'Before you took Julien's body? Did we meet before?'

The words Evelyn once told me echoed loudly within my mind.

I didn't understand back then, nor did I want to understand. I thought it was some meaningless nonsense from her.

But.... all of a sudden, I started to understand.

It couldn't be...

"What did you do to him!?"

Evelyn's voice snapped me out of it.

Her voice was a little different than her current one, but it wasn't that far off as she rushed towards Leon who was lying on the ground passed out.

Evelyn's expression was panicked as she pressed her fingers to his neck to make sure he was still alive. It was only when she felt something that she let out a sigh of relief.

".... He's still breathing."

Wasn't a few moments ago...

But I kept my mouth shut as I stared at Evelyn.

I didn't really know what to do at the moment. Leave perhaps...? No, since I was still here, it meant that the third leaf's power were still in effect.

There was still something that I needed to do.

The blood definitely worked, but there could perhaps be complications.

"This...!"

Evelyn's eyes widened as she took notice of the bear that I killed. An idea formed in her mind as she alternated her gaze between the bear, Leon, and me.

Her eyes shook for a brief moment before her head snapped back in my direction.

"What did you do to him? Did you use him as a shield so that you could escape?"

Evelyn moved up to me, her brows furrowing in anger.

She looked to have already hit her teens, but she was still too small for me to take seriously. ".... Why are you doing this? Do you hate the idea that he's better than you with the sword that much? What harm did he ever do to you? All he did was fulfill his job while all you've done is treat him like garbage."

Evelyn's tone was low, and I could feel the disgust and hatred in her voice.

I could only stand in silence while taking in her words.

'Should I just act like the Julien that I saw...?'

That would prevent any misunderstandings from happening.

I was just about to do that when...

"Ukh...!"

A certain groan shook me out of my thoughts. Leon, who had been lying on the ground the entire time, finally showed signs of waking up.

"Leon!"

Evelyn finally took her attention away from me and rushed towards him.

Gradually, Leon's eyes opened to reveal his usual gray eyes.

"W-what's going on?"

His voice was groggy, and his face winced in pain.

"Uekh...!"

Suddenly, his face paled significantly, startling Evelyn.

'He's probably recalling the pain from when he got his head cut off.'

Anyone would be traumatized by something like that.

Perhaps, the reason why I was still here was to make sure that he didn't suffer any lasting effects.

"Leon, hey Leon! Are you alright? Leon...!"

Evelyn held Leon by the shoulders and shook him. She was clearly worried for him, but she was doing more harm than good.

I pressed my hand against her shoulder.

"Stop."

"What...!?"

Evelyn's face froze the moment I touched her but I didn't care and pushed her away before lowering my body to meet Leon's gaze.

His dazed eyes cleared up the moment my face came into view, and shortly after, his pupils shrunk as he hurriedly tried to move back.

"Stop."

But I didn't let him, keeping my hand pressed against his shoulder.

"Stay."

"H-ah, you...!?"

I could see the terror and fear in his gaze as he hastily grabbed his neck.

'....This is bad.'

His breathing was rough, and his entire body was shaking. He was clearly extremely afraid of me, and I was afraid this would have long-lasting impacts on him.

"What are you doing!? Let him go!"

Evelyn noticed Leon's strange behavior and tried to pull me back but how could she even do

that?

The difference in our strength was far too big.

"Haa...! Haa...! Haaa!"

Leon's breathing was becoming rougher and rougher and I could tell he was close to having a

panic attack.

I was losing control of the situation.

"Let go!"

My head throbbed.

'How should I handle this...?'

I was lost at first, but only for a brief moment.

Closing my eyes, an image appeared inside of my mind and when I opened my eyes again, I stared straight into Leon's eyes as my voice layered.

"Calm down."

11

Instantly, be it Leon, and Evelyn, they both stopped speaking. Their expressions mellowed

out as the fear and anger that they felt were suppressed by the joy that I managed to bring up

with my Emotive Magic.

'Yeah, I guess this works.'

I sighed in relief when I saw this.

It gave me a few more seconds to think about the situation.

Thump!

The first thing I did was lightly tap Evelyn's head, knocking her out.

She already saw too much.

'.... The current Leon is too young to handle a trauma like this. He'll most likely suffer if I let him go like

this.'

While I had managed to calm him down, that was far from enough.

It only helped relieve the symptoms.

If I were to let him go like this, I was afraid that something bad might happen. He was far too

young to deal with a situation such as this.

.... And since I was the one who had revived him, I knew that I also had to be responsible for

helping him return to normal.

If that had not been the case, the effects of the third leaf would've already vanished by now.

'But how exactly am I going to help him...?'

I needed to overwrite his trauma with a new memory.

Combining it with my Emotive Magic, I knew I'd be able to help him out.

But how exactly could I overwrite that memory?

"Umm."

I racked my brain for a good while before turning my attention toward the ring on my finger.

Perhaps...

***

The pain came fast.

It sliced right through his neck.

He remembered seeing the world spin, the ground staining red as his consciousness started to

blur.

It all happened fast, but Leon understood what had happened back then.

He...

