“From the very beginning, Fourth Princess, you have been an indispensable part of this experiment. Not absolutely necessary, but with you here, the results will undoubtedly be the best possible.”
Dorothy spoke as she looked at Cecilia’s darkened face. As if all this had nothing to do with her, she spread her palm open—right in the center was the wound Rita had pierced through, lying there like a hideous face sneering at Cecilia.
“Me?” Cecilia’s expression wavered for a moment, but she quickly masked her inner turmoil with a blank face.
“Yes, you. You still don’t know just how valuable you truly are, do you?” Dorothy, for once, curved her eyes in a rare smile.
“Oh?” Even though Cecilia’s body was already trembling uncontrollably, she still took a few steps closer to Dorothy, meeting Dorothy’s gaze head on.
“It’s fine, it doesn’t matter at all. I’ll tell you—after all, we still have plenty of time, so much time left…”
Dorothy raised her chin, a look of absolute confidence.
“My experiment only has one last step left.”
Above ground, the battle had become almost completely one-sided.
Before the gigantic Lord of Night, the human army could hardly withstand the absolute gap in power. Just the troublesome mental assault alone was enough to render the soldiers helpless, leaving them as nothing more than living targets for the beetles.
Even the handful of people barely able to resist the mental attacks could do nothing more than desperately hack at the charging beetles or forcibly take a few blows from the Lord’s attacks. Changing the situation was almost impossible.
Although it wasn’t certain that everyone would lose against it, the Lord of Night was never an opponent where victory or defeat could be decided quickly—especially here, inside the city, where time was the one thing they lacked the most.
Whether beetle or human, the lives of the dead flowed toward the enormous stone gate, becoming its nourishment.
It was over.
Anyone with combat experience would have come to that conclusion.
If this were a battlefield, someone would surely have given the order to retreat.
But behind them were the people they needed to protect; at this moment, there was nowhere to retreat.
Only one path remained.
Fight to the bitter end, burning their own lives away—or slaughter every last one of the countless enemies before them.
“Is this…for real?” Cecilia frowned deeply. What she’d just heard was simply too unbelievable.
Dorothy’s theory was extremely complicated, so much so that Cecilia, unfamiliar with magic, was left in a fog—though Dorothy was only speaking to satisfy herself, not to make Cecilia understand.
But the conclusion was something Cecilia could grasp.
By this method, Dorothy could come into contact with some primordial existence.
Skipping the explanation of how this magic circle operated, what Dorothy needed was just a few things.
A massive test site—that is, this place where she’d drawn the magic circle, along with the stone gate aboveground, or rather, the entire city of Solus.
Sufficient magic power, much of which she’d already gathered through the blood-inked circle, though whether it was enough remained uncertain.
A medium—or, a perfect sacrifice, which was herself.
“If I use a dream demon as the sacrifice, I might be able to summon the legendary Dream Demon King. If I use a noble enough insect as the sacrifice, then perhaps the one I’ll face would be the Lord of Flies. But if it’s you?”
“Would it let me glimpse the secret of the Gold Blood that awakens Emblem Power? Or allow me to approach the one who cast that unknowable curse upon you, the spell that no one has ever unraveled? Cecilia Julius, you are a treasure trove unappreciated by the world.”
“Life is a climb. I only want to unravel the truth—solve this, or that unsolved riddle that’s plagued me for so long! To be the first before anyone else—no! The first before all living things, to step onto a higher level.”
A madwoman possessed by the thirst for knowledge.
That was all Cecilia could think of to describe Dorothy.
Colluding with demons, defying taboos, all for an answer unknown to the world.
Yes, just for an answer—and so many lives would be sacrificed.
“All right, all right, I’m done talking. Now, it’s time for you to hand over that little thing of yours.” Dorothy reached out her hand toward Cecilia, not to touch her, but clearly asking for something.
“What are you talking about?”
“The recording stone.”
Dorothy said bluntly.
“I’m not skilled in scheming, but the people around me are all fools. That’s why I can see through what they’re thinking, what tricks they’re up to. Even you—supposedly the cleverest—are no exception. The reason you came here, even dragging along a poor little sidekick, wasn’t it all for this?”
