After pondering Laila’s words seriously for a while, Eustar finally spoke.

“You know, Laila. I think… there’s really nothing in this world that happens without any cause.”

Laila’s shoulders slumped slightly as if deflated. However, Eustar continued to express his view with a serious expression.

“For example, like what happened to me. I… as you know, am a human living with my soul mortgaged to a demon. Yet, I’m living without fulfilling the contract’s requirements, without having my soul gradually eaten away by the demon I’m bound to.”

The contract that the late king and queen had intended to make, offering baby Eustar as a sacrifice, was for a ‘body that neither ages nor dies’.

However, for some reason, they became the sacrifice for the contract instead, and Eustar, who knew nothing, became the contractor of the Deceptor.

Eustar continued speaking.

“It may seem nonsensical when you think about it, but there was a cause for that too. What I know and don’t know piled up and combined… At first, it might have been just a speck of dust. But before I realized it, it had become an unmanageably huge mountain. That’s what happened to my parents.”

“But, Eustar. Your case is different from Sync. You… yes. What happened to you has a clear cause. Your parents provided that cause…”

Eustar shook his head once and said.

“Yes and no.”

He gently caressed the cheek of Laila, who seemed to have a puzzled expression.

“Their actions themselves wouldn’t have been the cause. The contract… changing, I mean. Do you understand?”

After a moment of silence, Laila nodded.

“Yes, I understand what you mean. But still… I don’t think your problem and Sync’s are the same.”

Eustar smiled slightly.

“Even if they’re not completely identical, I think they’re the same at the fundamental level. At least I do. I believe there must be some cause for Sync to start appearing too. It’s too massive to see properly now, but if we dig deep enough, we might eventually find that speck of dust that was the beginning.”

“Do you believe that if we remove that, these strange occurrences will disappear?”

“Yes, Laila. I believe so.”

Laila silently stared at his face without saying a word. Though she neither agreed nor disagreed, he could do so because he had a vague confidence that she would understand him.

On one hand, she felt sorry and frustrated thinking he might be mistaken, but on the other hand, a strong thought surged that Eustar’s words were right, or that she wished they were right.

Sync surely has a clear cause, and the moment it’s discovered, all these problems would be solved ridiculously easily…

And he would be liberated. Someone inside Laila whispered like singing. But Laila immediately denied that sweet voice.

‘Liberation? Even if Sync disappears, it doesn’t mean he’ll be liberated. A contract with a demon doesn’t disappear like that. He…’

Laila’s mind, sinking into dark thoughts, suddenly stopped. It was a sudden change, as if the gears that had been meshing and turning all stopped moving at once.

Into that motionless silence, one question sneaked in like a sinister needle and pricked her.

If there’s a cause for everything as Eustar says, what could be the cause for Ord Hyanmorik becoming like that?

As far as she knew, King Ord had started to weaken rapidly from some point, and his health had been deteriorating. It wasn’t that he had been weak before, nor had he suffered from any major illness known to all.

On a day that should have been no different from usual, he suddenly collapsed and hovered between life and death. As he wasted away moment by moment like a dry branch, only his eyes occasionally flashed brightly, filled with pain, resentment, and some unimaginable, vile secret.

No doctor, no person could find out the cause of Ord’s illness, nor was there any improvement. Yet, Ord had never burst out in anger at the physicians who couldn’t cure his illness…

‘Could he perhaps know?’

The question that popped into her mind led to more questions.

‘Maybe, just maybe… Does he know the reason why he’s suffering from such a long and unknown illness? Is that why he’s not making any attempts to get better? He’s taking medicine, but that’s because the physicians are giving it to him, not because Ord himself asked for it. Why? Does he have no will to live? It didn’t seem that way though…’

Goosebumps suddenly rose on Laila’s arm as she was lost in thought. As she looked around, Eustar, who had been curiously looking at a pointed leaf with red stripes, approached Laila.

“What’s wrong, Laila? Was there a bug?”

“No, not a bug…”

At that moment, Laila saw a person. Although his appearance was slightly obscured by a large leaf, his face was still clearly recognizable.

“Eustar, it’s that caretaker from earlier.”

Eustar nodded. Realizing that he could see it too — without his monocle — Laila felt an inexplicable sense of relief.

Laila asked quietly.

“I wonder why he’s standing there like that?”

