The Sorcerer's Handbook

Chapter 453: You Couldn’t Even Persuade Me

”We don’t fully understand it ourselves,” Dia murmured, her voice heavy with a quiet uncertainty. ”We can only make a guess. Perhaps it’s because Nina and I were born with... well, as the Watcher would put it, an exceptionally deep bond between us. The stronger the bond, the greater the amplification when fate is transferred. If an ordinary person can only receive a fraction of what an Unattached possesses, then we might be able to receive tenfold of Nina’s.”

She closed her eyes for a brief moment, a bittersweet smile touching her lips. ”Even now, when I close my eyes, I can still picture Nina as a child, covered in dirt. Maybe it’s precisely because of that bond that we were chosen by the Witch to become the Gospel’s First and the Unattached.”

Dia exhaled slowly, the weight of their past pressing down on her. ”That’s why we had to escape the tower. Not just to break free from the fate of the Gospel’s First, but to save Nina as well. By now, she’s probably already ranked first on the Unattached Rankings. If we don’t save her, she will surely die as an Unattached.

”But we don’t have the power to oppose the witch, let alone infiltrate the palace to rescue Nina. Our original plan was to seize the Divine Lord’s wish and use it to abolish the Unattached Ranking entirely. That way, not only could Nina be saved, but no sisters like us would ever have to suffer such a tragic fate again.”

From the moment of their birth, Lysdia and Niconala were twins bound by a cruel weave of sin and suffering. Nina bore all the physical pain, while Dia carried the crushing weight of the guilt. From the day they were torn apart, Dia had lived upon the stolen sorrow of another girl. It had been predestined from the very beginning that on the day Lysdia finally became queen, the brilliant jewel set in her crown would be paid for by Niconala’s final drop of blood.

After learning the horrific truth, Dia could no longer endure the relentless torment of her conscience. Crushed by the agonizing weight of it, she had summoned the Mask spirit in her deepest despair, desperately fracturing her own soul into White Queen, Black Butler, Red Death Apostle, and others to share the burden of that pain. They were like fish on the verge of drowning, clinging desperately to one another just to survive.

For this same reason, even though Dia often called her grandmother an old witch, she did not truly harbor resentment toward her. She understood that fifty years ago, her grandmother had endured the exact same ordeal. The only difference was that her grandmother had gone to her grave never learning the truth.

The true culprit was the Isa Imperial Family, with their cruel and twisted tradition of succession. That was the true catalyst for Dia’s pursuit of the Divine Lord’s wish. If the Unattached Rankings could be abolished, every problem would be resolved. Nina would no longer have to sacrifice herself, and the Isa Imperial Family would never again create twins burdened by such profound sin.

After a long, heavy silence, Lys said, ”Sister Dia and Sister Nina... you both have suffered so much. But the person most likely to obtain the Divine Lord’s wish now is Aunt Annan. We don’t stand a chance anymore.”

”Even if we can’t abolish the Unattached Rankings, we still have a chance to save Nina,” Dia insisted, a sudden spark of resolve entering her eyes. ”Because right now, there’s still another princess locked in the palace tower.

”After discussing it, we believe there are two possibilities. This princess could be an unknown backup. The witch might intend to use the power of the Divine Spirit, Gospel, to transfer Nina’s fate onto this substitute. But I’ve never heard of any other princess besides Nina and me. So, there’s another possibility, which is that this princess... is Nina herself.”

Dia paused, letting the realization settle. ”Since we disappeared, the Isa Imperial Family still needed a successor. So, on the very night we escaped, the witch must have retrieved Nina from the Unattached Rankings. The price, however, is that Nina would become the new Gospel’s First.”

Little Witch’s eyes widened as she immediately understood the terrifying implication. ”But without a sacrifice, Sister Nina would only live for ten years!”

”That’s right. The witch wouldn’t have enough time to groom a new Unattached to anchor her. But that also gives us our only opportunity. Nina was never raised to be the Gospel’s First. By placing her in the tower, the witch must be trying to force her to inherit my traces, so that the Gospel Ranking will mistakenly recognize her.”

A desperate, brilliant plan began to take shape in Dia’s words. ”As long as we can break her out of the tower and let one of us enter her body to temporarily replace her personality... given the profound bond between Nina and me, our sisters should be able to move between us freely. If we do that, we can definitely free her from the fate of the Gospel’s First.

”We may not be able to eliminate the Unattached Rankings, but at least Nina and I can both survive. That’s why we have to follow Ashe and the others into the palace. We can’t let him assassinate Nina. On the contrary, we have to find a way to save her!”

”You’ve been carrying so much all this time, haven’t you...” Lys murmured, her heart aching for her sister.

”This is my responsibility,” Dia replied.

”It’s our responsibility,” White Queen corrected. ”Nina is our sister too.”

”At this point, if we want to remain by his side, there’s really only one option left,” Black Butler interjected smoothly.

”Tell him everything,” Red Death Apostle urged.

Dia hesitated, her thoughts swirling. ”I’ve been thinking about that as well, whether we should lay everything bare to Ashe, reveal that I am actually Princess Lysdia, and beg for his help to save Nina... but...”

”You’re afraid of revealing the secret, even if it’s to him,” Black Butler murmured, cutting through her hesitation. ”Not because the secret itself matters so much, but because you’re terrified he will resent you for hiding it from him for so long.”

White Queen argued passionately, ”But we don’t have any other choice! No matter what we try, Ashe won’t take us into the palace. If we don’t tell him the truth, we can’t offer a reason compelling enough for him to bring us along on what is essentially a suicide mission. He’ll just throw us out to keep us safe!”

Red Death Apostle added flatly, ”Honesty is the best negotiation tactic.”

Just as the sisters were locked in a heated debate over the feasibility of a confession, a young but fiercely resolute voice shattered the noise in their minds. ”No.”

Lys pressed the hand mirror firmly against her hip, pulled off her glove, and lowered her head to look at her bare arm, deliberately avoiding any reflective surface that might draw the spirits out. In the quiet theater of her mind, she spoke to them all.

”Sister Dia, Sister White, Sister Black, Sister Red... I sympathize with Sister Nina, and I understand your determination to save her. I even understand your sense of justice.”

Lys’s mental voice trembled, but it did not waver. ”Lysdia knows Niconala. But I don’t. I don’t want to save the world. I don’t need strangers to applaud me. I just want to be loved by Daddy and cherished by all of you. There are very few people I like, and even fewer who care about me.

”Aside from you and Daddy, no one else truly looks at me. Uncle Harvey doesn’t care about me. Aunt Perskin only tolerates me because of Daddy. Aunt Annan treats me like a tool, and Uncle Pankey only cares about Annan... So I refuse to lose any of you.”

Little Witch’s thoughts sharpened with a desperate, protective edge. ”I won’t let you and Daddy risk your lives just to save someone I don’t even know. I won’t allow it.

”Sisters, if you wanted to do something so grand and noble, then you should have chosen a host with a great heart. I’m just a little witch. Ignorant, timid, easily satisfied... and incredibly selfish.”

Lys concluded, sealing the debate. ”You won’t be able to convince Daddy. Because you won’t even be able to convince me.”

Having poured out every hidden drop of her heart, Lys hardened her resolve. She broke away from the internal conclave and turned to look at Ashe, who was quietly flipping through the pages of the Book of Gospel.

”Daddy,” she spoke aloud, her voice small but clear in the room. ”Let’s run away. Let’s not take part in the assassination plan. Let’s just hide until the Woven Festival is over, alright?”