Guilt was a horrible feeling—it gnawed at one's heart, left a bitter taste in the mouth, and for days after, they couldn't bring themselves to suspect Bel anymore.
She had helped them more than they could ever repay.
During those two days, Evangeline had tried her best to purify Damon from the ntal contamination, and while she worked, Bel also offered her aid, providing so of her potions.
During that ti, Damon had stirred several tis... until two days ago, when he finally regained full consciousness.
To celebrate his recovery, Bel suggested having a feast. She'd asked Damon for a list of his favorite dishes.
Sylvia had half expected Damon to say sothing rude—or at least sothing Damon would usually say.
But instead, he'd given her a list of actual favorites. Sylvia had taken notes.
His favorite dish of all... was Tamberry cake.
So Bel had made him so.
When he took a bite of the cake, a single teardrop slipped from his hazy, dark eyes.
The sight of tears in the eyes of the normally cold Damon had stunned the others.
Sylvia still rembered what he had said that night—
"The last ti I had Tamberry this delicious was when my mother was still alive..."
And then, sohow, Bel had hugged him and consoled him. Much to the group's surprise, her behavior was... strangely gentle. His reaction wasn't what they were used to. But what they found even more odd was the fact that Damon—of all people—had opened up.
At the ti, it hadn't felt too strange. Just... a side of Damon they'd yet to see. His vulnerable side.
Sylvia had always known that part of him existed, hidden behind his usual edgy coldness and that defiant, arrogant personality.
Still, seeing it up close was... unusual.
She bit her lip, the fresh scent of honey and cinnamon hanging in the air.
Except now, that sweet, hoy aroma made her want to retch.
These past few days had been... off. With each passing day, Damon had started acting strangely.
Sylvia wasn't sure anymore if he was pretending or not.
She blinked, her newly restored vision clear as day, eyes fully focused on Damon—who took another bite of the Tamberry cake in front of him.
He smiled at Bel.
"Mother, can I have more?"
Sylvia felt her heart sink each ti Damon uttered those words.
That... that was what unsettled her. Damon had started calling Bel mother.
It began as a joke, shared over dessert by the hearth. But then... Bel insisted.
And Damon accepted.
Leona ate quietly, the liveliness of nights past now replaced by the solemn clatter of utensils.
Evangeline bit her lip, her eyes drifting toward Sylvia with a silent nod before she spoke.
"Erhm... Bel... when... do we leave? I an... you said you knew a safe way back ho..."
Bel didn't respond at first. Her smile remained gentle, but it didn't quite reach her eyes.
SLAM.
Damon's hands crashed down on the table.
"What is wrong with you?" he snapped. "Why do you want to leave so badly? Are you blind to the dangers of the Whispering Forest? We can't leave. No, we have to stay."
Evangeline's eyes widened with a flicker of fear. How could she not be terrified when Damon—who had been their leader all this ti—was now speaking the opposite of what he would normally say?
Bel gently stroked his head.
"It's fine, my dear child. Mother knows best. Mother will protect you... I swear."
Then her eyes turned to Evangeline. She smiled kindly.
"Don't worry. Let the dangers pass, my children."
Leona had been silent up to this point, but now, the fork in her hand lted from the surge of electricity coursing through her.
"We are not your children..."
Xander narrowed his eyes, his appetite for Bel's masterfully cooked food now completely gone.
"When do we leave?"
Matia nodded, her fairy wings carefully concealed in her body.
"You have to tell us. We can't just stay here forever."
Bel smiled softly, eyes lowered as she muttered in a barely audible voice,
"Forever? No… you won't stay that long…"
Evangeline frowned. "Co again?"
Damon stood up, glaring at her.
"That's rude."
Evangeline snapped back. "Why are you defending her? I didn't even say anything rude!"
His face contorted with anger. But before he could say more, Bel raised her hand, interrupting them with a calm yet ominous reply:
"Soon... but not yet."
Evangeline bit her lip again. This was getting under her skin.
Sylvia watched it all with a detached gaze, her mind spinning for a plan. This—this was how things had been going for them lately.
And from the look of it, not well.
Too many things were off. Suspicious.
Sylvia rembered once hearing Bel's voice crack—she had claid to have a bad cold.
She'd noticed, too, how Bel made no sound when she walked. Bel had said it was due to years of training.
She'd felt how cold Bel's skin was when they'd been cooking together in the kitchen. She'd brushed it off back then...
Until she noticed the skin on Bel's neck.
It was... peeling away.
That had been the final straw.
Now, with her sight fully restored, Sylvia decided it was ti. She would use her First-Class Skill to ask the question burning in her mind. But she knew the cost...
Each question she asked ca with a price: her life. At least when related to Bel.
Or at least, a part of it. This was proof she was a powerful entity…far beyond them.
So instead of asking directly who or what Bel was, she asked:
How do I expose her?
She accepted the price—her skill would be temporarily sealed. She wouldn't be able to use the book again for so ti.
But the book had answered.
"Look at her reflection in a mirror."
That struck her as odd.
Bel didn't own any mirrors... except for one hidden away. And that one was cursed.
Luckily, Sylvia had bought a small mirror for herself. Back when this entire ordeal had started, Damon had told the girls to ditch their makeup—but girls being girls, so had still bought small items, including the hand mirror Sylvia now kept hidden under the table.
Carefully, she slid it out, angling it low beneath the table, tilting it just right...
Right toward Bel.
And what she saw—
Nearly made her drop the mirror.
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