G6 and her three servants took the longer path back to the West Villa.
She had claimed she wanted to walk before sunset, but the truth was considerably less peaceful. Her mind remained trapped inside Witherby's riddle.
'A price and a prize for a second dawn.'
The words repeated with irritating persistence.
Second dawn means this life.
Prize: those skills, magic.
Price? For what?
Her expression darkened.
For this life?
She scoffed quietly.
They are fucking charging me for something I did not ask for?
Then another line surfaced.
'The vessel nears its purpose.'
Something else followed it: a memory of her father's voice, cold and absolute.
'You are not born to dream.'
'You are born to cleanse.'
A strange sensation tightened briefly around G6's chest. It was not pain, nor quite sadness, but something wearier than both—a heaviness she had never developed enough familiarity with emotion to properly name.
Hmm. Guess nothing matters.
Her gaze drifted ahead.
Why do I even bother?
The thought came with disturbing ease.
I have only one purpose. That is all that matters.
Then the chained rose behind her right ear burned with a sudden, sharp heat.
G6's hand nearly rose toward it before she stopped herself. The sensation vanished as quickly as it had appeared, leaving her grey eyes narrowed and another unexplained reaction added to the growing pile.
"Lady Reise seems… troubled," Lilia whispered to Tina.
Tina did not answer immediately. She merely watched her mistress walking several paces ahead, posture straight and expression unreadable. The stillness surrounding G6 was unsettlingly familiar—not quite anger, but the peculiar quiet that usually arrived before something happened.
"She is merely fatigued," Edmund interjected smoothly. "It is for the best she will not spend her entire day in the arena anymore."
Neither maid challenged him.
No one asked why Lady Reise had suddenly developed an interest in Utility Magic either.
They simply followed.
By the time they entered the West Villa's main building, the grand foyer had gone unusually still. Most of the servants were nowhere in sight, leaving only the livelier sounds of pans, voices, and hurried footsteps drifting from the direction of the kitchen.
"What is going on?" Lilia murmured. "An hour early for dinner."
Edmund looked toward the distant corridor.
"Have the residents of Annex-Uno returned?"
Their answer came in the form of approaching footsteps.
A woman emerged from the kitchen pushing a service cart and stopped the instant she noticed G6.
"You have returned, Lady Reise."
She bowed deeply.
G6 looked at her.
Who is this?
"Who?"
The woman blinked.
"Forgive my manners, my lady. I am Janin, the wife of Head Chef Alistair. I returned yesterday from my maternity leave."
"Call me by my name."
G6 continued toward the stairs.
Janin hesitated.
"Ah, Lady Reise… the other residents, along with guests, await you in the formal dining hall."
G6 stopped.
"There is a dining hall?"
For once, her confusion was completely genuine.
Lilia brightened.
"Yes, Lady Reise! You always eat in your room, so the dining hall was left empty."
"It is typically reserved for formal family gatherings," Janin clarified.
The word caught.
Family.
A memory flashed through G6's mind, not Reise's but her own: a younger Akira sitting alone in a concrete corner after training, mechanically eating nutrient paste because someone had decided she had earned enough calories for the day.
There had been no conversation and certainly no family gathering.
Only refueling.
"Family."
G6 repeated the word quietly, and something strangely empty in the way she said it made Tina, Janin, and Edmund exchange a brief look.
"Shall we proceed?" Tina asked gently.
G6 did not answer.
She merely followed.
I bet it is those annoying nobles.
Her expression cooled further.
I am not in the mood.
Tina opened the ornate double doors.
The formal dining hall was already occupied.
Prince Dio stood near one of the tall windows with his attention apparently fixed upon the darkening grounds beyond the glass. Lord Keith lounged in his seat with one hand raised, idly balancing a small droplet of water over his fingertip, while Lord Earl had a book open before him. Lady Brenda and Lord Zen were engaged in quiet discussion farther along the table.
At the far end sat Miss Eliza.
She was prim and composed, with her gaze almost permanently attached to Prince Dio.
G6's eyes moved over her, and the assessment came automatically.
Her eyes are practically sparkling. Her whole expression is that of a child coveting a shiny new toy.
G6 watched for another second.
She is, without a doubt, 'in love' with him.
That should have fit.
According to the book, Prince Dio had been equally smitten with Miss Eliza.
So had Lord Keith.
So had Lord Earl.
That was how the story had gone.
Except seeing them now made the entire thing considerably less convincing.
