episode_0023

The morning sunlight gently streamed through the window crack.

But the air in the room was cold, quiet, and strangely damp.

Leo, who hadn’t slept a wink all night, leaned against the pillow, gazing out the window.

A faint trace of a magic circle still remained on the back of his hand.

That mark, as if embedded in the skin, attached like new flesh.

It was then.

Rustle.

The sound of movement from beyond the blanket.

Sierra slowly sat up.

But she wasn’t on the bed; she was still sitting on the floor.

In the same kneeling position, she had been like that all night.

Quietly, her hand moved.

And soon, a small note was placed on Leo’s knee.

Even without opening it, he felt he knew what words were written inside.

Leo pressed his lips together firmly and picked up the note.

Sierra’s writing, flowing down, was smooth and neat, but there was a tremor somewhere.

[Did you sleep well, Master.]

“….”

I couldn’t fall asleep.

He wanted to answer like that, but instead of speaking, he only turned his head.

Sierra, with her head bowed, handed him another note.

[Last night… I am sorry if my actions were unpleasant.]

Caution embedded in each letter, each stroke.

However, Leo felt it first.

The afterimage of emotion remaining in her eyes—

Fear, regret, obsession, and…

“Sierra.”

When he quietly opened his mouth, she lifted her head sharply.

Eyes filled with a small expectation.

But he dashed that expectation.

“From now on… don’t make marks like that.”

Sierra trembled slightly and picked up the pen.

[But I… was afraid that Master would leave me again…]

[Afraid you might forget…]

[Afraid you might give your heart to someone else…]

[I was scared.]

Complex emotions that could not be easily expressed in words.

He closed his eyes.

“…Who said I would leave you.”

At those words, Sierra pulled out another piece of paper.

This time, she hesitated for a long, a really long time, before writing.

[Rania.]

The moment that name was written, Leo opened his eyes.

“…Rania?”

Sierra lowered her gaze.

Unable to open her mouth, she merely nodded quietly.

[You carried out operations together with that person too… you often met each other’s eyes…]

[You even smiled.]

[…When you were with me, you never showed that kind of smile.]

That last sentence did not hide Sierra’s obsession.

Her fingertips were trembling.

She wrote more.

[That person speaks, is pretty, is brave, and suits Master.]

[I… cannot speak, I am mute, and…]

[I am a woman who only does strange things, like last night.]

Ink bled at the edge of the paper.

It was proof that tears had fallen.

Leo was speechless for a moment.

A feeling as if his breath was caught in his throat.

Sierra carefully added a line with her fingertips.

[So… I was afraid that if I didn’t even make a mark, there would be no reason to stay by your side.]

[I was scared.]

“…Sierra.”

He quietly reached out a hand.

He placed his hand over Sierra’s hand.

And very slowly, he held that hand tight.

“…I am making reasons for you to stay by my side, every day.”

He said.

“Because you… are my maid.”

Sierra’s eyes widened.

And she pulled out paper again.

[…Those words, that isn’t love.]

At those words, Leo’s lips pressed firmly together.

Sierra did not miss the opening.

Quickly turning the page, she wrote.

[Then when will it be?]

[When can you give your heart to me?]

[When is the day you will only look at me, only at me?]

[Even after death, can that heart remain with me?]

That written conversation was close to madness.

And, it was pure.

It was frightening, and it was heartbreaking.

Leo did not answer.

He simply held Sierra’s hand even tighter.

Sierra bit her lip and lowered her head.

And the next moment—

Her small hand burrowed between Leo’s fingers.

She wrote.

[I will somehow steal it.]

[No matter what anyone says, in the end I will make all of Master’s heart mine.]

[No matter how long it takes.]

[More tenaciously than anyone.]

[More than anyone…]

[Because I love you.]

The wheels of the carriage rolled over the gravel road.

Clatter, clatter—

The sun hadn’t fully risen yet, and a hazy mist enveloped the forest path.

Inside the carriage, which had departed from the dormitory entrance, Leo and Sierra sat facing each other but could not properly look at one another.

Silence.

Stillness.

Nevertheless, the air was heavy.

Leo was looking out the window with his arms crossed,

and Sierra had a small piece of paper and a pen on her lap, moving her fingertips carefully.

Perhaps due to the chill of dawn, her fingertips were trembling.

[Who will you be partnered with today?]

He answered without turning his head.

“I don’t know yet. The assignment list hasn’t arrived.”

Sierra lowered her gaze.

Her hand paused for a moment, then moved again.

[…It might be Miss Rania.]

“You don’t necessarily need to make such a guess.”

Leo’s voice was indifferent, but Sierra slightly raised the corners of her mouth and handed him the note.

That smile was somehow strange and precarious.

[Then… you will smile like you did that day.]

“What do you mean?”

[That expression you make when you smile at that person, I want to see it too.]

[I am also curious how you smile at others.]

“…Sierra.”

When he turned his head to look at her,

Sierra had a small smile on her pale face.

Her eyes trembled slightly, unable to hide her emotions, and

faint traces of staying up all night remained around her eyes.

[Perhaps, will you also spray perfume today?]

The moment he read that sentence, Leo furrowed his brow.

“What does that mean.”

Sierra immediately held out another note.

