Time regressed to the earlier part of this morning.
At that time, when the sky was just beginning to brighten, Village Chief Woodall had not yet come to knock on Avril’s door. Avril woke up from her slumber, feeling aches and pains all over her body, and her head was heavy and foggy.
However, after reading two letters on the table, Avril became fully awake.
Her heart was filled with mixed emotions, and she didn’t even know how to react in such a situation.
It was only today that Avril came to know that within her own body, there was another “person” still “alive” after her sister’s death three years ago.
·
Among the two letters, the first letter was left by Banning for Avril, and it wrote:
━━━━━━━━━
Avril, when you read this letter, I have already left Ira Village.
I want to apologize to you because I didn’t respond to your feelings.
I’m sorry, but before completing the mission on my body, I couldn’t consider anything beyond the mission. However, during the time we spent together in Ira Village, I truly had a happy time.
May your today, tomorrow, and every future day be filled with blessings.
·
Furthermore, I want to leave a message for “Elle” as well, hoping that “Elle” can continue to protect Avril in the future. I sincerely thank “Elle” for everything done for Avril.
·
Banning
━━━━━━━━━
As for the second letter, it was written by “Elle,” and the content of the letter is as follows:
━━━━━━━━━
Avril, you probably don’t know of my existence, but after what happened last night, I have decided to tell you the truth.
I am the second personality that you created approximately three years ago. Essentially, you created me based on your sister, Elle.
In the past three years, you may have experienced occasional memory gaps. Those were all because I sensed danger and forcibly took control of your body, causing your memories to be discontinuous.
Originally, I thought I was protecting you, but now I’m thinking that my way of protecting you might be wrong and could potentially harm you.
I have placed the key to the locked room in the envelope. You can open it and take a look inside. The truth lies beneath the carpet, and those things were all done by me.
However, you need to be mentally prepared because I have placed quite a few faces and skins of people inside, quite literally “faces and skins of people.”
After you have finished reading the truth, if you determine that you no longer need me, just say it, and I will hear it.
By then, I will disappear on my own.
·
False Elle
━━━━━━━━━
The contents of the two letters were mysterious, and Avril even forgot to feel sorrowful about Benning’s departure.
After Avril uncovered the truth by holding the key and seeing it, her emotions nearly collapsed.
In just a short half hour, Avril experienced fear, doubt, confusion, weeping, and hysteria. She repeatedly read the two letters dozens of times, thinking she was dreaming and that someone was playing a prank on her.
However, the intermittent memory lapses occasionally experienced by herself were indeed real, something Avril hadn’t told anyone.
Furthermore, it would take two to three years to “create” the “truth” in the underground chamber. It was simply impossible for it to be a mere “prank” or “hoax.”
Finally, Avril accepted this fact. 𝒪𝒱𝓵xt.𝔠𝑜𝗆
Then she realized she was mistaken: if all of this was true, then she wasn’t the victim but rather the person who was carefully protected.
Without “Elle”, Avril might not have survived until today. The 17 faces in the underground chamber possibly meant 17 dangers and 17 deaths.
“Elle” had saved Avril’s life 17 times.
Avril was usually a shy, introverted, and somewhat timid girl, but in the face of right and wrong, she possessed her own firm determination.
“Elle, can you… hear me speaking… right?”
As she called out this name, tears began to swirl in Avril’s eyes.
“I want to tell you, you are not the ‘false Elle,’ nor a personality I created. You… you are my sister, ‘Elle.'”
“Sister, you… didn’t die three years ago. You just… changed in a way… to continue being with me.”
“Thank you for protecting me during these three years. Can… can I ask you to continue… to stay with me? Sister… Elle?”
Avril spoke these words while sobbing. She had already lost her sister once and didn’t want to lose her a second time.
After a long time, Avril finally received an answer.
— (Of course… sigh… my foolish little sister.)
·
━━━━━━━━━
〖Prison Star Calendar〗
〖Year 187, May 12〗
〖10:26 AM〗
〖Countdown to Confession Death: 29 days〗
━━━━━━━━━
In a certain part of the Ira Forest, Tyler was discreetly concealing the “Pigeon Blood Ruby – Phylia” within a centuries-old tree.
He first found a spacious spot in the canopy, then carved a suitably sized hole with a dagger. Next, he placed the Pigeon Blood Ruby inside and covered it with wood.
In due time, the cavity would heal and the pit would be indistinguishable. Only Tyler knew the exact location where the Pigeon Blood Ruby was hidden.
(Silly Nissen: It wasn’t-o easy, but it seems we can finally bid-o farewell to this cursed stone!)
The stupid loli is right. If it weren’t for that box, Tyler wouldn’t have easily defeated the Undead Wolf. The box that held the cursed stone was equally ill-fated.
Speaking of the Undead Wolf, Tyler still shuddered at the thought. He was grateful he hadn’t laid a hand on Avril (Elle) last night; otherwise, the resurrected Wolf would have likely laid waste to Ira Village.
After confirming that Avril had thoroughly killed the Wolf, Tyler carefully analyzed the phenomenon of the Wolf’s “resurrection.”
Tyler speculated that the Wolf’s ability to “resurrect” was undoubtedly the result of an unknown skill. Before this incident, Tyler had never considered that the texts in his field of vision could be deceived by a monster’s skills. It served as a wake-up call.
Tyler took this lesson to heart and admonished himself to pay close attention to the enemies’ abilities in the future. He also realized the importance of not blindly trusting the texts in his field of vision, especially when he discovered something suspicious.
·
At the same time, in Gudetown, more than a hundred kilometers away from the Ira Forest, two remarkable individuals were walking along the street. The onlookers quickly made way for them, not daring to even brush against their clothing.
Among the two, the one walking in front was a girl who stood about 1.55 meters tall, with a pair of eyes resembling rubies.
Although half of her face was concealed by a white veil, it couldn’t hide her exquisitely angelic countenance. Under the sunlight, the girl’s silvery-white hair glistened like the stars in the Milky Way, exuding an ethereal aura that seemed otherworldly.
Following behind the girl was a man dressed in dark leather armor, wearing a black and red cloak adorned with emblems. Despite his tall stature, he moved gracefully, his every step revealing his extraordinary agility.
Both of their attire bore the emblems of the Scarlet Family: a flaming emblem and a crest of a blazing stallion. The Scarlet Family is one of the five major noble families of the Wester Kingdom. Any discerning passerby would recognize them.
“My Lady, there are still two days left until the ‘appointed date’ predicted by the divination rabbit spirit. Perhaps… the ‘Pigeon Blood’ is still on its way here.”
The girl listened, twirling a lock of her hair, lost in thought.
In fact, she had just sensed that the “Pigeon Blood” was in the vicinity of the Ira Forest and Sandrift Gorge to the northeast of Gudetown. If the “Pigeon Blood” was indeed en route to Gudetown from that area, the two-day time difference was just right.
However, even if it meant being a second earlier, the girl wanted to reclaim her “Pigeon Blood.”
“In that case, wait here for two days. I’ll go somewhere and return in two days.”
“I shall obey my Lady’s command.”