["Bronya! Why did you act alone?!"] A woman's angry voice echoed in Bronya's ears, piercing her eardrums.
"Because if the Bronya hadn't followed, Seele would have likely been transferred to another location," Bronya replied with a blank expression.
"So you knew their objective beforehand?" The angry female voice didn't shout or scream, but the suppressed rage was all the more unsettling.
"The Bronya did not know." A drop of cold sweat trickled down Bronya's forehead.
"Then please tell me your reason for following them alone." The woman was not one to use the word "please" with someone of a lower status than her, and it was this uncharacteristic politeness that made it all the more terrifying.
Bronya opened her mouth to argue further, but her mind, muddled by inner turmoil, wouldn't allow an eleven-year-old child to engage in too much logical thinking.
Even if she was the Silver Wolf of the Urals.
An immense pressure weighed down on her, making her unable to even lift her head to meet the other person's gaze.
"Bronya..." she struggled, finally squeezing out an answer she wasn't sure was right.
"I didn't want Seele to get hurt..."
Bronya closed her eyes after she spoke. She knew she had probably given a very foolish answer.
"Heh..." What she received in return was, as expected, a cold sneer. "You were worried? The infamous cold-blooded assassin, the Silver Wolf of the Urals, would also have a day where she's blinded by sentimentality?"
"The Bronya was calm." She didn't know if she was refuting or correcting. In fact, her thinking at the time had been very calm, because the vast disparity in strength and equipment left no room for even the slightest carelessness.
But it was undeniable that the reason she had done all this was because of her emotions, and she had indeed acted alone, putting herself in danger as well.
Breaking the rules was a mistake. This was an indispensable rule in all the training she had received since she was a child. Everyone would repeat this sentence in her ear over and over again.
The person who taught her skills, the person who gave her missions, the person who brought her food... even those who suffered with her...
Everyone said... follow the rules, or the consequences will be dire.
Who made the rules? In the very beginning, Bronya had had such thoughts. Before the first rule was made, how did everyone get by?
But gradually, Bronya lost the ability to think like that. When to think about what, the heavy pressure of survival forced her to divide her limited mental space among too many things.
Gradually, things that could bring her joy disappeared from her life. Tears and crying were also deemed unnecessary. A long face couldn't solve problems, but would instead expose one's weakness. Anger didn't increase combat effectiveness; it only clouded the mind...
Gradually... Bronya lost her expressions. Even those emotions were gradually forgotten because they hadn't been expressed for so long.
And along with her expressions, the question in her heart also faded away.
Bronya could no longer ask "why"...
---||---
"Bronya-oneechan..." a small voice whispered in Bronya's ear, shattering the dream.
Before the woman could say her next words, the morning sun had already shone into reality.
Gently opening her eyes, the first thing she saw was not the world, but Seele's face, leaning against the bed, watching her intently.
"Seele...?" Bronya's eyes gradually widened. Then she noticed that the curtains behind Seele were already translucent with sunlight.
"Bronya-oneechan, did you have a nightmare?" Seele asked in a small voice, her eyes full of concern.
"..." Bronya didn't answer directly.
"Bronya-oneechan was sweating a lot... and her expression was off..." Seele said softly. Only then did Bronya notice a tissue in Seele's hand, stained with a lot of sweat.
"I'm fine, Seele," Bronya said, getting up from the bed. "I was just feeling a little nostalgic for the old days..."
Bronya-oneechan is lying.
Seele's cheeks puffed out slightly. She rested her head on Bronya's bed, her big eyes staring straight at Bronya.
Bronya met Seele's ocean-like eyes for two seconds, and a smile suddenly appeared on her lips.
"Seele is still the same as before," Bronya said, placing a hand on Seele's head and gently ruffling her hair.
A tuft of hair on Seele's head stood up defiantly.
"Because Bronya-oneechan is also exactly the same as before..." she mumbled, but the corners of her pursed lips had already turned up in a happy curve.
The two of them smiled at each other knowingly. Bronya felt as if all the oppression she had experienced in her dream had been swept away in that moment.
"Bronya-oneechan... it's been a long time since you've patted Seele's head like this..." Seele said softly, leaning against the bed.
Her voice was very small, as if she were talking to herself. From this light, smiling whisper, Bronya keenly picked up a hint of something different.
Bronya didn't speak, but the stroking motion of her hand became a little heavier.
"The disaster suddenly broke out... the orphanage was full of terrifying monsters... we couldn't contact the outside world, we were scared every day..."
"Every night I would think, think about when Bronya-oneechan would come back to save Seele..."
"Mother Cocolia can protect Seele very well too, right?" Bronya smiled helplessly.
"But that's different!" Seele suddenly looked up, a little agitated. "Mother Cocolia did a great job, but... but..."
Her words caught in her throat, and she lowered her head again. "But Bronya-oneechan is different..."
From the moment she saw Bronya push open the door in that room, at her most helpless moment, Bronya had become completely different in Seele's heart...
Hearing Seele's ambiguous answer, Bronya paused for a moment, then just smiled at her rather helplessly.
"In Bronya's heart, Seele is also different..."
Yes... different from everyone else...
Bronya remembered the rest of that memory...
It was Seele, standing before her with tears in her eyes, her legs trembling.
She had done something even Bronya hadn't dared to do... shouting at the enraged Cocolia.
"But can't Bronya-oneechan even save people?! Mother Cocolia is worried about Bronya-oneechan, and Bronya-oneechan is just worried about Seele!
"If anyone is at fault, it's that Seele is too useless!"