Marionette continued to stare up at the ceiling with her arms crossed.
"It was about two girls—each about 6 years old. One was so talented that it seemed like the very heaven's themselves blessed her with everything they could offer, while the other was given nothing but a miserable body and not even a lick of talent. The one blessed with talent was stronger, faster, and had a much more durable body... the complete opposite of the other, who only had intellect going for them. And if I were to say that these two girls fought in a battle to the death, who would you think would win?"
"Huh?" Lillian was confused as to why Marionette had suddenly begun to talk about some fairytale, but she decided not to question it and instead answer.
"The one that is talented should win, right? Since she's overall better than the other?"
The corners of Marionette's lips curved upwards, "What you said is a common misconception everyone in the Roselle household would have without fail."
"Wait... are you saying the untalented one won!?"
Marionette nodded, "Surprisingly, in the fairytale, she had won. She had a one out of ten chance of victory, and somehow, fate ruled in her favour..." She then paused for a moment before continuing.
"It could either be because it was a fictional story that she won, or it was because of the amount of effort she put into winning..."
"What did she do...?"
"The question is... what didn't she do? The untalented girl worked tirelessly, day and night, trying to overcome any shortcomings her miserable body had before the fateful battle, while the talented one was too confident in her chances of beating her. In the end, she lost to the untalented girl due to her wits and cunningness, which allowed her to reign on top by crushing the talented girl under a horrific boulder."
Marionette then stared away from the dark sky and towards Lillian, her voice becoming soft and surprisingly warm.
"If you want my opinion on what talent is, Lillian. I would say that it is the measure of someone's importance to the world and how much it wants to keep them alive. Those destined for greatness are inevitably marked by fate; however, fate is fickle and unfaithful even to those it favours. The moment it grows bored, it would turn its gaze elsewhere. So that's why, in this reality of ours, those labelled as talented yet put little effort into bettering themselves are eventually tossed aside and deemed uninteresting by the world. Meanwhile, those who strive to better themselves every day will always earn the world's favour and be given an even higher destiny to achieve."
Lillian stared at her with a thoughtful expression.
'A measure of someone's importance to the world...'
Lillian unconsciously moved her hand over her necklace, 'But aren't I always favoured by fate if I'm constantly wearing this necklace?'
So, according to Marionette's words, was she destined for greatness then? Was she as talented as Marionette thought she was?
"Wait... so you said I was the third most talented person you knew. May I ask who the other two are?"
Marionette shook her head, "Although I can't give their identity, even if you may have heard of them, all I can say is that they both belong to the Roselle family."
"Is that so... so do you think I am destined for greatness then?"
Marionette stared at her, briefly widening her eyes. She then glanced behind her before looking back towards Lillian.
She then suddenly placed her hand over her mouth and...
"Pfft..."
... Started laughing?
"H-hey! Don't laugh at me! That was a genuine question, you know!" Lillian pouted before smiling. This was the first time she had ever gotten her to laugh.
'I don't think she had ever laughed in the game before... this should definitely be considered an achievement, right?'
Marionette clutched her stomach as she bent over, "Hahaha... I-I apologise..." She then straightened herself after a minute or two of pure laughing, brushing off the tear in the corner of her eye.
"I haven't laughed since forever... my humour is quite skewered currently, it seems..." Marionette chuckled a bit at the end before having her voice go back to how it was originally.
Lillian smiled softly at her, "There's nothing to apologise, you know... in fact, I prefer if you laugh every now and then. You sounded very... pretty when you do... wait, is that even the right word?"
Lillian placed her hand over her mouth and began to think about what she said, not realising the tender look Marionette was giving her.
"I... sounded pretty, you say?" Marionette then smiled a little, slowly making her way over to Lillian before cupping her cheeks.
Lillian froze before blushing again at Marionette's sudden intimacy.
"D-do you have to keep cupping my cheeks?"
She held onto Marionette's hands, prepared to pull them off until...
"I think... your voice sounds quite pretty, too... in my opinion," Marionette said in a soft voice, unlike her cold, nonchalant or stoic ones.
Lillian was left frozen once more. Her mind went blank at Marionette's words. What is up with this woman and her flirts? Wait... was it even a flirt in the first place? Wasn't she the one who flirted first?
Lillian flusteredly pulled back away from Marionette's grasp, staring at her shakingly. Not noticing the faint tremors passing through the ground, which lightly tapped at her feet.
"Geez... why does your flirts work better on me and mine doesn't work on you? This is so unfair..." Lillian grumbled, folding her arms and twisting around.
She glanced back and saw Marionette still smiling softly at her. She then heard her say, causing Lillian to flush red from embarrassment.
"I suppose that's because you really like me... is that correct?" she said, tilting her head to the side with a playful look in her eyes.
"SH-SHUSH!" Lillian stammered, turning back around again and walking, "L-lets just go find the damn Boss so we can finally escape from here."
As she began to walk, she realised that Marionette wasn't following after her due to the lack of intentional sounds of footsteps she tend to leave behind for her.
She turned around with a perplexed expression.
"Are you not coming... with..." Lillian's words then began to leave her mouth slowly as she gazed up.
Her eyes widened in shock. Her body shook uncontrollably as she saw Marionette's body dangling in the air with a sharp, ebony black spire coming out from her abdomen.