As Leon and Kasha heard Anthony’s remark, their minds became busy.

Although Kasha merely defended herself, the perpetrator and witness was already dead and gone from this world.

Moreover, the Baron was a nobleman after all, and it was obvious that if it became known he died due to an unverified magical tool, the situation would become complicated. Likely, several of Kasha’s ongoing magical tool developments would also be disrupted.

“Elder brother. For now, then, it would be better not to reveal that the intruder was Marquis Baron, right?”

At Anthony’s question, Leon raised his head with a stern face. However, instead of answering Anthony, he looked at Kasha’s face and opened his mouth.

“I’ll go to the village and find out the situation for now. Until then, why don’t you recover and wait?”

“I want to go too.”

Kasha said so, but she knew well that her current physical condition was not up for riding a horse on a long journey. However, she didn’t feel like just sitting and waiting either.

‘Why is my body so weak that it can’t hold up even in such an important situation.’

Kasha bit her lip in impatience and frustration.

At that moment, Leon, who had been looking up at her anxious gaze, spoke in a low voice.

“Kasha. Do you trust me?”

It was an unexpected question.

But it was by no means a difficult question to answer.

Kasha trusted Leon. Perhaps he was the only person in the world she could completely trust, throughout both before and after her regression.

His old-fashioned ways, his chivalry, his nature that never lost its straightness at any moment. These were like a beacon to her, who had to move forward alone, trusting only her imperfect self in an ever-changing world.

So Kasha nodded without hesitation.

Not expecting such an immediate affirmation, Leon paused for a moment, but soon a smile bloomed on his face without resistance.

At Leon’s smile, unseen in recent times, even Anthony, who was watching them, seemed to falter.

Normally, Leon would never have thought to show such an expression in front of his younger brother.

However, he thought.

For this woman who trusts him so much for reasons unknown, this woman who utterly fails to take care of herself, if he could only reassure her, he would have nothing more to be concerned about.

He opened his mouth again.

“Kasha. I trust you too.”

“…”

“Whatever goal you’re moving towards, I believe you can achieve it. Because you’re a stronger woman than anyone else.”

“…”

“And… you’re a person with a more diligent and warm heart than anyone else.”

Hearing his words, Kasha could only blink her eyes without making any response.

Trust. You are strong. You are warm.

Such words flowing from Leon’s mouth, of all people, were like a spell.

A spell that catches and lifts her when she’s tired and shaken.

The goal of revealing the identity of the villain and saving people. It seems so clearly within reach one moment, but becomes distant the next.

Even today was like that. The relief at saving Eve was short-lived, as the intruder, Marquis Baron, was found dead.

To begin with, Marquis Baron probably wasn’t the real villain. He wasn’t the kind of figure capable of moving Simon and causing the Holy War.

‘He was probably ordered by the villain to kidnap Eve, and when the plan failed, he was eliminated.’

The villain had once again slipped away like smoke from her fingertips.

She may have saved Eve for now, but is this really enough? Now that they’ve failed once, won’t they try to harm Eve in unexpected ways next time?

And as for Marquis Baron, even if he was evil, is it right for him to die so futilely?

At the moment when her firm resolve was shaken by these tangled thoughts, Leon had said that to her.

That he ‘trusts’ her.

So this is what it feels like to receive someone’s trust and support in life, so fulfilling and safe.

Feeling her unsteady footing suddenly calm, Kasha thought.

Then Leon raised his hand and smoothed Kasha’s disheveled hair. It was a very careful touch, as if handling something fragile.

“So just this once, let me go alone. You need time to recover. You’ll want to make more magical tools or hunt bears again, won’t you?”

At Leon’s uncharacteristic joke, Kasha laughed. For this moment, as they looked at each other with smiling eyes, it seemed as if no problems existed in the world.

But suddenly, she felt scared again.

‘Leon. You shouldn’t look at me with those eyes.’

Even if she had lived detached from the world, there were things she could instinctively understand.

In Leon’s eyes as he looked at Kasha now, there was sincere affection. A perfect and complete affection qualitatively different from what Simon used to pretend.

It was clearly different from the look of trust that comes from a simple contractual relationship.

‘Why do you look at me like that? I… I’m not someone who deserves such a look from you. Why don’t you doubt me more? I still haven’t told you any truths.’

As if noticing Kasha’s expression darkening again, Leon whispered softly.

