Chapter 203: Oh No, My Young Miss!
“I wanted to ask you two something first,” Vera said. Then she turned to look at Ryan. “Where exactly did you run into that ‘Lillian’?”
Ryan looked at her, fell silent for a second, and then began to explain.
He kept it brief. In just a few sentences, he summed up everything that had happened—the cries for help, the blood-covered Lillian, the way Rex had rushed over to her, and, at the end, that twisted face.
As he spoke, he pulled a Mana Recovery Potion from his coat and handed it over.
Vera took it, glanced at the bottle, pulled out the stopper, and tipped it back. Her throat worked as she swallowed. A few seconds later, her complexion visibly improved.
“Thank you,” she said, handing the empty bottle back to him.
Then she looked at Rex.
“Your young miss went off with Ryan,” she said. “Or rather, she went off with something pretending to be Ryan.”
Rex froze.
“What?”
He looked up. At last, a little light returned to those bewildered eyes of his—confusion, alertness, and a kind of complete blankness all at once.
Vera looked at him, then at Ryan.
“Do you remember why I looked so surprised when I first saw you?”
Ryan’s brow twitched.
Vera continued, “Because I had already run into ‘Ryan’ earlier.”
Rex’s eyes went wide.
“Lillian and I walked for a long time,” Vera said calmly, as if recounting something already past. “Later, we ran into ‘Ryan.’ He said the two of you had gotten separated at a fork, that he had no idea where Rex had gone, and that he had been searching for a long time without finding him. He told Lillian to go with him to look for Rex, and told me to head forward first and wait for them at the exit.”
She paused.
“The moment Lillian heard that Rex was missing, she panicked. She did not hesitate for even a second before following that ‘Ryan.’”
Rex’s expression changed.
“I originally wanted to follow them,” Vera said. “But that ‘Ryan’ said too many people would only make things messier, and told me to go on ahead first. He said they would come back once they found him. I did not think too much about it at the time, so I kept going along the path until I reached this place.”
She looked at Rex.
“And then I ran into the two of you.”
Rex’s mouth hung open for a long while before it finally closed.
“How...” His voice was hoarse. “How is that possible...”
He clawed at his hair, hard, as if trying to rip something out of his own mind. His nails scraped across his scalp with a harsh sound.
Then his hand stopped abruptly.
“The young miss...” His voice trembled. “The young miss is in danger now?”
Vera nodded.
“Yes.”
Rex went completely rigid.
Sometimes the truth came too fast—so fast that before you were ready to accept it, it had already split you clean in two.
Ryan crouched down and looked at the liquid left behind by the vanished “Lillian.”
The transparent puddle was slowly evaporating, as if it had never existed at all.
Then he looked at the mirrors around them. Those mirrors reflected the faces of the three of them.
“It looks like we can’t split up anymore,” he said.
Vera looked at him.
“This maze,” Ryan said, standing up and gesturing toward the mirrors, “probably uses the images reflected in the mirrors to record information, and then creates things like that.”
Vera nodded.
“That was my thought too.”
Rex stood off to the side, listening, but he did not say a word. He only stood there with his fists clenched so tightly that his nails were biting into his palms. They were too short to draw blood, but he still kept pressing, as if trying to punish himself that way.
Ryan turned and looked at him.
“Now we go find your young miss.”
Rex froze.
“Move,” Ryan said. “You lead us. We’ll follow the path Vera came from.”
Rex opened his mouth as though he wanted to say something.
But it felt as though something had lodged in his throat. Nothing came out.
He only nodded hard.
Then he lowered his head and started pouring potions over his wounds. The healing liquid hissed when it hit the cuts, but he did not even frown. The wounds began to close. Flesh began to mend. But the expression on his face did not improve at all.
Ryan and Vera stood there and waited.
Vera watched Rex, and something flickered in those gray-green eyes.
“He really does care about her,” she said quietly.
Ryan said nothing.
He only watched Rex—watched that blood-covered man pour bottle after bottle over himself. When each bottle was empty, it rolled away across the mirrored floor, spinning in circles.
“Let’s go,” Rex said, getting to his feet and tightening his grip on the greatsword.
The three of them headed off in the direction Vera had come from.
In the mirrors, countless versions of them headed that way as well.
Light kept reflecting back and forth between the mirrors, making their eyes ache.
Rex walked at the front.
His steps were fast—far too fast for someone who had only just been seriously wounded.
He thought about nothing.
He thought only about moving faster.
Faster still.
The young miss was waiting for him.
The young miss was in danger.
He had to find her.
Even if that one had been fake, he had to see with his own eyes and make sure.
Even if there was a trap ahead, he would still jump straight into it.
Because what if, by some chance, that one was real?
What if his hesitation made her wait in vain for him?
That possibility was more terrifying than death.
His back vanished into the mirrors.
Ryan and Vera exchanged a glance, then followed.
In the mirrors, countless versions of them followed too.
The light leaped, refracted, split apart, and came together again.
As if it were laughing.
Or as if it were crying.
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