"No matter what your original intention was, you've always protected us. Taking care of us—that's real."
Isabella lowered her head.
"It's not the same. It's not the same."
She suddenly lifted her gaze toward Lilith, her pupils flickering with a complicated light. "Lilith…are you really a witch from the legends?"
Lilith nodded.
"Yes."
"And what you said before—that you can grant wishes. Is that…true?"
She nodded eagerly.
"It's true!"
Isabella murmured, "Then…can you turn back time? Take us back to before today. Let everything that happened today disappear. Let it be as if you never found my 'father,' as if no one discovered I was lying, as if none of the truth ever came out. I just want us to be like before…"
"But…you…"
Lilith was at a loss.
"Wouldn't that just be lying to yourself?"
"This world is already built on lies. Everyone lives inside them…just like Mother. She told me my father was a noble in Loen, that one day he would come and take us back. She said she worked for a noble household—but in truth, she was selling her body all along, just a lowly prostitute. She tried so hard to build me a fake little world. Until the day she died. Until her corpse was dumped at our doorstep like trash. That was when I learned…the truth."
"I would rather never have known. I would rather live forever inside that lie."
She fixed her eyes on Lilith.
"So…can you do that for me, Lilith?"
"What about them?"
Lilith looked toward the other three children.
"I will! I'll stay with Isabella!" Alisa declared earnestly.
Bilt and Tim nodded one after another.
"We will too."
"We don't want to know anything. We just want things to be the same as before…"
Lilith stood stunned. She truly could not comprehend.
Why would anyone choose a false world just to avoid facing reality?
Why was Isabella the only one who cared so much about her own lies?
And why…would the others choose to stay with her inside that falsehood?
She couldn't understand. She couldn't make sense of it.
She stared at them and asked softly, "Is this…really what you all want?"
"Yes!"
"We're used to living together—we don't want to be separated."
"The world is already harsh enough. If a few lies can give us some hope for the future, isn't that a good thing?"
"I…I just don't want Isabella to be sad."
"…"
Lilith clenched her wand so tightly her knuckles turned white.
"I…I don't have the power to turn back time."
The light in Isabella's eyes dimmed.
"But…"
Lilith turned toward the ruins of the collapsed house.
"I can try to make your wish come true."
She gently swung her wand and whispered, "Reparo."
The rubble strewn across the ground rose up as if time itself was rewinding, swiftly reassembling.
Even Mr. Harry, the owl, was dumbfounded. "This…this isn't scientific!"
In no time, the ruins were gone, and the collapsed house stood whole again, as if it had never fallen.
Lilith turned back to the children, their faces frozen in shock.
"I can't make time turn back…but I can make you forget everything that happened today."
"Would that be alright?"
Isabella blinked.
"Yes."
The others echoed, "Yes."
Lilith tightened her grip on her wand, whispering almost to herself, "Would that really make you happier?"
"Obliviate."
A white glow burst from her wand, striking Alisa, Bilt, and Tim one by one, erasing their memories of the past few days.
At last, she pointed it toward Isabella.
"I'm sorry, Isabella."
Her voice trembled with guilt.
"Goodbye…Isabella."
The white radiance flared again, reflected in Isabella's eyes. Her gaze quickly grew hazy, her body softening as she collapsed gently to the ground.
Lilith let out a long sigh. She glanced one last time at the four children, then turned to leave.
"Hey!"
A voice called out suddenly behind her.
"Who are you looking for?"
"I'm not looking for anyone~ Just passing by."
Lilith replied casually, quickening her steps.
Isabella took a few running steps after her and shouted, "Hey! If you ever get into trouble, you can come find us here!"
"…Alright."
"You have to come!"
I can't. Miss Lilith would only hurt you—though that was never my intention…
She suddenly recalled something Edward had once said to Audrey in conversation:
The Witch pathway always carries misfortune and calamity.
Her heart wavered.
And quietly, without her realising, Lilith's potion had digested a great deal.
———
After leaving Isabella and the others behind, Lilith wandered aimlessly through the crimson-stained streets.
Mr. Harry the owl followed from a cautious distance, racking his brain on how to reclaim the die.
"Hey…what's a prostitute? Why was Isabella so…sad when she said her mother was one?" Lilith hesitated.
"Er, well…" Mr. Harry thought hard before answering, "It's…a very bad…job. No—no, not a job. Because most of them are forced into it. Pitiful people, pushed by cruel men into doing something very, very awful."
"Then let's kill those bad men. That way…we can save all those prostitutes, right?"
