Chapter 553 - Wash (1/2)

Leonel stood in silence.

In the skies, the lines of red-black grew thicker, the leaches become less and less illusory.

Leonel's gaze shifted down from the skies, landing on Aina who still seemed to be immobile. Though it now seemed to be in part due to struggling against the Puppet Master's growing control, a large majority of it seemed to be fear.

Leonel found it hard to believe that this was his Aina. Fear was never an emotion he had seen her display before. At the very least, not for the sake of an enemy.

It could be said that the first time Leonel saw Aina's façade crack was that day in the bathhouse. He could still remember the path every tears that fell down her cheeks took. He remembered the exact hue of her reddened eyes, the way her wet hair had stuck to her face, the way she trembled through each and every one of her clumsy actions.

The emotions she experienced that day were all seared into his mind.

But, that was that and this was this.

The Aina he knew charged into war with her ax brandished and her blade bloodied. She had no fear, none of the shyness she usually displayed, and the valiant nature of a Valkyrie.

But Aina, his Aina, stood here shaking simply due to a voice.

Leonel remembered back to the time he asked Aina what happened that day. She reeled back, trying to pretend as though everything was fine. Yet he, instead of trying to understand where she was coming from, pulled back instead.

He hadn't understood the fear she was feeling, the anxiety or the trepidation. He didn't grasp the fact that just recalling such memories were this difficult for her already, let alone having to relay them to someone else.

Leonel took a step forward and caressed Aina's cheek. She still seemed to be lost in her own world, clenching her fists and staring down at the ground hard as though to push the emotions she was feeling away. She didn't want to experience such a reaction, she didn't want this Puppet Master to have such control over her, yet she couldn't stop her own visceral reaction.

Even when Leonel touched her cheek, she didn't react until several moments later. It was as though the warmth of his palm couldn't reach her even through skin to skin contact.

When Aina finally realized that Leonel was standing right before her, she looked up weakly, her gaze tinted with a slight red.

Leonel could see the rage in them. It wasn't rage pointed toward the Puppet Master or even him. It was rage she pointed toward herself for being so weak, for allowing such emotions to have such a hold on her.

”I… I can't move again…” Aina said softly.

”It doesn't matter.” Leonel responded, his hand gently pushing back Aina's hair. ”I'll kill him.”

The words were simple. They hung in the air like a spring breeze, riding the wind. There was no rage in Leonel's voice, there was only gentleness.

Leonel had always hated to kill. But for Aina, he could speak such words as though they were nothing.

Aina used what control of her body she did have to lean her head onto Leonel's palm. Her eyes closed and her breathing steadied.