G6 looked at Prince Dio, then Lord Keith, and finally Lord Earl as her brows drew together.
Nothing is adding up.
She had already seen too many deviations.
The only consistent things are the first encounter of ours in the gazebo, and some information.
Her mind went back over everything she had learned since waking here.
Even the Royal Collegium is not mentioned in the book.
Her gaze sharpened.
If the tension between Dio and Eliza is not as the book described… what truly happened the night the original Reise saw them talking?
A more important question followed.
What drove her to kill herself?
Then—
What fucking drove her to drag me into this?
A second possibility immediately challenged it.
Or was she really the one who dragged me here?
For a brief moment, the pieces seemed close enough to touch: the book's omissions, Reise's final days, G6's impossible arrival, Witherby's messages, the black ledger in Queen Euphelia's study, and the ringing that had torn through G6's skull earlier.
Something about that collection of facts bothered her beyond the simple inconvenience of missing information.
The thought almost found a shape—
"Oh, Reise!"
Lord Keith's cheerful voice shattered it.
G6's attention snapped immediately back to the room as every head turned toward her.
"Lady Reise!"
Lady Brenda moved closer, though she stopped at a respectful distance rather than invading G6's space.
"Are you alright?"
Is that concern real? Or just the one I planted?
G6 looked at her without answering.
"Glad to see you are well," Lord Zen added.
"Reise!"
Lord Keith approached with entirely too much energy.
"It is strange to see you in a gown! I have gotten used to your training gear!"
He reached toward her hair.
G6's expression flattened.
Tsk. Who am I to question if these fools are genuine to me?
Another thought followed, quieter.
Do I even know what genuine is?
Her hand moved.
SMACK!
Lord Keith's hand was knocked aside before his fingers reached her hair.
"What are you all doing here?"
Her voice came out cold enough to drain what little warmth remained in the room.
"We were worried about you," Prince Dio stated.
His gaze had not left her.
"I said I am fine. Now, leave."
The atmosphere shifted immediately.
The slight thaw everyone had grown accustomed to during the past several days disappeared, leaving G6 closer to the woman they had first encountered after Reise's sudden change—closed, distant, and unreachable.
"Are you truly alright?" Prince Dio asked again, this time more quietly.
Before G6 could respond, Tina stepped forward.
"Lady Reise… Alistair went to great lengths."
She gestured toward the waiting service cart.
"So?"
The retort came sharper than Tina expected.
"He prepared all your preferred dishes."
Something tugged lightly against G6's gown.
She looked down.
Lilia had caught the fabric between two fingers and was staring up at her with enormous pleading eyes.
Silence stretched for a moment.
G6 looked away.
"Then start serving it."
She walked to the head of the table and sat.
That single movement seemed to release everyone else.
Lord Earl and Lord Keith immediately claimed the chairs on either side of her, while Lord Zen sat beside Lord Keith and Lady Brenda slid into the place beside Lord Earl.
By the time Prince Dio approached, every chair immediately surrounding G6 had already been occupied.
His expression barely changed.
Barely.
He sat beside Lady Brenda.
Miss Eliza rose and gracefully moved into the place beside him.
"I hope you do not mind my presence, Lady Reise."
"I invited her," Lord Earl explained diplomatically.
"I do not care. Just sit."
The remaining servants entered and began arranging the meal.
Then Miss Eliza's voice cut through the activity.
"Are you not meant to have the table set before guests are seated?"
Her maid stiffened.
"Forgive me, Miss Eliza. We believed Lady Reise would be longer."
"It is rather ill-mannered, especially before His Highness."
"Silence."
G6's voice cut cleanly through the room.
Every servant stopped.
"Just put the plates down. I don't need a damn lecture. If you wish to do some discipline, do it on your own time."
Miss Eliza's face tightened.
"I-I only meant it was disrespectful."
"Scolding someone publicly is also disrespectful."
G6's remaining patience thinned.
She looked toward the servants.
"All of you, get out."
Her gaze moved deliberately past Tina, Edmund, and Lilia.
They were not included.
Several servants hesitated until Edmund intervened smoothly.
"We will take over. Thank you."
He looked toward Janin.
"Janin, assist us."
Janin nodded, and the others retreated quickly.
Edmund, Tina, Lilia, and Janin moved into place with practiced efficiency.
G6 watched Miss Eliza for another second.
These oddities are bothering me.
Her attention shifted toward Prince Dio.
Should I just ask Snow White what he talked about with Eliza that night?
