On her way back to her room after finishing her external schedule.

“Scarlet, I’m coming in… ah…”

As Sylvia knocked on the door to the room next to hers, hoping to relieve the day’s fatigue, she was met with an empty, desolate scene that made her smile wryly.

“…So it’s true. Scarlet really left the mansion…”

The only person she could comfortably rely on in the household, where she had never been able to express her vulnerability, had left without giving her a moment to prepare her heart.

When she had suddenly heard last night that Scarlet was going to leave the mansion, she thought, “So it has come to this.”

Knowing Scarlet despised being in debt, she had guessed that she would eventually make up her mind to leave the mansion.

After all, she had forcibly brought Scarlet into the mansion because she didn’t like seeing her live in a shabby house.

It wasn’t right to force someone who wanted to leave to stay, and so, if she said she wanted to go, Sylvia had been considering letting her.

But who would have imagined she would leave so quickly?

“…Who moves out in such a hasty manner?”

She had heard the news from Dolos that he had sent compensation to her, but she never would have imagined that as soon as she received money, she would pack her things and flee the mansion.

At the very least, shouldn’t she have been given a chance to prepare her heart?

If so, she wouldn’t have been crying and throwing a tantrum to stop her from leaving, like she had this morning…

No, even if she had all the time in the world, if Scarlet said she was leaving, she might have still thrown a fit like today.

Because,

“…I just wanted to keep being together.”

That was her true intention.

With a heavy sigh, filled with regret, Sylvia closed the door to the room where Scarlet once resided.

Even now that she was gone, her lingering feelings were hard to bear.

Scarlet said she was precious to her.

So she said she didn’t want to be a burden, that she didn’t want to be in debt anymore, and that was why she was leaving the mansion.

Sylvia couldn’t understand that reasoning at all.

If they were truly precious to each other, shouldn’t they be able to bear any burden between them?

She wanted to be that kind of person for Scarlet.

Someone she could rely on, who could lean on her, and vice versa.

She wanted to be close friends with her.

But Scarlet seemed almost compulsively unwilling to rely on her.

Feeling sorry about that, Sylvia exhaled deeply as she returned to her room, when her mobile phone began to ring from her pocket.

Pulling it out, Sylvia checked the name on the screen and tilted her head in confusion.

The name displayed was Yoon Si-woo.

Since the last time they rescued Scarlet together from her kidnapping, they had exchanged numbers to share updates about her, but they rarely contacted each other.

She hadn’t heard from him since she informed him that Scarlet would be staying at Astra’s mansion.

Curious about what it might be, Sylvia answered the call.

“Yes, Yoon Si-woo. What can I do for you?”

[Sylvia, didn’t Scarlet used to live in your mansion? Has something happened to her?]

“…If it’s about Scarlet, she just said she was leaving the mansion today. Have you seen her?”

[Well, it’s that Scarlet asked if she could live with us, so I agreed… But I’m wondering why she suddenly wants to leave the mansion to come live with us…]

The new information made her head spin.

…Did she leave the mansion only to go to Yoon Si-woo’s house?

Grabbing her aching head, Sylvia asked him.

“Well, I’m not sure. She just said she was leaving the mansion to receive the compensation from Dolos. But it’s quite peculiar that she chose to come to your place, of all options. Did you hear why?”

[Huh?! When I asked, it was… because my side felt the most at ease… Ah, I’ll hang up now if everything’s alright!]

The call abruptly ended, and Sylvia was left staring blankly at her phone, muttering to herself.

“…Huh? Why?”

She had said she didn’t want to be a burden.

Yet, why did she choose Yoon Si-woo’s house?

Does that mean she didn’t mind being a burden to him?

Huh? So being friends with Yoon Si-woo is acceptable, but not with me?

Lost in a multitude of thoughts racing through her mind, Sylvia eventually collapsed onto her bed.

She buried her face in the pillow to muffle her cries and began to whine, flailing her limbs.

“Wheeeng, Scarlet is such a fool! You should have leaned on me! Why is it that my side doesn’t feel safe, while Si-woo’s does! Be my friend… Ugh…”

She wasn’t really angry at Scarlet.

She was just frustrated.

The one person who seemed to open her heart solely to others was Yoon Si-woo, not her.

That realization stung her.

Feeling heated from her pent-up frustration, she decided to cool off on the terrace in the hallway.

However, there was already someone present on the terrace.

“Ah, Elder 1.”

“Sylvia. Would you like a cup of tea?”

“I… won’t refuse.”

Accepting the offer to sit across from Elder 1, she politely took the tea he poured.

Following the familiar, now second nature tea ceremony, she savored the aroma of the tea leaves, and it helped calm her troubled mind a bit.

Nevertheless, her mood remained gloomy, and without realizing it, she sighed. Elder 1 spoke up.

“You look troubled. Is it because of that girl? I heard she left the mansion this morning?”

“…Yes.”

Trying to act fine in front of Elder 1, she couldn’t conceal her feelings and that showed in her reply as he chuckled softly.

“Haha, just yesterday, I was sipping tea with that girl, chatting away. I never expected her to leave so abruptly.”

“…I don’t understand why she left so suddenly either. It wasn’t like there was someone bothering her in the mansion.”

“…Indeed.”

At Elder 1’s words, Sylvia perked up.

