episode_0006

“Young Master, the Master is calling for you.”

It was the head maid’s sudden remark.

Normally, I didn’t have much conversation with my father.

Partly because he had a cold-blooded and chilly personality that made it difficult to approach him, but

primarily because I didn’t have many opportunities to meet him in the first place.

As I passed through the corridor and reached the door of the study, I instinctively stopped my steps.

What was waiting behind that door, why had my father suddenly called for me… a cold anxiety flowed down my back.

My fingertips trembled slightly as I knocked on the door. “Come in.” A low, firm voice came through the door.

Familiar yet always sending chills down my spine, my father — Count Leonhardt Heavenfield.

I cautiously opened the door and stepped inside.

The antique study, the light filtering through the gaps in the large window, and the silhouette of my father seated behind the desk.

He was as perfectly composed as ever. His faded eyes stared straight ahead, as if piercing through me.

“Leo. Sit.”

I silently nodded and sat on the chair in front of him.

The atmosphere always carried tension, but today, the air was particularly heavy and sharp.

My father remained silent for a while. That silence felt like a wordless warning, predicting that a storm was about to break.

And finally, words flowed from his lips.

“I have made a decision. You will be studying abroad at the Imperial Academy in the outer territories starting this semester.”

At that moment, my heart dropped with a dull thud. My mind went blank. “…Yes?”

I knew what those words meant. I had to leave the mansion. Leaving Siena… the girl who had laughed by my side.

My father continued speaking without any sign of agitation at my reaction. “The caliber you must cultivate as the heir of this house cannot be learned here. You must hone your skills there and return with the dignity befitting an heir of a prestigious family.”

“Father, but I am still…”

“It is a decided matter. Do not let emotions take precedence, Leo. You are not a boy moved by emotions, but the one who must become the master of this family.”

My father’s eyes pierced through mine without the slightest tremor. His tone was always restrained, and within it lay a firm resolve that he would not consider the counterarguments or emotions of others.

I swallowed down my anger inwardly. No, it wasn’t just anger. Anxiety, regret, and fear were tangled together, churning inside me.

“Then… what about Siena? She is to me…”

“That child is a maid. Regardless of your feelings, she will remain in this house and perform her role. You must perform yours.”

Cold indifference was present at the end of his words. I felt as if something in my heart had crumbled.

I stood up from my seat. “Even so, I…! I cannot leave without talking to her.”

My father’s eyebrow twitched slightly. “I thought you came to ask for permission, but you came to protest?”

“…I have a promise with Siena. I said I would be with her. That child… she trusts me.”

My father quietly stood up and looked out the window.

The evening glow shone faintly behind his back, and his delicate silhouette was cold and heavy, like a shadow.

“That child is merely a maid who played along with your games when you were young. No more, no less. There is no reason to nurture feelings.”

I bit my lip firmly, opposing his words.

I was clenching my fists so tightly that my fingertips tingled.

“You will be departing within a few days. The necessary preparations are already underway. If you have anything to say to Siena, settle it now. That child will remain here even after you leave.”

With those words, my father sat back down at his desk, and I, no longer able to muster the courage to say anything more, left the study.

The moment I closed the door, a weight felt as if it had been placed on my shoulders.

—

His steps towards Siena’s room from the study were slow, and the waves of conflict echoing in his heart grew stronger and stronger.

His expression was convincingly resolute, and he tried hard to suppress the trembling in his fingertips.

He felt that it was better to sever all those emotions with a single word: departure.

His father’s command, and the decision he had made for himself over time, had made him this way. Although he tried hard not to feel emotions, nevertheless, Siena’s presence left a deep mark on his heart.

When he opened the door and entered the room, Siena was standing leaning against the window.

Standing quietly, she seemed to be waiting for something. Leo looked at her without a word.

Upon seeing him enter the room without a word, Siena initially showed no reaction. She merely gazed out the window, still waiting for him without a single word.

“Siena.” Leo’s voice was indifferent. The first words he spoke seemed as if he was trying to erase the various emotions accumulated until then.

Siena didn’t turn her head, still looking out the window and. [“Master, why did you come only now? I was waiting.”]

That expectation was the force that somehow made her move forward, and it made her even more anxious.

“We won’t play together anymore.”

[What? What do you… mean]

“Just as I said, I won’t hang out with you unnecessarily anymore.”

No, I shouldn’t say it like this. But…

“You are just a maid of vagrant origin and I am your master,

our relationship until now was strange.”

[ ]

She was. holding a fountain pen and an empty notebook in her hand.

trembling her hand uncontrollably

She couldn’t write anything.

as if she didn’t know what to say

But this was the last consideration I could offer her in that state.

“Thank you for everything.”

And I left the room, leaving her behind.

The moment I left the room, guilt overwhelmed me.

My heart felt like it was burning. My stomach was churning and I felt nauseous.

I didn’t need to speak so harshly

I didn’t need to hurt her

No, only then can she forget me.

Only then can she be angry with and resent me.

Yes, I thought… that was the best way for her.

That night, I paced back and forth in front of Siena’s room for a long time. I wanted to open the door, see her face, joke around as if nothing had happened, and… say goodbye.

But I didn’t open the door. I just quietly sat by the door, listening to her breathing. Regular breaths could be heard from inside. She seemed to be in a deep sleep.

I recalled her face. The child who had been silently by my side since childhood. When I first called her name, when I first held her hand, when she first smiled.

[Master.]

With that one quiet call, how warm my heart became.