“Well, maybe he has something to say to us. Or he might be watching to make sure we don’t pluck any plants here.”

The last part was a joke, but Eustar’s mood wasn’t very pleasant. It was because he couldn’t know how long the man had been standing there.

Although they hadn’t done anything that shouldn’t be seen by others, it was quite unpleasant to know that there had been another person in a space he believed was just for Laila and himself.

The caretaker remained still in his spot even after making eye contact with the two. His expression was like someone who had forgotten something, maybe he had lost the greenhouse key and was at a loss for words.

Laila was about to turn away, tilting her head. But at that very moment, she felt a strong sense of discomfort and looked back at the caretaker.

He was still standing still. Blankly, as if he had forgotten something but didn’t know what it was. Or as if he had forgotten the very fact that he had forgotten something.

“Eustar, wait…”

Eustar’s gaze turned to Laila, then to the caretaker.

Laila unconsciously clenched her hand tightly, then startled when she felt something soft and plush filling her palm. She looked down.

Good heavens, it was the rabbit doll. She had completely forgotten that she was holding it.

“Laila, what’s wrong?”

“That person.”

Her slender Adam’s apple moved slightly.

“That person’s shadow is strange.”

“Shadow?”

Eustar, frowning, was about to take a step towards the caretaker.

“Don’t go, Eustar!”

Laila, even throwing the doll she was holding behind her, instinctively grabbed his shirt and pulled him back. At the same time, the shadow slanting at the caretaker’s feet seemed to slightly change direction and move.

No, it definitely moved.

The caretaker’s shadow began to writhe madly like a skinned snake.

There was even a sound like a tightly tied rope suddenly coming undone. One leg of the shadow, which seemed to be struggling, moved. Yet the caretaker still stood rooted to the spot, not moving an inch.

The black, flat arms and legs bent one by one in strange directions, and the shadow completely detached from its owner’s feet.

And then it abruptly stood up.

“Standing up…!”

The moment Laila uttered a word that sounded like a short scream, the body of the caretaker who had lost his shadow began to make gurgling sounds and started to collapse downwards.

Like squeezing a soft mud mixture from the top, his entire body overlapped, softened, and twisted in all directions, until finally only a disgusting shell, soiled clothes, and shoes remained.

Laila heard a sharp metallic sound. It was the sound of Eustar drawing his sword, and simultaneously, the shadow that had stood up flew like an arrow towards his sword, collided head-on, and bounced off.

—Hiss…!

It made a sound like a snake filled with venom and clung to the trunk of a tall tree.

Eustar knows what that is. Laila thought. That’s why he knew it would attack.

—Hiss!

The head part of the shadow trembled and made an even more threatening sound. It was then.

“Who’s there?”

Eustar and Laila reflexively turned their heads towards the sound. Laila shouted.

“Don’t come this way! Don’t come!”

But the footsteps quickened.

“No, who on earth is it?”

The sound of shuffling footsteps became clearer, and another caretaker, parting the wide leaves, looked at the two with a puzzled expression.

“Who are you? How did you…”

He couldn’t finish his sentence. Eustar rushed forward with his sword raised, but the shadow was faster in taking over the caretaker’s body.

It made a slithering sound again as it went under the caretaker’s feet, into his shadow.

“No, what was that just now? Something moved, ugh…”

“Damn it.”

Uttering a single curse, Eustar retreated again and stuck close to Laila’s side. She could feel that he was more tense than ever before.

The second caretaker, like the first one, collapsed with his whole body turning into a damp jelly.

A large marble remained on top of the mushy remains… and only then did Eustar and Laila realize that he had been wearing a glass eye in one eye.

The shadow, having devoured two people, once again made hissing and threatening sounds as it clung to a nearby tree. Eustar, not lowering his sword, kept his eyes fixed on what looked like a stain and said.

“Laila, you need to listen to me carefully.”

“Tell me. I’m listening.”

Eustar felt a cold sweat running down his temple.

“We need to seal this place. This… the entire greenhouse. While I lure that thing, you’ll have to do it. Remember. You need to lock all the doors and close every gap. For now, that method alone should be able to prevent that thing from going outside, which would be terrible.”

A sharp hissing sound made both of them extremely nervous. Eustar, watching it move here and there with his sword raised, said.

“…Or at least we have to believe so.”