Chapter 18 Closing

Each chapter contains some extra artwork for it. One for the start, one for the end.
They have a random chance to appear on the title screen after completing the chapter.

[ Sarafa​ ]

- ​​​Chained Belle -
- Weapon Type: Spear -

There is a woman who lives a princess's life in a kingdom wreathed by sea and sand. Having grown weary of a life where everything is decided for her, she has lost the will to smile. She exists now in a partial state of solemn defeat, spending her days idly. She also hides her face behind a veil, even within the palace, and no one can say what she looks like.

But there is another side to her: a fortune-telling side. She transforms into this as night falls, wandering the dim streets of the city in search of something she cannot name.

Primary Costume

Primary Costume

Main Outfit.

Abyssal Belle

Abyssal Belle

"I finally found the one I've been waiting for."
So has he. You're no different from other people.

"How I've longed to see him in the moonlight. Please take me away from this place."
Ah, but this is quicksand. You cannot escape it alone.

"Which is why I long for a hand to pull me out."
Then why don't you trust him?

Abstract Belle

Abstract Belle

Shock. Sadness. Despair.
Memories of that day will stay with her forever.
Never will she be free of them.

No one notices her tears as they gush forth.
Like a river. Like a spring. Like the endless ocean.
Creating tiny pinholes in the desiccated earth below.

Celebratory Belle

Celebratory Belle

My answer is "things I've lost sight of." My path has been set for me, and I forgot what it means to hesitate. When I look out my window at night, I don't see stars. Just...little dots.

Oathbound Belle

Oathbound Belle

I will surely never smile so long as I am playing my role as the queen's daughter. The cold expression upon my face is armor with which I protect myself.

But a thought has made its nest in a corner of my heart: What if I were to one day strip myself free of that armor and smile as a normal girl might?

If only I could be born again... I am unable to discard such wild dreams that will never come to pass.

Shadowbound Belle

Shadowbound Belle

I divine my own fate and see an unwavering future.
I see a glistening castle upon which night never falls.
I see the smiles of my chamberlains, my visage covered in gemstones, and my husband's fiery eyes.

I divine my own fate and see a future of despair.
A castle from which there is no escape. A fake smile.
A stone to which I am bound and eyes that inspire disgust.

I divine my own fate and curse what I see.

New Year's Belle

New Year's Belle

(D)reams are bubbles I so desperately cling to
(E)ven though I lack the strength to break myself free
(P)erhaps if I had eyes that reflected the truth
(T)hough I am envious of the sighing wind
(H)ow I fold into myself, my screams reaching no one

Celebratory Belle

Celebratory Belle

My answer is "things I've lost sight of." My path has been set for me, and I forgot what it means to hesitate. When I look out my window at night, I don't see stars. Just...little dots.

[ ​Ritual Pike​ ]

The grand palace is a symbol of wealth and power; the princess within a prisoner of her own home. Eventually she loses the will to smile — until the day she meets a sailor who changes everything.
───────────────
She has another face — that of a fortune teller. But things still feel so empty; no one notices the part of her she keeps hidden. Will the sailor take the opportunity to see her for who she is?
───────────────
She falls in love with the sailor. But she has doubts, so switches places with her maid to test him. When she sees the pair of them absconding off together, she knows she has been betrayed.
───────────────
She rushes through the city with spear in hand, knowing the sailor's tales to be mere fabrications. In her despair, she surrenders herself to the vast, unfathomable ocean.

Primary Weapon

A means to an end.

Proceed deeper into The Cage