On the other side.
A scene of chaos...
"This isn't normal. Why is this happening?"
This "re-enactment of the past" made Seele feel at a loss. Her dazed expression after waking up also made Bronya and Sin feel at a loss.
"This is bad. She seems to have turned into an idiot. What do we do now?" Sin had always been straightforward, and she blurted it out immediately.
"Sin, don't talk nonsense." Bronya stopped her, then turned her attention back to Seele, calling her name repeatedly and urgently, "Seele, Seele... are you okay?"
"I... I'm fine..." Seele came to her senses, her face pale, and asked a question in a somewhat stiff voice, "Bronya-oneechan, these past few days... have I... not woken up at all?"
She had so many things she wanted to ask, so many things she wanted to say, but when the words came to her lips, they were ultimately condensed into this simple question.
"Yes, Seele, you've been unconscious for several days." Hearing Seele finally speak, Bronya couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief, loosening her tight embrace. "Sorry, Seele, I was so happy to see you wake up safely."
Bronya had thought Seele would say, "Sorry for worrying you," in her usual soft, weak voice.
But unexpectedly, Seele was silent again for a few seconds, then clenched her fists and suddenly drooped. She hugged the blanket tightly in her arms and curled up into a small ball, as if to give herself a sense of lonely and helpless security, muttering to herself in a voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz, "Is... that so?"
Bronya didn't know why, but she felt that Seele at this moment was incredibly distant. Her heart panicked for a moment, and she raised her hand, just about to say something, when she saw Seele lift her bowed little face, revealing a somewhat dazed smile, and said in a soft, gentle voice, "I'm fine, Bronya-oneechan. Sorry for worrying you..."
The corners of her eyes had just curved upwards when two tears rolled down, dotting two thin, wet trails on her face. Seele felt the warmth and wetness on her cheeks but still held on to that smile filled with confusion and sadness. "Seele feels a little tired right now. Can you... let me be alone for a while?"
Though her words were like a dismissal, she looked at Bronya with pleading eyes, then at Sin with the same gaze.
"Hey, you..." Sin was about to get angry, but seeing Seele's pitiful gaze, she was suddenly speechless. "Tch, if you want to be alone, then be alone. I'm not willing to serve you like Bronya is. Hey, I'm talking to you!"
With that, she turned to leave, then, as if to vent the anger she had received from Seele, she kicked Bronya.
Bronya didn't get angry. She certainly knew this was Sin's unique way of reminding her.
Although she didn't understand why Seele would suddenly say something so distant, she would never refuse Seele's request. So she carefully helped her lie back down, carefully tucked in the corners of her blanket, and smiled. "Then, Seele, see you tomorrow."
"Mm, see you tomorrow, Bronya-oneechan." Seele also returned a beautiful smile. After this short interaction, the confusion and chaos she had felt upon waking had subsided a lot.
Watching the two close the door and leave, when she was finally alone, the smile on Seele's face could no longer be maintained. The smile visibly faded, turning bit by bit into confusion and sadness. She asked herself in a whisper, "My other self... those memories from before, they weren't a dream, were they?"
As her words fell, she couldn't help but hold her breath, starting to worry that her other self would also become abnormal like Bronya and the others.
She hadn't felt it before, but after this incident, when she was at a loss in her confusion, loneliness, panic, and helplessness, Seele suddenly realized with clarity that she still had someone she could confide in, someone she could rely on—that person was herself.
Now that even an invisible barrier seemed to have risen between her and Bronya, Seele was more grateful and fortunate than ever for the existence of her other self, who was always with her, supporting her.
She didn't even dare to imagine, if one day she were to lose even her, how lonely, helpless, and even desperate would she be?
Fortunately, at least for now, that voice still responded to her as always.
"Of course it wasn't a dream, Seele." Veliona didn't know about Seele's complex and unspeakable psychological activities these past few seconds. She was also in an extremely bad mood at the moment and said irritably. "Two possibilities—either we're being collectively pranked, and all this is a carefully arranged script with the sole purpose of playing a boring prank on us; or, we've entered a strange loop and become a hamster in a wheel. Tsk, this feeling is really annoying!"
