Feeling her mother stroking her hair, she slept peacefully. She dreamed of her father beside her, telling stories. Maybe what had happened was just a nightmare, and that dream was the real reality. She wanted to keep dreaming, so she slept deeply until she woke up four hours later.
"Mother?"
Her eyes were still heavy with sleep, but she wanted her mother by her side. Since she had woken at that moment, it was possible her mother had only just left. She felt that she had left, and that was why she had awakened even while having a good dream. Those had been four good hours for her mind.
Getting out of bed, her eyes were still red from the tears she had shed that day. Leaving the room, she looked to both sides of the corridor and saw that everything was dark. In that darkness, she suddenly felt her heart grow tense and a bad feeling began to fill her chest. Trembling slightly, she looked back toward her room, wanting to return—but it was dark there too.
'I want my mother…'
Trying not to make noise, she walked through the corridors without seeing any sign of life. No elven maid or knight was visible along the way. Compared to the rush everyone had been in during the afternoon, it was as if they had ceased to exist. Were they quickly preparing her father's funeral? Thinking of his death again made Elaris grow sad once more, her lips trembling.
Her fear increased as she walked toward her parents' room. Maybe her mother had gone to sleep—after all, the day had been horrible, so she must need rest too. That had to be it. She wouldn't have left her alone in that dark room on a day like this.
'Why didn't she stay to sleep with me if she was tired? Did something bad happen? No… I don't want anything else to happen.'
She began walking faster, pushing her fear aside. It was better to find someone quickly, at least to ask what was going on. On her way to the stairs, she slipped on something wet and almost fell down the steps if she hadn't created a small breeze of wind that pushed her body forward. Falling to her knees, she felt her hands and knees become wet as well.
"I can't see properly… why are all the lights off?"
Standing up, she tried to light a lamp as she had seen the maids do. At first she failed, but on the second attempt she managed to illuminate most of the corridor. Seeing that gave her more confidence to continue, but when she looked at her hands to see why they were wet, she saw them stained red with blood. Turning her head, she saw the corpses of several maids lining the stairs that led to her parents' room.
"Aaaahhh!"
She screamed—not in pain, but in absolute terror. Looking down, her scream died in her throat, turning into a choke when she saw numerous elven knights dead in the hall below the stairs. Worse still, those bodies were nothing compared to the black-eyed elves staring at her, covered in blood. In absolute panic, she ran up to her mother's room without caring what lay in her path. She was desperate.
"MOTHER, MOTHER HELP ME… ELVES—"
Reaching the room, she pushed the door with all her strength and slammed it shut. Desperate, she froze the door handle and ran toward her parents' bed. When she saw a body on the bed that resembled her mother, she immediately tried to climb onto it.
"Mother, corrupted elves are—"
As she turned her mother's body over, she froze with a face of pure terror. A dagger was embedded in the center of the older elf's chest, and her eyes were lifeless. Something she would never forget was the expression of disappointment stamped on her mother's face.
"I couldn't kill her before she learned who killed your father."
Her uncle's voice came from behind her. Her head snapped back as tears streamed down her face. Immediately, the hatred she had felt toward him for taking so long made sense. In her mind, everything now fit together—only he could have done all this.
"YOU BASTARD, IT WAS YOU—"
"You could say that."
He spoke without any expression. Unlike when his brother had died, he showed no sadness in killing his sister-in-law. Elaris ran at him, channeling magic into her small fist to strike him with all her strength. Her fists were caught by someone behind her.
"Who—"
"Little sister, calm down. I'm here."
Breathing heavily, she saw her sister behind her. Her expression was cold as she looked at their uncle. Without a doubt, her sister was there to help her. She hugged her waist while glaring at Malik with hatred.
"Sister, he has to die."
"…Yes, little sister. Someone in this room needs to die. But first, something must be done."
"What do you mean?"
Suddenly, Elaris, Elithia, and Malik found themselves surrounded by corrupted elves. In her own sister's hands, a royal family mana-transfer magic stone was pressed against her forehead. Feeling intense pain throughout her body, she let out a heart-wrenching scream. Falling to the ground, she watched as her mana was slowly transferred into Elithia.
"I'm sorry, sister. They forced me to do this."
Those were the last words she heard from her sister before losing consciousness. In Elithia's perspective, she truly had been forced—but not by the corrupted elves as Elaris had begun to believe. The ones who had forced her were her parents, who did not want to rule any longer. They should have given her the throne sooner; at least then she would have kept them alive with sealed strength by her side.
"With this, half of her mana is mine. When I absorb it all, kill her—no, don't imprison her. I will finish what I couldn't when she was born, just like with my older sister."
Elithia stretched, thinking that finally everything was hers. Pretending to be kind all those years had been irritating. She had only managed to be cruel once—before Elaris was born, when there had been another baby seven years older. In truth, that "kind" personality had come from that older sister who treated her like a treasure.
'It was a good family. It's a shame you were going to become queen before me.'
For her older sister to die, she had placed herself in danger by entering a forest. Watching her protect her from so many creatures and sacrifice herself in the end had been beautiful to witness.
'With that, I removed all obstacles. Now I'll erase that garden too… Actually, it might be better to destroy it after I'm done—'
A magical explosion shook everything, startling the corrupted elves and causing Malik to stand in front of Elithia. When they realized what had happened, an elf had taken Elaris at a speed they had never seen. It was Cavirieth, his expression serious. Before Malik could attack him, the circle nine elf simply disappeared, leaving Elithia's magic stone crumbling into dust on the ground.
"…It seems it will take longer than I thought to rule the Elven Dimension."
Elithia made an annoyed expression while Malik vanished to pursue them. As all this happened, everything began to freeze and shatter into pieces like memories scattered by the wind. Elaris watched the scene with pure desolation on her face. She had never known any of this. It was the first time she had seen these memories; the house had revealed all the truths of the past to her.
'I didn't change anything even as my memory was fading. I fought to continue the same way, trying to see how to save her.'
In the original story, this truth had only been revealed to the reader. Elaris had never known, and because she never knew, she forgave her sister and kept her by her side, believing she had been forced—just like the last words she had heard that day. But in the end, she had not been killed by the evil gods. Elithia betrayed her a second time and killed her younger sister without hesitation when she had the chance.
"What should I do? Father… Mother…"
Her expression began to grow lifeless as she stepped out of the house. She had passed the trial through her resilience in keeping everything unchanged, but she had never expected this outcome.
"It seems you need help. Do you want me to help you with your decision?"
She lifted her head and saw the one who had undoubtedly left the house first. Enrico stood before her—without a smile, without looking serious. His expression was calm, because he wanted her to see all of this with her own eyes.