Mahina had clearly noticed Lorevil was avoiding her.
She could already see it, yet she still asked, “Why?”
Those three words seemed to drain every ounce of strength from Mahina.
Lorevil had no choice but to step back.
The girl’s wails were heartbreaking, and the vast despair within them also pressured Lorevil, who had made the decision.
Panic surged through her.
Mahina reached out with both hands, desperately grabbing Lorevil’s wrists.
This step was like the final straw that broke Mahina’s rationality.
“I’ve been working so hard all this time—learning to brew coffee every day, memorizing the menu, keeping track of our customers’ preferences. I haven’t slacked off. I haven’t made mistakes. I just wanted to stay by your side.”
“I’ve always wanted to become better, more outstanding—someone worthy of you…”
“I even kept dreaming that after you graduate, we’d save up and buy our own café to run together. We’d have a cozy little home and slowly buy nice furniture…”
She shook her head as she cried, tears blurring her vision.
As Mahina spoke, she actually broke into a joyful smile.
That smile was like a girl who had been longing for happiness and finally found a reason to hold on just a little longer.
“I…”
Lorevil’s heart trembled.
Her mind went blank.
Her lips moved for a long time, but she couldn’t keep herself rational.
What had she done?
A suffocating sensation swept over her, leaving her dizzy and faint, her vision darkening.
But the girl, like an unrelenting inquisitor, kept pressing on.
A thick sadness spread through the air.
“Mahina…”
“But why?”
Mahina stared at Lorevil with her deep, pitch-black eyes.
Under such an interrogation, Lorevil could only repeat her name over and over.
She thought arranging a good job for Mahina and letting her become independent would be enough.
Yet she never imagined Mahina had been working toward a future that included her all along.
The way Mahina’s eyes lit up the first time she brewed a coffee Lorevil liked; the evening walks together, Mahina clinging to her arm and chattering about funny little things…
Now, that image overlapped with the girl standing before her, her pretty face soaked with tears, making it almost impossible to breathe.
A single scalding tear slid down Lorevil’s cheek.
It reflected a moment of hesitation, then shattered into pieces the next second.
“We were so close before. You said you’d always take care of me, that you’d be with me forever. So why do you suddenly want to break up?”
Mahina didn’t notice that tear.
She was already sobbing uncontrollably, her tears going from burning hot to icy cold.
“Is it because I did something wrong? Tell me. I can change. I can change anything! Lorevil, just say it!”
“Mahina, it’s not your fault. You’re wonderful.”
Lorevil’s words were so pale and weak.
“Then why say things like breaking up? Why say you don’t want me anymore…”
“You could leave me in a corner, ignore me, pretend you didn’t hear me when I beg you to stay downstairs—but please… please don’t…”
Mahina completely fell apart.
She couldn’t bring herself to say those words.
She staggered back a few steps until her back hit the cold wall.
But Lorevil could read the desperate plea in the girl’s shattered eyes.
——Please don’t leave me.
But even as she cried out, Lorevil remained silent.
She simply watched quietly, her beautiful eyes full of pain and reluctance.
She saw Mahina’s Darkening Blood Bar rising, but this time, the choice was Lorevil’s.
Even if she had to bear the weight of her conscience, even if she had to watch Mahina suffer like this, she could not turn back.
Yet Mahina’s tears moved the girl deeply.
Her heart bled, and she almost gave in.
For some reason, she was overcome by an urge to cry loudly and pull the girl in front of her into a tight embrace.
Under Lorevil’s almost cruel silence, the girl lost all hope.
Her gaze darted wildly around the room, searching for something.
Finally, it landed on the pair of scissors by the bedside.
A flash of madness appeared in her eyes.
Mahina lunged.
“No—!”
She grabbed the scissors and held them tight.
Lorevil’s expression changed.
She tried to stop her, but it was too late.
The next second—
The Darkening Blood Bar neared its limit!
Mahina’s originally fair and delicate skin turned even paler.
The whites of her eyes darkened into pitch black.
Tears clung to her long eyelashes.
Her lips lost all color from overwhelming grief.
The lively, cute girl was now radiating a kind of tragic beauty.
“Mahina, don’t do anything rash. Let’s talk this over. Don’t do anything foolish.”
Lorevil rushed forward a few steps, shouting anxiously.
She could never forget what Mahina looked like in her nightmares when she darkened.
The memory still made her shudder.
Lorevil had already prepared herself to use Retrospection.
This time, it was her own fault that Mahina was darkening again.
If Mahina’s resentment turned toward her—just like when Noxia had witnessed her cheating before—
Then she’d have no choice but to retreat temporarily and find another way to make amends.
But the next second.
Mahina slowly raised the scissors.
Not toward Lorevil, but pointing the sharp blade at her own heart.
“A world without you means nothing. What hope do I have to live…”
Mahina whispered.
Her heart was completely dead.
At that moment, the Darkening Blood Bar filled to the max.
A massive amount of black energy spread rapidly across the girl’s face, giving her a sinister, twisted look.
