“What?”

“Like you said—she’s trying to kill everyone along with herself!”

It was certain now.

Linna had overheard Anais and Celia’s conversation. Then, after sending me far away, she intended to die—along with everyone else.

“Watching that lowborn wretch shake in guilt, unable to go one way or the other, was my only joy...”

If she heard that... it made sense that she’d want to end everything, including herself.

The massive mountain rumbled as if it would collapse on the villa at any moment.

“This... this isn’t right...”

Even so, Linna hadn’t shown a trace of emotion when sending me away—and remembering that made my heart drop.

The villa was already in chaos. Servants had gathered outside in the garden, murmuring in panic.

And at the very edge of the roof where Linna stood, Anais had somehow climbed up, struggling.

The two seemed to be speaking to each other.

“No.”

Even in this moment, I was overwhelmed with worry for Linna.

“That woman... she’ll only hurt Linna more...”

I clutched Athena in desperation.

“Athena, I have to go up there. Can you get me there?”

Then Ray grabbed my wrist and shouted,

“Rosie, are you insane? Linna’s unstable enough as it is. She really means to bury everything and kill herself too. Why would you get involved in that?!”

“So what, we just let her die like that?”

I yelled back at him, staring into his blue eyes.

“Let her die impulsively and broken like that, just like you said?!”

Ray’s eyes wavered. He clearly wanted to stop me, but knowing me too well, he couldn’t bring himself to say more.

“Athena.”

I turned to Athena and pleaded.

“Please, get me up there. Please?”

There was only one way to stop this now.

I had to become Cashie’s other master.

Just like I had with Athena and Liri.

I still didn’t know how, but I did have one piece of advice from Yuta:

[Let me give you a tip, Rosie.

Don’t overthink it—just do what you usually do. Throw a tantrum. Get mad.

Everything is as the gods will it.]

‘That’s why I came here in the first place.’

I swallowed hard, staring at the ground as it shook ominously beneath my feet.

‘Even if I’m scared—I have to go.’

Athena stared at me for a moment, then gave a small nod.

Then, without hesitation, she grabbed my collar with her claws and hurled me straight into the lake.

“Wha—ptoo! Pft—!”

Hey! Is that how you treat your master?!

I was flailing and sputtering in the water when—

A massive column of water shot upward, sweeping me high into the sky.

* * *

“Linna! What are you doing?!”

Anais shouted at Linna.

“Standing there barefoot, looking like a mess with your hair all wild—how disgraceful!”

Linna stood atop the villa roof, holding Cashie, and stared silently at Anais.

She’d never been in the attic room before. If not for Cashie today, she never would’ve entered it.

But she did know that the attic room was directly above Anais’s bedroom.

That’s how she realized—every conversation inside Anais’s room could be heard from the attic.

“I just want to ask one thing.”

Linna began, slowly, looking at Anais. Her head was spinning from drinking too much wine, but her mind was strangely clear.

“According to Celia, when I was little, you used to love me. You cherished me.”

Anais’s eyes widened at Linna’s use of “you” instead of “mother.”

“Was that ever actually true?”

Anais flinched and stared back at Linna.

“Or was it just like I heard—you only ever beat me and abused me?”

“Linna, what are you saying...”

“I was too young to remember, so I have no memories of it...”

Behind Linna, the mountain trembled.

Fear crept into Anais’s eyes.

“I’ve clung to a false past just to survive this long.”

Linna spoke quietly.

“I told myself, my mother must love me, so her words must be for my sake. If I feel weak, it’s because I’m not good enough. My mother can’t even [N O V E L I G H T] live in the capital because of me, so I have to live up to her expectations. Even if it’s painful, I have to endure it—I have to be helpful to her... because, just like you all said, it’s only natural that someone must get hurt to protect the ones they love.”

Her tangled dark red hair whipped in the wind.

“But if even that preciousness was a lie, then I’ve basically lived a life full of sin.”

“Linna, what in the world did you hear? It’s all lies—it’s all lies! Stop this nonsense right now!”

“Well. If you were really my mother, someone who cared about me...”

Linna’s cold golden eyes turned toward Anais.

“...wouldn’t you have warned me this was dangerous before lecturing me about dignity?”

Anais’s body trembled.

A flicker of horror crossed her face.

A heavy silence fell between the two women.

In the end, it was Anais who broke it.

“You lowborn wretch—you should’ve considered it an honor to live as my daughter!”

Rage began to swirl in her blue eyes.

“You’ve lived your whole life as a puppet, helpless and pathetic—and now you dare glare at me like that?!”

“...Where’s my real mother?”

“I killed her right after she gave birth to you.”

Anais laughed mockingly.

“Your father only needed a child with Idra blood to offer to the Temple, so he didn’t care what happened to that lowborn bitch!”

“...I see.”

Linna slowly closed her eyes.

“So... my very birth was a mistake.”

Tears streamed down her cheeks.

She buried her face into Cashie’s fur and murmured,

“Yeah, that’s right. I’ve lived like a puppet all this time...”

Cashie, too, had his eyes tightly shut.

“I’ll end it—by my own will.”

Now the ground beneath the villa was shaking like mad.

Anais collapsed onto the roof, screaming.

“I’m not going alone.”

Linna murmured in a chilling voice.

“I’m taking everyone with me. Even those wretched priests crawling all over this place—I’ll bury them all alive.”

Screams broke out from the servants and priests who had fled into the garden.

The mountain behind Linna finally crumbled, and a mass of earth began to bury the villa.

“There.”

Linna spoke calmly amid the cascading dirt that blotted out the moonlight.

“Let’s go. All of us.”

The once-luxurious villa turned into hell in an instant.

As Anais passed out screaming, buried under the falling earth—

“Wait!”

A sudden column of water shot up from the lake, and someone dropped in front of Linna.

“Stop! Stop this!”

“...Heidi?”

A silver-haired, green-eyed maid, completely soaked.

She shouted,

“I’m sorry! That was a fake name. I’m not Heidi.”

“...What?”

“Call me Rosie.”

Linna stared, dazed, at the maid whose tone suddenly became informal.

“...Huh?”

“I’m actually Rosie Noart of the Noart Count Family. From the beginning, I came in lying to you.”

“Rosie... Noart?”

“If you don’t like that, call me sister. I’m one year older than you.”

Above Rosie and Linna’s heads, a fierce current of water blocked the rain of falling dirt.

But it was clear—it wouldn’t hold much longer.

“Hey.”

Then Rosie barked at Cashie, still nestled in Linna’s arms.

“Enough! Why are you trying to die? Why? What the hell do you think you did to deserve death, huh?! You sly, selfish cat! You think everything ends if you just die, huh?!”

Cashie slowly raised his head and stared at Rosie.

“Meow....”

He gave a weak cry.

Linna looked like she couldn’t make any sense of this situation, but she still turned to Rosie and said,

“We’ve done too many bad things.”

Right now, Linna understood that she and Cashie shared the same feeling.

“We never even knew what kind of situation we were really in—we just kept telling ourselves we were victims...”

Tears streamed endlessly from Linna’s golden eyes.

“A lot of people were hurt because of this power. So I’ll use this power... to atone.”