Night had already settled over the city, its dim lantern light stretching long shadows across the streets as most people retreated into inns for the night.

Lily and Miho had done the same. Their lodging, however, was an expensive one—two beds, polished wooden floors, and a private bathroom attached. The cost didn't trouble Lily in the slightest. She had the funds.

At the moment, Lily sat alone at the small table near the window, a painting resting carefully in her hands. She had taken it out of the black box she'd managed to retrieve when the house collapsed during the attack. The box sat open beside her, its interior lined with worn velvet, as if it had been protecting something precious for years.

The painting looked almost lifelike, the brushwork meticulous enough that it felt as though the figures might breathe if she stared long enough. It depicted her late mother and father, standing close together, with Leo and herself beside them. They were children back then—Leo twelve, Lily fourteen—faces softer and smiles bright.

It was from the day her parents had adopted Leo into their family.

Leo had originally lived in an orphanage. When her father learned that the boy was the son of a distant relative—and coincidentally the very same person who had once helped him immensely in securing his position as a clerk at the Beast Hall—he hadn't hesitated. He brought Leo home.

When questioned, Leo revealed that he had been living in the orphanage since he was five. He remembered little of what had come before, his past a blur swallowed by time.

Her father concluded that they must have died in the beast attack that happened around the same time.

Hearing that, Lily—only fourteen at the time—had been filled with a quiet, aching sadness. She empathized with him instantly. Without hesitation, she decided to give him all the love she could, so that he might experience what he had been deprived of.

From that day onward, she took care of him. And Leo responded with awkward kindness.

She hadn't truly understood what it meant to lose her parents until they actually died. By then, she was nineteen. The grief had crushed her in ways she hadn't expected, and in those moments, she couldn't help but imagine what Leo must have felt when he'd lost everything at five. That realization gave her the resolve to stand on her own feet and search for work.

But luck wasn't on her side.

Zolton began tailing her soon after, a shadow that refused to leave. Thankfully, she encountered the kind pair—James and Sera—on the very same day. They had saved her from what could have easily become the worst outcome.

It was also around that time that she noticed Leo beginning to drift away.

Is he becoming conscious of our growing bodies? Lily had wondered back then.

She convinced herself it was natural. She thought it must have been due to her parents dying and wanted her to give him some space, so she left him as it is.

But then she noticed something else.

Leo had begun interacting more frequently with the neighbouring girls. She even caught glimpses of a bright smile on his face whenever he spoke with them—one she had never seen directed at her. Never when they were alone. It was as if she held no such appeal for him.

Something ugly and unfamiliar began to grow inside her.

She started deterring other girls—by any means necessary. Subtle threats. Cornering them and "explaining" things in hushed, menacing tones. Once, she even beat the shit out of a girl who had quite literally thrown herself at Leo, nearly stealing him away.

When she finally managed to save enough money, Lily made her decision. She would attend the awakening ceremony and try her luck.

When it was announced that she possessed a Rare soul, joy surged through her. Rare souls were exceedingly rare. More often than not, they guaranteed beast-taming talent.

"Yes! I can finally be strong and keep Leo all to myself!" she had exclaimed internally.

She hadn't realized it then, but after her parents' deaths, Leo had become her only remaining family. That attachment twisted quietly into something deeper and possisive. She wanted Leo for herself—even if it meant using force. And since Leo didn't responded to her feelings, she had no choice but to become strong.

But her dream shattered when she failed to awaken beast-taming talent.

She fell into a gloomy haze for months, barely noticing Leo drifting even farther away. It was then that she decided to risk her life and become a hunter. With a Rare soul already giving her a head start, it shouldn't have been too difficult.

She trained relentlessly. Day after day. She gathered money to buy a decent sword. During that time, she noticed Leo changing as well—becoming more of a deadbeat. Once, he had always been desperate for work, scraping together every copper he could. But as Lily began working more, he grew lax. She even suspected he might be slipping into addiction.

And yet… she was happy.

He was becoming dependent on her.

Just wait, Leo. A time will come when you'll be all mine.

Somewhere along the way, her attachment had already crossed the line into obsession.

Life continued as usual. Lily overworked herself to gather funds, while Leo worked occasionally. She stayed constantly alert, waiting for the moment he'd land in trouble. Her training had made her strong enough to deal with small squabbles—and, of course, to keep other girls away from him.

She also noticed Leo growing increasingly frustrated as things kept going wrong for him, though he remained silent, unaware of the unseen hands shaping his misfortune.

Eventually, in a fit of desperation, Leo managed to scrape together enough money for his own awakening ceremony—through labor, and sometimes by asking her directly. She couldn't refuse him when he pleaded like that.

Then came that fateful night.

Leo returned home late, his body battered and bruised. Rage surged within her at whoever had done this to him, but she forced it down and tended to Leo first.

That night, she took a bold step.

She believed it was her chance to grow close to him again, to reclaim what she felt was slipping away. But it was as if something inside Leo had been rebooted. He behaved differently toward her. Normally, he brushed off her help without hesitation—but this time, he allowed it.

He only resisted when she reached to strip him to bathe, which was understandable.

Of course, she was merely testing the new boundaries. Even she had felt a flicker of nervousness after getting that close for the first time in all those years.

But once crossed, boundaries were meant to be pushed further.

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