Sylvia followed her familiar route and easily found Robin's room.
It was a luxurious suite, completely separate from the standard guest area. This was the headquarters of the Family. But as Sylvia drew near, she immediately felt the prickly sensation of someone watching her.
Under normal circumstances, an outsider like Sylvia visiting Robin at the Family's headquarters would be bound to be kept under a watchful eye. But this time felt different.
Although she was still being tailed, Sylvia could clearly sense a distinct wave of hostility radiating from the hidden observer.
Without letting her suspicion show, Sylvia calmly pressed the doorbell.
When the door opened, Robin looked a bit more exhausted than when they had last met. The moment she saw Sylvia, a visible wave of relief washed over her features.
"Come on in."
Robin reached out, catching Sylvia by the arm and pulling her inside.
The door shut behind them with a heavy thud, instantly cutting off the prying eyes from the outside world.
"Let me pour you some tea."
Robin guided Sylvia to a seat, but before she could move away, Sylvia spoke up.
"Are you being watched by someone?"
"..."
Robin froze for a moment, then nodded with a helpless, weary smile.
"You noticed, huh? Well, that makes sense. If even Sparkle and I could spot them, you definitely would."
Sylvia watched the steaming tea pour into her cup, the amber liquid swirling before her eyes. It sounded like after she had left, Robin and Sparkle had actually stayed lumped together and kept working together.
After a brief thought, Sylvia picked up the cup and took a small sip.
"So, did you find something out, or are they just trying to warn you to stop?"
Robin nodded.
"Thanks to Miss Sparkle, we managed to smoothly uncover a lead. A lead regarding the Stellaron."
Seeing the pained expression that crossed Robin's face, Sylvia knew right away that the outcome was highly unlikely to be good news.
With a deliberate smile, Sylvia asked lightheartedly, "How did you get Sparkle to help you anyway? Did she just think there was some fun to be had in all this?"
"Uh..."
Sylvia's words seemed to trigger a memory, and an utterly indescribable expression blanketed Robin's face.
"How should I put it... She seems incredibly passionate about digging up the Family's dark history. Thanks to her, I ended up seeing a lot of things I really wished I hadn't."
Saying this, Robin pressed a hand to her forehead and let out a deep sigh. She had only wanted to look into the Stellaron and find the traitor within the Family.
She hadn't harbored any desire to learn about the filthy, ancient scandals buried in the Family's past.
An organization couldn't stay pristine forever. No matter how deeply she believed in Harmony, Robin knew that some things were simply impossible to completely avoid.
All she could do was spread the blessings of Harmony wherever her eyes could reach.
"Well..."
Looking at Robin's expression, Sylvia could roughly guess what kind of sordid details she had stumbled upon. Just from the side stories she herself had experienced back in the game, she had already witnessed plenty of absurdities.
Who knew how much unspeakable filth was hidden beneath the surface of this decadent, intoxicating dream?
"Let's not talk about that anymore..."
Robin let out a soft breath, dropping the subject.
"Regarding the information on the Stellaron... First, I can now confirm that the Family is fully aware of its dangers. Yet, they are intentionally maintaining it for the sake of so-called 'safety.'"
Robin's tone was heavy with exhaustion.
Before this, she had gone alone to find Sunday. She had confronted him directly about the Stellaron.
Though her brother hadn't explicitly admitted anything, his reaction was enough to confirm her worst fears.
After that, Robin paid a visit to Gopher Wood—the current Dreammaster of the Family, and the very man who had adopted her and her brother all those years ago.
Mr. Gopher Wood, ironically, had been entirely candid with her, giving her the answers she sought along with a fraction of the secrets.
"Miss Sparkle said she planned to just blow up the Stellaron directly, arguing that the Family's prestige would naturally plummet to rock bottom. For a split second, I actually thought that was a pretty good proposal."
For Robin to utter such treacherous words, it was clear that the blows she had dealt with over the past few days had truly shaken her to the core.
Sylvia gently grabbed Robin's arm, pulling her down to sit right beside her. Then, she softly patted her head.
"So, you didn't actually go along with Sparkle's wild antics, did you?"
"Antics? Perhaps. I only cooperated with Miss Sparkle to investigate, and we successfully confirmed the location of the Stellaron."
"Where is it?"
Hearing this, Sylvia's interest was instantly piqued. They actually found it? How on earth did Sparkle and Robin pull that off?
"Right in the dead center of the twelve Dreamscapes—the Penacony Grand Theater."
"Hmm... That is exactly where I expected it to be. What about in reality?"
Sylvia wasn't too surprised by the answer. After all, she had previously speculated whether the grand theater right in the center might be where the Stellaron was hidden. Sparkle had even planned a massive explosion there before she was even certain a Stellaron was present.
It was just that pinpointing where the Stellaron could possibly be in the real world had always been a complete mystery.
However, upon hearing Sylvia's question, Robin shook her head.
"It's nowhere in reality. That Stellaron has already sunk completely into Penacony's Dreamscape. That was the result of the wish the Family made all those years ago."
"Huh?"
Sylvia froze, her teacup hovering mid-air. What did that mean? Such a thing was possible?
It was likely Robin's first time seeing Sylvia look so utterly dumbfounded. A large portion of her melancholy melted away, and she covered her mouth, letting out a soft giggle.
"It's the truth. I'm not sure if it's a feat achieved by the Family or an inherent ability of the Stellaron itself, but they concealed the Stellaron inside the sweet dream. Because of that, the Stellaron's power has neither leaked out nor been detected by anyone."
"That's some seriously impressive technology..."
Sylvia didn't actually know all that much about Stellarons. Was the thing a mass of energy, a cluster of matter, or something completely abstract? Even though Sylvia had handled a Stellaron herself before, her understanding of it remained incredibly sparse.
But for a Stellaron to be able to merge with matter and then insert itself into a localized dreamscape…
To Sylvia, who had always kept a sharp boundary between the physical and the mental, it felt somewhat fantastical.
Still, this also meant that if anyone wanted to deal with the Stellaron, they would absolutely have to enter the dream to do so.
Speaking of dealing with things...
Sylvia snapped back to reality and looked at Robin.
"By the way, you still haven't told me who exactly is watching you outside."
"It's the Family," Robin sighed.
The bold investigation she and Sparkle conducted was essentially unearthing the Family's dirty laundry. Now, there were even lineages directly throwing accusations at Robin, questioning if she had become a traitor to the Family.
Though everyone knew it was just baseless slander—after all, Robin hadn't returned to Penacony in years, and even if she really had turned traitor, she certainly wouldn't be aligned with the internal faction of traitors—it was undeniable that her actions had stepped on the Family's toes, drawing the hostility of the others.
Even though Sunday was shielding Robin, he couldn't completely stop the other lineages from keeping tabs on her.
In the current Penacony, Robin had suddenly been thrust directly into the spotlight, drawing the eyes of almost everyone onto herself.
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL