Laila looked at Eustar with unfamiliar eyes. Though she couldn’t tell what he was anxious about, she could sense that emotions she had never felt before were violently stirring within him.

Laila looked straight at his face.

“I don’t know either, Eustar. I don’t know why or what’s causing it. Do you understand?”

“I understand, Laila. But…”

Laila stepped back, moving away from the railing and began to go up.

Eustar watched her retreating figure with a mixed expression of concern and worry before following her up the stairs. However, the railing’s craftsmanship no longer looked beautiful.

Upon reaching the second floor, they could see that the structure was quite ordinary compared to how it looked from the outside. The wallpaper was old-fashioned and so were the decorations, but aside from that, there wasn’t much that stood out.

Eustar touched the melted candle stuck in the wall-mounted candleholder. The unpleasant smell characteristic of tallow candles wafted, and while the wick was sticky, it crumbled when touched.

“I wonder when this candle was last lit.”

Laila answered.

“It must have been a very long time ago.”

She stood in the middle of the hallway, barely moving forward as she slowly shifted her gaze. Looking at the dust-covered furniture decorated with wood, gilding, or cheap crystals, Laila said,

“Many people died here too.”

Laila’s voice sank lower. It felt like sinking into water with a weight attached. Eustar gently pulled her onto the tiles engraved with bright blue cornflowers.

Laila continued.

“But most of them… were natural deaths. Dying from old age or illness, I mean.”

Eustar asked.

“The problem is that there were deaths that weren’t natural, right Laila?”

Laila nodded.

“That’s right. And… it seems it was terribly awful.”

“Can you still feel it?”

“I can feel it. Rather than feeling it… it’s like it’s pulling me in.”

Her voice sounded strangely excited, as if mesmerized by something. It seemed that if left alone, she might unconsciously disappear somewhere in this place.

“Laila, look at me.”

As she turned her head, their eyes met. Eustar wore the most serious expression ever, but the emotion in his green eyes remained the same as usual.

She could see kind concern, faint guilt, and fragments of inexpressible desire swirling inside him, occasionally glittering like sand.

It’s my problem, Laila thought. Something’s happening to me. She knew that since meeting Badin, she hadn’t been able to feel the same emotions toward Eustar as before.

She thought again and again that the distance that seemed to be gradually closing suddenly felt impossibly far. She was captivated by the feeling of walking without any purpose or expectation, not knowing which direction to go, just like when she first met him.

“Laila, I can’t see what you can see. So you need to explain it to me. When you touched the railing earlier, and now too… What’s going on? What’s happening to you? Even just a while ago. That child…”

“I didn’t do anything.”

Laila was surprised at how defensive and aggressive her own voice could sound.

Seeing Eustar’s surprised expression, her face flushed and then tingled as if burned. But it quickly dulled, and Laila looked up at him indifferently, like someone who had lost all sensation.

Eustar said,

“I believe that you didn’t do anything. But that child suddenly fell. Not backwards, but forwards from a standing position. You saw it too.”

Laila’s eyebrows twisted harshly.

“What does that have to do with me? You say you know I didn’t do anything. Eustar, do you realize how contradictory you’re being? You say I didn’t do anything, yet you’re blaming me. You think I’m the one who made that child fall.”

Laila’s body swayed slightly. Her ears were filled with buzzing noise.

It felt like a swarm of bees, or rather smaller flying insects, were swarming inside her head. Laila shook her head quickly. But the noise didn’t disappear. It kept coming.

“Laila, calm down. Laila! Look at me!”

Eustar raised his voice as he grabbed her arms. At that moment, the noise disappeared, and Laila looked up at him blankly, as if waking from a dream.

Eustar said,

“Laila, I want to ask you something. Did nothing really happen at Haliwell Manor?”

Laila’s breathing became rough.

“Why are you bringing that up again all of a sudden?”

“Why? Because ever since then, you’ve felt somehow unfamiliar to me.”

Though his tone had softened, Laila didn’t feel much comfort.

The frustration of not being able to fully explain her situation to Eustar, the vague premonition that she wished he would no longer be entangled with a being that was neither demon nor human, but knowing it was impossible, was weighing her down.

“You don’t know me, Eustar.”

At Laila’s words, the strength left Eustar’s hands. Laila took a few steps back from him.

The gap of just a couple of steps looked like an immense wall that could never be crossed, like a vast and distant chasm. It must have felt the same for Eustar.

