The atmosphere between them had shifted. Flint no longer seemed to feel uncomfortable because of her presence. In a way, Evangeline had made significant progress.
But now that she had reached this point, one question came to her mind. A question that she was struggling to answer.
'What do I do with him now?'
She had spent a significant amount of time outside. The sun was slowly dipping below, signaling that it was nearly evening. If she didn't return to the mansion soon, she was sure that someone would enter her room to check up on her.
She turned her gaze to Flint.
He was softly rubbing that black creature's neck as it purred. Evangeline pursed her lips.
She obviously couldn't just leave the boy to his own devices. After all, he was too young. But the only other option she had was to bring him with her to the mansion.
But to do that, she would need to reveal the fact that she snuck out.
'Ugh, it's so hard…'
Was there no other way for her besides sacrificing herself?
She turned to him once again, intending to find some solution by discussing the matter with him. But another question came to her mind, making her briefly forget what she was about to say.
"Hey, that creature in your hand, you call it Dragon, right? Why that name?"
A proud smile appeared on his face.
"I should just show you," he said, looking at the creature. "Dragon, roar!"
Dragon blinked a few times, as if not quite understanding what the boy was asking. Though moments later, it opened its mouth wide, showing its sharp teeth, and let out a low-pitched guttural sound similar to a cat's.
Looking satisfied, Flint turned to her.
"What do you think? Doesn't it sound like the roar of a mighty dragon?"
Evangeline, however, was dumbfounded.
'Roar of a mighty dragon? That?'
No, surely not, right? No matter how much she thought, it sounded like a cat's growl. Briefly, she considered that there might be some problems with her hearing, but shook away that thought soon after.
She remembered the description of the black dragon's roar from the last novel she had read in her previous life.
A roar that made the sky itself tremble, shook the earth, and struck terror into the hearts of all who heard it.
But the growl of the creature wouldn't even strike fear in a rat.
'Wait, I got it! He's mocking dragons.'
She observed his face, hoping to find some hint of humor. But his expression looked genuine. She couldn't spot even a hint of mockery.
"Well, um, yes, it sounds amazing."
In the end, all she could manage was that awkward reply.
"Haha, I know, I know—"
In the middle of his laugh, Flint suddenly froze. His eyes went wide, and color drained from his face.
'Huh? What's wrong with him?'
"Haah… Haah…"
His breathing grew rougher with each passing second as his trembling gaze remained focused in her direction.
She thought he was hallucinating once again.
But as she turned to look behind, she noticed a tall man wearing a worn-out robe standing a few meters away, looking at them. It was hard to make out his face due to the hood, but she noticed a single detail.
Two long scars running across his face.
"Uh–?"
Suddenly, Flint grabbed her wrist, hurriedly scooped up Dragon, and began running in the opposite direction as he continued muttering.
"N-no, no! I can't die. I-I, I have to live! If I die, then mother and father, T-they would've died for nothing."
A chill ran down her spine. Although she didn't understand the whole thing, Flint's reaction gave her some idea.
Still running, she turned to look behind. The robed man was following after them. Her heartbeat quickened. At this rate, the man was soon going to catch up to them.
Flint suddenly turned into a narrow alley, throwing the man off. But it didn't take long before she spotted him again.
Flint continued to move from one alleyway to another, pulling her along. She soon ran out of breath, and her legs felt heavy as they kept running.
'I… I can't anymore.'
But Flint still held her hand tightly, pulling her along.
Then, suddenly, his steps came to a halt, making her crash into his back. Her gaze had been fixed behind her, focused on the robed man, so when she turned her gaze forward, her heart almost stopped as she saw a wall. A stone wall firmly blocked their path.
It was a dead end.
Moments later, the robed man appeared from the entrance to the alleyway.
"Ah.. A-ah… no, no! NO!!"
Flint's panic intensified as he began pulling his hair. The man took a step, coming closer.