He had died.

...And Julien had killed him of all people.

How could he?

All Leon felt was resentment.

How could Julien do this to him? He had been so good to him. He had done everything that he

had asked him to do and trained hard so that he could repay his kindness.

And yet...

Leon wanted to scream, but he couldn't.

The darkness overtook his vision, and his life ended.

Or so he thought. Opening his eyes again, Leon saw a pair of hazel eyes stare back at him. They were the same

pair of eyes that had taken his head away, and he immediately started to panic.

'No, leave me alone!?'

He screamed in his mind, his breathing growing rougher and his mind growing blank.

"H-ah, you...!?"

Leon held his neck, afraid that it'd roll at any second.

It didn't happen, but the scene from before felt so vivid that it felt as though it happened.

He felt trapped, lost in the situation as tears started to well up in his eyes and his entire body

started to shake.

'No, no... Not again...!'

He wanted to scream, but the words simply refused to leave his mouth.

Leon was about to lose it.

"Calm down."

...Until a certain voice reached his ears.

Leon suddenly felt his mind grow numb. His thoughts paused, and the fear that he previously

felt was pushed away.

He felt something rise from within his chest, but he couldn't understand what it was.

It was trying to overwrite his pain and fear.

'What is happening...?'

The world before him felt hazy.

Leon didn't understand what was happening.

All he could feel was this forced emotion that was building up in his chest. He forced it down

at any cost.

'Go away...!'

And just when he thought he was doing a good job at it, a certain voice echoed beside him.

It was familiar, and it felt warm.

"Why don't skeletons fight each other?"

Uh...?

Leon blinked his eyes, his thoughts straying away from the situation and onto the question.

The question was so random that he momentarily let his guard down.

Why? Why did they fight each other?

"They don't have the guts."

"?"

The sensation pulling at his chest suddenly grew.

"What's orange and sounds like a parrot?"

The voice echoed again.

Leon paused. Orange and sounds like a parrot...? Do such things exist?

Unkwoingly, he started to become invested in this as a weird sensation crept up from within

his chest.

"A carrot."

"...!?"

Leon held onto his chest, the feeling boiling in his chest rising further.

He suddenly forgot about what had happened before.

His mind was filled with other thoughts, like...

'Help...! Make this stop!'

"Why don't eggs tell jokes?"

No, make it stop...

Leon could feel his body shaking at this point. The feeling that was rising from deep within

him was starting to spill out of his body, and his mind started to clear up.

The memories from before started to become blurry in his mind.

"They'd crack each other up."

"Ah!"

Leon held clenched his shirt tightly, his entire body shaking.

"What's brown and sticky?"

"No, stop..."

Leon bit his lips.

He was on the verge of breaking. This had to stop.

He couldn't-

"A stick."

"Pfttt...!"

A strange sound escaped Leon's lips as the strange feeling welling up in his chest exploded.

"Kahk!"

Regardless of his attempts at trying to stop it, he couldn't. It just spilled out as his entire body

shook.

"Kahahkah...!"

Tears welled up in his eyes as he crouched down.

"A... stick? Khuek...!"

He laughed.

....Leon suddenly felt his worries vanish for just the briefest of moments.

And he clung onto that sensation.

He needed to get rid of all the bottled-up feelings inside, and he did so in the form of a laugh.

He didn't know what was happening, but he suddenly felt liberated.

At this very moment, memories of what had happened resurfaced in his mind, but he no

longer felt as scared.

.... He was still alive, and that was all that mattered.

"Keuk!"

Thump.

His laughter was interrupted by a certain sound.

As Leon turned around, his eyes settled on a book that appeared behind him. Blinking his eyes

a couple of times, he read the cover of the book:

"Fun jokes that will make you laugh all day."

***

Absorbed in the book, I didn't notice the subtle shift around me until it was too late. The

world seemed to ripple, pulling me from my thoughts.

Startled, I dropped the book, my heart racing as I tried to make sense of what just happened.

By the time I realized what was happening, Leon appeared in front of me once more.

This time...

It was the Leon that I was used to.

'I'm back...?'

I blinked my eyes to make sure I wasn't seeing things. However, seeing Leon's grown back

turned against me as he was lost in his own thoughts, I knew that I was back.

I felt relieved as I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

'.... Did I do it?'

The Leon from back then...

He looked broken.

Lost.

...I was afraid to see that he might crumble due to the trauma.

Hesitant, I turned to check on the present Leon, bracing myself for what I might see. But to

my relief, he remained unchanged, steady as ever. A quiet sigh escaped me, the tension easing

from my chest.

He was just staring at the area before him with a dazed look.

Nothing changed...

"Thank god.'

I sighed in relief as I finally let go of Leon's shoulder.

Then, as Leon was still focused elsewhere, I opened my mouth.

"Hey Leon..."

Leon's body shook for a brief moment, his head turning to face my direction.

"Why don't oysters donate to charity?"

He froze mid-way as he suddenly shuddered.

His head shook repeatedly, but it was too late.

'I'm sorry, but this has to be done.' "No, no-"

"Because they're shellfish."

"Pfttt-!"