Chapter 12
“Let go of this. Leopold!”
“Ah, I feel like I can breathe now……”
Leopold, his back slouched, rubbed his forehead against her shoulder.
His short hair tickled the nape of her neck, sending a chill down her spine.
“I told you to get off!”
Eliza grabbed Leopold’s hands and struggled to pull them away. But for some reason, his grip only tightened further.
Eliza terribly hated having someone intimidate her. He of all people should have known that fact better than anyone.
Eliza grimaced and grabbed the back of his head.
“I said, get off…….”
“Ah, that feels good.”
She had intended to pull his hair just like that, but Leopold suddenly raised his head. Then he twisted and grabbed her hand, rubbing his cheek against her palm.
“I like your hands.”
“……Did you take drugs or something?”
Eliza was now starting to get worried about Leopold.
Meanwhile, the servant who had been crawling on the floor was desperately escaping.
Eliza tried to pull her hand out, but Leopold would not let go. She let out a sigh as if wanting him to hear.
“Let go of this.”
“I told you that you are mine…….”
“Stop talking nonsense and let go!”
Now her voice shot out sharply with genuine emotion.
To think this boy would use force against her. It was a fresh shock.
No matter how she looked at it, he did not seem to be in his right mind.
“Leopold Hagen!”
Eliza twisted her arm and pulled. Leopold stared blankly at the sight before raising his head.
Looking at his unfocused pupils, goosebumps rose on Eliza’s skin.
However, no matter how loudly she shouted, Leopold could not hear her right now.
What captivated him was his father’s voice, clearly audible amidst the bizarre spell lingering in his ears.
“Eliza Waluer will become entirely yours.”
It was a gift from his father that Leopold did not even know about and had never wished for.
Leopold shook his head to break free from the auditory hallucination.
However, the power of brainwashing that had already taken root inside him blurred his vision and made him unable to see Eliza shouting.
“Through the ability of the Great One, Eliza will flow through your bloodline and become your power. Just as you desired, that child will become a part of you.”
The auditory hallucination gradually began to demand only one thing from him. To immediately drag away the sweet warmth lying under his hand right now and make it his.
The tender skin crushed beneath his grip screamed.
Eliza trembled with a sense of betrayal and screamed in rage.
“How could you do this to me—!”
Eliza, who was shouting violently with emotions burning hot in her head, suddenly gasped.
Did I just feel betrayed by this boy? When I myself am trying to betray Leopold, why shouldn’t he do the same?
Why does my heart ache just because Leopold acted a little strangely?
“Come with me.”
Eliza, who had been dragged a few steps blankly by the pulling force, snapped out of it and bit her lip.
It was fine for her to become a bad person. As long as it was a betrayal to survive, she pledged to endure all that guilt.
However, even amidst suspicion, Eliza had a belief she could not abandon.
The belief that Leopold would never kill her.
Because of that, she had decided to betray Hagen and pledged to pull Leopold out of the shackles of sin.
Therefore, Leopold Hagen must not become the perpetrator against Eliza Waluer.
That was the one thing Eliza could not bear.
“Leo.”
At the gentle voice, the hand that was leading her paused for a moment.
Eliza did not miss the brief window and reached out her arm.
Her remaining uncaptured hand wrapped around the back of Leopold’s neck and pulled him as he was.
Eliza softly stroked the back of his neck.
“Get a grip, Leo.”
It was a name she had not called him in a long time. Your name that I had made for you.
When all of Leopold’s movements froze, Eliza whispered softly.
“I am in pain. Hmm? I hate it when you act like this. Treat me gently.”
Eliza suddenly felt a bit sad. To think the moment would come when I have to treat you with falsehoods.
But what else could she do? This boy was acting as if he had lost his mind right now.
“El, li…….”
“Yes, it’s me.”
Eliza took a bold step and lightly rubbed her cheek against his.
His breath could be heard from a close distance. The irregular breathing was hot.
Eliza endured the sensation of all the fine hairs on her body standing on end.
