Chapter Summaries

The little girl enjoyed a warm, happy life with Lynn, Shirley, and her dog, but she felt jealous at the thought of Lynn marrying Shirley. That night, a recurring nightmare left her awake and frightened, clutching her Cloth Doll while Lynn was absent from her dreams.

• Shirley cooked dinner at Lynn’s home, where she had stayed after being rescued from the underground factory and become a tailor.
• The little girl fed her dog in the snowy backyard and remembered how the dog had returned with puppies after disappearing for months.
• During dinner and the evening by the fireplace, the little girl wrote that Shirley could be Lynn’s wife, then added that she could cook too.
• The little girl struggled to sleep, feeling conflicted about Shirley and jealous of the attention she shared with Lynn.
• A gunshot woke the little girl from a nightmare in which she lost Shirley, her dog, and her parents, and she hugged her Cloth Doll as she felt alone.

Lynn comforted the girl after a nightmare, and she asked him not to marry Shirley, promising to wait until she grew up if he needed a wife. Ten years later, the girl had become a celebrated dancer, but after a performance she began to feel trapped by the influential men surrounding her until someone caught her wrist.

• Lynn held the girl as she recovered from a nightmare and reassured her that he would always be with her.
• The girl asked Lynn not to marry Sister Shirley and said he should wait for her to grow up if he needed a wife.
• Ten years later, the girl performed as a celebrated classical dancer and received thunderous applause.
• After the performance, influential gentlemen gathered around the girl, stirring memories of her childhood nightmares.
• As the girl's surroundings blurred and she began to feel trapped, someone caught her wrist.

After ten years apart, the grown-up dancer reunited with Lynn, who guided her home and comforted her as he always had. She held tightly to him, certain she would become his bride in this lifetime and every lifetime.

• Lynn met her after her performance and walked with her, while she sulked because he had sold the ticket she had given him.
• Lynn promised to watch her perform next time and said Sister Shirley had prepared dinner for her return.
• She reminded Lynn of their little-finger bond and told him she had grown up.
• On the carriage ride home, she leaned against Lynn and recalled how he had cared for her since childhood.
• She refused to get out of the carriage until Lynn carried her inside, then clung to him and resolved to become his bride.

Lynn's adopted sister returned home after a successful performance, where her family celebrated her birthday and coming of age. After the party, she helped her drunk brother to bed and reflected on how he had raised her and how she had grown up beside him.

• Lynn's sister prepared dinner and tended to his injured eyes while Shirley and her husband watched.
• Lynn's family welcomed her home, and she hugged the elderly dog that greeted her.
• Shirley brought out a cake, and the family celebrated the young woman's birthday and coming of age.
• After the celebration, she helped Lynn back to bed and remembered how he had rescued her from the beach years earlier.
• She marked her new height in the bathroom and recalled how Lynn had once bathed and cared for her when she was little.

After a terrifying nightmare revived memories of her childhood losses, she clung to Lynn and confessed how afraid she was of losing him as she grew up. She kissed him and told him she no longer wanted to be only his little sister.

• She dreamed of a dark, painful past and awoke believing Lynn had comforted her within the nightmare.
• She rushed into Lynn’s room and held him tightly, afraid he might disappear.
• She told Lynn about her recurring nightmares and her fear that growing up had made them distant.
• She said she would rather never wake if the other side was real and growing up meant losing their closeness.
• She kissed Lynn and told him that the little girl had grown up.

Lynn struggled with guilt after spending the night with the girl he had raised, while she embraced him as her partner and insisted she would stay by his side. He gave in to her renewed affection, leaving their future bound by her devotion and his desire to keep her close.

• Lynn woke beside the girl and worried that he had crossed a line by taking her as his partner after raising her for years.
• The girl woke and asked Lynn to hold her, showing that she was happy he had accepted her closeness.
• Lynn warned that people would eventually discover their relationship, but the girl said they could leave for a place where nobody knew them.
• The girl kissed Lynn and declared her affection through her actions, and Lynn let go of his restraints.

Lynn and she left their former lives behind and built a life together on the New Continent, where she later returned to the doll shop that stirred an unexplained sense of familiarity. The chapter ended with the old man recognizing her and weeping as she departed with Lynn.

• Lynn and she spent several days together before she left to perform, and Lynn watched her depart, certain she would return.
• She danced at a grand performance while Lynn watched from the front row, then reunited with him backstage.
• Years later, she retired from performing and disappeared with Lynn; they later wrote to Shirley that they had immigrated to the New Continent and were happy.
• An unknown number of years later, Lynn and the pregnant young lady visited a shabby doll shop, where she felt she recognized the place and bought a purple-dressed doll.
• She left a pouch of coins for the old shopkeeper before leaving with Lynn, and the old man wept as he watched them go.