There was a strange feeling when he responded.

It felt as if she sensed something deceptive in his words…

In that moment, Sylvia noticed where Elder 1’s gaze had fleetingly passed and widened her eyes, asking him.

“Elder, wasn’t there a flower pot where you used to grow your cherished orchids? What happened to it?”

With a wry smile, Elder 1 replied, “…About that. Something must have gone wrong yesterday; it died. I told Sebastian to throw it away.”

“…It died suddenly? That sounds very strange.”

…It was truly something unusual.

The Astra clan, even though they were in such a state now, were known as high elves who lived alongside the forest.

The fact that a plant they tended to could suddenly die for no reason was nothing short of a mystery.

Although she was concerned about what had happened, her attention was more drawn to the suspicious feeling she had sensed from Elder 1 earlier.

Focusing on that made her instinctively feel that he was hiding something from her.

Instincts can often feel unreliable, but perhaps because she was the sole remaining contractor of the Star Spirit in this world…

Sylvia understood that her instincts were not to be taken lightly.

Recalling the damages she had faced every time she dismissed this sense and the benefits she had gained from trusting it, she thought she needed to check on this.

She finished her tea and stood up from the table.

“Thank you for the tea. I think I’ll take a stroll in the garden for a while.”

“Is that so? Be sure not to walk too long; you’ll need to get up early again tomorrow.”

After bowing to Elder 1, Sylvia left the terrace and headed toward where Sebastian, the servant who had just assisted her with her schedule, was.

“A discerning lady? What brings you here this evening?”

“It’s nothing much, but I heard the orchid the Elder cherished died; did you throw it away?”

“The pot? It’s on the cart in the garden. I was going to throw it away along with the clippings from the garden tomorrow… Do you have something you need?”

“Don’t worry about it. I was just curious.”

As she heard Sebastian’s words and stepped into the garden, she spotted a cart stacked high with branches in one corner.

Upon examining the cart, she noticed a familiar pot nestled between the branches.

The orchid that had once been vibrant and lush, as if painted, was now completely withered, resembling a sickly, dead plant.

Curious about what might have transpired in just a few days that caused the previously healthy orchid to turn to this state, Sylvia picked up the pot and extended her hand toward the dead orchid.

“Oh?!”

– Crash!

She was startled by a sudden burst of light emanating from her hand and accidentally dropped the pot, shattering it.

For a moment, Sylvia was taken aback by breaking the pot, but then she recalled it was going to be thrown away anyway, and she quickly regained her composure.

The crucial thing was not the pot she broke but rather the cause of the phenomenon that just occurred.

Taking a deep breath, Sylvia settled on the ground and placed her hands on the pieces of the broken pot.

It did not react to the pot.

In that case…

As she reached to touch the spilled dirt and the orchid, a light flickered from her hand once more.

She felt her expression harden.

Her ability, or more precisely, the power of the Star Spirit, was the ability to purify evil things.

The fact that it reacted spontaneously indicated there was something within this pot that needed purifying.

Common examples would be miasma or curses that had existed for a long time.

To identify what type it was, she wrapped her hand in light and picked up the corpse of the dead orchid, and it felt as if she could hear screams coming from within the body of the orchid being purified.

Unconsciously, she bit down hard.

It was the trace of a curse steeped in vicious malignant energy.

Although many had dulled over time, the remaining traces were of a level of curse that couldn’t be found in the market.

Similar to poison, but unlike poison, it dispersed into the air over time, making it a horrific curse often used in the past for murders without leaving a trace.

Why would such an artifact, worthy of being in textbooks, end up here…

Frowning, Sylvia concentrated to purify the remnants of the curse, and while pondering why it was here, she suddenly felt the fragmented puzzle pieces in her mind starting to align.

She began to recall the conversation she had with Elder 1.

“Time was necessary. It was time to sort out the dirty and sordid matters unbefitting of Astra.”

“Lately, I haven’t received any calls from Sator.”

“Yesterday, I was sitting across from that girl, sipping tea and chatting with her. I never expected her to leave so suddenly.”

And then she held her mouth shut against the rising nausea.

Elder 1 was, in fact, suspicious of Scarlet.

So he probably intended to eliminate her with a curse,

Whether he changed his mind or failed because she sensed something is unclear.

Ah, why couldn’t I figure it out sooner.

– There was no one troubling her in the mansion.

Thinking about why she had to leave in such a fleeing manner.

– “When I asked, she said… my side feels the safest…”

To Scarlet, this mansion was not a safe place to stay.

While she may have considered Sylvia her ally, Astra was not on her side.

So what kind of feelings did Scarlet have during her time in the mansion?

What had she done to her by bringing her to such a place?

– “Miss, that plan was entirely for you.”

– “You are a precious existence that cannot be exchanged for anyone else.”

Who should she blame?

Astra?

Herself?

Or perhaps herself for being born as Astra.

Sylvia didn’t know at all and directed a question to the stars in the night sky.

Why has it come to this?

However, as expected, no answer returned.

Her outstretched hand, with a distorted expression, covered the sky.

The stars in the night sky could be obscured by her hand, but the original sin of the name Astra could not be concealed in the same way.

Filled with an irrepressible sorrow, Sylvia quietly broke down in tears in the garden.