Then Lete’s eyelids trembled as he murmured only Livia’s name with his fading breath. Livia quickly grabbed Lete’s ice-cold hand and called out to her brother again.

“Lete? Are you awake?”

“…Li…via?”

“Oh, Lete!”

Livia burst into loud sobs while hugging her brother tightly. Looking dazedly at the woman crying in his arms with hazy eyes, Lete murmured as if he couldn’t believe it.

“Is it really you… sister…?”

“Yes, it’s me. It’s me, Lete… I was too late, I’m sorry I was late. I’m sorry.”

Blinking his eyes slowly, Lete seemed to finally come to his senses as he asked in a trembling voice.

“…Don’t tell me, sister died too?”

“No, not yet. I haven’t died yet…. I couldn’t die yet, because I have to save you…”

At Livia’s words, the boy who had just become a young man breathed a sigh of relief with his eyes closed.

Thank goodness. Thank goodness….

Though his whispered voice was weak, it was warm and gentle just as it had been when he was alive.

Lete raised his trembling hands to embrace Livia back as she held him tight. His weak fingertips gently patted her slender shoulders.

“…Whether this is a dream or not, I’m so glad… to see you again like this, Livia.”

“It’s not a dream, it’s not a dream, Lete.”

“Yes. If it’s not a dream, that’s even better….”

Lete gave Livia a bright smile. That smile felt like it was crushing Livia’s heart. Livia bit her trembling lips and quietly sobbed. Looking at her with hazy eyes, Lete reached out to wipe away his sister’s tears as he whispered.

“…I’m so happy, Livia….”

“Wh-what…. How can you be happy in this situation, how….”

To say he’s happy after dying in such agony.

Livia glared at Lete with reddened eyes as he spoke such nonsense. She did so even more because she felt she would cry uncontrollably if she didn’t force strength into her eyes.

She couldn’t let tears blur her vision. This time with Lete was too precious.

As if reading Livia’s thoughts, Lete gave a hazy smile.

“I had something I really wanted to tell sister… Father and brother too… But no one could pass it on, and we all just left….”

Lete’s voice trembled as he stumbled through his words. As his soul’s color began to fade as if his strength was failing, Zagreus, who had been watching, reached out to touch Lete’s shoulder. Then black power could be seen firmly wrapping around the soul that was trying to fade.

“…You must be having a hard time, being left alone when you get so lonely, Livia.”

The young brother’s matter-of-fact smile tore Livia’s heart to shreds. She wanted to cry out that it wasn’t like that, but her finely trembling lips wouldn’t part.

In truth, Lete’s words were right. After losing her family all at once, she had deeply hidden her true feelings while pretending to be blinded by revenge and anger.

She pushed through trials with the strength meant for grieving. Because she felt that if she just stayed still, her desire to follow them would grow…. Because she didn’t want to be alone anymore….

“Don’t do anything reckless thinking about us…. Don’t be too angry either…, I worry because you sometimes act without fear.”

“Hey, when did I… ugh, hic….”

Though she tried to protest with a completely contorted face, her sorrowful mouth couldn’t properly form words as it burst into tears. The fragile soul carefully wiped away the tears that poured down like rain without cease, again and again.

I’m the older sister, I shouldn’t break down like this….

“Father, Iason, and I are fine. Just grieve a little longer. Now, you need to move forward, Livia. Father said so, didn’t he? That we were all born to be happy.”

Finally, as if even Zagreus’s power could no longer sustain it, Lete’s soul began to fade like mist. Lete’s touch, which had felt like concentrated fierce wind, also grew increasingly faint. Livia frantically tried to grasp Lete in panic, but it was futile.

Lete was fading before her eyes.

Growing distant like that.

Disappearing again.

She could see that Echidna’s words about the soul corroding weren’t a lie, as Lete’s feet began burning black.

“No… Lete, Lete…!”

“We’ll be able… to fly again… Via.”

The hissing voice soon faded completely, and even the traces of the soul she had desperately held onto vanished without a trace.

“Lete. LETE!!! Waaah!”

She collapsed and burst into tears like a child.

I’m not okay, I don’t want to be apart from you anymore…. How can you tell me to be okay?

Take me with you. Triton’s trial, the curse with Echidna, the burden I must bear as a weak human… I don’t want any of it.

She just wanted to escape this heart-wrenching pain. Because she knew it would gradually get better with time, she didn’t want to accept that loss. She didn’t want to be the only one who got better while Lete’s soul was fading away.

‘…But if I let everything go here, Lete’s soul will end up completely corroding.’

She recalled how Lete had turned pitch black from his feet up. And how weak and pitiful he had looked as he lay there unable to get up even after being drawn out of the bead, endlessly murmuring only her name….

