Night fell like a silk curtain; at the hour meant for sleep, Medith was hopping door to door like a restless swallow.

“Melia... I’m kind of dense. Can you tell me why Sais hasn’t spoken to me for so long?” Medith’s brows knotted like tangled reeds; Sais had kept a silent cold war for ages.

Melia gave a cool smile, like frost on bamboo. “The knot should be untied by the one who tied it. It all began with you. If you don’t see it, I won’t force it.”

Helpless, Medith went to Iling; Iling, heavy-lidded like a drowsy cat, waved her off under the excuse of sleep.

Lina sighed that she was exhausted, like a lantern low on oil, and pushed Medith out with a soft yet firm hand.

At last she found her final lifeline; Rita giggled for a long while, her gaze drifting like leaves on water. After a deep breath, she bit down on her resolve. “Medith, here’s a hint.”

“Your way of thinking’s different from ours. What you ignore might be the thorn that hurts her most in someone else’s eyes.”

“Huh? I don’t get it. Spell it out. Hey, that’s an order—” Medith didn’t finish; Rita used hands and feet like playful wind and nudged her out the door.

“What does that even mean? Leaves me scratching my head...” Back in her room, Medith set her mind whirring like turning cogs.

“Different minds... neglect... same to everyone... vows... forgetting... ah... could it be?!” Her thoughts flashed like lightning linking distant clouds, and the threads finally tied into a rough conclusion.

“Hey! I deserve a scolding— I do!” Medith slapped her own cheek like a drumbeat, slipped on her slippers, and rapped on Sais’s door.

No answer. Medith pushed in; Sais sat there, gaze fixed on the wide, bright moon like a silver plate in dark water.

“Medith... do you still remember that night under the lily tree, when the two of us shared the long hours?” Sais didn’t turn, her voice drifting like mist.

Medith closed the door and sat beside her to watch the moon. “Yeah. That moon was as clean as tonight’s, vast as a white river.”

“I... it’s on me. I was too full of myself. I let ‘his’ way of thinking sway me, and I ignored ‘hers.’”

“I thought a ‘man’ having several wives was nothing out of the ordinary, and forgot I am no longer who I was.”

“I owe you an apology, and I owe Queen Laxis one too.”

“My immaturity cut you both like a blade. I’m sorry.” Her words fell like petals, soft and heavy.

Sais listened, then suddenly laughed— bright as sunrise breaking frost, dazzling as a mirror of water catching light.

“Do you know why I was angry?” Sais swept aside her old gloom like clouds parted by wind, her smile blooming like a branch of spring.

Medith shook her head, quiet as a stone in a stream.

Sais flicked Medith’s forehead— a quick sting like a snapped twig. Medith yelped, clutching with teary eyes. “A small punishment. You’re so clever, yet you couldn’t guess my heart.”

“I was angry because I was afraid.”

“I kept thinking about how easily you vowed love, then tangled the sheets with me like storm-tossed waves.”

“That dawn, it hit me— would the Queen be the same? Would you wrap her in your arms with sweet words while she didn’t even see it coming, lull her like a child till sleep?”

“I was terrified. The Queen—I can still accept.”

“But what about later? What about the countless tomorrows?”

“Maybe I’m stingy. The love I understand is mutual, not a line pointing one way.” Sais hugged her knees, sobbing like rain against a window.

Only then did Medith see how wildly she had missed the mark; the realization cracked like thunder.

Yes... she had once vowed to love Xier alone for ten lives, ten lifetimes. With the Queen, she whispered honeyed words like drifting incense. With Sais in her arms, she piled flowery promises like lanterns on a festival night.

How did she become this?

“Sais... I... I’m sorry...” Medith groped for words like hands searching in the dark for a lamp, unable to calm the woman she’d hurt so deeply.

After a long moment, Sais eased, tears drying into a fragile smile like dew in sunlight. “I know I’m petty. I won’t say I just want a little love.”

“Because I’m selfish— I want all of you.”

“From today, I’ll compete fairly with the Queen. You’re not allowed to be half-hearted. Can you promise me?”

Medith nodded with solemn eyes, like a vow carved in stone. “I swear on my honor.”

A beat passed, then she spoke again, steady as a blade drawn. “Given I’ve trampled vows before, my honor’s already in tatters. I’ll make it a blood oath. May this scar help you trust me again.”

“?” Sais realized it, her voice breaking like a snapped string. “No!”

And then a warm rain fell across her blossom-like face— drops pattering like red poppy petals in spring.

“Hawu...” The Lita Sisters sprang from bed like startled birds, dressed in a rush, washed like river water over stones, and joined the others in the hall.

“Morning, everyone. Breakfast first. We sniff out info on the Divine Stone or Regido, then we give our speech. No disguises this time.”

“Wear what you love, and meet the world in broad daylight.” Medith’s smile shone like sun on glazed tiles.

“Okay!”

“Yay—”

“Finally, I can wear my little skirt!” The women bounced higher than grasshoppers, then streamed into rooms like a flock of swallows.

Melia shook her head with a helpless smile, ready to change into her green Sprite set. As she left, her gaze swept Medith’s slender jade hand— and nearly scared the life out of her. “Ah— Medith! Your... your hand...”

Sais’s eyes dimmed like an ember, her face carrying the weight of guilt like night fog.

Medith raised her hand, her smile bright as daylight on water. “This? Just a small punishment for being a ‘faithless woman.’”

“It’s fine. After a few fights, what’s a body without a few scars?” Her tone was light, like wind through bamboo.

Melia stared, shocked and awed, then bared pearl-white teeth in a sudden grin and strode for her room, steps firm like drumbeats.

They entered a big restaurant; people dressed casually like scattered colors, though some wore uniform garb, clustered like a separate shoal— hard to swim into.

Breakfast arrived in a fragrant spread: raisin bread like soft clouds, cups of goat’s milk like pale moons, golden fried eggs like suns, and red sausages slick with oil like lacquered wood.

Medith cut the sausage with grace, forked an egg like catching a firefly, and ate with dark bread and goat’s milk, calm as a lake at dawn.

The women watched her right hand. On that once fair, pink back, two ugly scars, each nearly two centimeters, crossed— one horizontal, one vertical— a blunt, crude cross.

Sais ate her bread without a word; the sight lodged in her throat like a stone. Her vision misted like rain on glass. Her nose stung, and tears fell like beads.

“Hey, silly girl, what are you crying for?” Medith patted Sais’s head like smoothing a sparrow’s feathers; Sais couldn’t hold it— she folded into Medith’s arms and wept like a stream.

“Alright, alright, it’s not like you carved it. Honestly... so many eyes on us...” Medith stroked her hair, her smile warm as spring sun.

The others understood, and they dabbed at their tears like brushing dew from petals, moved by a mirror mended.

“Hey now— white-haired Sprite, red-haired lady with that commanding air, and the legendary Black Sun cloak. Aren’t they the ones from the rumors?” A man pointed at Medith and the rest; at once, countless gazes fell like a flock of starlings.