Eustar, who had been staring down at her, moved the corners of his mouth as if smiling with a softened expression.

“Are you angry?”

Laila’s lips quivered. A chill ran through her entire body.

People screamed and retched.

The town’s security officers, who arrived belatedly, hurriedly covered the battered man’s corpse, but blood continued to soak the ground, flowing. It flowed and flowed like a river, seeping into the stream that ran through the town.

Amidst all that noise, Laila closed her eyes for a moment. It was something she often did when her mind was troubled, but this time it didn’t calm her much. Rather, the sounds she didn’t want to hear only became clearer.

“Are you angry, Laila?”

Laila opened her eyes and looked at him from under her hood.

“I’m not angry. I just… can’t understand your methods.”

The security officers began to glance at the two of them. Eustar flashed a smile at them and then naturally led Laila away.

At that moment, Laila simultaneously thought about wanting to shake off Eustar’s hand and wanting to hold it more tightly. It felt as if her own desires had split in two.

“Whether you understand it or not, aside from that… He was already a crumbling vengeful spirit anyway. You saw it too, didn’t you? If left alone in that state, he would have stuck to that place and harmed innocent people.”

“I know that. But you… You could have just made him disappear. Couldn’t you? Like you did in Rizicus.”

Eustar nodded lightly.

“I could have.”

“Then why didn’t you? You forcibly put that man’s soul into the red-haired man, didn’t you? Can you do such things? You said you weren’t a medium.”

“I’m not a medium. But I can do those things.”

When they turned into a deserted inn alley, Laila shook off Eustar’s hand.

She looked around, then removed her hood and shook her disheveled hair. A pair of red eyes stared intently at Eustar.

“How can you do that? Is it the power of a magical tool?”

“No, this is… a power I have. To be precise, it’s a power someone is lending me.”

For a moment, Laila recalled the black smoke that had been flickering behind his shoulder. What was that? Was that the ‘someone’ Eustar was talking about? Or was it his power?

Her head felt like it was about to burst from the questions that kept arising. Taking a deep breath, Laila said,

“You, you really are human, aren’t you?”

Eustar laughed. That smile once again, regardless of Laila’s intention, broke her defenses. Something that made up his being seemed to flow into Laila’s heart, whispering that there was no need to worry.

“Don’t worry, Laila. No matter what anyone says, I’m a person just like you. We’re the same.”

Laila chuckled.

“Normal people wouldn’t talk like that to a real witch.”

“I’m not exactly a normal person. Anyway, the reason I can do things similar to mediums without being one is because of that. But I’m not comparable to real mediums. That’s why I need you.”

Laila, who had been biting her lip with her arms crossed, finally sighed as if giving up. The wind blowing from beyond the alley whipped Eustar’s long hair.

“Well then, shall we go? Witch lady. We have one more thing we promised to do. I won’t stop you if you want to sightsee more in the village, but it seems there are quite a few things similar to what we saw earlier wandering around.”

Even without such intimidating words, Laila detested crowded streets full of people. She put her hood back on and started walking towards Mrs. Nolan’s inn.

As promised, Mrs. Nolan had cleaned the room in question.

Of course, it wasn’t as clean as the other guest rooms, but at least much of the dust had been removed and the sheets were clean. Although cobwebs could still be seen in the corners of the ceiling, the spiders were gone.

As soon as Eustar closed the door, Laila took off her hood first.

Her short black hair, almost touching her shoulders, swayed slightly, dimly reflected in the hazy mirror. Though it was barely visible, facing herself up close like this felt strange.

Then Eustar’s figure suddenly appeared over Laila’s shoulder. Seeing them standing side by side, front and back, made her newly realize how tall he was.

He was almost a head taller than Laila, with broad shoulders. However, in his well-fitted uniform, he looked more sleek than burly.

“Don’t you have any thoughts about sharing a room with me?”

Laila glanced at Eustar’s hand lightly resting on her shoulder and thought. Come to think of it, she hadn’t even considered that fact.

“Should I be worried?”

Laila asked. At that moment, was it just her imagination? Eustar’s face reflected in the mirror seemed like a different person for an instant.

It wasn’t completely different, but it was as if another appearance had passed over Eustar’s original face like a very thin veil. A face so sensual it made her heart clench tightly…

“Should I be worried?”

