"Mind your business, you ugly wench!" One of the voices snarled back, sounding as if it were trying to shove Lilith's words aside.

'Just shut up! All of you!' Celeste finally retorted. 'I don't do that anymore. So just leave me alone!'

An old man's voice then immediately echoed in her head. "Ugh! You are so fuckin' annoying!"

Another voice chimed in with a low, mocking drawl. "Wait… don't tell me… Are you afraid that Cedric will despise you again once he finds out that you relapsed?"

Celeste bit her lower lip until she could actually taste blood.

The old man's voice continued, "Ahh… looks like I'm right. But… so what if he despises you? Do you really think he forgave you in the first place?"

A female voice then added with a cruel laugh, "You have no shame. After how you treated him for several years, do you think you have the right to even ask for his forgiveness?"

Another yelled. "You are pathetic!"

Celeste had not realized when she began crying and clutching her head.

'I don't care if he doesn't forgive me! I don't care if he despises me! He has every right in the world to be! …As long as he keeps me by his side, that's enough! I won't ever ask for more.'

The voices all began laughing in harmony. "You really are pathetic! You deserve to die!"

…At that moment, the female cadet merchant finally emerged from the tent with the fairly new pair of shoes Celeste had come to get.

But then a look of utter confusion crossed the merchant's face as she saw Celeste crouched on the ground with her hands over her ears.

"Huh?" The black-skinned girl hurried over to her and asked with a worried frown, "Are you alright?"

But Celeste didn't seem to hear and was too lost in her own internal chaos.

Then, right at that moment, a familiar red-haired boy who was passing by another merchant's tent caught sight of the both of them and immediately rushed over. Not because he was concerned, but rather because he was embarrassed by the scene.

He nodded awkwardly to the merchant who was almost about to touch Celeste, then he intervened and grabbed Celeste by the hand.

The sudden contact caught Celeste's attention and immediately drowned out the noise in her head. She wiped away her tears and looked up to see her twin brother, Levi, holding her.

"Come with me…" Levi muttered under his breath as he began to pull her away from the tent.

As they walked, Celeste winced. "Hey, you are hurting me…" but Levi ignored her and kept a firm grip on her hand.

When they were a fair distance away from the others, he finally let her go then asked angrily, "What the hell? I thought you said you had that damn curse of yours under control?!" He tried to keep his voice low but sharp. "You promised that it would not be a problem anymore. That you would not embarrass us, especially in public. So what the hell was that?!"

Although Levi and the rest of the family knew Celeste was an addict, they didn't realize she had been using just to keep her symptoms at bay. They just saw it as a shameful habit of hers and that only made them treat her with even more contempt.

Celeste, who was rubbing her hand where he had gripped it, retorted, "Is that the first thing you say to me after seeing me for the first time in this cursed realm? Our reputation, is that all you care about? We are in hell for goodness sake, Levi!"

Levi was silent for a moment, and his expression hardened instead of softening.

To be honest, he was actually quite stunned; Celeste had always been quiet and wasn't the type to talk back, no matter the situation or the insults she received. Seeing her talk back like this was completely out of character, and it left him momentarily speechless.

Celeste continued angrily, "Yes, I am mad. So what? What happened to… 'oh… thank goodness you survived, how are you doing, dear sister?' Stuff like that?!"

"Keep your voice down!" Levi hissed.

He looked around to see if anyone had heard her, then rubbed the bridge of his nose and eventually sighed. "Let's not do this here."

He looked up at her tear-stained face, then said after a brief moment, "Come, let's go over to my shelter. We can talk and catch up over there."

Celeste exhaled wearily. "Don't bother. I've already said everything I had to say."

She turned around to leave, but then Levi stopped her. "Wait. Where are you going?"

"To my shelter."

"Shelter?" Levi arched a brow.

Only those who had a proper party could live in a shelter.

"If you live in a shelter, then you must have a strong party." A small, knowing smile tugged at his lips. "Ahh… so that's how you survived. You must have depended on them the whole time."

Celeste clenched her fists tightly.

"Now I'm curious. Tell me, which influential party was gracious enough to take in someone like you?" Levi asked, his tone dripping with a mixture of curiosity and condescension.

At that moment, the voices in Celeste's head began screeching again: "See? We told you. Even your twin brother sees you as worthless."

One of the voices hissed with a cruel laugh, "I bet he would have been happier if you had simply died and didn't make it to this grove."

Celeste winced and clutched the side of her head as the voices kept thrumming even louder. She even began muttering, "Shut up… just shut up. Shut the hell up!"

…Seeing her acting like this again, Levi sighed and shook his head slightly. "Come with me. I'm giving you a chance to join my party. It'll be better if you are with me; that way I can protect you in this realm. Who else can you really trust besides your twin brother?"

Celeste lowered her hands and stared at him coldly. "You know what? I don't even trust you. So you can keep that 'protection' of yours to yourself. I've done just fine without it."

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