She is not an investigator.

Humans are inherently contradictory beings, and Igris was no exception.

She should have been happy.

But at least she's not really happy right now.

However, she was probably already used to it. Other colors were dying all around her all the time, and Nan Ke was just one of them.

"I'm ready..."

Holding the Tear of the Ocean, Buze trembled as he raised the pistol Olivia had given him, under everyone's gaze.

"Is there anything else you'd like to say?"

Igris stood sullenly to the side, looking at Nanko who was preparing to die peacefully, and asked.

"What do you want to say...?"

Nan Ke was silent for a while, then finally shook his head with a smile.

"I've probably already said my last words, so there's nothing more to say."

"You're about to die."

“I know, but it’s okay. At least I feel… I’m pretty lucky.”

As Igris looked at the genuine smile on Nanko's face, her vision suddenly began to blur.

A scorching heat filled her skin, and the strong smell of burning permeated the entire space, making Igris almost unsteady on her feet, her whole body swaying slightly.

So... what exactly caused her to lose focus during that meeting?

Flashback.

boom!

The sound of gears turning and faint gunshots rang out, like the sound of glass shattering, and everything around her quickly plunged into darkness and boundless chaos.

Time has come to an end.

The Gods' Fool's Play - The Castle's Invitation: Chapter Forty-Five, Reality

Igris woke up again and returned to the road in front of the castle once more, but the crimson sunset was already shining on her face.

In the afterglow of the setting sun, the withered trees on both sides of the road appeared particularly lonely and desolate. The sunlight filtered through the treetops, casting mottled golden shadows, but it was powerless to conceal the desolation of the forest. The withered branches twisted like countless thin arms, reaching towards the sky, as if silently telling of oblivion and decay.

On the ground, cracked soil and scattered withered leaves intertwine to form a somber picture. Occasionally, a gentle breeze blows, carrying hoarse whispers, as if recounting the forest's past. The air is filled with the smell of burning, and even the setting sun appears dim and lifeless, as if its last brilliance has been swallowed up by this desolate scene. It is as if time has frozen here, and all life and hope have vanished in this gloomy landscape.

A steady breathing sounded beside Igris; Olivia was sitting in the driver's seat, sleeping peacefully.

Igris didn't try to wake her; she simply got out of the car and looked at the road, which had clearly changed.

The sun is probably about to set.

She breathed in the not-so-fresh air around her, feeling the unfamiliar yet familiar chill, and walked toward the ancient castle that should have been there.

……

It's so good to see you.

On the ruins of the castle, Nanko sat there, smiling heavily yet nonchalantly at Igris.

How long has he been sitting here?

"It's over, isn't it?"

Igris came to his side and, imitating him, sat on the ruins of the ancient castle, on a section of the broken wall that didn't look too badly burned by the flames.

"Yes... it's over, everything is over, the cycle of time, the legacy of the Noval family, and my destiny."

Nan Ke held up a gemstone, allowing it to gleam with a light that was not of its own in the afterglow of the setting sun.

On the pure, flawless blue gemstone, a large patch of damage suddenly appeared, along with a clearly visible bullet embedded within it.

"You ruined it."

Igris looked at the gem in Nanko's hand, took out her pistol, fired the remaining three bullets into empty air, and then simply tossed it aside.

"Someone probably told me that what I should do is not to break out of this cycle, but to break it."

"So you chose that most risky decision?"

"The cycle does not refer to time itself."

Igris looked at the ruins of the surrounding buildings and spoke slowly.

"What we should shatter is never that fragmented Mobius strip, but this inextricable cycle of fate that originated from the Tear of the Ocean. If it requires a price, then so be it, the price is this unique treasure in the world, which is the Tear of the Ocean itself."

Nan Ke remained silent for a long time, and finally threw the broken gem in his hand with all his might. It flew far away, and he had no intention of taking it back.

"Its desires are inherently contradictory, so it can never fulfill anyone's wishes... Therefore, I could never salvage anything from the very beginning."

Igris said nothing, but the surrounding scenery had already said it all.