Even in that state, he had told her he was fine and to live her life. She couldn’t give up on such a brother.

“Livia….”

A pale hand touched Livia’s shoulder as she knelt on the ground sobbing.

Those ice-cold hands pulled her into his embrace to comfort her. Livia rested her forehead against his chest weakly and suppressed her sobs. As her breathing gradually calmed, her heated head grew cold.

Yes, if she couldn’t die right now, she needed to think about what she had to do next.

‘I need to return to my place.’

…Triton.

To where he was waiting.

And as she had decided, she would tell him everything. He might get angry asking why she only told him now, or he might say there’s nothing he can do either. If he says he won’t help….

The worst-case scenario came to mind but she quickly dismissed it.

Sometimes too many thoughts can hold you back. When trapped in thoughts, you can’t do anything. So moving naturally with the flow was the best option right now.

She took a deep breath that made her chest heave. She could feel her eyes were very swollen from crying so much. If she met Triton like this, he would definitely notice something was strange, and she worried whether she could explain it away well.

“Are you feeling a bit better?”

Zagreus asked, seemingly sensing her breathing had returned. She nodded and awkwardly pulled away from leaning against him. Rubbing her eyes roughly, Livia spoke in a hoarse voice.

“Thank you for helping me, Zagreus.”

“I said I would keep my promise, didn’t I?”

“…Thank you.”

At Livia’s awkward thanks, Zagreus lifted the corners of his mouth in a splendid smile. Black energy flickered in the golden eyes that gazed at Livia. At that moment, Zagreus cupped Livia’s cheeks with both hands and whispered.

“Then now I can take my payment for the promise, right?”

Payment for the promise…? Her clouded mind turned slowly, but soon she realized what he meant.

Zagreus had said he would bring Lete’s soul if Livia would give him a kiss.

A kiss….

Yes, that’s right.

Zagreus had done what Livia wanted most. That was an undeniable fact, and thanks to Zagreus, Livia had been able to meet Lete even if briefly. Though he hadn’t completely saved him from Echidna’s hands, even having a short conversation was an overwhelming thing.

“Yes.”

To Livia, Zagreus was nothing less than a benefactor. Livia didn’t hesitate to raise herself to give her benefactor a kiss of gratitude.

Without him needing to lower his lips, she stood on her tiptoes and gently pressed her lips to his ice-cold ones.

Though there was no trembling, she didn’t know where to look so she kept her eyes lowered as she held her lips against his, and then Zagreus who had been completely stiff gently grabbed her waist.

Though the force wasn’t strong enough to be coercive, she could feel the strength in the hands supporting her waist.

Unlike her calm lips, his cold trembling lips parted slightly. Then he carefully sucked and drew in her lips that were wet from crying.

…Should she reciprocate? Should she push him away?

She hesitated briefly but decided to leave it be. Perhaps because the way he gently rubbed his lips against hers was so careful, it didn’t feel disrespectful.

He would pull away briefly, then connect again, pull away and connect again, gradually taking in the warmth of Livia’s swollen, heated lips.

She could feel Zagreus’s breathing growing rough. Making wet sounds, he grew increasingly bold in his sucking force as if he had forgotten his earlier hesitation. Just as his cool tongue tried to part her closed lips.

“…Stop.”

Livia pushed against Zagreus’s shoulders. It felt like they shouldn’t go any further than this. An inexplicable anxiety and guilt welled up.

“……”

Zagreus let out a long sigh with his eyes closed. Then he pressed his cold lips to the forehead of the retreating Livia and calmed his rapidly rising and falling breath.

“Zagreus, I need to go now….”

“If your brother’s condition is due to the witch’s spell….”

Livia who was about to pull away stopped and looked up at him. Zagreus whispered while looking at Livia with eyes still not cooled from their heat.

“…I can fix it. I’ll try to fix it.”

“What…?”

“In other words, if I restore your brother’s soul to its original state, Livia.”

Zagreus’s settling breath grew increasingly rough again. His voice that had been whispering suddenly began to ring out more powerfully and clearly.

“Leave that man and come to me.”

At those unexpected words, as Livia held her breath and widened her eyes in surprise, a raindrop fell on her cheek with a thunderous sound as if the sky was splitting.

Then in an instant, an ominous wind and rain began to sweep through the garden with its open sky.

Bang, boom…! Crash!

Just as the fierce and violent raindrops were whipping against Livia and Zagreus.

“That will not happen, one who has risen from death’s furrow.”

At that fierce voice cutting through the rain, Livia’s body stiffened completely.

—

T/N: You’re in big, big trouble, Livia! (;;;*_*)