"Merka said my father was an angel... Isn't it the opposite of what I expected?"

"No... After all, this is Maria's territory. That memory might even be fabricated by Maria."

"If my mother really is an angel, why doesn't Maria just come out and fight together with everyone openly?"

"But it's true that my mother killed Elizabeth..."

Turing stood silently by the railing, looking at Dungremy in the distance, organizing the nuns to participate in cleaning up the battlefield.

The heated stones continued to emit terrifying heat. The black blood left behind by the lava and the orange angels blended together, occasionally causing small explosions and emitting a foul smell.

"I know the position we are in. I can't convince you in just a few words that our purpose is not as simple as removing a woman holding power."

"Oedipus' ambitions and aspirations are probably beyond our imagination."

"But I hope little Turing can at least not let emotions cloud judgment before making a decision."

"Are you still afraid of your mother?" Maria stood beside Turing, leaning on the railing.

Her kindness and tenderness touched Turing as if it were their first meeting.

"I never am!" Turing blushed and quickly replied.

"I'm just..." Turing furrowed their brows. Cute, with a wrinkled forehead, Turing sighed deeply, radiating a sense of maturity and helplessness beyond their years in this faintly painful sigh.

"I just don't know how to face her..."

"Mother used to say that everything she did was for my own good..."

"But, but..."

Turing carefully searched through their memories, like searching for a lost silver needle in a blanket, savoring the fragments of their mother's tenderness towards them.

But Turing's memories were like a green-glowing pool, seemingly vast and deep, but if anyone dared to step in, they would find that they could touch the bottom with just one foot.

Moreover, somehow, the memory of mother hacking Maria's limbs stood out like an ink-black squid in this green pool.

It was impossible to look away.

"But in the end, you should be the one most afraid of mother, right?"

"By the way, your hands and feet... were they not chopped off?"

"And in the end, they were magically repaired?" Turing asked, confused.

"Not like that." Maria's face showed not the resentment and hatred Turing expected, but an expression of extreme compassion and pity.

Maria took out a broken metal sphere from her tattered habit.

Suddenly, Maria's fingers, delicate as white scallions, disappeared. The hand holding the sphere was replaced by a mechanical palm made of iron and resin.

Similarly, Maria's hands, arms, legs, and feet all turned into some strange and bizarre artificial creations Turing had never seen before.

"What is that...? Has Maria been relying on this thing to sustain her daily life?"

Maria's shimmering arm trembled slightly, seemingly hinting at the owner's helplessness. In the night glow, within the dim yellow light, the metal sinews on her arm revealed the face of Turing, which was either long or flat, all silent and desolate.

"Little Turing, in this world, everything has a price."

"This is a real curse, more effective than any magic."

"Perhaps it is easy and simple to let fate take its course."

"But human life is like the contents in a bottle, without it, only the bottle remains."

"Your nature may not be much different from that of a goldfish with respect to Oedipus."

"How can you guarantee that when you are reduced to just a bottle, Oedipus won't change her mind?"

The night breeze ruffled the hair on Turing's temples, stirring up a melancholic tidal wave of silence.

——————————————————————————

With a gentle push, the poignant and mournful silence pushed its way into the moonlit night before the winter fireworks festival.

This was the perfect time for a meeting.

The delicate snow, as thin as morning dew, covered the grounds of the monastery like a dense layer. The recently completed stone path was kissed lightly by silver-gray, emitting a majestic and noble radiance.

Equally noble was Oedipus, strolling on the white snow. She wore a luxurious wolf-hair coat and held a transparent, splendid parasol that resembled the wings of a cicada. She walked alongside Maria, laughing and talking.

Oedipus still wore a faint smile, radiant like warm sunshine, as if it could melt the surrounding snow. It was passionate yet distant, scorching yet indifferent.

Although it was Oedipus holding the umbrella for Maria now, to an outsider, there seemed to be a hint of apology in Maria's mocking smile, as she belonged to the same social class as Oedipus.

"Move aside... Altria, I didn't come here to find you." Suddenly, another woman, equally well-dressed and graceful, stood in front of Oedipus.

