"Alice, no one told to say this," Minerva said softly. "I just... I’ve co to realize that our paths were never truly aligned. Or maybe they were once, but not anymore, and not in the way I thought they were." Her voice was calm, almost numb, as though she had already let go.
"Are you... cutting ties with ?" Alice nearly shrieked. She forced the sound back down her throat, but her eyes widened in raw disbelief.
Minerva did not try to deny it. She truly intended to cut all ties with Alice and walk her own path, far away from the toxicity she had finally learned to recognize. Slowly, she nodded, eting Alice’s gaze head-on, her expression steady and resolute.
Seeing this, Rafael let out a faint smirk. Pride welled in his chest. His sister had learned to walk away, not only from a toxic friend, but earlier, from Alexis as well, abandoning him without a backward glance once she had seen his true colors.
It beca clear to Rafael then that his sister, Minerva, might be a romantic at heart, soone who loved deeply and wholeheartedly, whether in friendship or romance, but once she reached the point of giving up, she did so completely, without regret. That realization reassured him. His sister was not weak, nor was she hopeless.
Even Hera felt a quiet sense of relief for Minerva. This ant Minerva would no longer be pulled into Alice’s orbit, no longer dragged into her sches. She could finally step away from the brewing storm of the storyline, especially now, when it seed Alice was desperately trying to claw her way back onto the path of the female lead.
With Minerva stepping away, Alice’s strength would be severely crippled. She would be forced to regroup and consolidate her remaining influence before she could confront Hera head-on. And if she failed to do so, then she would inevitably resort to underhanded sches instead.
But if Hera prepared in advance for those sches, she could easily dismantle them one by one. Better yet, before Alice even had the chance to rebuild her footing, Hera could choke off every avenue of support, preventing Alice from ever rising back into the position of female lead she was once destined for.
After all, what kind of female lead possessed a heart so steeped in darkness?
Alice was the sort of "female lead" who brought only destruction and pain to those around her. Such a role was neither good for the story nor for the people living within it.
There were even monts when Hera couldn’t help but wonder, was Alice ever ant to be this world’s true female lead at all? Or, just like Hera herself, had Alice stolen soone else’s destiny, forcibly rewriting the storyline to crown herself as its heroine?
And if that were the case... then how had she done it?
After all, Hera was different. Her consciousness had awakened because of an outsider, a transmigrator who had entered the book. But if that theory held true... then what about Alice?
That very question brought Hera’s speculation to a halt.
As far as Hera knew, transmigrators were outsiders to the world. Because of that, it should have been impossible for the world’s consciousness to favor them. At best, the world would simply ignore their existence, so long as they did not interfere with the world’s chosen child or disrupt the natural flow of the storyline. But if they caused chaos or threatened the balance, they would be forcibly erased.
This understanding ca from Athena’s speculation, born from the countless novels she had read before transmigrating into this world, and Hera had always used it as her baseline.
And if that were the case, then Alice could not possibly be a transmigrator.
So what was she, then?
If Hera followed her own reasoning to its conclusion, the idea that Alice was a transmigrator who had stolen soone else’s destiny no longer held up. And with that realization, Hera finally stopped pursuing that line of thought altogether.
"You can’t!" Alice shouted, glaring at Minerva with bloodshot eyes.
This ti, she no longer looked pitiful. The mask she had worn so carefully finally cracked, revealing sothing unhinged beneath, as though Minerva cutting ties with her had struck her reverse scale, the one thing she could not tolerate being touched.
Then, almost instantly, Alice realized she had lost control.
Like the seasoned actress she was, her expression shifted in the blink of an eye. Her rage dissolved into grievance, her eyes filling with tears as she looked utterly wronged.
"Minerva..." she said shakily. "You promised. You said we’d be friends until we grow old together, that we’d be best friends forever. What happened? Did I do sothing wrong?"
She swallowed hard, her voice trembling.
"If it’s because of what happened at the hospital... because I didn’t take care of you properly, I’m sorry. I really am. I’ll change, I swear. From now on, I’ll put you first in everything I do. Before I work, I’ll check on you. Before I eat, I’ll make sure you’ve eaten. Before I sleep, I’ll make sure you’re okay..."
Her words tumbled out in desperation as she stepped closer, like a child afraid of being abandoned.
"Please don’t throw away. You’re the only friend I have..." She broke into sobs, frantic and heartbroken, and to anyone watching without context, she would have looked painfully pitiful.
But Hera felt nothing. Neither did Rafael nor Zhane.
Minerva, however, hesitated.
After all, she had made that promise.
Back then, Alice had told her that no one wanted to be her friend. Minerva, who knew all too well what loneliness felt like, had softened. She had sworn they would stay together until their hair turned white, until they grew old side by side.
At the ti, that promise had been sincere.
But now, knowing she had only ever been used, knowing that her genuine feelings had never been cherished or respected, Minerva finally understood sothing clearly. A promise made in good faith did not bind her to soone who had never treated it seriously in the first place.
And besides, the way Alice kept saying, ’I’ll check on you before I do anything, I’ll put you first, ’ sounded comforting on the surface, yet deeply unsettling the more Minerva thought about it. It was too polished, too performative. Who was Alice really saying this for? Rafael? Zhane? The others watching?
Was she trying to make them pressure Minerva into forgiving her? Or to paint herself as the repentant victim while turning Minerva into the petty, cold-hearted one?
No matter how Minerva looked at it, none of it felt right.
Instead, it felt as though Alice was quietly sealing off every exit, subtly framing Minerva as soone difficult, soone high-maintenance, so that no one else would want to befriend her. And once Minerva was isolated, Alice could step back in, reclaim her place, and force Minerva to beco her only friend again.
Alice knew exactly how lonely she was. Minerva had confided in her more than once about this. And if this line of thinking was even half true, then the realization sent a chill down Minerva’s spine.
Because that ant that Alice wasn’t saying this out of desperation to explain herself. Instead, it was a calculated emotional manipulation, and it was terrifying.
Then, a lodious, unhurried voice cut through Alice’s sobbing. "Miss Quinn," Hera said calmly, her tone light yet razor-sharp, "the way you’re speaking makes it sound as though you want everyone to misunderstand sothing."
She leaned back against the arm of her wheelchair, resting her chin in her palm, her expression relaxed, almost lazy. "You’re framing it as if Minerva is cutting ties with you simply because you didn’t cater to her enough," Hera continued. "As though she’s a high-maintenance friend, who’s pampered, arrogant, and needy, and you’re generously offering to indulge all of that."
Hera tilted her head slightly, as if genuinely pondering the thought. "But no matter how I look at it," she added mildly, "isn’t that... emotional and ntal manipulation?" Her gaze remained steady, unreadable.
"W-What are you even talking about?" Alice stamred, turning toward Hera with reddened eyes. "I just want to know where I went wrong. I want to change..." She looked utterly wronged, as though Hera’s words had wounded her deeply.
"Oh, really?" Hera said lightly. "But didn’t she already tell you what disappointed her?" She tapped her finger against the armrest, as though recalling sothing trivial.
"When Minerva was nearly killed by the syndicate and later rescued, you only visited her when it suited you. If I rember correctly..." Hera paused, lips curving faintly. "You visited once."
Her gaze lifted, calm and unwavering. "And when you did co, you brought a soup. That was it. You didn’t ask how she was holding up. You didn’t care about her ntal state or the trauma she was carrying after almost dying."
Hera’s voice remained even, but every word cut deeper. "Instead, you tried to use that visit as an opportunity to get closer to her brother."
She tilted her head slightly.
Reviews
All reviews (0)