Several days had passed since the battle.
The Wolf Clan had slowly begun to recover. The wounded were being treated, weapons were being repaired, and the remaining wolves had started preparing for the journey Leo had promised them. The fear that had filled the camp after Rowan's arrival had faded somewhat, though no one had forgotten the power that had stood before them that day.
That night, the camp was quiet.
Away from the others, Rowan stood at the edge of the forest, looking up at the sky. The moon hung above the trees, surrounded by countless stars.
Leo noticed him while returning to the camp.
He stopped for a moment.
There was something almost strange about seeing Rowan like this. The man who had arrived on the battlefield with enough power to silence everyone now stood alone beneath the night sky, completely still.
Leo slowly approached him.
He stopped a few steps away before speaking.
"Was that all necessary?"
Rowan didn't turn around.
"What is?"
"The fight."
Leo stepped closer, keeping his eyes on Rowan.
"You didn't come here to fight them. Nor did you come here to capture them."
Rowan remained silent for a moment.
Then he asked calmly,
"And what made you think that?"
Leo glanced at him.
"You came alone."
Rowan finally turned his head slightly.
"You think I can't handle them alone?"
Leo shook his head.
"To kill them? Yes."
He paused before adding,
"But to capture them alone? No."
Rowan looked at him for a moment.
There was a faint amusement in his eyes.
"The confidence you have in your father's abilities is quite impressive."
Leo didn't respond to the remark.
Instead, he continued.
"The Beastmen wanted only their leader alive. Not everyone."
Rowan's expression changed slightly.
"That's what you think?"
"I know it."
Leo looked back toward the camp.
"If you had brought soldiers with you, I would've assumed you came here to capture Kieran. You would've needed people to control everyone else while taking him alive."
He looked at Rowan again.
"But you didn't bring anyone."
Rowan said nothing.
Leo continued, carefully choosing his words.
"That told me you weren't here for that."
"And what did it tell you?"
Leo hesitated briefly.
"I don't know you well enough to say for certain."
Rowan's eyes rested on him.
Leo continued, "But I know enough from what I've been told about you."
He looked toward the battlefield in the distance.
"You're not someone who would slaughter helpless children and ordinary people just because they happened to stand in your way."
For the first time, Rowan's expression softened.
Leo noticed it but didn't comment.
"That's why I specifically asked Adrian to call you alone."
Rowan's eyes narrowed slightly.
"So that was your reason?"
Leo nodded.
"If you had come with an army, I would've known what you intended the moment I saw you."
He paused.
"But you came alone."
A small silence settled between them.
Rowan looked at Leo for several seconds before a gentle smile appeared on his face.
"You've gotten smarter too, huh?"
Leo's expression remained calm.
"Maybe."
He looked up at the sky.
"Or maybe I just got lucky."
Rowan gave a quiet chuckle.
"You always did have a habit of thinking too much."
Leo glanced at him.
That was something he couldn't quite answer.
The original Leo might have known exactly what Rowan meant.
Ozero didn't.
He only knew Rowan through what the original Leo had told him and what he had heard from others.
So he simply looked away.
Rowan didn't seem to notice anything unusual.
After a moment, he turned his gaze back toward the sky.
Then he gently patted the empty space beside him.
"Come. Sit."
Leo looked at the spot beside Rowan.
He hesitated.
It wasn't because he was embarrassed.
It was because this wasn't really his father.
Not in the way Rowan believed.
The man sitting beside him was a stranger whose relationship with the original Leo had been inherited along with the body he now carried.
Still, refusing would only make things strange.
Leo slowly walked over and sat beside him.
Rowan continued looking at the stars.
Leo did the same.
Neither spoke for a while.
For Rowan, it was simply a father and son sharing a quiet moment together.
For Leo, it was something far more complicated.
He was sitting beside a man who believed he was his son, while knowing that the person Rowan remembered was no longer truly there.