She studied Miss Eliza beside him.
Demure. Pretty. Eager.
According to the novel, Prince Dio had fallen for her because she offered him peace—an escape from Reise.
So why is Snow White acting like he does not give a damn?
"Lady Reise, which fork?"
Lilia stood beside her holding three ornate forks.
G6 stared.
"Are you kidding me?"
"But you must choose! Different forks for every course!"
"Lilia, put them down. I can use those useless forks."
Lilia obediently arranged them anyway.
Then her stomach growled loudly enough for G6 to hear.
G6's gaze immediately shifted toward her.
Right. These three have not eaten since I bolted my lunch.
She looked toward Janin.
"Janin, bring three more meals."
Her servants froze.
"We could not," Tina immediately refused.
"Not necessary," Edmund added.
"Do not worry about us!" Lilia chirped, though the hopeful look she gave the food betrayed her.
G6 stood.
"Then enjoy your meal."
She turned to leave.
Lord Keith caught her wrist.
G6's head turned very slowly.
"Do you want me to force-feed you that plate?"
Her voice dropped dangerously.
Lord Keith grinned and loosened his hold.
"Please, sit. It is fine with us… right?"
He looked around the table.
"Indeed. There is plenty of room," Prince Dio replied.
His gaze dropped toward Lord Keith's hand.
"Now, unhand her."
Lord Keith stuck his tongue out at him but released G6.
"Sit down, Reise," Lord Earl added. "You are unusually… agitated."
"Please, do not mind us! We do not intrude!" Lady Brenda said brightly.
"We Nocturnes are rational guests," Lord Zen added.
Lord Keith looked at him.
"Trying to say something?"
"Merely stating a dry head is beneficial," Lady Brenda replied.
"Shut up, nerd! Eat a dictionary!"
The familiar chaos returned almost instantly.
G6 looked around the table.
They are an odd bunch.
She sat again and turned her eyes toward Edmund.
"Sit. And eat. Forgive my oversight. You missed lunch because of me."
The three servants went quiet.
Then Edmund bowed.
"We will not refuse. Thank you, Your Highness, esteemed Pillars."
"We will help Janin!" Lilia announced.
"We will be back shortly," Tina added.
They began to turn.
G6 stopped them.
"If you value the people in this room, you know your way back. Correct?"
The threat beneath the words was obvious.
They were not disappearing into the kitchen to avoid eating.
Tina looked over her shoulder.
A genuine smile appeared.
"You are too kind, my lady."
Lord Keith stared at G6.
"You know, sometimes your kindness sounds like a threat."
"Why are you sitting next to me?"
G6 looked at him.
"Trying to ruin my appetite?"
"We promised to stay by each other."
Lord Keith's answer came with enough sincerity that Prince Dio, Lord Earl, and Lady Brenda all looked toward him.
"Do you have a death wish?"
"Have you forgotten? When we were kids, you always said, 'You are so fun, Keith. Even when you tease me—'"
Prince Dio's fingers moved.
He murmured the name of a minor Fire spell beneath his breath.
"Ember."
A small, controlled flame flicked from his fingertips and struck the tablecloth in front of Lord Keith, leaving a dark singed mark before disappearing.
"Stop lying, you blabber," Prince Dio snapped.
"You know how she felt about Dio before," Lord Earl added sharply—
then immediately stiffened.
Lord Keith's expression changed.
"Shut up."
For once, he sounded serious.
"Fine, she never said it. But she was nice to me before!"
G6 studied him carefully.
His eyes. His expression. The tension around his mouth.
No obvious fabrication.
Him and the old Reise were close. That much is true.
Her attention remained on him.
But it seems like she showed no depression before they left for three years.
That narrowed the timeline.
The witness to Reise's change… is Tina.
"Shut up. Not interested in your claims."
Lord Keith pouted.
Then curiosity recovered almost immediately.
"What were you doing at Aunt's place anyway?"
G6 looked around the table.
Every person nearby was listening.
Especially Prince Dio.
"I told her I would spend my afternoons elsewhere."
Lord Keith's face fell.
"Leaving? I thought you were buried in paperwork!"
"Not reviewing proposals?" Lord Earl asked, adjusting his glasses.
"You are a Collegium employee. Expected to remain on premises," Prince Dio stated.
These idiots. Whining about game rules.
"You cannot stop me. Even my boss sanctioned it."
"Aunt is too easy on you!" Lord Keith complained.
