lody turned slowly to face her.
Scarlett t her gaze, partly obscured by pale blonde locks and the familiar bandage crossing her face. Still, more of lody’s features were visible than before.
In Scarlett’s mind, the woman would always remain the Countess in so form. Even so, she was glad that lody had chosen to take on a new na — one that wasn’t bound to ritual, fixation, or imagined obsession. A na she had accepted for herself.
It eased so of the guilt Scarlett carried towards her.
Not all of it. But so.
Guilt for failing her back then. For using lody for her own benefit. For what she allowed to happen.
lody’s mouth opened, then closed again as she stared at Scarlett. In her hands was an embroidery pillow, needle and thread paused mid-stitch. Since the activity seed to calm her, Scarlett had asked Molly—the servant who’d assisted the Countess often during her original stay here—to supply her with materials.
Above them, the cushion bearing the embroidered moon wobbled slightly beneath the rafters, its glow pulsing as a soft hush passed through the room.
“B-Baroness,” lody finally said.
Scarlett inclined her head. “Yes. That is .”
lody stared at her for several seconds longer, then glanced down at the work in her hands. As if suddenly worried it might be improper, she tucked the needle and thread away inside her robes and shuffled awkwardly on her knees, trying to arrange herself into sothing that might have been ant to resemble a proper sitting posture.
“B-Baroness,” lody repeated.
“Yes,” Scarlett replied.
“Y-You’re…here.”
Scarlett regarded her in silence, then inclined her head again. “I am.”
lody said nothing for a while.
Scarlett didn’t press. She didn’t want to stress the woman more than necessary. Only hours earlier, lody had been involved in the attempt to attack the estate and take Slate. She’d confronted Scarlett’s people, and she’d witnessed firsthand what happened when Scarlett arrived and dealt with Skyler and the others.
At the ti, lody had frozen like a statue, and Scarlett had worried the shock might push her over the edge. Instead, the woman had cald surprisingly quickly once it beca clear that Skyler and the others had only been incapacitated.
Sowhere along the way, lody seed to have firmly convinced herself that Scarlett would never truly hurt Skyler. Not even if Skyler trespassed. Not even if she challenged Scarlett directly for the Tribute.
Scarlett suspected it was a belief lody had constructed to reconcile her feelings towards them both. It probably wasn’t entirely rational.
But in this case, it happened to be correct.
“A-ah… ah—” lody tried again, her voice catching as if the sounds refused to arrange themselves.
“lody—” Scarlett began.
Before she could finish, lody suddenly tipped backwards.
Silver tendrils unfurled from within her robes, catching her gently and easing her down until she lay flat on the floor, eyes fixed on the drifting shapes above. Her lips started moving in a silent rhythm, breath slow and steady, as a strange tranquillity settled over the room.
Scarlett frowned at first, but then smoothed the expression away.
Nearly a full minute passed with lody unmoving, lost in whatever internal process this was. Scarlett was just beginning to wonder whether she should intervene when the tendrils shifted again, slowly lifting lody back into a seated position.
She looked at Scarlett. Her half-bandaged hands fidgeted with the wrappings.
“Baroness,” she said, this ti without stuttering. “Is Skye…okay?”
Scarlett raised a brow, faintly impressed. It wasn’t many words, but she couldn’t recall hearing lody speak so…directly before.
“She is unhard,” Scarlett said. “I spoke with her monts ago. She and the others will be allowed to leave and decide their next steps for themselves, should they wish. Today’s events were…unfortunate. But I understand why you acted as you did, and I will not hold your decision to stand with your companions against you.”
lody glanced down at her hands, fingers twisting slightly. A small smile appeared. “You’re kind.”
Scarlett watched her. “…I am not. Or not as kind as you imagine, I’m afraid.”
“No…you are…” lody shook her head, then stopped. She looked back up. “I—I tried to keep Skye safe…like you asked…”
Scarlett paused, then allowed a faint smile of her own. “I see. Thank you.”
The words seed to ease sothing in lody. She relaxed slightly, gaze dropping back to her hands as she adjusted a loose strip of bandage around one knuckle.
Scarlett waited.
