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So, maybe I should have listened to Rhoswen when she asked me to wait instead of charging ahead.
But how was I supposed to know that she and Jules had something weird going on? What the hell was a Tamlane? Plus, judging by context, I couldn’t even ask without seeming strange, because this was something Acacius should know! Life was so unfair.
“I just wanted to see Roxana,” I said to Jules sullenly. “It’s not my fault she partnered with you.”
Roxana’s gaze moved from Jules and Rhoswen’s tense standoff and back to me. “You wanted to see me?”
“What? You can look for me, but I can’t come find you?”
“Oh, no, that’s not what I meant at all!” She waved her hands. “I was just surprised, is all! I didn’t know we were that close.”
“Do you have to be close to want to see someone? Those are two different things.”
Roxana batted her eyelashes. “So does that mean you like me, Acacius?”
“I didn’t say that. Do you want me to?” I sidled up to her with a sly smile, slinging an arm over her shoulder. “Then hear me out! I had a reason to look for you.”
Her smile became a bit fixed. “Acacius, you’re acting… kind of weird right now. Did you know that?”
I thought about it and let go of her, taking a step back to give her some personal space. “Okay, no touching, got it.” Never let it be said that Jeong Eunseok couldn’t pick up a hint!
“No, that’s not…”
“Acacius seems to be under the influence of one of the Unseelie Court’s magics,” said Jules lightly. “In which case, his id is escaping the control of his superego. My dear Rhoswen, what did you mean by manipulating him like that?”
Roxana glanced back at Rhoswen, giving me a view of Rhoswen’s cold smile. “Am I nothing more than an out-of-control beast in your eyes, Jules? I wouldn’t do that to my precious partner without his consent. In fact,” she added pridefully, “he was the one who approached me.”
“Is that so? And he understands everything about your magic, does he?”
“Wow,” I said. “You make it sound super bad, Jules. What’s gonna happen to me in the next three hours?”
Jules paused, like she’d forgotten that I could be part of this conversation too, before turning to address me. “You will lose your inhibitions, your judgment, and your sense of self-control. You will become susceptible to Rhoswen’s will and influence. You will become subject to the subsuming of the Unseelie Court’s dream, a process that will leave hidden dangers if not completely resolved.”
I thought it about it and asked Rhoswen, “Is that why you said we had to stop immediately after the exam?” When she nodded, I said, “Well, she’s been honest with me about the effects, then, so what’s the problem? I think it’s fine.”
“You only think so because of her magick’s influence,” Jules explained patiently. “Think back to your sense of self before Rhoswen cast her magick. What would you have thought of your current actions? Have you not broken some of your own rules or boundaries for yourself?”
Hmm… Well… It was true I was being kind of impulsive and way too playful for Acacius’ persona. But since the collar was a ready-made excuse to act weird, it was basically fine for me to act however I wanted. As long as I achieved my goals for the exam, it didn’t matter if the process was a little crooked in the middle.
So I concluded, “I followed all the important rules, so it’s fine.”
“Ah, but all rules are important, not just the ones you like. Rules do not exist meaninglessly or in isolation; they create order and sense in an otherwise chaotic world.”
Ohh. I nodded in understanding. Jules was the kind of person who thought that if you just found the right set of rules and everyone followed them, then the world could be perfect.
“But I think that rules are a polite fiction and it’s okay to throw them away when they don’t work for you anymore.”
Jules paused and changed tacks. “Feelings are so unreliable, though! These important rules of yours — as you lose your reason, they won’t feel important anymore. Do you want to allow your future self to throw them away, too?”
“They won’t stop feeling important,” I said.
Since I hadn’t decided on them with reason.
Jules seemed like she wanted to argue more, but I was tired of this conversation and had other things to talk about. “It’s fine. Rhoswen’s been a good partner to me. Besides, you should be happy about the negative effects of her magic! If not for my troubles, I wouldn’t have come to find you. You’d hate to miss out on this deal I’m about to propose, right?”
“Okay, I’ll bite,” said Roxana. “What are you proposing, exactly?”
“I’m glad you asked. So, Roxana, we’re looking for an ambitious, savvy, and talented individual to invest our tokens in. The plan is, you do what you want with the tokens, and at the end of the exam, you give us back the initial investment plus a cut of the profits. What do you think? Win-win, am I right?”
“It’s not bad, I suppose… But Jules and I aren’t exactly lacking in tokens right now.”