“Just wait a little, Kasha. If you trust me.”

Looking into his eyes, Kasha realized she could no longer insist.

Apart from that, it was hard to bear facing his eyes showing such clear, undeniable emotion.

She finally lowered her eyes and nodded.

“Be careful.”

He nodded faithfully, as if to say he would. As if he would cherish anything she said.

He seemed not to be aware at all of Anthony’s gaze, which had been watching them all along.

Leon, with an expression as if his feet wouldn’t move, instructed Anthony to take good care of Kasha.

After looking back at Kasha several times, he finally went out the door.

Bang.

And at that very moment, Anthony turned to Kasha as if he had been waiting.

“Shall we talk?”

It was a noticeably changed attitude. His eyes, too, were quite different from just before. The image of a younger brother still showing childishness in front of his elder brother disappeared in an instant, and there stood a cold man with eyes that were hard to read.

However, Kasha felt her confused mind settling down at the sight of those eyes.

She silently turned to face him.

“Do you have something to say?”

Anthony slowly raised one corner of his mouth. The gentle smile disappeared in an instant. The current crooked smile suited his sensitive impression very well.

Clap clap clap.

The sudden sound of Anthony’s applause filled the room. But Kasha just looked up at him without moving.

Finally, Anthony opened his mouth again.

“You’re amazing, Miss Kasha. I’m really surprised.”

“…”

“To bring down our elder brother. For that iron-walled Leon Aranias to fall for a woman. Ha. Well, I never.”

He shook his head as if truly perplexed. Meanwhile, Kasha felt her heart sink at his statement.

‘So it wasn’t a misunderstanding after all. Has Leon opened his heart to me so much that anyone could notice?’

Why.

Now that the curse is broken, he could meet a good woman and love freely.

She and Leon should be in a strictly contractual relationship. So that the sense of betrayal he would feel when everything is over wouldn’t be fatal. So that his heart wouldn’t be broken anymore.

Then Anthony opened his mouth again.

“You know what’s really funny, Miss Kasha? Our elder brother, he’s terribly unlucky with women.”

Anthony chuckled, putting his hand to his mouth. At the same time, Kasha’s chest tightened with a chilling sense of guilt.

“Have you heard about our mother?”

“…A little.”

At Kasha’s answer, he shrugged.

“Well, if our elder brother is acting like that, he must have told you about mother too. As you’ve heard, our mother was a truly terrible woman. That foolish Leon brother didn’t even realize he was dying as that woman drained all his holy power. No matter how much he was dying, is that something you do to your own son?”

Anthony clicked his tongue and approached the window, then drew the curtains. The room that had been bright with morning sunlight darkened again. The silhouette of Anthony standing in front of the window was also pitch black.

“But you know what’s really funny? Our elder brother, even after going through such a horrible experience, is still sorry towards mother. He pretends not to, pretends to have forgotten all about mother, but I know. I can see it in elder brother’s eyes when he looks at mother’s portrait.”

“…”

“Well… In some ways, elder brother might be just as terrible as mother. In terms of wearing people out, that is.”

Anthony’s murmuring somehow took on an increasingly gloomy tone, as if talking to himself.

That’s when Kasha opened her mouth. She couldn’t stand listening to him talk about Leon like that.

“It’s not that he’s terrible, he’s… good and diligent.”

Hearing those words, Anthony’s expression went blank for a moment. Then, as if amused, he slowly raised the corner of his mouth again.

“Interesting.”

“What is?”

“You approached to use my elder brother, yet you talk as if you’ve fallen for him too.”

Kasha closed her mouth.

‘Approached to use him, huh.’

Anthony was using quite a definitive tone. To the point of feeling a sense of dissonance.

Kasha had never given much thought to Anthony until now. It wasn’t that she wasn’t interested, but she had too many other things to worry about.

‘But… what’s with that look?’

A gaze that was definitive as if he clearly knew her intentions, yet sticky as if plotting a secret.

It was a different kind from how Leon used to be wary of her before. Her instincts flashed a danger signal.

When she remained silent for a while, Anthony, whatever he thought, gave a bitter smile.

“Well. There’s no woman who’s ever met elder brother who hasn’t fallen for him.”

Kasha noticed a trace of disappointment flash across Anthony’s expression as he said this.

“Let me tell you one thing, Miss Kasha.”

“Go ahead.”

“Stay away from elder brother.”