"B-Brother, it's all my fault." Primula lowered her head and sniffed back her tears.
Aurora was floating over a stone platform, six beams of light pouring into her from the six murals on the six walls.
Miss Calamity fainted once again after a brief moment of consciousness. And this time, her breath severely weakened.
Asherah might not have killed her. But what she had put Aurora in a state worse than death.
Varian miscalculated her state of injuries. She assumed she only lost vitalty and could be compensated as long as she could be given pure vitality. But like a cracked glass, she was leaking life force every moment.
Primula gritted her teeth as she stared at Aurora's face. The six beams of light were working together to pour vitality into her body, repair her soul and keep her alive.
But every second, cracks appeared on Miss Calamity's skin and light began to leak out of them. It was forcibly patched up by the beams and she seemed normal once again.
However, the cracks appeared a few more seconds later. And they took just a little longer to be healed back to normal.
Even though the situation seemed hopeful, Aurora's condition was growing worse every passing moment.
"If I only didn't go out recklessly!" Primula clenched her fists and knelt in front of Aurora.
In the midst of the brilliant light, a pale arm hung down from the floating woman, just in front of the teenage girl.
Primula held that hand—the hand which continued to crack like broken mirror before patching up—the same hand that took her outside, the same hand that pulled her back when danger came up, the same hand that rubbed her hair even when she pretended to be annoyed—and pressed that hand to her face.
Tears rolled down her cheeks, wetting the hand in the process. At that touch, the hand seemed to be tremble for a moment. As if by instinct, it tried to wipe away the tears but it fell limp powerlessly, the owner of the body too weak for even such an action.
Noticing what happened, Primula sobbed even harder.
After that day when she couldn't stop herself from the flooding sadness, this was the saddest day in her life.
"Please, Aurora. Please don't go." Primula begged, her voice hoarse. "I-I won't call you airhead anymore, okay? I-I'll not make fun of you…I'll even let you rub my head. So, please don't go…"
Varian turned his head away, a powerless sigh escaping his lips. "Primula, it is not your fault. It is Asherah's responsibility."
Primula shook her head, her hair disheveled and eyes reddened. "No! If I didn't go out that day, then one of this would've happ—"
"Eshala died! How could you have not gone?" Varian asked.
Primula fell silent and closed her eyes.
It was just yesterday when she found out her mother's death. And Aurora took her outside to cheer up. Someone attacked and she lost consciousness. When she opened her eyes, it was already fifty years later.
She still hadn't processed her mother's death. And now Aurora was dying. Even her brother seemed powerless.
Primula rose to her feet and trotted to him with weak steps. Catching his arm, she said with bloodshot eyes. "B-Brother, you must save her! Please save her! We mean so much to her. You mean so much to her!
She…she isn't like everyone, she saved us when she could've just left. She doesn't want your power or help, she is just happy to be accepted. P-Please sav—"
"I don't need reasons to save her, Primula." Varian hugged his emotional sister and patted her back. "She deserves to be saved. I will do everything I can."
Primula looked up from his arms, her lips bleeding as she held an expression of despair. "Everything you can? That means you aren't sure you can save her!"
Varian sighed weakly.
"No, no. Why?" Primula's voice cracked and she broke free from the hug. Looking at him in tears, she yelled in a heartbreaking tone. "You…you couldn't save my mother! You watched her die! Why can't save you at least Aurora?
Will you watch her die too?"
"I…"
The final moments of Eshala flashed in his mind. Even at the end, she didn't regret saving him even though it killed her. All she had to say in her final breath was a pitiful request.
"Take care of her."
Looking at Primula's piercing eyes, Varian lowered his gaze, guilt filling his heart. He already failed once. Was he going to fail again?
"That's enough, Primula." A cold voice rang in the room. "You are not in the right mind, so go out and think back to what you just spouted."
Isadora grabbed Primula by her shoulder and a burst of light took away the girl out of the facility, across the mountains and into a quiet lake where the Matriarch resided.
Varian still looked at the ground, eyes turbulent with emotions.
The princess sighed and walked up to him. Gently pulling his head to rest on her shoulder, she said in a soft voice. "She didn't mean it. She's still in shock of her mother's death and now this happened. When she comes to her senses, she'll realize how foolish her words were. So, don't take it to heart.
It's not your fault."
Varian had a bleak smile. "I had no way of saving Eshala against God Emperor. But no God Emperor is standing between me and Aurora. I should save her. I should be able to save her. And yet…"
Isadora turned to the center of the room, looking at the young woman who followed her to Hortus all those days ago.
She was very dismissive of this junior sister those days. She didn't even believe her very much, much less consider her as one of her dear ones.
But at some point, maybe during those thousand years, when Aurora risked her own life to help stabilize the half-insane Sia and nearly died in the process…Isadora saw her differently.
"I don't want her to die." The princess said softly, the weakness in her voice too much to not notice. "She's my only junior sister."
Varian felt suffocated.
"But what can I do? What can you do? It's not her body or soul that's the problem. Her…origin is broken."