She shows her the worst part of her job.

The decision was forged in the silence of the night, while Celia slept with a naive smile on her lips. Magi hadn’t slept a wink. The plan was risky, ****, but it was the only way: to show her the monster head-on, in all its raw cruelty, so her sister would flee in terror and save herself.

The next morning, with a knot of iron in her stomach, Magi led Celia to Studio Lumière. Not through the main entrance, but through a side door that led directly to the archives and the editing room, a place that smelled of dust and disinfectant.

"This way? It looks like a hospital," Celia remarked, wrinkling her nose but losing none of her curiosity.

"This is where the real work is kept," Magi lied, her voice tense.

The editing room was empty. Magi switched on one of the monitors. Her heart was pounding so hard she felt the sound reverberating through the room.

"Celia, what you’re about to see… isn’t glamour. It’s the exact opposite," she warned, searching her sister’s eyes for a glimmer of understanding.

"Oh come on, Magi, don't exaggerate. Everyone retouches their photos," Celia said dismissively.

Magi didn’t answer. With a click, she opened a folder labeled simply "M - Raw Sessions." And then, the parade of horrors began.

These weren't The Collector's artistic photos. They were the most shameful snapshots, the ones not even Elara considered useful: Magi with her blouse drenched in coffee, see-through, her face contorted in humiliation. Magi in the lace bodysuit, fumbling awkwardly, her hands mentally bound by obedience. Magi with her back arched in a pose of pure submission, her eyes empty, lost.

"Oh my God…" Celia whispered, but not in horror. Her voice was a thread of awe. She stepped closer to the screen, her eyes wide as saucers.

Confused, Magi continued. She showed her a brief, silent video clip from one of her early sessions with Lilith. Magi could be seen shivering, struggling to hold an impossible pose while Lilith adjusted her with impersonal hands, treating her like a mannequin.

"This is… intense," Celia said, and her tone held no pity; it was closer to admiration. Her gaze shifted from the screen to Magi, looking her up and down. "You must be incredibly strong to endure this."

Magi felt the ground open up beneath her feet. It wasn't the reaction she was expecting.

"Endure? Celia, this is… a violation. It’s humiliating," she tried to explain, her voice breaking.

"But look!" Celia exclaimed, pointing at the frozen image of Magi on the floor after the body-painting session. "Look at your face! You’re wrecked, but there’s something… something fierce in your eyes. Like you were pushed to the absolute limit and survived. That is power, Magi! That’s not weakness!"

Magi couldn't believe her ears. Her younger sister, the cheerful and carefree Celia, was reinterpreting her torment as a feat of strength.

"You don't understand," Magi whispered desperately. "This is killing me inside."

Celia turned to her, a new, dangerous, and thrilled light shining in her eyes.

"Of course I understand! I finally get it! I always thought this job had changed you, and I was right. It’s made you tougher. More… interesting. Everything at university is so boring, so predictable. But this…" She pointed at the screen again. "This is real. This is living on the edge."

She stepped closer to Magi and took her hands. Her fingers were warm, buzzing with a nervous energy.

"Magi, please. Don't shut me out. Talk to Elara. Tell her I want in. I'm not afraid. If you could handle this, so can I. I want… I want to know what it feels like. It must be… thrilling."

Magi recoiled as if burned. The plan had gone horribly wrong. In her attempt to show her the abyss, she had only made Celia see a thrilling amusement park. Her submission, her inner fracture, had become to her sister a symbol of power and an intense life.

At that exact moment, the editing room door opened. Elara stood there, leaning against the doorframe, wearing a smile that didn't reach her eyes. She had heard everything.

"It seems we have a new candidate," her voice was soft and cutting. "The Lumière family is growing. How touching."

Magi looked at Celia, whose face lit up with a terrifying enthusiasm at the sight of Elara. Then she looked at Elara, whose expression was one of pure, voracious satisfaction.

She hadn’t saved her sister. She had shown her the direct path to the cage. And the worst part was that Celia wanted to run right into it.