Chapter 28: Flames Consuming Sin, Piercing the Heart!

Bang!

In a heartbeat, Esther lunged forward. She whipped a small knife from beneath her dress and thrust it toward Yulonka.

Yulonka panicked, but her reflexes held true. She instantly triggered the spray paint can and the lighter she held in her hands.

Whoosh!

A short tongue of flame erupted outward.

Crackle, pop!

The stench of singed hair instantly filled the air, yet Esther charged straight into the fire. The flames scorched her hair and ruined her makeup, turning her skin raw and blistered. Amidst the flickering inferno, her twisted expression made her look like a demon.

"Aaaaaah!"

A shrill, piercing scream shattered everyone’s composure.

Panicked, Yulonka scrambled backward, unleashing blasts of flame again and again, desperate to force Esther back. But the more frantic she became, the less accurate her aim grew. The erratic flames caught the curtains instead, and the bright yellow fire began to spread rapidly.

Seeing Esther closing the distance, Yulonka tossed her weapons aside and bolted for the door.

But...

A figure stood blocking the exit, watching them with cold indifference, idly flipping a few thin needles between his fingers. It was Louis.

He tucked the needles away, clapped his hands, and stood firmly in the doorway, trapping them all inside.

Emma, who had been cowering in the corner, immediately beamed at the sight. Like a peacock displaying its brilliant plumage, she strutted over to Louis’s side, looking at Esther and Yulonka with eyes full of malicious delight.

Louis paid her no mind, keeping his icy gaze fixed on the two girls. He spared a brief glance toward the corner of the hallway, where Madison and Maria were trying to sneak away, their legs trembling with fear.

He hadn't expected those two to show up—a minor nuisance, but it didn't matter. They were just children.

In truth, he had been following Emma the whole time. According to the original plan, once Emma lured her target to a secluded spot, Louis would step in to handle things. The reason he hadn't appeared sooner was simply that he wanted to watch the fight. As for whether Emma was in danger? Well, a little bit of hardship would do her good.

Still, he hadn't anticipated Yulonka, that little brat, showing up here and becoming Esther’s friend. Something unexpected must have happened that he wasn't privy to.

But it didn't matter. They were all here now.

"Let's take our time dealing with this..."

***

Yulonka didn't know who Louis was, but seeing Emma’s demeanor and the way Esther had stopped her pursuit, she sensed the shift in the atmosphere. She realized she had stumbled into something deeply dangerous.

Louis ignored her, glancing at Esther after a moment of appraisal.

Esther was watching Louis, too. By now, she understood everything. She had known there was something strange about Louis—like her unexplained blackout that night—but ultimately, he had never shown her any malice, nor did he seem mentally compromised. Because of this, she had consistently overlooked him, focusing her attention on Emma, with whom she had been locked in a battle of wits.

"I didn't expect it... I underestimated you. I never imagined you were the one behind Emma..."

"You lured me out on purpose, just to deal with me."

"But why?"

Yulonka, standing quietly to the side and trying to make herself invisible, couldn't help but look at Esther. Why did that sound so familiar?

To Esther’s question, Louis gave no answer. He was no villain; he had no habit of explaining himself to the dying, especially to someone asking such a stupid question.

He looked at the unraveling Esther with contempt and gave a light puff of air.

*Whoosh.*

In the blink of an eye, a thick, intense flame ignited from thin air, spraying onto Esther like a pillar of fire.

"Aaaaaah!"

Caught off guard by Louis’s sudden attack, Esther took the full force of the flames. The fire seemed to be fueled by oil; in an instant, it engulfed her entire body. The excruciating pain of burning skin sent her into a frenzy of screaming, wailing, and rolling on the floor.

*Crackle, pop!*

The very fat beneath her skin seemed to hiss and sizzle.

Yulonka and the two girls in the hallway corner felt their legs go weak. They stared at Louis in terror, as if looking at a demon from a bedtime story. Even Emma, who had been basking in Louis's reflected power, bit her lip, feeling a shiver of genuine nervousness.

To be honest, she was afraid Louis might burn her along with them.

Louis observed the flames spreading from the windows to the furniture. He nodded and poured a bottle of oil onto the desks and chairs, causing the fire to roar upward.

He had to make sure the cleanup was thorough.

"Louis! Louis!"

"Don't kill me, please don't kill me..."

"Emma, help me, please help me, I’m... I’m your sister..."

"Louis... I’m your sister... Dad will be... so sad..."

Esther wailed and writhed on the ground, her voice sounding deceptively childlike, her eyes filled with desperate pleading as she looked at Emma and Louis. At this moment, if one didn't know better, it looked as though he and Emma were the villains.

Louis frowned. Seeing her continue to play the part even now felt slightly nauseating. A grown adult in a child's body, feigning weakness and pity, manipulating people’s sympathies, insisting she was a sister—*ugh.*

Louis looked at Emma, then cast a glance toward Madison and Maria. He spoke slowly. "Emma, do you know what a dwarf is?"

Before Emma could answer, Louis turned his head back, sneering at Esther. "Congenital hormonal disorder. It prevents the body from growing, but it doesn't stop teeth from wearing down, which is why she always wears braces."

At this, the realization hit Emma, and she stared at Esther with shock and horror.

Louis continued to talk, his voice calm and clinical.

"Because of her condition, she faces constant pressure, which often leads to mental health issues. The Saarne Institute is one such hospital. Because her manic episodes would lead to violence or self-harm, she had to be restrained. That’s why her wrists and neck are covered in scars—she wears those black ribbons to hide them."

Yulonka understood now as well, though she was now more terrified of this cold, freakish boy in front of her.

*And they really are siblings?!*

*Oh... oh my...*

For some reason, she suddenly didn't want her mother to marry David anymore.

"Oh, and by the way, being a dwarf doesn't mean eternal youth. She still ages. A child’s body with adult wrinkles only makes her look uglier. So, she learned highly advanced makeup techniques to maintain a childlike face, playing cute in front of everyone, shamelessly calling people 'Mom,' 'Dad,' 'Sister,' 'Brother'..."

Esther, writhing on the floor, should have been filled with rage and hatred. But as she listened to Louis’s muffled voice, a sliver of genuine fear crept in.

Louis didn't stop. "Oh, and I looked into it. She was adopted before, but that family was wiped out in a fire shortly after, and she ended up back in the orphanage. Also, do you know why she wants to be adopted?"

Emma, recalling the drawing of the castle in the purple light of the fire, looked up at Louis involuntarily.

"Because she has a sexual..."

Before he could finish, Esther reacted as if he had touched a raw nerve. Her emotions became violent, briefly overriding even the agony of her burning body. "Stop it! Stop talking! Stop it!!"

Just then—

*Bang!*

The fire had spread to the classroom walls. Large sections of plaster began to fall, showering the room in sparks.