After finishing their sweet cakes, the two decided to eat something even sweeter.
A candy shop!
Building on the foundation that they could have two flavors of cake by sharing, Bianka proposed, "Why don't we buy two kinds of candy too! Just like the cake!"
Aizahár sternly rejected Bianka's suggestion, so they each chose a flavor they thought they would like.
"Two hundred milliliters, thank you~" The shopkeeper's response didn't even pause before jumping straight to the post-payment thank you, completely ignoring the stunned Aizahár in front of her.
"How much?!" Aizahár almost shouted. "How can it be so expensive?! It's just one piece of candy!"
Before the Great Honkai, this region wasn't lacking in sugar. This high-energy, easy-to-transport commodity was a big seller here. Moreover, the largest source was right next door in Shenzhou, which made sugar quite cheap.
Of course, that was before the Great Honkai.
Aizahár only dared to grumble that one sentence. Anyone who could open a shop here was no ordinary person, especially those who dared to sell things at such exorbitant prices with such confidence.
After painfully spending two hundred milliliters of water, the water Bianka had earned was almost gone. Aizahár carefully licked the sweetness off the candy wrapper before popping the strawberry-flavored hard candy into her mouth.
The sweet taste and rich strawberry flavor made Aizahár close her eyes. A single, crystal-clear tear rolled down from the corner of her eye, startling Bianka.
"What's wrong?" she asked, stopping herself from putting candy in her own mouth, concerned for the crying Aizahár.
Aizahár wiped away the tear. "It's nothing, this candy is just too delicious!"
That was a lie! The real reason was that Aizahár felt drinking the two hundred milliliters of water herself would have been better than this single piece of candy.
And...
The taste of her mother.
At that moment, Aizahár's emotions were a complicated mix. She secretly glanced at Bianka, who was sucking on her candy with a look of amazement. Suddenly, all the complex feelings in her heart turned into envy.
She envied her stunning appearance.
She envied her happy family.
She envied her ability to soar into the sky.
She envied her curiosity about everything, her ability to open her heart and accept it all, to impose the most unrealistic and beautiful wishes on everything she saw.
How wonderful...
Aizahár's eyes drooped slightly, and she suppressed all the emotions in her heart.
...
Beep beep.
Siegfried, who was leaning against someone's doorway, clinking glasses and chatting, was taken aback. He raised his hand and gave the person a hearty greeting. "Sorry, it seems my dear wife has something to tell me."
The person drinking with Siegfried was already dizzy from the alcohol. Hearing this, he waved his hand dismissively. "Ah! Go on then! A man can't keep his woman waiting!"
Siegfried gave him a thumbs-up, then quickly ran off. The moment he answered the call, his expression had already calmed.
"Siegfried... you were right," Salome's grave voice came from the other end of the line. "The person you arrested the day before yesterday has been killed by the Herrscher."
In the prison of the City of Sighs, Salome had already dismissed everyone else. She stood alone at the door of a cell, looking at the scene inside through the glass.
The cells here were supposed to be pure white-walled confinement rooms, but the one in front of her was predominantly a deep, dark red.
Even the incandescent light on the ceiling was stained with blood, casting a scarlet glow on the splattered bloodstains. The sight alone was enough to make one sick.
Siegfried took a deep breath. Although he had indeed guessed the other party's movements, that was precisely what made it so troublesome.
Since they had arrived, with the cooperation of the higher-ups, the security here had improved a lot. The only person in the entire prison was the one he had arrested the day before yesterday.
If the Herrscher's logic of action was, as he had guessed, based on an individual's sins, then the guy he had locked up was a living target.
"What was the cause of death this time?" Siegfried asked, rubbing his temples.
Salome glanced at the four pieces of "cured meat" hanging in the room and the two steel prosthetics, then finally averted her gaze, unable to bear it.
"Dismembered by five horses," only those four simple words came through the phone. "Also in an instant."
Siegfried didn't speak, but his brows furrowed even tighter.
"Siegfried, I think we need to act together. This power is too incredible. I'm afraid none of us can face it alone..."
"Siegfried, where are you?"
"I..." Siegfried raised his head and looked back in a certain direction. "Found him."
He had already seen two crime scenes... Every time he saw those tragic bodies, he would have a special feeling, and the feeling that appeared now... it couldn't be wrong.
It was the aura of a Herrscher!
Salome was stunned for a moment. The moment she realized it, she felt a chill in her heart. "Wait! Siegfried, where are you?!"
"Don't be impulsive. I'll inform Cecilia and the others right now. Tell me your location! When we meet up..."
"It'll be too late!" Siegfried's heavy voice came from the phone. Salome could already hear his hurried footsteps. "Every time the Herrscher appears, there's a victim!"
"But it's too late for you to go now! All the victims were killed in an instant. Even if you know where it is, you can't stop it!" Salome quickly took out another phone and sent a message to Cecilia and the others. Only Cecilia had Siegfried's personal location.
And you're alone...
"Even if it's too late, I have to go!" Siegfried almost growled these words. "If I don't do it just because I can't, then I might as well not do anything at all!"
"You!" Salome was at a loss for words. At the same time, Cecilia had replied to her message almost instantly, sending Siegfried's real-time location.
Is he at... the amusement park?
...
Aizahár carried two baskets, walking home alone.
One basket contained the paper flowers she hadn't sold, and the other contained the tattered, patched-up clothes she had changed Bianka into.
The sweet aftertaste in her mouth put her in a good mood, but she had spent too much money, and her heart still ached...
"Oof!" A moment of distraction caused Aizahár to bump into something. She looked up and saw a dark black robe.
And hidden beneath the tattered black robe were a pair of soul-stirring, hollow eyes.