When Baretta changed the subject at random, Reinhardt disappointingly opened his mouth as he held his chin.

“The second village in the east, Espel.”

“Espel Village? Why are we here all of a sudden?”

Espel Village was quite a distance from the capital.

And the village was much larger than expected. It didn’t really look like there was any connection to what happened this time……..

Valletta tilted her head.

“If you draw a circle, the village will fit in without being disturbed.”

Reinhardt said, drawing a circle in the air with his finger.

“I’ve looked at the north, south and west, but not yet with the east …. If I had to do it again, I thought, it would be the east. And this is the only village in the east that met the conditions.”

“Drawing circles….”

“It’s an ancient magic circle. All the villages that have been attacked so far, when you look down from above, if you draw a circle around the entire village, it fits perfectly within that circle.”

Valletta nodded at Reinhardt’s words. That meant that both alchemy and magic circles were drawn. What kind of people would cooperate in such a terrible thing?

“I thought that the magic circle that destroyed the village was for killing, but I guess not.”

“What do you mean?”

“The attack pattern was erratic. The magic circle comes out in a constant pattern, but this one was very irregular. And the numbers don’t add up either. ……”

Reinhardt’s eyes narrowed. He counted the bodies and limbs of the corpses in several villages, but they strangely didn’t match. Rarely were the bodies missing, but often the limbs were missing. No animals came to eat the corpses.

“The numbers don’t add up…..?”

“There were few heads, arms, and legs missing.”

Thinking of Reinhardt, who must have been looking at the corpses one by one, Valletta was speechless. Still, Valletta didn’t complain. In fact, it was an appropriate measure.

“So it’s a different magic circle? What kind?”

“Well, yes. What is it? Is it a magic circle? The inside of the village was more of a mess than I thought, and it looked like a lot of blood was spilled …….”

Reinhardt tilted his head and adjusted his posture.

If they were hit by an explosive attack, it would have been inevitable that there was so much blood.

“It looked like it was eaten by animals.”

His low voice spat out the words in a mumble.

“Animals?”

“Or more accurately, it tried to tear it off and eat it, but I think it threw it away.”

Reinhardt shrugged.

Valletta just bowed her head silently and lost in thought. Reinhardt, who was looking at her, smiled and brought the supplies he had put on the table yesterday and shook them off on the bed.

“Master, what are you using this for?”

Smiling brightly, with a cheerful expression on his face, Reinhardt asked in his purest, innocent voice.

Valletta, who was in agony, looked up reflexively. She turned white when she saw Reinhardt, who opened a small wooden barrel about half the size of a finger. It was a pink gel-like, sticky object.

“Why don’t you clean it up right away?”

Valletta asked with a shudder, and Reinhardt straightforwardly tossed it into the trashcan by the bed, then he grabbed a handful of other things roughly, and pushed them in front of her.

“Wow, what’s this? It’s some kind of stick that looks like a stick…..”

Valletta took it all and threw it into the trash can, covering Reinhardt’s mouth with her hand.

Reinhardt smiled brightly at Valletta’s red face. He then licked the palm that was covering his mouth lightly. Valletta sighed after a long time after swallowing a false laugh.

“Rather than dealing with you….”

Rubbing her face down with her other hand that was not caught by Reinhardt, Valletta muttered softly.

Reinhardt kissed her fingertips lightly and gently let it go.

“By the way, Master seems to know everything.”

“…… did you forget who my father was?”

“Ah…….”

Reinhardt replied in a low voice. His lips began to twitch. His red eyes glowed dangerously as he propped his chin up.

“How could I forget? I’ll never forget.”

His low voice was so cold and chilling. Valletta blinked slowly. They didn’t have a chance to talk properly after that. After the murder at Count Delight’s residence, she tried to avoid talking about it.

“Speaking of which …….”

At the sound of Valletta’s downcast voice, Reinhardt slowly raised his head. He chuckled as he turned his gaze to her.

“I never thought you’d go through that. I was going to apologize to you to some extent for threatening you…….”

“…….”

Reinhardt opened his eyes wide as if Valletta’s words were unexpected. As if he was agonizing, his eyelashes fluttered and he shrugged.

“It’s because I forgot my place. Come to think of it, where can you find a human being who sincerely listens to dolls?”

“My situation was not different from yours. That’s it.”

Neither my position nor yours were different. That’s all.”

Reinhardt replied to Valletta’s words with a smirk. There was no difference. As much as he suffered, she suffered too.

