Chapter 92

When she forced her eyes open, the first thing she saw was the old wooden beam. The surroundings were dark, and the small window beside her was being pelted by a light rain. As she shivered in the heavy, damp air, her consciousness gradually became clear.

(So, I...)

Cecilia twisted her body while lying on her back. Her wrists were tied with rope, and a dull pain shot through her abdomen where she had been hit.

She seemed to be in a small mountain cabin. After parting with Grace, she had been hit in the stomach and lost consciousness, so she had no idea where she was or how much time had passed.

(Something like this has happened before...)

The pain in her abdomen and the bound wrists reminded her of the time she was taken by the Hyamart gang. It felt like a long time ago, but it had only been about half a year.

She knew her life was too harsh.

Cecilia propped herself up against the wall. The fact that her feet were not bound was at least some small comfort.

"Are you awake?"

The moment she sat up, a voice called out. Looking in the direction of the voice, a small figure slowly emerged.

The rain had stopped, and the moon peeked out. The moonlight coming through the window cast a mysterious light on the lower half of his face.

Cecilia called out to the figure.

"Can you explain why you did this? -- Zwey"

When she called out, he drew a slight breath.

"You figured out it was me, huh? ...I thought I had become Ein well enough. I didn't realize it until it came to this. But I thought it was Zwey who tore the costume. If you were going to do something like this, it would be Zwey, right..."

Hearing those words, Zwey seemed to be flustered. Seeing this, Cecilia knew her guess was correct. It wasn't a random guess, but she knew it was close to a wild guess.

"Because the costume was torn by hand. There were stage props and sewing tools in that room, so you could have found scissors or a knife if you looked. But you didn't use them, so I thought maybe the culprit was someone who couldn't use them even if they wanted to..."

"...Cecil, you really pay attention, don't you?"

Zwey smiled faintly. The upper half of his face was in shadow, but his lips curved gently.

On the other hand, Cecilia bit her lower lip, knowing that her guess had hit the mark, even though she didn't want it to.

"Was it you, Zwey, who was harassing me?"

"...Yeah, but not everything."

"Why did you do that?"

"Because I didn't want you to get close."

"To who?"

"...To us."

Zwey covered his face with both hands.

The gesture seemed to indicate regret or the suppression of pain.

"Cecil, do you remember? When we first talked about how twins are disliked..."

"Huh? Yeah."

It was the day after she had failed to make pudding and was feeling down.

Cecilia was feeling depressed when Coco and Zwey happened to come by.

"Actually, it wasn't me, it was Ein."

"Huh?"

"Ein wanted to check you out, so we switched. I didn't expect him to talk about being called the 'Devil's Child.'"

From the tone of his voice, it seemed that all the memories were 'shared.' After that, he made sure not to be noticed when switching back to see Cecil...

Cecilia, surprised, listened as he continued.

"Ein seemed really happy, right? After that, I asked him, 'How was it?' and Ein had a happy look on his face and said, 'Well, I found out he's not a bad guy. He's interesting!'"

His voice grew louder and more agitated, as if his emotions were running high.

The cheerful, lively Zwey was no longer there.

"It was the first time Ein showed interest in someone other than me! I didn't know what to do!"

"So, you dropped the pot?"

Looking back, the harassment started that night after talking to Ein, who was pretending to be Zwey.

"That was an accident. I was watching you, and my arm hit it. ...But I thought if I kept doing this, maybe you would stop bothering us..."

So, he had been doing it repeatedly.

Though she didn't say it, such a message wouldn't have gotten through. In fact, Cecilia hadn't even realized the harassment was connected to them.

Unaware of Cecilia's feelings, Zwey continued.

"But you kept getting closer to us, and Ein started to act strange, always talking about you—"

"Zwey?"

"We were one person! You were getting in the way!!"

As if his emotions had broken free, he clutched his head and shouted louder than before.

His appearance was strange, as if someone else was controlling his body.

"Zwey, calm down! You're acting weird today! What's wrong!?"

"I'm not weird!!"

Zwey approached Cecilia, pushed her down, and straddled her abdomen, grabbing her by the neck with both hands.

"If I seem weird, it's because you made me weird!!"

His hands tightened around her neck.

Cecilia kicked her feet as her breathing became difficult.

"Stop—!"

"I only have Ein! I only had Ein!! You're trying to take Ein from me!!"

"..."

At that moment, warm water fell on her closed eyelids.

When Cecilia opened her eyes slightly, she saw large tears in his emerald eyes.

And covering his right eye—

(A bruise!?)

The distinctive bruise that only those invaded by 'hindrance' have appeared.

Zwey is a good boy.

Please enjoy the book and the comic adaptation.

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