After playing around on the bed with Senior Sister, we finally stopped, exhausted. Only then did I realize she was lying on top of me.

Our body heat mingled through our thin clothes. Her face hovered close to mine, her hair spilling onto my cheek. Her soft, enviable curves pressed gently against my modest chest.

I felt her breathing—slower now, but deeper.

Our lips were so near. I almost hoped she’d lean down and kiss me.

If she did, it’d be the third time the same girl stole my kiss.

And if that happened, I might fall for her…

Senior Sister gazed at me, her eyes tender and affectionate. Next would surely be her practiced kiss—the secret that could make a girl like me swoon.

*Senior Sister, do whatever you want with me…* my eyes seemed to plead.

Just as her lips nearly brushed mine, she froze.

Her gaze grew distant. I felt her heartbeat quicken against my chest, a blush spreading across her face.

Suddenly, she pushed herself up, startled by her own reaction. She sat on the bed’s edge, taking deep breaths, avoiding my eyes.

I’d been ready for anything, but she went no further.

She stood and rushed out the door.

It swung open. I lay there, disheveled, my skirt half-raised. I didn’t even check if I was exposed—if anyone passed in the hallway.

Though Senior Sister had stopped teasing me, I sensed her turmoil. It didn’t feel like dislike.

After a while, she returned, closing the door. Her hair and face were damp, her chest soaked—she’d splashed cold water on herself. *Senior Sister, what couldn’t you tell me that you had to run out to calm down?*

That night, we shared the bed but used separate blankets. Both lost in thought, silent, nothing happened…

Normally, two girls sharing a bed is fine. But this normalcy felt unnaturally dissonant.

*Senior Sister, what happened just now? What did you feel? Why can’t you tell me…*

“Senior Sister, I’ll definitely rescue those two sisters! I promise.” I whispered late at night.

“Thank you.”

I didn’t turn to look at her, afraid my gaze might trouble her again. But it was her first “thank you” to me.

For some reason, I cried silently, tears streaming down.

*Senior Sister, why didn’t you kiss me? If you had, I might have fallen for you. Then, without teasing or tempting me, I’d willingly obey your wishes…*

For the first time, I felt it didn’t matter if I stayed a girl—even if I could never change back.

If Senior Sister only liked girls, what was the point of becoming a boy again?

Though I still couldn’t recall my transformation memories, lying next to her made me think… maybe this was okay.

Beirut’s breakfast dawned under a gloomy, grayish-white sky.

On shabby streets, chickens and ducks clucked, pigs grunted as they were herded, and a fat woman cursed at a senile old farmer across the way before splashing a basin of water onto the road.

Everything heralded a noisy, utterly ordinary morning. People lived without dreams—no different from the ducks waddling aimlessly by the roadside.

Today, two kind, brave, beautiful girls would face a cruel execution. Yet the water-splashing woman’s face held only disdainful scorn for the old man…

Senior Sister and I, out of place in this mundane world, walked down the narrow, cluttered street. Naked children ran past with their grandmothers to gawk—as if this brutality were some festival for these aimless villagers.

At the village entrance, a huge wooden pillar stood stacked with firewood. Two rows of soldiers in red uniforms formed a path, their chests bearing the crest of Redfang Castle.

Their numbers had multiplied since yesterday.

Opposite them, a makeshift pavilion held a fat, elaborately robed bishop and a goateed nobleman. Behind the noble loomed a knight—towering like a black tower in heavy armor and a full-face helmet. He radiated a dangerous, brutal aura.

Esther and Leona knelt bound on either side of the pavilion, guarded by four masked men.

Villagers had gathered early, their ragged clothes and dirty faces holding a simple, cruel indifference.

“The trial begins!” the obese bishop announced, standing up.