Rita didn’t say any of it out loud.
Instead, she passed everything to Nivalis and B80 through private chat. B80, still in power-saving mode, had been silently observing the entire ti.
Nivalis felt a little dazed after hearing it all. She was sensitive to emotions, but this level of layered thinking still overwheld her.
Even so, the answer was clear enough.
From the look on By’s face in those final seconds, Rita had been right.
That answer had struck exactly where it hurt the most.
Soone unbreakable... destroyed by her own hands.
Still able to walk forward, still alive...
Yet neither others nor she herself could say what was keeping her going.
Nivalis hesitated, then asked another question.
"How did you know Deceitful Bloom doesn’t cry?"
Rita replied calmly, "It’s related to the nature of Flower of Deceit. They don’t cry easily. Their tears are as rare as Ask My Heart."
After that, B80 spoke up.
"How did you know that study wasn’t real? I checked it several tis. I didn’t find anything wrong."
Rita’s expression turned unreadable, almost mysterious.
"I bluffed."
Nivalis and B80 froze.
"?"
Rita added, completely serious, "Think about it. What if ti ran out and I stood there calling her na at empty air, and nothing happened? That would’ve been embarrassing."
B80 thought for a mont.
"But if she told you it was real, wouldn’t that also be embarrassing?"
Rita didn’t even pause.
"No. I’d just sneer and say, ’Cunning Vineborne. Fine, keep pretending.’"
Nivalis went silent for a few seconds.
"...Next ti, just keep that to yourself. Don’t tell us. My whole impression of you just collapsed. I was actually impressed earlier."
B80 nodded imdiately.
"Sa."
Rita ignored both of them.
Two more notifications appeared in her mind.
You are being watched.
You are being watched.
She looked up at the ceiling.
"I don’t owe you anything anymore."
Only after saying that did sothing in her finally settle.
She turned and walked out of the room without hesitation.
Her next destination was the northern region of the Graveyard of Bones. Compared to Lynx Duke, whose whereabouts were still uncertain, the information about King was much more precise.
As they moved down the corridor, Nivalis asked,
"Why didn’t you ask Lightchaser?"
...
Foolishness had dragged Deceitful Bloom into the Demon Tavern, just to stop her from continuing to play the flute.
But today was different from usual.
The Vineborne didn’t joke.
Didn’t watch BS Rita and BSCicada play their gas.
She simply sat there, quietly holding a cup of Lizi flower tea.
Still, whether she watched or not didn’t really matter.
Foolishness, seated beside her, was watching in her place.
She had calculated the exact mont BS Rita would leave By’s burial ti and had already fixed her gaze there in advance.
The projection of the study hovered openly in front of her, like a ga screen suspended in the air.
Deceitful Bloom hadn’t looked away.
That alone was enough.
Foolishness knew she wanted to see it.
When BS Rita stepped out of By’s room, the words Nivalis spoke made everyone at the table fall silent.
Ashveil and Boiling Orange, both still bruised, imdiately stopped talking.
Unfortunately, after saying sothing vague, BS Rita just stood there quietly, staring at the chair behind the desk.
Judging by the little dragon’s constantly shifting expressions, they had switched to private chat again.
BS Rita could be overly strict about privacy sotis.
Just as everyone began to lose interest...
She suddenly looked up and said,
"I don’t owe you anything anymore."
Foolishness, Hearthsmoke, Ashveil, and the rest all turned to Deceitful Bloom at once.
"...Didn’t she say that not long ago?" Deceitful Bloom blinked slowly, her tone carrying a faint mix of confusion and amusent.
"Yes!" Ashveil nodded hard. "She keeps saying it over and over!"
Boiling Orange chid in, "Exactly! That’s just too much! Isn’t that basically forcing a deal? If this keeps up, how are you supposed to hit her without feeling guilty next ti?"
After getting beaten once, those two had indeed beco much more obedient.
Though their tone still carried a trace of sarcasm.
Clearly, they hadn’t been beaten enough.
Deceitful Bloom smiled faintly, then turned to look out the window.
Far away, the outline of the Order Clock could barely be seen through the distance.
What had she done?
What had Rita repaid?
"...That’s rare," she murmured softly.
"Not really, right?" Boiling Orange said. "She’s soft-hearted. She helps people all the ti. Doing sothing for you isn’t strange."
Foolishness shook her head.
"That’s not what she ant."
Boiling Orange frowned, confused.
"Then what does it an?"
Foolishness didn’t answer.
Instead, she thought quietly to herself.
Choice.
From the mont she started observing BS Rita, she had noticed sothing.
Rita hated ddling.
Not because she was indifferent.
Not because she feared trouble.
But because she didn’t trust herself to fully understand others.
She worried that the help she gave might not be what the other person actually wanted.
...Which, in its own way, was still avoiding trouble.
She didn’t want to stop and ask.
She believed people should solve their own problems.
She didn’t like interfering in soone else’s conflicts or grudges.
Just like in Divine Instruction, when she stayed neutral between Mistblade and Maple Syrup.
To her, stepping into soone else’s situation without permission was arrogance.
A cold, restrained kind of kindness.
And yet...
Everything she believed in had been broken just now.
What had she done in By’s ti?
What had she done for Deceitful Bloom?
For the first ti, she had stepped into soone else’s story without asking.
Foolishness suddenly laughed, a soft breath escaping her lips.
"...That really is rare."
Deceitful Bloom kept looking out the window, silent.
Foolishness, as usual, refused to let it go.
"So what do you think she did?"
"You don’t look angry. Or sad."
Ashveil added from the side, "But BS Rita looked both angry and sad."
Deceitful Bloom stayed quiet for a long mont.
Then, a little slower than usual, she spoke.
"...I’m still thinking about what she might have done."
"Have you figured it out?"
"...Maybe."
Boiling Orange hesitated, then asked carefully,
"Then... will you be angry that she interfered?"
Deceitful Bloom let out a soft laugh.
She didn’t say yes.
She didn’t say no.
But along her Vine, the blooming Flower of Deceit had already given the answer.
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