[Entrance of the Ruined Anaconda Path]
The silence following Mirabella's interrogation was thick with the scent of ozone and burnt earth. Delphine's mind raced through the mechanical implications of her next words:
'Mirabella is very powerful, with her help, nothing will go wrong, but if I reveal my true goal? Will she still help me? No matter how you look at it, I am still being selfish.' She thought, the weight of her secret feeling heavier than any spirit energy exhaustion. But seeing Mirabella's serious, unblinking expression—a gaze that seemed to peel back the layers of her royal mask—she finally exhaled the tension:
"I came here to save Xavier!!" She yelled, her voice echoing off the scorched canyon walls.
"Xavier?!"
Mirabella and Hayatobi were stunned, both staring at her with a slight frown of pure confusion. The name carried an immense weight within the empire's high-level politics.
