Authority

"Ahem!"

Once Vivian had left, Belle immediately cleared her throat twice, putting on a serious face as she held out her hand to Griseo.

"Come on, Griseo! Hand over the other version! Don't think I don't know you make an A and a B version every time!"

Belle waggled her eyebrows smugly at Griseo. She had only learned about this because Qingyi had let it slip by accident.

Whenever Griseo drew someone's story, she made two versions. One would be published in [The Stars], while she kept the other in her private collection, without showing anyone.

The former was a reworking colored by her own perspective, while the latter was her record of the story, with an accuracy of over 80%.

"..."

Looking at Belle's outstretched hand, Griseo said helplessly, "Honestly, I liked you better the way you were when we first met, Belle."

"I won't tell anyone!" Belle grinned.

"All right!" Griseo gave in, then pulled another sample issue out of her mysterious space.

"Hehe!" Belle's face lit up. She took the comic and eagerly opened it to read.

"When Birds Sing Praise"

If I had never met the sun,

Would darkness have caged my flight?

If I cherished the sun this much,

Would its light have kept me captive?

—A record of Vivian's past.

Before prophecy became a curse, it was merely a feather.

Light, and useless.

Perhaps it had once fallen upon the flagstone path of a girl's childhood, hurriedly trampled by passersby rushing toward clear skies, crushed into the mud, and returned to dust.

As a child, she had not yet understood that every fallen feather was an unspoken full stop.

She had wanted to pick up those feathers, just as other children collected petals or seashells, but the adults had scolded her and told