Thank you for your work! Enjoy the break!
On the note of this chapter, I'm in the middle of a reread, and I'm realizing Kate might know even more than she's said so far. Way back in Chapter 6, Kate had Emilyko dress up in her dress even though it's not allowed. Direct quote: "The doll will end up looking like the complete existence." I don't know if that's because of the different translation team, but I think she's referencing the fact that living dolls and shadows are supposed to merge as adults.
This REALLY makes me wonder how much she knows, and just how and when she found out all this stuff. I already knew she wanted Emilyko to be more independent, but with that line, it looks like her motivation might have been intentionally sabotaging their ability to unify from the start. Probably because that would most likely "kill" Emilyko.