WBSML 12

Chapter 12

“Let me go, Leopold!”

“Ah… I feel like I can finally breathe…”

Leopold bent forward and rubbed his forehead against her shoulder.

His short hair tickled the back of her neck, sending goosebumps across her skin.

“Get off me!”

Eliza grabbed Leopold’s hands and tried to pull them away. But for some reason, his grip only tightened.

Eliza absolutely hated being intimidated by anyone.

He was the person who knew that fact better than anyone else.

Eliza frowned and grabbed the back of his head.

“I said get off—”

“Ah, I like that.”

She had been about to grab his hair, but Leopold suddenly lifted his head.

Then he seized her hand and rubbed his cheek against her palm.

“I like your hands.”

“…Are you on something?”

Eliza was beginning to genuinely worry about Leopold.

Meanwhile, the servant who had been crawling along the floor was desperately trying to escape.

Eliza tried to pull her hand free, but Leopold wouldn’t let go.

She sighed loudly enough for him to hear.

“Let go.”

“You said you’re mine…”

“Stop talking nonsense and let go!”

Her voice came out sharp and genuinely angry.

The fact that this man was actually using his strength against her was shocking in itself.

He clearly wasn’t in his right mind.

“Leopold Hagen!”

Eliza twisted her arm and pulled.

Leopold stared blankly at what she was doing before lifting his head.

The unfocused look in his eyes sent a chill down her spine.

But no matter how loudly she shouted, Leopold couldn’t hear her now.

What had seized his mind was the voice of his father, ringing clearly through the strange incantations echoing around his ears.

“Eliza Valour will belong entirely to you.”

It was a gift from his father that Leopold had never known about and had never asked for.

Leopold shook his head, trying to escape the hallucination.

But the power of the brainwashing that had already taken root inside him blurred his vision, preventing him from seeing Eliza as she screamed at him.

“By the power of the Great One, Eliza will flow through your blood and become your strength. Just as you wished, she will become a part of you.”

The hallucination began demanding only one thing from him.

To take the sweet warmth beneath his hands right now and make it his.

The delicate skin crushed beneath his grip screamed in pain.

Eliza trembled with betrayal and shouted,

“How could you do this to me—!”

The emotions boiling inside her made her head burn.

But then, suddenly, Eliza inhaled sharply.

Was I just feeling betrayed by him?

I’m the one trying to betray Leopold first, so why shouldn’t he be allowed to do the same?

Why does my heart ache just because Leopold is acting a little strange?

“Come with me.”

Eliza was dragged along for several steps in a daze by the force pulling her.

Then she suddenly bit her lip.

She was willing to become a bad person.

As long as her betrayal was necessary for her survival, she had resolved to endure all the guilt that came with it.

But even amid all her doubts, there was one belief Eliza could never abandon.

The belief that Leopold would never kill her.

That belief was why she had decided to betray Hagen and why she had vowed to free Leopold from the chains of sin.

Therefore, Leopold Hagen could not become Eliza Valour’s abuser.

That was the one thing Eliza couldn’t bear.

“Rio.”

At the gentle sound of her voice, the hand guiding her briefly stopped.

Eliza didn’t miss the opportunity.

She reached out.

Her free hand wrapped around the back of Leopold’s neck, and she pulled him toward her.

Eliza gently stroked the back of his neck.

“Come to your senses, Rio.”

It was a name she hadn’t called him in a long time.

The name she had given him herself.

When Leopold’s entire body went rigid, Eliza whispered softly.

“It hurts. Okay? I don’t like you acting like this. Be gentle with me.”

For a moment, Eliza felt a little sad.

So this is the moment when I have to lie to you.

But what else could she do?

He was acting as though he had completely lost his mind.

“Il… li…”

“Yes. It’s me.”

Eliza gathered her courage and gently rubbed her cheek against his.

She could hear his breath from such a close distance.

His breathing was hot and irregular.

Eliza endured the sensation of every hair on her body standing on end.