After a mont, she cleared her throat lightly.
“What you did earlier…lying back and looking upward. Does it help you?”
lody was quiet at first before nodding. “Yes.” She tilted her head, eyes drifting towards the shapes above. “…I count stars.”
“Count the stars? Why is that?”
“Skye taught …” The woman’s smile widened, a little unfocused. “…If it doesn’t care if I’m here…it’s safe to look at.”
“…I see.”
Scarlett didn’t see, really. It didn’t sound especially logical to her. But she supposed that was part of why it worked. Still, it surprised her that her sister had co up with sothing like that — a small, improvised coping chanism to help the woman ground herself.
Maybe Skyler should have been a therapist. It might have suited her better than data science or engineering. Scarlett would be the first to admit that her sister had always been more naturally gifted with technology and the sciences than she was, but Skyler had also been the sort who hated studying in all its forms. A career in therapy would likely have required plenty of that as well, but with Skyler’s instinctive ability to read people, it might at least have worked in her favour.
Not that any of that mattered much anymore.
Scarlett didn’t even know if returning to their old world was possible. Now that her younger sister was here as well, it was even harder to imagine where any of this was ultimately ant to lead. Honestly, the longer she remained in this world, the more she found herself wondering whether simply thinking about the end wasn’t scarier than anything else.
She pushed the thought aside and let her gaze drift briefly around the room, settling on a chair near the wall with a sheet lying beside it.
“Would you mind if I took a seat?” she asked, gesturing towards it.
lody looked between the chair and Scarlett. She shook her head vigorously. “No, no—” Her eyes widened. “Yes, yes—” She stopped, frowning faintly, tangled in her own answer.
“I will take that as you not minding,” Scarlett said.
She walked over, pulled the chair closer to the centre of the room, and sat down opposite lody, resting her hands neatly in her lap.
The woman looked both embarrassed and nervous, yet oddly excited at the sa ti.
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Scarlett didn’t understand it. She didn’t understand what she had ever done for this woman to earn such apparent adulation and trust. By all rights, lody should have feared her. Should have resented her. Instead, she seed to place her on nearly the sa level as Skyler.
Part of Scarlett wanted to shatter that trust. To show lody that people like her were not safe to rely on. That it was wiser to keep distance, to doubt, in order to protect herself.
But not only would that be strategically foolish, it would also be needlessly cruel.
Or was it crueller to let the woman continue trusting soone who hadn’t fully earned it?
Scarlett wasn’t entirely sure. Nor was she sure it mattered, or that it was actually her problem to solve.
lody shifted slightly beneath her gaze, almost mirroring Scarlett’s posture, though it looked awkward seated on the bare floorboards. Everything about her tended to appear slightly out of place. Slightly disordered.
“lody,” Scarlett said evenly, “there is sothing I would like to ask you.”
lody straightened, as if bracing herself.
“In Beld Thylelion,” Scarlett continued, “do you recall that I gifted you a certain item?”
A flicker of recognition crossed the woman’s eyes. She nodded quickly. “Yes…yes. I still have it.”
She reached into her robes and carefully drew out a silver hand mirror, dulled with age, its rim etched with curling patterns resembling the phases of the moon. She cradled it with both hands, holding it close.
“Look…see…?”
Scarlett studied the mirror.
[Adtia’s Silent Aspect (Unique)]
{When night stretches far and words fail, the moon rembers. This mirror listens where voices cannot reach}
It was a relic she’d gone out of her way to locate in Beld Thylelion, knowing it had a connection to Adtia — the goddess lody served as an avatar for. Unlike Scarlett’s Atha, it wasn’t a weapon or a conduit of raw divine power. It was weaker.
But she had hoped it might help the woman find so peace. Maybe learn more about herself.
She looked back to lody. “Have you learned how to use it yet?”
The woman blinked at her. Several tis.
Scarlett felt the corners of her lips stiffen slightly. “…Are you aware what this is?”
lody hesitated, staring down at the mirror as though it might answer for her.
“…A mirror?”
She looked back up at Scarlett, uncertainty colouring her voice.
Scarlett was silent for several seconds.
…Was this her fault?
