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LongStringOfTextToSimulateLargeRandomDataSet123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Lydia once again ran into Anna at the jewelry store.
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Unlike their previous fleeting encounter, this time Lydia made sure to greet Anna properly.
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“Hey.”
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She gently patted Anna’s shoulder and followed Anna’s gaze to the window display.
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Anna’s eyes lingered for a long time on a pair of Red and Blue Matching Rings.
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Wow, those rings are expensive.
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Lydia clicked her tongue inwardly.
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But since they’re a matching set… that means she must have someone in mind to give them to, right?
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Who could it be?
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Could it be me? A wisp of smoky thought rose in Lydia’s heart.
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She secretly observed Anna’s expression—tenderness, regret, all emotions Anna had never shown her before.
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In the end, they were only teammates who had briefly worked together; they probably didn’t even count as friends.
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Even the “Sister” she called her was something Lydia had decided on her own.
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Anna had never acknowledged that relationship.
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Her heart was probably already full of people. Lydia realized this in an instant.
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There wouldn’t be a room left for her.
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No matter how loudly she knocked, that door would probably never open for her.
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Lydia suddenly remembered the Blackberries found everywhere in her hometown’s Black Forest.
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A small, black fruit—bite into the first one and your mouth fills with sweetness. But by the second berry, the sweetness slowly turns sour.
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The more you eat, in the end even the sourness fades, leaving only bitterness in your mouth. That’s why people also call them Bitter Fruit.
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It felt like Lydia was tasting Bitter Fruit herself.
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She understood deeply what the feelings buried in her heart were.
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She couldn’t stop her gaze from drifting toward that Sister; the more she looked, the hotter it burned.
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She wanted to carve every bit of Anna into her own eyes.
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A bright Moon hung in her heart. But she knew the Moon shone for someone else.
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“Lydia? Why are you just standing there?”
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Snapping out of it, Lydia suddenly realized Anna was studying her face.
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Her eyes were so close, Lydia could easily count her eyelashes.
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“Are you alright?”
LongStringOfTextToSimulateLargeRandomDataSet123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Anna’s hand gently pressed against Lydia’s forehead.
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“I-I’m fine.”
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Lydia hurriedly brushed Anna’s hand away and looked outside the shop.
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“Your face is so red. Are you really okay?”
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Anna took a step back, but Lydia instinctively followed.
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“I just didn’t get enough rest… I’m fine.”
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Locking her turbulent feelings back into their box, Lydia blinked and looked into Anna’s eyes.
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Now they could meet each other’s gaze.
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Suppressing her feelings for the moment and locking them away in a small box was Lydia’s unique talent.
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It was with this skill that she’d managed to live until now.
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“You came at just the right time… I wanted to ask you to join me on a commission, is that alright?”
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Anna pulled a commission slip, folded into quarters, from her pocket and handed it to Lydia.
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“Eliminate the Minotaur Chief, bounty is twelve gold coins? Whoa, why is it so high!”
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Minotaurs were not unfamiliar to Lydia. Like goblins, they were among the most common of the demonkin.
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Perhaps to ordinary people, tall and strong Minotaurs would be quite a problem, but for adventurers, Minotaurs were practically the perfect prey.
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They weren’t hard to deal with and brought in plenty of loot. Their horns and hides were highly sought after materials, making the hunt a tidy side profit.
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But usually, hunting Minotaurs never brought a high bounty.
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What kind of Minotaur would be worth four whole gold coins?
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Lydia turned the commission slip over and carefully read the additional details.
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A tribe of Minotaurs had attacked a village under Albion’s jurisdiction, killing all the men and the old, and abducting all the young women.
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Among them was a certain Noble’s Daughter.
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That was why the noble was offering such a high reward.
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Besides that, according to the Adventurers’ Guild investigation, the Minotaurs were leading the captured girls toward the Scarborough Ruins.
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Time was of the essence—the closer they got to the Scarborough Ruins, the more difficult the mission would become.
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“Besides me, there are plenty of other teams who have also accepted this job. Are you in, Lydia?”