Recalling the token counts from the last time we checked the territory map, I said smugly, “But you don’t have as many as me. Come on, Roxana, you really don’t want to show everyone how far you can go?”
Rhoswen finally flicked her eyes away from Jules and towards us, letting me see Roxana twirling her hair thoughtfully.
“It’s tempting, but what do you get out of it?”
I sighed. “Ah, well, you know… Rhoswen and I don’t really want to govern a territory.”
“But you must have the ability, or how would you have so many tokens to spare?”
At that moment, the breeze stirred, and Mehran Sattari’s voice whispered on the wind.
“Acacius Duval and Rhoswen are plundering other teams’ tokens. They have been sniping from a distance. Everyone, invest in your anti-air perks immediately.”
There was a long pause.
“Haven’t you ever heard the saying that you shouldn’t ask your creditors where they get their money?” I finally said.
Jules broke her silence with a chuckle.
“What an amusing proposition!” she said. “So in the end, you benefit by using us as safekeepers for your stolen goods. Well, Roxana? Do you have the confidence to turn a profit with what they can offer us?”
“Don’t you?” said Roxana with a laugh. “That’s why I wanted to team up with you, after all.”
“Then I am willing to accept your offer, Acacius! However, I have one condition.”
“What is it?” I asked.
“For the course of our negotiations, I do ask that you and Rhoswen release your Unseelie Court magick. It is mostly for my peace of mind. I am sure your judgment is sound, but I do not finalize contracts with anyone who is… under the influence — magical or otherwise.”
That seemed pretty fair, even if it was kind of annoying.
Then Rhoswen said, “Don’t dress it up, Jules. You just don’t have any faith in my capacity as a person. You think I tricked him into it and that he’ll leave me the moment the magick is undone, don’t you?”
“I never said anything of the sort,” said Jules with a faint smile. “Is that not a reflection of your thoughts, rather than mine? If you’ve done nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear by the momentary dissolution of your magick.”
Rhoswen narrowed her eyes, and her pale fingers tightened upon her bow.
“I do not wish to be part of these negotiations any longer,” she said. “Acacius, you may do as you please.”
She turned around sharply and stalked off to be alone.
I hesitated for a moment, torn between the plan and checking what was wrong with Rhoswen.
But, well, I’d already said that Rhoswen was my partner for the exam.
“Wait here a second,” I said to Jules and Roxana apologetically, and then I turned and ran after her.
“Hey, Rhoswen, wait up!”
Rhoswen paused, giving me the opportunity to fall into step next to her and latch onto her arm for stability. When she didn’t move, I tugged her to keep moving so we would be out of hearing range.
I wanted to ask her what was going on between her and Jules, but we’d agreed not to ask about each other’s past, so instead I said, “Are you okay?”
She obviously wasn’t, but this wasn’t about obtaining the truth. It was just to give Rhoswen an opportunity.
Rhoswen searched my face, and then she lowered her eyes.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I don’t mean to disrupt your plans. I just… don’t want to do this anymore.”
A perfect echo of my petulant decision just a few territories ago.
“Hey,” I said. “You’re my partner. You have a say too. Besides, didn’t we change our plans already just to cater to my whims? Why can I do it but you can’t?”
“But it would be better not to do so again, correct?”
Well… That was true.
Rhoswen loosened my grip from her arm. Then, without looking at me, she slid my hand down to hold hers.
“I don’t mind if you want to work with Jules,” she said. “And you can take the collar off any time. It was always a temporary arrangement, and I don’t want you to feel forced or trapped by any of my feelings. I was simply… riled by the prospect that you might cut our link because of her.”
Feeling her fingers tightening around mine, I ventured, “It takes a different meaning because it’s her, right? I can understand that.”
Rhoswen nodded. She still wouldn’t look at me, gaze wandering on the horizon instead.
“Acacius,” she said quietly. “I wasn’t always a great person. I’ve made mistakes before, and I’ve made decisions that can’t be undone.”
What could I say to that? That I had, too?
“But even so,” Rhoswen said, “I’m more than the darkest stains of my history. I… can change too.”
She finally met my eyes, searching for something I couldn’t say.
“You know what it is like to be reviled and misunderstood, so you must understand me. Or else… Why would you have been willing to reach out to me?”
But I wasn’t Acacius, and I wasn’t the person she longed for.
