Delia stepped closer, her movements slow and calm, as if she were walking through a garden instead of a prison room filled with the scent of death.

She squatted in front of the helpless Olivia.

The black threads tied to Olivia’s wrists began to glow with a dark red light.

Every time the threads pulsed, Olivia felt something cold being pulled out of her chest her soul was being drained little by little.

Olivia gasped for air, her vision blurring.

Memories of her parents’ faces, school memories, everything turned gray and faded away one by one. She tried to remember her original purpose, to save Javien, but even his name felt distant, like a memory from a book that had already burned to ash.

Delia watched on. Her expression was neutral, showing no emotion, as if she were looking at a dying insect. However, behind those eyes lay a deep, ancient hatred, as if they had been enemies for centuries.

Delia tilted her head slightly. Her voice was soft, yet it pierced right through Olivia’s nerves as she endured the pain.

"Do you not want to see Kiel?"

Olivia jolted. Her weak body suddenly went rigid. That name a name that should not have existed in this world. The name of the man who had held her hand under the streetlights in her original world, the man she had loved before everything ended.

Olivia’s heart raced, not from fear, but from a piercing shock. The memories that had been fading suddenly sharpened because of that one name.

She looked up, staring at Delia with eyes full of peaking anger and confusion. She no longer cared about her soul being drained. She needed answers.

"Who are you really!" Olivia screamed, her voice hoarse and trembling.

"What do you want from me!"

Delia did not reply. She only stared into Olivia’s eyes with the most innocent smile, but behind that smile hid an unspoken vengeance.

Behind the shadows of the dark prison, something was moving. Javien’s guardian creatures, the guardians who had only ever watched from behind the veil of fate, grew restless.

They could not fully enter because the demon blood in Olivia’s body was fading, causing them to lose the gateway to reach her.

However, seeing Olivia being tortured, they began to cross the boundaries.

In the basement of the Desolate Tower located far on the outskirts of the empire, the air felt heavy and smelled musty, a remnant of an ancient palace long forgotten by history.

The two guardian creatures stopped struggling in the dark air. They fell silent, frozen, and slowly faded.

"He is gone," whispered one of the creatures in a broken tone.

"Javien has already left. He left before Olivia arrived. He has no idea Olivia is here."

They looked toward the empty cell. Javien had escaped before Olivia even set foot in the basement.

He was now heading in the opposite direction, crawling through the darkness of the forest outside the tower, completely unaware that the only person who had come to save him was suffering in the basement.

Delia, standing in front of Olivia, sensed the change. She smiled, a smile full of cruel triumph.

"He is gone, Olivia," Delia whispered.

Olivia, still gasping for air as her memories faded, jolted.

"What... what are you saying?"

"Javien," Delia said his name with a mocking tone.

"He is no longer here; he left not long before you came. He did not come for you. He does not know you are here. He... left you here all alone."

Olivia shook her head weakly, her head feeling like it was about to shatter.

"Liar... you are lying!"

"Is that a lie?" Delia released her grip on the black thread, but Olivia was now too weak to stand.

"He never thought about you. To him, you were just another tool for him to escape his demon curse. You risked everything to save him, while he had long forgotten you in this darkness."

Elsewhere, the guardian creatures grew desperate. They knew Delia was manipulating Olivia’s mind. If Olivia believed that Javien had left her behind, Olivia’s soul would be completely destroyed.

"We cannot take her to Javien, but we can show her the truth!"

They gathered their remaining energy and channeled it directly into Olivia’s eyes, forcing her vision to open.

She saw Javien’s figure walking unsteadily, covered in blood, heading toward the edge of the forest. Javien looked very weak, almost near death, completely unaware of what was happening behind him.

Olivia saw it all.

She saw that Javien truly did not know she was there.

Delia, realizing what was happening, became enraged. She gripped Olivia’s wrist harder, causing Olivia’s skin to tear.

"Don’t look!" Delia screamed.

"Don’t look at that reality! Look at me! Look at your emptiness!"

Olivia looked at Delia, her breath hitched. She now knew Javien had not left her on purpose; Javien himself was fighting for his life.

"He... he does not know..." Olivia whispered, her tears falling, this time mixing with the salt of her pain.

"He does not know I am here..."

Delia pulled the thread once again, this time with the intent to sever Olivia’s soul from her body.

"That doesn’t matter! Now, say goodbye to this world!" she said. The white thread wrapped around her hand began to crawl around her neck tightly.

Olivia’s vision blurred further. The dark basement began to shake, and suddenly, all the memories from her original world flooded her mind, intense and painful.

Her parents’ faces, the atmosphere of her bedroom, the sound of rain on her bedroom window... everything appeared vividly before slowly becoming distant and fading away, as if she were sinking to the bottom of the deepest ocean.

Is this the end of it all?

Olivia whispered in her heart, her voice stuck in her throat.

I hadn’t even had the chance to tell Javien that I actually... coff coff

She thought of Lady Ophilia and Celine. She imagined them eating and chatting cheerfully as usual, unaware that she was facing her final moments.

Olivia fell silent for a moment, a bitter smile gracing her lips.

He would be so angry if he saw me in this state...

A tear fell onto her cheek.

Forgive me, everyone!

In her fading vision, Olivia caught sight of something behind the shadows of the robes covering the figures around her. She saw the guardian creatures, the beings who had been watching her from behind the veil.

They looked distressed, their bodies trembling violently as if they were crying because they could do nothing to help.

Olivia was not afraid. Instead, she smiled thinly at them, a final sign of farewell.

She then looked back at Delia. Delia still stood upright, staring at Olivia’s dying body with a look of disgust, yet there was a cruel satisfaction behind her gaze.

Olivia could no longer hear. It was silent. However, her eyes could still read the movement of Delia’s lips, which moved slowly, as if whispering one final word to her.

"Goodbye... best friend."

Zupp.

Everything turned black. The darkness was not just silence; it was the end of everything.

Meanwhile... Javien, who was still walking to get out of that place, unable to wait to see Olivia, suddenly felt something strange crawling in his chest. The world suddenly felt quiet. Too quiet.

As if something had been severed from his life...

Javien suddenly stopped in the middle of his step.

His chest felt tight, as if something had been cut from within him.

"...What is this..."

He held his chest, his breathing became unstable. The world around him suddenly felt quiet. Too quiet. As if a voice that was always calling his name...disappeared completely...

Javien froze.

"...Olivia?"

The wind did not answer. At that moment, he felt a familiar sensation. As if it was not the first time he had felt something he had not had the chance to save.