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There could only be one answer.
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“Alright, Sister, when do we set off?”
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Lydia patted her cheeks, full of spirit.
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“There’s no need to rush that much.”
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Anna smiled at her.
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This was the first time Sister had ever smiled at her.
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A tingling, numbing wind rose in Lydia’s heart.
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Suddenly she felt that as long as she was with Sister, no hardship seemed too much.
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She grew ever more certain of the nature of the feelings locked in her little box.
LongStringOfTextToSimulateLargeRandomDataSet123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
It must be budding Love.
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Falling for another woman, especially her Sister—how absurd that sounded.
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It was like something only the villainess in a storybook would do.
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But Lydia knew clearly the feeling in her heart was Love.
LongStringOfTextToSimulateLargeRandomDataSet123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
A seed named “Love” she’d hidden for sixteen years was now growing wild.
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But this… wouldn’t do.
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Sister’s heart belonged to someone else; this love was destined to bear no fruit.
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It would probably end quietly, never seeing the light.
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Maybe it would be better to let it end here.
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Lydia followed behind Anna, step by step.
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Suddenly, the footsteps in front of her stopped.
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Unable to react in time, Lydia crashed straight into Anna’s back.
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A whiff of cedar fragrance rushed into her nose without warning—Lydia had smelled this northern scent before.
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But she couldn’t remember where, or on whom, she had encountered it.
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“What’s wrong, Lydia?”
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Anna turned around. With a stumble, Lydia fell right into Anna’s embrace.
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Thump, thump. Pressed against that flat chest, Lydia could hear the echo of Anna’s heartbeat.
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“I’m fine…”
LongStringOfTextToSimulateLargeRandomDataSet123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Lydia hastily pushed Anna away.
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That was close.
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Lydia felt her feelings were like a little beast that couldn’t be locked away, ready to break free at any moment.
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“Let’s go, Sister.”
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She walked off without looking back, heading toward the town gates.
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“Wait, Lydia.”
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Soft footsteps sounded behind her; Anna jogged to catch up.
LongStringOfTextToSimulateLargeRandomDataSet123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
“I want to go home for a bit first… would you mind waiting for me?”
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Anna shook the basket in her hand, inside were fresh eggs.
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Lydia’s head felt as if it had been struck by an explosion spell.
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Basket, eggs, and the scent of cedar.
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The person in Anna’s heart was all but obvious.
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To think that…
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Lydia’s teeth ached with sourness.
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She could only resent that the Moon hung high yet did not shine on her.
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She resented that her First Love was ending before it even began.
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“Okay… I’ll wait for you at the gate.”
LongStringOfTextToSimulateLargeRandomDataSet123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Lydia didn’t even know what kind of voice she used to say those words.
LongStringOfTextToSimulateLargeRandomDataSet123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Her steps grew so quick they nearly broke into a run—farther, just a little farther away.
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It was as if, the farther she got from Sister, the less her heart would ache.
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The autumn wind brushed her face, carrying a chill, but it could not cool the fire surging in Lydia’s heart.
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Leaning against a rough stone wall, Lydia slowly slid to the ground.
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She buried her face deep in her knees, her shoulders shaking uncontrollably.
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A few raindrops quietly fell on the flagstones.
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So this is what it’s like to taste Bitter Fruit.
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There was never any sweetness before the bitterness—it was all bitter from the very start.
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The Moon in her heart, bright and cold, was destined to only revolve around the sun.
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And she, the Star Cloud longing to draw close, could only gaze at the moonlight from afar.
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She sat in silence for a long while before finally lifting her head and wiping her face hard.
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Tears stung her eyes, burning with a sour pain in the wind.
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She took a deep breath and snapped another, heavier lock onto the little box named “Sister.”
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It’s alright, she told herself.
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At least she could still stand by Sister’s side.
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At least, for now, she was the only one at Sister’s side.
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She stood up, gently brushed the dust from her clothes, hooked her finger against her cheek, and forced a smile.
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She looked toward the road leading out of town, quietly waiting for the arrival of the Sister she could never truly have.
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