The moment Carlotta pushed the door open and stepped inside, the intimate atmosphere in the room shattered instantly.
The golden-haired girl froze for a few seconds, then hurriedly retreated two steps away from Ray. She clutched her cane tightly to her chest, her gaze drifting guiltily toward the corner of the room.
"L-Lady Carlotta…" Phoebe's voice carried a faint tremor. "It's not what you think. I just happened to be nearby and heard what happened. I was worried about Mr. Ray's safety, so I rushed over…"
She spoke faster and faster, her fingers unconsciously gripping the cane even tighter, as restless as a child caught red-handed in the middle of doing something wrong.
In Phoebe's understanding, Carlotta was Ray's rightful and legitimate lover.
Though she herself shared an inseparable bond with Mr. Ray as well, she was, in the end, the one who had come later.
Coupled with her identity as a clergy member, she always unconsciously lowered her posture a little whenever she faced the young lady of House Montelli.
"Is that so? So Priestess Phoebe cares about Ray this much?" Carlotta's faint smile remained, but frost gathered at the bottom of her eyes. "Or is it more than just concern? Could it be… a more special kind of feeling?"
"I-I don't… that's… um—"
Phoebe's cheeks instantly flushed crimson. She fidgeted restlessly with her fingertips, stammering and frozen in place, unable to string together a complete sentence for quite some time.
"Young Miss, now is not the time for this." Ray rose and stepped between the two of them. "Can I leave this place or not?"
Carlotta shot him an exasperated glare, folded her arms, and gave a light huff. "What do you think? I've been running around dealing with your mess, so worried I could barely sit still and here you are, getting all cozy with Phoebe."
Her voice gradually lowered as she spoke, her lips pursing into a hurt pout. "And I'm supposed to be your actual girlfriend…"
"I understand how you're feeling right now. I'll personally apologize to the Young Miss later. But right now, there's truly a more urgent matter that needs to be dealt with." Ray picked up his jacket from the side and turned toward Zani, who had been standing quietly the entire time. "Zani, could you drive me somewhere?"
Zani, suddenly put on the spot, blinked in surprise and looked instinctively toward Carlotta. She answered cautiously, "I have no problem with it, but… it still depends on what the Young Miss thinks."
"Where are you going?" Carlotta furrowed her brow, her expression instantly on high alert.
"Porto-veno Castle." Ray was completely direct. "I need to see Cantarella."
"Ha?!" The corner of Carlotta's eye twitched faintly. She could hardly believe her ears. "Do you even hear yourself right now? You just brought down a theater, I've been running around taking care of everything for you, I haven't even gotten a word of thanks and now you're standing right in front of me, asking Zani to drive you to see that jellyfish?!"
An inexplicable surge of anger welled up from somewhere, and the girl refused point-blank. "No. I won't allow it. Zani, you are not allowed to take him."
Hearing Carlotta's command, Zani, standing to the side, could only spread her hands helplessly. Her expression clearly said: See? It's not that I'm unwilling, it's that the Young Miss won't permit it.
"The stone tablet is gone."
"Even if It is—" Carlotta suddenly blinked, then turned her head back toward him. "What did you say is gone?"
"The stone tablet. It's gone."
Carlotta's eyes instantly went wide. "Gone? How did it go missing?"
"I…" Ray found it difficult to speak the words. "It was Phrolova. She's with the Fractsidus. I was… deceived by her."
"Phrolova? The Fractsidus?"
"It's difficult to explain the whole matter in just a moment. But the Fractsidus is undoubtedly plotting something. I have to stop them before it's too late to turn things back! So, Young Miss—"
Ray's voice suddenly rose considerably.
He closed in on her step by step. Carlotta, overwhelmed by his sudden, forceful momentum, retreated unconsciously until her back pressed against the cold wall.
"Wh-what are you doing?" Carlotta tilted her face up and gazed into his eyes.
For some reason she couldn't explain…
She suddenly felt as though her heart had skipped a beat.
A suffocating silence stretched through the air.
Ray abruptly seized the girl's delicate wrist, trapping her firmly between the wall and himself. His breath brushed against her cheek, his tone urgent and searing.
"This matter is of grave importance. Perhaps Cantarella might know something."
"This calamity began because of me. I must end it with my own hands before everything spirals out of control!"
The overwhelming presence flooded the tip of her nose. An ambiguous, subtle atmosphere spread faintly into the world around them.
Carlotta stared blankly at the young man so close to her face.
A faint ache came from her wrist.
Like ripples spreading across the surface of a lake, it radiated outward.
Beneath her churning emotions, some unfamiliar feeling was being born.
Confusion.
Unease.
And finally…
A burning, blazing… excitement?
Trembling.
Her body was trembling faintly.
Her breathing, once light, gradually became hurried and rough. Even her blood seemed to run scalding hot, flowing through every corner of her body.
Carlotta gazed at him, lost in a daze…
Gazing at the young man before her. That earnest, sharp look in his eye, —he was completely different from the usual lazy, carefree him.
It was as though he had become, thoroughly and completely…
A different person entirely.
Huh?
Why… is my breathing so ragged?
I should be resisting this, shouldn't I?
This isn't right, is it?
But…
But why?
Why do I feel like being treated this way…
Is so… exhilarating?
Her head felt dizzy, and her reason was crumbling away.
It felt as though she might completely succumb.
"I… I understand. I'll have Zani drive you to see Cantarella. P-please… keep holding me like this."
Ray: "?"
...
...
The girl lowered her gaze, staring at her own chest, the very spot where the Blood Oath Covenant had once pierced straight through. Yet now, it was smooth and flawless, without so much as a single scar left behind.
As an existence that wandered the boundary between human and Tacet Discord, she had long since transcended the mundane laws of life and death.
No matter how severe the wound, it would heal perfectly in the blink of an eye, as if it had never occurred at all.
But…
"Why… is it only here…"
The girl's slender fingertips gently brushed over the spot where the blade had once impaled her. Moonlight flowed across her pale skin.
Though there was clearly no wound at all, a dull, aching pain that reached deep into her very soul continued to spread from that place.
The pain was not sharp like a blade. Rather, it was like a slow-acting poison corroding her heart from within, diffusing through her veins with every heartbeat.
She tried to breathe deeply. She tried to calm herself. She tried to steady her restless, anxious heart.
Yet she could not.
At least, not right now.
"I shouldn't… be able to feel this…"
The red spider lilies swayed gently in the night.
Until another blossom, one that bloomed in the darkness, tore through the stillness of the night.
"Oh my, after doing something like that, you're hiding out here all alone, drowning in sorrow?"
A voice, charming yet laced with a hint of teasing, sounded from behind her.
Phrolova slowly turned around. Reflected in her wine-red pupils was the silhouette of a girl.
"You are…"
"Someone from the Black Shores?"