Azriel's heart could not take this anymore.
No, seriously.
Forget the gods. Forget this world. Forget the participants. Forget his mana core syndrome. Forget the fact that his sanity was slipping away from him second by second.
At this point, the thing that would actually do Azriel in might genuinely be a heart attack.
Gazing at Celestina, who was still looking down, he opened his mouth to answer.
Then he closed it.
He fell silent, because he did not even know what he was supposed to say.
Eventually, he asked,
"How long were you pretending to be unconscious?"
Celestina did not answer immediately.
"You are just a hypocrite, aren't you, Azriel?"
She murmured the words Pollux had spoken.
"From there on…" she said quietly. "Until the end… where you shot her…"
She sounded as though she was not entirely sure whether that last part had truly happened.
Azriel closed his eyes.
"…What do you want me to say?"
"The truth would really help."
She let out a soft, empty chuckle.
