in the hands of Baron Cumming's mother Erica and is now in the hands of James Cumming, it is very likely that this book once appeared in the hands of Baron Cumming."

Miss Winslet took up the report again:

"That makes sense since Baron Cumming's mother died when he was a teenager. But if the Baron also discovered the secrets of the book, why did he give it to his son? Uh, to his father? Or what did he learn from the book?"

"Let's summarize the current situation."

Xia De rubbed his face:
"According to the chronological order, in 1802, a girl named Erica met James Cumming who traveled through time, and then"

"She was already a baroness when she gave birth to Lord Cumming in 1803."

Said the witch holding Baron Kamin's file.

"Then in 1808, the current Baroness Cumming was born. In 1809, when she was one year old, she was stolen by Baron Cumming, her future husband and actual grandson, who traveled through time and was adopted by an old timber merchant and his wife. Her biological sister was later..."

The witch continued to add:

"Her biological sister, Mrs. Bennet, was born in the autumn of the same year. Eight years later, in 1817, Erica died. At an unknown age, the 14-year-old Baron Cumming discovered the secret of the book and traveled through time to 1820 in his twenties, in the 1809s."

Miss Bell cast a spell to make a whiteboard float in the air, and she drew a timeline based on everyone's stories.

"In 1830, 22-year-old Baroness Cumming and an unknown person gave birth to James Cumming. Of course, the child was regarded as a son by the 27-year-old Baron Cumming. But whether the baron knew the truth, none of us can say for sure.

Two years later, in 1832, Mrs. Bennet and Mr. Bennet gave birth to their eldest daughter, Jane Bennet. Then, 22 years later, James Cumming traveled through time to see Erica in the past, and got engaged to Jane Bennet this year.

　PS: This chapter’s picture is “Time·Cumming Family Timeline”.

　　There will be a big recommendation tomorrow, and three more chapters will be added tomorrow. Please vote.

　　(End of this chapter)