She was the Saintess who had died many years ago. Because of someone's experiment, that corpse had begun to move again. But she was not truly her—merely a consciousness driven by fragments of personality left behind in that body.
She had not hesitated in the slightest when facing death, because she knew she was nothing more than the echo of a failure. She had no power to change anything, nor did she wish to. All she wanted was to do her best to give the girl who had awakened her a little more warmth.
So when Luna Kindred made that request of her, she agreed without hesitation, even though that willful request would bring endless trouble.
But Luna did not know that both people in the conversation she had overheard knew she was there. This Midwinter Phantom Dream had been a play with its script decided in advance.
"A872 is almost unable to hold on. Your life is nearing its end as well." The man called her into his office and casually spoke those words.
"You won't let me die. What about the treatment plan for her genetic defect? Why has there been no news after all this time?"
"Oh, that? I never intended to create any treatment plan from the start."
"Y-You said what?" She nearly slammed his head into the wall.
"Don't be so rough, my friend." The man nonchalantly straightened his collar and slowly said, "A872 was a defective product to begin with. Why would I spend such a huge price repairing a product destined to be scrapped sooner or later?"
"You... you want to let this body rot?!" Furious beyond measure, she threw out her only bargaining chip.
"Oh?" The man gave a disdainful sneer and gently pinched her chin. "In that regard, you really are