It had been somewhat promised, by both Marilyn and Cecilia, that after their respective tasks were done they would meet here again. It was an obvious thing to do, considering they’ve arrived here using the same airship that had landed upon Leandon’s airport earlier in the day. They’d also be using a similar one to leave the city for the academy again.

They’ve talked to each other about it through their Tomes, and Cecilia had already booked a ticket for two before her conversation with Tegan.

And since now that it was later into the evening, the sun was about to set fully in around half an hour or so, the building itself was emptier than its peak hours. People had already left the area the moment they arrived here, so at most there were just around a few hundred in the area they were now in.

“It's been an entire day…”

She observed exactly five people in total comprising the meet-up group that Marilyn was now in. Counting herself as one, Cecilia and Helena were present beside her, alongside two other people from the princess' side. Her older sister and the First Princess of Albion Tegan Lenore, and her butler, Sebastian.

Cecilia was in fact driven to her, but would be going home alone with Marilyn, so the other three people that were with them were just here to accompany them as they left for the Royal Academy again.

“So, you must be Marilyn huh?” The golden eyed princess said to the girl, catching her attention, “My my, you're beautiful, what's your make-up plan?”

Marilyn blushed, “U-uhh, Y-your Highness??”

She was flustered, stuttering through her words at the sudden compliment. She didn't think Tegan would be that kind of person at all, due to how fierce she looked. In comparison, Cecilia’s face was quite soft, so oftentimes when she was upset people would just see her as throwing an adorable tantrum.

But still…

“Your Highness, I think asking her about that wouldn't work at all here…” Helena would interject, “But, if I have to answer for her, she's a natural beauty and a natural cutie!”

“Awawaaa…..” Marilyn was blushing mad, covering her face with her two hands as she knelt down to avoid people's gazes.

“Ohohh….” Tegan was mildly impressed, nodding her head.

“Dear sister, I think you're embarrassing her here.” Cecilia stated simply.

Tegan nodded her head again, humming along, “I can see that, Cecilia. She's so cute, no wonder you're friends with her!”

Cecilia raised an eyebrow, “Uhh, what are you trying to…?”

“Both of you are adorable, so it's quite the perfect match!”

“W-what??” And Cecilia also blushed madly at the sudden attack from her sister, “T-Tegan I know you're just being yourself here b-but this is a bit too unwarranted you know!?”

Helena laughed, “Can't believe I’m agreeing with the First Princess here of all places…”

“Is that so?” And Tegan chuckled along with her.

“Urghhhhh…” Marilyn still kept up her act of embarrassment, as the two older girls were talking about the cuteness of their two sisters.

It couldn't be denied however, she did indeed like this sort of banter. It was just the fact that it was directed at her, and she lacked the experience to fire back if at all.

But eventually, she sighed it out, standing up again. “Anyways…how did it go?”

“Huh?” Cecilia shook her head, prying off the blush from her face, “I-it went well, no casualties. Managed to catch the culprits that did it and all.”

“So…is it over?”

“Well, it's not over yet, we just found twelve names, but we're getting there.” Tegan added, sighing.

“Hmm…I heard that one of those people tried to, uhh…” Helena tried to speak out her thoughts, but she couldn't find the right way to properly cushion it.

“Kill our mother?” Cecilia said, rather bluntly.

Helena was a bit surprised at Cecilia's sudden answer there, as if she was not distressed over it. “Y-yeah. It failed, I know, but…”

“It’s fine, we’re a strong family, a moment like that wouldn't traumatise us you know?” Cecilia responded, trying to somewhat console Helena's anxiety.

“I-I see…I’m glad, then.” Helena was still sweating a little, a bit nervous about the whole endeavour. She felt like she failed as a knight, but then again… “Maybe if I was assigned to the Royal Council I could've helped, but it seems like you guys have handled it well enough.”

“Indeed, it was rather concerning, but it ended positively.” Tegan responded.

“What about you, dear Marilyn?” Cecilia turned to her friend, who was just watching them converse in silence. “Anything interesting on your end?”

She had no particular comments on the matter, as the thoughts that she did want to say Helena had already spoken out. So, she was just glad that no people were hurt in the process.

“Well…I did meet my dad again, he’s apparently very active in this city.”

“Robert Althorn, right? He's basically a local celebrity here with his altruistic actions.” Tegan remarked.

Marilyn nodded, “Might've gone home during this time of day though, he can fly so he doesn't need an airship.” She said, “But other than that…managed to sell the crystal, for 100G too! But I failed to accomplish the staff repair, so will have to do it myself.”

Cecilia clicked her tongue, “Quite disappointing. But at least the reward is decent, we should definitely get something good for the rest of the group tomorrow!”

Marilyn was in agreement, “Yeah! I heard Elysia is a sucker for sweets, and Adrian likes spicy things too, so—”

“No no, not that! Well, it depends on what they want, but I’m thinking that with those coins that we’ve stored up, not just from the crystal, we should get some better gear for all of us, like weapons and such.”

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Marilyn paused to think, considering the options they had on hand. That could definitely be the most cost-effective measure on their end, and it would aid them in the long run too. Henceforth—

“Yeah, that's a great idea, Lia! Maybe we can head to the capital again sometime later with them!” Marilyn said out loud, excitement in her voice.

“I know right? I do have a list of locations we could go to whenever we plan for that trip, so we can definitely get ourselves prepared for that, with haste!” Cecilia smiled, she herself was proud of this success they've had.

“Wait…Lia?” Tegan mused, before chuckling, “Can't believe you're that close to her, dear sister.”

A small blush once again appeared before the princess' face, “O-of course! We’ve been close for over a year now!” Cecilia stated, with a bit of hesitation of admittance, despite the truth of her relationship being clear and defined.

