The door was gently closed, blocking out the warm yellow light from inside the room.
Columbina and Odette walked down the corridor, neither of them speaking first.
After a long while, Odette finally managed to speak, her voice hoarse and strained.
"Is she... really out of options?"
She asked very softly, as if afraid that her words would pass through the door and reach the ears of the person inside.
Columbina leaned against the wall and wearily closed her eyes:
"I couldn't find her, and neither could Capitano. From any place where one could determine whether she was alive or dead, it seemed she was gone."
"But you just probed again." Odette stared at her. "If you really believed it, why probe again?"
Columbina paused for a moment.
"I'm just trying my luck," she whispered.
Odette turned her face away, forcing back the tears welling up in her eyes.
Just as she was about to ask another question, a series of hurried footsteps came from downstairs. A theater staff member came up the stairs with a look of panic and suspicion on his face.
"Miss Odette, Lady Columbina..." She swallowed hard, her voice low. "A very important person has arrived at the door."
The Captain, the Harbinger of the Fatui, came alone and said he wanted to come in and sit for a while to ask you a few questions. I... I didn't dare to make the decision myself, so I came to ask first.
The two exchanged a glance.
"Please," Odette said immediately. "I'll go tidy up that little living room downstairs, light the fire, and make a pot of hot tea."
"I'll go down and get him," Columbina straightened her clothes and whispered to Odette.
At the theater entrance, Capitano stood alone in the lamplight under the eaves, his dark cloak covered with a thin layer of snow.
He didn't rush inside; he simply waited quietly at the theater entrance.
" Capitano," Columbina greeted her, stepping aside to let her pass, "It's cold outside, come inside."
"I'm sorry to bother you." Capitano nodded slightly and followed the two into the small living room on the first floor.
The fire in the stove had just been lit, crackling and bringing a touch of warmth to the small room.
Columbina poured him a cup of tea, her fingertips pausing on the rim before she asked, "Is it for the Bai You?"
"Hmm." Capitano didn't beat around the bush. "After you left, I checked the cave again by myself."
He raised his head, and in the shadow of his helmet, his eyes were calm yet solemn.
"I have a power, as you know—my heart can detect and receive souls."
Odette's heart skipped a beat. Columbina's hand, gripping the teapot, tightened slightly as well.
"In that grove of trees, I activated this power, sweeping across the entire mountain hollow."
Capitano spoke slowly, word by word.
"I found Dottore. A wisp of his soul was shattered beyond recognition, crushed on the spot by that attack; all that remained were fragments of his body."
He paused for a moment, the firelight reflecting on his cold, hard profile, making his serious expression even more pronounced.
"But I cannot fathom the soul of the Bai You."
The room fell silent for a moment, broken only by the soft crackling of firewood.
"I searched the valley thoroughly three times, expanding the area again and again." Capitano's voice trailed off.
Her soul was neither in her body nor in the surroundings, nor did it bear any trace of having ever dissipated; it was completely gone.
"Just like her soul, it never even appeared in that 'death'."
"What does this mean...?" Odette's voice was a little dry.
"That's exactly what I don't understand," Capitano nodded.
"Normally, after a person dies, the soul goes to only two places."
"It either leaves the body and lingers briefly near the shell, or it disintegrates on the spot, but even disintegration leaves traces of its collapse, like shattered glass, always leaving fragments everywhere."
"But the Bai You is neither of those."
He spoke slowly, emphasizing each word.
Her body lay there, but her soul was conspicuously absent. Nothing was there. This defied all the common sense I knew about life and death.
Odette stood up abruptly, then slowly sat back down, her light purple eyes surging with barely concealed shock.
"In other words," her voice trembled slightly, yet she struggled to remain conscious.
"The fact that you can't sense her soul precisely proves that she might not be the real person..."
"I dare not draw that conclusion, "Capitano said cautiously.
"I can only say that she doesn't fit into any kind of 'death.' Her soul went to a place I can't explore."
Or perhaps it was completely sealed away and hidden by some force—so powerful that I couldn't even detect it; the level of that force far exceeded my comprehension.
He recalled the shattering of the False Sky, his gaze darkening slightly. The power within Bai You was deeper than he had imagined.
"But one thing is certain," he said, looking at the two of them, uttering each word clearly.
"As long as her soul shows no signs of dissipation, she cannot be considered dead."
These words gently lifted Odette's heart, which had almost sunk to the bottom.
Her eyes welled up, and she almost burst into tears—this was the first judgment she had received today, not as a consolation, but as a genuine glimmer of hope.
"Don't tell Varesa about this yet," Columbina quickly calmed down and whispered.
She's currently staying awake only because she believes " Bai You is just asleep."
"If it's just wishful thinking, she won't be able to handle it a second time. It's not too late to talk about it after we actually get some real experience."
Capitano nodded slightly.
"What can we do now?" Odette asked.
Capitano held out his hand and said, "Take good care of her body. The body is where the soul returns; you must protect it."
His tone was calm. "Leave the investigation to me, and I'll handle things on Dottore's side as well."
"I must find out what hid her soul, where it went."
"Thank you for your hard work," Columbina said softly.
"Not really," Capitano slowly stood up. "She was also Harbinger of the Fatui."
"Trust me, Bai You will be alright. And Her Majesty the Tsaritsa will definitely give a satisfactory result regarding this matter."
After he finished speaking, he walked to the door, paused, and glanced back at the direction of Bai You upstairs.
"And please tell the other girl from earlier that I'm sorry," he whispered.
After saying that, he pushed open the door and walked out of the room, then out of the theater, into the snowy night. He was still alone, coming and going quietly, as if he had never been there.
The fire crackled in the small living room.
Odette stared at the closed door for a long time before finally letting out a long, soft breath.
"He couldn't penetrate Bai You's soul," she murmured repeatedly, as if confirming, " Columbina, he couldn't..."
"Hmm." Columbina gazed upstairs, her eyes filled with complex emotions.
After a long silence, she said very softly, "Therefore, we must protect her even more."
"She needs to come back; there has to be a place where the lights are on."