"Feeling better, Rei?" Samuel asked, handing her a plate of chopped fruit.
"Yeah!" Lorelei spun her arm in a wide circle to prove the point, a faint, tired smile crossing her face.
A week had passed since they'd left the Healing Ray. Lorelei still suffered the occasional outburst in her sleep—violent, gasping fits that tore her from rest—but Samuel and Brant had managed to get a hold of her every single time, without fail. They took turns watching over her through the days and nights, making sure she was never alone in this. Never left to face the darkness by herself.
"Brant should be back in a bit. He told me he had to speak with the academy's principal about the incident."
Lorelei hadn't been very talkative this past week. Her mind had been too busy trying to suppress the constant ticking of that clock, that ever-present countdown hammering at the edges of her consciousness. But now, finally, it was almost gone. She felt a surge of strength returning to her limbs, a clarity she hadn't known in days. If there was one thing she needed to do, it was get back to training. It wasn't really a problem if she didn't go to the academyl; after all, Brant and Samuel were capable of teaching her far more than any classroom ever could.
"Rei, do you want to go to the academy?"
Lorelei turned the thought over while chewing the minced fruit. Certainly, attending the academy would be an enormous risk. She wasn't just a danger to herself—she was a danger to everyone around her.
What if I end up killing people…
It was the recurring question, the one that had kept her in this bed for the past week. The pain she felt in her dreams had grown more vivid, more visceral, as if she were truly living through them. It was no different from dying.
"What do you say?" Samuel asked softly, slowly stroking her hair.
What if I…
There was no way to tell whether she could control herself during the next outburst. It was similar to the feeling she'd had when killing Silvia and Maria—but stronger, more overwhelming. At best, she could seize seven or eight seconds of control before her mind went completely blank. Samuel stayed still, patiently waiting for her answer.
"What happened to the other girl?" she asked.
"The one you fought?"
Lorelei nodded.
"Nothing much. She left a day after we did. No idea of her whereabouts since."
"I see…"
"Don't worry too much; she's probably fine. After all, she's Nimiel's little sister."
"Nimiel?"
"I thought you'd met her? Brant told me you two saw each other. Lady with iron gauntlets and blue hair."
"Oh! I remember."
The image of the fiery woman arguing with Brant sprouted in her mind, vivid and sharp.
"She left her sister behind when she was eleven and went off to live on her own. It's the first time I've seen her in such a long time." Samuel scoffed a little, as if recalling some old, complicated memory.
"What did she do after leaving her sister?"
"I have no idea, but it must have been hard for her. She's blind, you know?"
Lorelei was stunned.
"It was probably because she didn't want to depend on her big sister that she left without a word. I remember Nimiel and I going around searching for her, but the Order forced us to stop."
The Order…
It was something mentioned in Melivine's journal. It instantly seized Lorelei's attention, but she held her tongue, refusing to voice the thoughts forming in her head. She forced herself to rise in front of Samuel. The figure hadn't listed attending the academy as one of her options. If there was one thing she could do to keep herself alive, it was to listen to the figure.
The pillar…
She walked to the window and pulled the curtains slightly open.
"Something wrong, Rei?"
She leaned out until the pillar came into view.
The pillar…
A long column of light piercing the skies, expanding beneath the ground. That was where she had to go.
Kill Shiniel?
She scoffed at the thought.
I could never. Even if I wanted to.
Lorelei pulled herself back inside, took a deep breath to steady her nerves, and turned to face Samuel.
"I'm going off on my own," she said, her voice brimming with resolution.
"…"
Samuel looked dumbfounded, as if someone had just dropped an anvil on his head. He could never have seen it coming.
"Rei? Are you sure?"
Lorelei nodded.
"Have you thought this through? What are you going to do if you leave? You barely know anything about this country."
"That's why I'll find out on my own."
Seeing her determined look, Samuel took a deep breath and let out a long, weary sigh.
"If… if that's really what you want, then… I won't stop you," he murmured.
In the two months she'd spent with them, Lorelei had never planned for it to end. That was exactly why Maria and Silvia had died. That was why Clovis had died. Because she hadn't seen an end to the good times. Because she'd never wanted it to end. She'd learned from it that for someone like her to keep living in this world, she had to hurt others before they could hurt her—whether it be emotionally or physically.
"Could you stay… one more week? For Brant. It's going to be hard on him if you leave so suddenly. And for me too…"
"Alright."
Samuel got up without another word and left Lorelei's room, quietly closing the door behind him. After he'd gone, Lorelei walked to her closet and opened it. Behind the hanging clothes was her bag. It was still there, but when she searched through it, she realized the knife was gone. She searched the whole closet, but found nothing. Then she remembered the journal—it had been on her bed when she'd left for the tournament, but during the week of sleeping here, there had been no sign of it. Lorelei searched frantically around the bed: beneath the pillow, behind the nightstand, everywhere, but no journal was to be found.
"Looking for something?"
A familiar voice startled her from behind—a unique voice she could never forget. Lorelei turned slowly to confirm her suspicion, and just as she'd thought, Iria was there, sitting on her bed, waving a book in the air.