I couldn’t give her the answer she wanted.
I could only… give her an illusion.
From the moment I took Acacius Duval’s place, it was destined that I would have to be cruel like that.
“Rhoswen,” I said finally, “you don’t need to explain anything to me.”
Squeezing her hand, I pulled her around to go back to the others.
“They aren’t our only options, so let’s call the deal off. Okay?”
We didn’t have to partner with Roxana; there was at least one more person we could ask. I just didn’t want to ask Veric because I didn’t think she would exactly approve of our current strategy.
And more importantly, she was currently partnered with Luka. I was still kinda mad at him, but I could put that aside for my larger goals.
“Are you sure?” Rhoswen asked.
In lieu of a direct response, I closed the gap between us and Roxana and said, “After discussing it, I think we’ll be going with a different approach. Thanks for hearing us out anyways.”
“Acacius,” called Jules, fingers tapping on her cane. “Consider the bigger picture. You have a greater goal than your momentary whims, don’t you? What do you want most right now?”
Well, I really wanted that escape talisman.
But it was possible to get it without collaborating with them. I just wouldn’t like it as much.
“Your concern has been noted, Jules,” I said. “Don’t worry too much, though — these are my decisions, so it’s normal for me to bear any consequences that might arise from it. See you around.”
“Wait,” said Roxana. “Before you go.”
“Yeah?”
Roxana stepped in close to me, looking up at my face. I looked back at her, curious as to what she would say.
Then she reached out and jerked my shirt collar down.
“Hey!” I slapped her hand away, cheeks burning. “What the hell?”
It was too late, though. In Rhoswen’s eyes, Roxana’s mouth was hanging open.
“It was a collar?” she squeaked.
I tugged the shirt collar back into place with a scowl. “I can’t actually recall how that was any of your business. Come on, Rhoswen, we’re leaving!”
Rhoswen smiled. “Okay. Let’s go.”
Behind us, Jules sighed and tapped her cane on the ground.
“By the power vested in me,” she said, “I declare the following prohibitions.”
A red circle of light rippled out with Jules at the center, growing to encompass Rhoswen and I in its radius.
“First, departure.”
My movements stopped in their tracks, no matter how I strained. I let go of Rhoswen and turned around. Rhoswen raised her bow and drew back the string in one smooth motion, an arrow of light condensing between her fingers.
“Second, projectiles.”
Rhoswen released her bowstring, but her arrow of light didn’t fire, dissipating back into the ether. I leaped into the air with a flap of my wings, zeroing in on Jules.
“Acacius, wait!” Roxana ran in front of Jules, throwing her arms out to shield her partner. “Let’s talk this out!”
“Third—”
I shot forward, barreling heedlessly into Roxana and carrying her with me as I knocked Jules down. Straddling them with my legs, I materialized [Caller] in one hand, and with [Honest Man’s Deception], created a duplicate of the black knife in the other.
One forward thrust to drive [Caller] into the underside of Jules’ throat. One downward stab to drive its twin into Roxana’s open eye. In a brilliant flash of light, they disappeared from under me, and I landed awkwardly on the ground.
When Jules vanished, her zone did too. I climbed to my feet, dismissed [Caller] and its duplicate, and turned to face Rhoswen. “What the hell is Jules’ problem?” I grumbled.
“I’m sorry,” said Rhoswen quietly. “Jules and I have never gotten along.”
I shook my head. “She should’ve thought it through before attacking us. You think she’ll sabotage our strategy from here on out, though?”
Rhoswen lowered her gaze to the ground. “It’s likely. She’s always suspicious of what I do.” After a moment of hesitation, she added, “About what she said earlier…”
“What? Did you forget to mention something about our little link?”
“I believe I underestimated the impact of your increased favorability towards me.”
“How so?”
“Roxana. You like her, do you not? But you didn’t hesitate to eliminate her because of me.”
To be honest, once Jules tried to stop us from leaving and Roxana went to protect her, it was a foregone conclusion that I would move to eliminate them. That wouldn’t have changed even if I didn’t like my partner.
What I said out loud, though, was, “It’s not like she died for real.”
“But that which is not real holds power over people, too. It may impact your relationship later.”
“Then when that time comes, can I just blame you?” I said teasingly.
“I don’t mind. It might be more advantageous for you.”
She sighed.
