Punishing : Gray Raven (Official)

Chapter 5 : Epilogue (Interlude)

EX04 : Echo Aria - Starry Tales (Interlude)

Chapter 5 : Epilogue

Selena has a dim recollection of seeing a flower in Babylonia's greenhouse.

"A real flower."

Babylonia rarely wastes precious resources on growing decorative flowers, so the beauty of that purple flower blooming in the greenhouse really stood out.

"What happened next?"

Her M.I.N.D. was in such chaos that she was not able to access the next part immediately.

"Oh... right."

It was an excursion organized by the Center of Basic Public Education, so of course, the purpose of the teacher who took them there was certainly not to have them admire the flowers in bloom.

The teacher plucked the flower.
And deconstructed it in front of them.
It started with the stalk, then the base... the sepal and the corolla.

The deconstructed nameless purple flower lay scattered in the petri dish for the children to examine its every part.

Just like her now.

Korolev : "You're being naughty, little thief. Where did you hide the stolen item?"

Korolev, who had been pulling her apart, suddenly stopped.
That maroon visual receptor scans her from top to bottom before abruptly tossing her aside.

Korolev : "Oh, little thief... Where did you go?"

It is as if it suddenly cannot "see" her. It lets out an urgent screeching noise before leaving the communications room.

Selena : "..."

Is it because she has reached such high levels of Corruption that it determined she has become a Corrupted?

She does not know... Nor does she need to.She can no longer feel her lower limbs. The only thing left in her M.I.N.D. was ceaseless pain.

She did not dare cut off the pain signal, for fear of M.I.N.D.deviation. She could already feel the geometric core shard buried in her chest gradually infecting her.

All of her computing power is focused on keeping her Inver-Device functioning normally.But the crimson is slowly spreading through her M.I.N.D.

When she can see clearly again, Selena finds herself in a most familiar place.

She is at the Virtual Exhibition Hall, the place where she first had a dream.
When she was still a nobody, this was where she was, in a place nobody cared about, alone with her little robots, attempting to restore pieces of opera collected from the remnants of the golden age.

(Selena : "The Duke of Milan did not seek revenge for the hardship he encountered.Instead, he forgave every man who had wronged him, after they confessed.Years later, all the things that happened were slowly forgotten.The people of Naples continued to live on a beautiful land as always.Naples was still a place of hope, despite the occasional disputes and conflicts.
Thank you for watching. This is the end of The Tempest.")

(Ayla : "Well...")

(Selena : "What's wrong, Ayla? Is there something wrong with it?")

(Ayla : "No, Selena. Your operas are as exciting as always.")

(Selena : "So what exactly is the issue, Ayla?")

(Ayla : "I just don't understand why Duke Prospero was able to forgive Antonio in the end.If it wasn't for Antonio, Prospero and his daughter wouldn't have been exiled to the small island, would he? Why was he able to forgive him just like that?")