At Reinhardt’s answer, Valletta looked up and looked into the eyes. When she looked at his red eyes, she was infested with the desire to own the other person from the bottom of her stomach. The desire to open her mouth and chew it and swallow it. She was forced to be attracted to his crooked straightness as he looked at her without hesitation.

“Is that why you’re so obsessed with me? Because I was in the same situation as you in that family? Is that why you don’t let me go?”

In response to Valletta’s question, Reinhardt only smiled meaningfully with the edges of his mouth curling up. He did not reply until Valletta had averted her gaze.

After a while, Reinhardt suddenly smiled and opened his mouth.

“Valletta.”

“Yes?”

Her name coming out of his lips sent goosebumps down her spine. But Valletta did her best to answer.

Reinhardt reached out, grabbed her arm lightly, and sat her in his lap.

“I have decided to stay by your side, and we will always be by each other’s.”

“…….”

“You know that, don’t you? Now that Count Delight’s mansion is gone, we have nowhere else to go.”

Valletta’s brows furrowed at Reinhardt’s words.

His lips quivered as he reached out with his long fingers and carefully passed Valletta’s hair behind her ears.

“Keep in mind. It’s not me who didn’t run away, it’s you, master.”

“……where can I run away from that prison-like mansion?”

When Valletta asked in a ridiculous voice, Reinhardt began to chuckle. Valletta escaped from his lap with a tired look at the refreshing laughter flooding her ears.

“Somewhere out of my sight?”

“Rather, I say, create a new world.”

“Create a new world then……”

Valletta threw a nearby bag at Reinhardt and walked to the bathroom. Seeing her disappear, Reinhardt stroked his chin in annoyance. Eventually, he covered his mouth with his smiling crescent eyes.

“When will you be honest with me?”

The master who only liked his face.

Listening to the sound of the cascading water, Reinhardt lifted Snorta by the neck and put it on his stomach. When he tapped its nose with his finger, the four-legged beast that was crying began to growl. Then it scampered around, and eventually sat down in one spot and started to chew on Reinhardt’s hair.

Reinhardt, who was watching him closely, lay down at an angle and closed his eyes. It seemed that peace had come again.

***

“Are you sleeping?”

After washing up, Valletta swallowed a vain smile as she watched Reinhardt, who was closing his eyes with a comfortable expression, and Snorta, who was biting his hair and playing next to him.

‘I was wondering when you were going to sleep when we were at the mansion.’

He would come to wake her up at dawn and disappear even though he was there late at night. He probably couldn’t sleep as well as she did, or at least he couldn’t sleep properly.

Watching Reinhardt, Valletta sat on the edge of the bed. It was quite a difficult time for both of them. It was not an easy day for anyone. So she didn’t want her current freedom to be disturbed.

“If we….”

Valletta recited lowly.

“If we had grown up in a different environment, met in a different way…..”

Yes, if they both were born without these abilities and had grown up normally……

Would their lives be a little different then? Would she not have been afraid to step into a relationship with him?

“There is no such thing, Master.”

Reinhardt’s red eyes looked directly into her profile. He reached out and lightly pulled Valletta in a lying position. He held her in his arms and put his chin on her wet head.

“If you and I had grown up normally, that would have been it. We would have never gotten involved.”

A voice whispered in her ear and Valletta exhaled, staring over his shoulder. He was kind, but honest and cruel. He didn’t seem to even allow what ifs.

“You’re right.”

Reinhardt blinked slowly at Valletta’s reply. She didn’t know why they were so close now when she tried to stay away from him.

“Master seems a little tired.”

Count Delight’s mansion wasn’t the only one Reinhardt had broken that day.

He declared that he would tear down the solid wall Valletta had built.

“If you are tired, you can stay in my room with your eyes closed and your ears covered. I’ll take care of everything.” (Reinhardt)

Reinhardt lightly stroked the back of Valletta’s head. Valletta slowly gulped at the gentle petting touch.

He blinked slowly.

“You can go outside again when everything is over.” (Reinhardt)

“I have no idea what you are thinking.” (Valletta)

Valletta sighed and pushed him lightly on the shoulder.

Reinhardt chuckled and sat up in bed, his body recoiling. His red eyes curved softly.

“Because you always hide your true feelings with a smiling face.” (Valletta)

Valletta said, fiddling with her robe. When she glanced back, Reinhardt was looking at her with a strange expression.

***