By now, Liliya had lost count of how many times she had woken up.
Every time she opened her eyes, all she could see was this empty, desolate world.
In the beginning, she would take off her shoes, carry them, and walk through the emptiness, longing to quickly traverse the vast castle and find where Rosalia was.
But unfortunately, no matter how long she searched, she couldn’t find a single clue.
Whenever she got hungry, the Dining Hall would always provide her with just enough food—along with a glass of glistening, crimson Bloodwine.
Thanks to these, Liliya managed to survive without starving in this place.
At first, she diligently explored, dressed in her beautiful gown, shoes in hand, walking through the empty castle over and over.
Occasionally, she would even venture out into the courtyard, but no matter what she tried, it all proved futile.
She had no idea how long such days had passed before she began to feel real fear toward this lonely world.
The high heels she once regarded as burdensome were back on her feet. The soft click of her heels on the carpet was barely audible, but even this faint sound comforted her.
This world was strange—there was no wind, not even a trace of natural phenomena. It was as if time itself had frozen at a single moment, an eerie silence that became terrifying.
That was why there were no sounds at all. After a while, Liliya even started to experience ringing in her ears.
She had to keep making noises, whether talking to herself or, as she had just done, running around in her high heels.
She needed some sound, any sound at all.
Her delicate little feet were rubbed raw by the high heels, the pain and festering reminding her that this place was not a dream.
This only made her more desperate. If this wasn’t a dream, and the pain was real, then where was she?
She didn’t know…
Even today, she forced herself to keep moving, ignoring the pain in her feet, continuing her patrol of the castle all alone, mechanically repeating the same actions with empty eyes.
Liliya no longer knew the meaning of her actions. No matter how she looked at it, she was the only one here. Everything she did was simply to have something to occupy herself.
With no sense of time passing, she couldn’t even tell how many days had gone by. Maybe it had only been three days, or maybe a century had already passed.
At first, she tried to keep track of how many times she woke up, marking the days in this way.
But later, as exhaustion overwhelmed her, she found herself sleeping more and more, her body growing weak and limp.
She understood what was happening to her.
Her wounds were Infected.
Her feet had been injured, and she ran barefoot everywhere—even outside the castle, across the bare earth. How could she not get an Infection?
So all her attempts at keeping track were forced to start over.
She was sick for a long time, sick to the point she thought she would die, all alone in this desolate world.
She finally couldn’t hold back her tears, sobbing like a little girl abandoned by her parents, or perhaps like a kitten abandoned by its owner.
She cried herself unconscious, and when she woke up, her whole body felt especially cold.
Suddenly, Liliya lost all desire to eat. She wanted to see if, by refusing food, Rosalia would finally come to her.
But… it was a futile hope.
Rosalia did not appear, and Liliya almost died here again.
She had to crawl to the Dining Hall, on the verge of collapse both mentally and physically.
At the last moment, she managed to grab a piece of bread and devoured it desperately, even biting her pale, slender fingers in the process.
She lay on the ground and drifted off to sleep again.
When she woke, she looked at her tattered clothes, feeling utterly hopeless.
No idea how much time had passed, but once again she forced herself to get up, dragging her battered body to Rosalia’s room, where she found a dress identical to her own.
After a long struggle, she managed to put it on.
Liliya suddenly realized the only words she had left to describe time were “a long time.”
She had no idea how long it had really been.
With lifeless eyes, she curled up and suddenly recalled what Rosalia had said before bringing her in here.
“Then let Liliya feel what I felt.”
So, was this the world Rosalia-sama once experienced?
Did she too once stay alone in a castle like this, desperately searching for someone, and in the end, found nothing?
She didn’t know. She had no answers.
She only knew that if things continued this way, she would go insane…
“Rosalia-sama, I was wrong…”
“I really was wrong… I shouldn’t have left your side, I shouldn’t have thought those things about you… All of this is my fault… Please… just come back…”
How laughable—Rosalia, the very person who had put her in this state, was the only one Liliya could turn to for help, the only one she wanted to beg. Her master.
There was no response.
Liliya pressed her lips together, got up from the floor, carefully brushed the dust off her dress, and slowly climbed onto Rosalia’s bed, hugging Rosalia’s pillow. In this way, she tried to fill the emptiness inside her.
She truly didn’t want to be alone anymore.
She wanted someone else to appear. She wanted someone to hold her, clean her wounds, and gently tell her that she had already done her best, and that nothing like this would ever happen again.
She hoped… Rosalia would be that person.
“Rosalia-sama…”
The only thing that kept Liliya going was the feeling from that morning when she had hugged Rosalia’s waist.
She cherished that moment as a treasure, recalling it over and over, so she could keep surviving in this space.
She cried again, even more like an ordinary little girl than when she had first awakened, sobbing her heart out, wailing until, at last, she calmed down once more.
And then she fainted again.
In every sense, Rosalia was truly heartless.
And yet, Rosalia’s gaze never left Liliya.
Liliya was inside a beautiful Crystal Ball. The Crystal Ball was a Micro World, with Time Acceleration set at 1:30—one day outside equaled thirty days inside. Now, the third day was almost over.
Liliya had spent nearly three months in there.
Rosalia curled her lips, listening to Liliya’s sleep-talking and silently calculating the time.
Wendy stood straight beside her, sighing quietly in her heart.
She could only hope… that nothing would happen to Liliya this time.
She didn’t want to see Rosalia wait bitterly for another dozen years.
In every sense, Rosalia was truly devilish.
Wendy couldn’t imagine, if she were in Liliya’s place, just when she would break down.
She didn’t even want to think about it.
“Dong.”
The chime of the clock echoed. Midnight on the third day had arrived—the last day for Liliya inside the Crystal Ball.
“All right, it’s time to bring Liliya back.”
Rosalia left the study and went to her own room, gently squeezing the Crystal Ball in her hand. Instantly, the still-crying Liliya—crying even in her dreams—appeared before her.
Perhaps drawn by a familiar scent, Liliya did not wake, but her body moved instinctively.
She hugged Rosalia’s waist, murmuring softly.
“Rosalia-sama…”
Rosalia stroked Liliya’s dust-covered hair and cradled her in her arms.
How wonderful…
It seemed Liliya had finally understood.
With a soft chuckle, Rosalia used magic to wash away all the dust on Liliya, letting the girl regain her radiance.
She kissed Liliya.
Even in her sleep, Liliya responded with a burning, clumsy passion. Though she had never done anything while awake, in this moment she simply craved Rosalia’s scent.
Even if they were truly indulging in something indecent… No, it was precisely because they were doing something so indecent that Liliya yearned for her even more.
All the loneliness she had bottled up had reached a breaking point, transforming into something far more frightening.
And this… Liliya didn’t know.
She would never know.
Rosalia was about to savor Liliya again.
After this, once Liliya was satisfied, those strange emotions would naturally be suppressed.
She would still be the pitiable, innocent little pet from Rosalia’s memories, never realizing just how depraved she had become.
However…
Rosalia would make sure she knew one day—just not yet. When the day came that all her memories returned, this one would come with them.
Layer after layer of princess skirts were removed, leaving only the thinnest underdress.
Rosalia was ready to “feed.”