The Dark Rebirth of Pandora: Revenge of the Abyss

Chapter 717: Heiress Part 2

"Girls, calm down! There’s no need to fight. Eclipsya, step back a little. It’s ugly to tell your younger sister to kill herself — she’s been through a lot of difficult things." Mama Pandora speaks to me, pushing me away with one hand while stroking Elysia’s head with the other.

"...Does anyone here think this is fair?" I turn to Aqua, Lycoris, and Azazel and ask, finding the current situation anything but fair.

"Does anyone think this is even remotely fair? That we lost the title to someone we don’t even know what she did — that it was something fair to all of us?"

"Azazel and I built a kingdom!! Over forty thousand people live in it!! Aqua also built a kingdom with Lycoris, and their kingdom has forty-two thousand people!!! Our kingdoms completely changed the world’s map and economy."

"While she! This little thing clinging to you, Mama, is someone we’ve never even heard of!!" I turn toward Mama Pandora. I’m not angry at Mama Pandora — I’m angry at this bitch clinging to her.

To me, it seems like she just appeared out of nowhere and took something we all wanted and fought hard to obtain, leaving this bitter taste in my mouth.

"...Hmmm..." Mama Pandora lets out a murmuring sound and looks at Elysia clinging to her, then gives a smile so bizarre it makes me shiver and step back a few paces.

"Girls, your youngest sister’s achievement is far more... interesting than you could imagine. It’s true that physically, she didn’t do anything as grand as building a kingdom from scratch or changing world maps or the merchant economy."

"But Elysia, who lives with me inside a seal, did something that is both what fills me with the most pride and also her punishment."

"Elysia, do you want to talk to your sisters? Do you want Mama to leave so you can have your time? That way you can explore the outside a little. You’ll like it — maybe you’ll learn new things before your consciousness returns to your body." Mama speaks to Elysia.

"...Okay..." With a low growl, Elysia lets go of Mama Pandora, who looks at all of us.

"Well, daughters, I’m leaving now. Elysia will stay here for a few days. Be kind to her... Elysia..." Mama kneels down and says something to Elysia that we don’t hear, but Elysia shows two reactions — the first is blushing, and the second is her eyes growing darker.

"...Okay, Mama... I’ll wait. I think you’ll look magnificent..." Mama Pandora, still wearing her disturbing smile, vanishes, and honestly, never in my entire life have I seen a smile that scared me so much.

’What the hell is going on here?’ I look at the others, who also seem uncomfortable. We’ve seen Mama Pandora smile about many things, and many different smiles, but this one was the first ever to cause discomfort.

"You heard Mama... I’m staying here. So what are we going to do?" She asks us in an arrogant and uninterested tone.

"Why were you chosen?" Aqua approaches her with a low growl, asking with disgust, and I understand her hatred. We worked too hard to lose to a stranger.

’She at least smells like us...’ She really is our sister, and if it were another situation, maybe she’d be welcomed, but her attitude is shit, and she stole something from us that we were fighting hard to achieve.

"Because I’m the one Mama Pandora wanted for the position... and to make me suffer too." Elysia speaks with disinterest to Aqua, who starts saying angry things to her, but I think about what she said.

’Both she and Mama mentioned punishment... punished?... is that why she has that look of someone who just wants to die already? What punishment is this? Why would winning the title be part of the punishment? Shouldn’t it be something good?’ I notice Elysia staring at me deeply.

"Hey, little sister, we’re all pretty tense. If you were more understanding, everything could be resolved peacefully," Azazel says, approaching her with a smile.

"...I don’t need to get close to you. We probably won’t see each other again... I’m imprisoned anyway. I don’t need to be friends with you or care about you..."

"You know, that way you’ll only make enemies. Why don’t you try to be more reasonable?" Lycoris speaks to her while swinging her tail from side to side with restless agitation.

Everyone is making an effort to have some proper interaction, but Elysia clearly doesn’t want to and doesn’t try to be accepted, simply acting as if none of these interactions have any value.

"That doesn’t matter to me. I just said I’m not coming back here. I’ll never be able to leave the seal. Mama will keep me trapped there forever until I die or something."

"And even if I did die, she’d probably bring me back to life somehow. So just leave me alone if all you have are complaints about a silly title." When she calls what we fought for years silly, we all get irritated.

"You’re trash." Aqua, thrashing her shark tail, shoves her and heads off to one of the rooms in this temporary castle. Azazel gives her a dirty look coupled with a pose of disgust and leaves, while Lycoris spits on the ground in front of her.

"You’re terrible. You’re the one who’s silly, not the title," Lycoris says as she turns and walks away, stomping her feet and making noise to show her indignation.

"..." Everyone leaves except me, but something about this seems like more than mere provocation, especially because she treats everything as one single, joint punishment.

"You really seem like you want to die. Does Mama Pandora not love you — is that it? Does she hate you and is punishing you for something specific?" When I say that, Elysia gives a broken smile.

"Hate me? Hahaha, what a joke... Mama Pandora loves me... she loves me too much. She loves me so much it makes me want to rip my own skin off every time she hugs me, so maybe she’ll love me a little less." When she says that, I grow suspicious.

"...You don’t need friends or enemies, but a conversation still sounds interesting, doesn’t it? So why not talk to me until it’s time for you to leave?" When I say this, she seems more interested.

"You seem to think better than the others. Am I really that bad?"

"Yes."

"...We can have a conversation, but let’s keep it brief. I don’t want her to find more reasons to stay glued to me."