“Princess, and… Mr. Grin…”
Everything she saw upon waking was a bit blurry, but the shadows etched deep in her memory allowed Viseliane to immediately distinguish the two people surrounding her.
“How do you feel, Viseliane?” Grin asked, though the answer was already obvious.
Viseliane, lying on the bed, glanced at Grin and spoke slowly, “I’m sorry, Mr. Grin. I deceived you.”
“I thought I could hold on until we left, but I overestimated my resistance to the curse. Was it you who saved me?”
Grin shook his head and replied, “Yes, but it wasn’t just me. Dolores put in a lot of effort too. We even ran into Saintess Hilberu and the others on the way back.”
“That’s right, Viseliane. When Mr. Grin carried you back, I was nearly scared to death,” Dolores said, her voice trembling slightly. “You were on the verge of death, and Mr. Grin was asking me about medicine the moment he stepped through the door.”
At this point, Viseliane could probably guess the misunderstanding that had occurred. She truly hadn’t considered that aspect back then.
“Ahem.” Grin coughed a few times to interrupt. He had a premonition that Viseliane would apologize again, so he acted with foresight.
He was right.
Viseliane tried to sit up, but Dolores pressed her back down. “Viseliane, what you need most right now is rest. Don’t push yourself.”
“She’s right. After all, Dolores has been running herself ragged for your sake. She even cried,” Grin added, revealing a fact the person in question didn’t particularly want others to hear.
Dolores shot Grin a fierce glare. This interaction between the two triggered something in Viseliane’s mind.
Her last memory of Dolores was at the Hollow, when the Princess had agreed to let her go down. Now, the relationship between the two seemed exceptionally good. Down in the Hollow, Grin had also told her he needed to apologize to Dolores and explain everything.
‘So, has that already happened?’ Viseliane wondered.
“Mr. Grin, have you already told the Princess everything?” Viseliane asked somewhat anxiously.
Grin nodded. Beside him, Dolores added:
“Yes, he apologized to me, and I forgave him. It was all just a complicated misunderstanding. Fortunately, as the protagonists of this story, neither he nor I allowed the misunderstanding to continue. The things I once feared ultimately didn’t happen. It’s truly a relief.”
Dolores patted her chest and sighed, then broke into a smile.
“So, Princess… what about what you said before? That ‘I don’t want to die’…” Viseliane still harbored some doubts.
She clearly remembered the conversation between Dolores and Alberke. Dolores’s words, sharp as if carved by a blade, still echoed in Viseliane’s mind.
Dolores had changed significantly. This might be hidden from Grin, but it certainly couldn’t be hidden from Viseliane. After all, if even Hagel could sense an abnormality, how could Viseliane, who spent every day with Dolores, not notice anything?
Grin showed a look of confusion. Seeing this, a flicker of panic crossed Dolores’s face.
“That… that was just a lapse in my own judgment. I used to think that losing my self-awareness and acting against my past will was the same as death, even if the shell remained. But I overestimated the Technique on Grin, and at the same time, I underestimated my own uniqueness. In reality, I haven’t changed much, even though I’ve reached that threshold.”
“Otherwise, if I were truly affected, I’m afraid I would have rushed into Mr. Grin’s arms the moment I saw him and blurted out how much I liked him. But…” Dolores looked up at Grin, seemingly explaining it specifically for him. “I didn’t do that, did I?”
“I haven’t turned into some fool babbling about love to you yet. This proves I wasn’t affected—at least not to the point of what I considered death. I hate manipulated emotions. So, if I were truly trapped in that kind of controlled affection, I believe I wouldn’t hide it. Instead, I would express it in its rawest form.”
“Therefore, when I said I didn’t want to die back then, it was based on the premise that the bestowed feelings would turn me into a version of myself that I couldn’t understand. But fortunately, there is some ‘specialness’ in me that diluted those effects. Or perhaps I was never affected at all.”
Dolores spread her hands, looking perfectly fine.
Her reasoning was sound. At least, Grin couldn’t hear any flaws in it. In his impression, things like the System—similar to **[Brainwashing Magic]**—usually had overly obvious effects rather than subtle ones.
After all, the mind and soul were fragile things. Forcibly planting a certain thought often led to a loss of reason, making one obsessive and mad. This could be seen in many cultists. Grin and Dolores had seen plenty of those crazed cultists in their past life.
That was why Grin had been hesitant to use the System at first. Because he had such examples in his heart, he had certain expectations. That was also why Grin felt confused when Dolores didn’t show much change.
He knew how wicked and flawed **[Brainwashing Magic]** was. That was why, midway through, he felt there was no turning back and decided to confess to seek her forgiveness. Anyone with knowledge of such magic would know how heinous an act it was.
His confusion stemmed from his surprise at Dolores’s lack of change—he had once thought the System’s effects were watered down, but the series of events that followed, comparable to a Miracle, dispelled his doubts about the System’s power.
Whether it was the **[Blood Cup of Mercy]** appearing out of thin air or those **[Punishment Memories]** that almost felt like traveling back in time, both proved the System’s capabilities.
So perhaps Dolores really did have some special trump card that allowed her to be immune to the System’s influence. After all, hadn’t Dolores put on such a confident front before letting him leave?
But thinking of ‘specialness,’ Grin remembered the **[Otherworld Visitor]** trait on Dolores. At the same time, Alberke also possessed the **[Otherworld Visitor]** trait.
Dolores knew so many things; could Alberke be the same? Thinking carefully, Alberke did seem to have a sense of foresight. She knew secrets that even he didn’t know. He had clearly never met her, yet she acted as if she had known him for a long time. Furthermore, she had said things like “I hope you can be happy.” She seemed to share similarities with Dolores.
Did Dolores know about the specialness inherent in Alberke?
While Grin was lost in thought, Viseliane asked a new question:
“Then, Princess, what about the task you entrusted to Lady Alberke?”
Hearing this, Dolores’s hand trembled for a moment, but she forced herself to stay calm. “I will explain everything to her after she returns.”
Since the topic had shifted to Alberke, and connecting it to his previous thoughts, Grin felt more curious about her. He asked, “Dolores, what did you talk about with Alberke earlier?”
Dolores’s expression turned odd. Viseliane saw it clearly—it was a look of agitation.
“I…” Dolores hesitated.
‘Should I tell him the truth?’