"What do you intend should i do? Betray Mother over jealousy!?" Hershey screamed as Annatella choked herself with her mannequins.
"Gk! N-No, i, i am..!!" Annatella gasped as she tried to speak.
Well, tried but she then closed her mouth and stared at Hershey in the eyes, straight into her inky black eyes.
"Is what you thought i would do." Then she smiled and pointed at her.
"You're Compelling Concept might be more useful and subtle than my Illusion Concept, but you won't be able to compel me for too long."
Her mannequins stopped moving and they soon dissappeared.
"My Illusion might not be able to touch others but it could force the brain of the target to regard my Illusion as Reality. So if they get hit, even if they didn't really get hit, they'll feel as if they are hit."
She smiled as she looked at Hershey's petite form. Trembling in anger as she forced herself to calm down.
"I know that." Hershey glared at her.
Annatella looked at her, blinked for a moment, before touching the back of her neck, "...Why did i say that..?" She muttered silently.
"Anyhow," She coughed lightly, "What are you going to do now?"
She stared at Hershey while leaning forward, "Are you really going to endure this?"
"..."
"You were Mother's "Successor", for many iterations. You have already expected that it wouldn't change, but now that Mother found someone even more suitable-"
Then she coughed lightly as Hershey glared at her with her eyes glowing, "I mean, Good, vessel to pass her powers to."
Hershey stared at her, "Even so, she would become my little sister if Mother intend to pass everything to her."
"... Are you trying to rationalize yourself out of this one?"
"I am simply seeing the pros and cons if it were ever to happen."
Annatella stared at her blankly before sighing. Then she leaned back to the chair and let out a yawn.
"You really are stupid, Hershey."
Hershey stared at her as a chair materialized behind her, then she sat on the fluffy chair.
"Then what do you think i should do?"
Annatella smiled.
"If that huntress wasn't even there in the first place, what stops you from becoming Mother's Successor?"
"..."
"You really don't have to betray Mother, just act as if you did it on accident or something. Kill her, end her so that you can become the Successor."
Hershey stared at her eyes as she leaned back even more.
"I will only do that if i could get pass Mother's powers that protected that blasted outsider."
"I can help you."
Annatella smiled as she grabbed a teacup filled with black liquid and took a sip.
"What?"
"I said i can help you. You only need a moment to act and i can handle the rest."
Annatella's eyes turned crimos as she smiled.
"After all, you are the most qualified Successor. What is a mere outsider going to do to you? Much less if that outsider is in a comatic state, unable to even move an inch of her hair let alone her body?"
"..."
"I can give you a chance which you can bypass through all restrictions and protective barriers in one moment, just a single moment. In which you would attack as soon as that opening revealed itself."
Then she pushed her veil down and stood up from her seat.
"For now, im going to leave. It is clear that the Hunter is still alive somewhere. Last i checked he was still in a cell but his scent have left that cell long ago."
She walked towards the door as she watched Hershey's face still cold, but her eyebrows were twitching a lot, as if she was thinking about something.
"I just want to help you, Hershey, to make you happy. That is why im saying this to you, as a Sister and a Friend." She reached the door and turned the doorknob.
"Im off to hunt the Hunter down and present them to Mother, she may be amused."
Then she left the room entirely as Hershey sat still on the sofa. The sofa soon disappeared but Hershey didn't mind and just sat on the air, using her legs to balance herself up.
Hershey stared at the wall with little to no expression on her face.
"No..."
She firmly muttered.
"No."
She can't betray the one person she loves. She can't just do that just because she's jealous over someone else.
She can't have that stain in her soul. She refuse to.
***
Rueben opened another door and found himself in some kind of wine room which had all kinds of bottles in the drawers. He searched for a while and found nothing.
Then he grabbed a bottle, looked at the name of it.
"Jociel Wineries." He muttered silently.
Then he popped open the cork and took a whiff of scent, finding it edible to drink, he pursed his lips and placed the tip of the bottle to his mouth.
He drank a mouthful before letting the air out.