[Last night, before you went to sleep, there was a new scent on Master’s clothes.]

[Because it wasn’t a smell I was familiar with…]

[It was similar to the one Miss Rania uses.]

Leo was momentarily speechless.

Though he pretended not to care, before a sigh of relief, a sense of caution seeped in at the fact that Sierra remembered even this.

He deliberately avoided her gaze.

“That’s just— something I bought at a magic potion shop. There’s no one else with a sense of smell as sensitive as yours.”

Sierra quietly nodded, but her hand did not stop.

[Still, it wasn’t a scent familiar to me.]

[At first, I was a little flustered but…]

[But I got better right away.]

[Because I sprayed my perfume on Master’s clothes.]

The moment he saw that sentence, Leo pressed his lips firmly together.

“What?”

Sierra gave a short laugh.

Though she couldn’t make a sound, that laugh was entangled with self-deprecation, conviction, and obsession all at once.

[It’s on Master’s collar, wrist, and inside pocket.]

[Even if Master goes near someone else…]

[That person will have no choice but to smell my scent from Master.]

“Sierra… don’t do that. That’s—”

[What is it?]

[Was it unpleasant?]

[Then I will erase it again.]

[Instead…]

Her pen tip became slightly sharper.

[Please don’t pick up other people’s scents.]

[I don’t like it.]

[What I don’t want to smell is for Master to have someone else’s scent.]

The air inside the carriage sank heavily once again.

Leo said nothing, only looking out the window.

In the shadows of the two people preparing for a new beginning,

emotions seemed to be cast, as if born not from the start but from the end.

And Sierra quietly held out the last note.

It was written on that note:

[Today is also, mine.]

The shaking of the carriage became increasingly violent. It had been a long time since they left the gravel road, and it seemed quite some time had passed since they entered the forest path.

The ancient trees and moss-covered stone piles visible here and there through the carriage window implied not ordinary movement but an ‘intentional detour’.

Leo looked down at the map spread on his knee, then tapped on the window.

“This path… it’s not the regular route to the Academy. Coachman, what’s going on?”

The coachman’s voice was heard from outside.

“Young Master, just a moment! There’s a trace of a magic circle up ahead. It was hidden by overgrown bushes… but the carriage wheel just reacted.”

Leo stared intently out the window. Something caught his eye between the swaying vegetation. A magic circle faintly etched on a smooth rock—it was a teleportation circle. A pattern from a method that had been 폐기된 decades ago.

At that moment, Sierra pulled out a piece of paper next to him and scribbled on it.

[The detected magic power is recent. Within the last 3 days, minimum.]

Leo narrowed his eyes. Someone was intentionally making them pass through here.

“Are they targeting us…? On the very first day of Academy admission?”

Sierra nodded and presented the second written message.

[Possibility of ambush on the formal route. This is, if anything, less dangerous.]

“…Let’s scout. Let’s get out.”

Leo got off the carriage and drew his sword, and Sierra also tied a piece of cloth around her body like a wrap, leaving traces of stealth magic. The forest was damp, and the strong smell of sap stung his nose.

After going only a short distance, a faint whimpering sound was heard from beyond the bushes. Not a human sound, but the groan of some small, low creature.

“That’s…”

What lay collapsed before them was a ‘failure’.

A small artificial creature of the beastkin lineage. Known as a byproduct of human experimentation, this creature was writhing, having lost consciousness due to magical drugs.

[It’s a test subject. Someone is testing us before we enter the Academy.]

Sierra’s gaze sank coldly.

“Who is it… an internal Academy faction, or remnants related to the ‘Empire’.”

Leo carefully examined the magic circle remnants beneath his feet. It was different from the usual Academy seal. Rather, it was part of a very old, forbidden magical script.

Just then, a sudden gust of wind swept from behind them.

“Hide!”

Leo pushed Sierra away and drew his sword. At the same time, a large shadow leaped down from above the forest. A beast with bat-like wings. It was a magic beast. And, it was a special individual tamed with human magic.

Sierra instinctively rolled down into the forest and, as soon as her hand touched the ground, a blue light flared at her fingertips.

[Root Grab. Ankle Fix.]

Instantly, tree roots surged up from beneath the beast’s feet. In that opening, Leo leaped towards its neck, and his sword flew up.

However—

The skin was too hard, and it was protected by a magic barrier.

“Damn it, Shield property!”

Sierra quickly formed a second magic circle.

[Eye, weakness. Connect to magic vein.]

Her fingertips shot a beam of magic towards the beast’s eyes. The beast screamed in pain, and Leo did not miss that opening. Putting the force of rotation into it, he threw his sword, and the beast’s left eye burst.

Blood and magic mixed and burst, and the beast collapsed, taking its last breath.

Breathing heavily, Leo looked at Sierra.

“…Are you okay?”

Sierra nodded and wrote on the ground with her finger.

[I’m okay. What about Master?]

“…I’m okay too. But…”

Leo checked the magic seal engraved on the beast’s body. It was a ‘test’.

Among the official Academy entrants, it was granted only to students who met specific conditions—”field verification.”

“…This was testing us. The real test, starts now.”

Sierra quietly looked at the magic beast that had collapsed on its knees.

[‘The Academy’ is already watching us.]