Iyue froze in place, unable to move.
At the same time, she couldn’t speak… it was as if her little sister wasn’t hugging her waist but strangling her throat.
‘Did she arrange this? And that guy… he told me she’d be out all day. No, what reason would he have to betray me? Besides, she came alone…’
‘Could she have forgotten something and come back? No, she’s not the child who used to live with me back then. She’s become a candidate for family head. How could she still be as scatterbrained and careless as before?’
Her mind was a mess. But when she saw her sister’s face through the slit of her helmet, the chaos strangely vanished—
“Sister, welcome back.”
Her younger sister lifted her face and smiled at her.
If not for the gentle grace of age in that smile, Iyue would have thought this was just another ordinary day from the time they had spent together.
Her mouth opened. “I’m home” was almost on her lips… but reality—everything weighing on her shoulders, and the pain that had shattered the memories they once shared—kept her from uttering those words.
“Let go first.”
Iyue didn’t hug her back or push her away; she only whispered her request.
At the same time, she reexamined her heart, confirming that her will and the purpose she had come here for remained unshaken.
The ‘Magic Bullet’ hidden in her shirt didn’t stir either… if so, she could probably negotiate face-to-face with her like this.
Iyue felt the stiffness in her body finally ease a little. At that moment, Nephtalia obediently released her embrace and walked toward the living room.
“Nefi. If you arranged all this, then you should know what I came here for.”
Iyue turned around and watched her sister sit down on the small wooden stool by the window, just like she used to.
In the past, when Iyue would carve training arrows for her with a knife or mend her torn clothes, Nefi would quietly sit there with her cheek in her hand, watching until her eyes grew drowsy, then leisurely head off to bed.
“Jumping straight to business, huh.” Despite Iyue’s cold and distant reaction, Nephtalia’s smile remained. “Sister, doesn’t that helmet make you feel stuffy? Take it off.”
“I don’t feel stuffy.”
“There’s only me here, and only I know you came.”
“…”
Iyue finally took off her helmet. After breaking free from her memories, her perception of her surroundings returned to normal.
She clearly knew her sister wasn’t lying. In this house and the woods around it, only the two of them were present.
“After all these years, I can finally see Sister’s face up close again.”
Nephtalia looked delighted as she gazed at her sister’s face. She patted the chair beside the small wooden stool, motioning for Iyue to sit.
“Nefi. I’m looking for a certain ‘Relic’…”
Iyue didn’t sit down; she just stood there, trying to continue the conversation.
“Doesn’t Sister want to catch up with me? We haven’t seen each other for so many years.”
“…We saw each other just a day ago.”
“But Sister ran away from me back then. Does that count?”
“…”
“Why did you run?”
Nephtalia asked, sitting there with a patience she had never shown before, waiting for the silent Iyue to give an answer.
“Because I was afraid… afraid of hurting you.”
Iyue hesitated for a moment, then whispered.
“Afraid of hurting me?” Her sister was stunned for a second, then burst into laughter as if she had heard the world’s funniest joke: “You ran away from your little sister, who has always wanted to see you again and loves you the most, because you were afraid of hurting her? Sister, what are you even saying?”
“I have some kind of ‘Relic’ on me… It showed me some scenes.”
“What kind of scenes?”
“Me… killing you.”
“Killing me? You ran away from me because of some uncertain premonition?”
Nephtalia stood up. On the nearby wooden table, she saw the object Iyue had found… She picked up the knife used for making arrows and skinning prey.
“Nefi… what are you doing…!”
Iyue’s expression turned fearful. She quickly snatched the knife from her sister’s hand.
“I’m not doing anything,” Nephtalia said calmly. “This is just to test your premonition. Now that you’re holding the knife, do you feel the urge to kill me?”
“How could I…! Listen to me, that arrow was the one I used when I defeated the Demon King. When I fired it at her, she gave me a warning—”
“I don’t want to hear about that!” Nephtalia’s sudden rise in volume cut off her explanation. Seeing her sister lunge forward, Iyue hurriedly tossed the knife aside.
“I don’t want to know anything about your great journey and exploits.”
“Because back then, weren’t you heartless enough to drive me away? Weren’t you so despairing that nothing mattered anymore?”
“Nefi…”
“Then why did you, who were so utterly hopeless, accompany the Hero to the battlefield? What did that person do to move your cold heart, to make you abandon everything and follow him through life and death?”
“I—I was…” ‘He really did move me. But beyond that, I also wished for my own destruction. I just didn’t expect my feelings to change during that journey.’
“In the end, you’re Mother’s daughter. You’re just as selfish as she was. You abandon your own blood for love.”
“It’s not what you think! You’re mistaken! I don’t have those feelings for the Hero, for Lian En—”
Nephtalia let out a cold laugh. “Then who is that girl? The one you were so close with on your journey, the one you called family?”
“She—she is…!”
“You don’t need to tell me. I know who she is. She’s the young girl at the Northern Tournament Arena who defeated the Magus together with the Sword Saint. I saw it with my own eyes that day. That girl looks very much like the Hero.”
“And you called her family. Not me… but that girl. You ride side by side with her, eat together happily, stroke her hair, smile at her. And now, for her sake, you’re even willing to infiltrate the family you despise the most, coming here to steal from me!”
Her sister’s roar made Iyue take two steps back… because she saw that Nefi was still smiling.
That smile carried a deep, unbearably sad pain, and an indescribable, unutterable madness.
“Sister, you don’t have to worry about killing me. Because ever since you drove me out of this house, Nephtalia has already died.”
“What’s left now is just a body barely clinging to life.”