If they had some kind of goal or something they loved to cling to, then perhaps it would be worth it in the end, but even those things could end up tormenting them if those very things ended up being affected by those decisions.
It would eventually reach a point where the very things they had for support would end up becoming poison for them, as they would be unable to trust or rely on anything.
Even her sister had become someone that she needed to protect and keep to herself, while she feared that if she changed her mind and freed her sister, then the first thing that her sister would do would be to escape her reach.
The very thing she had been sacrificing so much for would be released from her protection.
With there being such an unpredictable world beyond her reach, she would be unable to protect her sister.
It was only within Empirica that she could hold power and influence.
Anything outside of it was something she had no control over.
That lack of control was something that she had begun to fear, especially when it concerned her sister.
It was like she had cursed herself, and there was no way out for her that she could think of.
The only way she could escape the curse was to release her sister, but that was where the contradiction existed.
The fear of her sister resenting and leaving her was what had made her continue to keep her confined for so long.
She could try to put her faith in her sister in the hopes that she could be forgiven for everything and trust that her sister would stay by her side, but she needed to be able to take the risk that her sister would do the opposite.
As she struggled with such thoughts for a long time, she found that she did not dare to take such a risk.
Even a conqueror of her calibre had something that she hesitated over.
She began to think further about how such hesitation and weakness in her heart were exactly what had led her to the current situation.
With her being defeated by someone like Alyssia, her resolve had been wavering.
Even if Alyssia were to tell her that she was a cruel person who was undeserving of being loved or forgiven, she would likely agree and accept it.
To her surprise, Alyssia did not take that approach and had managed to address the key aspects of her worries that she had been struggling with for so long.
It did not take long for her resolve to begin wavering.
The thick walls she had built up began to show signs of cracking.
Alyssia spoke up again, giving one final push. "Why not trust the bond you have with your sister just this once? Even if you did confine her, you still made every effort to give her everything she would ever need.
Even if she needs time from you or cannot be around you anymore, there will always be other ways to ensure her safety. You may not be able to trust me completely yet, but I can be a decent ally and trust me... You will need allies in the future as things will likely repeat."
The gaze of Una wavered for a moment before sharpening as Alyssia suggested taking Deux away under her protection.
It was not something that could be trusted, especially since Una did not know Alyssia too well.
Alyssia may have shown good character and had bested her, but trusting her sister was another matter entirely.
There was no telling when greed would end up getting the best of Alyssia, the moment that Deux was in her possession.
Mistrust started to grow until Alyssia started mentioning a much larger and alarming topic.
Becoming allies was not something that she had considered, as she wanted to maintain things as they had been for so long.
Isolation of Empirica would not be changed, no matter what Alyssia would say to her.
That was what she believed, but the next words caused her to hold her breath.
The trauma from her past flared up as the memories of back then returned one after another.
Alyssia's next words cut even deeper. "According to certain findings and calculations being made about the future, a great upheaval will happen in the not-so-distant future. Not even you will be able to hide away from it, as it will affect everyone."
Those final words ended up confirming the worries Una was having in that moment.
Una started to feel more vulnerable as she began to talk about the distant past, but from her perspective. "Empirica was not what it currently has become. The influence of the church was very small back then.
My sister and I were twins who were abandoned on the doorstep of the church, so we grew up there..."
It was a story that Alyssia had heard much about, but from the perspective of Una rather than Deux.
She went on to describe how the royal family and the nobles held most of the influence back then.
There was a huge divide between the existence of commoners and slaves and the nobility and royals.
A lot of that was shown by how the wealth was mostly in the hands of the nobility and the royals, while the commoners were often struggling to find work and ways to survive.
The only place that seemed to be a voice or a helping hand to the commoners of Empirica was the church, but its influence was still not enough to influence matters.
Much like most children who were left with the church, the parents had to abandon their own children for various reasons.
Most of the parents were either too poor or were dying, resulting in them having to give up their children due to being unable to raise them.
Others were orphans who had lost their parents due to sickness or in some form of power struggle among the nobility or the gangs.
If it was not territorial wars claiming more lives, then it was the result of the gangs preying on the weak and vulnerable.
Una and Deux grew up in such a place but had the protection of the church during their earlier years.
When they grew up, they decided to eventually set out to sea, which began with their journey as they met allies and made enemies along the way.
Through those adventures was how they both gained their Devil Fruits, and Una was able to become a conqueror.
It was not until later that they were forced to return to their homeland as the world was beginning to change in various ways.
Despite deciding to journey out to sea, they still had a deep connection to the church and their homeland.
Deux wanted to return most of all since she had been the more soft-hearted and compassionate of the sisters.
They could never have imagined the mess that they would return to the moment that they returned to Empirica and found their way back to the church.
That was when Una began to help Deux with her wishes of helping Empirica overcome the crisis that had fallen upon them.