Chapter 177: Seems like an old friend

Night had deepened.

The forest canopy was far too dense, like a massive black lid covering most of the sky above the Elven Forest. Only fragments of moonlight leaked through the gaps between the branches, and soon even those faint traces of silver radiance were swallowed by darkness.

After accompanying Olivia through an entire day of birthday celebrations, the princess insisted that it was too late to return to the tower safely and stubbornly arranged for Perletti to stay overnight in a guest room within the royal palace.

At this moment, Perletti lay on the unfamiliar bed with one arm beneath her head, staring blankly at the ceiling until the last trace of moonlight disappeared from view.

She turned over and hugged the blanket into a bundle, yet an indescribable irritation and unease continued to rise in her chest for no apparent reason.

At that moment, a fluffy little head poked out from the collar of her pajamas and gently rubbed against her chin.

It was Scarlet Night, currently shrunk into the form of a tiny purple puppy.

“What’s big sister thinking about?” she asked softly.

“Are you… thinking about that blonde elf?”

Earlier, the condition for allowing Perletti to go out alone with Olivia had been that Scarlet Night would be allowed to hide beside Perletti in this form, just like back in Brest.

The only difference was that back then, Scarlet Night had been unconscious—quiet and obedient.

Now, however, she was very much awake, and occasionally threw little fits because of her obsession with “having big sister all to herself,” sometimes biting Perletti’s soft skin with her teeth or wriggling around until she became unbearably ticklish.

“Mhm…”

Perletti answered absentmindedly, brows slightly furrowed.

For some reason, ever since arriving in the Elven Forest—especially after staying in Goliath—her heart had constantly been filled with a strange panic she couldn’t explain.

“Is big sister worried about that blonde elf?”

Scarlet Night lifted her tiny head, her dark red eyes faintly glowing in the darkness.

“Not entirely because of her…”

Perletti shook her head, trying to suppress the inexplicable anxiety in her chest, but her gaze unconsciously drifted toward the window.

In that direction, even in the middle of the night, the colossal shadow of the World Tree still radiated an overwhelming sense of pressure.

“It’s just… this strange feeling of unease. Like something is about to happen. Or maybe… it’s already happened.”

Irritated, she rolled over again.

“Forget it. There’s no way I’m sleeping like this. Scarlet Night, I want to go out for a walk.”

“Mhm! Scarlet Night will go with big sister!”

The little creature immediately agreed.

Perletti got up, changed into lighter clothes, and silently pushed open the door.

Even though it was already late at night, elven soldiers still patrolled the palace corridors and courtyards. Upon seeing Perletti, they merely nodded respectfully and neither stopped nor questioned her.

Clearly, Olivia had already given them instructions beforehand.

Her room happened to be right beside Olivia’s private chambers.

Yet at this moment, not even the slightest trace of light leaked through the crack beneath the door. Everything was deathly silent.

“She went to sleep this early? I thought she’d stay up late dealing with all that piled-up paperwork…”

Perletti muttered quietly to herself, not thinking much of it.

However, the little sable in her arms suddenly moved.

It lifted its nose and sniffed the air before pawing lightly at Perletti’s clothes, its voice carrying a trace of alertness.

“Big sister, something’s wrong… that blonde elf isn’t in her room.”

“Hm? Maybe she’s still in her office…”

“No.”

Scarlet Night closed her eyes, seemingly sensing the elemental fluctuations within the darkness. A moment later, she reopened them, her tone certain.

“She’s not in the palace. She left, and… she went very far away. Toward that tree.”

“That tree…?”

Perletti froze for an instant before her expression suddenly changed.

“The World Tree?! Damn it—Scarlet Night, quickly!”

Without time to explain, Perletti shoved Scarlet Night’s tiny sable form back inside her clothes against her chest and instantly sprinted out of the palace toward the World Tree!

Under the silent night sky, the girl’s figure shot through the corridors and courtyards like a white arrow. Her snow-white hair streamed behind her like a surging silver tide.

Even running felt too slow.

With a thought, pure light elements gathered behind her back and condensed into a pair of translucent wings woven from flowing radiance. Though she still wasn’t proficient at controlling them, she no longer cared.

Her speed exploded upward.

“I should’ve realized it earlier! I knew something felt wrong with her from the beginning, but I still refused to think in the worst direction!”

Anxiety wrapped around her heart like icy vines.