“I thought the collar would help you be freer and truer to yourself. However, perhaps it would be better to take it off for a time, after all…”
Ah, geez, she didn’t have to be so serious about this.
“My actions are my responsibility, Rhoswen. Don’t take on what isn’t yours to bear.” I patted her on the shoulder. “Besides, being well-liked by others is not a priority for me. Why worry about it more than I do?”
Rhoswen said, “I do wish you would care about being liked by me more.”
But I didn’t want to be close to anyone anymore.
So I laughed her off. “Is that something you need to think about right now? Come on, let’s go see what Roxana and Jules had saved up.”
I couldn’t see what expression she made to that, but the change of subject still worked.
Claiming the territory hub in the center of the grassland, we found that they were pretty loaded. I happily added their tokens to my stash. No need to show mercy if Jules was going to act on her grudge against Rhoswen later, anyways.
Anyways, since cooperation with Roxana had fallen through, it was time to go find my backup candidates.
Pulling up our territory map, we marked the territories we’d already passed through and took a guess where Luka and Veric might be among the rest. Rhoswen suggested that we try scouring the “southern” coastal regions, considering Veric’s water affinity and the Dragon Shrine’s temples by the sea. “After all,” she said, “given Veric’s background, she’ll be more familiar with regions strongly influenced by the local Shrine, and with Luka’s personality, he’ll follow her lead.”
So we followed the territory map to the southwestern area, then swept east, raiding a couple more teams along the way. Annoyingly enough, Mehran Sattari’s announcement had had some effect; a fair number of territories we passed through had purchased the “Aerial Defense” perk, which meant we had to spend extra tokens if we wanted our “Aerial Espionage” perk to keep us hidden when we crossed their borders, or else the territory hub’s constructs would start shooting at us. Moreover, if the territory owners saw us, they could manually control the territory hub to fire at us mid-air.
I silently noted Mehran down on my grudge list, even though I was kinda the one who’d instigated everything in the first place.
Finally, on the southeastern end of the map, we found Veric and Luka in a territory simulating warm, coastal hills. They’d been hard at work; they’d conjured up a little port city, barges traveling along the river, and a dam to control flooding. Seeing their token count on our territory map, I couldn’t help but be a little moved.
Because they’d also taken the “Aerial Defense” perk, we paid extra to cross the border barrier silently and flew in. The air here was cool, and the sky shimmered with fine droplets that had not yet managed to condense into mist.
Through Luka and Veric’s perspectives, I saw them turn and talk to each other seriously. Then Luka nodded and closed his eyes, disappearing from my senses. Veric went out to the edge of their miniature port city, eyes trained on the sky as she waited.
How had they sensed us coming from so far away? I told Rhoswen to keep her senses peeled for Luka. As I flew forward, I soon appeared in Veric’s perspective, a shadow soaring over the crest of a distant hill.
I didn’t go in for a landing, electing to circle above momentarily. “Hey, Veric! Can I come down?” I shouted, waving the arm that wasn’t holding onto Rhoswen.
After a moment of hesitation, Veric called back, “Come down!”
I lowered Rhoswen down to the ground before alighting myself.
“Hello, Rhoswen. Hello, Acacius. What brings you here?” Veric asked, crossing her arms. “Not some kind of raid, I hope.”
“Nah. Wouldn’t have warned you if it was. But you sensed me coming pretty quick, so I guess you have some methods of your own, hmm?”
For some reason, Veric explained, “I’ve been practicing with my water element since we returned. I was inspired by some of Master Dalileh’s tactics.”
“Really? Would’ve been helpful in KP-04.”
She coughed. “It wasn’t in my skillset back then. I’ve only recently developed my fighting skills more…”
Huh. That was quite a bit of progress, wasn’t it? How’d she miss possessing a talent like that?
“Anyways, why are you here?” she asked.
“Don’t you want to be better friends, Veric? Help me out! I’ve got a proposition for you and Luka both…”
After listening to my spiel, Veric gave me a dry look.
“I don’t think this is what the professors had in mind when they designed the exam. And aren’t you worried that Luka and I won’t hold up our part of the agreement? If we decided to fight, things could get complicated fast.”
“But that would impact our friendship outside the exam, Veric,” I said sincerely. Like the fact that I’d have to consider other getaway options for Operation: Blow Up Veratrum Row. “Would you really do that to me?”
Through Rhoswen’s eyes, I got to see Veric roll her eyes at me.