I leaned my back against the wall and quietly closed my eyes. A farewell I couldn’t bring myself to say, that day I couldn’t speak of, was approaching.

I didn’t want to hurt her. I made a foolish mistake, thinking that if I didn’t say anything, maybe it would hurt a little less.

The next morning, I left the mansion shrouded in the dawn mist.

Not knowing anything, she must have looked for me in front of my empty room.

That was the last trace I left.

It was the last lie for her.

It was a gray morning. Thick clouds covered the mansion, and the cold air hung heavy, as if foreboding something.

————————————

I was looking out the window.

Thinking that what happened yesterday was a dream

Thinking that if I met Leo today and pleaded earnestly, the weak-hearted Leo wouldn’t be able to refuse

After finishing my morning cleaning as usual, I stood by the small window next to the kitchen and stared blankly down at the familiar garden.

The same scenery as yesterday, the same air as yesterday. But somewhere, everything was different.

I felt a strange sense of déjà vu

It wasn’t long before I realized

Leo was gone.

I first learned that fact. That morning, too, as I passed by his room along the corridor as always, I paused and tilted my head upon seeing the locked door.

I thought it was strange, but I figured he’d be back soon.

Maybe he just went out for a while, maybe he went to meet his father… That’s how I reassured myself and spent the day.

But two days passed, then three days, and a week passed, and still he didn’t return.

From the mouths of the people in the mansion, the word ‘studying abroad’ flowed out.

Words spoken indifferently as if it were obvious, saying ‘it was a decided matter’, ‘it’s the obvious path as the heir’.

At first, I was just confused. Why? Why did he leave without saying anything? Why, without a single word to me…

I clenched my hands tightly without realizing it. My fingertips trembled slightly.

[…Why didn’t you say anything to me…]

And then, Leo’s words came naturally to mind.

“Just as I said, I won’t hang out with someone like you anymore.”

Inside the quiet room, only the sound of the wind could be heard.

At first, tears fell. Tears flowing without realizing it.

Tears soaked the pillow, soaked the collar, and swallowed up nights filled with longing. Wondering if his scent remained, I secretly entered his room, buried my face in the pillow, and cried for a long time.

[You’ll come back… Right? Master isn’t someone who would break a promise…]

I wanted to believe that. I believed that and waited.

But at a certain moment, that belief coldly crumbled.

When I came to accept that he had truly left, and that he might not return,

The emotions within me began to change into something else.

I just let out what was inside.

Sadness turned into anger.

[Why… why did you leave me… What did I do wrong?]

I looked at my two hands. Small and weak hands. With those hands, I helped Leo countless times, folded his clothes, tidied his room, and prepared meals. Staying by his side, I smiled for him, and lived for him.

[For you… I dedicated everything…]

I stood in front of the mirror. There stood still a young girl. A girl who grew up by his side, who lived looking at him, who came to love him.

He left that girl behind. Without reason, without a word.

She crumbled. And rose again.

One night, standing in the empty corridor, she placed her hand on the wall. The cold stone wall that her fingertips touched was as chilly as her heart.

[I… won’t let you forget me.]

Flames were rising in her eyes. Those were not the eyes of a weak maid. They were the eyes of a girl who had lost everything. A flame of emotion created by love and longing, and betrayal and sadness tangled together.

Siena was no longer the girl she used to be.

She hated, she raged, she obsessed.

Towards the world that forgot her, the world that abandoned her.

[Remember. I was by your side, and even now… I am by your side. Whether you want it or not.]

After Leo left, she always looked for his traces within the house. The chair he sat on,

The corridor he often passed through, even small objects he left behind. Everything became a symbol of longing for her, and she would intentionally look at them, falling into the passage of time.

But one day, she suddenly realized that she was becoming more and more dependent on Leo.

He had already left, and now she had to do everything by herself. But would that be possible? Siena would ask herself. Could she live without Leo? Could she fill his absence?

“I’ll just wait until he comes back.” Siena decided. And that decision grew stronger and stronger.

Until the day he returned, she would wait for him, and do everything to fill his place. She held onto the hope that when he returned, they could smile again like before and spend time together.

However, that hope began to press upon her more and more like a restraint. Leo’s appearance, his smile, even his way of speaking kept repeating in her mind, and it gradually turned into obsession.

Instead of accepting the reality that he wouldn’t return, she decided to endure everything until he did.

“I am worthy of being with him.” Siena whispered to herself. “When he returns, I will dedicate everything to him.

When the moment comes that he needs me, I will become everything he needs.”

That thought began to dominate her mind. In every aspect of her daily life, she was waiting for the day Leo would return.

All her actions were focused on waiting for him to return, for his sake. She arranged every single object in the house the way he liked, and prepared food that he would like. But even that wasn’t enough. Her obsession grew stronger and stronger.

Every single day, she would recall the day he would return, and tried hard to mold herself more and more to him. But such actions gradually stirred up deep anxiety in the depths of her heart. “What if he doesn’t return?” Such thoughts tormented her.

And, she gradually came to know. That this obsession was gradually binding her. She was becoming a being who couldn’t help but depend on him. “I must wait until he returns.” That thought wouldn’t leave her mind. It felt like the only path she could choose.

“If he doesn’t return to me, I will never be happy.” Siena was seized by such thoughts.

Longing and obsession were now intertwined as one, and that emotion endlessly repeated, swallowing her whole. She vowed to wait until he returned, and that vow pushed her deeper into obsession.

“He needs me.” Siena began to believe that. And that belief gradually came to dominate her life.

…

Thus, seven painful years passed.