Cecilia’s throat moved silently as she swallowed the bitter saliva in her mouth.
Dorothy was right.
Her purpose for coming here really was to record everything Dorothy did—if she could find this place at all.
For that, she didn’t even care if she died here.
The reason? Maybe for the people of Solus, for the citizens of the kingdom?
No, that wasn’t it. That wasn’t the answer at all.
Cecilia knew that compared to the people, she cared more about herself.
She had to leave something behind.
Something that could prove her existence, something that would let others remember her.
“Your purpose is plain as day now, Fourth Princess. Don’t waste each other’s time, and don’t destroy your final dignity.” Dorothy spoke, extending her hand farther. “I know you won’t refuse me—whether you hand over the trinket I personally crafted, or become the key that lets me witness the truth.”
“After all, I know that hidden deep inside your heart is the real desire of a fool, and a self-destructive urge that’s swelled to the extreme.”
Cecilia bit her lower lip, then slipped her hand into her pocket, pulling out the recording stone she’d stuffed inside before leaving the assembly hall.
“Another one.”
Cecilia fished out another from her right pocket.
“The dress pocket.”
Each time Dorothy named a place, Cecilia would pull out a recording stone. The scene was a bit absurd, but with every stone she handed over, Cecilia’s heart grew heavier.
At last, Dorothy glanced at the several recording stones in her palm. The stones immediately twisted and crumbled to dust in Dorothy’s hand.
“Hm.” Dorothy turned her palm over, letting the powder fall freely between her fingers, then gestured invitingly: “Your Highness, please.”
Cecilia nodded and followed Dorothy’s slow steps into the very center of the magic circle, where the Crystal Cluster was still recording the horrors of the battlefield.
Was she afraid to die?
Of course, probably no one isn’t afraid of death.
Did she want to die?
She didn’t know. Cecilia really didn’t know.
Perhaps she truly did harbor an unspeakable self-destructive urge deep inside—longing for her life to end at a certain moment, leaving something behind as she faded away.
Just like fireworks, dazzling and brief.
As long as someone could see, that would be enough.
“Let’s begin.”
Dorothy said, raising her hand. The entire room’s magic circle lit up in unison. Every strand of red, like threads, surged toward Cecilia at the center.
Threads of light condensed from magic entwined Cecilia, suspending the golden-haired girl in midair like a marionette on crimson strings.
Solus City, inside the city.
“Damn! That gate! It’s reacting violently!” Old Johnny clenched his teeth, his eyes wide as if they were about to pop from their sockets, staring at the giant, humming stone gate.
Even those ordinary soldiers who weren’t magicians could feel the abnormality in the air.
Dark, cold, thick—a suffocating power radiated from the stone gate, as if the whole world was being seized by that strange force, beginning to vibrate violently.
Something no human could touch, could comprehend, seemed to be coming through the gate.
It didn’t itch, it didn’t hurt. It was just like the night Rita had hung her from the flagpole—her feet had simply left the ground, that was all.
Was it really going to end like this?
Yet, there was still a sliver of unwillingness, a faint terror at life’s end.
It’s all right, Cecilia. It’s all right.
After all, you’re just an insignificant princess, a girl unloved by anyone, a presence everyone would rather not see, who could be here or not.
If you disappeared, no one would be saddened by your absence.
Yet, something seemed stuck in her throat.
She wanted to vomit, to spit out that feeling.
Then do it—shout that name, that one and only name, the sole girl who saw her for who she was.
“Rita!!!”
All the red threads snapped in an instant.
Time seemed to stop. Cecilia saw a brilliant silver flash through her vision, swept up in a splash of bright pink. Then, as she began to fall, gravity pulled her down—into a warm embrace.
She was still falling, but very slowly, gently.
Because of that familiar embrace, in this strange red space, she felt a rare sense of peace.
Cecilia raised her eyes, gazing at the girl’s profile.
That familiar face bore the scorch marks from Dorothy’s flames, carried that same stubbornness she’d always known, and a touch of hopeless foolishness that would never wash away.
But for the first time, those crimson eyes, gleaming with a dim red glow different from the rest of the room, made Cecilia’s heart skip a beat.
And brought a different, doubled, sickly sense of peace.