"Yes, I also feel that it wasn't a dream. Those memories were too real, completely different from the dreams we've had in the past..." Seele muttered, slowly getting up from the bed and walking to the window where she could feel the chill of the wind and snow outside. She touched the condensed water droplets on the glass, which were as cold as she remembered.
"The scenery outside, seen through the hazy water droplets, is also identical to my memory. This morning—or rather, the taste of the food I ate in my memory of this morning, the panic and sadness in my heart when Bronya-oneechan was taken away in the afternoon... they still remain in my body even now. Even now, my heart is still pounding..."
"As for a prank..." she hadn't even considered the possibility of a prank. "Sin might have such a malicious sense of humor, but Bronya definitely wouldn't. Mother Cocolia wouldn't waste even a second on such childish things."
So, although it was only one experience, Seele, despite the lack of sufficient evidence, instantly leaned towards the other, more unsettling answer...
Some things need to be repeatedly verified, while others don't need any extra evidence at all. It's like drinking water—you know for yourself whether it's cold or warm.
"Of course I know it's not a prank, that's why I'm in such a bad mood right now!" Veliona remembered what Sin had done before she fainted. She knew all too well what the other was thinking when she did those terrible things—she was frantic with worry for Bronya's safety, and also afraid that Seele would do something worrying after she left, so she simply tied her up to make her stay put.
That kind of genuine emotion was not something a malicious person like Sin could act out!
"My other self, what should we do?" Seele said timidly. "Will we be trapped in this loop forever?"
"Hah? Isn't this exactly what you wanted?" Veliona laughed out loud exaggeratedly and mocked, "This way, you can be with your Bronya-oneechan forever here. See, how great is that!"
She had been bottling up her frustrations for the past two days, and now she finally let it all out in one breath. So satisfying!
"No, that's not it!" Seele immediately became anxious, her little face flushing red. "You know that's not what I meant!"
"I can't read minds, how would I know what you're thinking?" Veliona pressed on with another jab, then, seeing that she had made her point, said, "You ask me what to do? Simple. Leave this orphanage, find that guy named Lin Wei, and then leave this annoying world bubble with him. See, it's that simple."
Seele was stunned for a moment, only then remembering why she had fallen into a world bubble so similar to her memory. She immediately pulled herself together, nodded, and said, "Mm, okay, tomorrow morning, we'll set off!"
But, where to? Seele was immediately at a loss again.
"What? Tomorrow morning? Are you kidding me!" Veliona sneered and mocked, "According to Bronya's previous words, Cocolia shouldn't be in this orphanage at least until tomorrow morning. You're not taking this opportunity to leave quickly, are you going to wait for her to come back tomorrow and then, like a harmless little good girl, submit an application report to her?"
"No, that's not it..." Seeing Veliona so angry, Seele was at a loss for a moment and explained incoherently, "I just... I just..."
"Just what? Just don't want to leave without saying goodbye and make your Bronya-oneechan worry?" Veliona then mocked. Seele instantly fell silent—how could she not understand this daughter she had been with day and night?
"So, how are you going to tell your Bronya-oneechan? Are you going to say you're leaving this place to find a stranger you don't even know what he looks like?" Veliona's tone sounded even harsh. "Do you think, with such a heavy blizzard outside, your 'Bronya-oneechan' who dotes on you so much will let you leave just like that? Or—are you planning to leave with her?"
"I..." Seele was at a loss for words. That was indeed what she was thinking.
"Hah, what a joke! Let's not even talk about how much time you have to waste if this really is a world that keeps looping. Just answer me one simple question." Veliona sneered and suddenly asked, "Seele, you know your Bronya-oneechan very well, right?"
"Yes... I do..." Seele nodded.
"Good." Veliona then asked, "Then do you think your Bronya-oneechan knows you well?"
"..." Seele was stunned. She seemed to understand what her other self was about to say.
