In the deepest parts of the night, they went back to the castle. That was because the whole time they were going out to see things, now that Cassie had vision. Sadly, she had to take off the mask when they got back to avoid suspicion and keep it as a trump card. Now, what they had to do was find a way to show Nephis came back, and since she gathered everything needed, finally escape this damned city.
There was one problem, though. Now that Nephis refused to take part in his plan of a staged fight, he had to think of something else. The reputation he carefully built to make an easy transfer of power—he'd just have to worry about that in the morning.
Letting himself fall asleep, he decided to put it off. Sadly for him, he failed to know that in the morning all hell would break loose.
---
In the morning, he woke up. Rubbing his eyes, he saw Cassie pacing around the room, and she stopped when she heard the bed sheets rustle as he got up. She still had the mask on, which made it quite a creepy sight to wake up to.
"Nephis is gone again! Well, not gone, but she's outside, and she revealed herself, and then she ended up—!"
"Slow down!"
Sunny rubbed his forehead before shooting up from bed and running out the doors. As soon as he did, he was met with Nephis, who was walking down the hall with Effie.
"Sup."
"DON'T SUP ME!"
He ran up to her and shook her shoulders as if trying to shake the answers out of her.
"What did you do!"
She let herself be shaken around before tensing, causing Sunny to crash into her.
"Calm down... all I did was tell everyone what I told you that night."
Sunny raised an eyebrow, backing up before looking at Effie, who looked dazed.
"You told them about gathering the keys already? I thought we were going to wait for that."
Effie jumped back in surprise before shouting,
"You what?!"
Huh? What does she mean? Shouldn't she know since Nephis—wait... don't tell me...
"Oh... I forgot to mention that. No, I meant the part about you belon—"
Sunny's fist flew into her gut. Sadly, she didn't even flinch.
"You crazy... you crazy... crazy bastard!"
Everything was falling apart under the storm—the catastrophic storm—the force of stupidity that Nephis was.
---
Sunny was remembering the time when he and Nephis couldn't go a second without arguing... but now...
"As for dresses, I think you should wear the dress and I wear the suit."
He glared at her. He had the urge to pounce on her, but at the moment she would probably take that the wrong way and think it was an invitation of sorts.
He had to think of something, and quick. Anything! Maybe a mind control plotline which followed into an NTR subplot and then a—
"Whatever you're thinking, I suggest you stop, you mutt."
His eyes shone with hope. Could she be returning to her normal self? Was this hope to fix everything?
"Why are you so happy hearing that? Could it be you're into that sort of thing...? I won't judge you. After all, I don't mind ex—"
Throwing a pillow at her face, he got up from the bed. He should go vent to Kai again; after all, a handsome dude like him had to have good advice. Of course, that was before he heard a muffled snicker. Slowly turning his head, he looked at the blank-faced Nephis... she was messing with him, wasn't she?
"So, about the dress."
Sunny ended up going to see Kai.
---
On his way, he ran into someone—Pauline. She was standing in the corner of the hall, most likely waiting for him.
She let out a whistle before she strode up to him and looked him up and down.
"I'm honestly surprised a limp-dick, no-brain, troglodyte loser like you could end up with the lady-changing star herself. You're a little womanizer, aren't you? Color me surprised, because I would never expect a goblin-looking pale freak like you to pull that off."
He'd gotten used to tuning out her words by now, which wasn't surprising since this was her entire vocabulary.
"So, what do you need? I have important business, you see."
She smiled before her casual voice rang out once more.
"You? Busy? The only thing I could see you busy with is stroking that little—"
"Just cut to the chase."
Her face turned serious as she stared out the window.
"The carrot top told me how the autistic girl gathered everything we need during those months. I'm just here confirming it."
She looked back at him, her smile etched with sadness—an unusual look on her face.
"I've been here for years, Sunless... the things I've done to survive, and the people I had to throw in the ocean to cross the sea with their bodies, only grew as time went on. It'll never leave me, and I don't want it to—after all, it made me who I am today. But still... can I ask you a question?"
Sunny nodded. The mood changed drastically, and he had a bad premonition.
"Would you forgive me?"
The question came suddenly, and Sunny could offer no answer. Not because he didn't have one, but because looking outside the window, he saw the inhabitants of the dark city shouting to open the gateway.