"Katarina…"
Kael looks at the doll in Chenxi's hands, his expression complicated.
So his simulated self had been carrying the doll formed from Katarina all along.
That it happened to fall right onto the words he carved into the ground could not be a coincidence.
Was she trying to help him?
But Katarina's soul should have already dissipated.
[A doll is formed from the final obsession of a soul. Under normal circumstances, it does not possess its own consciousness.]
"…Even if there's no consciousness left, is that last trace of obsession still worrying about me?"
Then those two tear marks on her face…
They appeared because of him…
Katarina…
She was crying…
Was she grieving his death too?
After clearly seeing the words carved into the ground, Chenxi hurriedly calls out to Yelan.
"Yelan! These are words my brother carved. They're what he wanted to say to us. Come look!"
Yelan had been standing there as if frozen, staring at Kael's tightly shut eyes.
When she hears Chenxi's voice, her eyes finally shift slightly. She turns her head toward Chenxi, her movements slow and stiff.
"Kael… had something to say…?"
"Yes!"
Afraid that Yelan and Chenxi might miss the message he left behind, Kael had poured all his strength into carving those words.
When Chenxi sees the two lines of text, crooked yet deeply etched into the stone, her tears spill out once more.
She sobs as she speaks.
"Brother said… the Fatui planted a device on me…"
"And… he told Yelan that after we return to Liyue… to remember to go find Hu Tao…"
Yelan listens and asks calmly.
"Is there anything else?"
"N… no… that's all…"
"Yelan… will the Fatui find us… because of the device on me…?"
"Is it my fault that brother died…?"
"I shouldn't have left Yanshang Teahouse back then…"
"I should have tried to understand brother earlier… if I had realized what he was going through sooner… then… none of this would have happened…!"
Guilt and self-blame crush down on Chenxi until she can barely breathe.
She begins pounding her fists against the ground, trying desperately to vent her pain.
"It's all my fault!"
"I should have died long ago! I don't deserve his protection!"
"I don't deserve to be his sister!"
"Why wasn't it me who died…?"
"Brother already lived such a hard life… he shouldn't have ended up like this…"
"Why… why is this world so unfair…?"
Chenxi strikes the ground with all her strength, not stopping even when her hands begin to bleed.
Kael turns his head away, unable to bear the sight.
His death in the life simulation was not entirely unrelated to Chenxi.
But in the end, she was just a child who had been overly cherished.
The version of himself in the simulation had wanted to protect her innocence and willfulness forever.
Not force her to grow up in such a cruel way…
He had switched to Sensory Mode hoping to return to their side, to properly say goodbye.
He wanted to ease Chenxi's guilt and Yelan's obsession.
He never expected his body in the simulation to be so badly damaged.
He could not even crawl back to them.
He could only say farewell in such a brutal manner…
"Enough."
Yelan grips Chenxi's arm tightly, stopping her from hurting herself.
"Kael traded his life for your safety."
"I won't allow anyone to hurt you."
"Not even yourself."
Chenxi looks up, her eyes swollen and red from crying, staring blankly at Yelan.
"Yelan…?"
Yelan looks down at the girl in her grasp, at those painfully familiar features, and speaks with cruel clarity.
"Then live on like this."
"Live forever with guilt and pain."
She hates her.
Chenxi realizes it in that instant.
The woman standing before her is harboring resentment toward her.
When Chenxi meets Yelan's deep jade-green eyes, dark as an abyss, the fine hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.
If she were not Kael's sister…
Yelan would have killed her without hesitation.
Once Yelan sees Chenxi calm down, she releases her grip and lets her collapse weakly onto the ground.
She then picks up the blonde doll from the floor and tosses it toward Chenxi.
"Since this belonged to Kael, keep it."
"I already checked you earlier. I didn't find any device on you."
"Once we return to Liyue, we'll do a more thorough check."
Yelan seems to have fully recovered, returning to her usual composed and cold demeanor.
She bends down and lifts Kael's blood-soaked body.
"Now, we leave this place immediately."