Although there are many people coming and going on the first floor and basement for cleaning up, the ground floor was empty with no one around.

However, not understanding why he wanted to meet outside when they were going to the mansion anyway, Emilia tilted her head slightly while crumpling the paper in her hand.

‘I haven’t even changed clothes yet… Surely he doesn’t mean now?’

Emilia frowned one eye as she looked down at herself somewhat crookedly. It seemed better to go quickly for now.

It looked difficult to go straight to the stairs since she would likely be caught by people if she came out after washing. It seemed better to go when there was less attention due to the cleanup.

Emilia immediately moved towards the emergency stairs. Though it was chilly outside as night fell, the interior of the concert hall felt slightly warm due to the heat of people.

But as she headed for the emergency stairs, an inexplicable cool breeze brushed her nape.

‘Did someone leave a window open?’

Usually the windows are closed before evening, but they must have forgotten today due to being busy with concert preparations.

Thinking she should close it on her way, she frowned slightly at an unpleasant smell as she climbed the stairs.

‘What is this smell?’

She looked around once while covering her nose with the back of her hand.

Though she could hear voices in the distance, perhaps from the basement or outside, there didn’t seem to be anyone nearby. She slowly climbed the stairs, using the moonlight through the window as a guide.

“…Huh?”

There was no one on the 3rd floor when she arrived. Was she supposed to come a little later? Emilia frowned at the stronger smell as she hesitantly lowered her hand from her nose.

“But what on earth is this smell?”

It was puzzling why such an unpleasant odor lingered even with the window open.

Wondering if it was coming from outside, Emilia blinked as she saw fireworks suddenly shooting brilliantly into the sky while walking towards the window.

‘Was fireworks planned?’

As fireworks began to bloom one by one in the night sky that had only moonlight before, light reflected off the windowpane.

Her ears were deafened by the clamorous sound of exploding fireworks and her eyes stung from the flashing lights. Her eyes narrowed slightly on their own.

But at that moment, something white faintly reflected in the window glass.

‘What is that?’

Her eyes widened as she approached the window to look closer. The unidentifiable something was not outside the window, but behind her.

“…!”

Suddenly, the sound of running footsteps struck her ears. Emilia turned around immediately, instinctively raising her hand to block a shadowy figure.

“Hello?”

The identity of the suddenly appearing shadow was clearly revealed by the moonlight. Emilia’s eyes widened as her pupils dilated.

“…Cris, tina?”

The words came out in fragments. Though she had reflexively grabbed the arm reaching for her, her legs nearly gave out at the unexpected face.

“Yes, it’s me.”

Christina stretched out her neck to bring her face close to Emilia’s and raised the corners of her mouth. Startled by that eerily perceived smile, Emilia jerked her head back.

Christina no longer had the strict impression she used to give with her hair always neatly pulled up, showing how much she must have suffered in the labor camp.

Now she had her greasy hair let down and was giving off a stench strong enough to churn one’s stomach, looking like a different person from before.

It felt like her mind had frozen. Though Christina had escaped, Emilia had inwardly thought she would quietly hide herself, of course not wanting to be caught and sent back to the labor camp.

But mocking that naive thought, she never expected Christina to appear so brazenly before her like this.

‘Why on earth…’

As Emilia’s lips quivered like someone at a loss for words, Christina tilted her head crookedly while looking down at her silently.

“You look so well.”

“…”

“While I’ve been doing poorly, thanks to someone.”

“…Why, are you here?”

She hadn’t realized Christina’s resentment towards her was deep enough to seek her out like this. She had thought Christina had simply acted out of jealousy and anger, causing an incident on her own.

So she couldn’t understand at all why she would come all this way to cause more trouble.

“Why, you ask?”

Christina’s amber eyes, clouded darkly, gleamed with madness at Emilia’s astonished voice.

“Of course it’s too unfair for me to die alone.”

It was the look of someone not in their right mind. Emilia’s face turned pale as she faced Christina, whose eyes were flashing an eerie blue light.

“What? What are you saying now.”

“I need to make at least one friend for the afterlife so I’m less lonely.”

“You escaped the labor camp with such difficulty, and now you’re saying you’ll die with me?”

“Yes. The reason I escaped in the first place was because of you.”

Christina maintained her chilling smile as she suddenly applied force to the hand she was holding. Emilia grimaced and pushed back with all her might against the hand trying to dig into her neck in an instant.

