Chapter 5

For a year and a half, I had lived a carefree life of indulgence, but the long-forgotten dream returned to haunt me once more.

In the dream, Gabriela and I were still two orphaned girls, drifting from place to place due to the chaos of war until we finally found ourselves in Lotusvale.

Gabriela and I had grown up together, not bound by blood but closer than family. I had led her on this harrowing escape until we both collapsed at the entrance of a village.

When we awoke, we were taken in by the kind villagers.

Our days of peace and happiness stretched on until Gabriela and I turned nineteen. It was then that a gravely injured woman was found in the mountains by one of the village's herb gatherers. This woman was none other than Anna.

The villagers spared no effort, using their most precious medicine to bring Anna back from the brink of death. They clothed her, fed her, and showered her with warmth and care.

But the repayment she offered was a single, chilling sentence. "How could