Laila spoke again.

“It’s natural that I feel unfamiliar. You don’t know me. And I don’t know you either, Eustar.”

Eustar slowly closed and opened his eyes. Like a door opening and closing, as if there was a different scenery inside, his expression changed moment by moment.

“Do you really mean that? I… didn’t think so. Laila, I thought I was getting to know you… little by little. To say I still don’t know you…”

“No, Eustar.”

As she denied his words, Laila felt her heart sting once again. She wanted to tell him she was sorry. She wanted to confess everything…

‘No.’

Laila bit the inside of her lip and shook her head inwardly.

Her feelings for Eustar, the desire to approach or touch him, were not her own.

It was because of the blood passed down from the first witch, the blood the demon had infused to not break the witch’s lineage. She thought she was unconsciously drawn to him only because he was under the influence of the Deceptor.

This is not a human heart.

“I’m glad to hear you say that, Eustar. But it might not be your true feelings. Even if it is, it has nothing to do with me. It probably has nothing to do with any of us.”

Unless a miracle happens. Laila thought.

Eustar stood still, looking at her, and then let out a deep sigh. Laila turned her head away, not wanting to see the sadness in his eyes.

“I understand.”

Eustar said. At that response, Laila felt her heart ache once again.

“Let’s talk about this later. For now… I’ll check upstairs. Laila, please look around here. If anything happens, make sure to call me.”

He tidied his disheveled hair once more and passed by Laila, going up the small stairs. As she watched his figure disappear into the narrow darkness, Laila suddenly felt like crying. And she realized.

‘This is the first time I’ve thought about wanting to cry.’

Jimius Con rarely showed her face in the situation room unless it was absolutely necessary. She was almost always in her own room, and no other team members except Conseary were allowed to enter her room.

Her room was slightly larger than those used by other team members or her deputy, Conseary.

It wasn’t because she was the director, there were other circumstances. Jimius, who had been dozing off leaning against the wall, opened her eyes at the beeping sound from her wrist.

Jimi pulled back the curtain that covered almost one side of the room. Surprisingly, there was a young woman inside. She was staring at the window showing only a gray sky with empty eyes. She didn’t turn to look even when Jimi pulled back the curtain.

“Elbrin, you need to eat lunch.”

Knowing there would be no answer, Jimi left what was almost an announcement before turning away.

In front of the door, as she had said, lunch brought by the branch cook was there on time. The bowls were still warm, and steam rose when the lids were lifted.

“Elbrin, come here.”

Jimi’s voice was calm. The woman called Elbrin looked much younger than Jimi, but not young enough to appear around twenty.

With her loose hair and pale face, she might look like a young girl at first glance, but she was already well past thirty.

As Jimi brought a spoonful of steaming soup to her mouth, Elbrin opened her mouth mechanically while staring blankly at something. Jimi poured the soup in and wiped away what spilled outside her lips with a handkerchief.

Caring for her like this had become a familiar task now. However, the pain in her heart whenever she saw Elbrin never became familiar, no matter how much time passed.

“Just one more bite. My good sister. Just one more bite.”

Jimi coaxed and cajoled the unresponsive Elbrin, feeding her soup and tearing soft bread to put in her mouth.

It had been over twenty years since Elbrin lost her speech and let go of her mind. Jimi was often startled by this fact, but never thought of giving up on Elbrin.

Just as she hadn’t given up on asking to be sent as the director in charge of the most dangerous area when Tentinella was established.

The Con family was originally the most famous and long-standing military family in the Kingdom of Sierrow. Jimius was the third daughter of the Con family, with two older brothers and a younger sister, Elbrin, but she was the most talented of the four children and grew up receiving her parents’ favor.

—Jimi, you’re really amazing. If grandfather were alive, he would have been very pleased to see your skills.

Her father used to marvel every time he saw Jimius’s growth. Jimi’s father, who was too frail to become a military officer, had no doubt that his daughter would carry on what he couldn’t achieve.

It would have been better if it had stopped there. If his ambition, or his loyalty to the Hyanmorik royal family, had stopped there.

—Jimi, His Majesty and Her Majesty the Queen will be doing important work today. Your mother and I need to assist them, so you manage the house instead of your brothers and Elbrin. We’ll be back tomorrow.

But it wasn’t her parents who returned.