After the meeting ended, Seele brought Bronya back to her room.
“Um… Big Sister Bronya… what exactly happened between you and Seele last night?”
“Hm? Seele… why do you ask?”
White Seele’s expression suddenly became a bit flustered.
“Seele hasn’t said a single word to me since we got back in touch… until now…”
“Did something happen?”
White Seele shook her head.
“Nothing like that. I can feel that she’s doing very well right now. It’s just that… her emotions are a bit complicated. There’s anger, guilt, worry, regret, and… shyness?”
A big question mark appeared in Bronya’s mind as well.
“Seele really is someone with such rich emotions. It’s just that… Bronya can understand the other feelings, but this ‘shyness’ is… Wait, could it be that time…?”
“Did you remember something, Big Sister Bronya?”
Bronya wore an expression of endless aftertaste.
“Yes. At the time, Seele was under the Herrscher of Domination’s control to some extent. In order to help her pull herself together, Bronya did some things to her, um…”
[Hey, don’t say things that make people misunderstand!]
Dark Seele saw White Seele’s eyes light up, and the slight smile tugging at the corner of Bronya’s mouth, and knew she’d been tricked.
[Seele, I’m sorry, I… I didn’t…]
“Ah, I’m not blaming you. It’s just the three of us here. If you have something troubling you, why not share it with us?”
[I…]
Only then did Dark Seele understand what Bronya meant when she’d said those words that day, when she had Seele and Kiana go out together.
“Some things are precisely because they involve someone close to you that you don’t know how to bring them up.”
Why had Dark Seele nearly been assimilated in the Theater of Domination? Because the puppets’ words had struck her defenses with incredible precision. Normally, whether in daily life or in battle, she was always decisive and never dawdled. But when she faced something truly important, she would lose her usual decisiveness.
She knew in her heart that in some ways, she was even more of a coward than White Seele. Because White Seele had other friends, while Dark Seele… only had her.
Therefore, what Dark Seele feared most was White Seele drifting away from her, and… damaging their relationship.
No matter how solid a wall is, once a gap is opened, it will eventually crumble. After Dark Seele opened up in the mind space under Bronya’s guidance, she could no longer maintain her previous state.
[Seele, last night, Bronya told me…]
After White Seele listened to Dark Seele’s words, she relayed them to Bronya and gave her a questioning look.
“Bronya did say that, and will continue to do so going forward.”
Hearing this, White Seele let out a sigh of relief.
“I thought something unpleasant had happened between you and Seele yesterday, Big Sister Bronya, and that talking about it would put me in a tough spot.”
“Big Sister Bronya is the most important person to Seele. We’re both Seele, so naturally we’re both important in your eyes. Is… is there a problem with that?”
At this, Bronya seemed to figure something out.
“Seele is worried that if Bronya really does that, it will damage the relationship between the three of us. Bronya understands. In that Seele’s heart, everything about you will always come first.”
“Kiana once said that with Mei by her side, she has the strength of a hundred people. A hundred people’s strength might be an exaggeration, but receiving the strength of two Seeles at once — Bronya believes she can manage that.”
[But if that happens, we…]
“I know. The reason you’re troubled is all because of me. I remember, Seele, didn’t you say I should care more about myself? But ‘myself’ has always included you too. If you keep suffering like this, my mood won’t be good either.”
“And on the other hand, if you’re happy, my mood will improve too. So if your relationship with Big Sister Bronya gets even better than before, it’ll only make the relationship between all three of us better.”
[…In the end, the one who causes the most trouble and needs to be taken care of the most… is me. Big Sister, Seele, thank you.]
(Switching to Enoxia’s perspective…)
“The Herrscher of Domination’s first performance is over. They’ve obtained an incomplete portion of the Herrscher of Reason’s power.”
Enoxia sat at home with her legs crossed, looking as if she were discussing something utterly ordinary.
“You don’t seem worried at all.”
Sirin leaned back on the sofa, tossed a grape into her mouth, and turned her head over.
“Mm. Although it looks like the Herrscher of Domination came out ahead, if Bronya temporarily loses the Herrscher of Reason’s authority, it could actually bring her closer to Dark Seele, and Dark Seele closer to White Seele. In my eyes, that price is worth it. After all, the three of them living well together is what matters most.”
“And besides… making the Herrscher of Domination stronger might not necessarily be a bad thing for us.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Enoxia looked at Sirin, the corner of her mouth curving up slightly.
“Sirin, do you know the story of ‘Zheng Bo Defeats Duan at Yan’?”
Sirin very rudely shook her head, wearing a blank expression.
“This is something that happened in ancient Shenzhou. Don’t worry, I’m not trying to lecture you, and I’m certainly not trying to act all mysterious and play the riddle game. This classic tale teaches people a method for dealing with enemies: to destroy them, first let them run wild. If we want the Herrscher of Domination to take the bait, we first need to close the power gap between us and them.”
“Then… is that also why you had Bella make contact with them?”
“Mm… not entirely. It’s just that World Serpent needs to study and develop a device that can reverse-enter the Theater of Domination, and to do that, they need a sufficient number of puppets for experiments. We’re still a bit short right now. If we showed up at the scene of an incident caused by the puppets, they’d probably retreat immediately.”
“Ah, sometimes being too strong is its own kind of trouble. But… Sirin, are you really that at ease about Bella? From what Seele experienced in the Theater of Domination, the Herrscher of Domination is even more troublesome than I expected. They pose no threat to us, but aren’t you worried about Bella…?”
Hearing this, Sirin showed a rare proud smile in front of Enoxia.
“As long as the Herrscher of Domination uses its authority in the way you described, Bella will definitely be fine.”
“You’re her master. Naturally, you understand her better than I do. I just hope she can… achieve the result we’re looking for.”