Lynn grew old while the girl he had loved remained eighteen, and she cared for him as his health declined. When she collapsed after taking something from a bottle she wore around her neck, Lynn fought to get her to a hospital, where she awoke beside him.

• Lynn remembered his life with the girl, from finding her on a beach to traveling the world and settling on a ranch.
• As Lynn aged, the girl cared for him and grieved in private over time becoming their enemy.
• The girl promised to stay with Lynn even when death came, and later began wearing a tiny bottle around her neck.
• Lynn struggled to live longer, but one day he found the girl unconscious beside him and her bottle on the floor.
• Lynn carried the girl toward Town and reached a hospital, where she slowly awoke as he wept beside her bed.

Lynn spent his final years in a dream where he cared for his wife after she lost her memories and speech. When a mysterious gentleman revealed that the life was an illusion in the Sea of Loss, Lynn refused to leave his wife behind and raised his Revolver against him.

• After nearly dying from poison, Lynn’s wife woke with her memories and speech gone but continued to recognize and cling to him.
• Lynn gave her a bamboo whistle and told her to blow it if he failed to wake; its sound repeatedly roused him as he grew weaker.
• His wife began recovering and called him “Big brother,” and Lynn cherished their quiet life among the flowers.
• A translucent gentleman appeared and told Lynn he was lost in a dream within her subconscious and that his memories would return if he left the Sea of Loss.
• The gentleman urged Lynn to leave his wife in the dream, but Lynn stood, took out his Revolver, and vowed not to let him hurt her.

Lynn awakened in the Sea of Loss after Sir Awen rescued him from a dream in which he had lived an entire lifetime, but he begged to return to Miss Doll’s collapsing consciousness and change Black String Moon’s obsession with death. Sir Awen prepared to sever the connections between her past and present, while Lynn fought to stop him.

• Sir Awen charged at Lynn on the winter grassland, and a gunshot rang out as the girl among the sheep sensed a sudden loss.
• Sir Awen carried Lynn upward through the Sea of Loss and warned that Lynn had nearly forgotten his true identity in the dream.
• Lynn remembered the girl from the dream and begged Sir Awen to let him return, believing he could help her escape her past.
• Sir Awen carried Lynn toward Miss Doll’s collapsing consciousness and saw the dark vines formed by Black String Moon’s painful memories.
• Sir Awen prepared to sever the connections between Black String Moon and her past, but Lynn begged him to stop and demanded more time.

Lynn refused to leave the Sea of Loss and risked his life to keep Sir Awen from severing his connection to Miss Doll’s subconscious. As Miss Doll’s Spirit World collapsed, Lynn heard her faint whistle and realized she was calling out.

• Sir Awen warned Lynn that Miss Doll was dying and that they had to leave the Sea of Loss before losing their way back.
• Lynn broke free of Sir Awen’s psionic barrier and held a blade to his own neck, insisting that Miss Doll could change and find happiness.
• As Miss Doll’s consciousness neared death, Sir Awen tried to sever the pathways in her subconscious, but Lynn blocked his strike and lost part of his shoulder.
• Lynn told Sir Awen he had heard Miss Doll calling as a faint light spread through the pathways around her collapsing Spirit World.

Lynn answered Lynn’s desperate whistles in the Sea of Loss and comforted her after she remembered their shared dream and her past. She accepted his invitation to join him in the future, sealing it with a pinky swear.

• Lynn plunged into the Sea of Loss, calling for her brother and blowing the Bamboo Whistle as she searched for him.
• Lynn followed the whistles and reunited with the crying girl, who clung to him and told him she had searched for him.
• Lynn asked whether she knew she was dreaming and was afraid; she said she knew but had never wanted to wake up.
• Lynn explained that their dream had to end and regretted being absent from her past, while she told him he was with her now.
• Lynn invited her to come with him into the future, and she hooked her little finger around his thumb in agreement.

Lynn and Sir Awen emerged from the Sea of Loss after Lynn helped Black String Moon find hope, halting her death fixation and setting her on the path to recovery. Lynn briefly woke, collapsed from exhaustion, then awoke again to find Zuo Zuo beside him and tested whether he was truly back in reality by biting Left Hand.

• Black String Moon’s consciousness stopped collapsing as hope took root in her memories, and Sir Awen realized Lynn had given her a future rather than changing her past.
• Sir Awen and Lynn awoke after several hours, and Sir Awen steadied Lynn when he nearly fell unconscious again.
• Sir Awen explained that Black String Moon had wanted to escape her suffering, not death itself, and that Lynn had given her another choice.
• Lynn received an epic achievement, improved abilities and attributes, and completed the quest tied to Black String Moon.
• Lynn woke again, heard Zuo Zuo explain what had happened, and bit Left Hand to check whether he was in reality.

Lynn woke after several days and learned that Miss Doll had survived the death imposed by her self-perception. He found the repaired doll she had left for him, then followed the thread to meet her in the Old Castle garden.

