The door to the private chamber closed behind Caneria, startling her. Her eyes regained their brightness. Her heart palpitated as she circled through her breathing to calm her unfound anxiety. She couldn’t find the reason to be nervous.

Her head hurt whenever she tried to remember.

She turned to her adorable junior, who always donned that mellow smile which persisted even through the murky recollection. Not a blemish of fear tainted her beauty, the beauty that transcended confusion, that permeated the surroundings with vivid colours.

“Have you fallen for me?” Iris said. “I might melt away if you stare too much.”

“Who are you?”

“A disciple of Agent of Healed Heart, a believer of Seraph of Salvation, a Master-Tier Spiritualist, your junior.”

Caneria playfully hmphed. “Who are you, really?”

“A lady with a mysterious heart and dreamy presence?”

“What happened?”

“The Grand Priest wished to send his regard to his old friend.”

“I remember nothing.” Caneria grabbed Iris’s hands. “Did he hurt you?”

Iris tilted her head. Her hair gently swayed, perfuming her indistinct fragrance which soothed her big sister’s racing heart. “Shouldn’t you worry about yourself?”

Caneria pursed her lips. The thought of her junior getting hurt pinched her chest. This feeling plagued her mind like an unbearable discomfort that numbed all other thoughts and sensations. She must see to it that no harm came to her little sister, her precious sister whom she adored so much, too much.

She had never felt this uneasy before.

“Did he hurt you?”

“I showed him my sincerity.” Iris slipped her hands out of Caneria’s grasp and drew them along her slender arms. “He hurt you, played with your senses, and messed up your emotions.”

“No one can mess with my feelings!”

With a devious simper, Iris leaned close and kissed Caneria’s cheek. Her soft lips imprinted a bright pink mark on that stunned countenance, whose pupils swirled with conflicting emotions unknown to their owner.

Caneria retreated a few steps, futilely hiding her light flushes. “What are you doing?”

“I messed with your feelings.”

Caneria was about to affirm her belief that her emotions were all hers when she remembered she and her evil sister weren’t in private space. Although alone now, they were in the middle of a hall in which many frequented.

When they got back to the base, she’d show her junior what it meant by messing with emotions. She shook her head and led her little sister out of the deeper part of the building, though every step she took gradually turned heavy as if something was dragging her back.

A muffled whisper, an inaudible murmur, originated from her instinct. She glanced at Iris, whose expression remained playful, but now she detected a hint of reticence.

That same reticence resonated in her mind. If she slipped, Iris might really melt away.

These excessive thoughts persisted until she met with her group. They conversed about events which happened during her absence. Throughout the talk, her eyes occasionally shifted to Iris. A flow of warmth gushed through her abdomen when she could see that her Iris was by her side.

“Stick close to me,” she said. “Your appearance stands out even under the cloak.”

“No one will remember I was here.” Iris pressed her hands on her chest. “It would be like I never exist.”

“You exist.” Caneria froze. Why would she speak so hastily?

“You worry too much, Sister. Do you not believe in my ability?”

“We’ll talk about it later. We’ve already idled around for far too long.”

Caneria grabbed her sister’s hand and exited the slum. Her group merged with the thinning crowds of the passing evening, whose sun painted purple dyes on the sky with the moon revealing its beauty above the clouds.

Everything transited into another state, from day to night, from noises to silence, from warmth to coldness, bright to dark, clear to foggy.

Along the way, Caneria tightly held onto Iris’s arm. Her grip secured her heart with a steady stream of ticklish heat that seeped inside her chest the longer she held on. Her eyes swept past the people but couldn’t peek at her mischievous sister who closely followed.

Time skipped its long, monotonous passage. Caneria traversed the winding road to nowhere, crossing multiple streets and intersections, slipping between cracks on the walls and alleys amidst creeks and slums. When she arrived at the base, she told her group to stay back and went up to the guards to hand in her badge.

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They recoiled at her unmoving eyes, the pair of eyes that rarely exposed their emotions. After confirming her identity, they parted for her. She brought her group inside and dismissed them all.

None of these people interested her. Nothing ever interested her.

In her personal room, she wrote the report while recounting her journey. Her hand stopped jolting down her recollection as her spirit arrived at the meeting location. She stared at her unsteady hand, a mark of her increasingly restless mind.

Did she forget something important? Why did she linger at the meeting long after it ended? She never did anything useless.

Refreshing breezes pushed the olden window out of their way and filled the room. Cooling sensation stroked her arms, reaching her neck, and tapping her cheeks. She shivered.

The Grand Priest called for her? No. The Grand Priest called for someone else, but why was she there?

Her heart ached. A rising tide of stifled feelings surged in her throat. She found it difficult to breathe, to concentrate. Her soul screeched at her, but she couldn’t understand it.

Frowning, she clenched her fist and reached for a locked drawer. Her fingertip pressed a needle and drew a drop of blood that seeped inside the metallic lock. The drawer slid open, revealing a short, curved dagger.

Using an Artefact to hurt herself was reckless, but she didn’t care. There existed few things she cared about, her emotion one of them.

This was the second time she felt the need to do something, to take back what she’d lost.

She grabbed the dagger, closed her eyes, and plunged its tip, which flared up in green blazes, through her chest. The blade cut through the boundary between worlds and peeked inside her soul. Her churning sea of memories, bubbling in milk-white mist, ebbed and split into countless flashes of moments faded and disordered.

