"What?" Sera asked in complete confusion as she looked back and forth between the two of them. Both William and Tamasya were looking at her with genuine smiles on their faces, as though she had unknowingly done something remarkable.

William could not help but chuckle before speaking. "Sera, you are amazing."

There was not even the slightest trace of teasing in his voice. His words were completely sincere, and that sincerity only made Sera blush even harder. She lowered her gaze for a moment while awkwardly brushing a strand of hair behind her ear, clearly embarrassed by being praised so openly.

Standing beside William, Tamasya quietly nodded in agreement.

"I have to agree with him. Sometimes you don’t even realize how naturally kind you are."

The atmosphere immediately became lighter than before, and the three of them shared a few quiet laughs together. The tension that had been weighing on them for the past several hours eased ever so slightly, allowing them to breathe a little easier before turning their attention back toward the reason they were all here.

After the brief moment of laughter had passed, William, Sera, and Tamasya carefully approached Lia.

Fortunately, Lia’s guard had dropped considerably compared to earlier. She was still nervous and cautious, but she no longer looked like she was preparing to flee at the slightest movement. During the past several minutes she had silently observed the three of them, and despite her fragmented state of mind, she had managed to reach a few simple conclusions.

If they truly wished to harm her, they had already possessed countless opportunities to do so.

Instead, he never once forced her into doing anything against her will. Every action they had taken contradicted the fear buried deep inside her mind.

Because of that, when they slowly approached her once more, she did not run away.

She simply remained seated and quietly cooperated.

...

Several hours later, the four of them were sitting together inside William’s house.

The room remained unusually quiet. Only the soft crackling of the fireplace and the occasional sound of someone shifting in their seat disturbed the silence.

Lia sat on one side of the room while holding a steaming cup of warm water with both hands. Her fingers remained wrapped tightly around the cup as though she were drawing comfort from its warmth.

Tamasya looked at her with a calm expression before asking another question.

"Is there really nothing you can remember about who kidnapped you after that night?"

Lia remained silent for several long seconds. Her eyes stayed fixed on the surface of the water inside her cup before she slowly shook her head.

"No..."

Her answer was barely audible, and Tamasya did not press her any further. Instead, she exchanged uncertain glances with William and Sera. None of them knew what direction they should take anymore.

Every question they had asked until now had ended exactly the same way.

Lia remembered nothing. Or trying to remember caused her visible pain.

Sera eventually moved a little closer before gently clasping Lia’s hand between both of hers.

"Lia..."

She waited until the girl looked up at her before continuing.

"Do you want to return home?" The question remained hanging in the air for several moments.

Lia stared at Sera with hollow, lifeless eyes.

"What home are you talking about?"

Her voice carried no anger; it was just heavy.

"I don’t have a home anymore." She lowered her gaze again.

"It was taken away from me."

Her fingers tightened around the cup.

"My mother..."

Her voice trembled. "I watched her being cut down right in front of me."

The room became completely silent. Lia continued speaking without looking at anyone.

"So tell me..."

She let out a weak laugh that contained no happiness whatsoever. "Do you really think I can still call that place my home?"

Sera’s expression immediately filled with guilt. "I’m sorry, Lia."

She squeezed her hand a little more gently. "I should have been more considerate before asking that."

After taking a small breath, she continued.

"But... please tell us what you want to do from here."

Her voice remained soft throughout.

"We don’t want to force you to stay with us. If you wish to leave, we won’t stop you."

She smiled reassuringly.

"But if you want to stay here... then you can stay for as long as you need."

Tamasya nodded. "She’s right."

By this point, all three of them had already realized that every word spoken around Lia needed to be chosen with extreme care.

She was not merely traumatized.

What she was experiencing went far beyond ordinary grief.

Ever since William had rescued her, he had witnessed countless frightening changes in her body.

Even after waking up, there were signs that something was wrong with her. Sometimes she would begin shivering uncontrollably without any obvious reason. At other times, a small unexpected sound would throw her into a full panic attack; she had turned hyperreactive to even subtle noises that were not familiar to her.

There were even moments when she became startlingly alert, instinctively searching every corner of the room as though expecting someone to appear from the shadows.

Occasionally she lashed out without warning before immediately breaking down into tears afterward, unable to understand why she had reacted that way herself.

Every one of those moments only reinforced a single conclusion.

Whatever had happened to Lia during the time she was missing was not normal.

Several times throughout the conversation, William had quietly used his Lunar abilities to stabilize her emotions whenever her mental state threatened to collapse entirely. Even then, the effect only lasted temporarily before another wave of fear resurfaced.

Hours passed like this. They continued talking. They patiently waited whenever Lia fell silent.

They changed subjects whenever she became distressed. Despite all of that effort, they learned almost nothing. It was obvious that Lia wanted to answer them.

She truly wanted to communicate.

However, something inside her prevented her from doing so.

Whenever she attempted to recall certain memories, her speech became strangely distorted. Sometimes she would stop in the middle of a sentence while gripping her own head in pain. Other times she would suddenly begin hyperventilating before completely losing control of herself.

Large portions of her memories appeared to have simply vanished.

Whether they had been erased, damaged, or sealed away, none of them knew.

Only one memory remained absolutely certain in her mind.

"The night at your shop..."

Lia quietly looked toward William.

"I know someone was there."

She frowned as though desperately trying to remember.

"It wasn’t just you and me." She closed her eyes tightly.

"There was... someone else. He was the one who kidnapped me," she said with a distressed tone before going silent.

Eventually, William lost his patience and accepted that they would get nothing more today.

"There is no point forcing her." The conversation naturally came to an end, and he stood up to leave the cabin.