"Eh? Well…it's not that simple. Killing a few won't solve it. As long as there's profit, there will always be someone doing it. It's…it's…ugh, anyway, it's very hard to end."
Despite knowing a lot, Harry had only recently become a Beyonder creature; when it came to such things, his explanation faltered.
"But someone has to do it!" Lilith's eyes glinted with sharp resolve.
"As long as bad men dare to do such things, we'll kill them. Kill them until they never dare again."
Harry felt the killing intent radiating from her tiny body and shrank his neck.
"That…well…I suppose that could be…one way."
Lilith suddenly stopped, lips trembling.
"I miss Edward!"
"Phoenix, I want to go back to Edward!"
Phoenix gave no response.
Mr. Harry blinked, confused.
Was…was she talking to me? But my name is Mr. Harry…
"Huh?" Lilith frowned. "Did Phoenix get called away by Edward to deliver a letter?"
"Hello." A gentle voice drifted over. "Did you take my necklace?"
Harry exploded in alarm. His feathers puffed up and he shot into the air, screeching, "Danger! Danger! Run! Run!!"
I knew it! I knew that dice didn't just suddenly 'turn friendly'—it was biding its time for a big strike! I'll bet my wings it rolled a one!!
Bathed in the scarlet moonlight, a girl in a simple house dress walked forward. It was none other than Cynthia—the mistress of Amyrius. Her eyes brimmed with confusion, mingled with fury. "Was it you? Did you take my necklace?!"
Lilith tensed instantly, her small body taut like a drawn bow.
"It was you! Give it back! Give me my necklace!!"
Her voice suddenly grew sharp, and with a violent motion, her pale hand morphed into a bark-brown branch. At its tip bloomed a glistening, mucus-dripping flower—its petals parting to reveal a maw filled with jagged teeth.
Bang!
Lilith fired a volley of black-flame bullets. The instant the fire touched the branch, it roared to life, devouring wood and sap with hungry crackles.
"Ahhh!!"
The girl shrieked, severing the burning branch and retracting her arm.
"Give…back…my necklace…I…I want…to bear the Admiral's child…"
Her body twisted grotesquely, swelling as her clothes tore apart. Beneath, pale skin was mottled with knobby, tumour-like growths of bark-green. Some split open to reveal ghastly, flower-like organs.
She grew larger and larger, branches sprouting from her body, each crowned with toothy blossoms.
Whoosh!
The ground beneath Lilith erupted—another branch shot up, its flower snapping hungrily at her.
Lilith barely managed to evade with a flash of moonlight, counterattacking with black flames and frost against the monstrous "tree-beast."
"Big bird! Phoenix! Help me!!"
At Lilith's plea, Phoenix only perched on a branch not far off, watching in silence, making no move to intervene.
If birds could sweat, it would be drenched by now.
It wasn't that Phoenix didn't want to aid Lilith—or run to warn Edward. It simply couldn't.
For a terrifying woman had appeared out of nowhere…and fixed her gaze squarely on it.
———
Oravi Island.
Not far from the stone bridge where the Life School of Thought's Councillor Ricciardo lay hidden, three silhouettes materialised.
The chubby apothecary Darkwill blinked at the sudden change of scenery, still dazed.
Just moments ago, he'd been in the governor's dungeon—then a man appeared before him, and in the blink of an eye, he was whisked into a strange new place.
Roy King, by contrast, stayed composed. He bowed slightly.
"Thank you, sir, for your timely rescue."
His mind churned rapidly, trying to deduce this young man's identity, his motives, and the best response. Being saved doesn't mean it's kindness. To escape one wolf only to fall into a tiger's den…could be even more dangerous.
"It was your teacher, Councillor Ricciardo, who asked me to find you."
Edward's words cut across his thoughts.
"Come. He's wounded, hiding near that stone bridge."
Roy froze, then turned, catching sight of the magnificent bell tower behind him, painted in vivid red, blue, and yellow. He realised at once—they were on Oravi Island.
But he still dared not relax. At Darkwill's questioning glance, he asked cautiously, "Sir, what is your relationship with my teacher?"
He was certain: this man was not part of the Life School of Thought.
"Strictly speaking, we're not acquaintances. We only spoke a few words across a bridge."
Edward smiled faintly.
"As for what you need to know—your teacher will tell you himself. I won't say more."
He paused.
"Now…where's the die?"
———
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P.S. - What do you all think of the new cover? It's packed with Easter eggs! Here's a little hint: the girl featured on it is a major character to be introduced soon!
Link - (P)atre(o)n.c(o)m/ Iseeblack [Remove the brackets]