“They said he’ll probably sleep soundly until tomorrow morning because of the sedative.”
Tia reassured the worried Lizelle.
Wilhazelle was sitting on the bed, carefully stroking Raphel’s cheek as he slept.
Though the tear stains had been wiped away, the memory of them lingered heavily in Lizelle’s heart.
“I wanted to tell him before I left…”
She wanted to tell him not to worry and that she would come see him again soon. She wanted to tell him they would be together again soon.
“I’ll make sure to inform the young master when he wakes up.”
Word had already spread throughout the estate that Raphel was now ‘Raphelion Halos’.
Even Tia had begun addressing him as ‘young master’.
“Could you really?”
“Of course. Don’t worry.”
She checked the sheets to make sure Rahel was tucked in tight.
His face, usually relaxed when asleep, was frowning, making him look distressed.
“Raphel, I’ll be back soon. I promise.”
Lizelle whispered softly, patting his small chest.
As if hearing her words in his sleep, Raphel’s expression gradually relaxed.
She kissed his soft cheek, then stood up.
Spotting the snow globe on a nearby shelf, she brought it over and placed it on the bedside table.
Though her steps were heavy with regret, she forced herself to walk to the door.
She turned back dozens of times to check if Raphel had woken.
He remained motionless.
“Don’t worry. I’ll take good care of him.”
“Thank you. Please do.”
With a heavy heart, Lizelle left the mansion and headed back to the Baron’s residence.
* * *
That night.
“Lizelle…”
Raphelion murmured in his sleep before slowly opening his eyes.
The sedative’s effects had worn off sooner than expected.
Raphel ended up waking up in the middle of the night under the bright moonlight, not the next day like everyone had been anticipating.
“Lizelle?”
The first thing Raphel did when he woke up was search for Lizelle.
This wasn’t the room they always shared—it was his favorite room, decorated with stars.
But he wasn’t happy at all.
Without Lizelle, the stars meant nothing.
“Lizelle…”
Raphel called out for Lizelle once more, clutching the star covered blanket.
Normally, she would answer with a gentle, ’what is it, Raphel?’
But now…
There was only terrifying silence, with no answer.
It was only then that Raphel realized what happened that morning was not a dream.
He thought he’d just had an extremely sad dream, but this was reality.
Lizelle really left him.
“Sniff… Sniff…”
Tears flowed from Raphel’s eyes.
His quiet sobs were heartbreaking. Lizelle would have rushed to embrace him, apologizing, if she had been there.
Shedding tears because of the terrible feeling of being alone and the sense of loss that Lizelle was not by his side, Raphel noticed a cat standing on all fours beyond the closed window.
“Meow!”
That cat was the cat he saw with Lizelle the other day.
The cat was lying in Lizelle’s arms and making a loud purring noise.
For a moment, the cat watched Raphel through the window and jumped down gracefully.
“Meow!”
Raphel jumped to his feet. He felt that if he followed the cat, it would lead him to Lizelle.
Raphel wiped away his tears, opened the door and ran down the hallway toward the garden.
This all happened while Tia, who had been constantly staying by Raphel’s side, was gone for a brief moment.
Meanwhile, the cat went deeper and deeper inside the dark garden.
It kept searching around for a place with few people and found itself in a thicket of grass.
“Nyaa.”
This secluded spot in the garden was rarely visited, except by the occasional knight who patrolled from time to time.
Hazen, who had been living as a knight under the duke for a while and was well aware of their schedules, used a paw to touch the ruby around his neck without hesitation.
In an instant, a soft light glowed from the ruby, and the cat covered in white fur, standing on all fours, soon transformed into a muscular man.
Hazen ran a hand through his disheveled silver hair and took a deep breath.
A few days ago, he transformed into the form of a cat and tried to monitor Raphelion and Wilhazelle but failed.
The moment that woman touched his fur, an inexplicable shiver traveled throughout his body.
Every time the woman stroked his fur with a gentle touch, he lost all his strength and became dazed.
Hazen was embarrassed by this feeling he had never experienced before.
He forgot his mission, lost his drive and even begged for more of her touch…
It was dangerous.
If he stayed with her, he might even forget who his master was and who he was truly loyal to.
He had no choice but to wander outside and watch them from a distance.
“It’s a shame.”
He summoned a communication magic tool to report.
He had to pass on what he’d discovered today.
[Hazen.]
A voice came from the magic tool floating in the air.
“Master.”
[What happened?]
“It’s him.”
[…]
Silence fell after Hazen made his report.
As a loyal subordinate, he waited for his master to give orders.
The deep silence continued for several minutes, and then the voice was heard again.
[What should we do?]
“I await your orders.”
[Should I have him brought to me alive, or would it be better to kill him right away?]
Hazen’s expression did not waver at all despite his master casually spouting cruel words.
He’d already heard similar remarks hundreds of times, and his master’s revenge had been planned for a long time.
“Kitty!”
Raphel’s voice suddenly rang out from very close by.
Hazen didn’t know how he followed him all the way there, but the sound of running footsteps was getting louder and louder.
“I’ll report back later.”
Hazen quickly severed the connection with his master, retrieved the magic tool, and returned to his cat form.
“Gotcha!”
At that moment, Raphel peeked through the tall grass finding Hazen.
He arrived just in time. Any sooner and he would have caught Hazen in his human form.
“Kitty. Are you going to Lizelle?”
Raphel approached the cat.
However, Hazen, or rather the cat, turned his head and walked away as if he was uninterested in Raphel.
“Wait for me Kitty… Take me to Lizelle.”
The cat pretended not to hear, flicked its high tail, and slowly walking away from Raphel.
Raphel walked faster after the cat, but it wasn’t enough.
There was no way a child could chase after an agile cat.
“Ah!”
He ended up tripping on a stone and falling.
Even with the lights on, the garden was still dark at night and he couldn’t see the stone.
“Kitty… Wait. Don’t leave me behind…”
Although his knees were bleeding, Raphel stood up bravely to chase after the cat again.
However, the cat was nowhere to be seen.
He didn’t know where it went, all that was visible was the dark grass and a few pieces of white hair that was left behind.
“Don’t go…”
Devastated, Raphelion fell down helplessly on the grass.
He wanted to see Lizelle, to follow the cat and find her. But now the cat was gone.
Just like Lizelle.
“Sniff…”
Tears welled up in his eyes.
The cat leaving without looking back reminded him of Lizelle as she left him today.
The warm embraces he received so abundantly from Lizelle, her gentle laughter, and her compassionate heart were no longer there for him to feel.
Moreover, it had only been half a day since they parted yet her image in his mind was already fading.
He wanted to recall Lizelle, to remember the face he loved so much, but it was as though an eraser was working in his mind, wiping away her tender smile.
Raphel instinctively knew that he would never see Lizelle again.
It was because it was the first time Lizelle had apologized while crying.
“Lizelle is gone. She left me behind and went away, sob…”
His short chin was trembling pitifully in sorrow.
Soon, the thick teardrops that he had been holding back began to drip from Raphel’s eyes as if a faucet had been turned on.
The cat, which was walking confidently, froze, pricking up its ears at the sound of tears.
“Waaah! Lizelle is gone. She left me behind… and now Kitty is leaving me too, sob…”
In the end, Raphel burst into sobs.
It was a sorrowful, heart-wrenching cry.
Unlike the tears he shed silently in his room, Raphel wailed openly and loudly.
A crying sound that breaks the hearts of even those who hear it.
“Meow.”
The cat that had disappeared slowly approached Raphel, meowing.