“Come on to the territory hub, then. For a transaction this big, we’ll need everyone present.” Raising her voice, she shouted, “Luka, you can come out now!”
Rhoswen scanned our surroundings, and between her and Veric, I saw Luka step out from behind one of the nearby buildings. One hand rested on the hilt of his sword. With the other, he pulled off the strip of cloth he’d been using as a blindfold. The first thing he looked at was me.
Instantly, my irritation surged back full force. “Wow, look at how prepared you are with all these countermeasures. What happened to the trust between us?”
It wasn’t a question I asked in good faith. If he said he trusted me, he was an idiot, and if he didn’t trust me, he was still an idiot for asking me to kill him in KP-04.
Colorful threads slowly materialized in Luka’s vision. He looked at me carefully before opening his mouth.
“It’s because I don’t understand the way you feel about me. So, I don’t know how I should treat you.”
The fact that it was a reasonable response pissed me off even more.
“You don’t know how I feel? Haven’t I been abundantly clear?”
Luka said, “Knowing isn’t the same as understanding.”
I took a few steps towards him before a thread of reason pierced through my anger to tell me that I shouldn’t hit someone I needed to cooperate with, especially after we’d run through so many options already. I could wait until after the exam was over.
So, thinking back to that vision I’d had, I satisfied myself by saying, “You look stupid standing there with your short hair. You should at least grow it out.”
Luka stared at me, still with that stupid lack of comprehension, and touched his hair with a bewildered air.
Feeling better, I loosened my fists and turned back around. “You two lead the way to the hub. Also, let’s not walk together.”
Veric stepped forward. “Acacius—”
Rhoswen moved in next to me, placing a hand on my shoulder. “He said we’ll walk apart. Please, go ahead.”
“…Okay.”
Giving us one last look, Luka and Veric fell into step next to one another and walked ahead, away from the miniature port city and out into the coastal hills. Rhoswen hooked her arm through mine, and once they were a fair distance ahead, pulled me to walk along with her. Convenient, when I didn’t have use of my own eyes.
Thinking back to KP-04, after Luka realized I was blind, he’d been really good at being my eyes, too.
Honestly, he’d been good enough to me that maybe my anger was a little out of proportion…
But every time I remembered holding his body in my arms, sinking through the dark ocean, tasting his blood and mine on my tongue, the anger would come back again.
It wasn’t like I hadn’t killed people I was close to before. The first time, I’d been pretty young. It was shortly after my brother had been chosen by the settlement administrators to guide militia soldiers through the wilderness. My brother’s scavenger friend, who used to look after me when my brother was busy, tried to kill him. If my brother was gone, the administrators likely would have chosen him as the replacement. And If he performed well, he could forge a relationship, and if he did that, then maybe, just maybe, he could a place for himself and his family in the settlement as well…
I liked him, but I loved my brother more, so when I saw my brother losing the fight, I made my choice.
Didn’t stop me from crying after, though.
That was just the sort of thing that happened back then. Even if my brother and I wanted to live peacefully, the conflict would still come to us as long as people thought we had meat from our hunts or harvests from the mountains. And if a fight broke out, well… Everyone was desperate, and I was young. If I wasn’t fiercer, wilder, and crueler than my opponents, then I was the one who would get hurt, and my brother was the one who had to pick up the pieces.
He’d been too soft of a person, really. If he won the fight, he wouldn’t always kill. If he didn’t kill, sometimes he even listened to the other person’s story and gave them a bit of what they needed anyways — especially if it was someone we already knew.
It would have been an admirable thing if we’d lived in a kinder world. Instead, my brother got a reputation as a total sucker. If you robbed him, you’d gain something; if you failed, you could just wring out a few tears and you’d be scot-free to try another day. And even though my hyung knew what they said about him, he always told me that he would be rewarded for his good deeds in his next life.
But first, we had to live in this life, right?
So I started sneaking around behind his back and attacking anyone he let go. People I knew, people I didn’t. Some of them walked away after my attacks. Not all of them did.
My brother hadn’t been very happy, when he found out. But it’d worked. If my brother was a sucker, I just had to be the crazy dog next to him.
After he died, for a long time, all I knew how to do was bite the people who came close to me…
Meeting Teacher and Sister had tamed me a little, but it didn’t change the fact that I was someone who could hurt others, regardless of how I felt about them.
And, if I was being honest with myself, I didn’t like being that kind of person.
