——What is this...? Why am I...
Ilya took slow steps through the corridor, frost following wherever he walked. The voices continued to echo from the surrounding rooms one after another.
——Have I been... delusional...?
The answer had finally caught up to her.
The Academy had become the reality check that shattered everything Helene had believed since childhood.
The talent she had once been praised for, the promise she had made to her father, and the conviction that she could change her own future had all crumbled after stepping into a place filled with people far beyond her.
She hadn’t just failed to stand among the talented. She had discovered that she wasn’t even remotely close.
——N-No... I can’t... I can’t go back... I can’t go back to that place...
Fear, desperation, hopelessness, the emotions that had slowly accumulated throughout her time at the Academy finally poured out all at once, leaving behind a girl who no longer knew where else to turn.
——S-Sir Fritz... Is there... any way I could still receive a passing grade...? Anything... I’ll do anything...
Another long silence followed, long enough that even Ilya found himself unconsciously slowing his steps.
——L-Lick the tip?
"...."
——O-Okay...
"...."
——I-I’ll do it...
Whoosh——!
Frost rapidly raced through the corridors, across the walls, the ceiling, and the wooden floor as Ilya continued walking forward.
Every step he took left another layer of ice behind, and before long, the luxurious hallway had transformed into a frozen passageway.
Even so, the voices never stopped.
——Y-Yes, Sir! I’ll meet you in your office after class—pardon? Your residence...? O-Okay... after my lectures are over.
The hallway itself seemed unwilling to let him escape, forcing him to witness every moment Helene had desperately tried to hide.
Sir Fritz’s voice remained as calm as ever.
——You don’t have to sound so nervous. I’m only trying to help you.
——...Y-Yes.
——You said you’d do anything for a passing grade, didn’t you?
——...Yes.
——Good.
A chair scraped across the floor.
The sound of footsteps drew closer.
——You’ve got potential, Helene. It would be a shame to let a single practical exam ruin your future. You’re a hardworking student, and I’d hate to see all that effort go to waste over something so trivial.
——T-Thank you... Sir Fritz...
——There’s no need to thank me yet. Sit down first. We’ll discuss how you can... improve your grades.
Another door.
Another voice.
——Helene, you’ve been absent from training again.
——...I’m sorry.
——Sorry won’t raise your grades. You’re falling behind everyone else.
——...I know.
Another.
——Didn’t your father give you one chance?
——...Please don’t tell him.
Ilya continued walking without stopping.
But this time, something had changed.
At the far end, where only another identical hallway should have been waiting, a lone figure sat by the window, dangling her legs back and forth as though she had been waiting for him all along.
"...Helene."
"Do you remember the first time we met, Ilya?"
"I would never forget."
Helene smiled. "I thought so."
That day had remained vividly etched into his memory.
No matter where he looked, every person he met appeared to have already accepted their own ending, as though they had long since given up trying to move forward. It had been a stagnant world, frozen in place, where even hope itself felt buried under the snow.
——From House Belozersky, huh?
Then, a single flower had bloomed within that frozen landscape.
——That must be nice. But... why are you sitting here all by yourself?
’...Could you go away?’
——No way.
A soft laugh followed.
——This is my spot, you know? Besides, if you want me to leave, you’ll have to get here before me tomorrow.
The corner of Helene’s lips lifted.
"You looked so lonely back then."
Ilya met her gaze without looking away.
"You were much lonelier than I ever was."
Helene let out a chuckle before shaking her head.
"But you already knew that, didn’t you?"
She looked back outside the window, her reflection visible against the glass as she continued speaking.
"I mean, of course you did. Every single one of us was brought together because we each had burdens we couldn’t tell anyone else, yet despite spending so much time together, none of us ever truly spoke about them."
Ilya remained silent for a long moment before lowering his eyes.
"...I didn’t have the power to save you."
Helene laughed, the sound surprisingly lighthearted despite the atmosphere.
"Pfft... you couldn’t even save yourself."
She smiled as she looked back at him.
"So how could I possibly blame you for not saving me? That would’ve been asking the impossible."
Ilya slowly walked toward Helene before stopping beside her, his eyes naturally focusing beyond the window behind her.
Outside, the Crimson Lily had become nothing more than a graveyard.
The knights Liselotte had entrusted to him lay dead throughout the corridors, while the courtesans who worked within the house and the customers who had come seeking a night’s pleasure fared no differently.
Looking at the scene before him, it didn’t take much to figure out who was responsible.
When he turned back toward Helene, she smiled.