“Lorevil, maybe you’re right. Breaking up is better for both of us.”
Her voice carried a tone of self-mockery.
An extreme sorrow surged toward Lorevil like a tide.
“But without you in the future, I don’t care how I live anymore!”
“No!”
Finally, Lorevil couldn’t hold back anymore.
She instinctively used Blood Flash.
A surging wave of Bloodline energy erupted from within her, and almost on pure reflex, she grabbed Mahina’s hand that held the scissors.
“Sss…”
The cold, dark aura from the scissors spread through her whole body, making Lorevil shudder, but she didn’t let go.
The moment the words “breaking up” left her mouth and she saw the red-rimmed tears in Mahina’s eyes, she realized just how huge a mistake she had made.
She wasn’t stupid.
“Mahina, don’t take it seriously…”
“I was just joking. Don’t take it to heart.”
Under the pressure, Lorevil could only frantically backpedal, forcing a smile that was uglier than crying, and pleaded.
“A joke?”
Mahina’s once clear eyes went hollow and lifeless, as if all vitality had been drained away.
Tears kept streaming down her face.
After Lorevil’s words, she didn’t loosen up at all.
Instead, she looked as if she saw through everything in utter despair.
“Lorevil, you never joke like this.”
In Mahina’s heart, Lorevil had always been the single light in her otherwise gray life.
Even a casual word would be remembered.
Because afterward, Lorevil never let her down.
Every word she said, she truly carried out.
She said she would take care of her, and she really did pull her out of helplessness.
She said she would stay with her, and no matter how busy she was, she always made time.
Because of that, how could Lorevil ever joke about something like breaking up?
Seeing this, Lorevil’s last shred of hope shattered.
She knew Mahina would take it seriously, but she never expected Mahina would go this far for her.
The girl opened her mouth to explain, but found every word weak and useless.
When Mahina saw Lorevil fall silent, the despair in her eyes reached its peak.
The black energy around her surged wildly, uncontrollable.
This darkening was definitely more intense than any before—surpassing even a second-stage darkening by several notches!
Lorevil’s mention of breaking up had completely touched Mahina’s bottom line and taken away all her will to live!
“Let me go!”
Mahina erupted with astonishing strength, wrenching herself free from Lorevil’s grip.
The scissors in her hand flashed coldly—
Without a moment’s hesitation, with a resigned decisiveness, she aimed for her own heart.
“No!”
Lorevil’s eyes went wide.
Her mind went blank.
In that split second, her body moved faster than her thoughts.
She threw herself in front of Mahina.
“Thud—”
The sharp tip of the scissors plunged unimpeded into Lorevil’s heart.
For a moment, the hallway fell silent.
Everything seemed to freeze.
When time resumed its flow, a violent pain wracked the girl’s body.
Warm blood gushed out, splattering onto Mahina’s pale face.
“I’m sorry…”
Lorevil looked down at the scissors deeply embedded in her chest, a bitter smile involuntarily curling at the corner of her mouth.
“Since it was… me who said those hurtful words, then this punishment, this torment, should come to me… not you…”
With every word Lorevil spoke, blood trickled from the corner of her lips.
Mahina stood frozen, the hand holding the scissors trembling slightly.
“No… no… don’t!”
After the madness faded, her hollow eyes filled only with shock and panic.
She watched the blood pouring from Lorevil’s chest, and her tears flowed even more fiercely.
Mixed with the tears on her face, they looked like bloody tears, making her appear even more wretched and desperate.
“Mahina, I’m sorry. I lied to you.”
“I also want to say… even if I’m gone in the future, you have to be happy. Don’t cry anymore. If you cry like that, you won’t look pretty.”
Lorevil could barely speak anymore.
Blood kept rising in her throat.
With difficulty, she raised one fair hand, ignoring the blood on it, and caressed Mahina’s pretty face, gently wiping away her tears.
As if touching a precious treasure.
Hearing Lorevil’s words, Mahina held the scissors, laughing and crying at the same time.
Her face was a mess.
But in her pitch-black eyes, tiny sparks of light flickered.
It was like going back to that day when she was fired and helplessly crying.
Lorevil had gently wiped her face and softly comforted her.
But this time, Lorevil could no longer comfort her.
She could never again smile and stroke her hair, saying, “It’s okay.”
Never again…
“Lorevil, you can’t die…”
At that moment, Mahina reached out trembling hands to cover Lorevil’s wound, trying to stop the bleeding.
But the warm liquid refused to obey, flowing freely between her fingers.
Like blooming, eerie blood blossoms.
The most painful thing in the world is to watch the person you love die, powerless to do anything.
In that instant, Mahina understood it deeply—utterly heartbroken.
“You fool…”
As her voice faded, Lorevil’s body went limp and collapsed in her arms.
The hand that had wiped away tears also fell lifelessly to the ground as her breath ceased.
At the same time, the Darkening Blood Bar above Mahina’s head dissolved into specks of light, slowly fading away.