"...Its old." He sighed and put down the wine before turning around to the door.
He exited the room and turned to the left, where a door was. Rueben grabbed the doorknob and twisted it open, then he peeked inside and only found a bed.
He entered it, searched for a while before finding nothing inside the room, he checked once more and really found nothing so he gave up and exited the room.
***
[Two more rotations.]
The woman let out a soft sigh as a black tube was attached to the back of her head, fusing into flesh as it continued to suck an unknown essence.
She was sitting beside the bed with a smile on her face as she carassed Gwynne's head gently, as if afraid to damage her from her touch.
[I have high hopes you would be able to control my Concepts in an instant.]
Hershey entered the room silently as she closed the door behind her. She saw the woman affectionately caressing Gwynne's hair as she stared at her with affection.
She wanted to say something but decided against it. She closed her mouth and walked towards the woman.
If Mother really wanted to have this outsider as her Successor, then so be it. She would only be a Successor anyway, and she didn't really get to spend time with her Mother. In this regard, she would be superior.
So be it if she gets all of Mother's powers, she would train her Concept to be able to do anything.
Hershey had just regained her confidence when it was shattered once more.
[You are far more better than those children of mine which i have painstakingly raised for millenniums. No matter how much i try to make them fit to be my Successor, their innate potential will still remain.]
The woman said softly as she continued to speak.
Hershey's eyes shook for a moment, before everything went to normal, she desperately tried to make a cold face.
Maybe it was a misunderstanding, yeah. It was a misunderstanding on her part, she wasn't supposed to hear her Mother talk like that. It was blasphemy.
Her Mother might have said those words out of anger for being unable to kill a single outsider. Yes, that was it. She was mad and Mother might have seen it fit to punish her by speaking to her harshly.
Hershey tried to rationalize herself with her own flawed logic.
The woman saw all this confrontation happening and let out a smile.
[Frotus had a lot of potential, the others were painfully average. Sara had the highest potential but she was unsuitable to be a Successor, so i tried turning her into one. Hershey, though?]
She giggled in ridicule, [A child in desperate need for attention and love. A child i never needed.]
Hershey stared at her mother's back for a moment, her eyes truly shaken, her soul shaken to her core. She was unable to say anything.
She tried gasping for breath, yet it didn't work, she tried to stop herself, to calm herself but that too didn't work out as she had planned.
Hershey bowed her head and immediately fled the room while the woman stared at her back with a graceful smile on her face.
[Wonderful.]
Hershey went back to her room in silence. She closed the door behind her and stared at her bed for a moment.
You are the chosen one.
Hershey then bent down and stared at her hands, herpalms to be exact as she tried to make sense of everything.
You will be my Successor.
She gritted her teeth as her fist clenched.
I love you.
What was going on?
Did she really say all that?
Was what she said the truth?
Maybe, yes, maybe it was just a mistake on Mother's part. But Mother is perfect, she cannot make a mistake.
Then had what she told that woman, all true?
Then are all her efforts also true?
Her truths, are they truly truths?
What was this?
She didn't understand how hard i worked, just to make her proud?
Why would she say that?
Yes, maybe she's chiding me off, to discipline me.
....
...
....
...
...
...
She didn't know anymore.
Hershey looked up at the dilapidated ceiling. Her eyes watering as a trail of liquid fell from the corner of her eyes.
Tears fell from Hershey's eyes.
".....Mother...."
She mumbled.
"For what, what have i been doing?"
Are you not proud of me? You said you did.
Are you not loving me? You said you did.
Did you already forget who i truly am? I am but a lamb, a faithful servent who would do everything to help you.
And yet..
And yet....
And yet...!!
Hersheh wiped her tears away.
"Its that woman's fault, its all hers." She gritted her teeth as blood started flowing from her palm from clenching to too much.
"If she was gone, then everything would go back to normal, wouldn't it?"
Hershey mumbled as the woman looked at her from a high and might tower. She stared at Hershey's image for a moment, before smiling.