Chapter 15…………………………………
Encounter, or Crossing Paths
Left alone, Lowell stood still for a long while. Then he let out a small “Ah,” as if something had just dawned on him, and headed straight outside. There was something more important right now than pondering why Leon was acting the way he was.
“Miss!”
Fortunately, he didn’t have to go far to find Aria. She was standing on the bridge over the garden pond. Dry leaves had fallen thickly across the water, making Aria—standing amid them—look strangely forlorn.
“H–huh, Lowell….”
At his call, Aria reacted at once. Her already large eyes widened even further as she took a step back.
“I’ll come to you!”
Lowell shouted loudly first, afraid that if he didn’t, Aria might run away again. I’ll go to you, so please stay right there—that was what he meant.
“No, it’s fine!”
But Aria practically jumped in place and began stepping backward.
“Huh?”
And that was probably why it happened. As Aria hurriedly tried to turn around, she lost her balance, her body tilting toward the pond.
Whoosh.
Yet she did not fall into the cold water. Some force gently pushed against her back, steadying her posture.
Abruptly brought upright, Aria froze in place, blinking blankly. What was that? the thought crossed her mind.
“Miss! Are you all right?”
Her thoughts didn’t last long. Lowell had already run right up to her, taken her hand, and asked anxiously.
“Huh? Uh….”
Only then did Aria calm down a little and turn her gaze toward Lowell.
But the instant she met his violet eyes, the obscene scene from earlier flashed through her mind, and dizziness washed over her again.
Bodies pressed together against a wall, lips brushing her neck before pulling away.
It was all my misunderstanding. Right—he said he had someone he loved.
Aria hurriedly avoided Lowell’s eyes, thinking how foolish she’d been to suspect a newlywed couple.
“It’s cold. Let’s go back inside now.”
When Aria continued to stare blankly, Lowell lightly took her by the shoulders and helped her up. On the way back into the villa, an odd conversation followed—Lowell talking the whole time while Aria responded with vague, half-hearted replies.
In truth, the reason Lowell kept prattling on about meaningless things like the scenery was because he needed to distract Aria’s thoughts.
I promised myself I’d act perfectly, and yet I used magic the moment I turned my back.
Lowell reproached himself, recalling his earlier mistake. When Aria had almost fallen into the pond, he hadn’t had time to think and instinctively sent his magic to catch her.
What’s more, even after using magic, he hadn’t immediately grasped the situation. Only after seeing his own mana envelop Aria’s entire body did he realize what he’d done and withdraw it.
Thankfully, she doesn’t seem to be paying attention to it right now.
Watching Aria struggle just to respond, unable to hide her confusion, Lowell swallowed his anxiety.
That day passed without any further incidents. Thinking the calm was a kind of compensation for the earlier disturbance, Lowell was able to maintain a relatively relaxed state of mind—at least until he went to bed.
“Ugh….”
But that peace vanished completely in the middle of the night, along with a headache that struck his mind like a bolt of lightning. As he forced himself upright, a pained groan slipped out between his teeth.
Panting, he looked around and saw that Leon was gone. In the place where Leon had been lay only the stark red light cast by the crimson moon outside the window.
After briefly wondering where Leon might have gone, Lowell failed to endure the pounding headache. Relying on the red moonlight, he fumbled for the drawer beside the bed and opened it.
Inside, a necklace set with a blue gemstone shimmered in the moonlight.
It suppresses mana and blocks unstable mana flow.
Lowell recalled Leon’s words as he took out the necklace.
Seeing how Lowell struggled every time he practiced magic, Leon had said, Your body wasn’t trained to use mana. When you use too much, your body reacts abnormally, and handed him a mana stone infused with his own power.
I barely used any magic today—just catching Miss Aria—so why is it like this….
Trying to finish the thought, Lowell tightened his grip on the necklace.
The moment it settled around his neck, Leon’s mana enveloped his body with its distinct, cozy night-scent, and the headache began to fade rapidly.
“Haa….”
Only then could Lowell breathe properly again. As he gradually relaxed his grip on the mana stone, a blue glow seeped out between his fingers.
