Like something obviously happened to Maria that made her lose Sakutaro, and I think that's going to parallel whatever made Ange stop believing in magic until she met Bernkastel.
this is a very effective scare tactic that lamb's using tbh. because if ange thinks that the game is her only chance to meet battler she'll be a lot more reluctant to finish it. but regardless of the truth, ange'll probably be able to see through to what lamb is trying to do here
something i find really interesting is that the more that ange looks up to maria as an older sister and mentor figure, the more she fits that mold despite how young she is
like. i don't think he believes in the animals. but he at least recognizes that maria's home situation is bad and she needs them, and that somebody telling her they don't exist would hurt her
but in the domain of humans it's really easy to point at it and say that "you're just making up the rules as you go along so you don't have to clearly demonstrate your powers in front of Humans"
ah.this really is a microcosm of the cycle of abuse the entire game is about and it hurts so badyeah, basically, which is probably why I like it so much