This woman had a gentle and watery appearance, but her face was marred by slight traces of bitter tears. Her attire was simple yet adorned with precious gemstones, gold, and silver, all the elements of luxury fashion. This was Koshiba's style.

The young woman clenched her teeth and spoke to Oedipus without reservation. In Acadia, besides the one known for finding out that her own sister had died mysteriously in the fire of Lachésis City, who else would have the audacity?

"Don't be so impatient." Oedipus blocked Maria's path, showing no intention of giving way.

"I am also sorry about your sister." Oedipus seemed to emphasize the word 'sister,' but her poker face smile didn't reveal any hint of mockery.

"But this is also part of what we will discuss today."

"Shall we go inside first?" Oedipus pointed to the information room ahead, giving her hair a flick, and her smile seemed even more intense.

"Now that the Duke has spoken..." Bie Ji said, glaring at Maria fiercely, and took the lead to enter the information room.

Every tribal chief who had served as a commander-in-chief could be called a Duke, and Oedipus was no exception.

——————————————————————————

"Is it really that simple?" Turing wiped her eyes and looked at the smoke rising in the distance. She felt like she was about to cry again.

Just moments ago, she had cried at Elizabeth's funeral, unable to bear the sadness in the air. Turing had escaped from the crowd of mourners.

Sitting on a stack of logs, Turing couldn't help but recall all the memories with Elizabeth, and tears streamed down her face uncontrollably.

Turing had thought that she wouldn't feel sadness, that she wouldn't mourn for someone who was irrelevant and unrelated to her.

Elizabeth was clearly someone unrelated to Turing. She had her own marriage and life, while Turing had her competitions and love.

But Turing was wrong. Turing cried.

"This is just a simple cremation. After Elizabeth's ashes are returned to the family, they will hold a formal burial ceremony," Merka said, appearing by Turing's side at some point and finding a place to sit.

"And what about Hamlet? Did you cremate Hamlet too?" Turing quickly wiped away her tears and composed herself.

She felt that women shouldn't easily shed tears, and she wanted to leave a strong impression on Merka.

"No," Merka's spirit seemed to be down, but her words tried to maintain a positive tone.

"It's all in ashes now. We buried it casually and placed a tombstone."

"The cemetery won't accept the accursed child."

"In the orphanage, that's how we always did it." Merka's tone was as calm as water.

Like a long-buried abyss.

"Are you feeling sad... Turing?" Merka's concern pierced through her artificial eye, more moving than her real eyes, slowly washing over Turing's innermost being.

The mesmerizing black gem seemed to contain all the pain, all the sorrow, all the helplessness, all the tragic emotions of the condensed galaxy.

While captivating, it also deeply froze people's hearts.

Turing was about to say that she was sad, but suddenly, memories from the orphanage flooded her mind, untimely, forcefully silencing the words of pain she wanted to share.

[How many life and death experiences has Merka been through...]

[How many tragedies has Merka witnessed...]

[How could I have finished Merka's memories with such indifference...]

"I... I'm fine," Turing spoke, and suddenly felt a wave of astonishment.

[Isn't 'I'm fine' the phrase that Theresa always used to say?]

[How... How could this be...]

Turing suddenly felt an unprecedented sense of growth, accompanied by a feeling of helplessness in her chest.

"I... I..." Her lips trembled violently, her already teary eyes welled up with glistening tears once again.

Could it be that no matter how powerful a person is, growth always means realizing their own helplessness?

Turing desperately tried to move her lips and say that she was fine, but the more she tried to control her lips, the more tears flowed uncontrollably from her eyes.

Turing curled up in pain, leaning on Merka's shoulder.

Merka gently embraced Turing, just as Turing once did to Elizabeth, gently patting Turing's back.

"I understand, I understand..." Merka stroked Turing's soft long hair and said.

"You have been working hard, always... "

"Turing is a good child, right?" Merka gently stroked Turing's shoulder, then straightened Turing.

"Oh, by the way... I have something else to tell you."

"Although this may sound a bit shameless and presumptuous."

"But if you don't mind and still haven't changed your mind."

"Why don't we give it a try and start dating?" Merka whispered softly into Turing's ear, who was crying in a mess.