"Furina, are you hoping I'm just making all this up?"
"Of course not!"
If he were bluffing, then what if Fontaine still ended up destroyed?
The more contingency plans they had to deal with the crisis, the better!
"But don't you already have a way to deal with all this, Furina?"
"..."
Furina fell silent.
How was she supposed to explain this?
Was she supposed to admit outright that even she didn't know whether her own plan would succeed?
From the very beginning, she had simply been someone entrusted with a mission—to play the role of a god.
But she wasn't a god at all.
Who could possibly understand how painful it had been to endure five hundred years with nothing but the mind of an ordinary human?
"That's enough. Stop teasing Furina already, you meanie."
The full-length mirror in the room no longer reflected the bedroom.
Instead, its surface transformed into the interior of the Opera Epiclese.
Standing at the center of the mirror was a young woman in a flowing dress—
Focalors.
The sudden voice startled the already jumpy Furina so badly that she nearly fell to the floor.
"!!!"
The moment she saw the other version of herself inside the mirror...
everything clicked.
So...
this man had known all along that she wasn't the Hydro Archon.
Her secret had already been exposed, hadn't it?
"You lied to me!"
Furina raised her tiny fists and thumped Su Ran squarely in the chest.
She'd spent all this time worrying herself sick.
And it turned out he'd seen through her from the very beginning!
As for the Furina inside the mirror...
she didn't doubt her for a second.
If this were just some elaborate trick to lure her into confessing the truth, there would've been no point.
Because this guy already knew she wasn't the Hydro Archon!
"Furina, you're so heartless."
"I even brought you presents the first two times I came."
Rubbing his chest, Su Ran couldn't help but marvel at just how weak Furina really was.
Even an angry punch from her...
felt soft and completely harmless.
"You're such a liar..."
"I'm not talking to you anymore!"
Even clay figures have tempers.
All those times he'd called her "Your Divinity"...
he'd just been laughing at her, hadn't he?
He'd never treated her like a real god.
"It's all your fault, Focalors."
"Now Furina won't even talk to me."
Su Ran shot a fierce glare toward the Focalors inside the mirror.
"Serves you right."
"You started teasing me first."
Focalors glared back without backing down.
Did he really think she was that easygoing?
Patting her head would've been one thing.
But pinching her cheeks?
And squeezing so hard?
Once would've been bad enough.
But he'd gone and done it a second time!
Even though she currently existed only as a consciousness...
she could still feel pain!
"...Focalors?"
Hearing the exchange between the two, Furina stared in astonishment at the woman in the mirror.
So she's Focalors?
The real Hydro Archon?
"Why do you look exactly like me?"
Their faces were identical.
The only difference was that compared to Furina,
Focalors lacked the exaggerated flair, replacing it with calm elegance instead.
She also seemed just a little shorter.
Furina nodded to herself.
Looks like I'm still taller.
If Focalors could read minds, she'd definitely make Furina take off her shoes before comparing heights again.
The two of them were literally the same person.
What difference could there possibly be?
Su Ran casually pulled over a chair, sat down, and settled in to watch the two Furinas interact.
"Because..."
"...at our core, we're the same person."
"!!!"
Furina's eyes widened.
So... I really am the Hydro Archon?
Then Eighty-Five wasn't actually lying to me?
"...What about him?"
She pointed at Su Ran, who was comfortably watching the "Furina vs. Furina" show from his chair.
"A terrible man with a wicked sense of humor."
"But..."
"...his daughter is adorable."
Focalors deliberately avoided revealing Su Ran's true identity.
It was her way of showing goodwill.
"So..."
"If I die..."
"...can the Hydro Dragon really save Fontaine?"
In that instant,
Furina genuinely considered sacrificing herself.
She was timid.
She feared death.
But her desire to save Fontaine had always been real.
"That won't do."
"Even though we're the same person..."
"...the Dragon Authority is still with me."
"So..."
"...I'm the one who should die."
Furina had already sacrificed enough for Fontaine.
After all this, she deserved to enjoy a happy life.
How could she be the one to die?
"See that enormous sword inside the mirror?"
"That's the guillotine Focalors plans to use to chop off her own head."
Su Ran cheerfully pointed at the colossal blade visible behind Focalors.
"You really do know everything..."
Focalors sighed helplessly.
How did this man seem to know absolutely everything?
"And that's not some guillotine."
"If I stand beneath it..."
"...my entire body will be erased."
"I won't just lose my head."
"Oh..."
Furina didn't dwell on it.
Even if Focalors was technically another version of herself...
they'd barely interacted.
They had met only once—five hundred years ago.
Naturally,
there wasn't much emotional attachment.
At most, she felt a little curiosity, along with the ordinary sadness anyone would feel upon learning someone was about to die.
It wasn't enough for her to beg Focalors not to sacrifice herself.
After five centuries, she'd seen more than enough farewells and deaths.
Focalors?
I don't even know her that well.
"...Wait."
"There isn't some rule where if you die..."
"...I die too, right?"
Furina still couldn't help worrying about that possibility.
Focalors looked utterly speechless.
Yet toward this silly little Furina, she felt nothing but guilt.
She simply couldn't bring herself to scold her.
"No."
"We separated long ago."
"If I die..."
"...the most you'll lose is your unnaturally long lifespan."
"You'll simply stop being immortal."
"Mmm."
"That's good."
Furina patted her chest in relief.
At least she'd still have a few decades left to live.
Surely...those remaining decades would be far more fulfilling than the past five hundred years.
"..."
Focalors pressed her lips together.
A complicated feeling welled up inside her.
Even if I'm the one dying...
Couldn't you at least say something nice?
Comfort me a little?
Furina...
You really have no heart.
"Focalors."
"Do you want to live?"
Su Ran finally spoke.
The gloomy expression on Focalors' face instantly brightened.
"I've been waiting for you to ask that."
"I want to live!"
If she could live, who would willingly choose death?
After everything Su Ran had said, she had long since guessed that he already had a way to solve the crisis—and save her in the process.
She'd simply been waiting for him to bring it up.
"...Huh?"
"So you're not dying anymore?"
Furina cried out in surprise.
She was all set to die a moment ago!
Why is she suddenly planning to live instead?
"...Were you hoping I'd die?"
Focalors looked at her other self with a deeply aggrieved expression.
"N-No! Of course not!"
"I was just..."
"...surprised!"
"Really surprised!"
Furina hurriedly apologized, her face full of embarrassment.
—------------------------------
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