“They didn't start off that way, but I do like the developments that they've had with each other.” Helena remarked, caressing her chin.

Tegan nodded, “Then we share the same feelings upon such matters, Sir Helena.”

And as they did, Cecilia continued on with her questioning, “Anything else?”

Marilyn pondered, “Well…we came across Vincent again, he was far nicer towards me now—”

“All thanks to me for reprimanding him.” Helena interrupted.

“But we also came across Eldryn, you know him right?”

“That porcelain white dwarf?” Cecilia questioned, crossing her arms, a bit confused but she did remember him. “How come he was there?”

“Well, he was preaching, as usual. I think the academy staff suggested that he should do it there, instead of inside the school grounds so as to not disturb the peace, but…” Marilyn tried to think about how she could reveal her meeting with Sophia.

However, she chose not to, opting for continuing the prior topic, “Other than that he rambled on about how I was blessed or something, I think it was about eyes. Then, I found a sad rabbit in an alleyway that I didn't manage to reach, before meeting with Helena again.”

“Rabbit…that’s quite a random addition.” Cecilia retorted, trying to question it, but chose not to pry into it. “I believe that's the end of it?”

“Yeah, that's basically it, Lia.” Marilyn nodded, before noticing a peculiar sound.

It was the sound of a mic being spoken to, a man’s voice coming out of it as soon as the high-pitched distortion disappeared.

“Ten minutes until departure to the Royal Academy station…”

“...That's our flight.” Cecilia remarked, “I think we should take our leave now, lest we would have to make dear Marilyn carry me to the Royal Academy.”

Marilyn chuckled awkwardly, imagining that moment, but a hand to her shoulder caught her mind. “Helena?”

“I want to give you something, before you set off.” Her older sister said, before presenting her fist to her.

Instinctively, Marilyn opened her right palm to allow whatever gift Helena had in store for her to be grabbed onto by her. And sure enough she did, it was a…

“Essence Crystal?” Marilyn pondered, a bit confused, but she understood what it meant.

“A Heart Crystal attached to a necklace to be more precise!” Helena corrected, arms akimbo.

Marilyn remembered what those kinds of stones represent to the people of this world. For in the calendar, the equivalent of Valentine's Day for these people was something called the Day of Flowers, the date was also the same as it was in her previous world.

Historically, during that day people would give flowers to their partners that they wished would accept their heart. But ever since then, the gifts have extended far beyond just flowers, and a Heart Crystal, despite not being in the shape of a heart, was among those gifts.

Today wasn't that day, hence Marilyn's confusion. But she did notice the significance of it. Heart Crystals were known to be expensive, and one had to pour some of their Essence into the mineral in order to activate it, and the crystal that she had was glowing brightly to notify her of that.

“Still…”

The nature of these solidified minerals of pure magic in general ensured that it could be used for even weapon upgrades if she wanted to. In fact, she could do more than that with this. The kind of crystal that was in her palm right now was of high enough quality to do just that. But nonetheless…

“...why risk your weekly budget just for this…?” Marilyn said to her.

“Thought it would be a fitting farewell gift on my end, and to solidify my promise to be there for you! No food is more important than that!”

Marilyn just laughed it off with a warm smile on her face, immediately rushing towards Helena in order to hug her, “I love you too.” She uttered, as Helena returned the gesture.

Heart Crystals were known to essentially signify the line ‘I love you’ in one of the truest senses of that phrase, hence her response. But even without that, Marilyn would still utter it out whenever she had the opportunity to do so.

Both Cecilia and Tegan smiled at the act of love those two girls shared, warmth filling their heart, even Sebastian, as stoic as he was, smiled.

Marilyn departed from her after a few moments, a few tears in her eyes. And with a silent nod, both her and Cecilia would enter deeper into the airport to find their flight. And after that fact—

“-!?”

She felt an overwhelming presence. No, it couldn't be called that, it was more of a force of nature, a disaster, a hurricane, a storm.

The rush of infinite Essence was felt by all of them. And it compelled them to turn their heads towards the outside world. For in the skies above, there were no clouds simply—

“What…?”

A tear in reality, like shattered glass, or torn pages, Marilyn's eyes widened at the sight of a higher realm’s transcendent energy rushing into physical space. The scene that was described could not be put into precise words, but the feeling of incomprehensibility, of infinity, of boundless thoughts and emotions swirling within that higher realm could be felt.

For certain, the realm that was depicted before her was the In-between.

It was an infinite higher plane of existence, containing an uncountably infinite amount of metaphysical energy that was Essence. The energy that was in this space existed as a transcendental web, akin to 'pages' of boundless information manifested as real coordinate spaces of movement. Each of those spaces transcended the others ‘below’ it, in spite of lacking the notion of solid direction or geography, infinity stacked upon infinity.

It was above the concept of dimensions entirely due to its reality-defying nature, and beyond the notions of spatial and temporal, a duality within creation. In short, this realm regarded the notion of existence as fluid and malleable, ever-so changing and shifting in and out of every known possible outcome imagined and unimagined.

And one of those possible outcomes was—

“No…”

One of the people that was present with her, nearest to the outside world, became transparent. Raven hair and emerald eyes, it was clear so as to who it was.

Helena herself did not notice this, but Marilyn intended to warn her of it, trying to reach for her.

“HELENA!!”

She turned around, but it was too late, the torn pages of reality ushered in a rush of destructive and forceful change, ending the current world right there and then. Pages of the tale that was this existence torn apart. Torn pages of information removed by a force that caused this disaster.

Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages. Torn pages.

Torn pages of reality. Torn pages of the world’s history. The girl that Marilyn knew. Everything was torn…

…And changed forever more.