Villain Ch 1879. Ungrateful
Allen didn't answer. He could guess.
Not for him.
The grandmother's words weren't meant for him.
They were echoes.
Trapped confessions bleeding out of a cursed vessel—maybe the real grandmother's ghost, maybe just a remnant… but definitely tied to the girl.
The same girl the Faceless Daughter had been mimicking.
The same voice they heard whispering through the fog.
The one who carved her plea into the wood outside.
He ducked another strike—this one too wide, too erratic. The creature's body was starting to falter. Rage made it fast, but not smart. Her cleaver came down in a frenzied arc. Allen sidestepped and slashed upward—right through the side of her ribs.
The blade dug deep. Smoke sprayed like venom.
She staggered.
"I just—" the Hollow Grandmother rasped, dragging her arm back up with a twitch. "You need to be married! Be rich! Don't be like your parents!"
Her voice cracked—rage and desperation tangled together like barbed wire.