Should she have explained it when she handed the artifact over? She had assud the connection to Adtia would be enough — that lody would sohow intuit its purpose. And if not, Oveth should have noticed it. He was an exceptionally astute wizard. Analysing it should have been trivial.
Unless lody hadn’t let anyone else touch it.
Suppressing a small sigh, Scarlett extended her hand. “Would it be acceptable for to hold it for a mont? I can show you.”
If she had been right about lody keeping it to herself, it didn’t show now. The woman handed it over without hesitation.
Scarlett took the mirror by its handle, turning it carefully in her hand. The backing was etched with faint sigils, smooth and cool at first touch, then oddly warm, as though it were gradually responding to her presence.
She let a thin thread of mana slip into it.
The mirror’s surface—monts ago reflecting Scarlett’s dark-red hair and composed expression—dimd like moonlight swallowed by clouds. The phases etched along the rim lit in sequence, a soft argent glow chasing itself around the fra.
After a mont, the surface rippled, and an image ford.
Scarlett angled the mirror so lody could see.
The parlour ca into view, observed from slightly above and outside the windows. Inside, Skyler sat curled into one of the armchairs, knees drawn to her chest, a steaming cup cradled loosely in her hands. Her gaze drifted absently towards Princess Regina and the others, still unconscious on the sofas.
lody stared.
“It is magical in nature,” Scarlett said, handing the mirror back. “At night, it allows you to observe a place touched by moonlight.”
As far as clairvoyant artifacts went, it was probably one of the most powerful examples in the ga. Even if it was limited to nightti and had a finite range, it allowed the player to peer into nearly any outdoor location.
In gaplay terms, that had been niche. In reality, it was anything but.
Scarlett had considered keeping it for herself, especially since she suspected the effective range was far greater here. But more importantly, it didn’t appear to trigger conventional anti-clairvoyance magic. None of the mansion’s wards had reacted, and even the Loci took a mont to stir and register that sothing had passed through its awareness.
For soone who knew what to look for, that delay was more than enough ti to glean information.
Despite that, she had ultimately given the artifact to lody.
The woman cradled it again, turning it slowly in her hands. One finger brushed the surface, hovering over Skyler’s image.
A small, breathy laugh slipped from her lips.
That caught Scarlett off guard. She didn’t recall ever hearing lody laugh during her stay at the mansion.
The woman continued exploring the mirror, tilting it slightly and watching the image shift. Scarlett allowed her a mont, waiting until it felt appropriate to speak again.
“The reason I ntion this, lody,” she began, “is because I wanted to know whether Adtia has contacted you in any way.”
lody didn’t respond, as though the words hadn’t quite reached her.
“lody,” Scarlett said again, more firmly. “Has Adtia communed with you?”
Finally, the woman stirred, turning towards her. “…Adtia?”
“Yes.” Scarlett t her gaze, her expression serious. “The goddess of the night and the moon.”
lody stared back, unblinking, her face strangely blank.
Scarlett studied her.
She didn’t believe lody didn’t know what she was talking about. By now, the woman almost certainly knew she was an avatar — and of whom. If lody herself hadn’t realised it, then Skye and the others would have.
Several long seconds passed.
lody’s eyes moved back down to the mirror, her thumb tracing the surface in a slow, repetitive motion.
“…No,” she murmured. “I don’t… I don’t know anything about that…”
Scarlett’s eyes narrowed slightly. Not at the words themselves, but at the way they were spoken. Because it was far too obvious that the woman was lying.
lody did know. But she was avoiding the subject.
“You do not need to feign ignorance with ,” Scarlett said. “I hold neither hostility nor reverence towards Adtia. I will not compel you to speak if you do not wish to — but if you are honest, I may be able to help.”
lody stilled, her attention fixed on the mirror. “She hasn’t…”
“Has not what?”
“Hasn’t…spoken to .”
Scarlett considered her, then inclined her head. “I see.”
This ti, she believed her.
So Adtia hadn’t communed with lody. Whether that ant she could not, would not, or simply had no reason to remained unclear.
Scarlett leaned forward slightly, trying to soften her tone. “If possible, would you be willing to attempt to contact her?”
