***
Filina’s hand cautiously opened the door to the practice room.
Henry was lying alone in the empty space.
A fine breeze blew from between the windows. She could hear his faint breathing through the still air.
She stood in front of the door, watching Henry with an expressionless face, then slowly moved her feet and stepped inside.
Henry’s usual neat silver hair was hanging sloppily to the floor. His lifeless face erupted with sublime energy. The sweat that soaked his forehead flowed over his white skin.
Filina thought of his pale face that she had seen when she had gone to interview Carmen.
A dry smile burst through her lips.
It was a pathetic appearance. It was the result of his body burning until it collapsed. Filina stared coldly at his face.
“…… What kind of confidence is that?”
Her dry voice echoed in the desolate space.
“You’re lying down so defenselessly in front of me right now.”
There was a strange killing intent in her words.
A cold smile flowed through Filina’s lips as she was staring at him.
“Are you asking me to kill you?”
The quiet dawn air intrigued her twisted mind.
Filina bent her knees slowly and sat down next to him. Her cold fingertips brushed Henry’s cheek. She felt a boiling heat.
“Henry.”
Filina whispered his name.
“I really hate you.”
Her small fingers drifted down the line of Henry’s face. As her fingers passed his lips, she could feel his hot breaths.
Filina spoke with a look of uncontrollable anger.
“Just looking at your face is enough to make me cringe.”
The palm of her hand covered Henry’s neck. His fingertips faintly flinched.
He was exhaling quietly, looking clueless. His black-shadowed eyelashes shook.
Filina chuckled quietly.
“What should I do? Everything has changed so much from before.”
Her face sank into a cold expression, a chilling atmosphere emanating from her low voice.
“Don’t involve innocent people in your vendetta.”
The memories of the past passed like a film.
“That’s exactly what you’ll be, Duke of Argeny.”
Filina thought of his face, which had stiffened at the words she had spat out.
It was getting harder to breathe.
“What’s wrong with Cecilia? Kidnapping is the worst. Since when have you been planning? Please, I’m begging you, please stop now.” (Filina)
“….”
“If you really kidnap Cecilia, I will never see you again.” (Filina)
This was the first life Filina had to start over after the possession.
The relief of being able to live again preceded the despair of not being able to return to her original world.
At least at that moment, she was looking at hope. She believed that one day she would be able to return to the world she lived in.
“You’ve been….” (Henry)
Henry’s voice caused a faint shiver to escape as he stared at Filina.
“You thought I was the same person as my father, didn’t you?” (Henry)
Henry’s face looked as desperate as someone who had just discovered his own shame.
It was Henry, who had the blood of the Argeny family but he hated that fact more than anyone else.
Filina approached him and tried to stop him from kidnapping Cecilia.
At first, Henry rejected her, but as time went on, he began to open up a little more, and in that way, the two became closer.
Everything seemed to be going as smoothly as she had thought it would.
However, it was a rash decision.
He had planned to kidnap Cecilia without Filina’s knowledge. She found out about it later, but only after all the preparations had already been made.
Henry swept Filina’s shoulders and said with a desperate look on his face.
“You knew perfectly well that I was the son of the Argeny family, didn’t you approach me knowing that from the beginning?” (Henry)
“Henry.”
“And now I’m the one who is terrible?” (Henry)
His gaze fell helplessly to the floor, and his fingers, which had begun to shake faintly, felt as if they were about to crumble.
“You didn’t even pretend to listen when I told you to stay away…………….. Now you’re leaving me …….?” (Henry)
When Henry’s cloudy eyes looked at her again, Filina knew instinctively.
She knew that this moment was a very dangerous one.
”Who can leave at will?” (Henry)
His irises glistened with cold air. At the same time, his fingers gradually moved to Filina’s neck.
“I’ll never let you go.” (Henry)
Filina tried to get away from him somehow, but to no avail.
“Stay with me ……………… for the rest of your life, Filina.” (Henry)
Darkly tarnished eyes tightened Filina’s breath.
The smell of death.
She was quite used to that moment.
She felt familiar when she faced death in her past life, the inevitable worst ending.
A cruel world that made her realize her weakness.
And a repetitive regression that came without fail.
As she looked at Henry lying on the floor defenselessly, her red iris flashed.
“…Why did you do that?”
Filina’s hand wrapped around his neck with increasing force. Henry’s face, which had only breathed lightly, began to twist little by little.
“Why did you do that to me?”
