348. Confrontation

Slowly turning her head, Ravenna saw her childhood friend standing in the shadows of the study. A pistol was held firmly in Alice’s hands, pointed straight at Ravenna’s chest. The lenses of her spectacles caught the silver light of the rising moon, completely masking her eyes.

Alice's breathing was erratic, her chest heaving with an overwhelming surge of panic and sorrow. “J... just...” She paused, her voice breaking as she desperately tried to swallow down the raw emotion clawing at her throat. Taking a sharp, terrified gulp, she asked, “Who... who are you?”

“Who am I?” Ravenna repeated the question slowly, her mind racing as confusion warred with sudden vigilance. Her eyes remained locked on the dark barrel of the gun pointed directly at her chest. “You know the answer to that, Alice... I am Rav—”

“Stop it!” Alice cut her off, her voice cracking as her frenzied eyes burned with an overwhelming mixture of fierce determination and deep, agonizing hurt. “There is no human in existence who can cause an Apostle mark to spontaneously appear on another person! No one!”

Her hands shook, but the weapon remained trained on Ravenna. “Who are you?! Why are you wearing the form of Princess Ravenna?!”

“Alice... listen to me,” Ravenna tried to speak softly, attempting to slowly calm her down.

But Alice’s finger hovered precariously over the trigger. Heavy tears began to drip down her cheeks, smudging against her cheeks and clouding the lenses of her spectacles. “Only a literal deity can make an Apostle mark! Are you a god?! Are you Goddess Herptian, disguising yourself in mortal flesh just to mock us humans, the exact same way you did to Emperor Aurelius in the ancient legends?!”

“Alice... calm down and listen to me...” Ravenna took a cautious step forward, her bare legs slipping through the high slits of her black gown.

Instantly, Alice took a sharp step back. She thrust her hands forward, locking her elbows as she pointed the pistol directly toward Ravenna’s head now. “Don’t... don’t move another inch!”

Her chest heaved as she sobbed out, “Just tell me! Who are you!”

A heavy, suffocating silence fell over the study. The only illumination came from the brilliant silver moonlight casting long shadows across the floorboards, accompanied by the distant, rhythmic sounds of the nightly wind and the waves crashing violently against the cliffs of the island below.

Ravenna stood perfectly still. Steeling her resolve, she looked straight ahead, piercing through the glare of Alice’s tear-stained spectacles to lock onto her eyes.

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“I...” Ravenna paused, a solemn expression taking over her face. “I don’t know.”

“What?” Alice blinked, her confusion momentarily throwing her off balance, though she maintained her tight grip on the firearm.

Ravenna took a deep, steadying breath. She slowly raised her hands to shoulder height, palms open in a universal gesture meant to soothe her panicked friend.

“Joy Cha Kim...” Ravenna confessed, her voice dropping to a low, raw whisper. “A simple woman who worked a normal, everyday job, living in a world far, far different than this one. That is... that is who I was. Or, at the very least, that is the part of me that was.”

She paused, looking at the trembling barrel of the gun. A thick wave of melancholy washed over her features, softening the sharp, calculating lines of her face.

“But I am also the little rascal who ran to your room on the days when Mother’s failing health left her bedridden, just to cry in your arms,” Ravenna recounted softly, her voice thick with genuine emotion. “I am the exact same little girl who rushed to your bed on stormy nights, absolutely terrified of the thunder.”

Offering a somber, deeply hurt smile, she slowly sank to her knees. She kept her hands raised, sitting completely defenseless on the cold floor in her draped black gown. “I am Ravenna Solarius too.”

“W-what are you trying to do...?” Alice stammered. She tried to harden her voice, but her fierce determination was already fraying at the sight of Ravenna’s pained expression and helpless position.

Ravenna shook her head, looking up from the floor. “I didn’t understand it at first, Alice. Nor do I fully understand it now. I didn’t want to accept it when I first woke up in exile. But I am both of them. I carry the memories of a world made of steel and electricity like magic, and the memories of growing up right beside you as well.”

“This body has two souls that are merging together with absolutely no regard for either of our opinions,” Ravenna said, her gaze drifting toward the open balcony. She looked at the silver moon, a melancholy smile gracing her lips. “Perhaps they already have fully merged. But regardless of what the truth is or the gods want, I am just happy to be alive like this, rather than dead at the bottom of an ocean as destiny originally intended for the Unruly Princess.”

Alice’s breath hitched. Her vision blurred completely as a fresh wave of tears cascaded down her face, spilling over her spectacles.

Seeing her friend's guard drop, Ravenna slowly stood up. She stepped forward, her movements gentle and deliberate, and wrapped her hands carefully around Alice’s waist. Sliding her arms upward, she smoothly reached for Alice's trembling hands and took the heavy pistol away.

Alice didn't resist. She simply stood there, sobbing uncontrollably as the weapon was pulled from her grip and placed gently on the desk behind them.

“So, Alice, whatever the truth of it is... you are exactly the same to me,” Ravenna whispered, her own eyes welling with tears. “An elder sister that I chose, and will continue to choose.”

With a broken cry, Alice finally collapsed forward, throwing her arms around Ravenna's neck and hugging her tightly. Ravenna held her back just as fiercely, burying her face into Alice’s shoulder as her own tears finally broke through her composed facade.

Above them, the expansive night sky was now completely full of brilliant, twinkling stars. Their pale, celestial light poured into the dim study, bathing the two weeping childhood friends in an ethereal glow that made their shared pain feel like a sacred ceremony.