Izzy, controlling Arnold, withdrew the map he had bought from Victor. The village served as their temporary anchor point, and from there they would gradually move toward the southwest.

  The mansion lay to the east of the village, which made their orientation simple. If they continued westward from the village, they would eventually reach Easton City.

  The map’s parchment was worn and yellowed, with inked lines marking forests and roads that twisted like veins across the land.

  ‘Hmm?’

  Now that she thought about it, when had she learned that the mansion lay to the east of the village?

  Who told her about it?

  “Izzy…”

  ‘?’

  Arnold walked ahead of the cart to scout the road. Strictly speaking, there was no real need for this. Her main body, the portrait secured on the cart, her Field Vision encompassed a radius of 15 meters by default. She could see everything perfectly in that range.

  Still, habits from her past life were hard to discard. They might miss something if they were too reliant on their Field Vision. Who knew what dangers lurked around this forest?

  “What is it?”

  Izzy responded, while directing Arnold to move ahead, pushing the bushes aside and visually confirming what she already sensed.

  “Why are you bringing that with us?”

  Isa spoke through Arriet’s lips, pointing a finger toward the corner of the cart.

  There, nestled among crates and bundled cloth, sat the doll.

  It was an uncanny replica of the figure in the portrait, a miniature version of herself. “Isidora’s doll” was no taller than a child’s forearm, with gray hair sewn into place and a cold expression that mirrored the portrait.

  Izzy considered the question. If the Herald came to the mansion, he would likely find the doll. She did not know what role it played in the ritual Benjamin had mentioned, but instinct told her it was important.

  Leaving such a potentially crucial object behind at the mansion seemed not a good idea.

  “But…” Isa said hesitantly. “Can we just throw it away?”

  “Hmm.”

  Was that really a good idea? She wondered. The doll might be connected to her existence in some way. She hesitated to cast it aside so casually in the wilderness.

  Izzy turned her attention back to Isa.

  “Why do you hate that doll so much?” She genuinely did not understand.

  “It’s smelly…”

  “?” Izzy tilted her head in confusion. She controlled Glen to pick up the doll and sniffed it.

  “It doesn’t smell bad,” Izzy frowned.

  “No, it’s…” Arriet clasped her hands together. A faint flush rose to her cheeks. “It’s like… a bad smell. Like a fox trying to steal Izzy away…”

  “…?”

  Now that was a strange statement. Did Isa fear that Izzy would become engrossed in the doll and neglect her young mind? Jealousy with a doll? Really now?

  But Izzy understood. After all, they had both witnessed what Benjamin had done. The doll was a reminder of the madness they had faced.

  Isa might act cheerful and energetic most of the time, but her young mind was, by definition, still young. She was still vulnerable in ways Izzy often forgot.

  A smile formed on Izzy’s face.

  ‘Don’t worry about it. I’m always here with you.’

  ‘...’

  Isa looked down. At the same time, Arriet lowered her head, her raven bangs falling forward to obscure her expression.

  Of course, Izzy still felt the need to impart a lesson upon her younger self.

  “But it’s a bad habit to throw things you don’t like at me. Don’t do that again.”

  She recalled that Isa had taken the doll down to the study and left it there without a word, setting it upright on the middle shelf of the bookshelf.

  It would not hurt her. Izzy knew that much. But the act itself was the problem.

  That kind of behavior was bad.

  At the very least, Isa should have notified her first.

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  “Uh?”

  “If you don’t like the doll, you should just tell me to keep it somewhere else,” Izzy continued patiently. “Don’t throw it at me without my permission. That's bad manners.”

  Izzy had directed Arnold to sleep within the study. Or more precisely, he rested on the couch inside the study instead of the bedroom. It was more convenient that way, easier to monitor everything at once.

  The study sat between them on the 2nd floor. From that position, Arnold could easily reach both Arriet on the third floor, who guarded the painting, and Erin, whose quarters were on the ground floor.

  In the past, Izzy had been forced to sleep wherever she could, even amidst a hail of bullets... it was not like she had much of a choice back in the day.

  Compared to that, a couch in a study was nothing.

