episode_0011

Leo walked stealthily down the corridor.

The defensive magic had already been lifted, but the strange tension hanging in the mansion still hadn’t dissipated.

Perhaps… it was because of tomorrow. No, rather than that.

‘Sierra.’

Trying to shake off the strange resonance he felt within his chest, he pushed open the living room door.

Under the warm lighting, Sierra was quietly curled up on the sofa.

Lightly holding the hem of her white dress, with her head bowed low.

The soft blonde hair framing her ears trembled slightly.

She lightly lifted her head at the sound of Leo’s footsteps.

Her eyes somehow shone with anxiety.

[…Master.]

She tried to force a kind smile as usual, but her expression was somehow awkward.

Her small fingertips, gripping the hem of her clothing tightly, were trembling faintly.

Seeing her like that, a corner of Leo’s heart tightened acutely.

Tomorrow… could she instinctively sense that he was leaving on a dangerous mission?

[Why are you awake?]

He asked gently.

Sierra, with her head slightly lowered,

[Just… because Master hadn’t come yet…]

Replied in a small voice.

It was a lie.

Normally, she would have been asleep early.

But today, especially… she had been waiting.

Leo slowly approached her and sat down next to the sofa.

When he placed his hand on her small shoulder, Sierra flinced slightly as if startled, but soon leaned carefully into his warmth.

“Tomorrow… I have to wake up early.”

He made it sound like a lie.

Sierra quietly fiddled with the hem of his clothes, then,

[Master… where are you going?]

Leo couldn’t answer.

About having to go restore the anti-imperial base, or what kind of danger might be waiting there.

There were only things he couldn’t tell her.

He just, quietly.

Placed his hand on her head and gently stroked it.

“Don’t worry.”

He said it briefly, but firmly.

Sierra closed her eyes and accepted his touch.

But Leo knew.

She knew.

That he was hiding something.

In the deep silence, the fireplace spat sparks.

At the short ‘pat’ sound, Sierra clutched Leo’s collar a little tighter.

[…Master.]

She called out again.

In a trembling voice.

“I need you.”

Leo muttered indifferently, yet with sincerity.

At that moment, Sierra’s eyes widened.

For an instant, her beautiful lips parted slightly, then she swallowed her trembling breath and smiled faintly.

[Me too.]

In the darkness, a single candle flickered faintly.

The room was quiet, and only the blurry shadows of the two people were intertwined on the wall.

“……Are you still mad?”

Leo asked cautiously.

Sierra was sitting on the edge of the bed, hugging her knees.

She nodded faintly.

[……A little, yes.]

[But, since I’m with you now, it’s okay.]

She answered not as a maid, but as a childhood friend.

As if comforting herself.

Leo slowly approached.

And quietly sat next to her.

Though no words were spoken,

Their body warmth gently spread between them.

“What are you worried about?”

Leo asked.

Sierra hesitated for a long time, then,

Carefully picked up the end of his sleeve.

[That you might leave again]

At those words, Leo smiled slightly.

“You’re the one who should be worried.”

“Because I’m the one who has to protect you.”

[……I’ll protect you too.]

Sierra muttered stubbornly.

For a moment, Leo paused.

Her gaze was small but firm.

[So, please don’t be reckless.]

“Okay.”

The gazes looking at each other

Softened slightly.

The candle flickered slightly.

The room felt like it had become even smaller.

Leo was silent for a moment—

Lightly reached out his hand and brushed back Sierra’s hair.

The soft sensation touching his fingertips.

Sierra blinked her eyes as if surprised, but

Soon blushed slightly.

[……Leo.]

“What.”

[Something like this is cheating.]

A small laugh was mixed in her voice.

“If it’s cheating—”

Leo said playfully.

“Should I keep going?”

Sierra lowered her head.

Her ears were also red.

Seeing that, she was so cute,

Leo couldn’t help but let a laugh escape.

[You… have to wake up early tomorrow morning.]

Sierra pouted as if grumbling.

[Yeah.]

“So… don’t come too close.”

[Okay.]

Even as he answered, Leo subtly narrowed the distance.

Sierra couldn’t say anything more,

And pressed her lips together tightly.

Like that.

The two of them maintained an unstable distance,

And sat facing each other in silence for a long time.

The candle slowly burned down.

And what filled the room was—

An awkward but warm, strange tension.

Outside, the darkness was deepening, but,

At least within this small room.

It was a slightly warm night.

With a slightly reddened face, she whispered.

That… felt like a simple but certain promise.

She didn’t ask any more questions.

Leo also didn’t say anything more.

Between the two of them, only the hidden sincerity they kept from each other and the affection they shared without words remained.

Short, precarious, and precious—

Perhaps it was a peace that might be the last of this night.

Time flowed slowly, and Sierra eventually leaned on Leo’s lap and fell asleep.

Leo quietly looked down at her thinly trembling eyelashes.

A corner of his chest ached piercingly.

‘I have to leave this child behind, again.’

‘I’ll hurt her again.’

‘But I—’

Leo closed his eyes and swallowed a deep breath.

Despite the warm heat from the fireplace, his heart was freezing over.