I didn’t like the fact that I’d been able to look at Luka and come to the conclusion that he needed to be killed, that I’d coldly thought of a plan to carry it out, that I’d been calm enough to bait him with my blood and flesh until he was in the right position for me to put my knife straight through his heart.
So, even if he wasn’t my friend—
Why couldn’t I hate him a little for that?
But I’d rather kill Luka again than explain that to him. So if he never understood me, then that was just how it would have to be.
“Acacius,” Rhoswen called softly, breaking into my thoughts.
I lifted my head. “Yes?”
“If you don’t want to do this, we can stop.”
What the hell was she talking about?
“Rhoswen, I know I’ve been acting on my emotions a little, but I can still keep the bigger picture in mind, you know? Let’s not mess up the last good option we have.”
“But Acacius, I don’t want you to ever feel forced to do something you don’t want to do.”
She pulled me to a stop and turned to face me, face solemn.
“I am willing to follow your arrangements, however you desire. But if those arrangements are making you unhappy, there’s no reason we have to do it.”
“No reason? The tokens—”
“We can protect our tokens another way, or change our strategies. We can settle down in one territory and play honestly; we can slow down our raids and only strike at neighbors when conditions are safe. I also have a certain method of the Wild Hunt at my disposal, if you wish to pursue a radical approach, though of course, it is not lightly used nor without its drawbacks.”
She stepped closer to me.
“I am telling you this because, just as you have treated me well, I also hope that you will not be chained down to a single path. So Acacius, remember this.”
Rhoswen looked deep into my eyes, undeterred by the kaleidoscope patterns shifting within them.
“I am your partner, just as you are mine. You are not solely responsible for our strategy and success, nor must you bear the burden of the exam alone. If you falter and fall, I will be there to lift you up.”
She lightly touched my face. I couldn’t see her expression, but somehow, it felt sad, anyways.
“That is why, if you are unhappy and want to stop, then you only need to say the word. I will carry it all.”
In the face of such a serious declaration, I found myself at a loss for words.
Rhoswen stroked my cheek. Then, from within her coat, she pulled out a black flower, unfurling like a lily, and tucked it into the pocket on my chest.
“Allow me to tell you my method now,” she said, and whispered in my ear.
Up ahead, Luka and Veric had come to a stop, and they were looking back at us.
“Acacius,” Luka called. “Is everything okay?”
I swallowed.
Patiently, Rhoswen waited.
“This would make us into everyone’s enemy,” I said. “I’m okay with that, but are you sure?”
“I am.”
I shook my head, though I didn’t know what I was denying. “Why?”
“Because you said I am your partner,” she said simply.
“…Just that?”
She laughed. “Just that? Acacius, surely you know the weight of words among the fae… especially those weighted like a promise.”
I didn’t, not really.
But I knew their weight to me.
If that was the case, then… it was okay to accept her offer, right?
“Let’s not talk about my feelings,” I said, “but… I think I’d like to try things your way.”
Rhoswen lifted my hand in hers, like a perfect gentleman. When she turned to face Luka and Veric, the sun behind her cast her face into shadow, but she might have been smiling.
“Luka, Veric,” she said solemnly. “I thank you for your hospitality. However, Acacius and I will be departing now.”
Veric’s brows furrowed; Luka said, “Why?”
Rhoswen guided my arms to wrap around her waist.
“We are very alike, Luka,” she said. “But there is something you should learn: you don’t need to understand someone to be good to them.”
Then she leaned in to whisper in my ear again, autumn-red strands of hair falling to tickle my cheek.
“Acacius, it’s your turn now. Please, spirit me away.”
I couldn’t help but snort a little. “As you command.”
Without waiting for a response from the others, I kicked us off the ground and flew us into the air, high and away.
Yeah… Rhoswen was right. Why force myself into something I didn’t want to do?
If we didn’t work with anyone else, that was fine. There was more than one role we could play.
It was time for Operation: Nightmare Flower to begin.
Lots to unpack this chapter; Jules and Rhoswen, a bit about Eunseok's past, his thoughts and ideas about the world. What bit of characterization stuck out to you the most?
Next up: the outside POV chapters. We've got two people to get through this time. Take your guesses as to who it's going to be!
Comment system fixes:
Editing notes to previous chapters:
Don't forget to check out my tumblr for recent art! Thank you to everyone who's drawn something for this story!
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