  To be honest, having Arnold sleep in the very same room as that doll was... quite an experience.

  It felt surreal, him resting there while the porcelain doll watched him in silence.

  Fortunately, Arnold was not her true body, allowing her to be somewhat more careless.

  And their Field Vision was still active even when their Vessels were asleep, anyway.

  “But… Isa didn’t—”

  Before Isa could finish her sentence, Izzy’s connection to the bird was abruptly severed!

  “!”

  “!”

  Both minds jolted in alarm!

  Just a moment ago, Izzy had been controlling the bird to scout beyond the dense expanse of green trees. All it had seen was forest, layer upon layer of leaves and branches, nothing out of the ordinary.

  And yet, unexpectedly, the connection was gone!

  The Vessels immediately tensed and looked around with caution, while Izzy cranked her Field Vision to its absolute limit, 150 meters!

  “What happened?!”

  However, neither within her supernatural sight nor through the eyes of her vessels was there anything to be seen.

  Now that she focused upon it, it was strange.

  “Why… is there nothing around us?”

  *Thump. Thump.*

  Their main body had no heart, but the vessels did. Izzy suddenly became acutely aware of it. The heavy, uneven pounding inside Arnold’s chest, inside Jack’s, inside Arriet’s.

  Izzy did not notice this before, why was it this unusual?

  Birdsong still rang in her ears. The hum of insects, the rustle of leaves in the wind. Everything that should have been there was still present in sound and sensation.

  But when she focused her Field Vision, she couldn’t find any living being around.

  There were no birds, no animals, no insects at all in her Field Vision…

  ‘Something is wrong!’ Izzy’s eyes widened in alarm!

  Without hesitation, she seized control of her vessels and forced them to turn back toward the mansion’s direction.

  However—

  ‘What the…?’

  In her main body’s Field Vision, there was nothing.

  However, through Arnold’s eyes, the true, sensory eyes of the living vessel who stood furthest ahead…

  She saw something.

  Under the shadow of a massive tree, where the sunlight could not quite reach, stood an animal.

  It was a stag.

  Standing on two legs.

  And where its head should have been—

  There was a human face.

  Its eyes were fixed directly on Arnold.

  “!”

  Instantly, Izzy lost her connection with Arnold.

  “WHAT?!”

  There was no sensation!

  Arnold was her vessel. Normally, as a Living Body, a Vessel, when he died, she should have felt the feedback of his pain.

  But there was nothing!

  ‘What is going on?!’

  Panic surged through her. Izzy immediately seized control of Jack, pulling hard on the reins—

  Yet the horse refused to move.

  It stood there, rigid as a statue.

  “HEY! MOVE!”

  Izzy shouted as she possessed the horse directly. However…

  ‘…Huh?’

  The moment she did, she froze.

  The horse was dead.

  Its heart had stopped beating. It died while standing.

  A chill ran down her spine.

  This horse had been fine moments ago. Why was this happening? This made no sense!

  ‘No!’

  Izzy immediately controlled Glen and Jack to rush to the cart and secure their main body, the painting.

  “Isa! We need to hurry!”

  “...”

  “Isa?”

  Her young mind did not answer.

  “ISA, ISA!!”

  Usually, the girl would respond immediately. Surely, even Isa knew this was no time for games of hide-and-seek!

  "ISA!!!"

  Izzy screamed in the silence of her own mind.

  Her young mind… had vanished from their shared consciousness.

  Izzy’s gaze snapped toward Arriet.

  Arriet, Isa’s vessel, sat motionless in the cart, her eyes fixed unblinkingly in one direction.

  ‘What…?’

  Izzy followed the line of her gaze….

  "Arnold?"

  Standing there, directly in front of Arriet, was Arnold.

  His white flock coat fluttered gently in the breeze. He looked back at her, a serene expression upon his face.

  He smiled.

  "Hello."

  Izzy’s vision went dark.

  --------

  [@]

  “Isidora, Isidora, I am here, Isidora.”

  In a dark, reclusive forest, an old mansion stood alone.

  ---Vol.1 Act 3: the [Redact] forest, end.----