Chapter 405
Epilogue: The Turbulent Period
—Only those trapped in shadows are worthy of yearning for light.
—This is my life, my yan-sik.
—I exist solely as myself. Yet, the more I indulge in the fruits of blood, the further I drift from being human…
“GAAAH! AAAAAAH! AAAAAAAAAAH!”
Rene jumped up and covered her ears. The blanket wrapped around her body like a cocoon. She had transformed into a rolled-up caterpillar.
The bed was shaking incessantly. It was proof that a large tremor was occurring inside.
“How is it, Rene?”
Victoria, the one responsible for this, calmly touched the screen of her smartphone. The recording that was playing abruptly stopped, and Rene’s voice, which filled the room, vanished.
“Are you feeling like participating now?”
“…”
No response came back. Even after waiting a bit longer, nothing changed. Victoria tilted her head, her silver hair, resembling her mother’s, swaying in the back.
“I’ll take that as a refusal. Can I keep playing it then?”
“Do whatever you want!”
A voice that sounded like a scream erupted from under the blanket. It couldn’t be helped. Victoria pressed the play button for the next file.
—I am fire. Therefore, I can’t just stay in one place.
—You will eventually also be destined to vanish like the wind. You and I are, in essence, the same…
“YAAAH! Stop it! Stop!”
This time, an immediate effect followed. Rene puffed her cheeks and threw off the blanket, standing up. Her cheeks and ears were bright red, exactly the same color as her hair.
The red locks, curled and gathered at the back of her neck, danced as they swayed down near her collarbone. Her jet-black eyes, resembling her father’s, were filled with tears.
“Hey! Why are you doing this to me! Huh?! What do you want from me?!”
“I told you, didn’t I? You just need to come. We all are waiting for you.”
“I’m not doing it! I’ll just remain a good daughter to Dad!”
“Weren’t you singing that you wanted to marry Dad back then? Are you saying this now, Rene? It’s an opportunity to be a cunning wife, not just a good daughter. Or even a rabbit-like wife would be an okay metaphor.”
“That was back then! Not now!”
“Well, it seems you still haven’t found a husband now, either.”
“Ugh…”
Rene hesitated. Like others, she was one of the advance team members who had descended to the surface in search of a boyfriend or husband. Of course, like everyone else, she had failed miserably.
One fortunate fact was that, unlike some sisters in the advance team, Rene’s thought of ‘my husband can only be Dad’ didn’t deepen.
She had always thought that way, so Victoria was persistently encouraging her by bringing up her past black history.
“Um, you’ll come out eventually!”
“If you join the plan, why wait for some uncertain someday when it could happen right now?”
“After failing this long?”
“That’s…”
This time, Victoria hesitated. Just as Rene said, if the plan had succeeded, she wouldn’t still be trying; she would have become Dad’s wife by now.
With that realization, Victoria found herself at a loss for words.
“Alright. If that’s your will, there’s nothing I can do. I’ll skip the next one.”
“AAAH!”
To change the topic of conversation, as she lifted her smartphone, Rene screamed and covered her ears. It seemed she still had no intention of joining the plan. Words weren’t working. She reached for the third recording file.
“……”
But her hand couldn’t hit the play button.
Before she knew it, Rene’s hand, holding the smartphone, quickly played a video ahead of Victoria. Shocked, Victoria had no choice but to stand frozen in place.
“Wh… What…”
The figure on the screen was Victoria, but it was something entirely different from her current neat and tidy uniform.
Her uninjured right eye was covered with a black eye patch sporting strange patterns, a harmless cigarette was in her mouth, she wore a black uniform adorned with various geometric patterns and scripts, and her uninjured left hand was wrapped with a bandage.
The video captured a scene of her gazing up at the sky with a world-weary expression, leaning against a wall as if pretending to look all important.
—What are you doing here, Victoria?
From the video, the voice of Victoria’s mother, Iris, could be heard. It sounded like she was barely holding back laughter, interspersed with snickering sounds.
Slowly, Victoria turned her head, puffing out smoke as she pretended to look sophisticated, and after fiddling with her bandaged left hand and eye patch-covered right eye, she finally replied.
