“Thanks for your hard work.”
Molly patted the dust off her hands and smiled broadly at Litt.
“Now all we have to do is wait for tonight.”
The preparations were finally done, but Litt did not feel relieved.
Her gaze was still fixed on the small fishing boat not far away.
A whole day and night had passed.
It remained quietly anchored there, like an abandoned child forgotten by the world, uncared for and ignored.
What unsettled Litt even more was that, when she tried to approach and investigate a second time, she found that the once faint but distinct trace of magic lingering on the boat had vanished.
Someone… had cleaned up the traces, leaving nothing behind.
With the magic, her only clue, gone, trying to find a potentially hidden magic array within the complicated structure of the boat was no different than searching for a needle in the ocean.
The simplest and most direct way would be to destroy it.
Litt’s hand lightly rested on the cold planks of the boat.
With just a little force, these decayed boards would shatter at once, seawater would rush in, and the suspicious source would be buried forever in the deep, dark sea.
Should I do it?
The strength gathered and faded at her fingertips, but Litt finally withdrew her hand.
It was too late.
The scripted event was almost upon them.
Even if she destroyed the boat, it wouldn’t necessarily foil whatever dark scheme was in motion.
More importantly… there simply wasn’t enough time.
If the script went off track in an unexpected way, with her current state and limited time left, there was no way she could handle it.
So, the best way was to leave things as they were.
Some might say this was too cowardly.
But in truth… when you know exactly when you’ll die, and that death is creeping ever closer, the pressure is enormous.
“Once upon a time, I was someone who didn’t believe in fate either…”
Litt let out a sigh.
Rather than fate, it was more accurate to call it the rails laid out by the script.
She was living as if in the Truman Show World—no matter how she thought about it, she couldn’t feel at ease.
After one last look at the little fishing boat, Litt returned home.
Looking at the empty house, Litt couldn’t help but feel a kind of indescribable coldness and loneliness.
Because her mind was always so much older than her years, Litt suddenly felt… like she’d become an empty-nest elder.
Red had gone to the underground city and probably had no idea that the Baiyang Enlightening Festival had been moved up, so there was little chance of a timely return.
Busy… everyone’s busy… maybe that’s for the best.
Litt muttered to herself.
As she’d said before, Red was her toy.
Without her toy, it was like losing her game.
It was truly boring.
“Sigh… If I’d known, I would’ve turned back into Letia and gone with Liz and the others to move bricks.”
Waiting was just too dull.
Litt returned to her room to do some more cleaning.
Entertainment in this world was so scarce that Litt found even cleaning to be a fascinating activity.
After all, she couldn’t actually go look for succubi to play with, could she?
Litt pulled open a drawer and started taking out the odds and ends inside, planning to reorganize.
Thud.
A photo, yellowed with age, slid out from a stack of old papers and fell to the floor.
Litt bent down and picked it up.
Looking closely, she saw that it was herself from seven or eight years ago.
Wearing a somber black Priest’s robe, staring at the camera with those trademark dead-fish eyes.
The sad part was, even after seven or eight years, she hadn’t grown much taller.
She’d only gone from about 1.4 meters to 1.45 or so.
But… she had to admit, she looked very pretty like that.
At that moment, Litt’s expression suddenly grew serious.
A strange thought popped into her mind.
If I did it to my own childhood photo… does that count as al-che-my*?
This was a serious question worthy of deep contemplation.
Maybe only after finishing would I understand it clearly, during that sage’s time…
Roit clutched the photo, her gaze flicking between the picture and her reflection in the mirror for several seconds.
Thud.
The door was gently closed.
Twenty minutes later.
Creak—
The door opened again.
Litt walked out.
Her face was clouded with a profound emptiness, weariness etched deep between her brows, her entire being as if most of her energy had been drained.
Silently, she shoved the photo to the very bottom of the drawer.
Damn it.
Seven or eight years had gone by, but the dead look in the photo and the face in the mirror now were cut from the same mold—other than the clothes, even the despair in her eyes was exactly the same.
What’s the difference between playing with a photo of yourself and playing with your reflection in the mirror?!
No, actually, even her reflection in the mirror was better for this than the photo.
Who could possibly manage it with this photo!
Ugh…
Though it was hard, she somehow managed it.
As for how it felt…
The experience was terrible!
Awkward physically, even more awkward psychologically.
Messing with Red was way more fun than this.
“Sigh… I wonder when Red will come back.”
Litt let out a long, deep sigh, dragging her heavy steps to the balcony, where she slumped into the cold rattan chair.
Loneliness.
Emptiness.
Desolate room…
Caring for empty-nest elders starts with you and me.
***
The day of the Baiyang Enlightening Festival arrived.
The sky was oppressively gloomy, pressing down until it was hard to breathe.
The wind at the harbor was bone-chilling, but according to the weather forecast, the storm wouldn’t hit until tomorrow, so tonight was still safe.
As Litt had expected, with the festival suddenly moved up, Red, still in the underground city, obviously couldn’t make it back in time.
If I really were Litt, I’d probably be frustrated and disappointed by this turn of events, right?
Unfortunately…
Litt’s lips curled into a faint smile.
She wasn’t really Litt, after all.
Regret?
Frustration?
Disappointment?
For a salted fish like her, those girlish emotions simply didn’t exist, alright.
If there were acquaintances around, she could put on an act, but there weren’t any.
Though the White Church wasn’t a major denomination, the Baiyang Enlightening Festival was still run with ceremony.
The Priest in charge of Nightbright Town was on stage reciting the so-called will of the Lord, followed by various performances.
It was a bit like the talent shows from her past life, but with heavy religious overtones.
Still, for a world as starved of entertainment as this one, even that counted as decent spiritual food.
After all, the white stockings and camisoles of the sisters on stage were quite a sight.
“Pity Red couldn’t make it.”
Litt sighed.
The sisters on stage, seeing her sigh, grew noticeably nervous.
Fortunately, the performances went on without a hitch.
But while Litt’s eyes were on the stage, her attention was focused on the small boat rocking in the distant wind.
She was waiting—for the story to unfold.
The boat was empty now, but if a forbidden ritual was to be performed, surely someone would have to be brought aboard?
Litt wanted to watch from the shadows, to see who was behind it all.