Gnashing her teeth, Kresi scratches the dry ground, fisting the dirt in rage, lifting her head to look daggers at him. If looks could kill, Aren should have dropped dead long ago.

He meets her gaze quietly, seemingly unperturbed.

They stare at each other while the spirit beasts stare at them. The breaths are held. The tension in the air is so thick that their reptilian hearts are suffocating. All the spirit beasts, except one, have one question in their mind: what will Kresi do?

"I won," Mogrok smirks, breaking the silence. "Hand me the money."

"You seemed to be sure that he would win." One spirit beast squints his quartet orange eyes at him. His tone turns dry. "To bet so high on the chosen one…"

"I gave him that idea." Mogrok lets out a low chuckle. "I knew that it would take her off guard."

"You, sneak!" The second spirit beast growls darkly, "I lost my money because of you."

"If you don't want to lose money, then don't bet," Mogrok huffs at the spirit beast. "You should be ready to lose if you want to play."

"But you helped him!" The first spirit beast yells at him. "It's not fair."

"Did I stop anyone from helping Kresi?" Mogrok flails his arms, rotating his waist in joy. "This is the first time I won something."

***

In the ring, Aren walks to her and offers her hand with a smile. "My slave, how long are you going to lie down there?"

"I hate you," Kresi spits out the words.

"So intense!" He chuckles. "I like passionate women."

"Passionate?" She narrows her eyes on him. "You are a lot like your mother who also used underhanded means back then."

Having heard her words, the smile is wiped off his face. Aren stares at the ground, retracting his hand. His eyes darken as he turns his head to look around, not meeting her gaze.

"Hmph!" She gets up on her feet and dusts off her clothes. "I am your slave now. What do you want me to do?"

"Open the borders," He tells her calmly. His voice is emotionless and his gaze has turned distant as he continues to speak, "Let me handle the rebels. In the meantime, you should take some rest. You did a good job of holding for so long, but you are not good at managing a kingdom. Violence is not the only way to deal with the rebels."

He's praising her? Kresi curves her brows and replies to him, "I don't want to rest."

"Then, clean the castle with one hand," He snaps at her. "Honestly, I can't care less. I am only here to open the borders and help the god of light. After this, you and I are going our separate ways. I don't need a slave like you."

The corner of her lips twitch. If he doesn't need her as a slave, why did he go this far? "Are you angry because I compared you to your mother?"

"Did I say that?" He frowns hard at her. "I just find you irritating. You are self-entitled, immature, and thoughtless. Even after dying and reincarnating, you haven't learned a lesson. If you are given a peaceful way or a violent way, you will always choose violence over peace. You don't understand what it means to be human."

Kresi hears the spirit beasts unsatisfied grumbling while walking away from the fighting ring. Mogrok is heading in their direction with a euphoric look in his eyes. The sky is getting dark already, and she feels a certain chill in the air.

"It's no wonder that a person like you caused the great war or became the reason why countless cursed children died to this date." Aren yells at her, "You blame my mother for killing them, but you should never forget that none of this would have happened if you hadn't corrupted the dark ehr."

Kresi takes a step back, widening her eyes. The hurt lingers only for a second before a goofy smile cracks on her face. "Alright, it's my fault. I hand over the rebel problem to you. Furthermore, I am not your slave anymore since you don't want me to be. Don't change your mind later."

"That's right." Aren wrinkles his nose. "You don't even deserve to be a slave."

And then, he hurries away from her as if he can't bear to look at her anymore.

She glances at her missing hand. It's awkward -- standing out like an eyesore. Is losing it worth it? If she had chosen to die that day instead of trying too hard to survive, Adira wouldn't have lost his memories and Renasir wouldn't have left this world.

Survival has become a habit. A sharp tongue is another weapon that she can't cease herself from using.

"I am tired," She whispers. "Is it possible for me to find peace?"

The former prince… she didn't want to meet him. He lost his brother again because of her. It started from her inability to get over Jase's death, and it hasn't stopped yet. All of this is happening because of her.

Where is that little kid? Are Renasir and Ai okay? Did he even get his true name?

"Aren't you going to come inside the castle?" Mogrok's voice startles her. Then again, he's been beside her for a while.

"I think that I am going to take a walk," She says to him, "You saw who won. He's good with these things. Go and help him."

"Come back soon after the walk." Mogrok pats her head with his one arm. "The Dark God left you in charge. I am sure that he trusted you somewhat."

That's hurtful. She shrugs and walks away, toward the lake where Adira met her for the first time. It's not her favourite place. These days, she doesn't understand who she is. Whenever she's lost in regrets, she finds walking toward the lake.

When it's a night in the dark realm, it's always a day in the realm of the light. The stars are gone from the sky since Mirinae and Sion's kingdom is closed to others. The moons are also gone. The indigo sky feels lonely, deep, and it feels like her.

Kresi sits down on the shore of the lake, dipping her feet. She inhales the cold wind mixed with a certain scent of salty mineral, the familiar scent of poisonous Thura that only grow in the dark realm, and the --

When she looks down at her chest, a silvertip glistens in her sight. It seems that she's losing her touch. "I got distracted."

Blood drenches her robes as the assailant steps away and roars mockingly, "Sinner! It's time for you to die!"

There's no change in her eyes. She lets out a sigh, not even bothering to look back at the face of the assailant. Faint silver runes gleam on the assailant's flesh. His eyes bulge out when he sees smoke rising from his skin.

"Why? You couldn't defeat that man." He screams, "Then, how could you cast runes on me? There's no medium."

His body goes out like a flicker in the lamp, leaving only black dust on the spot.

"Annoying." She places the tip of her finger on the blade and it disintegrates. "What made you think that I will treat you the same?"

But death is painful. She has to go now.

Dying at this lake is rather…

Kresi slips into the water as she closes her eyes.

…rather satisfying.