episode_0012

Even after the meal ended, Leo remained seated for a while.

On the dining table, the soup bowl was empty, and only a cool scent lingered in the air.

Sierra cautiously began to clear the table.

She handled the forks, the plates, slowly, meticulously.

All the while, her gaze was constantly conscious of Leo.

Like a small beast unable to take its eyes off something.

Leo leaned back without a word and looked out the window.

Beyond the mansion garden, the red sky was turning black.

A star, then two stars.

Darkness was slowly creeping up.

He knew.

That Sierra was suppressing the emotions she had been burying just moments before.

[Please rest a little early today, Master.]

“…Alright.”

Leo slowly rose to his feet.

Sierra followed and watched his movements like a shadow by his side.

As they walked down the corridor, there was no talk between the two.

However, that silence was by no means comfortable.

A subtle tension, ready to erupt at any moment, made even the air in the corridor heavy.

[Your room, I’ve prepared it.]

She said as she opened the door.

Leo nodded indifferently and entered the room.

Sierra stood by the doorway, looking at him for a long time before slowly opening her mouth.

“Ah”

[Master.]

At that calling sound, Leo stopped.

Behind his back, he heard Sierra’s breathing.

[I won’t ask where you’ve been.]

She acted quietly

However, those words sounded like a declaration that instead of asking, she would absolutely never forget.

“…”

Leo did not reply.

Sierra quietly closed the door.

But before Leo could turn his back—

Her fingertips brushed past the gap in the door for the last time.

Leo felt the subtle trace of magic.

[Surveillance.]

She did not give up.

She had no intention of letting Leo go, even now.

Leo slowly exhaled.

He opened the window and inhaled the night air.

The stars were faintly visible.

Beyond the darkness, somewhere far away.

There was a path he had to take again.

‘Ruden Abandoned Station.’

Before that, he had to prepare.

A contact person, an escape route, and… a way to completely throw off Sierra’s eyes.

Leo sat down at the desk and carefully took out a small slip of paper.

The cipher Rania had given him.

It was a signal indicating his next move.

Feeling the texture of the paper with his fingertips, he suddenly looked out the window.

A small figure huddled in a dark corner of the garden like a shadow.

A being that wouldn’t be visible under the light.

That was—Sierra.

She was quietly hidden in a small flowerbed behind the house.

Her gaze was fixed solely on Leo.

‘…She saw it.’

Leo murmured to himself.

She had followed him.

She was suspecting him, tracking him, and monitoring him.

Behind her smile and kindness, something was stirring that was by no means a simple emotion.

Longing. Monopolization. Possession.

Leo sat still for a while, feeling a deep discomfort within his chest.

‘What should I do about Sierra.’

Unable to come to a conclusion, he opened the desk drawer and took out a small silver magic device.

It was a disruption device prepared for contingencies.

Slowly, carefully holding the device in his palm, he looked out the window again.

Sierra was still there.

Not moving a single step.

Her gaze was still pure, and intensely… soaked in obsession.

“…”

Leo swallowed his breath again.

The night was deepening.

And, in that darkness, there was a girl smiling as if she knew nothing.

Leo slowly rolled the small disruption device placed on the desk.

Its silver surface shimmered subtly in the dark room.

[I have to get out now.]

A warning inside him constantly rang.

He could no longer ignore the fact that Sierra was this obsessed.

‘If I delay even a little, I’ll be caught.’

Leo cautiously got up from his seat.

And in a corner of the room, behind a bookshelf, he opened the hidden secret entrance.

Without making a sound, very slowly.

As he slightly opened the door, the scent of cold earth stung his nose.

It was a secret passage leading directly to the outer waterway of the mansion.

Leo crouched down, suppressing his footsteps.

The disruption device was still in his hand.

[Huuu—]

As he activated the device, the subtle flow of magic around him began to twist.

He could temporarily obscure Sierra’s detection ability.

This was his chance.

Leo slipped his body into the passage.

A step, then another step.

Cold stone walls brushed against his fingertips.

The darkness was deep, but he had memorized the way.

That after a few steps, he had to turn along the right wall, and after a few more steps, he had to crawl under a collapsed arch.

As he proceeded without letting down his guard—

[…Master?]

A whispering voice came from behind him.

At that moment, a chilling cold spread down his spine.

Frozen in place, Leo slowly turned his head.

There, at the entrance to the passage.

Faint silver eyes pierced the darkness and looked at him.

It was Sierra.

She was barefoot.

Wearing white pajamas, her hair was disheveled on her shoulders.

Her appearance was somehow childlike—

But her gaze alone was colder and more persistent than anything else.

“Where are you going, so late at night.”

Her voice was gentle, but the hidden meaning was clearly revealed.

[Did you think I wouldn’t know?]

[That you were trying to deceive me again?]