"I assume this is yours too?"
Iria reached behind her and pulled out the dried-blood-covered knife, tossing it in front of her. The metallic sound of the blade rang across the room. Iria sat there with a sly grin on her face.
"You…"
"When did I come back? Hmm? I wonder?"
Lorelei's world slowly spun in circles.
Not again… Not again… No…
Iria tossed the journal in front of Lorelei.
"You know? I actually wondered where this had been. I searched all over this mansion, but you did me a huge favor by finding it. I'm grateful, really."
Lorelei took a deep breath and stood up to face Iria.
"I'm leaving."
"No need, no need, really. I only came here to talk."
Lorelei turned her head toward the knife, keeping her eyes on Iria.
"Don't worry about this. We all have people we want to kill, don't we? Some of us just…" She pulled a dagger from behind the bed and stabbed it through the air. "…take it further than simply an idea."
"Then… what is it?" Lorelei's words barely managed to find their way out of her mouth.
"Just like you, Reili. I have someone I want to kill. Wait." She held her hands up. "Let me clarify. I have someone I want to save. And for that, I need your memory."
"Me?"
"Clovis. You heard Brant and me talking, didn't you? Back then, before I left. You heard us, no?"
"N—"
Her body suddenly felt heavier than usual. A slight pressure pushed on her back until she was forced to the ground.
"Now, Reili. The one thing I hate is liars. I despise them. So tell me the truth. Who is my brother to you?"
Lorelei would have given her an answer, but she herself didn't have a concrete idea of what Clovis was to her. There was no way to put the feelings she carried into words. It wasn't love, nor was it hatred. Clovis was someone she admired, someone who had taken care of her in her most vulnerable state.
"I… I don't know."
The pressure rose slightly, and her body was now completely crushed against the ground.
"I don't—"
The pressure rose even more. She felt her organs being pressed against the hard, marbled floor.
"I don't know!" she repeated, louder.
"Alright."
The crushing weight slowly faded as Iria clapped her hands.
"My brother, he… he was someone I really loved, you know? I admired him deeply. He was strong, handsome, skillful—perfect. He was good at everything. But it all started when that old bitch became sick." Her fist clenched so hard that a drop of blood slipped from the fresh wound she'd just created.
Lorelei raised herself off the floor and leaned against the wall, gasping for breath.
"She ruined him. From the beginning, she had ruined him. I was there when Clovis killed our eldest brother. I was there when he killed Vina. I was there when he killed my own mother. But never once have I resented him. Never. It was because of him that I was able to live in that castle. But one thing I couldn't accept was that she controlled him by the fingers. He was a puppet dancing for her. I wanted to free him from that bitch, you know? I wanted to free him from her. But you know what he told me? After everything I'd done for him, you know what he told me?"
Lorelei shook her head, still wracked with pain.
"He told me not to lay a finger on her."
Iria pulled off her top and turned to face Lorelei, revealing the long scar etched across her torso.
"Even then, I did not resent him. Never have I ever resented him. During the catastrophe—or whatever it was called—he killed our father. He killed the angel. It was because of him that the people are still able to live freely like this, because he chose to sacrifice his humanity for them. Even then, that lecherous hag was still there. It was only after he killed our father that he realized everything. He read that journal. It was only then that he decided to kill her. He pretended everything was fine, but I knew it wasn't. I saw him suffering. I saw the marks on his body grow and take control of him day after day. That's why I decided to end it right then and there."
"Wha—what did you—?"
"I killed him, Reili. I, Iria Di Vileth, killed him." She started laughing.
That single phrase hit Lorelei like an explosion.
Mister? Died?
"You're lying!" she screamed. "Mister was with me!"
Iria looked down at her, and her expression hardened.
"I tell you what, Reili. I really did kill him. I blasted a hole right through his chest and crushed his heart with my own two hands. But even then… he came back to life, rather—he stayed alive."
Iria slowly buckled her shirt back on and lifted her hair.
"Thanks to you, I was able to read the rest of that journal. That Eye of Time—it was because of that that he was still alive. This whole time he stayed alive on… on borrowed time. Can you imagine?"
Iria laughed.
"And you know what the cherry on top of all this is? He wasn't even my real brother! He was just some experiment of that old bitch. Can you believe that?!"
Iria laughed even harder, but for Lorelei, there was nothing funny about this situation.
"You're lying… You're lying…"
"You still think so? You have all the proof to verify that what I'm saying is true, no? Now. Do you want to know why I'm still searching for a dead man?"
"…"
"I need to finish what I've started. It doesn't matter if he's dead or alive. Human or not. Family or experiment. That doesn't change the fact that he was still the brother I admired. And for that, I will show my gratitude by bringing him down with my very own hands."
Lorelei felt a slight shiver run down her spine. It was then that she realized just how crazy Iria truly was.
"For me to finish what I've started, I need your help, Reili."
"I—"
Iria leaned in and pressed a finger against Lorelei's lips.
"Don't tell me now. Take your time. A week, right?"
She gave her a sly grin.
"L-O-R-E-L-E-I."
With a swift movement, Iria lunged at the open window and jumped out, disappearing into the night.