“Who are you?”

  The “woman’s” long shes fluttered. A smile pyed on her lips, tinged with a sense of wonder and admiration, as if she were gazing upon a perfect work of art.

  She’d originally found the girl in the maid’s uniform, with her unique physique and soul, to be interesting enough. Even after being impnted with a fabricated memory, the girl had managed a flicker of instinctual resistance, a weak defiance that forced her to slightly refine her “image.” It had been a long time since she’d encountered such an interesting child.

  And yet, to think she would find something even more interesting here…

  Just look at what she was seeing!

  A soul that had only just formally obtained the first Spiritual Rune of a Wizard apprentice!

  A perfect “quasi-Witch” seed, grown from the Witch’s own bloodline!

  Two power systems that, in theory, were completely in conflict, mutually repelling…

  At this moment, were fusing together in a single, frail vessel in an unbelievable, perfect spectacle…

  How… simply beautiful!

  The woman watched Pandora for a good while. The curve of her lips spread wider and wider, until she couldn’t hide an expression of near-obsessive ecstasy.

  The way she looked at Pandora was like one admiring a magnificent, epic poem written at the dawn of time.

  A shiver crawled down Pandora’s spine under that gaze.

  Even though the other was a woman, being looked at like she was a thing, a rare collectible at best, made her skin crawl.

  “Answer me. Who are you!” Pandora said again, her voice heavy with warning.

  The strange woman seemed to return from her professional, intoxicated appreciation. She gave a soft, airy ugh. The sound was clear and pleasant, yet it sent a chill down Pandora’s back.

  “You don’t recognize me?” Her voice was as soft as a feather brushing her ear.

  “Your best friend.”

  Best friend?

  Those four words, like an ancient chant branded deep in her soul, the moment they hit her ears, Pandora… froze.

  The female figure in the doorway, which had been growing clearer as her eyes adjusted to the light, instantly blurred, becoming indistinct once more.

  The woman’s voice was… pleasant. The kind of pleasant that made you drop all your guard and rex completely. Like when her mother would sit by her bed during those feverish, sleepless nights of her childhood, humming a tuneless, soothing rhyme.

  That feeling… So safe. So warm.

  But now was not the time for rexation.

  Pandora shuddered. That warmth, like a lulby from the depths of her soul, receded. Her chaotic mind, amidst the extreme shock and ecstasy, returned to crity.

  This time, she finally saw the woman’s face clearly.

  That face, so familiar that even after being buried under fourteen years of memory’s dust, it was still incomparably clear.

  In an instant, it left her dumbfounded.

  And then, scalding hot tears burst from her eyes, flowing down her cheeks.

  “Is it… really you… sister?!”

  Without the slightest hesitation, without a single thought, Pandora used all the strength in her body and rushed forward, hugging that figure tightly.

  Hot tears instantly soaked the front of the woman’s dress, and a flicker of brief, unnoticed surprise fshed across the woman’s face.

  But she immediately… reacted, quickly adapting to this “new” identity. She did as a true older sister should. She hugged the trembling Pandora, and then used a hand that seemed so fragile it could be snapped by a gust of wind to gently stroke Pandora’s head, generously offering all the warmth she could give.

  “It’s me,” her voice held a perfect touch of hoarseness and tenderness, like one who had been separated for too long. “I’m back.”

  Pandora felt that familiar, heart-soothing warmth. Her sister from her previous life, the one she had the best, dearest retionship with, had suddenly appeared before her. The familiar body heat, the familiar scent, the familiar, gentle comfort… All of it made her… sink.

  She hugged her sister tightly, the one she thought she would never see again.

  Fourteen years of longing and grief, which she had never told anyone about, not even Elsa, gushed out like a bursting dam.

  And her “sister,” just as wordlessly, gently, repeatedly stroked her head, like she was soothing a kitten who had been lost for far too long and had only just found her way home.

  A long time ter, Pandora finally pulled away from that inescapable warmth and emotion. She raised a hand, sloppily wiping the tear tracks from her face with her sleeve. Her gaze was dazed, fixed on her face. She carefully, bit by bit, took in the face, not letting a single detail escape.

  You couldn’t bme her. The sister of her previous life had never appeared in any form in the fourteen years since she’d transmigrated. Those once-beautiful memories had long since been carefully stored away in the softest, deepest part of her heart, dared not touch lightly, terrified they would be worn away by the daily, year-long longing.

  Now, to suddenly appear before her again, anyone would find it incredible, and for a moment, be unable to distinguish… was this reality? Or a dream too real?

  But, no matter how she tried to discern it, the woman before her was her sister. Her best, her only, her most beloved… sister.

  Pandora completely let go of her final sliver of doubt.

  Without a question, this was the sister of her previous life, and also the one she had met again in this life, whom she thought she would never see again… Her sister—Faye.

  Pandora held Faye’s hand, her emotions still a little turbulent but much calmer now.

  “Faye… it’s been so long. I got a bit emotional. Forgive me…”

  “How have you been all these years?”

  Faye listened patiently. Her long lifespan and near-infinite experiences had already polished her character to be like an ancient well, without the slightest ripple. She looked into Pandora’s eyes, which were filled with concern and longing.

  At this moment, however, her mind was curiously focused on something else. This “Orchard · Fragment World” had already been recycled no less than a hundred times. Even among the many Orchard Worlds, it should be considered “long-lived.” By all rights, all the details of this world should have been thoroughly mapped out by the Demon Hunter Academy and the true powers that stood behind them.

  According to the meticulous and detailed records of the Demon Hunter Academy, Viscount Dougs should have only had one daughter.

  So why… would this child before her suddenly have an extra “sister” appear out of thin air?

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