Filina’s wet voice was beginning to tremble faintly. Henry’s pale face grew thin, as if he was about to die.
“It’s not enough that you did that to me, how could you brutally kill Leon…….!”
In the desolate space, the voice that had been crying out sadly died out for a moment.
She asked in a cold voice.
“…In my third life, was it you who killed me?”
Filina screamed like a person who had lost her reason.
“Say it now! Tell me yourself!”
She was no longer in her right mind. If she was in this state now, she might actually kill Henry.
At that moment, clear tears fell from Henry’s closed eyes down his cheek.
“Oh, father…………” (Henry)
Her voice rang in the quiet training room.
“It’s my fault. Please……forgive me just once.” (Henry)
At that moment, Filina’s hands, which covered Henry’s neck, momentarily lost their strength.
A very damp air enveloped them. Henry’s face, distorted with pain, gradually regained its shape.
Tears flowed again from Henry’s tightly closed eyes as Filina stared blankly at his face without making a move.
“…Ha.”
Filina let out a small breath and sat down on the floor. The intense fire that had covered her entire body felt empty and subdued.
Henry’s erratic breathing confused her mind.
She looked blankly at Henry, then turned her head away and looked out the window. The black night sky that she could see through the glass was incredibly dark.
Rough breathing flowed out of Henry’s lips as he lay on the floor. Filina turned around and stared at him. He looked in even worse condition than when she first saw him.
She watched Henry quietly, then rose from her seat and turned away without hesitation. With tired steps, she slowly walked towards the door.
Only the sound of Filina leaving the training room resonated loudly in the quiet space.
***
“When the flag I hold goes down, ride fast to the target point.”
It was the day of the riding lesson.
Filina’s eyes lit up as she looked at the target point at the instructor’s voice.
Everyone was staring at Filina with nervous expressions on their faces.
After a while, the flag that the instructor was holding came down.
Filina pulled the horse’s reins vigorously. At the same time, she started to run forward with tremendous speed.
The students all looked at her back with surprised faces.
They didn’t think she’d run that fast.
The first riding lesson was a time to measure the new students’ level of ability.
The next step was to determine the training that would be tailored to their level.
The seniors were also waiting for their turn to be periodically timed. Filina, on the other hand, showed a high level of concentration and ran quickly ahead. She was good enough to be compared to the skilled runners.
When she came around the target point at once, the instructor measured the time.
Filina stopped slowly, pulling the reins. Her small palm brushed the horse’s mane.
“Alright. The next student should be ready as well.”
At the sound of the instructor’s voice, Filina dismounted from the horse skillfully.
The instructor didn’t specifically mention how long she had run.
It was for the reason that it might possibly put pressure on the others. As the measurement was to find out their normal abilities, their special emotional state would only get in the way.
Filina returned to her place, and the next new student also stepped forward. His expression looked as if he was unsure of himself.
There had been many accidents where the students had fallen off their horses because they had measured their time only by their own ability, without proper training.
On the other hand, all the seniors who had continued to take the class boasted of their great abilities. The new students cheered them on with nothing but exclamations.
After a few hours, the class ended and the students left.
At first, everyone looked nervous, but by the end, they looked more relaxed. Some people looked rather buoyant and were excited about taking the riding lesson.
Of course, the seniors were not so keen on the idea.
Their mood and the new students were also completely different.
Bessie spoke to Filina to note this phenomenon.
“Maybe that look is our future. At first they smile like idiots because they don’t know what’s going on, and then as time goes by they slowly lose their smiles.”
Filina stared at the seniors with a look of disbelief on her face. They were leaving with expressionless faces.
“We should go to the next class.”
Bessie moved her feet with a slight scowl. Filina followed slowly after her. The riding lesson took place at the entrance to the forest outside the performance hall.
They had to pass through the performance hall to get to the next class. There was already a class there as well, and a student with a different affiliation was walking by.
Filina casually averted her gaze and her eyes met with someone’s.
Hugh was waving at her with his red eyes bent.
Then the people around her glanced at her. Such attention was a great burden.
She turned her eyes quickly to the side, avoiding Hugh, and saw a familiar face.
The bloodless face and tightly closed lips did not show any emotions. It seemed the man didn’t have the energy to speak to the person beside him.
The decadent atmosphere that had always hung around him was gone.
Instead, his slightly sluggish and expressionless face brought an air of insidiousness.
Perhaps he felt Filina’s gaze on him, and he turned his head to where Filina was.