“Really?”

“I told you. I can tell you that after you get to know me a little better.”

Though smiling with a relaxed attitude, Laila knew that a stronger and higher wall than ever surrounded him.

A wall that seemed impenetrable by anything, so solid… Something that evoked resignation just by looking at it.

Laila furrowed her brow and quietly stared past his shoulder. A dark wisp of smoke seemed to flit by teasingly, but when she shook her head and looked again, it was just an illusion.

Eustar said,

“Let’s go to sleep now. Consider the lodging fee paid in full.”

“Paid in full, you say?”

Eustar, who was sitting down on the bed preparing to lie down, turned to look at her.

“What’s wrong?”

Laila made an expression as if asking if he was serious.

“Aren’t you going to report Mrs. Nolan to the security forces?”

Eustar fell into thought for a moment.

“I don’t feel the need to do that particularly.”

“She dumped that woman’s body in the well! Like trash! If Mrs. Nolan had just reported it, the man who killed that woman might have been caught, but she didn’t. That woman, because of that…”

She was in pain. Laila thought. Some ghosts harm humans out of pure malice, but there were clearly those that weren’t like that.

The pain of being alive can be escaped through death, but when pain and death are connected as one, it becomes a shackle that cannot be escaped no matter what.

—They say bad people go to hell when they die. But that’s not always true, Laila.

Laila recalled what her mother had told her. She couldn’t understand it well then, but now she could know exactly. One could fall into hell without committing bad deeds. Hell experienced eternally in a state neither alive nor dead.

“Mrs. Nolan is guilty too. She needs to pay for her crime.”

Eustar turned his body towards Laila.

“Of course, that’s justice. But there’s no need to bother. What was here is gone, and it won’t appear again. Even if we report Mrs. Nolan, would that woman’s body still be intact? I don’t know, but I think only bones would remain by now. We can’t do anything with that. It would be impossible to find the man who killed her too.”

“You think it has no meaning at all, right?”

“That’s not… No, you’re right. Maybe you’re right, Laila. Yes, in my opinion, it’s meaningless. It’s something we don’t need to get involved in.”

Laila said,

“It’s not just important to do things for the living. Sometimes… Sometimes, I think we need to act justly for the dead too. That’s what I think.”

“Even if the dead won’t be grateful for such things?”

“Yes, even so.”

A tense silence filled the dim room. What would happen if this stillness swelled and burst? Laila wondered.

Would this entire inn be shattered? Would everything from the worn-out wooden floor to the moldy rafters and the mirror covered in hazy grease all break and fly away?

Such things happened when I was young. Laila briefly lost herself in old memories before snapping back to reality. Eustar was still staring at her intently.

As if he couldn’t understand, yet with a hint of interest. Perhaps this was the first time in his life he had heard such words? Though that was an absurd imagination, to Laila it felt vividly true.

“I don’t want to conflict with you, Laila.”

Laila blinked silently.

Even in that brief moment, Eustar did not take his eyes off her. As if he thought she would suddenly change her mind if he kept looking…

No. Laila thought. Not this time.

‘I don’t want to defy him.’

In her mind, once again, another voice was heard. One that was hers yet not hers…

Finally, Eustar raised both hands and shook his head.

“Alright, we’ll do as you say. When dawn breaks tomorrow, we’ll go to the security forces and have them investigate the dry well. Will that do?”

“You must also tell them about Mrs. Nolan.”

A faint smile appeared on Eustar’s lips.

“The security officers will end up finding no evidence against Mrs. Nolan. But you’re saying we should do it anyway?”

Laila nodded firmly.

“Yes, we have to. Even if they end up finding nothing, even if nothing changes, it’s the right thing to do.”

“Understood. Now we really need to sleep. We need energy to use the portal. So lie down, Laila.”

She waited until Eustar turned off the lights again, and when it became completely dark, she walked back to the bed and lay down. And lying straight up looking at the ceiling, she pondered the darkness before her eyes for a long time.

The next morning at dawn, Mrs. Nolan, who had been dozing off in front of the table, made an expression as if she had seen a ghost when she saw Laila and Eustar coming down looking perfectly fine.

“My, from there… Did really nothing happen?”

Eustar said,

“It’s not that nothing happened. However, the ‘thing’ that was there is now gone. It won’t appear again.”

Mrs. Nolan’s eyes widened in disbelief, then her rough lips parted.

“By Kiron, thank you! Goodness, you really were knights of Tentinella! And here I thought you might be lying just to get a free room!”

