Yoriichi walked away with a fragile-looking back, carrying the heavy shadow of sorrow.
He didn’t make any grand promises about staying by his sister’s side until her final breath.
The man simply remained silent, accepting Rin’s decision with a heavy heart, before returning alone to the Demon Slayer Corps.
This was the ending Rin had expected from the very beginning.
After all, her brother was a son blessed by the heavens.
The gods had already carved out his path—a destiny that could not be altered by mere human wishes.
Yoriichi had a great mission he needed to complete, and until it was fulfilled, no matter how far he wandered, fate would always pull him back to the same road.
Rin knew her brother couldn’t stay here.
Even if Yoriichi begged to remain, the universe would find a way to drive him away.
*Whoosh—Bang!*
Under the dim candlelight, Rin’s stiff fingers continued guiding the brush across the table, writing down page after page of the breathing techniques still etched in her memory.
A sudden explosion echoed from beyond the window, shattering the quiet of the night.
Rin turned her head slowly.
Beneath the pitch-black sky, colorful sparks of light burst magnificently, blending with the glow of thousands of lanterns beginning to illuminate every corner of the city below the castle.
“What day is it today… Is there some kind of celebration?”
Rin’s voice sounded hoarse as she called toward the door.
A servant standing guard behind the wooden partition quickly slid it open and bowed respectfully.
“Princess, tonight is the annual fireworks festival. Didn’t you give the order a few days ago for the townspeople to manage the celebration themselves?”
“Ah… that’s right…”
Rin closed her eyes and raised her slightly trembling right hand to massage her temple.
Her memory had been deteriorating extremely quickly lately.
Things she had decided just a few days ago could vanish without a trace.
Lasting this long is already a miracle.*
Rin curled the corners of her lips, laughing at her own condition in her heart.
She dipped the tip of the brush back into the black ink, intending to finish summarizing Yoriichi’s sword movements to send to Shinobu.
“Since there’s a festival tonight, all of you should go down to the city and enjoy yourselves. There’s no need to keep watch outside my room.”
“But Princess, our duty is to take care of you here.”
“I’ll be staying in this room all night. Go on, don’t miss the excitement.”
The young servants outside the door exchanged glances, their feet shifting hesitantly before they finally bowed deeply.
After all, the passion of youth couldn’t lie when they heard the lively noise of the festival from afar.
“Understood, Princess. We will return right after the first show ends. Please rest if you feel tired.”
Rin only replied with a small nod.
Once the servants’ footsteps faded away down the corridor, the room fell silent once more, leaving only the soft scratching of the brush against paper.
The sheets on the table were now filled with detailed illustrations of the human body holding a sword.
Rin had deliberately drawn them with extraordinary precision—the angle of the arms, the placement of the feet, even the rotation of the waist—all clearly explained with neat, small ink strokes.
With instructions this detailed, Rin was confident that even a complete beginner who knew nothing about martial arts could understand them.
This guide would be extremely useful for Shinobu’s research on poisons and sword techniques.
To save time, Rin had deliberately skipped her treatment visits to the clinic for the past several days.
She knew her time was truly running out.
Every time she woke up in the morning, Rin could feel parts of her consciousness disappearing one by one.
Her memories of the distant past remained sharp, but recent memories from just a few hours ago blurred as if shrouded in thick fog.
More and more often she would simply sit frozen in front of the table, staring blankly at the brush and paper.
Her brain knew she needed to start writing, but the signals from her head jammed completely, failing to command her hand muscles to move.
She could only remain stiffly dazed until a servant came to check on her.
These symptoms of brain paralysis had been occurring more frequently lately.
Rin took a deep breath, pressing down on the dizziness creeping up the back of her head.
The final sheet was almost done.
She only hoped Shinobu wouldn’t scold her for being so stubborn.
*Click!*
A sharp knocking sound came from the wooden window frame behind her.
Rin’s slowed brain took several seconds to process the noise.
She didn’t turn around immediately—her fingers were still trying to finish the last line—until a very familiar voice suddenly broke the silence.
“Wow~ Rin! Your room is really high up, you know! I almost ran out of breath just climbing all the way here…”
That distinctive voice… Shinobu?
Rin blinked rapidly, slowly turning her head with her jaw slightly tightened in surprise.
The figure of the girl with the butterfly hairpins was now crawling through the window frame.
Shinobu carried a large medicine basket on her back.
Her small body leaned against the room’s wall, one hand resting on her waist as she panted, her face flushed from exhaustion.
“Shinobu…?”
Rin stood up, supporting herself on the edge of the table, staring in disbelief at the young doctor who should have been at the treatment clinic.
“Why are you here?”
“What kind of question is that? Of course I came looking for you, Rin!”
After finally catching her breath, Shinobu placed her hands on her hips and let out a long sigh, her face filled with worry.
“You haven’t shown up at the clinic for several days, and you didn’t even send a single message. Do you know how panicked I was?!”
Rin didn’t immediately respond to the complaint.
Her eyes shifted to the wide-open window behind Shinobu.
“That’s not what I meant… This is the highest floor of the castle, at least ten meters above the ground. How did you even climb all the way up here?”