Beyond the village, a breathtakingly mysterious sight unfolded.

Beneath the crimson sky as the sun began to set, endless sandy hills stretched out. The dry and rough wind blew from there.

‘Is that… a desert?’

She had heard that the village was adjacent to the edge of a desert, but she didn’t know the desert would be so close, almost within reach.

Kasha couldn’t take her eyes off the scenery outside for a long time.

The desert was a completely different type of nature from the sea or forests. The desolate, vast, and barren landscape was painted with beautiful colors under the sunset, changing from moment to moment. Kasha closed her eyes, smelling the scent of the dry wind.

A magnificent sight encountered at an unexpected moment. In front of it, the tension she had been holding onto seemed to loosen on its own.

Kasha couldn’t leave the window until the desert was completely engulfed in darkness and countless stars appeared in the sky.

Perhaps it was because her mind had somehow become calm, but she fell asleep early for the first time since the expedition. So when she heard a knocking sound at dawn, she was able to open her eyes right away without tossing and turning.

Knock knock.

“Who is it…?”

As soon as she asked in a sleepy voice, the door silently opened in the darkness. While the startled Kasha blinked her eyes, a dark figure quickly approached her.

Just as the surprised Kasha opened her mouth to scream, the intruder’s hand suddenly covered her face.

Should I bite it hard, Kasha thought quickly. Just then, a familiar scent entered her nostrils. If it weren’t for that, she might have really done it.

“Leon?”

Shh.

As soon as she mumbled, she heard a familiar voice by her ear.

A low, calm voice with a hot warmth.

‘Leon.’

Her heart reacted instantly. Kasha bit her lip slightly at the sound of his breath felt by her ear. It felt like all the hairs on her body were standing on end. He whispered again.

“Would you prepare to ride a horse and come out? There’s a place I want to go with just the two of us.”

“Where…?”

Judging by the fact that the surroundings were still pitch dark, it was the middle of the night or early dawn.

He always came to treat her while she was asleep and left without waking her up even once.

“Did something happen?”

As she asked in a lowered voice, his muffled laughter rang in her ear. Her heart pounded again.

“It’s not like that. There’s something I want to show you. I’ll wait outside the door.”

As Kasha just nodded her head like a fool, Leon got up without hesitation and left the room.

Left alone, Kasha rubbed her innocent earlobes in vain, as if his warmth still remained in her ears.

“Where are we going?”

Kasha whispered as she walked where he led her.

“Just a little more.”

Leon replied in a low voice.

They were in the middle of leaving the small alleys of the village and heading towards the village entrance.

Judging by the tremendous snoring sound she heard when sneaking out of the inn and the silence of the village, it was still early dawn.

‘Where on earth is he trying to go at this hour?’

Kasha tilted her head with a puzzled look. Then she accidentally misstepped in the darkness.

“Ah…!”

But faster than herself, a pair of sturdy arms caught her as she was about to fall. She was so surprised by the warmth that came close to her that she forgot her surprise.

“Sorry. It’s still dark, so I guess I was in too much of a hurry.”

As Leon muttered like that and helped her up, he silently extended his arm.

“……”

Kasha, who understood his intention, held his forearm without declining. As if being escorted at a ball.

Perhaps it was because this place was a strange land far from the capital. Even her determination to keep her distance from Leon for his safety faded. She just wanted to be devoted to the moment, an unfamiliar desire welled up.

As she tightened her grip on his arm, his arm muscles twitched as if tense. Kasha felt a tingling sensation near her heart and bit her lower lip. She began to move her steps, following his lead.

It was strange. Even though they had done much more than just holding an arm, walking side by side holding his arm in the darkness was suffocatingly tense and exciting.

Perhaps it was because her vision was limited by the darkness. The steely texture of his thick arm muscles that couldn’t even be held in one hand, the pulsating warmth were felt too intensely one by one.

Just as she felt dizzy as if lacking oxygen, Leon suddenly stopped walking.

“This way.”

As soon as he finished speaking, someone walked out from beyond the fence at the entrance of the village. Along with two terrifyingly large and bizarre shadows.

“Wh-what are those?”

Hearing Kasha’s tense voice, Leon let out another low chuckle.

“Those are camels.”

“Camels?”

“They are a means of transportation used more often than horses in the desert.”

“Are we going to ride them?”

Leon silently nodded.

Had the darkness lightened a bit? The figures of the two huge beasts that approached closely came into view faintly. The small owner who held their reins yawned and handed the reins to Leon.

‘They have humps on their backs.’

As she widened her eyes at the strange appearance, Leon reached out his hand to her.

