The mention of birthdays triggered something in Bianca, and the excitement in her eyes instantly morphed into deep anxiety.
She was half a month younger than Vivienne, meaning she was about to turn sixteen as well.
And Vivienne had told her that on her sixteenth birthday, her mother would be murdered.
The anchor in time was rapidly approaching.
Sensing the sudden shift in the atmosphere, Vivienne tore her gaze away from the window and focused on Bianca. "What's wrong? Why the sudden mood swing?"
Bianca shook her head. "I'm not upset. I was just wondering... over the last three years, did I mess up somewhere? I didn't force my mom to return to the Whitmore family, I rejected my grandfather's offer to transfer his assets, and I haven't spoken to the Whitmores at all. Vivienne, is that really enough?"
Deep down, she almost wished Vivienne had been lying to her. But that prediction was the very foundation of their friendship. It couldn't be a lie.
Seeing Bianca's growing panic, Vivienne hesitated.
She didn't know how to answer the question.
Three years ago, shortly after she handed the secret of Studio Three to Caspian, a system prompt had echoed in her mind.
[Ding—]
[Main plotline divergence detected. Generating new chapter.]
[Original Chapter 'Nightmare! The Hopeless Abyss' updated to 'Salvation! Caspian's Methods']
[Warning: Current main plot divergence is at 5%.]
She had shot up in bed, her heart pounding with an overwhelming sense of joy.
The notification meant her grandfather had succeeded. The girls had been saved.
In the original narrative, those girls were still trapped in that living hell by the time Vivienne turned twenty. Caspian had actually rewritten their fates.
The divergence dropped back to one percent. The girls' fate had been forced back onto its tragic track. Which meant Talia's death would inevitably repeat itself.
Bianca was no longer the naive child she used to be. Seeing the look in Vivienne's eyes, she knew the situation was dire. Her voice trembled. "Vivienne, miracles don't exist, do they?"
"No, they do," Vivienne replied, shaking her head firmly.
Over the past three years, she had finally pieced it together. The Gate of Narrative was inside her head. That meant she was the Gate.
Rule Four explicitly stated that the plot couldn't be altered by anyone other than the Gate of Narrative. That meant Talia's fate, Caspian's fate—only she had the power to change them.
To protect Bianca, she couldn't explain the full truth. But she knew her friend desperately needed hope right now.
After a moment of thought, Vivienne looked her dead in the eye. "Bianca, if you could ever see the full picture of this world, you'd realize that our very existence is already a miracle. So as long as you believe in yourself, and believe in me, there will be miracles."
Bianca didn't fully grasp the deeper meaning of the first sentence, but she understood the promise in the second. She nodded emphatically. "I believe you."

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