• Lynn woke and discovered that Zuo Zuo had plucked out his white streak while he was unconscious.
• Zuo Zuo told Lynn that Miss Doll had awakened the next day, visited him, and left him a gift.
• Lynn opened the antique box and found his patched cloth doll carefully repaired and dressed in its purple gown.
• Lynn followed the glowing thread through the Old Castle and found Miss Doll waiting in the garden.
• Lynn sat beside Miss Doll, recognizing her as Black String Moon despite her calm expression.

Lynn reunited with Black String Moon in the garden after waking, and they embraced and kissed as their bond overcame her doll exterior. She told him that she was both the girl from their past and the Miss Doll he met in Hell.

• Black String Moon hooked her pinky around Lynn's and told him she remembered his promise that she would wait for him in the future.
• Lynn pulled Black String Moon into his arms and kissed her, while she accepted his embrace.
• Lynn's kisses caused Black String Moon's doll exterior to begin changing into flesh and blood.
• Lynn held Black String Moon close and asked whether she was the child from the past or the Miss Doll from Hell.
• Black String Moon answered that she was both.

Miss Doll told Lynn how their bond had grown from friendship into the center of her life, and Lynn took her to her room. They reunited as lovers, leaving Miss Doll willingly in Lynn’s arms.

• Miss Doll told Lynn that she had saved him because she did not want her new life to repeat the tragedies of her past.
• Miss Doll explained that she had first regarded Lynn as a friend, but that his presence had come to fill every part of her life.
• Lynn embraced Black String Moon and carried her toward her room.
• Lynn and Miss Doll consummated their relationship, and Miss Doll kissed him willingly.

After days of rest, Lynn woke to find Black String Moon waiting beside him and shamelessly crowded into her chair. Outside, the others argued over whether to drag him away from their private meeting while the Self-Binding Angel remained trapped by her chains.

• The Titan Head, Sir Awen, the Witch God Head, and Xiao Xiao spent days at the Black Fortress, where the Titan Head argued that someone should interrupt Lynn and Black String Moon.
• The Self-Binding Angel, immobilized by her growing chains, complained that no one was going to fetch Lynn, and the silver-eyed girl told her she would get dragged into it too.
• Lynn woke after sleeping for days and learned that Black String Moon had been awake for two hours without disturbing him.
• Lynn approached Black String Moon naked, ignored her request to get dressed, and squeezed into her chair behind her.

Lynn questioned Black String Moon about the Dollhouse and her teacher, while teasing her as she explained the slow return of her body to flesh and blood. Black String Moon said her teacher had helped when Lynn was in danger, but did not foresee that he would nearly become a monster instead of awakening as the Violet Great Lord.

• Black String Moon explained that the Doll Curse could not truly be lifted and that her transformation from doll to flesh and blood would take a long time.
• Lynn asked about the Dollhouse, and Black String Moon said its Female Host was her teacher, a fallen god from an older era who had summoned her after she returned to Doll Manor.
• Black String Moon explained that Doll Manor was subordinate to the Black Fortress and that she had not been told why her teacher wanted her there.
• Lynn wondered whether his relationship with Black String Moon had prompted her teacher to secure a place in the Jailer's plans for him, given that the Violet Great Lord might rescue his friends and family from Hell.
• Black String Moon said her teacher had joined her in helping Lynn when he was in trouble, but had not anticipated that he would nearly become another monster instead of the Violet Great Lord.

Lynn confronted Dollhouse in the Old Castle and confirmed that she had arranged for Black String Moon to enter his life as part of a plan for her own survival. As Lynn left, Dollhouse warned that the larger scheme surrounding the ancient King's return was still unfolding.

• Lynn brought Black String Moon to the Old Castle and told her he would calmly hear Dollhouse out because she had never harmed her.
• Dollhouse appeared on the throne and admitted that she had recommended Black String Moon to accompany Lynn, hoping to secure her future through their bond.
• Lynn accepted that Dollhouse had helped arrange his fate but said the plan had already failed and turned to leave with Black String Moon.
• Dollhouse warned Lynn that many Origins had served a much larger plan for the ancient King's return without knowing its full scope.

Lynn learned that something connected to his soul lay beneath the Black Fortress and had secretly aided him when he saved Black String Moon. Suspecting it was part of the Jailers’ continuing plan, he decided to investigate it alone.

• The Dollhouse warned Lynn that the revival plan might not be over and revealed that the Jailers had stationed her at the Black Fortress to build it over something hidden below.
• Lynn recalled the underground power that had helped him stabilize Black String Moon’s reincarnation and told Sir Awen and his allies what he had learned.
• Lynn argued that the hidden presence might replenish his weakened soul, though Black String Moon shot him after he made a lewd remark about his condition.
• Sir Awen offered to accompany Lynn below the fortress, but Lynn refused and said he would go alone.