WHEN IN DOUBT, SLICE YOUR WAY OUT!

I wasn't supposed to move yet. Seriously, I had a plan.

I could feel the heat of the pursuit on my heels as I sprinted through the corridors of the detention center. My mission was simple: establish a link between the Royalist Faction forces gathering outside the Royal Capital and my sister, Clara, who was meant to be our figurehead.

In a perfect world, I would have been that figurehead. But in the Oriana Kingdom, my reputation had hit rock bottom. To the public, I was the traitor who murdered the King and tore the country apart. That was the "Rose Oriana" everyone knew.

I didn't have the power to unite the people anymore. I could never stand in the spotlight again. There was no coming back from the path I’d taken. My only choice was to serve the Oriana Kingdom from the shadows—sacrificing my life to atone for my sins. That was the whole reason I’d volunteered for this suicide mission.

And then, he appeared.

Cid Kagenou.

The man I once dreamed of spending my life with. He had actually rushed all the way to the Oriana Kingdom just because he was worried about me. The moment I realized that, I thought my heart was going to literally explode.

I felt the pure joy of him coming for me. I felt the crushing regret of dragging him into my mess. And then… I felt the agonizing sadness of knowing I could never return his feelings. No matter how much we loved each other, I couldn't be with him. I was a high-profile criminal; staying with him would only end in his ruin, no matter how hard I struggled.

I was supposed to have given up on him. I really was.

But seeing him again made me desperate to claw back those feelings. I wanted to forget the mission, forget the Cult, and just dive into his arms. But I couldn't. That would just be a momentary escape from a reality that was far too cruel. So, even though it felt like my heart was being torn to shreds, I told him we were over. I thought that was the end. Truly.

Then Maximilian took him, and my brain just… stopped. Everything went white.

Maximilian is a dangerous man. He’s one of the Cult of Diabolos’s Named Children, a man who carries the alias "The Cold-hearted." He’s a colleague of Doem, the guy leading the Anti-Royalist Faction. On paper, Doem is his boss, but their track records within the Cult are pretty much equal. They’re basically cutthroat rivals vying for a promotion.

Word was that depending on how the Oriana Kingdom situation wrapped up, one of them would be bumped up to the Rounds. Of course, at the end of the day, they’re still just the "younger generation."

The real shadow looming over the Oriana conflict is a man whose name is whispered even among the Rounds—Lord Mordred. Shadow Garden has been trying to sniff him out, but the guy is a ghost; we haven't found a single footprint. Still, there’s no doubt that Mordred holds a massive amount of weight within the Cult.

Shadow Garden’s goal is to drag Mordred out into the open and eliminate him. To make that happen, we have to corner the Doem Faction and secure a win for the Royalist Faction. By extension, that would save the Oriana Kingdom.

Logically, I understood what I had to do. My brain had the roadmap all laid out.

And yet, before I even realized what I was doing, I was already slashing at Maximilian.

No. It’s not time to move yet.

I should be waiting for an opening. I need to make sure I get to Clara.

No matter how much I tried to rationalize it or argue with myself, my feelings blew all that logic away.

I have to save him!!

Which brings us to now. By this point, the name "Owl" is probably ringing through every hallway in the detention center. There’s no point in playing the silent infiltrator anymore. I’m just going to have to grab Clara by force and talk later.

My biggest worry is whether my sister will even listen to a word I say. Plus, there’s supposed to be a traitor hiding in her inner circle. I’d hoped to take them out before we made contact, but… yeah, I’ve officially run out of time for that.

"There she is!"

"Over here!"

Prisoners from the Doem Faction were screaming at my back, and armed guards were already blocking the path ahead. I didn't slow down. I leveled my black slime sword and let out a roar.

"Hyaaaaaaaaah!!"

If the path is closed, you just have to cut a new one.