Step
Flint ran forward, slamming his small body against the wall as he began scratching at the wall's surface with his nails; his expression filled with desperation. The scratching tore open his skin, and his fingers began to bleed, creating bloody marks on the grey surface of the stone wall.
Step
Evangeline looked around in panic, trying to find a way out. No matter what, that seemed like the only correct course of action at this moment.
Just then, a cold wind blew, making the man's robe flutter, allowing her a brief look at his figure.
He wore a dark military uniform, painted deep crimson–covered in dried bloodstains. He was missing an arm; the other arm, meanwhile, rested on the hilt of a sword at his waist.
Suddenly, everything Flint had told her moments ago came to her mind. A cold feeling gripped her heart as she understood who the man was. And the fate awaiting them.
The icy feeling only grew as the man approached closer; it spread over her entire body, making her tremble. This feeling… she knew it well. It was the same feeling she had experienced in her previous life… during her last moments.
The feeling of death approaching.
"N-no, stay back! Stop!"
Much like Flint, her breathing also grew rougher as her body shook like a leaf caught in cold winds. She had to do something! Or she would die! Again!
Why was this man here? How did he find them? Evangeline didn't have a clue, nor did she have the leisure to guess.
'This second life, I-I can't lose it like this.'
But she couldn't think of anything she could do. She couldn't run away, nor could she fight back and hope to win, since she knew what had happened to Flint's father.
Step
The man was now right in front of them, just one step away.
Evangeline lost strength in her legs, falling back onto the ground.
"Stay back!! I! Said!—"
It felt like the moment their fates were decided, the moment of inevitability. No matter what they did, no matter what they could possibly do, it would change nothing.
Right at that moment, her vision suddenly shifted as her surroundings disappeared.
She stood in a deep, dark abyss, spanning everywhere, all that her eyes could see. There was no ground, no sky, no objects; there was only darkness.
High above her, a black sun hung in the dark, bound by millions of ethereal blue chains. It was so massive that her mind simply couldn't comprehend it in its entirety.
The massive black sun burned with a dark radiance so deep that it was easily noticeable even in the pitch-black abyss. The ethereal chains binding it rattled constantly, as if straining under immense pressure.
To Evangeline, the pitch-black abyss felt strangely familiar, yet she couldn't recall the source of that familiarity. And the black sun hanging above, it gave her a strange feeling. A feeling she couldn't quite understand.
The next moment, her consciousness was suddenly pulled into the black sun. She felt a change occur within her at the same time. A change that felt both profound and negligible.
She didn't know what had changed, but she was sure something indeed had.
Once again, her vision shifted. The dark abyss, the black sun bound in chains, everything disappeared. She once again saw the man, the alley, Flint. Everything she had just experienced felt as though it had all happened in a single moment.
⪡"STOP!!!"⪢
The moment those words left her mouth, an invisible ripple spread through her surroundings.
Everything… grew still.
The man froze mid-step, as if suddenly turned to stone. Behind her, Flint also froze in the middle of frantically scratching the wall. The blood from his fingers rolled down the grey surface.
The chaos suddenly turned to complete silence. Evangeline could only look blankly at this sudden change.
The next second, a few birds tumbled from the sky, right on the ground in front of her. They still looked alive, yet didn't move a muscle. Their wings still stretched wide, as though they had frozen mid-flight.
Everyone had simply stopped.
'W-what is all this?'
She instinctively backed away. The situation had turned too strange, too quickly. She felt another strange sensation, something she had never quite felt before.
The sensation of mana in her body draining at a rapid speed.
It didn't seem that time itself had stopped; the blood was still dripping from Flint's hands. Their chests were still rising and falling with the rhythmic movement of their breathing. They simply didn't move a muscle, remaining completely still.
On the wall, a group of insects that looked like ants were also frozen. By the corner of the road, she saw Dragon frozen as well, in a curled-up state.
It had all happened after she had shouted 'Stop' in desperation. It was as though every being that heard her shout took it as a command and obeyed it.
Goosebumps rose on her back as her mind came to that chilling realisation.