This time Lexie tried so hard not to ask Ciel about his type of relationship with Isiah. The very first day they met, he had told her with total certainty that he was simply waiting for Isiah to return, an answer that had left her utterly stunned.
Isiah was confirmed dead, yet this young child persisted in declaring that he remained alive and would return to them soon.
A heavy wave of distress washed over her whenever he uttered Isiah's name or spoke fondly of him, and the most disturbing aspect was her complete inability to comprehend why the topic unsettled her so deeply.
The sky had remained locked in a dull, oppressive gray across past weeks, and the climate had grown unnaturally scorching. Refugees arriving from outer districts failed to register the environmental anomaly, yet native residents who had spent their entire existences within District 1 recognized that something fundamental was wrong with the realm.
