Her mother was happy because that person had praised her. Did that mean making that person happy would make her mother happy too? And if her mother was happy, would she finally be able to feel happiness as well?
83rd turned to her sisters.
They were supposed to be the elite of the elite, the ones who, like her, had survived the last two years of tests under their mother. Yet there they were, staring at her with those eyes.
She recognized that look—it was the ugliest expression of all: envy.
Every sibling who had made that face before had ended up dying. Did that mean these sisters would meet the same fate? Even them?
"..."
No. Surely they were just having an off day. Even 83rd had days when she wasn't the one closest to her mother, but that didn't make her worthless. Surely, they would rise again. They always had before.
And so, a few weeks later…
