"She looks so peaceful while sleeping. Sara, how strong was the sleeping dart you hit Maria with? Do you think she will be awake tomorrow? Or did you knock her out for the whole day?"
Lea asked while poking Maria's cheeks.
A decent human would have picked up Maria's body and put her on a bed, but Lea's moral compass was a little twisted. She did not know what she was doing half the time.
In the end, the one who helped Maria back on the bed was Sara. She felt sorry for Maria's poor back and wanted her to feel comfortable.
"She will not be unconscious for long, so we must restrain her before anything else. Lea, I know that glint in your eyes and before you ask - no! You will not get to play with her like you get to play with other prisoners. She is just a little girl."
Sara scolded Lea, but the elder just pouted.
"B-But she is physically older than me, and Maria is also an elf. These things are rare! So, we should-"
"Still no. Emily, you take care of Maria for a little while, and I will go and report what happened to Commander Arnold. Lea, you are coming with me since this is your room. You head out first. I need to make a final check before I join you."
Sara threw Lea out of the room before she could utter a complaint. And surprisingly enough, Lea did not whine about being manhandled. She quietly walked out of the room.
It was a startling change, but Sara saw it as a sign and sighed in relief.
"Hey, what did you do that for? And are you sure you want me to look after this elf? I might not be the best-"
"I know that you feel threatened by Maria, Emily. But I also trust you enough to know that you will not let your feelings of jealousy ruin someone else's life. You are much kinder than you give yourself credit for."
These words made Emily blush. She felt seen through and transparent. Sara had figured out Emily, and it felt awkward to look at her now.
"Just head out. I will take care of things here."
Emily quickly sent Sara off as well before she took her seat. Her cheeks were warm, and a flush covered them. Emily felt a warm and tingling sensation in her stomach, which was familiar.
'Is this…a crush? Do I have a crush on Sara? But why? And when did this happen? I am sure I am in love with Lea. Can a person like two people simultaneously? Maybe we can all be in a threesome or -"
"Ugh"
Emily snapped her eyes open in shock and looked down. Finally, a pair of beautiful eyes looked back at her, but Emily could not pinpoint their colour.
"You…who are you? Did I fail my mission? How humiliating."
Maria complained before she tried to bring her hand up to her face. It was then that she noticed that she had been cuffed.
The elf could not move her hand or body, making her tense.
"You! What did you do to me? Unhand me right now or else-"
Maria tried to use her skills, but she could not. It was a given why she could not use it - her cuffs were unique, and they blocked her powers. Maria realised this after her third attempt at using her powers.
"I am sorry, but this will not work. These cuffs are a precaution and will not come off until I take them off for you. So, you might as well sit down and tell me why you gate Lea so much."
Emily asked this while sitting down. She wanted to know more about her rival and what made her angry at Lea.
She could deter some of that hate away from Lea and help Lea out in the process.
"She killed my future guide. He was the only one who promised to be by my side and love me. But that monster killed him seven years ago. If not for her…then he might have survived that rift infection, and we might have lived happily after-"
"Wait a second. You did all this over a dead guide you did not even share a bond with, and who died of rift infection? Are you serious? And here I thought that Lea committed a huge crime or something."
Emily breathed a sigh she had been holding all this time. She did not even realise how tense she had been all this time.
Maria felt ticked off by this reaction. She did not know why everyone reacted like this when she told them about what happened.
They all took Lea's side and ignored the emotional trauma that she suffered.
"Look, I do not know how close you were to your guide, but you must let go of him and his memory. There is no coming back from a rift infection. Lea did him a favour by killing him and letting him die as a human-"
"How can you say that? He was the only one I had. He was a strong person and a lovely person. He would have loved me so much, and I-I miss him. But you won't know what it is like to have someone close to you killed for no reason. A rift infection-"
"Is a condition that cannot be treated. We lose a lot of people because of this every year. I have seen what happens to people who try and hide their rift-stricken friends and family. Lea did you a favour by killing that guide early."
Emily's voice was cold and emotionless. She was stating facts that she knew were correct. But Maria did not want to hear it. She wanted to listen to complaints about Lea and how she was a horrible person Lea was.
"Shut up. I do not need to listen to you. I know that my guide's death could have been prevented, and Lea killed her. I refuse to believe anything else."
The more Emily saw of Maria, the more she was convinced that this girl would not listen to her. So, there was only one way to resolve this situation - to show her what a true rift-struck person looked like.
"Fine. I must show you evidence since you do not want to believe me. This centre had a few people in the early stages of being rift-stricken. Why don't you look at them and see what they are like?"
Emily asked before she dragged Maria behind her. Maria was not even dressed, but she followed Emily anyway.
She was curious about the evidence Emily would show her but knew it would not impress her.
After all, Maria had already made up her mind about the situation. She was determined to blame Lea for what happened in her past.
"We are here. Look down and see what a rift-stricken person looks like."
Maria looked down, and she immediately backed away. Familiar black eyes looked back at her, and she remembered seeing them on her guide's face. These eyes were hollow and emotionless.
"Look at these people. Do they look like they are aware of what is happening? This is the second stage of rift disease. They will all be killed before they reach the third stage and become rift entities."
Maria knew she needed to look but could not bring herself. These images clashed inside her mind, contradicting the idea of Kirin Maria remembered.
'The Kirin, I remember, was kind even in his last moments. He reached out to caress my face, and his bloody hands cupped my face gently, and then-'
A flash of blood along with a bloody smile that showed no happiness. The expression on her guide's face had been a hungry one.
He had reached for Maria, not because of love but hunger. Maria had been terrified, but she had held on. She remembered the sudden warmth that terrified her and the feeling of peace that engulfed her.
She could now see how unnatural it had been even then. She had felt like dying at that moment, and she had not even realised it.
And then it had all disappeared. That warmth and that comfort had been snatched away from her when Lea beheaded Kirin from behind. All Maria saw were her cold eyes as well as the blood splattering around her face.
But she had also felt safe and relieved at that moment. These memories were hers, but she did not remember them at all.
The more she tried to remember them, the more her head ached. It was as if something was preventing her from recalling what happened to her.
'Ouch, my head hurts. What is wrong with me? Why is this happening to me?'
Maria did not know why she felt such pain when she tried to let go of her hatred and forget Kirin. It was as if something inside her did not want her to forget what happened.
"Hey, are you alright? Don't worry, I will take you back to the doctor. You just need to hold on for a bit."