The Doll Witch's consciousness greedily captured this memory, emitting twisted ecstasy!
"Hehehe~"
"Did you see, did you see!"
"Rejected~ Despised~"
"Maybe this child has long since fallen into becoming a witch in some unknown corner~"
"Hehe, do you want to see her?"
"Join us! Join the paradise!"
The teddy bear frantically took this memory, along with all the cold despair of rejection it contained, mixing it with its own woven malicious fantasies about Xinya detesting Pale.
It poured everything at once through the pink tentacles wrapped around Pale's head, forcing it into Pale's mind.
"Despair! Collapse! And then... completely become one of us!"
Countless slippery tentacles wrapped even tighter, suckers adhering, flesh barbs scraping, sickly-sweet mist rushing in madly, warm flesh walls contracting violently.
"Ugh... head so dizzy, so full..."
"Some... something has gotten into my brain..."
Pale's body began trembling violently. She wanted to struggle, wanted to tear those disgusting, slippery tentacles from her head, but her limbs were tightly wrapped, fixed, deeply embedded in those warm and elastic flesh walls by even more wriggling, tender pink tendrils. She couldn't move at all.
More pink mist was forcibly injected into Pale's mouth and nose. That sickeningly sweet fragrance drilled into her lungs, merged into her bloodstream, even began eroding her thoughts. The dizziness and fullness in her head grew increasingly intense.
After suffocation came a tingling warm current. Accompanied by the tentacles' scraping and suckers' suction, it began rising from her tightly bound limbs and body. Those flesh barbs scraped across Pale's sensitive skin, leaving behind slight pain and comfort.
Pale's resistance was being rapidly dissolved.
Cold despair intertwined with this forcibly imposed strange pleasure from bodily instinct, forming an even deeper confusion.
The remaining clarity in Pale's eyes was dissipating bit by bit, being replaced by a hazy, pink-tinged watery gleam.
"Ugh... so... so dizzy..."
○
Deep in the forest, inside the ancient tree house.
Xinya lay quietly on a bed covered with soft moss and fresh flowers. Sunlight filtered through the vine-wrapped latticed window, casting mottled light and shadow on her cheeks. She was more emaciated than in Pale's memories. Her once silk-like lustrous black hair now appeared somewhat dry, scattered across the pillow.
Her breathing was very light, very shallow, as if it could stop at any moment.
Xinya knew her time was running out.
If... at the very end... she could leave behind a bright, beautiful, perfect image of herself in Senior's memory, that would be good.
Hehe...
What kind of me will Senior remember?
Will it be gentle, considerate, versatile, capable in both civil and martial arts, intelligent and brave, the world's number one amazing beautiful girl!
Mmm.
Not arrogant and unreasonable, domineering and willful, clumsy, weak and frail...
Xinya's perception detected Pale's departure.
Stupid Senior... why are you showing that sad expression!
Aren't you always cold-faced?
Aren't you a blockhead?
Why...
Why are you sad?
You're destined to be the most amazing magical girl who will save the world!
You can't cry.
And I'm not seeing you... not because I despise you, stupid Senior...
It's because I'm afraid...
Afraid of letting you see me like this now... weak, ugly, utterly vulnerable...
Afraid of becoming your burden...
Afraid of... seeing pity in those eternally calm golden eyes of yours... or worse... indifference.
So... I'd rather you remember that noisy, energetic, even somewhat annoying me...
That way... at least in your long life, that small segment of memory about me will be vivid and... happy, right?
Senior...
Although you're a super big idiot...
A block of wood that doesn't understand romance...
An idiot who can't take care of yourself...
Your roasted meat is terribly disgusting...
Always wearing a stern face as if everyone owes you money...
But...
Xinya's parched lips extremely slightly, tremblingly... curved into an almost invisible arc.
But... being able to meet you... was really... so good...
From now on... eat properly... don't eat those charred carbon blocks anymore...
Learn to take care of yourself... remember to add clothes when it's cold... treat your wounds properly when injured...
Don't always be so desperate... occasionally... live for yourself too...
If... if you meet other companions... don't always scare people away with that cold face...
Be... happy...
At the very end...
"I like you... I really, really like you, Senior!"
"It's just... just..."
"I can't stay with you forever, don't want to make you sad, I..."
"Idiot... you must be happy..."
Her sobbing gradually became obvious, her thin shoulders trembling continuously. Those emotions suppressed for too long surged out like a breached flood.
I'm sorry...
Sorry for always losing my temper at you...
Sorry for not properly telling you my feelings...
Sorry... for leaving this way...
Xinya struggled to lift her trembling hand, gently pressing it against her heart.
There, sharp pangs of pain transmitted for that gray-haired girl somewhere far away.
Please, you must keep moving forward...
Don't stop for me...
Don't cry for me...
Go see more scenery I haven't seen...
Go save more people who need help...
For my share too...
Eat until you're full, dress warmly...
Meet more and better companions...
Outside the tree house, the attendant standing guard seemed to sense something, worriedly glancing inward but not daring to disturb, only silently strengthening the barrier's protection.
Inside, time seemed frozen. Only the light and shadow slowly moved, like Xinya's silently flowing life.
Xinya slowly, with extreme difficulty, turned her head to the side.
Her gaze passed through the latticed window, looking toward that distant direction beyond the forest.
The teddy bear finally discovered what it wanted.
Hehe!
So Ember's real name is Pale~
What a cute name~
If Pale learned that Xinya died alone with love for her...
Xinya's breathing gradually weakened, her final words transforming into soundless lip movements.
"I... see... you... now~"
"Idiot... after so many years... still zero resistance to mental attacks..."
"Really... so worry..."
The Doll Witch suddenly jolted in alarm.
She somehow felt... the final gaze of Xinya in Pale's memory... was looking at herself?
But Xinya's eyes slowly closed. The last trace of consciousness, like a candle flickering in the wind, gently swayed once, then finally completely extinguished.
It shouldn't be.
She absolutely couldn't see herself.
The Doll Witch reassured herself.
But...
She still felt something was strange...
Why would Pale's memory... contain this segment from Xinya's perspective?
How could Pale possibly know these private words?