Charlotte’s face was filled with terror the first time she saw a revenant trying to kill someone.

While Langrosa attacked the knights, throwing them into chaos, Charlotte’s holy power enveloped the revenant.

The reason Langrosa’s body had been glowing since earlier was due to the holy power.

The holy power surrounded Langrosa but did not get absorbed into its body.

When Langrosa swung its ferocious claws, the knights were shoved backward, flying toward the far side of the forest.

With a loud crash as knights collided with trees, Charlotte screamed.

“Aaahhh—!”

Panic struck Charlotte upon realizing her holy power was ineffective.

She looked vulnerable, crouched low to the ground with her hands clamped tightly over her ears.

Langrosa was right nearby, biting and flinging away a knight’s sword. At this rate, Charlotte would soon be dragged into the battle.

Instinct moved faster than thought. Yerpi rushed toward Charlotte and helped her up.

“Charlotte, you have to get up!”

“…Sister, I can’t feel my body.”

Her violet pupils were blank and unfocused. It wasn’t easy to lift someone whose legs had gone completely limp.

Just as Yerpi barely managed to support Charlotte, Raymond ran up to them. At that moment, a sharp sound rang out as Langrosa was flung backward.

The cracking noise from earlier had been Raymond’s sword clashing against Langrosa’s claws.

Now, only Raymond’s flames remained. Whether he knew it or not, golden flickering flames began swirling around the sword in his hand.

He intended to strike a fatal blow in one go.

But the sword that should have pierced Langrosa’s neck cleanly bounced off.

‘Are the flames not responding?’

The dragon-blood flames, known to burn anything, failed to penetrate Langrosa’s throat.

Even the spot where the flames touched remained completely unscathed, with no trace of burning.

Even if its scales were made of iron, this made no sense.

Dragon blood stood above all revenants. For any reason, the dragon’s flames had never once failed against a revenant until now.

They couldn’t keep blocking attacks like this. More importantly, while the knights were being thrown aside, Langrosa showed no sign of fatigue.

If anything, it grew more lively, pressing Raymond harder.

In contrast, Raymond’s flames vanished each time they touched Langrosa’s body. As if—

‘It feels like they’re being absorbed.’

But not by Langrosa—by something else. Yerpi shifted her focus away from Langrosa, scanning its surroundings.

A faint scent of burning drifted from somewhere. The smell of fire consuming the branches of the Great Tree rode on the wind.

Judging from Raymond’s movements, it was impossible for the fire to have spread to that branch.

Crotelia was taking the damage meant for Langrosa.

“Raymond! Langrosa is connected to the Great Tree!”

That was why it wasn’t taking damage or growing tired.

There was a separate main body receiving energy and accepting injuries in its place.

Hearing Yerpi’s words, Raymond pulled back from Langrosa and readjusted his grip on his sword.

“A branch I never touched is on fire. The Great Tree is absorbing the revenant’s damage.”

The flames on the branch Yerpi pointed to still hadn’t gone out.

When Raymond swung his flame-infused sword at Langrosa again, the revenant remained unharmed.

At that moment, another flame landed on a different branch of the Great Tree. Seemingly enraged, Langrosa charged wildly toward the surrounding knights.

“…It’s as if it’s being controlled.”

Yerpi recalled a thought—perhaps the corrupted Great Tree was the one controlling Langrosa.

‘I may not be able to purify the revenant, but maybe I can purify the Great Tree.’

A revenant already trapped in the cycle was merely a vicious shell containing a soul. But the tree born from the heart of a dragon should be closer to the dragon itself than anything else. Then, perhaps she could use the power of the spice.

There was no more time to hesitate. Entrusting Charlotte to Daisen, Yerpi shouted toward where Raymond stood.

“Raymond! Take me close to Crotelia!”

No sooner had she spoken than Raymond, dodging Langrosa’s kick, leapt from the ground and grabbed Yerpi.

“You have a plan?”