Given everything Scarlett had heard about this world’s divinity, she wanted to gather as much information as possible before things changed. There were few sources more direct than a goddess. Unfortunately, all her testing suggested that using the Atha to contact Itris wasn’t possible, which was why she’d begun to consider lody as an alternative. As an avatar, she represented one of the strongest remaining conduits to the divine within the Material Realm.
A faint crease appeared between lody’s brows.
Seeing it, Scarlett leaned back again. “If this does not interest you, I will not press the matter. But I thought you might wish to speak with the being whose power flows through you.”
lody fidgeted, rocking slightly where she sat. “…Maybe,” she murmured at last.
“You will consider it?”
“Consider…only.”
“That is sufficient,” Scarlett said. “If you choose to question her, I will help you.”
lody nodded faintly, her hands tightening around the mirror. “…ster—”
The word barely carried.
“What was that?” Scarlett asked.
“…I want to ask about my sister,” lody whispered.
Scarlett was silent for a while.
“Do you wish to et your sister again?” she eventually asked.
lody’s eyes snapped up.
Scarlett raised a hand slightly. “I am only asking whether this is sothing you desire. At present, I do not possess the ans to arrange such a eting — but I do have connections that might allow it, in ti.”
Anything involving lody and the Augur carried risk. It threatened to expose Scarlett’s role in the heist at the Sanctuary of Ittar. But if that danger could be mitigated, it might not be impossible to approach Raimond discreetly about the matter. A eting with the Augur herself could even prove interesting, especially now that Fate was gone. Without it, the foundations of the woman’s foresight were likely compromised.
How would that affect the Followers? Would they already have adjusted?
lody watched her, lips moving soundlessly. Eventually she lowered her head. “…I want to save sister.”
“You cannot save her if she does not wish to be saved,” Scarlett said.
lody’s expression faltered.
“But if you wish to et her, I will look into whether it is possible.”
After a mont, lody nodded. “…I want to. Yes.”
“Then I will see what I can do.”
lody relaxed slightly, then returned her attention to the mirror.
“With that matter addressed, I was curious whether you—”
Scarlett stopped as lody suddenly froze.
Scarlett’s brow furrowed. “Is sothing wrong?”
lody didn’t answer. Slowly, she angled the mirror outward, pointing to the image now displayed. It had changed. The view had pulled back, rising above the estate, the grounds washed in pale moonlight.
Scarlett followed the direction of lody’s finger. When she saw what had drawn the woman’s attention, her expression hardened.
“…I will have to take my leave for now, lody,” she said, already standing.
“W-Wait!” lody cried, reaching out before stopping herself short. Panic twisted across her face, then settled into sothing firr. Sothing almost resolute. “Take…take with you!”
Scarlett looked down at her. “No.”
lody flinched, then scrambled unsteadily to her feet. “P-Please.”
“I cannot.”
“Why…?”
“This is not your matter to face.”
“But…I want to help…”
Scarlett watched her closely, feeling both puzzled and unsettled by where this sudden determination had co from.
“…Do you believe that you owe a debt, lody?”
lody lowered her gaze, shoulders drawing inward.
Scarlett let out a quiet sigh.
She still didn’t fully understand why she had such a soft spot for this woman.
“You must promise that you will not speak of this to anyone without my permission,” she said. “Not even Skye. Is that understood?”
lody looked up, then nodded quickly.
“Good.” Scarlett extended her hand, the Atha appearing in it. “Then stay close to .”
She drew the blade through the air. Fire tore open reality, forming a rift. Scarlett stepped through, lody following imdiately at her side.
They erged into the clearing just behind the estate, the forest looming ahead, with darkness pooling among the trees.
Scarlett’s gaze fixed on a tall, dark silhouette standing between the trunks.
“Carnwedain,” she said, her tone edged.
The figure stepped forward, long sword resting with its tip against the ground, a slitless helm angled towards her.
“Our discussions concluded earlier today.” Scarlett t that unseen gaze. “Tell — why are you still here?”
The knight regarded her in silence for several long seconds.
Then, at last, a single word left him.
“Nol’viz.”
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