Why did you think of Olivia?

"No...it's just because she's one of my few friends, and the only one who responded to me."

Nan Ke suddenly gave a self-deprecating laugh, but then fell silent and became very quiet.

I'm sorry.

“You really should apologize, both to those who died here and to Olivia, who always trusted you. You shouldn’t have put her in such danger.”

Igris looked at the cars parked by the roadside and sighed helplessly.

“But I guess she shouldn’t blame you for getting her into this trouble, after all, this is also the reason she came back here… She responded to your plea for help, even if that plea was a completely false wish based entirely on the Tears of the Ocean.”

Therefore, his fate was sealed from the very beginning.

"No one else survived this fire, right?"

Nan Ke didn't speak, but his expression told a story.

"You killed everyone, even though it wasn't what you wanted, you made it happen. So the Tears of the Ocean responded to your wish, trapping you in an endless cycle. But this won't save anyone; the fire will still happen. So the invitation became a way for you to ask for help from the outside world... But what you don't know is that every wish granted by the Tears of the Ocean comes at a price, and this spiral of fate is destined to collide and even merge between different people. Olivia can indeed stop the fire, but the price of this wish itself contradicts its source, the fire. This is destined to be an endless cycle, as long as you are not satisfied, or anyone is not satisfied... but the ending is destined to be unsatisfactory for everyone."

Igris stood up, brushed the ash off her pants, and walked over to Nanko.

"There are no wish-granting machines in the world. Everything you do comes at a price, and you have to bear the consequences yourself."

"..."

"besides."

Igris put away her serious expression and smiled gently at Nan Ke, who had a heavy expression on his face.

"Happy birthday."

……

"you're awake?"

Igris opened the car door and found that Olivia had already woken up and was staring blankly at the ruins of the ancient castle in front of her.

She only snapped out of her reverie when Igris called her name, and smiled softly.

"This is a strange feeling. This line should have been said to you by me."

"Looks like you still remember."

Olivia nodded, looking at Nanke, which was still sitting in the ruins in the distance, and sighed with some regret.

"You're probably going to lose this friend."

Iglesias noticed Olivia's worry and said something that was hard to tell whether it was comforting or a reminder.

But Olivia didn't seem to care that much, and simply shook her head slightly.

“He deserved it, and besides, I made some new friends.”

She glanced at Igris, but Igris didn't look at her, even though she knew who Olivia was referring to.

Are you still planning to go and say hello to him?

“He would probably really like to apologize to me, so let’s go. His crimes are enough to keep him in hell for the rest of his life.”

Olivia did not forgive him; from any perspective, she could not forgive what he had done.

"But perhaps he wasn't that heartbroken."

"Why do you say that?"

Igris rested her head against the car window, looking at the withered grass on both sides of the road that had been burned by flames, and said with some uncertainty.

"He got everything he wanted: Buze's approval, reconciliation with his brother, and defiance of fate."

Olivia blinked and placed her hands on the steering wheel, trying to get closer to see Igris's profile, but she still couldn't make out her expression.

"So, you think everything he did was worth it?"

"I'm just a witness; what he really thinks is his own problem."

"That's true."

The Gods' Fool's Play - The Castle's Invitation: Chapter Forty-Six, The Castle's Invitation (The End)

"Nanko Noval, you are accused of serious crimes including arson and premeditated murder. Does the defendant have any objections?"

"No."

"Therefore, with the evidence conclusive, this court hereby pronounces the death sentence on Nanko Noval, effective immediately."

Molkens Court.

Many people attended that trial, but very few also attended.

Many people just went there for the spectacle, because Nan Ke had killed many people and was a true aristocrat.

Only Igris and Olivia truly cared about the outcome of this match.

This should have been the last time they saw each other, but Olivia wasn't in the mood to say hello to a death row inmate.

"Igris, we should go."

As the court adjourned, most people stood up and left, but Igris remained quietly seated, not moving.

"Ah, we should go... but where should we go?"

Igris stood up in a daze, looking at Olivia with some confusion.