“Linna, wait... did you... did you drink? You’re totally drunk right now, aren’t you?!”

Rosie stepped forward, clearly stunned.

“Hey, you can’t do this when you’re drunk! Just stop. Just stop and—”

“I’m not stopping! I can’t stop!”

Linna shouted, clutching Cashie tightly.

“The Noart Count Family—I've done horrible things there too!”

She even jerked her head away like she couldn’t bear to look at Rosie.

“You know what I’ve done. You know everything. So how can you tell me to stop? Just get the hell out of here with that damn water stream!”

“Yeah! I know everything!”

Even so, Rosie was desperately keeping her balance as she approached Linna.

“But... no one lives their life only writing down the right answers, you know?”

The water current shielding them from the collapsing dirt began to waver. It could no longer bear the weight.

“What you did to me—I'll forgive it. I’ll overlook it. I’ll tell you it’s okay.”

Soaked in muddy water, Rosie crawled toward Linna like she was dragging herself forward.

“So please... stop. What you did to me was real, but you... you’re still pitiful to me...”

Finally, amid the falling soil, her hand managed to touch Cashie.

“Oh, now I get it...”

She murmured, as if something had clicked.

“...If this is mercy, then fine. I’ll show you all my mercy... I’ll embrace you...”

Rosie lifted herself up and hugged Linna tightly.

The water column, unable to hold back the pressure any longer, finally collapsed. The dirt came crashing down over their heads.

And ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ in that moment, a burst of light flared from Cashie’s body between them.

* * *

A vision spread out before her eyes.

A young Linna was holding Cashie in her arms, holding a maid’s hand as she entered the Temple.

‘Ah... this is...’

I thought blankly.

‘Cashie’s memory.’

All the priests bowed respectfully to Linna.

“Today’s your education day, isn’t it? We’ve been expecting you.”

It was well known that Linna, who became the master of the Earth Divine Beast at a young age, received personal training from the High Priest.

The moment she sat across from Aietar and saw his face, Linna’s memory ended.

When she regained consciousness, she was so dizzy she kept her eyes shut. But thinking she was still unconscious, the priests around her began to talk.

“Phetan, right? That’s where we targeted, right?”

“Yes. There should be a landslide there now. The Noart Count has arrived in Solom.”

“We’ve got to tie down Caliban Noart for as long as possible. Before he returns to the estate, we need to take out Julian Noart. If we kill him while he’s still amnesiac and dumb, there’ll be no backlash.”

“Exactly. Good thing we have the Earth Divine Beast. Thanks to the cooperation from the Duke of Idra, everything’s going smoothly...”

Linna wondered if she was dreaming.

But the next day’s newspaper headline read:

Massive Landslide Strikes Phetan

Young Linna’s body trembled.

The time of the landslide matched exactly with the time she had gone for her “education.”

She read the article carefully, then clutched Cashie tightly.

“Cashie, was this you? Was this really us? Huh?”

At that moment, Cashie’s tears began to fall.

Linna’s heart dropped—she’d nearly blamed him without even realizing it.

“...You didn’t... you didn’t want this either, did you...”

Linna buried her face in Cashie and sobbed as she whispered,

“Let’s ask the grown-ups... just in case. Maybe something’s wrong. Maybe we’re the ones who misunderstood.”

It was the day her hell began.

After that, every time Linna went to the Temple, she showed severe anxiety symptoms.

And when she trembled and went into a panic, the gentle-looking Aietar soothed her with a soft smile.

“Linna, is this situation really so painful for you?”

He wiped her tears and gently proposed:

“Then how about swearing loyalty to me?”

“...Huh?”

“If you look at the ancient records, sometimes the masters of Divine Beasts swear to follow and serve the High Priest for life.”

Aietar smiled kindly, his saintly eyes gleaming.

“If you swear loyalty to me, then all you have to do is follow my will. Wouldn’t that ease your heart a little?”

Linna, hugging Cashie, nodded frantically.

She was so young and emotionally unstable, she felt like she’d do anything if it would bring her some peace.

“Shall we try it, Linna?”

“Huh? How do I do it?”

“That’s something you’ll know. The records say it’s not something that can be forced.”

“...I don’t know...”

Linna shook her head, sniffling and crying.

“I don’t know... I don’t know how... I really don’t...”

Aietar clicked his tongue disapprovingly.

But since he knew it couldn’t be forced, he didn’t press further.

After that, Linna’s emotional instability didn’t improve at all, and in the end, the Duke of Idra even withdrew her from the Academy.

* * *

“Pfft.”

I crawled out of the dirt pile, gasping.

“Rosie!”

From afar, Ray rushed over and pulled me up by the arm.

I must’ve looked like a complete mess.

The villa was completely buried under mud. Even in the darkness of night, villagers had gathered with torches and were working to rescue people.

Off in the distance, Linna was sitting blankly, holding Cashie.

“There are no casualties, but the injuries are severe.”

The village physician shook his head.

“Still, good thing the priests were here.”

Maybe because we’d been at the top, or maybe because of Athena’s power—Linna and I were both fine.

I’d guessed it had worked, but just to be sure, I secretly checked my thigh.

Sure enough, along with the blue and green marks, a brown one had appeared too.

‘I see now.’

I recalled what I’d finally figured out—how to become the master of a Divine Beast.

‘Love and understanding... mercy and empathy... that’s what it was.’

It had hit me when I faced Cashie and looked honestly at my feelings.

When Athena had rampaged, I’d told her, “I’m different from you—but I still understand you.”

With Liri, I’d said, “Doing something you hate for someone you love—I understand that.”

And the key to becoming Cashie’s master had been “mercy.”

I let out a breathless laugh.

Before regression, during all those repeated experiments, I clearly remembered being pushed and prodded—

“Ask the Divine Beast! What’s the way to become its master?!”

And the answer had been... love, understanding, mercy, and empathy.

Words that were plastered all over the Temple.

Probably even engraved on the door of the lab I’d been experimented in.

Even if you grabbed a random kid and asked them about the Temple’s teachings, that’d be the first thing out of their mouth.

‘Is this... is this really what my father went through all that chaos for?’

But in another way, it was also the one method Aietar would never have been able to figure out.

‘Yuta oppa must’ve known. That’s why he told me to just act naturally.’

I took a deep breath and let out a bitter laugh.

‘Don’t manufacture feelings artificially. Just let them come out unconsciously...’

As I blinked blankly, someone slowly approached.

It was Linna.

“Um...”

She hesitated, holding Cashie, and spoke.

“So... what should I call you now...”

So I smiled kindly and said,

“Didn’t we already agree on ‘sister’?”