Guided by her will, the blade headed for the deepest part of the sea, the core where two prominent, vivid, passionate events resonated, ignited, burst into flames, and reignited from cinders.

The first bubble, the most majestic of all, shimmered in black light as a faint silhouette of countless wings spread themselves before Caneria. That scene of her master’s blessing forever bloomed in her mind.

The other bubble glimmered dimly. A distortive black veil covered its brilliance and absorbed all nearby colours. An elegant shadow of a lady flickered on its surface, though it was too murky to observe her features.

Caneria swung her dagger and disintegrated the veil. A flood of information, of emotions, and of passion exploded in her heart, gushing throughout her body. She drew the dagger out of her uninjured chest and covered her mouth. Her eyes teared up with blood condensed from the fatigue of the soul.

She collapsed on her seat and panted, panted until the searing pain of love lost and found subsided. The cooling winds fell on her clothes damped with sweat, stroking her delicately, spectrally.

Indecipherable whispers no longer persisted. That adorable junior of hers, whose name she did not know, manifested as lifelike vapour, smiling, giggling.

“I told you,” the girl said. “I messed with your feelings.”

“You messed with my heart.”

“It would be like I never exist.”

Caneria rose from her seat and smiled. “You exist.”

“Come find me, Big Sis.”

Her mysterious junior, whose dreamy air permeated her essence, dispersed as glimmers in Caneria’s eyes. Her enchanting, irresistible scent perfumed the room with an imaginary ardour that imbued the atmosphere with a flirtatious challenge.

“I’ll find you, Iris.”

That unknown name rose out of her soul, and she then knew who stole her heart.

…

Iris gazed skywards, at the soft moon hanging above her head. The lonely street encapsulated the quietude of the twilight, where none except Iris and her temporary maid stood aloof on the pavement. She could hear the soundless whisper, a silent longing of a lovely lady whom she shouldn’t have met again.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Antina said.

“Will you blame me?”

“Mother’s Domain can only obscure gently, lightly.” Antina sighed. “How could you enter her heart so swiftly, permanently?”

Iris flicked her hair. Her alluring fruity fragrance permeated the atmosphere. Pinkness spread throughout the dark purple environments before it drew back under her graceful gesture.

Even Antina could feel her heart weakening. Those below the Grandmaster Tier stood little chance against this lustful curse.

“I tried my best, but I couldn’t control this scent.” Iris blushed. “She’s pretty. Before I knew it, my charm has gotten to her.”

“You teased her, kissed her, and even hinted at your magic. Will you blame those on the curse too?”

“What I did I did willingly.” Iris stared into Antina’s eyes. “I adore her, and I want to give her a chance.”

Antina wouldn’t argue with her mistress, who wouldn’t admit that she put herself in danger for The Court. She gave away her name to ensure that Caneria tried to find her instead of reporting the incident.

“You’re too reckless.”

“I know.”

“You don’t, or you wouldn’t have infiltrated an unknown base alone, fought against a Grandmaster by yourself, and revealed your name to an unknown girl of an enemy faction.”

“Antina, you’re my maid.”

Antina harrumphed. “I’m yours, Mistress, but you also belong to many others. Please take delicate care of your heart.”

It was easy to lose parts of herself when she divided her heart into many a piece.

Knowing that she had worried her maid, Iris wryly smiled. She squeezed Antina’s hand. Her Corruption Power rose from her flesh. Its bright azure shade gained a wicked crimson hue, which radiated a strangely addictive scent, one that reminded Iris of burned flowers, a trace of purity mixed with a sharp ashen smell.

This unholy air irritated Antina, who heightened her Domain of Nightly Concealment. Its translucent dark purple veil covered the street and Iris, dampening the wickedness in her Corruption Power.

She slipped out of Iris’s grasp, furrowing her brows. “You’re hurting yourself.”

“My Innate Talent is imitation.”

“This goes beyond mere imitation.”

“Am I, the holder of Shadow Heart Core, not special?”

“Tell me, straightforwardly, that you aren’t hurting yourself.”

Iris averted her eyes before she smirked and looked at her bothered Antina. “I’m not hurting myself this time.”

“Please don’t ever hurt yourself.”

Iris never answered. She and her maid walked the tranquil road until they arrived at the brightly lit house, where Ludmint’s silhouette moved about in the kitchen. Her quiet hum about a song detailing a stubborn girl who couldn’t open her heart rang inaudibly.

Standing in front of the door, Iris took a contemplatively deep breath. There were many things she would like to tell her Ludmint, but she didn’t quite know how to begin. She glanced at Antina.

“She’ll believe your most obvious lie,” Antina said. “And you’ll believe hers, too.”

Feeling exposed, Iris entered the house. Ludmint materialised behind her and hugged her. She kissed her Iris’s cheek, feeling the warmth and softness she had been expecting for the entire day.

Iris too enjoyed the moment. Her prior anxiety melted away as a single teardrop that traced her face and fell on her Ludmint’s hand. The fatigue and stress pressing over her floated out of her, cuddled out by that affectionate embrace she had been expecting for the entire day.

“Welcome home, Iris,” Ludmint whispered.

“Welcome home, Ludmint.”

Antina left the lonely couple to do whatever they wished. She sneaked into the kitchen and tasted the feast of various flavours and compositions.

Everything was too sweet.