“It’s fortunate that wasn’t the case.”

“Of course! I was steeling myself this morning, thinking I might have to dispose of another corpse.”

Mrs. Nolan showed a much more talkative and carefree attitude compared to when they first met. It was clear that what had been in that room where Laila and Eustar stayed was a huge burden for her.

If only you hadn’t abandoned that woman like that. Laila thought. No, she was about to say… But before she could speak up, Eustar naturally gestured to stop her.

“Then we’ll be on our way.”

“Yes, yes. Thank you, alright?”

“It’s nothing.”

Eustar placed his hand on Laila’s shoulder. The early morning wind blew. The fishy smell from the river and various other scents… Laila briefly watched Eustar’s high-tied hair swaying.

“Why did you stop me?”

“There’s no need for us to point out the lady’s wrongdoing ourselves. That’s the job of the security forces.”

“What’s the difference?”

Laila asked, almost mumbling. With her hood on and her head slightly lowered, her face couldn’t be seen.

“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but I’d like you to know that I’m not that terrible.”

After a moment of silence, Laila sighed.

“I didn’t think that far.”

“That’s good then. That building over there seems to be the security forces. Let’s go and briefly state our business and come out.”

As they left the village and turned onto a deserted road, Laila felt her mind becoming clearer. There was no noise except for the sound of Eustar’s footsteps beside her.

Only the sound of wind shaking tree branches, occasional rustling, or birds flying. The familiar silence that she had heard all her life, rather than perfect silence, filled the surroundings like a soft cushion.

Laila suddenly spoke as if she just remembered something.

“Long ago, they say a king locked his wife in a room padded with cushions on all sides.”

Her voice sounded much clearer and brighter than in the village.

Eustar asked,

“Why did he do such a thing?”

“She hated the king very much. So the king thought she might die by hitting her head somewhere.”

“That’s quite a horrific story.”

Laila made an expression as if to say, ‘So be it.’

“My mother lamented that if that woman, the queen I mean, had been a witch, she wouldn’t have fallen in love with such a man.”

“Surely you don’t think that’s love, do you, Laila?”

Laila’s red eyes took on an emotionless light.

“No. But isn’t any kind of love like that? It constrains the other person. Even if it’s not an obsessive prison padded with cushions on all sides.”

Eustar tilted his head and smiled softly.

“Well, there could be love where neither feels constrained.”

“How? After all, falling in love means…”

Laila seemed to struggle to find the right words, her lips moving slightly as she fell into thought. Then, with an ambiguous expression, she said this.

“It means constantly thinking about just one person, doesn’t it?”

“I don’t have someone I love yet, but if I did, I don’t think I’d consider it a constraint. Who knows, Laila. You might feel the same way.”

That was the end of it. To begin with, the two had too different perspectives to have a deep conversation about love. Setting aside the fact that they had only known each other for three or four days.

“Ah, we’ve finally arrived. I’m glad we made it before it was too late.”

At Eustar’s words, Laila looked ahead. But there was nothing in sight. There was a small, open clearing, but it was small. Beyond that was a cliff.

“There’s nothing here.”

“Ah, the portal here isn’t an object. This place, this location itself is the portal. In fact, we’re already within the portal’s boundaries. The branch office should already know that we’re about to move.”

Laila’s eyes blinked in confusion. The space itself is a portal? Does that mean if you step on grass of a different color, you’ll float up into the air? And then be transported somewhere else?

Nonsense. She thought. Though she had never seen one in person, Laila knew to some extent what a portal was.

Mainly rocks engraved with magic circles, or still objects… She had read in books that such things were used as portals.

“If this is a portal, then… What are we supposed to do now?”

Eustar grinned at Laila as if to say, ‘You still don’t get it?’

“We have to jump off. Of course.”

At the same time, Eustar wrapped his arm around Laila’s waist and instantly dashed towards the nearby cliff.

The moment his foot stepped on the edge of the cliff, Laila looked down at the dizzying depths below and held her breath. She could see huge black rocks standing like giant needles.

We’re going to die. Laila closed her eyes tightly, unable even to scream. It seemed certain that they would crash into the rocks and be shattered before she could even exhale.

But that didn’t happen.

A high, sharp beeping sound rang in her ears. At the same time, nausea welled up, and just as Laila clutched her stomach, a thick, unfamiliar voice was heard.

“Sir Eustar! How many times have I told you that the connection to that portal is unstable!”