Leo averted his gaze, pretending to be indifferent.

“Just… going out for some air.”

[Through this passage?]

Sierra tilted her head.

And then, she quietly approached.

Leo instinctively recoiled a few steps.

But Sierra did not stop.

[Master, you shouldn’t lie.]

[…I don’t want to.]

Her fingertips grabbed Leo’s sleeve.

A small hand, but one that never trembled.

As if imbued with the will to never let go.

Leo closed his eyes for a moment, then slowly opened his mouth.

“Go back, Sierra.”

His voice was low and firm.

But Sierra shook her head.

Like a child, as if throwing a tantrum.

[I don’t want to.]

[You need me.]

[No one but me… can protect you.]

She whispered.

And then, she took another step closer.

Now the distance between them was close enough that their breaths could touch.

[Not that woman, either.]

[Not anyone, either.]

Sierra’s eyes were subtly trembling.

Love, longing, anger, anxiety.

Complex emotions were mixed together, seeping into her gaze.

Leo quietly reached out a hand to pry hers away.

But Sierra gripped his hand, even tighter.

“Sierra.”

“I—”

Before he could finish his words,

[…I’ll follow you anywhere.]

[Even to hell, even to death, anywhere.]

Her voice was soft.

But the resolve embedded within it was terrifyingly firm.

Leo swallowed his breath.

Could he pull her away?

Or would he embrace her like this and fall together?

For a long time, they stood like that in the darkness.

From afar, a cold wind blew through the inside of the waterway.

The wind was desolate, as if ready to swallow everything.

Leo made a decision.

“…Alright.”

He whispered.

“But, you have to follow my instructions.”

Sierra smiled as if delighted.

Her hand still did not let go of his sleeve.

That night, Leo had to take Sierra with him and revise his plan.

He couldn’t get out alone.

From now on—

He had to embrace even Sierra and bear all the risks together.

The night was deep and long.

In the deep darkness of the passage, Leo cautiously moved his feet.

Sierra was attached to his side. Like a shadow.

She was holding tightly onto his arm as if happy.

But Leo’s insides were churning.

‘This is crazy.’

Each time he exhaled, his chest tightened with a suffocating feeling.

‘This isn’t right.’

‘If we continue like this, we’ll both die.’

Even with the magic disrupted, the surveillance around the mansion was already dense.

Someone might have felt it. A subtle anomaly.

And above all—Sierra.

She was an uncontrollable bomb.

He didn’t know when her emotions might explode.

He didn’t know when she might ruin the situation on a whim.

‘I must be free.’

‘I can’t have any baggage.’

Leo gritted his teeth.

“Sierra,”

He called softly.

“Could you, just for a moment, watch my back?”

Sierra nodded without hesitation.

[Yes, Master.]

It was an innocent smile.

In that moment, it was as if she had the whole world.

Leo subtly slowed his steps.

Sierra stuck close behind him.

And—

As he turned the corner of the stairs.

For a moment,

Leo got out of Sierra’s sight and hid himself against the wall.

[Now is the time.]

His heart pounded loudly.

Sierra didn’t notice and walked a few more steps.

Her small figure, from behind, gradually disappeared into the darkness.

[…Master?]

“Maaster?”

But there was no answer coming back.

“Maaaster??”

One more time, in a desperate voice.

Leo held his breath and watched her retreating figure.

She looked lonely.

In the middle of the empty passage, she looked small and weak.

‘I’m sorry.’

‘But I can’t help it.’

‘This is the right choice.’

Forcibly steeling his heart, Leo turned his body in the opposite direction.

Towards the narrow path, meant for only one person, exiting through the secret passage of the waterway.

Towards there.

From behind, Sierra’s voice pursued him.

“Maaaster… Maaster…”

A cracking voice.

A call mixed with desperation and fear.

But Leo did not answer.

He ran.

Through the darkness, holding his breath, as if his lungs would tear.

[This is right.]

[This is necessary.]

[If I am swayed by emotion, I will die.]

He ran, convincing himself of this.

But in a corner of his heart, Sierra’s tearful calling could not be erased.

When he finally reached the waterway exit after running for a while, Leo just managed to stop.

Gasping, he leaned his back against the wall.

When he closed his eyes, Sierra’s face came to mind.

Faint silver eyes.

The warmth of the hand that held him.

The childlike trembling, not wanting him to leave.

‘…By now, she’s probably crying.’

Leo gritted his teeth.

His jaw trembled.

‘It’s okay.’

‘It will be okay.’

However, a corner of his heart remained coldly shattered, and did not heal.

And so, he became alone.

Completely, and thoroughly.

From far away,

A small sound of weeping, spreading from the end of the waterway, could be heard.

The weeping was thin and quiet, but it permeated far, very far along the passage.