The Flower of Separation

Lillian walked over to her and took out her handkerchief from her pocket. Zushi's eyes widened when she wiped the blood off her face.

"Are you okay, Miss Empress?" There was a mocking way when she said the words Empress, but Zushi felt relieved.

For some reason, she feels she could trust this person.

Zushi slowly nodded, and the moment she took the woman's hand, Lillian fell forward.

It took her a few seconds to realize the wound from earlier that she healed had opened up again, and there were now fresh wounds on her back.

"This time, it wasn't deliberate," Lillian grumbled.

"Y--your hurt."

She is hurt this badly, and yet just now, she looked so brave and cool. Zushi led her to a tree, and she leaned her back there, and she extended her hand out. A familiar bright light emerged from her fingers.

Lillian sighed deeply. "Should you really use that so casually?"

"You wouldn't come here without taking measures."

"Right, I destroyed their surveillance for now, but it is only a temporary measure." Her gaze fell on her ribbon. "You really haven't gotten very far; it was easy to catch up."

"As long as I survive, then people will at least acknowledge that."

Although obtaining one ribbon will prove she isn't weak, Zushi didn't care for it.

Lillian extended her hand out and revealed a familiar ribbon. It was the one Rosa had earlier. Lillian didn't say anything but wrapped it around her arm.

"I-"

"That was your win; even if I didn't interfere, you would have been fine."

Fine huh? Zushi thought back to what happened a few moments ago and sighed deeply. That was fine? She almost killed another person. Once again, she lost control of her emotions and tried to her thoughts broke off immediately when she found Lillian looking at her.

"Do you really have light magic?"

Eh?

"Well, I was watching for a few minutes, but you seem more sinister than I."

"More sinister?"

Lillian was looking at her with suspicion, and Zushi frantically shook her head. "I only have light magic; there is nothing else."

"If that's the case, then maybe you are just naturally cold-hearted."

Zushi didn't know what to say to that, so she kept quiet and focused on healing the girl's injuries. They say Miss Lillian is the strongest in the Empire; who could have hurt her like this?

"Eric."

At those words, her eyes widened. "Your brother?"

Lillian sighed. "Yes."

Does this mean sir Eric is stronger? No, if the man were stronger, then he would have killed her. It seems like they had quite the fight. They are related, but they still ended up fighting to the point they inflicted severe wounds on one another.

Zushi didn't understand it at all. But she knew better than to question it. Just look at this game; siblings have to fight and prove their worth. They have to fight to have a place in the family.

While her uncle's family treated her that way, at the very least, they didn't engage in such games.

Miss Lillian must be having a hard time. Or is she? Zushi recalled her sister's words and paused. Mo told her that Miss Lillian won't hesitate to kill and how she enjoys destruction. Indeed she saw it with her own eyes just now.

She didn't hesitate to cut off her own sister's tongue. Sure this situation looked terrible, but even if she has a bad relationship with her sister, a normal person won't do that.

This person reeks of danger. But at that moment, Zushi felt that she could trust her.

"Did you get into a dispute?"

Lillian chuckled. "Well, I suppose you could call it that. Maybe it was because I found out that the test this year is different."

"It's different?"

"Didn't you see all those people with Rosa? She isn't that skilled to sneak them in."

Zushi immediately understood. "So you're saying."

"This time around, outsiders can help. I didn't notice the helpers since they used a side gate." Lillian trailed off. "It seems I wasn't supposed to learn this since they knew I would jump to help Lucas."

"Then shouldn't you go to him?"

"Between Lucas and you, who actually needs my help?"

Zushi laughed awkwardly. "Well-"

"You are strong but way too careless. You have no control of your emotions, like that time during the banquet."

Zushi felt her face turn pale when she heard those words. Miss Lillian said the words normally, and yet it almost felt like she was provoking her.

She tried to think positively, but no matter how she looked at it, Miss Lillian did that deliberately. Before she could say anything, she felt a pair of hands on her cheeks.

"See, this is what I am talking about. You look like you are on the verge of tears, and I only had to say something indirectly."

Her eyes widened at this sudden action.

It felt like she had done something similar a long time ago, or somebody did the same to her. The odd thing was the warmth of miss Lillian's hands remind her of something. It was familiar, but this is the first time the girl has gotten near her—what a peculiar feeling.

"You have to walk and look ahead proudly, chin up; otherwise, people will take advantage of you. Well, the fact that you agreed to this absurd request shows that you are at least using your brain."

"Absurd request?"

Lillian pulled her hands back and nodded. "That is right. Over the years, father has extended the invitation for special guests to attend, but nobody has ever accepted."

"That's-"

"It will harm their reputation, yes, but people can afford to sacrifice that for the sake of their own lives. At the end of the day, anybody can build up their reputation no matter how badly they have fallen; as long as they are alive, then there is still a chance. That is why nobody has accepted it before; they would rather risk it than die."

"But there is a chance for an outsider to win, right?"

Lillian shook her head, "There isn't; these games are strictly designed for members of the Ageha family." She rolled up the sleeves of her uniform and pointed to a glowing red mark. "This is the proof of participation; they use a drop of our blood for the seal. So the idea of inviting anybody to join was absurd, to begin with."

"Then why did you say you wanted to test me?"

Lillian sighed. "I wanted to see if you could do something about this system. You see, I have grown quite tired of wasting valuable time and resources on such a game. There are more fun things we can be doing."

Zushi shuddered at the last part. Miss Lillian is basically saying this game is too boring for her. A game that requires killing blood relatives. If this is boring, then what fun is she thinking? Zushi knew better than to ask, fearing it would be worse than this killing of blood relatives.

"You are quite wounded. Will you still stay here and help me?"

Even though she used her healing ability, she still couldn't heal Miss Lillian completely. It would alert those people.