“Mom was always ours to begin with. We wanted to share her from the start~ She’s the one who didn’t appreciate it~ She insisted on driving us away… So she can’t blame us now~”
Asterys didn’t argue. She simply reached out and gently stroked Delucia’s cheek.
“She won’t give up.” She spoke softly. “She’ll find a way to drive us out.”
Delucia’s pupils shrank slightly, the edges of her shadow suddenly sharpening like blades, carving thin cracks into the wall.
“Let her try, then.” She replied in a voice as sweet as honey, yet chilling to the bone.
“Let’s see, in the end… who disappears first.”
Asterys was silent for a moment, then finally nodded.
“We won’t be separated.”
She promised quietly, her fingertips hooking into Delucia’s shadow. “Never.”
Delucia smiled, her six-pointed star pupils flickering with a strange light in the darkness.
“Of course, sister.” She responded softly. “We are one. And in the future, Mom will always, always be with us too, forever as one…”
Their shadows slowly merged under the moonlight, making it impossible to tell them apart.
Dolosa stood before the bathroom mirror, her fingertips gliding across the cold glass.
Droplets of water slid down her golden hair, splashing tiny beads onto the sink. Just as she was about to turn away, the mirror’s surface suddenly rippled with a strange distortion.
“Are you done playing house yet?”
The False Pope Claudious, looking like a thirteen-year-old boy, appeared in the mirror. His golden eyes glinted coldly in the dim bathroom. Dolosa’s breath caught instantly, her fingers unconsciously tightening around the towel rack.
“I… haven’t forgotten.” Her voice trembled more than she expected.
The boy in the mirror tilted his head, the collar of his black papal robe embroidered with an inverted cross.
“One month and seventeen days.”
His fingertip traced a line of frost across the mirror.
“The Sanctuary’s deadline leaves you less than two weeks.”
Dolosa’s blue eyes contracted sharply.
Only then did she realize how long she’d been lost in Liang Lai’s gentle warmth—so long that she’d nearly forgotten that cold, damp Underground Sanctuary, forgotten those terrifying days and nights.
“The roots of the Crystal Crown require ‘Tears of Shadow’ for nourishment.” Claudious’s voice slithered into her ears like a snake.
“Before midnight tomorrow, bring it to the basement of the Abandoned Church in the Northern District.”
Frost began to spread across the mirror.
“Otherwise, what do you think Liang Lai would do with a traitorous adopted daughter?”
With a sharp crack, the mirror shattered. Dolosa staggered back, a shard slicing across her ankle. Blood dripped onto the tiles, quickly blurred by the rising steam.
In truth, she’d escaped—forced to accept this so-called mission.
She couldn’t stay there any longer.
But she couldn’t stay in either world.
She hated the current Pope Alphonse VII, yet feared the False Pope Claudious even more.
She could betray Claudious outright and stay here with the Third Saintess forever; this was the perfect sanctuary.
Claudious didn’t have the guts to risk sending people after her just for one traitor.
But if Liang Lai knew she’d once worked for Claudious, would she still protect her?
That Claudious… was even more disgusting than Alphonse VII. Someone as kind as Liang Lai would surely hate her…
The next evening, Dolosa slipped out of the Court of Purity while Liang Lai took the twins to the Sanctuary for prayers.
The Northern District of the Church was steeped in decay at dusk, crumbling spires casting twisted shadows in the setting sun.
She pulled her cloak tighter, turning into a dark alley as she recalled the route from memory.
“Tears of Shadow” was said to be harvestable only at the boundary where moonlight struck the edge of shadow.
Dolosa crouched by a low wall overgrown with vines, the crystal vial in her hand growing warm.
As the last ray of sunlight vanished from the horizon, she saw a silver-black viscous liquid seep from a crack in the wall.
“Got you.”
A mocking voice suddenly sounded behind her.
Dolosa spun around, nearly dropping the crystal vial.
Three men in black robes embroidered with inverted crosses emerged from the shadows, the leader toying with a jagged dagger.
“Lord Claudious was right. The little traitor would show up.”
The man with a scar slashing across his entire face grinned.
“But he doesn’t want the bottle…”
“Those who betray once will always betray…!”
Ice crystals instantly formed at Dolosa’s fingertips, but the others were faster.
A black shadow flashed by.
Her wrist was seized in a crushing grip, and the ice shattered with a crack. In the agony that followed, she smelled blood—hers or theirs, she couldn’t tell.
Damn!
Ever since she’d been troubled, she hadn’t properly practiced her Crystalization Ability or Blood Ink Control…! There were too many of them.
She was hopelessly outnumbered.
Was this where she would die?
“Let her go!”
A cold, clear female voice cut through the night.
Dolosa looked up in disbelief to see Liang Lai’s violet eyes turned completely gold, a second pair of pupils burning beneath her eyelids.
The men in black screamed.
Dolosa saw their shadows come alive, crawling up their bodies like pitch, pouring wildly into their features.
In the space of three heartbeats, the alley was left with only three twisted statues, their surfaces coated in crystallized shadow.
At that moment, Liang Lai felt immense gratitude for the strength of this body and for all the hard work she’d put in since coming to this world—never slacking off.
If she’d still been as confused as in those first days, she probably wouldn’t have been able to save this poor child today…
“Dolo!”
Liang Lai staggered to her knees, the golden hue fading quickly from her eyes.
Dolosa was pulled into her embrace, catching the familiar Lily of the Valley Fragrance mingled with blood.
Liang Lai’s hands were trembling, and warm tears dripped onto Dolosa’s neck.
“I searched for you for four whole hours,” her voice was broken beyond recognition, “I thought, I thought…”
Dolosa’s lies caught on her tongue.
She should say she got lost in the library, or that she was out buying Liang Lai a birthday present.
But when she looked up and saw the tears clinging to Liang Lai’s lashes, all her prepared excuses dissolved into a choked sob.
“I’m sorry, I just… just wanted to be alone for a while…”
Suddenly, Liang Lai cupped her face.
In the moonlight, Dolosa saw her own disheveled reflection in those violet eyes.
“Is it because of Asterys and the others?” Liang Lai’s voice was as light as a sigh.
“These past days… I’ve neglected you too much.”
Dolosa froze.
She hadn’t expected Liang Lai to understand this way, and even less that this misunderstanding would make her heart ache so much.
Liang Lai took off her Holy Robe and wrapped it around her, pausing when her fingertips touched the bruises on Dolosa’s wrist.