—

In the mansion where darkness had completely settled.

Only the two of them, leaning on each other, welcomed the night quietly, holding their breath.

Wishing tomorrow wouldn’t come.

Outside the window, it was already steeped in deep darkness.

But far beyond the eastern sky, the unseen dawn was quietly approaching.

Leo carefully released Sierra from his arms.

She was asleep, leaving only shallow breaths, entrusting her body to his lap.

For an instant, as his fingertips brushed her golden hair—Sierra flinced slightly.

But soon, her breathing returned to a peaceful rhythm.

Leo silently laid her down on the sofa and carefully covered her with a small blanket.

So she wouldn’t wake up, without making a single sound.

For a moment, he looked down at her face.

In the faint light, Sierra’s face looked soft to the point of being translucent.

‘…Should I not go.’

Such a whisper brushed through the depths of his chest.

But he nodded his head.

Quietly, yet firmly.

‘I promised, didn’t I.’

‘That I would finish everything and return.’

Leo picked up his cloak.

He fastened the magic guiding device to his waist and tightly tied his bootlaces.

And finally—

He placed his fingertips very lightly on the back of Sierra’s hand.

“Wait.”

He muttered softly, low enough not to be heard.

“I will definitely return.”

Leaving those words behind, Leo exited the living room.

The sound of the door closing softly was swallowed by the darkness.

—

The mansion was quiet.

The time when servants, guards, everyone was asleep.

Leo moved familiarly like a shadow.

He found a weakness in the magic defense net, passed through it, opened a small back door, and went outside.

The night air was cool, and the flow of magic could be felt within it.

From somewhere, the sound of a beast howling in the depths of the forest could be heard.

He checked the guiding device at his waist.

It was meant to minimize magic traces and avoid detection by trackers.

After completing all those preparations—

Leo paused for a moment, raised his head, and looked up at the sky.

Starlight shone faintly through the clouds here and there.

It was a lonely and cold light, somehow.

‘Sierra.’

‘Wait just a little longer.’

‘I will go alone to the dark world you don’t know.’

Leo quietly prayed inside.

And then, cutting through the darkness, he moved his steps.

His silhouette quickly disappeared into the forest.

Into the deep darkness that swallowed all sounds.

—

But.

Not long after he left—

Sierra’s eyes, which had been lying on the sofa, slowly opened.

It was her, whom he had thought was asleep, or rather, who had tried hard to fall asleep.

She quietly clutched the blanket.

Biting her lip, she stared at the door he had just left through for a long time.

[…Master.]

[Where are you going.]

[Alone again.]

[Leaving me behind again.]

Her small body trembled.

The mansion’s small door closed quietly, and time passed.

The living room was silent.

Sierra slowly raised herself in the silence.

The blanket slid soundlessly to the floor.

She moved cautiously on her tiptoes.

Feeling the faint lingering scent of his magic through the gap in the door.

Her heart pounded in her chest.

‘I have to chase.’

‘It can’t be like this.’

She knew.

He had left her behind.

He wanted her to stay here, to wait.

But Sierra knew.

His eyes were hiding something.

Where he was going, what he was trying to do.

Without saying.

[I have to know.]

[At least I, must know.]

She gently opened the door.

The cold dawn air brushed her face.

Only a thin outer garment covering her body.

Bare feet without shoes.

Like that, Sierra stepped into the darkness.

—

There were no footsteps.

Even holding her breath, she moved.

There were almost no traces left by Leo.

But she could find them.

The subtle ripple of magic brushing the air.

His scent, his trace.

That alone was enough.

‘I won’t lose you.’

—

The entrance to the forest.

There, Leo’s silhouette was visible.

Sierra hid herself far off, behind a branch.

She brought her hand to her mouth and held her breath.

Leo was moving while being cautious of his surroundings.

As if tense, he moved forward, cutting through the darkness with cold eyes.

Sierra felt her chest ache.

[This kind of face, he didn’t show me.]

[Was he… enduring something like this all alone?]

She suppressed her trembling fingertips]

She wanted to run and grab his hand in an instant.

But she knew she shouldn’t.

He was going to fight, now.

To protect himself, or… to distance himself from her.

So—

Sierra followed behind him even more quietly, from an even greater distance.

—

The forest deepened, and the darkness thickened.

Now there was nothing but the two of them.

Sierra walked, staining the tips of her feet with wounds.

Brambles brushed her ankles, and cold dew soaked her skin, but

She didn’t even think about being hurt.

Only Leo.

Only his back.

[Don’t go alone.]

[I’ll go with you, too.]

[No matter how much you push me away.]

—

However, Leo didn’t stop.

Without even turning his gaze once.

The place he was heading.

That place was—

A hidden anti-imperial base, and yet another battlefield.

Sierra clenched her teeth.

Her whole body was trembling, but she decided to follow him to the end.

[Even if, you don’t need me.]

[Because I, need you.]

[Always.]

—

Like that, in the cold dawn air.

The two people, unaware of each other—

Moved towards their respective destinies.

But perhaps, even Leo didn’t know.

The faint sound of breathing from behind the darkness.

The fact that someone was desperately following him to the very end.