Episode 29
It was someone she hadn’t expected.
Sylas looked at them and chuckled.
“Yeah. I’ve been locked up for about three years, after all. It has been a while.”
“Why don’t you go back there? That’s where you belong, isn’t it?”
“There’s still too much time left on my sentence for that.”
Sylas’s golden eyes turned back to me.
“There’s a lot left, actually.”
He casually began calculating the time left on his sentence.
“Let’s see. Is it twelve years?”
…It increased that much?
Sylas was originally supposed to be released in about two years.
Then he looked at Katrina.
“Will you wait for me?”
…Wait for what?
Sylas curled his lips into a smirk.
“Yeah. Katrina, even you must think twelve years is too long, right?”
“You’re still saying ridiculous things, huh? Sylas Rockfenheim, you laid your hands on a wishstone. Go back quietly and wait for your execution date.”
“You’re still as damn unlucky as ever, huh?”
“Look who’s talking.”
The two exchanged sharp words.
Katrina tried to quietly slip away in the midst of it, but it didn’t seem like Sylas was going to let her go.
“Where do you think you’re going, hmm?”
“…You should run now while you still can, Sylas.”
“Hah?”
Sylas looked at Katrina as if she were absurd.
“Katrina’s right. If you want to keep breathing, leave her and get lost.”
“You never thought about the opposite, did you?”
“The opposite?”
“That I might kill all of you and take Katrina with me.”
Sylas reached for his sword.
Shrrrk—
With a chilling sound, the blade slid out of its sheath.
Blood still clung to the sword—remnants from when he cut down Katrina’s knights.
“You don’t actually think I’m the one who needs to run, do you?”
“Of course it’s you.”
Lucifer grabbed a sword from a knight nearby.
Things were about to get out of hand.
“Stop, Sylas.”
Katrina rushed to grab him.
Sylas looked down at her.
“Why should I?”
…What do you mean why?
Why are you escalating things like this?
“Don’t do something you’ll regret.”
“Why would I regret anything?”
“The you I remember always regretted everything.”
His golden eyes wavered.
Katrina held onto his arm desperately.
“…This will be no different. Think carefully.”
“…”
The fierce grin disappeared from Sylas’s face.
He stared at Katrina with an unreadable expression.
“Yeah. Now that you mention it, you’re right.”
“…”
“Seeing you reminded me. I really did have a lot of regrets.”
What the hell was that supposed to mean?
Then Sylas tossed his sword to the ground.
“Fine. I’ll listen to you.”
“…”
“I’ll back off for now.”
He released Katrina’s arm and took a step back without resistance.
He walked toward the knights.
“But we’re definitely going to meet again.”
Then he turned around and gave Katrina a bright smile.
“I’ve already done something I’ll regret.”
“…”
“It’s too late to undo it now.”
Sylas muttered cryptically.
But before Katrina could ask what he meant, the knights seized him.
The moment he stepped away from Katrina, the knights lunged at him.
They pinned his shoulders and slammed his chest to the ground.
Even then, Sylas kept his eyes on Katrina.
Her black hair fluttered lightly in the wind, brushing past her shoulders.
Her eyes, dark as black pearls, looked down at him.
Ah.
She was maddeningly beautiful.
Without a second of hesitation, Katrina turned her back on him.
She never once looked back at Sylas.
As if there was no lingering attachment left.
The wind blew, making her clothes flutter coldly.
Even then, her stride remained graceful as ever.
Soon, the carriage door shut, and Katrina vanished behind it.
The wheels slowly began to turn, taking her farther and farther from where he lay.
Until the carriage disappeared completely, she didn’t look back once.
‘You’ve always been like that.’
Never once looking back.
Except when you needed to use me—never once did you look at me…
Sylas burst into laughter.
“Am I losing my mind?”
“Why are you laughing all of a sudden?”
The knights were startled by his sudden laughter and stared at him.
But Sylas couldn’t stop laughing.
‘She hasn’t changed at all, really.’
Sylas was glad Katrina hadn’t changed.
She still didn’t look back at him.
Still just as cold.
Still gave him not a shred of interest.
Truly.
That’s what made it easy to move forward with what came next.
‘It’s too late to go back now.’
He had come too far.
There was no turning back.
“Are you alright, Katrina?”
Lucifer approached Katrina.
“Why are you here?”
“That’s the first thing you say to the guy who just saved you?”
Well, he did save her, so she had no comeback for that.
Still, that was that, and this was this.
“Don’t tell me… the fact that I’m meeting you here means…”
“I’m heading to Asius too, you know.”
“…”
Her head started pounding.
As if it wasn’t bad enough to be traveling with the last person she wanted to see…
She suddenly remembered Lucifer’s position.
A cardinal-level case?
Things were turning out to be more serious than expected.
‘And now they want me to investigate this.’
Honestly, she didn’t feel confident. But she couldn’t afford to fail.
This was Katrina’s last chance.
“Let’s talk in more detail on the way, okay?”
Come to think of it…
Sylas had destroyed Katrina’s carriage.
“Guess we’ll take mine, then.”
The road to Asius was still long.
Katrina was already exhausted.
She glanced around, hoping for another carriage nearby, but only one remained.
“Get in, Katrina.”
“…”
There was no other option.
The Asius estate had entered a desolate season.
Cold winds blew bleakly, and a barren landscape stretched beneath a gray sky.
The trees had lost their leaves, and the fields lay quiet, devoid of life. Even the distant mountains were shrouded in gray mist.
‘Cold.’
Katrina pulled out and wore the thick coat she’d packed.
‘I never thought I’d be grateful to Demian and Selena.’
They probably said it just to tease her, but in hindsight, it was precious advice.
If not for it, she would’ve frozen to the bone.
She was still freezing.
“Katrina, are you cold?”
Lucifer’s coat had quietly changed to something thicker too.
“You still can’t handle the cold, huh?”
Lucifer looked like he didn’t feel the cold at all.
He unwrapped the scarf around his neck and held it out to her.
