It was a voice that was strangely friendly. At the sound of a voice that somehow seemed to contain crying, Ayla felt as if the hairs on her entire body stood on end.
Startle. She reflexively steered out of his touch, forgetting that she had to pretend to sleep. Her eyes then met Byron’s, who oddly seemed empty.
It was a disaster. Unable to overcome his physiological reluctance, he ended up doing something he shouldn’t have done.
“Oh, father? “When did you come?”
But it wasn’t that there was no way. Ayla looked naturally surprised as if she had just woken up.
But Byron seemed more surprised than she was, and he froze with a pair of golden eyes wide open.
It was as if she had just realized that she was his daughter and not Ophelia.
Looking into Ayla’s bright blue eyes, Byron’s expression turned disgusted.
What does Byron feel?
She resembles a woman who is obsessed. It feels like seeing Ayla, who was resembles the enemy he hates so much.
It was a feeling that Ayla could neither understand nor want to understand. There was only disgust coming from deep within.
However, it was something that should not have been revealed.
In order to live. To find out Byron’s exact intentions.
She smiled brightly.
“Are you here because you missed me, father?”
With such a happy expression, as if he couldn’t believe it.
He didn’t forget to stick his head out slightly as if asking for someone to quickly reach out and stroke his head.
But Byron did not extend his hand. He just turned his body around to show her his back.
“… … It’s late. I’m sorry for waking you up.” Go to sleep.”
Byron, who said this in a soulless voice, climbed the ladder again and walked out of the room.
He suddenly came to her in the middle of the night, tried to pat her head, and then left.
It had been a day or two since she had seen Byron as an unusual and incomprehensible person, but this was the first time she had seen him so unstable.
‘What the hell is going on?’
Ayla was left alone, calmed her startled heart, and organized her thoughts.
In this situation, where Byron might suddenly come to visit her again, it was impossible to move secretly at night for the time being.
She was really lucky that day and managed to avoid being caught leaving her room just in the nick of time. But there’s no guarantee that a fluke like today will happen again.
‘…….It would be better to stay safe for the time being.’
She had to wonder why Byron was suddenly acting strangely, but then when she got caught sneaking out at night. It is scary to even think about it.
First of all, explaining how she got out of this room was a problem. No matter how well she got through it, she could still be under surveillance at night.
In the worst case, she could be silenced if it were discovered that she knew that she was Rodrik’s daughter.
‘I wasn’t the type of person to visit at night like this originally… It will return to its original state over time. No, it must be so.’
Right now, something is going on and things are unstable, but she has no choice but to hold her breath. Believing that things will go back to how they were before once things stabilize.
Only then, she will be able to roam the night and gather information like before.
It was a pity that she had to wait for her enemy to feel better, but there was no other way.
‘…If you take one wrong step, you will end up a thousand miles away from a cliff.’
It’s still the season where the days are long, so the nights can’t be that long. Tonight seemed like it would be a long night.
* * *
Regardless of Ayla’s anxious mind, which seemed to be walking on a tightrope, time passed.
She thought that Byron’s condition would stabilize a bit as time passed, but things didn’t go as planned that quickly.
After that night, he never suddenly came to the attic in the middle of the night, but she still seemed somewhat anxious.
If things continued the way they were, it wouldn’t be surprising if he barged into her room at any moment during the night.
She wanted to think that what was bad for the enemy was good for her, but it was a problem that could not be ignored.
She should say she feels uneasy or have a bad feeling.
This never happened before Ayla returned to the past, so, of course, she was anxious.
She thought it might have happened because of her actions, but nothing stuck.
The only thing that changed when she came back was that she secretly followed Byron every night. If it was discovered, it would have been more reasonable to question her or keep an eye on her rather than lock herself in her room and feel anxious.
‘Then…. ..” ‘Is there anyone else besides me who has memories of the future?’
Since Byron and the people around him showed no such signs, it could be that Roderick or Ophelia had memories of the future.
But does that change anything? Byron has been running away like this, and her parents don’t know where she stayed during her childhood.
and…
‘I hope it’s not as bad as that.’
She hopes it’s not just that.
She can’t believe she coming back to the past with the memory of being murdered by her own daughter or the memory of my own daughter killing my husband. Because it was such a cruel thing.
Although she thought that one day she would like to apologize to her parents for the foolish mistake she made,
It was another matter for her parents to have experienced it firsthand and remember it vividly.
It was enough for her to keep that terrible memory of vomiting blood and feeling like she was going to die from bitterness at any moment.
“What are you thinking so hard about, young lady?” You shouldn’t have too many distracting thoughts while holding a sword.”
Ayla’s mind was full of various thoughts, realized that now was the training time when Cloud’s words woke her up.
As she repeated the simple swinging motion of the dagger following Cloud’s movements, she seemed to be lost in thought without realizing it.
“sorry.”
To be honest, it was true that repetitive training was boring.
It was like asking someone who can walk, run, and even do somersaults to start over from walking.
However, it was not good for her because she often found herself unable to concentrate in class and lost in other thoughts.
There was more than one eye watching her.
Of course, it was true that the atmosphere was chaotic because the leader, Byron, was like that, but that was not something to let down one’s guard about.
“… … Would you like to rest for a bit?”
It wasn’t strange for her to get scolded for thinking about useless things during training. Cloud asked again in a gentle voice.
“Is that okay?”
“Of course. “It would be better than swinging a sword while being caught up in distracting thoughts and getting hurt.”
Despite her puzzled question, Cloud still spoke kindly. She even saw a rare, awkward smile on his always blunt face.
‘…. …What. I think he’s become kinder to me these days.’
Cloud was a person who respected her more than others, but that only limited his attention to not ignoring her and never saying a kind word or smiling at her.
He suddenly became so kind.
The only thing that had changed recently was that Byron was spending more time alone and had stopped looking for Ayla.
‘Maybe that’s why.’
In fact, although it was frustrating not being able to track down Byron and find the cause of the problem, it was a good thing for Ayla that she had fewer conflicts with him.
It was such a struggle to smile brightly every time she faced that horrible person, but how nice it was that she didn’t have to do that.
However, when she thinks of her in the past, it is clear that she must have been nervous and anxious in this situation.
She wonders if Cloud is acting this unnaturally because he is worried about Aila.
‘People are softer than you think. Is it sympathy?’
In fact, it was not very pleasant to receive sympathy from the enemy. It may have been unpleasant in some ways, but Ayla decided to think differently.
If she made good use of this mediocre sympathy, she might be able to manipulate Cloud and extract information from him.
Well, considering his personality, no matter how much he sympathized with her, he would never have told her anything about Byron’s personal life.
‘It may be difficult, but you might still be able to get a hint.’
Let’s give it a try now.
She put an iron plate on her face and mentally prepared herself.
Although on the outside she was a twelve-year-old girl, on the inside she was eighteen, legally an adult.
Objectively, she wasn’t that old, but for Ayla, who thought of herself as an adult, the actions she was going to take required quite a bit of courage.
“Hey, over there. cloud…”
She held Cloud’s sleeve with a pitiful yet cute expression.
When she imagined what her actions would look like, she felt so disgusted with herself that she couldn’t bear it, but she tried to convince her that it would be okay since she was just a child on the outside.
“Why are you doing this, lady?”
Although she tried not to show it outwardly with her sudden behavior, Cloud seemed a little embarrassed.
In front of Byron, she was a girl who was always very charming and tried to be loved, but that was only in front of her ‘father’.
This was surprising because she rarely behaved like this toward others.
“… … It’s there. ” Have I done something wrong to my father?”
She asked, her eyelids fluttering pitifully as if she were about to shed tears at any moment.
