Victoria looked at the box, then at Vanessa, and her expression cleared in understanding.
"Vanessa, lie down."
"Huh?" Vanessa froze. "Wh-what's wrong?"
"It seems there are still some problems with your mental state. I'll give you another psychoanalysis session."
"No, I'm not sick! I'm saying my friend really is in this box-" Vanessa scratched her head in some distress.
"Well, to be precise, it's my friend's corpse."
Victoria paused. "She's dead?"
"Yes, she died during the festival."
Victoria's eyes slowly widened. She fell silent, her thoughts unknown.
After a long while, she looked at Vanessa with a complicated expression. "I'm sorry."
"Well, there's really nothing to apologize for. She-"
Vanessa suddenly found herself at a loss for how to explain. Was she supposed to tell her that Elsa could come back to life?
Wouldn't that be a little hard to explain-
Victoria carefully picked up Elsa's box and gently opened the lid. As she stared at Elsa's flesh and blood, her gaze sharpened a little.
Vanessa hesitated before speaking. "You-don't eat her. There isn't much left."
Victoria: "???"
She looked utterly shocked. "Why would I eat her?!"
"Well, apparently some Paths let you eat corpses and gain memories or something-"
"I don't have that! I won't eat your friend!" Victoria glared at Vanessa indignantly, then grew a little suspicious. "How did you even think of eating her? Are the customs where you come from that unusual?"
Vanessa averted her gaze. "Then why did you open it-"
"I was checking whether there was any spirituality left in her flesh and blood! Some Paths can blur the boundary between life and death. The Everhart Family, for instance, keeps coming back to life."
With that, she closed the box and stuffed it back into Vanessa's arms.
"My condolences. Your friend was just an