"And that’s how I ended up being enrolled in the Rose Blanche, as a flower. It all started with a misunderstanding, and now here I am. imprisoned somewhere, only the seven know."

Besides Edya's sobbing, there was not much more of a reaction, prompting Ana to ask, "Ina, you’re there?"

It was only then that, from Ina, Ana heard laughter imploding.

"Hahahaha…"

"What? What’s so funny?"

"And here I had assumed you were someone involved in these abduction cases, someone I would be extremely cautious of, only to find out you were just some girl in heat chasing after a boy."

"What I didn't—I'm not in heat! Beside that’s not true—"

"What? You’re going to deny that? Any rational, noble person would have walked away from this situation the moment she realized she'd been misunderstood as a flower. Yet you, what did you do? You went along with what you knew was a charade."

"It was because I wanted to help Arte."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever makes you sleep at night."

"Anyway, enough speaking of me. Now, tell me who you are. I admit that when we first met, I had once assumed, with how sketchy you seemed, that maybe you were involved in these abductions, just as you had doubted I was."

"Ironic, isn’t it? But who I am, huh? Well, I suppose it is also fair that I tell you who I am," Ina announced, yet before she could do so, a noise, a sobbing and praying voice from outside their cells, caught all their attention.

"—this hurt. Let go of me!"

"Shut the hell up. Now get in."

Ana immediately recognized the two voices; the first, she was certain, was Uta's, while the second was the lightning-wielding noble that had attacked her.

"Uta, is that you?" Ana called.

"Lizzie?! Lizzie, is that you?!"

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Before Ana could answer, she heard, "Would you all just shut up!?" before a loud thud, followed by a haunting silence.

"Look at what you’ve made me make."

What exactly the thud was, Ana couldn’t tell, but what she heard and the silence that followed thereafter made her blood boil.

"What have you done, you bastard?! Uta, you’re there? Answer me. Ut–"

Before she could call even further, she heard Ina's voice say, "Lizzie, that’s enough."

"But–"

"You heard your friend, Lizzie, enough," the man said, laughing.

"Bastard! If I get out of here, I will—"

"You will not get out of here. I have no idea what a noble like you was doing with those prostitutes, but one thing is certain: you're not leaving this place."

On these words, the man, from his footsteps, left, leaving the girls alone in a grim silence, until Ina, some time after, asked, "Oi, Uta, you’re there?"

Though rather belatedly, a confused voice answered, asking back, "Ina?"

"Yes, it’s me, and I’m not alone, Lizzie and Edya are there too."

"Yes, we’re there," confirmed Ana.

"Me too. It’s Edya."

"We’re all here. You’re okay? Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm fine."

"You're sure? Have they done anything to you?"

"Yes, I'm fine," she assured them, her voice trembling on the verge of tears.

"Yet your voice suggests otherwise," Ina remarked.

"I’m fine. I’m not hurt anywhere. This is just me being an easily-weeping girl."

"I see… Given the shitty situation we're in, it's actually fine to cry," Ina declared, as if she hadn't just said the exact opposite to Edya moments before, "but before you do, I'd like to ask, when you were in this place, you weren't blindfolded or unconscious, right?"

"Yes. I wasn’t."

"Which means you see what the exterior of this cage looks like, right?"

"Yes, I did. Why’d you ask?"

Ina didn’t even bother answering the question, yet she further inquired, "Were there any guards guarding this room?"

"There wasn’t…"

"You’re sure?"

"Yes, he, from where they had taken me, the man, dragged me to this room, and I didn’t meet a single guard from there to this place."

"I see…"

"Why would you ask?" Ana asked, curious.

"Not to give you all false hope, but I believe I may have a way to get us all out of here, or at least out of this containment that we are in."

"What!" the three girls called out at the hearing of these words.

"But—there is a big "but." I know how to get us all out of this, but getting us out of this place, wherever it is, is a whole different matter. Which is why, Uta, can you tell me what the things out there look like? I couldn't see because, like Lizzie and Edya, I was unconscious when I was brought here, so I have no idea what it might look like out there. So our evasion will be determined by your words, Uta.