When she repeated the same question, Eustar, who had been silent, burst into laughter. Then the shadow of someone else that had been cast over his face disappeared without a trace. Like sugar glass breaking.

“No, there’s no need for that. I promise. If I try to do anything, you can dry up my tongue completely.”

“You said that requires tink,” said Laila, brushing off his hand with an “Ah,” furrowing her brow.

“What’s wrong?”

Eustar asked gently.

“The tink. There was something like a memo my mother left. And the ingredients… There were all these hard-to-find ingredients at home. I’ve lost them all.”

She waited for Eustar to say something, but her expectation was off. Without Laila noticing, Eustar had taken a step back and was slightly turning his head towards his shoulder with a somewhat strange expression.

“Eustar.”

Laila called him. At that moment, Eustar furrowed his brow sharply, and Laila, startled by his suddenly changed expression, hesitated and clenched her fists.

But it didn’t last long.

He didn’t suddenly change and rush at Laila, nor did he growl like he had turned into a beast. Eustar turned his head as if nothing had happened and smiled a picture-perfect smile.

“I’m sorry. I was lost in thought for a moment. What did you say?”

Laila’s large eyes blinked slowly. She tried to find something strange about Eustar but couldn’t discover anything. His surroundings were clean, and his attitude was no different from a moment ago.

“The house burned down… All the precious ingredients are gone. The ingredients to make tink, I mean.”

“Ah, if it’s about that, don’t worry. We can get them anytime.”

“But you don’t know what ingredients they are.”

Eustar nodded as if to say, ‘That’s true.’ But he didn’t seem to intend to withdraw his statement.

“That’s right. But whatever you’re looking for, we’ll be able to get it all. Trust me. By the way, pardon me for being rude in front of a lady, but may I lie down on the bed? I think fatigue is finally catching up to me.”

Then, before Laila could say anything, he plopped down on the narrow bed and took off his jacket.

He also removed the vest he was wearing underneath and unbuttoned a couple of buttons on his shirt. A large scar could be seen below his exposed collarbone. That scar seemed to extend at least to the top of his chest, or worse, to his abdomen.

Eustar threw his clothes on the back of an old chair and leaned back. The newly changed sheets were clean but didn’t smell particularly good. They probably had been taken out from a corner of a drawer where they had been stored for a long time.

Eustar let out a long sigh and said, covering his eyes with his forearm,

“Earlier, the lady Nolan said… How many people have already died in this room?”

“Yes, she said that.”

“What do you think, Laila? What could be the ‘evil thing’ the lady Nolan is talking about?”

Laila shrugged as if she wasn’t sure.

“What we saw earlier, could it be something like that?”

“Probably. More likely, it’s something much older that’s stuck here… That means someone must have died in the inn, but the lady Nolan didn’t mention that story. It’s clear she won’t answer even if we ask what happened.”

At that moment, red dots flickered momentarily before Laila’s eyes. But when she rubbed her eyes with a furrowed brow, they quickly disappeared.

“Laila?”

“Sorry, I think something got in my eye. Um… Do you think the lady Nolan… is involved in this strange incident?”

“I suspect there’s a high probability of that.”

“But the lady Nolan is still alive. That means… Whatever is here, it can’t leave this place. And right now, I don’t feel anything. Really. There are things that only appear at certain times, or under certain conditions. It could be that kind of thing.”

Eustar tapped the space beside him with the back of his hand, wearing an expression a professor might make when looking at a clever student.

Laila looked at him for a moment, then sat down beside him without much resistance. Once seated, she realized the bed wasn’t very wide. She had a strong feeling that she wouldn’t be able to sleep very comfortably tonight.

“Don’t worry. You have special eyes, and with those eyes, I can handle it. Whatever comes out, Laila.”

“About that power you mentioned earlier, the power someone is lending you. Does that not include having eyes like mine?”

When Laila asked, Eustar momentarily raised the corner of his mouth in a cynical expression.

“No, it doesn’t. But I don’t want to use that method. The being lending me power isn’t providing free service to me. When it gives something, it always takes something of equal value in return. The power to ‘overlay’ is too much of a burden even for me.”

“Tell me what that being is.”

But Eustar slowly shook his head.

“It’s too early. Not yet. I can’t tell you that until you know more about me, Laila.”