“It’s not certain, but—”

Trusting her words, Raymond dodged Langrosa’s serpent-like movements.

As they drew closer to Crotelia, the nausea within her intensified, but she had to suppress it by force.

Finally, they reached the base of the Great Tree. What awaited Yerpi there was a gray, static-like noise.

“This is….”

Spring and summer. The same noise that had once devoured people in those places was now swallowing the Great Tree from its roots upward. A crackling sound echoed in her ears.

It was strangely alluring. The noise recognized her—someone it had once consumed before.

“Wait, stop.”

Raymond sensed danger as he stared at the glowing gray base.

At that moment, Langrosa, having shoved aside the knights, leapt toward the direction of the Great Tree.

Boom! Langrosa stomped down with its hooves, targeting Raymond.

Tsk. Raymond raised his sword again, confronting the revenant.

Now, there were only two ways to end this battle: completely burn the Great Tree, or purify it.

‘I can’t destroy Crotelia.’

Dante, left behind at the Autumn Castle, came to mind.

As always, the child had begged to come along, so Raymond had no choice but to sneak out of the castle unnoticed when the boy was full and fast asleep.

She remembered Dante, who had wished to shed his young dragon form and become human. She couldn’t crush that child’s hope here.

‘As long as I don’t touch it, it’ll be fine.’

Her power was scent—she didn’t need to physically touch the noise. Just as she prepared to release her fragrance toward it—

“…!”

A shove from behind sent her body lurching forward.

She twisted her body, desperately trying to regain balance, but it was already too late. Turning her head just slightly, she saw the face of the one who had pushed her.

‘Charlotte.’

She was smiling brightly, just as she had when she confessed her true feelings.

The churning sensation rising from her stomach to her head—this feeling itself was Charlotte.

The sensation of being pulled in was exactly like the moment she had felt Charlotte’s holy power.

Only then did she realize—exactly who had corrupted this tree.

The noise had completely consumed Yerpi. When she opened her eyes again, she was trapped in darkness.

‘I can’t see anything.’

In pitch-black darkness, she couldn’t even see her own body.

The one she had trusted most in the end had betrayed her expectations.

Leaving behind nothing but incomprehensible malice, impossible to trace back to its origin, that person had cast her here.

‘Could the noise itself have been created by Charlotte?’

After being swallowed by the noise, the queasy sensation was identical to being near Charlotte.

Her insides twisted. The guilt of stealing from the protagonist, the trust born from familial bonds—now all turned back on herself as resentment.

‘…First, I need to get out of here.’

Her stomach churned, but escaping was the immediate priority.

Yet unable to see ahead, she could barely manage to stand up.

Was it safe to move forward recklessly? Just as she cautiously reached her hand out—

A small, bright light appeared in the far distance. The light was moving toward her.

“What is this…?”

The glowing orange object was a small squirrel. It climbed up Yerpi’s arm and onto her shoulder, rubbing its head against her cheek.

She could tell just from the sensation on her skin—this squirrel was no ordinary animal.

‘So this squirrel is the King of Autumn.’

The squirrel’s glow illuminated the surroundings. All around were solid wooden walls.

This place was inside the Great Tree. The King of Autumn had been hiding within the Great Tree, concealing its form.

‘The Kings of the Seasons once showed me memories I had lost.’

But she no longer had any memories left to find. She lifted the squirrel from her shoulder and placed it onto her palm.

“Are you trying to show me something too? I need to get out of here quickly.”

Did it understand her words? The squirrel tilted its head, then crawled up her arm and suddenly leapt onto the back of her hand.

‘A pattern….’

The symbols of spring, summer, and autumn each took their place on the back of Yerpi’s hand. At the moment the autumn symbol shone brightly in crimson—

Click. Click.

An auditory hallucination of a stopped clock beginning to tick again. An entirely new memory, one she hadn’t even known existed, unfolded before Yerpi’s eyes.