Eldritch Horror Theatre

This one was a real heavyweight!

Standing off to the side, Fu Qian couldn't help but stare.

To think that Hani, the most cheerful and lively of the bunch, possessed a berserk form like this.

Right now, not only was the little girl's body bizarrely swollen and contorted, but her face had twisted into something utterly monstrous.

With blood-red eyes and a terrifying maw of jagged white teeth, her former cute, well-behaved demeanor was completely gone.

Her upper jaw jutted out like a wolf's muzzle, and she had the crocodile's severed leg clamped tightly in her jaws.

After a final bout of struggling, the severed leg finally stopped moving, slowly melting into a puddle of bloody flesh.

"Hani!"

Fu Qian thought for a moment before calling out to Hani, who was still growling to herself.

Fortunately, she could still hear him in her berserk state. At the sound of his voice, she slowly raised her head and looked over.

"There's a little bit left."

Instead of retreating, Fu Qian stepped forward. In a few strides, he was by her side, smearing the last few cake crumbs from his hand onto the corner of her mouth.

The sweet taste made her chew instinctively. The next second, her body went limp, and she flopped backward onto the ground.

She should be fine now.

Watching her body rapidly shrink back to normal, Fu Qian nodded in satisfaction.

Speaking of which, once the crocodile had been torn to pieces, the entranced Bella had quickly jolted awake. She was currently sitting on the ground in the exact same posture, a look of utter bewilderment on her face.

In contrast, despite nearly dying several times just now—even throwing himself in to bomb the beast—Fu Qian was actually in the best shape of them all.

Neither of these two sisters was as innocent as they appeared.

Fu Qian found a spot to sit down and studied the two girls in front of him.

Hani especially—he got the feeling that if her berserk state had lasted even a little longer, she probably wouldn't have been able to change back.

He wondered if Soufflé and the others knew about this side of their sister.

Ugh—

As he pondered, Bella was the first to recover her senses, her eyes going wide as she looked in his direction.

"What's wrong with Hani?"

She clearly had no memory of what had happened while she was dreaming.

"She's eating cake."

Facing the chuuni girl, Fu Qian didn't elaborate.

"How do you feel? You were just standing there in a daze a moment ago."

Eating cake...

Bella looked at the crumbs scattered across the ground and fell silent for a long moment.

"I had a dream. Where's that monster?"

"It ran away."

"It ran away? Where to?"

The answer clearly caught Bella off guard.

"In all directions, I guess. What did you dream about?"

Fu Qian made a sweeping gesture with his finger, then immediately changed the subject.

"I..."

She was just a young girl after all; her attention was easily diverted.

"Something was chasing me... I ran everywhere, but I couldn't find the Scarecrow... Later, I fled into the woods and ran into the Pinocchio Family..."

Uh-huh.

Fu Qian impassively resisted the chaotic mental impact.

"Did you also have a Snow White dream?"

"Yes."

Bella lowered her head. It seemed that, to her, calling herself Snow White at her age was a bit embarrassing.

Fu Qian had no intention of mocking her, but he felt a faint sense of disappointment.

It seemed that coming into direct contact with these bizarre creatures yielded the same results as simply falling asleep; no special circumstances had triggered.

However, it was also clear that Bella was much more lucid in her dream than Violetta had been. For instance, she specifically remembered that she needed to follow the Scarecrow.

"Mmn... Bella, you're awake?"

As they spoke, Hani also woke up.

She shook her head, and upon seeing Bella beside her, an uncontrollable look of pleasant surprise washed over her face.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine..."

Being asked that, Bella clearly felt a bit ashamed, especially when she saw the blood on Hani's face and clothes.

Though she didn't know exactly what had happened, Hani had undoubtedly been hurt because of her actions.

"Did you save me just now? Thank you!"

"N—No."

Being thanked so earnestly, Hani looked overwhelmed and frantically waved her hands.

"It was Violetta! She shoved an Apple into the crocodile's mouth and blew it up... and there was cake."

As she spoke, Hani licked her lips, savoring the lingering taste.

An Apple... cake... blew it up?

Hani's explanation only made Bella more confused, though she still couldn't help but shoot a shocked look toward Fu Qian.

She never would have imagined that the youngest of them, Violetta, was the one who had saved her.

And she was supposed to be the one in the worst shape!

She couldn't help but feel that ever since waking up this time, her youngest sister seemed a bit different.

"Shouldn't we head back?"

Although Bella was brimming with questions, Fu Qian had no intention of explaining further and immediately made the suggestion.

Since a crocodile had shown up here, there was no telling if a second animal might appear.

"We should go back!"

At Fu Qian's reminder, Bella practically leaped to her feet.

"Can you walk?"

Then, remembering something, she looked at Hani with a worried expression.

"It's fine."

Hani propped herself up off the ground, and Bella quickly stepped forward to support her.

"...About what happened just now, can we not tell Soufflé?"

As they slowly made their way back with Hani, Bella stayed silent for a long moment before cautiously making the request.

It was clear she was still somewhat afraid of their eldest sister.

"Don't worry, I won't say anything."

Hani proved her loyalty, immediately patting her chest in promise.

"I won't either, but you'd better come up with an excuse for that."

Fu Qian, trailing behind them, pointed to the blood on Hani's clothes.

This...

Evidently, neither Bella nor Hani had thought about that detail, and they instantly fell into a stumped silence.

"Is it surrounded by the sea like this on all sides?"

While the two struggled to come up with an excuse, Fu Qian had already shifted his attention to something else.

"Of course. It's the Small Island."

Bella sounded a bit puzzled by the question.

Just as he had guessed. Fu Qian nodded.

"Have you ever left the island?"

"Why would we leave? We've always lived here. It's too dangerous outside."

This time, Hani chimed in first.

It really was a cage, even on a physical level.

Fu Qian shook his head inwardly. He silently gazed out over the boundless sea and didn't ask anything else.

...

Given that Bella had run pretty far off, it took the trio quite a while before the Red House came back into view.

"Is Soufflé not here?"

However, after anxiously pushing the door open and glancing around the room, Bella asked in surprise.

"She went out."

Seeing the three of them return together, Marguerite, who always looked timid, spoke up meekly.

Went out...

"What did she go out to do?"

Bella let out a sigh of relief and signaled for Hani to hurry and change her clothes before asking.

In truth, she was just asking casually; she didn't expect Marguerite to actually know anything.

"Shh!"

Unexpectedly, Marguerite pressed two fingers to her lips, motioning for her to keep her voice down.

"She was worried you wouldn't be able to find the Scarecrow, so she went out to get you."

"The Scarecrow? Why would we need to find the Scarecrow?"

Bella asked reflexively, then suddenly froze, her head snapping up to stare at Marguerite.

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