Her eyes opened from the vision at the break of another dawn. Marilyn regained consciousness in her own bedroom, finding Jezibel sitting nearby, quietly observing her illness.
"Jezibella... I am so glad thou art returned," Mary murmured weakly.
"Oh! Art thou awake at last, Grandmother!" Jezibella called out to Mrs. Bishop.
Mary felt an overwhelming exhaustion weighing upon her body. She could scarcely lift herself from the bed, though she tried desperately to move. It was profoundly strange; only yesterday she had been in perfect health, free of any ailment. The night before, she could move her limbs like any normal person. There was no way a common illness could leave her bedridden as though bound by a paralyzing hex.
"Mary, my dear! What hath befallen thee?" The old woman opened the door, gazing down at her adopted daughter's pale face with a heavy, troubled heart. To Mrs. Bishop, Mary was as precious a child as Jezibel herself.
"What evil hath struck me, noble mother? Why can I not move my body!?"
"Jezibel! Make haste and fetch the physician! Stand not there staring!" Mrs. Bishop ordered her dutiful daughter.
"Yes, Grandmother." Jezibel cast a gaze devoid of any hostility toward Mary before stepping out of the chamber.
The old woman reached out to touch Mary's forehead. "Hmm~ Thy brow burneth with fever. I pray thou wilt recover swiftly."
Before long, a familiar young man crossed the threshold into the bedroom. Edward knelt before the maiden, who was suffering in both body and mind. He drew a small pin.
"It shall feel but a tiny ant's bite; bear it a moment."
Mary shifted her powerless arm, allowing him to draw blood to diagnose the hidden plague within her.
He spent a long time testing the blood, sweating profusely, while Mary's heart pounded wildly without respite. Marilyn gasped heavily throughout the examination, as though an unseen hand were pressing down crushingly upon her chest.
At last, Edward handed a soothing remedy to Jezibella. The three conversed outside the chamber, leaving Marilyn to lie in bed, her breathing faint and ragged.
"Now then, let us see," Jezibella returned to explain the mysterious medicine to her. "Thou must take this remedy every dawn and dusk."
"I... gasp... what illness..."
"The physician saith thou art well, yet deep within, it may not be so." Jezibel nodded, her expression lorn with sorrow—a stark contrast to the malice she had once shown toward Marilyn in times past.
"Thou... speakest... kindly to me," Mary managed a faint smile toward the sister who seemed to have turned over a new leaf.
"Come evening, I shall prepare a meal for thee myself. Force not thy fragile frame, Mary, for thou art one of our family."
"Jezi... bella..." Mary's hand was taken by her younger sister, who pressed it gently against her own chest.
"Rest now, Sister~"
Hearing those words, Mary closed her eyes to rest.
"I shall care for this sister of mine... most closely."
The encroaching darkness dragged Mary down into the subconscious realm—an endless mirror of water reflecting the void. The maiden beheld her own reflection beneath the damp surface. Yet, the reflection did not mimic her movements, existing as a distinct entity rather than a mere shadow.
"...Thou..." Mary uttered.
Her reflection turned its gaze toward her, breaking into a bright, uncanny smile.
"Thou," the mirrored self parroted her voice.
In the next instant, Marilyn fell onto a field of milky-white grass, utterly devoid of any color.
"Where am I...?"
The maiden groggily pulled herself up onto her feet once more. She stood before a stark white apple tree, sweeping her eyes across the surroundings. The entire world was coated in milk. Suddenly, Mary overheard the conversation of two unknown men beneath the apple tree.
"Wherefore doth thy will differ so greatly from mine?"
"Merely because we share the same bloodline, we need not hold the same mind in all matters."
"Small wonder thou wilt not march beside me. Yet even so... I pray that after this war, we shall meet again."
"I know... I know..."
Mary walked toward the milk-formed shapes that resembled human figures. Two mysterious warriors sat in deep counsel, bringing their shields together to lock in place. The shields revealed an eight-pointed star emblem overlaid upon a royal lion crest. Marilyn clutched her head; never in her mortal life had she known of such events.
"These are not my memories... I..."
"Oh! Hey, thou art arrived~"
The two young men offered Marilyn a warm greeting before their milky frames dissolved before her very eyes.
"My memories..."
A man's voice called out as a hand rested upon her shoulder from behind.
"Thou!" The maiden spun around to find the nameless red-haired youth once more. "Art these visions thine?"
"I can scarcely recall when they came to pass. All I know is that these two brother-in-arms were my comrades when I still drew breath."
"That sword and shield... the emblem of the Western Gate. Both bear a connection to this place and to this tree." Marilyn picked apart the clues of what she had just witnessed.
The young man nodded, meeting her eyes with sharp intrigue. "It seemeth thou visitest this tree often, no?"
Mary let out a heavy sigh. "In my youth, I sat beneath this apple tree often, as though it were... my very first friend."
"Most fascinating indeed~ I begin to suspect this tree hideth a grand secret. Marvellous... few souls have made me feel thus from the first meeting. As though I were recalling the deeds I once wrought. Hmm~ Then those two knights..."
Before the young man could finish his sentence, Mary was dragged violently beneath the milky earth.
"W-What is happening!? I am being pulled down!"
"Oh~ I reckon something is about to come to pass... for thee. Indeed~" The youth smirked, as though he had experienced this ordeal before.
The stark white hands of a mysterious woman emerged from below, clasping Mary's head tightly.
"Destiny shattered, leaving behind only..."
Before the youth could utter his final words, Mary's ears sank beneath the milky waters, followed by a faint whisper pressing right against her ear:
"The hour hath come to awaken unto our dawn."
It was as though Marilyn heard her own voice speaking right before she snapped awake once more upon her wooden bed.
Opening her eyes, she found Jezibel stirring food within a wooden bowl with a spoon.
"Jezibel..." The bedridden maiden called out her sister's name, her throat far better than it had been the day before.
"I have prepared a soup for thee. This recipe may clear thy throat." Jezibella brought a spoon filled with a petunia-violet liquid right to the sick maiden's lips.
A acrid, burnt odor pierced Mary's nose—reminiscent of molten charcoal—filling her with intense revulsion. But as it touched her lips, the maiden jerked her head away in refusal, causing the wooden spoon to fall and stain the blanket.
Her younger sister dug her nails deep into the wooden bed frame, biting her lip. Mary's eyes widened as she felt the surge of raw wrath awakening within Jezibel.
"I suppose my cooking tasteth wretched as ever, no? Unlike thine..." The younger sister spat, admitting her own bitterness.
"Jezibel, I beg thy forgiveness... My stomach is... churning."
Seeing Mary speak so, Jezibel reached out to touch her shoulder.
"I understand... Yet if thou eatest not, thou wilt starve to death. Besides, art thou not Grandmother's favorite child?"
Upon hearing those words, Mary felt a suffocating pressure choke her airway. Jezibella broke into a wide, unnatural grin, leaning down to pinch Marilyn's cheeks hard with one hand.
"Open thy mouth... and swallow it down!" Jezibel roared, forcing Mary to drink the foul soup.
Once finished, she snatched the journal resting by the pillow and struck Mary across the head with it.
"'Tis only because of Grandmother that I slay thee not this instant!" Jezibel sneered, stepping out of the bedroom.
As Marilyn coughed and sputtered, she realized Jezibel had opened and read that journal, using a fragment of the cursed relic to brew the meal. Looking closely, Mary saw that the ember had been reduced to mere dust.
"Jezibe... (cough!) W-What hast thou done!!"
Mary reached her hand toward the door, only for it to slam shut in her face with a deafening
CRASH!