Her gaze shifted toward us, her expression softening slightly as she offered a polite smile.
But when her eyes returned to Roselia, the warmth vanished.
They hardened.
"So you dragged Miss Anathasia and Sir Kyle here too, huh?"
Rania paused, her gaze drifting toward Lena and Fran standing beside us.
Her expression flattened.
"And you even got Carthanalenia and Francesca involved as well?"
She looked back at Roselia.
"Just how desperate are you now?"
[Kyle,]
A voice echoed inside my head.
At the same time, I felt a light tug at my sleeve.
I glanced to the side.
Anathasia was holding onto it.
[What's up?]
[I feel like I'm watching a yuri drama right now—]
[Okay, let's not go there.]
"I told you to go back to Kazar," Rania continued, her voice calm. "To deal with your responsibilities as the Duchess of the Nutrisci Duchy."
"Instead, you come here. Pretend to be my cat. And meow at me for no reason."
Rania kept her gaze locked on Roselia.
"The Emperor has been sending letters to the church, asking for you to return. Even pleading for your presence."
She stepped forward.
Anathasia and I immediately distanced ourselves, while Lena and Francesca wandered off to do something else.
"You may keep trying," Rania said, pressing a finger against Roselia's chest.
"But I will never…"
She paused.
"…look at you the same way you look at me."
Then she stepped back, pulling her hand away.
"Go back to Vàr. You have your own responsibilities there. For once, be fitting of the title of Duchess."
And just like that, she turned away.
Her heels clicked against the cobblestone as she walked off, leaving Roselia standing alone in the middle of the road.
Her arms hung at her sides as she watched Rania leave.
Anathasia and I stayed silent, watching as Roselia stood there in the middle of the road. Her kimono brushed the ground as Rania disappeared around the corner.
[...That was worse than I thought.]
I nodded.
[If Roselia manipulated Rania back then…]
I trailed off, folding my arms across my chest while Anathasia leaned lightly against me.
[Then Roselia still hovering around Rania would only make things worse…]
I glanced down at her.
[Was it something close to psychological abuse?]
She didn't answer right away.
Instead, she continued watching Roselia, who remained standing in the middle of the road while carriages quietly avoided her.
[It was…] she murmured.
Her gaze lifted slowly toward the church tower rising above the surrounding houses.
[Definitely something like that… but also worse at the same time.]
A brief silence followed.
[Roselia has a habit of controlling people, after all.]
[It's a bad habit she's had long before she became an Outer God.]
We watched Roselia slowly raise her hand, as if trying to reach out.
She took a step.
Then stopped halfway.
After a moment, she slowly turned toward us.
Her chest heaved before she began walking in our direction, gaze lowered.
"My apologies, Miss Veridielle. Sir Kyle."
"I must return… to take care of the responsibilities I have neglected."
Anathasia stepped forward and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Your methods were harmful," she said bluntly. "I know that now. And I'm sure you understand that much as well."
Her voice gradually softened.
"You can't fix something you broke yourself."
"If you truly love Rania…"
"Then letting her go and allowing her to live her own life may be the greatest act of love you can offer."
Roselia stiffened.
Her jaw tightened as her hands turned white from how hard she was clenching them.
Anathasia slowly pulled her hand back.
Roselia's eyes began to water.
"That's not…"
For the first time since I met her nineteen years ago, Roselia actually stammered.
"Why… I know it was wrong."
"I simply… could not help it."
She lifted her head.
One hand clutched at her chest while the other swung behind her back.
"Humans… they're unpredictable!"
"They change without warning!"
"All of a sudden, they just pull away for no reason!"
"I know because that's what always happens with everyone around me!"
A tear slid down her cheek.
"I had to do it back then… or else…"
"…or else Rania would have drifted away from me before I even noticed."
"I didn't want that."
Her voice trembled.
"Is wanting someone to stay beside me…"
"…someone who wouldn't leave for no reason…"
"…really too much to ask?!"
Anathasia quietly watched her.
Then something she had said twenty years ago echoed in my mind.
"We both chose to protect someone in the end."
Her own words.
And the brief glance she had given Rania when she spoke them.
"What you're doing is only going to hurt both of you," Anathasia replied, her voice calm.
"Human relationships don't work the way you think they do."
"You said it yourself. If you want someone to stay, you have to actually put in effort."
She paused, her gaze drifting away for a moment.
"I'm not saying you aren't putting in effort. You are."
"But it's misdirected."
Her eyes returned to Roselia.
"People have what you call autonomy."
"But if you keep interfering with their decisions, their choices—even subconsciously…"
"…they will naturally drift away."
Roselia quietly sobbed.
Anathasia snapped her fingers.
Above her palm, translucent moving images appeared, forming two figures resembling Roselia and Rania.
"You will end up suffocating them," Anathasia continued.
"But what you did to Rania specifically didn't just suffocate her."
"You actively removed her ability to choose and connect."
She closed her hand.
The images vanished.
"In other words…"
"If you don't learn to trust someone, allow yourself to be vulnerable in front of them, and accept uncertainty—"
"—then your yearning for connection…"
"…to have someone, and to let someone have you…"
"…will never be."
Roselia stood trembling, wiping her tears with the back of her hand.
A brief silence followed.
"You don't understand," she muttered.
Her voice slowly began to rise.
"You didn't start off as a human. You never had to watch people turn their backs on you."
"Didn't watch others leave you without saying anything."
Her voice cracked slightly.
"So what do you know…?"
"You never had to watch someone's back while they walked away from what you thought you both had."
"You never had to watch someone just leave you behind without explaining anything."
"So you're left there wondering what you did wrong…"
"…when just yesterday they said they would stay no matter what."
Roselia shook her head.
Then she stormed off, brushing past Anathasia.
"You don't get to talk like you understand."
"Because you don't."
I watched as Roselia walked away, disappearing from view not long after.
Behind me, Anathasia clicked her tongue.
I turned back toward her.
"…Of course," she muttered, running a hand down her face with a sigh.
"What was I expecting?"
"She's always been stubborn."
"I think what she said was also valid," I chimed in.
She shot me a glance, raising an eyebrow.
"To an extent, you know? Of course, what she said about you not being human was true… but still below the belt."
"That's not what I'm concerned about."
Her eyes drifted upward as she stared at the sky.
In the distance, Lena and Francesca wandered through the city, stopping by a stall before glancing at me and flashing a smile.
"It's Roselia's destructiveness that worries me."
I waved back at Francesca before turning my attention to Anathasia again.
"That's true… her instability could drag thousands, maybe even millions down if her emotions start affecting her decisions."
I paused, absentmindedly reaching over to stroke Anathasia's hair.
"But still…"
"I think I can understand her a little. Why she wants control."
"I do as well," Anathasia cut in. "And maybe… it was a bit too early for her to hear what I said earlier."
She exhaled slowly, rubbing her temple in annoyance.
"This is troublesome."
"Let's just trust she won't take her anger out on her own people," I said, still twirling a strand of her hair around my finger.
"She's a former politician, right? Surely she wouldn't do anything stupid."
A beat passed.
"Hopefully."