“…?”
Yet just as the pain vanished, an unmistakable, chilling sensation crawled up Lowell’s skin—power that felt like it could strangle him at any moment. This was… absolutely not human.
Miss Aria.
In the grip of instinctive terror, Aria was the first person who came to Lowell’s mind. He hurried out of bed and dashed, without a second thought, toward her room.
And the instant he opened the door, Lowell froze completely.
A man with red hair and eyes even more cruelly vivid than his hair was straddling Aria on her bed, leaning his face close to her neck.
“As expected, you smell of him.”
The man muttered dangerously, his eyes glinting. Though clearly addressed to someone else, his voice was so low it sounded like he was speaking to himself.
He leaned even closer to Aria’s neck, murmured a few more words in a language long since lost, then turned his head to look at Lowell standing in the open doorway.
The moment Lowell met that blazing red gaze, he understood with absolute certainty: the overwhelming power pressing down on the entire villa belonged to that man—and that man was a demon.
Red eyes that tightened around the nerves. Caught in their crossing gazes, Lowell forgot even how to breathe.
“Mmgh….”
A muffled groan rang out, snapping Lowell’s attention aside. There was Aria, struggling desperately with her mouth covered by the man’s hand.
“Miss!”
Seeing her face twisted in pain, Lowell shouted reflexively.
Whoosh.
At that moment, something flew swiftly past Lowell’s cheek. As blood trickled down along a thin cut, he immediately understood—it was a clear warning that if he moved, he would die.
“Why does the strongest scent cling to a mere human?”
As if nothing had happened, the man turned back and leaned toward Aria again.
“And yet… there’s another smell mixed in.”
He murmured in a flat voice.
“It makes me want to cut it away.”
With those words dripping with displeasure, he brought his sharp nails to Aria’s neck.
“And this golden hair, those eyes tinged with green… it’s as if you absorbed him entirely.”
The man continued muttering incomprehensible things. As he repeatedly brushed Aria’s hair aside, it seemed as though he were overlapping her with someone else.
Crack.
“The time is up.”
The one who broke the near-shattering tension was a small demon who appeared from one side of the wall.
“…….”
At those words, the man slowly lifted his body away from Aria.
“Hk—cough, cough.”
As the hand was removed, the breath Aria had been holding burst out all at once.
“Let’s go.”
The man observed her for a moment longer before speaking.
And in that instant, from the persistent gaze that lingered on Aria until the very end, Lowell realized that the intruder would surely return. A shiver ran down his spine.
Lowell and Aria were only able to move again long after the demons vanished into the darkness.
“…What a ridiculous woman.”
At the same time, Leon—still unable to fall asleep—was moving briskly as he recalled what had happened earlier that afternoon.
Peach-colored lips drawing near, violet eyes lifted slightly beneath raised lashes.
“How absurd.”
Just remembering that brief moment made the spot where their lips had touched feel hot. Leon covered his neck with his hand.
Of course, the fact that something so trivial had driven him out into the garden in the middle of the night was itself…
“…?”
Then, as a familiar yet chilling power crept over his skin, Leon’s thoughts came to an abrupt halt. An overwhelming pressure, impossible to ignore, had settled over the villa.
“Demons?”
It was demonic mana. Yet what now surrounded the estate wasn’t the kind he’d felt on the battlefield—it was something even stronger.
Sensing instinctive danger, Leon broke into a run, heading straight for where the mana felt strongest—Aria’s room on the far right of the third floor.
“Ugh.”
The moment Leon opened her door, the powerful scent assaulted him, forcing him to cover his face with his sleeve. A cold, heavy stench filled the room, threatening to suffocate him.
“Sir Leon.”
That calm voice reached him only after he managed to breathe properly again.
Looking up, he saw Aria sitting on the bed, gasping for air, with Lowell supporting her beside her.
“What….”
Sensing that something terrible had occurred, Leon trailed off mid-sentence.
“Please go downstairs and call the servants. And contact the knight order. Immediately.”
“What?”
“A demon has infiltrated.”
Lowell’s firm tone was unmistakable proof that something enormous had just happened.
