Chapter 128

They reached the deepest part of the mansion—an inner hall Lisa didn’t even realize existed until the air changed again.

The space was quieter, almost sacred. The wooden floor was darker here, polished by time rather than care. At the center stood two large portraits placed side by side, noticeably more prominent than the rest of the ancestral wall upstairs.

Jennie’s mother slowed her steps as they approached.

“Now,” she said gently, her tone shifting into something a little more reverent, “this is where it began.”

Lisa instinctively straightened, suddenly aware she was about to meet the “founding lore” of the entire Kim facial structure situation.

Jennie adjusted Ruby slightly on her shoulder as they stepped closer.

The first portrait showed a woman with unmistakable Kim features—round mandu cheeks, soft but commanding cat eyes, and an expression that looked like she had already decided everyone around her was mildly amusing and mildly disappointing.

Lisa leaned forward. “Okay, she looks like she invented judgment.”

Jennie’s mother smiled. “She did.”

Lisa blinked. “What?”

Jennie’s mother gestured toward the portrait like she was introducing royalty.

“This is the first Kim woman,” she said simply. “The one who started it all. Mandu cheeks. Cat eyes. The… consistent preferences.”

Lisa squinted. “You’re telling me one woman caused an entire genetic aesthetic trend?”

Jennie shrugged lightly. “Influential queen behavior.”

Lisa turned to the second portrait.

And froze.

Because beside the first Kim woman stood her wife.

And Lisa had to physically process what she was seeing.

The second woman… looked eerily familiar.

Same face shape. Same warm expression. Same kind eyes.

But more than that—

There was something in her features that made Lisa’s brain short-circuit.

She stepped closer.

“…Why does she look like me?” Lisa asked slowly.

Jennie immediately leaned in, glancing between the portrait and Lisa.

Then she smiled.

“Oh,” Jennie said casually. “Now I see it.”

Lisa pointed at the painting. “No, no, no—don’t ‘now I see it’ me. Explain.”

Jennie’s mother gave a soft laugh.

“This,” she said proudly, “is her beloved wife.”

Lisa stared harder.

“You’re telling me the founder of your entire family… married someone who looks like me.”

Jennie’s mother nodded. “Very much so.”

Lisa slowly stepped back.

“So what you’re saying is I’ve been reincarnated into a pattern.”

Jennie laughed under her breath.

Jennie gently shifted Ruby and looked at Lisa with amused fondness.

“Looks like most Kim women fell in love with the same kind,” Jennie said lightly. “Well… either they used modern technology to have baby mandu… or they found their own Lisa.”

Lisa pointed at her immediately. “Don’t turn this into a romantic prophecy.”

Jennie smiled wider. “Too late.”

Lisa turned back to the portraits again, eyes narrowing like she was trying to solve a generational mystery she never agreed to inherit.

“So let me get this straight,” Lisa said, slowly pacing in front of the two portraits. “This entire family line started because one very iconic mandu-cheek woman looked at someone who basically resembles me and went, ‘Yeah. That one. Forever.’”

Jennie’s mother nodded again. “Correct.”

Lisa exhaled sharply. “That is insane.”

Jennie tilted her head. “Is it?”

Lisa gestured wildly. “YES. Because now I have to live with the knowledge that your entire ancestry is basically just… variations of you falling in love with my historical counterparts!”

Jennie stepped closer, smiling softly.

“That sounds like continuity,” she said.

Lisa squinted. “That sounds like I have been unknowingly cast in a family tradition.”

Jennie’s mother gave another warm laugh, clearly enjoying Lisa’s distress far too much.

“The Kim women have always had a type,” she said. “It is not unusual.”

Lisa pointed at the portraits again. “It’s unusual when the type looks exactly like me across centuries!”

Jennie leaned closer to Lisa’s shoulder, voice softer now.

“Maybe that’s why it feels familiar,” she said gently.

Lisa paused.

That actually… made her stop for a second.

She looked again at the portraits.

At the founder Kim woman.

At her wife who looked like her.

At Jennie beside her.

At Ruby, sleeping peacefully like she had already accepted this entire narrative before anyone else did.

Lisa sighed.

“…This is the weirdest love story I’ve ever accidentally inherited,” she muttered.

Jennie smiled and pressed a quick kiss to Lisa’s cheek again.

“Good thing you’re part of it now.”

Lisa groaned, but didn’t move away.

Behind them, Jennie’s mother stepped back, looking at the portraits like someone closing a chapter that had been open for centuries.

“And now,” she said warmly, “the tradition continues.”

Lisa glanced at Jennie.

Then at Ruby.

Then back at the portraits.

“…I still want clarification on the historical logistics,” she muttered.

Jennie laughed softly. “Tea later.”

Lisa sighed.

“Tea better come with answers,” she said.

And for the first time since entering the mansion, Lisa didn’t feel like she was being judged by ancestors.

Just quietly included in something that had been going on long before she arrived—

and apparently would continue long after she stopped asking questions.