“Despite their appearance, they have a gentle nature, so you don’t have to worry.”

Leon seemed to have experience riding this beast. He looked quite familiar holding the reins.

Kasha hesitated for a moment, then took his hand and mounted the uniquely shaped saddle.

The moment she got on the saddle, Leon’s large hand gripped Kasha’s hand tightly and soon let go. The warmth that disappeared in an instant was regrettably missed. Foolishly.

They walked through the desert for about 30 minutes.

The surroundings were unbelievably quiet. To the point where it felt like the only living things were the two of them.

Strangely, it wasn’t a bad feeling at all.

The feeling of being left alone with Leon in this world. It was just serene and peaceful. So much so that she didn’t want to wake up from that illusion.

‘I wanted to show you the desert. It reminded me of how you liked seeing the sea.’

The man who had been silently leading the camel blurted that out a little while ago.

Kasha didn’t know how to respond to those words.

She just nodded her head a few times like a fool, feeling unfamiliar with the swelling feeling in her chest.

She had definitely thought that while looking at the sea of Elor. After all this was over, she wanted to visit beautiful places like deserts, waterfalls, and tropical islands in the southern country, not just the sea.

Even last night, while looking at the desert through the window of the inn, she had the same thought. That she wanted to see that desert up close once this expedition was over safely.

‘I never imagined that wish could be fulfilled so quickly and easily.’

Kasha had no way of knowing that Leon, who was checking the situation outside the inn, had been watching her staring at the desert scenery absentmindedly with the window open until the stars came out.

Suddenly, beyond the dunes of the desert, the darkness of the sky seemed to lighten.

Leon slowed the camel’s speed.

After a while, Leon, who got off the camel first, helped her land on the ground safely. Kasha looked around, puzzled.

“What are we doing here?”

“There’s something more I want to show you.”

Leon replied briefly and hesitated for a moment before extending his hand.

Kasha quietly gazed at his hand that firmly grasped her own.

“We need to climb the sand dune, and unlike flat ground, it’s not easy. I thought it would be better if I helped you.”

He glanced at Kasha’s expression. Kasha just nodded silently.

The dawn in the desert was cooler than expected, and amid that, his hand that held hers was large and warm. Enough to make her forget the cold with just that warmth.

They slowly climbed the sand dune. Walking on the sand where the feet sank deeply was by no means easy. Leon, who kept looking back at Kasha whose pace was slowing down, suddenly stopped.

“…If it’s alright with you, I’ll take the liberty.”

“What? What are you doing?”

As Kasha asked, panting, her body was suddenly lifted up.

The feeling was so light, as if flying in the sky, that Kasha almost burst into laughter.

Realizing that being held in his arms like this had become familiar now, Kasha hugged his neck and buried her face in his chest. She heard the familiar sound of his heartbeat. A beat rougher and clearer than her own.

Listening to it, Kasha thought.

‘I want to forget everything in this moment. The existence of the Black Order, the war we have to fight in the future, the fact that I have to push you away to protect you.’

In this moment, she just wanted to listen to his heartbeat in this quiet and unfamiliar space without thinking about anything.

If she did that, it felt like reincarnation, death, revenge would all seem trivial.

While she had such thoughts, smelling his scent, Leon silently climbed the sand dune.

No matter how light Kasha was, it must be hard to walk on sand while carrying the weight of one person, but his breathing didn’t get rough at all.

After climbing for a while, Kasha lifted her head, thinking that the air somehow felt different. An exclamation naturally flowed from her mouth.

In a short time, the surroundings had become quite bright. Her heart became calm at the desolate scenery of the endless desert spreading in all directions.

Then Leon, who had taken a seat on top of the dune while holding Kasha, pointed somewhere.

Looking in that direction, Kasha was startled and held her breath.

“The sun is…”

The sun was rising over the bleak desert landscape. The deep blue of the sky over the sandy color of the vast land, and the yellow sun beginning to emit rays of light, cutting through between them.

It was a beauty that Kasha had never imagined in her life.

“…It’s pretty.”

Leon quietly tightened his arms around Kasha, who had revealed her inner thoughts in a small voice after a long time.

Even though he could put her down now, neither the person being held nor the person holding seemed to have any intention of doing so.

Kasha, who was staring at the sunrise in a daze, suddenly turned her head.

The rising sun was reflected in Leon’s beautiful purple eyes.

At that moment, the look in his eyes, the desert wind ruffling his platinum hair, the perfect sense of security felt from the arms holding her.

Kasha realized that she would never forget this scene until she died.

And that Leon was having the same thought at this very moment.

A sense of fulfilling happiness and a poignant sadness came over her at the same time.