Inside the Empty Cake, Harogder plays a melody on a violin made from a biscuit bone. The song is ancient, forbidden—"The Song of the Four Sweets," forgotten by all but those who dare to dream. Wither feels something tear inside him: buried memories begin to bleed.
It is then that Tomasziew appears—not with troops, not with fire.
He simply stands there, like a speck in the air, like a misplaced brushstroke in a perfect painting.
His form is simple, almost childlike: a round, white head, no eyes, no mouth, just a black spot in the center, like a question mark. At the top, shades of orange and reddish-brown spread like extinguished flames—what could be hair, but looks more like a burn scar. He wears a thin red collar, like a cut on his neck, and a watercolored blue cloak that flows like still water.
He doesn't speak aloud.
He whispers inside his head.
> "Wither... do you still believe Matulo started it all?"
The resistance in the Empty Cake panics. The creatures back away from him. Even Harogder freezes.
"It's not real," the cat says, growling. "It's just a memory that shouldn't have returned."
But Tomasziew isn't a memory.
He's the Architect.
The Silent Traitor.
The man who taught Matulo to hate sadness.
The mentor who whispered in Berryno's ear that weakness was shame.
The advisor who drew up the first plans to seal Flores.
And, worst of all:
He was the fifth member of the Four Sweets.
Long ago, Tomasziew had a face. He had a voice. He had a full name.
But when he tried to seize power, Flores erased him—not with violence, but with mercy: she transformed him into a creature without identity, so the world would forget his crime.
He should have disappeared.
But instead, he learned to manipulate oblivion.
Now, he returns not with armies, but with twisted truths.
He shows Wither a vision:
—The moment Matulo ripped out his emotional heart.
—But this time, Tomasziew stands behind him, hands on his shoulders, whispering: *"Do it. For the good of all."*
—And afterward, Berryno weeps, as Tomasziew strokes his melted head: *"You will be strong if you forget him."*
**"I didn't cause the war," Tomasziew says, his voice like ink dripping into water. **"I only showed them how to live without pain. And you, Wither... you are the last obstacle. Because you still feel. And feeling is contagious."**
Harogder attacks—with claws of memory, with sharp violin notes.
But Tomasziew **does not bleed**.
He **blurs**, like a wet painting, and reappears behind Wither, whispering:
**"You will save Flores? And then what? Who will remember it was me? No one. Because I am what the world chooses to forget. And oblivion... is my throne."**
With a wave of his cloak, he corrupts part of the Garden of the Forgotten.
The flowers wilt. The butterflies fall.
A lollipop tree transforms into a **portrait of him**, made of black candy.
With that, he disappears—not with a bang, but with a **painful silence**.
Alone, Wither looks at Harogder.
**"Why didn't he kill me?"**
The cat replies, his yellow eyes filled with fear:
**"Because he wants you to keep going. The more you fight, the more people will remember the war... and forget him. He doesn't want to win with force. He wants to win by being forgotten."**
That night, Wither touches the flower-shaped scar on his leg.
And feels something new:
**Anger.**
Not at the arrow.
Not at the mud.
But at having been deceived for so long.
Harogder hands him a small vial of blue liquid—**a crystallized Flower tear**, stolen from the Gingerbread Castle.
**"If you go to her, you'll need this. But be careful: when the song plays, everything that was erased will want to come back. Including him."**
The chapter ends with Wither looking up at the cracked Easter egg sky.
He sings the first note of the forbidden song.
And, deep in the world, **something golden flickers**.
Like a heart beating under ice.