“Ugh-!”

Emilia’s blocking hands trembled. Christina had lost so much weight that her cheekbones protruded visibly and her forearms were even thinner than Emilia’s.

Because of this, it seemed like she should be able to easily shake off Christina’s pressure, but the hand gripping her was unexpectedly burdensome, causing cold sweat to form on her forehead.

Where this strength was coming from was a mystery, as Christina’s hands pressed closer and closer to her neck, maintaining a precarious distance while her eyes bulged.

“Wh-what did I do wrong for you to do this? What on earth did I do to you to make you act like this!”

Emilia shouted with all her might. In contrast to the chilling atmosphere around them, beautiful fireworks were still bursting outside the window.

With noise loud enough that no one would notice no matter how much she screamed here.

“Don’t pretend you don’t know. You stole my position.”

“…Ha.”

“The lead role was originally mine!”

“That was decided by a fair audition! I didn’t steal-”

“Shut up! If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have been pushed out, and if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be doing this! It’s all because of you!”

It was pure nonsense. Her stomach churned at the baseness of turning a blind eye to reality and simply blaming everything on someone else. Christina’s eyes, bloodshot as she glared at Emilia, seemed half out of focus.

Finally pushed back, Emilia felt the cold window glass against her back. Her head was slightly caught between the wide open window.

“Die!”

“Ugh…”

Christina’s hands began to press down on her neck with crushing force.

Emilia’s hands trembled as she tried to resist, gripping Christina’s wrists, but now it seemed useless as both hands tightened around her neck, squeezing hard.

‘No. I can’t hold on like this anymore.’

Her vision began to crumble as her eyes blurred from lack of air. Emilia squeezed her eyes shut, released her grip on the other’s wrists, and clenched her fists.

Then she struck the inside of Christina’s outstretched elbow repeatedly. The arm flinched, and on the third hit, it wavered and bent slightly.

‘Now!’

Emilia pushed that arm away with all her might while shifting her body to the side. As Christina, who had only been pushing forward, lost her balance and crashed into the window, Emilia’s body collapsed to the floor.

With a bang, Christina hit her forehead on the window and slumped down before she could withdraw her strength.

“Huff… Gasp, gasp.”

Her vision swam momentarily as her blocked breath suddenly cleared. Emilia breathed heavily as she fumbled backwards on the floor.

Then she barely managed to put strength into her trembling legs as she looked at Christina’s back, who was clutching her head while leaning against the window.

She needed to get away from here quickly. There was no way to reason with someone who had been dragged to a labor camp for attempted murder in the first place.

To escape and come back here meant her paranoia must be extreme, so staying in the same space any longer was dangerous.

Emilia grabbed the stair railing as she barely managed to walk, bracing her knees. Then, as she straightened up to go downstairs while half-hanging onto it, there was a rustling sound from behind.

“…Where are you going?”

Christina removed her hand from her forehead and was getting up, squinting one eye. Blood trickled down like tears from where she had hit her head on the window.

Emilia swallowed dryly at that grotesque sight, on high alert. Thud, thud. The heavy footsteps drew closer and closer.

‘Should I run? But if I’m caught or pushed from the top of the stairs, it would be even more dangerous.’

Emilia’s brow furrowed as she tried to maintain a calm expression while staring at Christina. Suddenly stopping halfway, Christina’s eyes and mouth widened hugely as she shook like a madwoman.

“I asked where you’re going!”

Christina reached into her clothes and quickly drew out a dagger as she lunged forward. Emilia was startled by the flashing blade and tried to dodge to the side.

However, Christina swiftly grabbed Emilia’s left arm, digging her long dirty nails into the skin as she thrust the dagger in her right hand at Emilia’s face.

“I won’t let go until you’re dead.”

“Christina!”

“Die, I said die!”

“Let go of this!”

Emilia barely managed to block the wrist wielding the knife, which seemed ready to stab without a moment’s hesitation, and shook her still-captured right hand violently.

She felt the embedded nails finally release and scratch her, but that wasn’t the important issue right now.

Restraining Christina, who kept lunging and trying to grab her body, took priority, so Emilia struggled with all her might to push Christina’s body away.

But then, the sound of running footsteps came from somewhere. At the same time, a strong hand grabbed her arm and yanked her towards the stairs, pulling her body helplessly.

“Kyaa-!”

“Emilia!”