(⊙⊙) The Redemption of the Heart
At that moment, Luciana stood motionless before the familiar corpse, drenched in blood, like a soulless doll. Her one remaining eye was vacant, its gaze unfocused, as if she had lost every trace of life just like the body before her.
And the reason she had become this way was...
She had just ended the life of her own older sister with her own hands—the life of "Luciela of the South"!
What's more, she had seized the opportunity when her sister was weak, having just fought a fierce battle with "Isley of the North" and expended most of her yoki. While her sister embraced her, Luciana had reached out, grabbed her weakness—the section of spine behind her—and snapped it off before pulling it free.
She had no choice but to do it.
Because that was a grave mistake she had once made. Perhaps that was truly the case?
In any event!
Whatever the reason, now it was all over.
The warmth of her embrace still lingered on her hands... No, she shouldn't call her Luciela. She should call her sister, "Lushena." That was her sister's name, wasn't it?
Yes, "Lushena" was her sister. "Luciela" was someone else, a stranger.
But...
Now, neither her sister nor Luciela was here anymore.
Their corpse—its blood slowly draining away as the stream washed over it, leaving the naked body even paler—was gradually growing cold in the mountain brook, where the water barely covered its ankles.
Just like her heart at that moment, it was gripped by a bone-deep chill and numbness!
A cold, sorrowful feeling welled up from the depths of her heart. It left her numb from head to toe, so dazed that she gradually forgot everything, staring blankly at the corpse whose eyes had lost their