"True," Lord Earl agreed. "She never favored Pillar heirs before. You are the exception."
A trace of playful resentment entered his voice.
G6 looked between them.
I guess I have to speak their language.
"Then why don't you marry her son in my stead? You could be her favorite too."
She looked directly at Lord Earl.
The effect was immediate.
Prince Dio's eyebrows shot upward while Lord Keith nearly choked laughing.
"Earl! I thought you only had eyes for ladies! Is that why you reject offers? Your interests lie… elsewhere?"
"Brother Earl…?" Lord Zen asked, looking genuinely uncertain.
Lord Earl slowly turned toward Lord Keith.
"I will ensure your next meal is dirt and gravel."
"Well, perhaps that improves my chances with Lady Reise!" Lady Brenda interjected.
Prince Dio's attention snapped toward her.
"What are you babbling about, you unhinged woman?"
"Shut up, you pile of sh—"
Lord Earl kicked her sharply beneath the table.
"Aw!"
Lady Brenda rubbed her shin and followed his warning glance toward Miss Eliza.
Then she looked back at G6, a calculating brightness appearing in her eyes.
"Lady Reise, a question?"
"What?"
"You are the sole occupant of the entire second floor of the main building, yes?"
Right.
G6 remembered the enormous empty corridor.
Alone on that huge floor.
"Yes."
Lady Brenda smiled.
"Actually… I live thirty minutes away. The Collegium personnel quarters are… awkward for a woman."
She hesitated meaningfully.
G6 stared at her.
Hmm? Does she want to live here with me?
The possibility was not unpleasant.
That's not a bad idea.
More importantly—
A convenient tool delivering itself to me?
"You can stay here if that is where you're going. I don't mind adding another being in this place."
A sudden hint of warmth entered G6's voice.
Everyone at the table looked toward her.
Lady Brenda had not even finished asking.
Her eyes widened.
"R-Really? Not an intrusion? But I need Her Majesty's consent…"
"My boss is cool with it."
A sharp smile appeared.
Lord Keith's eyes narrowed with sudden understanding.
"Ah, I see what you are doing. I will move in too."
"You live here."
"In Annex-Uno! Not the same!"
"Absolutely not!" Lady Brenda snapped.
"Highly inappropriate for an unrelated man," Lord Earl added.
Prince Dio leaned back.
"Then I suppose I can relocate."
Lord Earl looked at him.
"Equally inappropriate for a betrothed man before vows."
Prince Dio's jaw tightened.
"Then was not her sitting atop you earlier the pinnacle of impropriety?"
The words came out faster and sharper than necessary.
A brief silence followed.
Lord Earl's ears turned red.
Lord Keith's grin slowly returned.
Lady Brenda looked ready to argue, while Lord Zen suddenly found the tableware extremely interesting.
Prince Dio seemed to realize only after speaking that the comment had sounded far more personal than he intended.
He looked away first.
Across the table, Miss Eliza kept a composed smile in place, but her eyes moved from one person to another as the conversation continued around her.
They spoke with the ease of people carrying years of shared history—old jokes, grudges, rivalries, and childhood familiarity.
Miss Eliza was seated among them.
Yet she was not part of that history.
Her smile remained pleasant.
Her fingers tightened slightly around her fork.
"Shut up, eat, and then leave."
G6 picked up her own fork.
For several moments, only the clatter of cutlery filled the hall.
Miss Eliza eventually cleared her throat.
"The preservation magic on these winterberries… a true blessing from Eldrin. His grace allows even the lowliest to partake."
Her voice was hopeful, perhaps an attempt to redirect the atmosphere toward something safer.
Silence followed.
Then G6 looked at her.
"Who is Eldrin?"
Every head turned.
Even the servants paused.
The horror was immediate.
Miss Eliza's eyes widened.
G6 let the silence stretch just long enough before a slow, cold smirk crossed her face.
"I am just kidding."
Miss Eliza visibly flinched, her composure cracking for a second before she lowered her gaze.
"You almost got me, Reise…" Lord Keith said, though his usual levity failed to completely restore the mood.
The dining hall door opened.
Lilia entered first, followed by Edmund and Tina pushing another cart.
"Apologies for the delay."
They moved toward a smaller table nearby.
"For our comfort," Edmund added.
"I do not care. Just eat."
Lilia suddenly remembered something.
"Oh! A letter from Her Majesty!"
She hurried forward and handed it to G6.
G6 tore the seal open.
The message was brief.
