“Hee hee! Why? Because you know so much about me, of course.” Claudia playfully tilted her head and grinned like a mischievous child. “I need him to search the former royal palace of Sharavia in both the highest tower of the palace and the harem. Ask him to find out whether the statue of a goddess still remains.”
“I cannot say whether Lord Karlheinz will grant such a request,” Sieghart said hesitantly. “Since recovering from injuries that put him on the brink of death, he has been fervently gathering allies for war. He is determined to take you back from Leonhard.”
“All the more reason to give him a different purpose,” Claudia replied. “Tell him that Claudia is begging it of him.”
She did not know the relationship between Claudia and Karlheinz of this world, but she had a feeling that as long as their souls remained the same, it would not be much different.
“Thank you for saving me, Sieghart,” she said, running her hand through her hair as she stood up. “I’m returning to the castle. I imagine we’ll meet again before long.”
“For what reason?” His eyes flew open in shock. “Come with me. I promise that I will keep you safe.”
“That just won’t do. I have no intention of becoming your ally, you see. I only do what I wish to.” Claudia offered him a wicked smirk befitting a witch.
He watched her with a bewildered expression.
“And besides... You ought to leave this place. Immediately.”
The air of the quiet, sparsely furnished room suddenly began to ripple as a large distortion appeared.
“Claudia!” He gasped and reached out for her.
“Go,” she told him firmly. “And do what you must as well.”
A deafening crack tore through the chamber as a part of the wall exploded outward in a violent burst.
Sieghart had swiftly cast a barrier around Claudia just in the nick of time before he vanished from a teleportation spell.
“I’ve found you,” growled a low, familiar voice.
Claudia allowed herself a small smile.
“Oh, so you’ve come to get me. Good boy, Leonhard,” she said as if praising a small child.
Leonhard glared at her with those eyes so familiar to her.
The air crackled with tension, but Claudia ignored it and instead smoothed the strands of her hair that had been tousled by the blast.
“Your tracking skills impress me,” she said. She examined the portion of the wall that had been blown out. “A strong barrier had protected this room...not that one would think so now.”
Leonhard walked over to her and grabbed her by the chin, jerking her face back to him.
“You’ve met with Sieghart, haven’t you?”
Perhaps Leonhard had detected the faint traces of magic left behind by Sieghart’s teleportation spell.
“He caught the witch that you so carelessly dropped and made sure she didn’t break, that’s all,” she said with a laugh.
“What did he tell you? I want every detail.”
“Hee hee. That’s a private matter. Surely you don’t think me so boorish as to gossip.” Claudia gently touched the hand that held her by the chin. Although Leonhard had been rough, he hadn’t put enough strength into his gesture to harm her.
“If you want something from me, Leonhard, you must ask, not command,” she teased. “Beg sweetly enough, and perhaps I’ll consider it.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Sieghart intends to use you to reclaim Lemilsia. Don’t let yourself be swayed by convenient falsehoods.”
Oh? So that’s how he’s decided to approach this.
He wasn’t completely wrong. And she had no proof that Sieghart wasn’t lying to her.
After all, the Sieghart I know is my enemy. Still...I do not believe he was lying to me...
Leonhard released her chin. Just as she was beginning to step back, he suddenly drew her into his arms. His chest lightly pressed against her head.
He sighed. “All you need to do is listen to me...” he murmured in a voice that better resembled a sulking child than a king.
What had come over him?
His words still hold weight. It isn’t all that different from how he was speaking to me before.
And yet, the tone of his voice was different.
This isn’t an order... It’s a plea.
“That’s a strange thing to ask for,” Claudia said, her forehead still resting against his chest. “You want me to listen to you, yet you tell me nothing.”
“Even so... Who would’ve thought you would throw yourself from the window?”
Claudia looked up at him happily. “Were you frightened?”
He hesitated a moment before his face scrunched up into a sour expression completely appropriate for a nineteen-year-old.
“What?” he growled. He released her, but his voice still had an edge. “From now on, I’ll have to keep a closer eye on you. Next time you run from me, I’ll strip away your freedom and lock you in a cage.”
“How passionate. One might almost think you were asking me to remain at your side without so much as explaining why,” she teased. “Let me be perfectly clear. If it comes down to it, I’d sooner believe Sieghart—who I know is using me for the sake of reclaiming the throne—than someone who demands my loyalty without telling me why.”
It was, in truth, a petty barb to bring up Sieghart. Who could be trusted was of no real consequence to her. No matter what their ambitions were, no matter what secrets they hid, Claudia would do only what she wished.
“I hear you’ve been a bad boy, Leonhard. You’ve killed my father and brothers,” she challenged, and Leonhard frowned. “For now, I shall remain by your side. But keep my room warm, and do not let me be lonely.”
Leonhard clicked his tongue, an unthinkable sound coming from her sweet Noah.
He grabbed her hand and said, “We’re returning to the castle.”
This world is a dream, a deathlike slumber from which I have yet to wake. A world constructed from hypothesis and illusion, shaped by my magic.
As Leonhard’s warmth passed through her skin, Claudia slowly closed her eyes.
And yet, I can sense that someone else’s hand has interfered in this world’s creation.
Even so, she knew this world was built from the memories of the sleeping Claudia in her original world. Of that there could be no doubt.
If that is the case...
Claudia let her thoughts sink deeper into speculation, piecing together the truth.
Then the way to awaken me must exist only in that world.
Wrapped in the glow of Leonhard’s magic, Claudia’s body vanished without a sound.