"You know," she began, "for the past few weeks, there’s been a voice whispering in my head over and over again."
Ilya remained silent, allowing her to continue.
"It’s been telling me to give in... to let the Abyss swallow me... to stop resisting and finally put this misery to rest."
She lowered her gaze to her hands pressed on the windowsill before smiling to herself.
"At first, I ignored it. Then it became harder to ignore. Eventually... it was the only voice I could still hear."
Helene looked back at him.
"Can you guess what choice I made?"
"Yeah."
"I knew you’d understand. You always did."
A faint smile graced Helene’s lips.
——Huh. You’re pretty good with a sword.
’It’s not enough. It never will be.’
——We really do have it pretty bad, don’t we?
’I guess so.’
Neither of them elaborated any further.
They didn’t need to, after all.
——Cigarettes? Let me try one.
’It’ll be bad if you get addicted.’
——You make it sound like I’m going to smoke a whole pack after one cigarette!
’I wouldn’t put it past you.’
——That’s rude.
She crossed her arms and turned her head away with an exaggerated huff before peeking back at him through the corner of her eye.
——...Just one.
’I said no.’
——You’re stingy.
’And you’re persistent.’
——Come on. It’s just one puff. I’m not asking for the whole pack.
’No.’
——Please?
’No.’
——Just once?
’...Fine. Just one.’
Helene’s eyes lit up.
——Really?
’You’ll regret this.’
He took the cigarette from between his lips before handing it over. Helene accepted it with both hands as though she had just been entrusted with something valuable, copying the way Ilya had been holding it only moments earlier.
——So... like this?
’...More or less.’
She awkwardly brought it toward her lips before taking a deep breath.
——Cough! Cough..!
Helene doubled over, coughing as she hurriedly pulled the cigarette away from her mouth. Tears quickly welled up in the corners of her eyes while she repeatedly pounded her chest, her face turning bright red after inhaling far more smoke than she had expected.
——W-Why does it taste so awful?!
’I told you.’
——And people actually enjoy this?
’...I wouldn’t call it enjoyment.’
Even so, Helene took another puff.
——Cough! Cough...!
She coughed even harder than before. When she finally managed to catch her breath, she wiped the tears from her eyes before laughing to herself and taking another puff.
’Hey...!’
——It’s okay. Even if it tastes awful... even if it burns my throat and my chest... I think I kind of like it. At least... I know exactly where it hurts.
Because it was something within her control.
——Like it... burns because I chose to light it...
’Hm.’
——I think... I like that.
After the cigarette had nearly burned down, Ilya held out his hand.
’Give it back.’
Helene smiled sheepishly.
——...Yeah.
"...."
Ilya blinked.
The girl sitting before him was no longer the Helene he remembered.
Her hair had become frighteningly long, flowing across the floor before fading into the walls, only to emerge again from somewhere farther down the corridor.
Her proportions no longer resembled those of a human, yet she continued sitting on the windowsill exactly as she always had, swinging her legs without the slightest discomfort.
Ilya’s gaze slowly wandered.
Only then did he notice that the walls were no longer walls.
Crimson veins spread under the wallpaper, lining the corridors before disappearing into Helene’s body.
The wooden floor had long since become indistinguishable from pale flesh, while countless strands resembling nerves stretched throughout the Crimson Lily, connecting every room, every staircase, and every corridor to the girl in front of him.
He couldn’t tell where Helene ended, nor could he tell where the Crimson Lily began, as if the two had already become one.
Helene noticed his gaze and laughed.
"Pretty, isn’t it?"
She raised one hand.
The crimson veins spreading throughout the walls pulsed in unison. Somewhere deeper within the Crimson Lily, a door opened while another slowly closed, followed by the sound of footsteps echoing from a corridor where nobody should have been.
"Yeah."
For reasons he couldn’t explain, Ilya found the sight before him beautiful.
"I’m sorry, Helene."
Helene gently shook her head.
"Don’t be."
The floor beneath Ilya’s feet gradually softened.
The wooden floorboards, indistinguishable from flesh, slowly gave way as though the Crimson Lily itself were swallowing him whole. Countless crimson veins emerged from below the surface, wrapping themselves around his arms and legs before continuing across his body.
"You were a very good friend, Ilya."
Helene looked at him with a gentle smile on her face.
Her eyes had long since become pools of crimson without the slightest trace of white remaining. The deeper Ilya sank into the flesh, the more difficult it became to tell whether he was being consumed by the Crimson Lily...
Squelch——
...Or embraced by Helene herself.