"Heh, it seems you know too!" Veliona said very impolitely. "Then, how are you going to explain your various abnormalities to your Bronya-oneechan? Are you going to tell her directly: the Seele who woke up from the sickbed has been completely replaced by someone from another world, and is no longer the original Seele?"
"Don't say it!" Seele instantly hugged her head and cried out powerlessly.
Her existence had replaced the original Seele of this world—this was an obvious fact, and also a fact she was unwilling to think about, a fact she was subconsciously avoiding.
"If Bronya-oneechan finds out the truth, what will she think of me?" Seele thought with both fear and self-blame. "Will she hate me now? Or will she... hate me?"
The thought of the Bronya-oneechan who had always treated her gently showing her a hostile expression made Seele feel at a loss—even if she was the Bronya of another world, it was the same.
"..." Veliona had wanted to knock some sense into Seele with a few more words, but seeing her looking so self-blaming that she was about to cry, she couldn't help but soften her heart again.
She sighed, and her tone involuntarily softened as she comforted her, "Forget it, I did say too much. It's not like you intended to replace anyone's identity. From the very beginning, it was just a coincidence that you appeared in this place..."
She even despised herself for being so soft-hearted. Can't you have some backbone?
"No, you're right. This place doesn't belong to me. I can't so selfishly possess the life of the Seele of this world. I think, maybe this is also the reason for this loop..." Seele wiped her eyes and said in a firm tone, "Let's go, my other self. Let's complete the mission we came to this world for as soon as possible. Then, let's return the real Seele of this place to Bronya-oneechan!"
"..." Veliona thought to herself that Seele's awareness was improving too quickly, her thoughts couldn't keep up. Wait, weren't you just crying a moment ago? How did you suddenly become so brave and have such a spirit of dedication?
"...Ahem, you're right, Seele." Veliona covered her embarrassment with a cough and even generously praised her a few times. "Alright, let's not waste any more time. Let's get ready to leave."
"But..." Seele couldn't help but turn her head and look worriedly at the door. When Bronya-oneechan comes tomorrow and doesn't see me in the room, how worried will she be? She felt it wasn't right.
Veliona didn't know what she was thinking. She just saw her looking worried again and thought she had hesitated and shrunk back again, and she was instantly enraged. "I said before, if you go back on your word, I'll take over the body and act on my own. So, don't blame me!"
"Wait, my other self!" Seele was just about to say something when her whole body suddenly shook. Although her appearance didn't change, the temperament of her body changed dramatically in an instant—as if from an innocent little white rabbit, she had suddenly become a big gray wolf that wanted to devour people.
"Tch, I told you, let me do it!" The sea-foam-like pupils were dyed with a layer of scarlet. Veliona, who had forcibly occupied the body, pouted in annoyance and ignored the explanation of the original Seele in her consciousness. She looked left and right, strode to the closet, and roughly pulled open the closet door in a very unladylike manner.
"This one's too thin, this one's too short, this one's too long, it might hinder combat..." Veliona picky and roughly rummaged through Seele's closet, making a mess around her. She finally managed to put together a thick winter outfit suitable for going out in this season. Then she opened the window, looked left and right in the cold wind, and after confirming that no one was there, she jumped down with a swoosh.
"Wait! Before you go, at least clean up the closet and the room!" Seele quickly stopped her. "Otherwise, when Bronya-oneechan sees such a mess, she'll definitely misunderstand!"
She might even suspect I've been kidnapped or something... The thought of Bronya's possible reaction made Seele worry.
"Tsk, why didn't you say so earlier?" Veliona, who had already landed lightly in the snow, pouted in annoyance. "I've already jumped down, it's too late!"
She wasn't willing to go back!
Do chores? You might as well just kill me!
And so, she pretended it was too late and mocked Seele's loud protest.
Then, before anyone noticed her, she deftly flipped over the courtyard wall, looked left and right, and walked towards the main road as she remembered. She knew it would lead to a populated town, and if she was looking for someone, starting her search for clues there was the best choice.
This was only natural—if you're not looking for someone where people are, are you going to look for them in the wilderness?