“…!”

Philly looked at her from a distance.

A dagger with poison potent enough to kill someone with just a slight graze.

A person’s life was so frail.

"Ha, haa…! Hah…!"

Philly’s breath quickened. She blinked repeatedly. None of the masks she’d worn to conceal her true self fit properly.

She killed Elysia, with her own hands, and by her own choice.

“Ah, aah…!”

She hadn’t harmed anyone else in her life, but her own daughter was a completely different matter. Only after killing her did it truly sink in.

“Ely, sia…!”

Philly touched the fallen Elysia with trembling hands, pulling her into an embrace.

The wound had barely bled a drop of blood. And yet,

As if swallowing the tears Elysia had shed just moments before, now it was Philly who wept.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, my daughter. Elysia, I'm sorry...!"

Philly had always done whatever it took for her daughters.

But if the end result was her daughter's death, then what was it all for?

Killing her made everything real. This wasn't what she wanted.

Philly simply couldn't accept this reality—

"Do you regret it?"

A dry voice came then.

Philly looked at Frondier. He was the same as ever. Languid voice, languid face. That made her blood boil.

How could this man remain so calm in this situation? How could he act like it wasn't his problem?

"...Of course, I regret it! She's my daughter!"

"Then,"

Frondier, ignoring Philly's outcry,

"Let's go to the hospital. To administer the antidote."

He blurted out something ridiculous.

"...Ah, what? Yes?"

Philly started to say something in response, driven by her momentum, but then stopped. She couldn't quite grasp what Frondier was saying. Her tears receded.

"What do you mean, what are you talking about?"

"If you're regretting, shouldn't you be saving Elysia?"

Philly looked at Frondier as if he was an oddity. She glanced at Elysia in her arms, then back at Frondier.

Struggling to understand, Philly asked,

"Wait, isn't it a deadly poison that guarantees death with even a slight touch?"

Yes. That's why she had stabbed Elysia with that dagger. With the resolve to kill.

Frondier nodded calmly. His demeanor was truly detestable.

"Yes. It's a paralysis poison. If you don't get treated in 24 hours, you'll definitely die."

Paralysis?

24 hours?

So the Elysia over there who collapsed, is she just paralyzed?

Huh. Philly let out a hollow sigh. That was the most she could react. She didn't know whether to laugh or get mad, so she just decided to let it go.

Still, she wanted to say something, so she glared at Frondier.

"By any chance, do you know the meaning of the phrase, 'Imperial Disgrace?"

"I'm afraid not. Seems like it's too difficult of a word for me."

Huh, right.

That was all she could say for the brazen Frondier.

* * *

‘Slevb's Creepy Dagger.'

The dagger I gave to Philly.

It was the weapon that made me shiver in the dungeon. A weapon where if you get injured by its blade, you'll 'definitely' die, but it doesn't mean you die 'right away.'

There are times when this kind of deferred fatality can be meaningful. Like right now.

It was very important for me to see what choice Philly would make.

To be precise, I wanted her to personally experience what it was like to kill her own daughter.

Philly was a character who was infinitely close to gray.

From a player's perspective, it felt like Aten was an aggregate of Philly's white side, and Elysia was an aggregate of her black side.

That meant that if Philly put her mind to it, she could become another Elysia. Someone who's more powerful than her and even more ruthless. And those hands of hers could even reach Aten if she's not careful.

So, no matter when it happens, even if it never does.

She needed to have a mental safeguard in place.

In the game 'Etius,' it was rare for Philly to kill Aten, but it definitely happened.

However, Philly always regretted it after the fact. To the point where she would weep and cry.

But the current Philly knows what it means. She vividly realized what it meant to kill her own daughter. Even if Philly's heart changes, she won't be able to cause harm to Aten.

Anyway.

The Chimera has been taken down, and Elysia has fainted.

Now, the rune 'Rafflesia' laid out in Constel will lose its effect as well.

Just then, with a vibration, the phone in my pocket rang.

As expected, it was Malia when I checked.

I brought the phone to my ear.

[Frondier, Frondier!]

Malia's voice. She had shared my senses through "sensory sharing."

Meaning, she saw everything that had happened here through my eyes.

She must have confirmed that things have settled down on this side.

"Yes, Mother. How are things there? Have the monsters retreated?"

I asked, concerned by Malia's urgent tone.

At first, I thought she might be calling to congratulate me, but the atmosphere didn't seem right.

Even amidst this, Philly's murmurs of 'Huh, damn it, huh, wow, seriously' could be heard.

[Yes, it seems like the rune is gone. But that's the problem!]

...What?

As I furrowed my brow in confusion, Malia added another piece.

[The monsters, freed from the magic, are fleeing from Constel! But, the direction they're fleeing towards has a village,]

"…!"

Frozen by the unexpected news, I was stunned.

I hadn't considered it. I was only thinking about stopping them. I hadn't thought about what would happen after.

I was incredibly foolish.

[Elodie and the other magicians are trying to eliminate them as much as possible, but the scale is just too…, the others can't catch up!]

Malia was earnestly explaining the situation, and although I comprehended her words clearly.

My body remained stiff, unable to muster any intention to move.