Ensure Tina can do your job. Three days to prepare her. Earl proofreads. Glad you are getting ready for married life.
—Queen Euphelia
G6 stared.
"What the hell?"
She crumpled the letter.
Lord Keith leaned toward her.
"What is wrong?"
"This 'getting ready for marriage'? Tina."
Tina approached and accepted the crushed paper.
She unfolded it, read the message, then adjusted her glasses as her expression turned analytical.
"Is that not why you are going? If not… what is your purpose?"
Everyone at the table looked toward G6.
She stared back.
Edmund noticed immediately.
He stood.
"Of course, that is the reason."
He stepped beside G6 and lowered his voice enough for only her to hear.
"My lady, it is traditional for a noblewoman to study Utility Magic to manage her household. The perfect cover."
G6's eye twitched.
"You suggested this?"
"Flawless alibi."
Edmund stepped away again.
Every pair of eyes remained on her.
G6 forced her expression into reluctant compliance.
"Ah. Preparing for this… stupid marriage."
Contempt dripped from every word.
Tina and Edmund finally sat at their own table.
Lord Keith leaned toward Lord Zen.
"Did she call Dio stupid?"
"No. Do not start, Lord Keith."
Prince Dio had gone still.
"So, you are going to the Utility Magic Department."
"What? You want to be a good wife?" Lord Keith teased.
"Hmm… unsurprising and yet surprising," Lord Earl murmured.
Lord Keith's grin sharpened.
"So you do still love Dio, Reise?"
The word settled over the table.
Love.
G6's hands stopped.
For a moment, she said nothing.
Then a smile touched her lips.
There was nothing warm, embarrassed, or wounded in it. Something bitter beneath the expression made it look almost wrong on Reise Worthon's delicate face.
"Love?"
Her voice was low.
"Does marrying someone mean you love them? Sometimes, it is politics. A whim. A transaction. A… need."
She allowed the words to settle.
"Or, you are just each other's option."
No one interrupted.
"If true love existed, a man would not seek another woman's bed the moment he grows bored. He would not ask his wife for permission to take a concubine, treating her like business."
Her gaze moved clinically across the table.
"Love is a chemical reaction. A delusion. You cannot swear you will love tomorrow. You might wake up and realize it was never love. Just infatuation. Convenience. Fear. Or youthful folly."
The silence deepened.
G6 did not sound heartbroken. She sounded as though she were explaining a phenomenon she had observed repeatedly and found statistically unreliable.
"You can't say love and make it truth. Feelings are unreliable data."
She paused.
"Love is subjective."
No one moved.
"Love is not a blessing. It is destruction."
The room fell into profound silence.
Only moments earlier, Lord Keith had been joking, Lady Brenda had been arguing, and Prince Dio had been snapping at Lord Earl. Now, no one seemed certain what could possibly be said without sounding foolish.
The woman sitting at the center of the table had once been notorious for publicly resenting any woman who lingered too long near Prince Dio. She had supposedly loved him for ten years.
Yet now she spoke of love as though it were an unstable chemical compound, something that could be observed, measured, and discarded when it stopped producing a useful result.
Miss Eliza's hand rose slowly toward her throat.
Her gaze moved toward Prince Dio, perhaps expecting him to react to Reise's words.
He did.
Just not toward her.
Prince Dio's attention remained fixed on G6, not with tenderness or romantic fascination, but with the same increasingly frustrated analysis that had followed nearly every contradiction she presented him.
The woman before him had taken everything he believed he understood about Reise Worthon and overturned it within days. Someone who had once built her entire identity around loving him was now describing love itself as unreliable data.
He could not decide whether she truly believed every word—or what could have happened to make her believe it.
Across the table, G6 watched the reactions unfold.
They do not understand, yet strangely they do at the same time.
No one there possessed the same frame of reference.
They had families, childhood friendships, people they trusted, and people they had been allowed to love.
Akira Gemstone had been taught something else entirely.
Her father's words surfaced again.
You were not born to dream.
You were born to cleanse.
A sin-bearer.
Long before G6 had ever learned to dissect the concept of love, her usefulness had already been decided for her.
Her humanity had been the first discard.
The moment eventually passed, but its cold weight remained over the table throughout the rest of dinner. No one completely returned to the earlier joking, and no one asked G6 about love again.
Questions nevertheless lingered in the silence—questions about the woman sitting among them and about the person she might have become had the world not decided it needed a Reaper instead.
—To Be Continued…—