CHAPTER 58: SEPARATED BY DEATH

Viviane had suffered countless cruelties at her mother’s hands in this Labyrinth of Dream, but never this.

Isolde had tormented her, beaten her, mocked her, but she had never ordered her to kill. Until now.

This was the most painful memory of her, something she wanted to hide and forget forever. Her mother has turned it into a weapon to shatter her.

"Come here, Viviane. What are you waiting for?" Isolde’s voice was flat, stripped of warmth, as she pressed the scalpel against the girl’s chest.

"HELP ME! HELP ME, VIVIANE!"

Viviane’s body folded in on itself. She dropped to the floor, hands clamped over her ears, eyes squeezed shut.

"No... this isn’t real! This is just a dream! A trick to destroy me!"

Isolde’s reply was calm, almost clinical, even as screams filled the room. "You must know demand has risen. Women’s corpses fetch the highest price. Blood, fat, bone, even organs, everything can be sold. Nothing is wasted."

The girl on the table convulsed, crying for help as her chest split open.

Isolde’s hands worked with terrifying precision, keeping her alive long enough to suffer every cut, every extraction, as though she had done this ritual countless times before.

"They’ll use it as medicine," Isolde continued, her tone icy. "And your friend finally pays her debt. Shouldn’t you be happy for her?"

"NO! YOU ONLY WANT HER DEAD TO SPITE ME!" Viviane’s scream cracked.

Tears blurred her vision as she staggered to her feet. Her eyes locked on her friend’s, wide with terror, begging, until the light drained from them.

"Emma..." Viviane’s voice broke. Her only friend. Now just an empty husk.

’If not for me,’ she thought, Emma would still be alive.

If not for my selfish need to talk, to share happiness with someone, she wouldn’t have died like this. Her body trembled, crushed beneath guilt.

"What are you saying?" Isolde snapped, her voice rising sharp as glass.

"She was a spy! And it’s all because of you. I warned you never to show weakness. And now your friend is dead because of your foolishness!"

She raised the scalpel and pointed it at her daughter.

The monster materialized behind Viviane, moving faster than thought. Its blade tore into her chest and ripped outward, leaving her hollow.

"Try again," it hissed. "Save her or kill her with your own hands."

Darkness swallowed everything.

***

Viviane’s eyes snapped open. Her body refused to die, knitting itself together again, dragging her back into torment. This time, though, the nightmare was worse.

She was holding the scalpel and Emma lay before her, chest rising and falling in terror, eyes wide and pleading.

"I’m so sorry, Viviane! Please, I swear I never betrayed you!"

Viviane’s hands trembled violently. Emma was right. She had never been a spy, never turned against her.

And yet... in the past, Viviane had done nothing. She had stood by, frozen in anger, letting Isolde’s cruelty carve Emma apart.

Although her heart was broken, her anger was more stubborn and bigger than that.

In the end, it wasn’t her mother who betrayed Emma. It was her.

"I know, Emma. I know... I’m so sorry."

Her apology dissolved into a scream as her hands moved on their own, cutting Emma open. Blood poured across her arms as Isolde’s grip locked over her wrists, guiding the scalpel deeper.

"Stop it! Stop all of this!"

"What’s wrong?" Isolde’s smirk curled like poison.

"Did killing her bother you only this time? After all, you’ve dined on her blood before. Don’t pretend to be innocent. You are not kind, Viviane. You’re the same as me. Look at her!"

Viviane’s gaze dropped to Emma’s lifeless body: hollow, gutted, emptied. The scalpel clattered to the floor as she staggered back, gagging, her whole body shaking.

"See how beautiful she is now?" Isolde lifted Emma’s head by the hair. Bone cracked, the sound echoing like thunder in Viviane’s ears. Then Isolde thrust it forward into Viviane hands.

"Two beautiful girls, destroyed by the ones they trusted. Just like Seamus hates you, you hated her."

"NO!" Viviane screamed, tears burning her eyes as she let the head roll on the ground, and couldn’t hold the remnants of her best friend’s body.

"I never hated her! And Seamus, he loves me! He still loves me!"

"Does he?" Isolde tilted her head, voice dripping mockery.

"Where is he now? Perhaps with another girl in his arms, betraying you just as you betrayed poor Emma."

Isolde smirked, her tone full of mockery. "You destroy everyone you touch. Maybe you’re simply... unlovable."

Viviane’s lips parted, but no sound came. Her throat burned with words she couldn’t speak, denials that shattered before leaving her mouth.

Because the scene around her said otherwise. Seamus’ voice echoed too: cold, hateful words she remembered, twisting like knives.

In the end, she was fated to be alone with no one loving her. She destroyed everything she held, she loved and now the only thing left was just herself which she hated the most.

Her body sagged, her spirit breaking. She no longer wanted to fight. There was nothing left worth clinging to.

The monster loomed behind her, its knife raised.

"Ready to die, Viviane?"

She only nodded. Her Vitalis Core throbbed within her chest, pulsing with defiance, but she ignored it.

Death was her only salvation.

After all, nothing was more terrifying than living unloved.

The blade pressed into her chest. She felt it slide deeper, inching toward her heart. She closed her eyes, ready.

But then—

"Viviane!"

A voice tore through the nightmare. A voice she knew, a voice she had always trusted.

Her eyes flew open. Seamus was there, running toward her, his hand outstretched. Hope, fragile and bright, ignited in her chest.

A smile broke across her face, someone still loved her. Someone was still fighting for her. While her mother was just a liar!

But the knife plunged through before their hands could meet. Her chest burst with pain as her Core shattered like glass.

Death has separated them.