The World Tree was the deepest source of dread within Olivia’s heart. The only thing capable of pushing her into such emotional instability could only be some kind of disaster involving the World Tree itself.

Perletti raced forward desperately, praying that it was not yet too late.

The problem of the World Tree had always been the heaviest stone weighing upon Olivia’s heart. The only thing capable of making her this depressed—enough to act so abnormally—could only be the fact that she intended to face the God of Decay alone.

She planned to spend one final “birthday,” then die without regrets.

But with her strength alone, how could she possibly succeed?!

If Olivia had truly been capable of solving it herself, then why would she have paid such a terrible price before?

Yet by now, all those thoughts felt meaningless.

Perletti had no idea when Olivia left her room, nor how long she had already been inside the World Tree.

Every passing second could mean consequences beyond recovery.

The thorn-covered wall leading into the core region of the World Tree still slowly writhed and shifted. Tiny gaps had yet to fully close before another visitor disturbed them once more.

Following that familiar and silent path, Perletti once again arrived before the black wall that resembled perfectly still water.

The elderly elf who seemed almost fused together with the roots of the tree remained there as always.

With his back facing Perletti, he let out a long sigh that sounded as though it had crossed through countless years of time.

“Her Highness believed… you would not notice something was wrong until dawn and come here then.”

The old man’s voice was hoarse and heavy.

“It seems… she still did not understand you well enough.”

He slowly turned around.

In his thin, withered hand rested a letter sealed with silver leaves.

Written upon it in elegant handwriting were the words:

“To Perletti.”

Perletti’s gaze locked firmly onto the letter, yet she made no move to take it.

She did not want to read some farewell letter.

Nor did she want to accept any arrangements made after Olivia’s death.

Instead, she walked directly to the black wall and stared at her own pale reflection mirrored upon its surface.

Then she extended her hand and lightly touched the icy “water.”

In an instant, ripples spread silently across the black wall like a stone cast into a still lake.

“Come… child…”

A vast and illusory voice, ancient beyond comprehension, exploded directly within Perletti’s mind!

It was not heard through her ears.

It spoke directly to the soul itself, carrying an indescribable heaviness and temptation.

A violent pain stabbed through Perletti’s head, as though information beyond her mind’s limit was being forcibly crammed inside. Darkness flooded her vision.

“Child…”

The old man’s voice sounded behind her once more, hoarse and sorrowful.

“This is not a burden you should bear. Turn back now. Leave this place. Everything… can still be treated as though it never happened.”

“Not my burden? Pretend nothing happened?”

Perletti staggered slightly before forcing herself upright again. A short, self-mocking laugh escaped her lips.

“Heh… If Olivia dies in there, how could the elves possibly pretend nothing happened? Besides me… who else can do this now?”

Lowering her head, she exchanged a glance with Scarlet Night hidden inside her clothes.

No words were necessary.

The determination in their eyes already said everything.

Just as they had promised before—

They would venture deep into the World Tree together and confront that so-called God of Decay face-to-face.

Perletti no longer hesitated.

She pressed her entire palm firmly against the rippling black mirror.

The next moment, an irresistible suction force erupted forth!

Perletti felt as though she had instantly sunk into a freezing, viscous swamp. An invisible force dragged her body downward into the depths.

She struggled instinctively, but her limbs felt heavy as lead. Her consciousness gradually blurred, her eyelids growing heavier and heavier as darkness rapidly swallowed her vision.

Just before she completely lost consciousness, a warm power suddenly spread from her chest and gently but firmly wrapped around her.

Was that Scarlet Night?

It felt similar… yet somehow subtly different.

But standing on the edge of unconsciousness, Perletti no longer had the strength to distinguish the difference.

Like a drowning person grasping the final straw, she clung desperately to that warmth and allowed herself to sink into endless darkness.

Her sense of time became completely distorted.

It felt like only a few minutes had passed.

And yet it also felt like hundreds of years.

She vaguely sensed herself lying upon some uneven and rigid surface that pressed painfully against her body.

“Titi? Titi!”

Hm?

Who’s calling me?

That voice… sounds familiar…

“I’m serious, Miss Light Witch. No matter how sleepy you are, you shouldn’t just lie down and fall asleep right in the middle of a battlefield. Hurry up. I’ll find somewhere clean for you to rest properly.”

Someone pulled her body upright from the ground.

Perletti barely managed to open her eyes.

Her vision was blurry, and her mind remained clouded and chaotic.

“You are… Ino?”