The sunlight dimmed behind thick clouds, casting the entire palace garden in a dull gray.
The sparring between the two of them had long ended.
Aestrea stood on the training platform, casually adjusting his sleeves, while Violet smiled lightly at something he said.
They looked peaceful... too peaceful.
And... far above them…a figure stood, half-shrouded by a curtain of ivy. Her hands clenched the cold stone railing tightly.
That person... was none other than Ella.
The girl who had been missing for a month or so, but strangely, for a girl who easily smiled when she saw Aestrea...
Her smile was completely gone.
And in its place… a twisted, almost childlike grin, broken and unstable, pulled at the corners of her lips.
Her eyes, those gentle blue eyes, trembled violently, glimmering with moisture… and madness.
"Hagh..."
Her breath hitched as she stared at them from above.