“What do I have to do for you to let me go? Leopold. Rio.”

Repeating his name in a soft voice, Eliza even hummed a little tune, just in case.

The boy who had once become completely dazed whenever she sang a few lines because he loved her singing had grown into a man now.

But his essence hadn’t changed.

The strength slowly drained from his hands.

“Ugh…”

At last, Leopold released her hand and grabbed his own head.

After shaking his head several times, he frowned viciously and struck his own head with a loud thud.

“What are you doing…?”

“Keep going.”

“What?”

“Sing. Go on.”

Despite her confusion, Eliza naturally began singing the song she had known for so long.

Eliza liked singing.

When she was young, she would disguise herself, sneak out to inns, sing songs, and receive coins in return.

The boy who used to listen to her songs in that shabby place, wearing dirty clothes, had been her very first regular customer.

“Listening to you sing makes me feel at ease.”

After the day her childhood friend, who rarely gave compliments so readily, had said those words, Eliza had cherished her singing even more.

Listening to her voice smoothly move between melodies, Leopold took a step backward.

The flames that had been tearing through his mind gradually died down, and the murky haze receded.

As his vision cleared, the pale girl standing before him came sharply into focus.

It felt like finding a full moon after wandering through an endless polar night.

Leopold bit his tongue with his canine teeth.

Pain shot sharply through his mouth, and at last, his mind cleared.

“Eliza.”

Leopold looked at the back of her hand, which had reddened in the meantime.

Suppressing the terrible feeling that arose at the marks he had left behind, the man forced the corners of his mouth upward.

“I told you not to sing just anywhere.”

“You were the one who asked me to.”

“Yeah. Thanks for that.”

Several seconds passed in silence.

Eliza awkwardly rubbed her stinging hand.

“Then I’ll be going…”

“It would be better if you pretended you didn’t see what happened today.”

Eliza flinched.

She had seen far too much today.

Her pockets were heavy with the objects she had taken from the secret room.

And there was the servant who had fled earlier.

Not to mention the state Leopold had been in…

What exactly did he mean by pretending she hadn’t seen anything?

Eliza cautiously studied his expression, but she couldn’t read anything from Leopold’s mischievous smile.

So she answered,

“I didn’t see anything.”

“Haha! Good. That’s exactly the attitude.”

When Leopold reached out his hand, Eliza flinched for a moment.

She was embarrassed by her own reaction, and heat rose to her face.

Leopold’s smile briefly faded.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

He brushed at her shoulder as though there were something dirty on it.

He certainly used enough force for it to hurt.

Eliza wondered whether she should ask him what had just happened.

But Leopold, having finished what he wanted to do, stepped back two or three paces first.

“Don’t go to the east wing. And it would be better if you didn’t come here for a while.”

The east wing was where the secret room was located.

For a moment, Eliza wondered whether he had discovered that she had been there.

“I’ll decide that myself.”

“Listen to me. What if you…”

Leopold suddenly stopped speaking.

Then, with the smile gone from his face, he grabbed his throat.

“Ah, this… Ugh, cough!”

“What’s wrong with you?”

Leopold suddenly broke into a fit of coughing and covered his mouth.

Eliza instinctively tried to catch him as he staggered forward.

She would have, if not for the hand he waved at her as though telling her not to come closer.

“Where does it hurt? What happened all of a sudden?”

Perhaps he was trying to suppress his coughing.

Leopold gritted his teeth, his face turning bright red as though it might burst.

Even so, he continued shaking his head.

“If you’re hurt, say so. We need to call someone…”

“No.”

The man suddenly raised his head.

His eyes were bloodshot.

His jaw stood out from how tightly he was clenching his molars, making his expression look frightening.

“Don’t call anyone.”

“Why are you being so stubborn…”

“Eliza.”

The final voice was not Leopold’s.

At the kind and gentle call, goosebumps rose along Eliza’s back.

“Leopold, too. What are you two doing here?”

The Marchioness of Hagen, Vanessa, was slowly descending the stairs.