And beneath the same sky, neither of them said a word.
Rowan remained beside him for a while, his eyes fixed on the night sky. The battlefield and everything that had happened earlier seemed distant now, buried beneath the quiet of the night.
Then, without looking back, Rowan spoke.
"You've changed, you know."
Leo turned slightly toward him.
"Have I?"
"Ever since you returned." Rowan's voice remained calm. "I noticed it the moment I saw you at the banquet. It had been a long time since I'd seen you, but the moment I looked at you, I knew something was different."
Leo remained silent, waiting for him to continue.
"You were a bright child, Leo. You were always playful. Always running around, getting into trouble, asking questions... You had so much life in you back then."
A faint smile appeared on Rowan's face as he remembered.
"But as you grew older, that slowly changed."
His smile faded.
"You became quieter. More distant. That brightness you once had... it began to disappear."
Leo listened carefully.
"Eventually, you weren't the same child I remembered anymore. Even when you stood in front of me, it sometimes felt like I was looking at someone else."
Rowan paused for a moment.
"Then you were banished."
Leo's expression remained still.
"And when you finally returned, I saw you again at the banquet."
Rowan glanced toward him.
"But this time, you were different from the person I had expected to see."
Leo looked at him.
"Different how?"
"Your eyes."
Rowan's gaze returned to the sky.
"When I last knew you, there was hardly anything left in them. No excitement, no curiosity... it was as though you'd lost whatever made you who you were."
He paused.
"But when I saw you at the banquet, I noticed something I hadn't seen in you for a long time."
Leo remained silent.
"A little light."
Rowan gave a faint smile.
"I don't know what happened after you came here, but somehow, you found something again."
Leo looked away for a moment.
"I suppose... maybe I just found something worth living for."
Rowan raised an eyebrow.
"That's quite an answer."
Leo gave a small shrug.
"Is it?"
"Perhaps."
Rowan looked toward the distant camp.
"Adrian came to me and told me everything that happened."
Leo glanced at him.
"You were surprised?"
"Of course I was." Rowan gave a quiet laugh. "A Royal Knight coming to me and telling me he'd abandoned his position and chosen to stand beside you wasn't something I expected."
He paused.
"But it wasn't only Adrian."
Leo looked at him more carefully.
"The wolves."
Rowan's gaze shifted toward the camp.
"Those people have carried a grudge against humans for generations. And yet, when I came here, I saw them standing between you and me."
Leo remained silent.
"They were willing to fight me for you."
Rowan turned back toward him.
"Even knowing what I am. Even knowing what humans have done to their people."
He shook his head slightly.
"That was what made me curious."
"About the wolves?"
"No."
Rowan looked directly at Leo.
"About you."
Leo stared at him.
"Adrian came to me. The wolves stood beside you. People who should have had no reason to trust you were willing to protect you."
A faint smile crossed Rowan's face.
"And somehow, you were at the center of all of it."
Leo lowered his gaze.
"So I started wondering what had happened to you."
Leo was quiet for a moment.
"I don't know if I can give you an answer."
"You don't have to."
Rowan looked back toward the stars.
"Whatever happened, I'm glad you've found something that brought that light back."
Rowan looked toward the distant camp, his expression calm.
"You only have one week, Leo."
Leo nodded.
"I know."
Rowan was silent for a moment before continuing.
"Even if you don't like it, I think leaving with me will be better for you."
Leo glanced at him.
"And for them."
Leo understood what he meant, but he didn't answer.
Rowan turned his gaze back toward the sky.
"You may not see it that way now, but staying here will only put all of you in a more difficult position."
Leo remained quiet.
"I know you want to protect them. But sometimes, leaving isn't about abandoning the people you care about."
Rowan paused.
"Sometimes, it's about making sure neither you nor they have to pay a higher price later."
Leo looked toward the camp.
Rowan gave a faint smile.
"So make the most of the week I gave you."