“Ahem, cough cough cough!”
Illucy was so startled that she broke into a fit of coughing.
She hurriedly shrank back into the corner, her big, watery silver eyes staring in terror at the twin sisters in front of her.
Seeing her reaction, the smile on Delucia’s face froze.
She nudged her elder sister’s shoulder with her elbow.
“Hey, I don’t think she’s faking it… Or maybe, if she is, she’s gone so deep she can’t get out? I feel like her fear is coming from the heart…”
Asterys also looked at Illucy with puzzlement.
She leaned in a bit closer, causing Illucy to shrink back even further, pressing herself against the innermost corner.
“Who… who are you?” Illucy’s voice trembled.
Asterys placed her right index finger in front of her lips, nodded thoughtfully.
“Hmm, she really doesn’t look like she’s faking. She seems truly scared of us… Are we really that frightening?”
Asterys actually seemed a little dejected. “But I think we’re pretty cute~”
Delucia blinked her eyes at Illucy.
“We’re all Mother’s children. My name is Delucia, this is Asterys, my elder sister. From now on, we’ll be your elder sisters too~”
She said this with a smile, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes.
Still, neither Asterys nor Delucia had intended to trouble Illucy.
They’d come to take a look, just to get a feel for the newcomer’s personality.
If she seemed friendly and easy to get along with—unlike Dolosa, who was so full of hostility—they wouldn’t bother to give her a hard time.
“After all, we’ll all be one family from now on~ But… Mother’s favorite children are definitely the two of us.” Asterys and Delucia spoke these words together.
Illucy found the two girls before her rather strange, but it seemed they weren’t a threat, so her pale face regained some color, and she stopped shrinking back toward the wall.
“I-I’m Illucy,” she introduced herself softly. “H-hello. Please, give me a little time to get used to things, and then… then I’ll call you sisters.”
Seeing how timid she was, Asterys and Delucia could only feel helpless.
Asterys had always thought of herself as pretty introverted, but compared to this silver-eyed girl, she realized she was nothing.
“Then take your time to get used to things…”
The two of them started to feel a little bored. They looked around—Liang Lai wasn’t in sight—so they dropped the act, offered Illucy a few casual words of comfort, and stopped paying attention to this meek newcomer.
On the other side, Liang Lai had found Dolosa, who was hiding in her room clutching a piece of human skin.
Knock knock knock~
She knocked on the door, poking her head around the doorway.
“Little Duo, can I come in?”
Dolosa’s eyes lit up, but quickly dimmed again.
“You can, come in,” she replied dully, her voice muffled, as if she’d just been crying.
Liang Lai sighed softly, tiptoed into the room, and sat down beside Dolosa.
“What happened?” she asked.
Dolosa didn’t answer. She just hugged the human skin Liang Lai had brought her, clutching it tightly.
“I love you very much, Dolosa. You… you were the first child I ever took in,” Liang Lai said gently.
Dolosa gripped the human skin even tighter.
“But this isn’t what I want…”
She stopped abruptly.
Dolosa knew that voicing her sordid little desires would be improper, and if she let them slip, the Saintess before her might start to avoid her.
Of course, Dolosa knew Liang Lai loved her, cared for her, and worried about her.
Otherwise, why would she risk going to the Black Market just to get her a piece of human skin? And even after learning her true identity, why didn’t she send her away?
She knew very well that if the Church ever found out who she was, Liang Lai would be punished alongside her as an accomplice.
She might lose all her Cross Mark points at once, and be sent off directly to become a Penitent Saintess. But even so, Liang Lai had chosen to keep her.
Yet Dolosa also understood that the love Liang Lai gave her wasn’t the kind she wished for.
It was only the love of an elder sister for a younger one, or a parent for a child, or a teacher for a student… but never the love between lovers.
She was kind—so kind that Dolosa both loved and hated her for it.
If she weren’t so compassionate, Dolosa would never have met her, never formed this bond.
But precisely because she was so compassionate, she kept bringing back more and more children, and who knew how many more there would be in the future…
Liang Lai looked at Dolosa. She noticed how the girl was sitting awkwardly, clearly wanting to get closer to her, but still turning her head away as if sulking.
So, just like a stubborn patch of dogskin plaster, Liang Lai moved around to the other side and, after a moment’s thought, pulled Dolosa into her arms.
Dolosa’s eyes went wide in an instant. Her nose tingled, and tears welled up.
“Little Duo…”
Liang Lai’s voice was as gentle as ever.
“You once told me you wanted to fulfill my dream—you said it was your dream too. But my ultimate goal isn’t for my children to become Pope. I just want to change this world. I don’t want so many people to suffer… You say I can’t help everyone, but I do my best to help as many as I can.”
“Little Duo, you’ll have more little brothers and sisters in the future. I can’t promise I won’t bring back more poor children…”
Hearing this, Dolosa’s heart suddenly sank. But right then, Liang Lai cupped Dolosa’s chubby cheeks, and with a playful glint, gave them a little pinch.
“But I can promise you this—my most beloved child will always be you~”
Liang Lai lied.
She would love each child equally, but she knew that saying this would make Dolosa happy.
It was a kind lie—she didn’t want her child to live in sorrow and pain forever.
Sure enough, as soon as Liang Lai spoke those words, Dolosa’s eyes instantly lit up.
The tears in her eyes stopped pooling, and showed no sign of falling.
“Really?!” She grabbed Liang Lai’s hand.
Liang Lai nodded, raising her hand as if swearing an oath.
“Really~ I promise~”
Finally, Dolosa smiled. She hugged Liang Lai’s neck tightly, clinging to her like a little koala.
In her heart she thought: That’s right, if I can’t stop Liang Lai from bringing more children home, then I’ll just become the one she’s most proud of, the one she always pays attention to… As for the others…
Dolosa’s gaze darkened.
She would still have to secretly trip up the others, make Liang Lai disappointed in them.
What Dolosa didn’t know was that from this very moment, she had already begun to back down.