—I’m trying to ensure the monster’s seal doesn’t break. If my mind scatters, ‘this thing’s’ seal will shatter. Then the world will suffer a great wound.
—Puff… snicker… Th-that’s… cough…
“WAAAAAAAH!!!!!!”
As her black history played amidst mothers, the laughter from Iris, who was known for expressing very few emotions, sent Victoria jumping up as if scalded.
Her whole face flushed bright red, the same color as Rene’s hair.
“Huh, huh-huh-huh… Do you think I’m any different? We used to have a blast like this when we were kids…”
Having paused the video, Rene let out an evil chuckle. Her finger touched the next video play button.
“Are you ready to die together, Victoria?”
“What about Victoria and Rene? Why are they taking so long?”
“I heard a request to inform you that, having gotten deeply hurt by Luce, they wouldn’t be able to attend today’s meeting.”
“Looks like they had another blow-up over something from the past. Why make things embarrassing later? Fine, let’s continue without them.”
“As you wish.”
Viola exchanged glances with Lorelia. Her jet-black eyes rippled. She always wore a confident smile, overflowing with relaxed charm. For some reason, it annoyed her.
“Why do you have that look in your eyes?”
“It’s nothing. I was just reminded of the cute Lorelia from back then.”
“Oh, you’re trying to play the big sister? You know our first line barely has a three-day age gap between the eldest and the youngest, right?”
“A three-day difference is enough time for many things to change. At least for us.”
“……”
That was true.
Not that they were blessed by the goddess, but everyone was growing at an unbelievably rapid pace. It once took only one year to grow from a newborn to a plump body filled with soft fruit.
Although she hated to admit it, Viola was right; three days was ample time to show a significant difference.
Of course, that only applied in childhood.
‘Right. That’s why it annoyed me.’
According to Dad’s standards, a three-day gap was practically the same as being friends. Yet keeping a semblance of friendship while subtly showing off her status as an older sister annoyed her.
Realizing that once more, Lorelia clicked her tongue.
“Wait. Then why isn’t Luce here? There’s no way you’d go without Luce. Did they just pass on that message?”
“They’re holding Regina and Selene back. It would be troublesome if those two found their way here.”
“Oh, that makes sense.”
Regina was the type to have no secrets when it came to Dad.
No matter how firmly she made a pact to keep things under wraps, if Dad patted her head and asked what she did, she’d immediately beam and spill everything, causing the plan to falter time and again.
Recalling the memories of losing a golden opportunity, Lorelia shivered. Her long black hair, resembling her mother’s, fluttered wildly.
“Regina is a no-go.”
“Yes, indeed. Regina is a no-go.”
It was rare for Lorelia and Viola to agree. Regina’s notorious reputation was high enough for that.
Selene was somewhat less notorious, but the difference was trivial; she melted in Dad’s presence just the same.
“Let’s share the results first. How about you?”
“Regrettably, all returned as failures. Father noticed everything, so we couldn’t even attempt an all-out assault. What about you?”
“Same here. At first, I thought he was letting us win, but when we challenged him to a bet, he revealed his true skills. I mean, isn’t it insane to pull off a perfect combo on a game he claims was his first time?”
“He is our father. It’s only natural he would perform that way.”
“Well, that’s true. I wasn’t expecting to win to begin with.”
Both muttered complaints, but deep down, they had anticipated this result. It had always been like that. It would be in the future as well.
The fact that the only man they had grown up seeing was Delta had raised the sisters’ standards sky-high, but everyone knew that and didn’t care.
They had never once thought that raising their expectations was wrong.
“Should we change the strategy?”
“What do you mean?”
“…That’s true. We’ve tried just about everything.”
“We’ve even attempted the outlandish ones.”
Lorelia smiled wryly.
“Like when you and Luce got scolded for trying to catapult snacks while wearing bikinis?”
“You and Eileen didn’t try that too?”
“……”
“……”
The two of them exchanged light blows, while Lorelia and Viola drew up their lips in smiles.
Both were smiling, but their eyes were not.
