You can totally skip these few side-story chapters if they confuse you.

They’re basically about how Oedipus entered the institute, but Lucifer ended up replacing her.

Skipping them won’t affect the main story.

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“Holiday time, holiday time!”

“Pop the champagne!”

Abdiel had one arm wrapped around seven or eight bottles, lying back on a carpet of scattered cigarillo boxes, grinning so hard she couldn’t hold it in.

“I know you’re in a rush, but chill for a sec.”

Oedipus leaned helplessly against the stone steps beside Abdiel, cheeks slightly flushed, stealing what looked like a shy glance at the blue moon hanging in the sky.

The girls’ tea party hadn’t even started yet, and she was already a little tipsy.

Right now, Oedipus was still a kid—no pressure from the Fireworks Festival competition, no grim fate tied to any lab.

Her childhood with Abdiel was the brightest, most vivid time of her youth.

“You really don’t wanna go back to your grandma’s for the holiday this year?”

“That old hag should’ve exploded into gold coins already!”

Abdiel picked up the opener and flicked it open with relish.

The sweet, mellow scent of champagne rose out of the bottle and hit them full on.

“How could boring days back home compare to hanging out with our Lady Altria?”

Abdiel held the opener up in front of Oedipus for show, her gaze blatantly roaming over Oedipus’s chest and legs, clicking her tongue in a sleazy little rhythm.

“Moonlight, fine wine, pretty girl…”

“Even the emperor’s got nothing on me.”

“Heh-heh-heh…”

Oedipus’s cheeks were like sorghum liquor hidden deep in a cellar, growing redder and redder.

Sweet and spicy, sinking into her bones, throwing her heart off balance.

“What are you even saying…”

Mind in knots, Oedipus looked away, not noticing Abdiel had already drained one bottle and was reaching for the next.

“That’s enough.”

“The girls aren’t even here yet and you’ve almost finished the booze.”

“They’re so gonna say you’re a turn-off again.”

Abdiel sounded like she was slipping into drunk mode, muttering under her breath.

“Say I’m a turn-off? I haven’t even started on them.”

“Can’t hold their liquor, still got such trash mouths.”

“Just a bunch of basic girls, that’s all. Peak cringe.”

Abdiel was a child of a ruined noble house. She’d been taught etiquette, but never really mastered it.

If Oedipus didn’t cover for her, even if Abdiel got into these noble tea parties, she’d probably just end up bullied.

Oedipus was about to lecture her on where all those etiquette lessons went, but when she thought of Abdiel’s wild, carefree personality and weird sense of humor, she couldn’t help laughing instead.

“You little clown.”

“You do know funny girls don’t get boyfriends, right?”

Smiling, Oedipus tilted her head toward Abdiel.

“Ah… that…”

“Ahh, what am I gonna do then…”

Abdiel tried to toss out some flirty line to dodge the topic, but suddenly realized she had nothing.

For all her hedonism, she honestly did kinda want to fall in love.

“Well, I’ve still got you, haven’t I?”

“Lady Altria.”

Abdiel raised her hands and made a little finger-heart in front of Oedipus.

“OK then, fam.”

“Means I’ve got myself a girlfriend and a rich sugar mama.”

“You…”

Oedipus brushed back the hair on Abdiel’s forehead. Her slightly wavy locks quivered with emotion, spilling charm into the spring night.

“Abdiel… this time next year I won’t be able to come to the tea party.”

“How come? Your family won’t let you anymore?”

Abdiel felt a bit down, but she forced herself to act casual.

“That’s not it.”

“But my family’s sending me on a mission.”

“It’ll take a while. Maybe five, six years.”

Abdiel held down the urge to dig deeper, pouting a little.

“Ohhh, I see…”

“But if you wanna see me, you should still be able to at the annual competition.”

“We can hang out then.”

Oedipus gave a sweet smile.

Unlike Lucifer, the Oedipus of now had a smile with a soft, golden warmth inside it.

“…”

Abdiel went quiet for a while; even the alcohol started tasting flat.

But she still forced herself to stay calm, sliding a cigar out of a box and lighting it up.

“What, you’re not gonna ask if there’s any other way to see me?”

Abdiel rolled her eyes and took a deep drag on the cigar.

“What’s the point.”

“If love is meant to last, who cares about morning and night.”

“People from Acadia are way too serious.”

Abdiel said it with a kind of lazy weight.

“Why be so selfless? I don’t get it.”

“As long as I’m living comfy, that’s enough. Overthinking doesn’t change anything.”

“Competitions and all that are way too serious for me.”

“The meaning of life is freedom.”

“If you let vague, empty stuff shackle your whole life—”

“That’s the real loss.”

Oedipus nodded, understanding.

“I see.”

“Then I’m relieved.”

She lifted the green-tinted champagne flute, opened a bottle herself, and filled her glass.

“What, you’re drinking too now?”

Abdiel got the message, clinked glasses with Oedipus, and downed her drink in one go.

“I think you’re right. Why worry about so much.”

“I’m learning from you.”

Oedipus smiled, tilted her neck back, and let the wheat-colored liquid slip down her throat.

Even so, the way she did it still looked way too refined on her.

Abdiel happily patted Oedipus on the shoulder and pulled her into a side hug.

“Your manners are still way too good!”

The two of them sat on the stone steps in front of the courtyard, leaning into each other, watching the slowly rising fireworks burst in the sky. A shared, festive joy quietly bloomed in their hearts.

The gauzy ribbons that had risen at noon were still burning in the air.

In the hazy moonlight, the smoke and glow blurred together.

Lonely stretches of time and the wordless sorrow of parting all melted into this gilded veil of light.

A nostalgic, melancholy verse hovered in Oedipus’s throat, about to spill out.

“A lone light, a distant shadow, cold mountains and water…”

She glanced down at Abdiel in her arms, wanting to borrow that bit of poetry.

But Abdiel had already been lulled to sleep by the sweet smell of alcohol.

Fast asleep against her chest, Abdiel suddenly looked much smaller in Oedipus’s eyes.

When she came back to herself and tried to recite the next couplet, the words were gone from her mind.

Shaking her head helplessly, Oedipus gently stroked Abdiel’s head on her lap, warmth in her heart flowing like water.