Mytheia pulsed, a cold, clinical glow radiating from within.

Azalea flinched as if the light itself had scorched her. Her breathing turned shallow, ragged. The color drained from her face, leaving her ghostly pale. This wasn’t mere panic anymore—she was being dismantled, piece by piece.

Selene stepped closer, slow and deliberate, her voice dropping—each word carefully placed, like a scalpel I would use back then.

"Tell me, Azalea, are you truly willing to lose everything just to keep your secrets buried? Or are you curious enough to face them?"She extended Mytheia forward, her smile wicked and unwavering."Just a touch, my dear junior. Let’s see how much light your past can handle."

Azalea’s complexion shifted from pale to a ghastly green. Her jaw hung slack, her eyes darting between Mytheia, Selene, and me. It was like watching a switch flip—from disbelief to utter terror.Her perfectly poised hands, which had been flailing uselessly just moments before, now clenched into tight, desperate fists.

"N-No! You can’t! That’s... that’s impossible!" Azalea stammered, her voice cracking.The bravado she’d worn like armor earlier had crumbled.She lunged, desperate, her fingers clawing for the crystal.

But Selene was already a step ahead.

With a graceful flick of her wrist, she spun, tucking Mytheia into the folds of her uniform before Azalea’s fingers even touched the air.Azalea stumbled past her, off balance, nearly falling.

Selene clicked her tongue, sighing with exaggerated disappointment."Oh, Azalea, my dear. So predictable. Trying to snatch it only confirms your fear."She pulled Mytheia back out, this time holding it steadily."Shall we try again? Just a simple touch. Let’s see if your past really matches your flawless exterior."

Azalea stared at the shimmering sphere in pure horror.For the first time, she truly understood what the device was. What it could do.A silent scream echoed in her wide eyes.

After a long, agonizing pause, her hand slowly lifted. Trembling, reluctant, she placed her fingertips against Mytheia.

A blinding flash erupted from the crystal, then dimmed—revealing a chaotic swirl of fragmented images.Scenes from Azalea’s life, flickering too quickly to grasp but undeniably hers.

She gasped and recoiled, as if seared. Her face twisted in devastation. She stumbled backward, pressing herself against the cold stone wall, both hands flying to cover her mouth.

"No! My parents would disown us both! Helena... she’d lose everything!" she choked out, tears streaming down her face.

"It’s not what you think! We... we just try to console each other! Please! Don’t tell anyone about me and Helena! It’s our secret—our intimate lesson. Just... please, don’t tell anyone about Helena! What do you want? Money? My soul? Just—please, don’t tell anyone!"

Then her eyes met mine.

She was begging—silently, desperately—for mercy.

I held her gaze.

She probably expected pity. A sliver of empathy. Maybe even a conscience.

And for a moment... I felt something.

This wasn’t a game anymore.

Even by Selene’s twisted standards, this felt... wrong.

Blackmailing someone over something this personal—it crossed a line.

I liked chaos, but this wasn’t my kind of chaos. This was something colder. More surgical.

"Selene. Stop."

My voice was low but firm. Sharper than I expected—even to my own ears.

Selene paused. Her sweet smile faltered slightly, surprise flickering in her eyes.She turned her head to look at me. But before she could say anything, I continued.

"Look, Azalea," I said, my tone uncharacteristically sincere, ignoring Selene’s wide-eyed stare."She knows about you and Helena. And yes—it’s bad. Incredibly bad. The Lovecrafts aren’t just any family. If this gets out, your careers, your reputations, your entire lives here are over. There’s no sugarcoating it."

Azalea stared at me, her eyes wide, her lower lip trembling with a mix of fear and reluctant clarity.

"But here’s the thing," I continued, voice quieting, "she doesn’t actually want to expose you. Not for blackmail, anyway."

Selene was watching now—still and silent, her expression unreadable.

I studied her for a beat. My mind raced.If not blackmail... then what?

Then I looked back to Azalea."To be blunt: it’s just the ring. The one on your hand. The one with that shimmering, oil-slick shine. That’s what she wants. Give it to her."

Azalea instinctively covered the ring with her hand. Her panic returned—but this time, it was mixed with confusion.

"My... my ring? But—this is Arthur’s! It conceals his... his aura! He’s the Archon of Naschacht, a serpent-beast! And I can’t just give it away!"

Selene’s eyes, fixed on me until now, widened—just slightly.

As Azalea spilled the truth, a slow, calculating grin spread across Selene’s lips.

Not sadistic.

Not cruel.

But satisfied.

Like a scientist watching a long, difficult hypothesis finally confirmed. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

And in that moment, it all clicked.

It was never about the incest.

It was never about blackmail.

Selene hadn’t been trying to destroy Azalea.

She’d been performing a test on her.

A cruel, calculated experiment—meticulously designed to see just how far Azalea would go.To measure her desperation.To push her into revealing not the secret of her forbidden love... but the real secret.

The ring.

And through it, Arthur—the hidden secret of Archon.

My stomach turned.

This wasn’t manipulation for leverage.

This was data collection. Psychological engineering.

A cold, methodical unraveling to extract something far more valuable than scandal.

Selene hadn’t stopped blackmail.

She had just invented something worse.

This wasn’t my kind of chaos.

This...

This was a different beast entirely.

Selene leaned in slightly, a sly grin curling on her lips like a kid who just won at hide and seek.

"My my, someone just broke a promise~" she teased in a sing-song voice—far too playful for someone who led a legendary division.

Azalea, whose face had been as red as a boiled shrimp for the past few minutes, frantically waved her hands in front of her as if trying to fan away invisible heat.

"W-Wait a sec! That’s not fair!" she shouted in a panic.

"No one told me it’d be this—this terrifying! I—I’ve never seen anything so... faith-shattering in my entire life, okay?!"

She pointed a trembling finger at Selene, like the senior had just opened the gates to some otherworldly curse.

Selene feigned a gasp, covering her mouth with one hand in mock guilt. "Oh no, now I feel so bad..."

"Drop the act." I crossed my arms and rolled my eyes.

"Azalea... she’s always been like this. So don’t worry."

Azalea stared at us, breathless. "Always?! You mean this is her default setting?!"

I gave a slow nod—part pity, part smug satisfaction.

"If that’s her default, then congrats. You’ve just unlocked her ’playable character’ mode."

I said it with a deadpan, poker face, shooting a slight glint at the girl who looked like she belonged in one of those ’final boss when unlocked as a playable character’ memes.

Selene chuckled again, her shoulders shaking slightly.

"Calling it ’factory settings’ is kinda cute, actually."