“What should I do for you to let go? Leopold, Leo.”
Repeating his name in a gentle voice, just in case, Eliza even hummed a song for him.
The boy who used to go all giddy when she sang a few lines because he liked her singing was now fully grown, but his essence had not changed.
The strength in his hand slowly faded away.
“Ugh…….”
Leopold, who finally let go of her hand, clutched his own head.
Shaking his head several times, he grimaced fiercely and then hit his own head with a thud.
“What are you doing right now…….”
“Keep going.”
“What?”
“Sing, try it.”
Even amid confusion, Eliza naturally let out the song her body was accustomed to.
Eliza liked singing. When she was young, she used to hide her identity, go out to the tavern, sing, and receive coins.
The boy who listened to her song with a dirty appearance in that shabby place was her first regular customer.
“When I listen to your song, I feel at peace.”
Since the day her childhood friend, who rarely gave compliments submissively, said that, Eliza cherished her song even more.
Listening to her voice softly traversing the melody, Leopold took a step back.
The fire that was churning inside his head subsided, and the murky energy retreated.
A white woman clearly enters his clearing vision.
This feeling of discovering a full moon after wandering through an endless polar night.
Leopold bit his tongue with his fangs. As pain surged crunchingly inside his mouth, he finally came to his senses.
“Eliza.”
Leopold stared at the back of her hand, which had turned reddish in the meantime.
Hiding the terrible feeling welling up at the mark he had left behind, the man pulled up the corners of his mouth with all his strength.
“I told you not to sing just anywhere.”
“You asked me to do it, didn’t you?”
“Yeah. Thanks for that.”
A few seconds passed in silence for a moment. Eliza awkwardly rubbed the back of her sore hand.
“Then I will be off now…….”
“It would be better to pretend you didn’t see what you saw today.”
Because she had seen too much today, Eliza felt a pang of guilt.
Her pockets were heavy with items brought from the secret room.
And the servant who fled earlier, as well as the appearance of this boy who seemed out of his mind…….
What did he mean by telling her to pretend not to know?
Eliza quietly checked his mood, but she could read nothing from Leopold’s slick smile.
So she answered.
“I didn’t see anything.”
“Haha! Yeah, that’s the spirit.”
When Leopold reached out his hand, Eliza flinched for a moment.
As heat rose to her face out of embarrassment at her own reaction, Leopold’s smile faded slightly.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
Leopold brushed off her shoulder as if something dirty was stuck on it.
‘For someone who didn’t know it would hurt, that was a strong force though.’
Seeing him returned completely to his usual self, Eliza pondered whether to ask or not. What that appearance just now was.
However, Leopold, having finished his business, took two or three steps back first.
“Do not set foot in the East Wing. It would also be good not to visit for the time being.”
The East Wing was the place where the secret room was located. For a moment, Eliza wondered if she had been caught going there.
“I will handle it myself.”
“Listen to me. If by any chance you…….”
Leopold, who was continuing his words, suddenly closed his mouth. Then, with a face devoid of laughter, he grabbed his neck.
“Ah, this……. Kh, cough!”
“What is it, why are you like this?”
Suddenly, Leopold threw up a cough and covered his mouth.
Eliza reflexively tried to hold his body as it stumbled forward.
She would have, if not for his waving hand signaling her not to approach.
“Where does it hurt? What is it all of a sudden?”
Whether he was holding back his cough or not, Leopold’s face with his jaws tightly clenched was red as if it were about to burst.
Even while doing so, Leopold shook his head back and forth.
“If it hurts, tell me it hurts. I should call someone…….”
“No.”
The eyes of the man who jerked his head up were bloodshot. His face, with his jaw prominent from biting down hard on his molars, was ruthless.
“Don’t call, anyone.”
“Why are you being so stubborn…….”
“Eliza.”
The last voice was not Leopold’s.
At the kind and soft call, goosebumps rose prickling on Eliza’s back.
“Even Leopold, what are you two doing here?”
Marchioness of Hagen, Vanessa, was slowly walking down the stairs.
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