The girl's eyes shimmered, as if she were gazing through the reality of the present moment and into the departed past.
Her heart was tugged and pulled. Her tone gradually lowered, carrying an almost imperceptible tremor—as though…
A beautiful dream, once cherished, had been laid to rest forever in a decaying tomb.
Ray's pupils widened slightly. Though it lasted only an instant, he caught in the girl's eyes a kind of ambiguous, paradoxical agony.
It was not the pain of being pierced by a blade, but rather…
An emotion pressed to its very limit, erupting all at once.
Why does she…
Wear such an expression?
The impaled girl took another step forward, drawing closer to him still. She clutched her palm tightly, a faint glimmer of light flickering between her fingers.
Ray instinctively moved to retreat, but she closed in on him once more. Her bangs fell forward, veiling her face, as she murmured in a voice so faint it nearly dissolved into nothingness.
"Then… until we meet again."
The moment her words faded, the girl's body scattered into countless petals of the red spider lily. Like a snowfall of deepest crimson, they slowly dissipated into the air.
Ray looked around in a daze. A plain white envelope drifted down from midair, spiraling gently.
He instinctively caught it. Opening it, he found inside a single concert ticket, long since yellowed with age.
"This is…"
Ray stared at the ticket in his hand, his brows furrowing slightly.
Just what was Phrolova trying to do?
Could it be that the person she had been waiting for all along, the person she had been longing for all this time… was always me?
No. That's impossible.
He was nothing more than a transmigrator from another world. He knew nothing of this world's past, much less harbored some forgotten history of his own.
That was all there was to it.
Could this be an illusion she had deliberately woven? Just to confuse me, to further the Fractsidus's goals?
Yes. Right now, what matters most isn't this.
It's that stone tablet!
What exactly is the Fractsidus planning?
Are they aiming to make a move against Cartethyia?
Before Ray could give it any further thought, the world around him began to crumble with Phrolova's departure.
The space twisted and peeled away like shattered mirrors, until finally, it slammed violently back into reality.
The concert hall had been reduced to ruins, and he stood amidst the wreckage.
Shrill alarms tore through the sky. Clergy members from the guard post swarmed in from all directions, surrounding him in layers.
"Tch. Trouble—!"
...
...
A sleek black luxury car raced through the streets of Ragunna. Carlotta leaned back against the leather seat, her fingertips tapping unconsciously against the car window. The glass-like surface of her eyes reflected the streetscape flitting past outside, yet she wasn't truly seeing any of it.
Not long ago, she had received a call from Ray or rather, from the Order's guard post.
"That idiot…"
"What on earth was he doing?! To actually bring down an entire theater!"
She murmured under her breath, her voice a mix of exasperation and worry.
According to the ironclad laws of the Order, any Resonator was strictly forbidden from causing destruction within the city of Ragunna. Violators would face severe sanctions, even exile to the Pilgrim's Ship.
The moment she received the news, she had mobilized every connection and resource the Montelli family possessed, barely managing to suppress the incident.
Though an exorbitant compensation fee was still unavoidable.
But for the Montelli family, such an expense was a mere drop in the bucket.
Wealth, after all, was an external thing. As long as he was safe and unharmed, that was all that mattered.
The car turned a corner, and the silhouette of the guard post came faintly into view.
Carlotta gently adjusted her collar, tucking that barely perceptible worry back into the depths of her heart, and once again assumed the composed poise befitting the young lady of House Montelli.
"It must have been an accident." Zani, seated in the driver's seat, glanced through the rearview mirror at Carlotta's tense expression in the back. "In the two years I worked with him, I've never seen Ray do anything this out of line."
"And besides…"
Zani's tone took on a slightly more nuanced edge.
"Young Miss, what you ought to be doing right now isn't getting angry. You should be showing him proper concern."
"After all, you know as well as I do that there's never a shortage of girls around Ray."
"When you see him in a bit, why not be a little gentler? Don't be too hard on him."
Carlotta lifted her eyes, her face clouded with worry. "You think I don't understand that? The problem is… even if I don't lose my temper, that guy is still going to go around attracting every flower and butterfly out there!"
No sooner had the words left her mouth than she suddenly narrowed her eyes, studying the back of Zani's head with a thoughtful expression.
Her fingertips gently rubbed her chin, and she deliberately drew out her tone.
"Zani, you've been partners with him for so long… you wouldn't happen to have any special feelings for him too, would you?"
The air inside the car instantly froze, leaving only the faint hum of the air conditioning.
After a brief silence, the corner of Zani's mouth twitched unnaturally. "By heaven and earth, Young Miss. I work overtime day in and day out, where would I find the mood or the time for romance?"
"Really?"
"Really."
Seeing Zanni answer so decisively, Carlotta finally gave a slight nod. "That's for the best, then."
The car slowly came to a stop before the guard post.
Carlotta and Zanni got out one after the other. After stating their purpose to the guards, they were escorted toward the temporary detention room.
Their footsteps echoed through the cold, stone-built corridor, the air thick with a solemn and austere atmosphere.
"Just up ahead, Lady Carlotta." The clergy member guiding them stopped before a door. "The formalities have been taken care of. You may take him away at any time."
Once the clergyman's figure had vanished around the corner of the corridor, Carlotta drew a deep breath, trying to steady her churning emotions.
That idiot. He goes out and causes this much trouble, and in the end, it's still me who has to show up and deal with it.
Hehe. I wonder if that guy finally realizes how important I am now?
Maybe I should use this chance to scare him a little? Make him promise to stop messing around with all those other girls especially to stay far away from that jellyfish…
Just as she was indulging in her little fantasy of revenge, the faint murmur of conversation drifting through the crack in the door froze her solid on the spot.
"How does it taste?"
"As long as it was made by Phoebe herself, how could it possibly not be delicious!"
"Hehe."
Crack—
And so, the young lady clenched her fists tight.
Standing beside her, Zani quickly whispered a reminder. "Young Miss. Elegance. Remember to be elegant."
"El-e-gance—" Carlotta's smile remained perfectly in place, but her voice sounded like the biting wind in the depths of winter. "Of course. Allow me to properly demonstrate… exactly what elegance looks like."
That bastard…
Here she was, worried sick about him, and yet he was off flirting with another girl?!
Maintaining an impeccably flawless faint smile, Carlotta gave the door a gentle push. It swung open in response.
"Oh my, not a moment after bringing down an entire theater, and here you are, having such a delightful little chat with Phoebe."
"It seems my concern was entirely unnecessary after all."