The wind was still. The sky was veiled in a thin layer of silvery-gray clouds.
After returning from the abandoned Browse manor, the group hadn't been discovered. They claimed to have gone exploring to collect rare plant samples for Violet's research. To the servants, that was perfectly normal.
But none of the three children felt it was.
A soul had escaped. Helmer — a vengeful spirit who had once haunted that mansion — vanished without a trace, leaving behind a strange sound at the end: a mocking laugh, and a name that lingered in the air… Kairin.
That name darkened Suael's expression. And Violet didn't miss it.
The child prodigy doctor was reviewing his notebook, but his eyes kept glancing toward Suael, who stood silently on the second-floor balcony of the Duke's estate.
After a pause, Violet turned to Calen:
— "Hey… I'm being serious. Why are you following her?"
Calen was polishing his wooden sword. He stopped, looked up, but didn't answer right away.
— "You know what she is, don't you?" Violet asked directly. "I don't think you're dumb enough not to notice."
— "I know," Calen replied.
— "Then why?"
The boy with pale golden hair looked straight into Violet's eyes. His answer came from a memory still etched in his heart.
**
It was a few days ago, right at the Vermell estate. After trailing Suael all afternoon, Calen had been caught by her in the greenhouse.
— "How long are you planning to follow me?" Suael asked, her hand resting on an empty birdcage.
— "Until I find out… what you really are."
Suael turned around. Her dark blue eyes, like the night sky, were as deep as a bottomless well.
— "And what will you do once you know?"
— "Then I'll ask another question. What… do you want from this world?"
Not "Where are you from?" or "What are you?" — but what she wanted.
Suael's gaze faltered slightly.
— "I want to fix a mistake."
— "And what about you?" she asked in return. "Why do you follow me? Just out of curiosity?"
— "No. I saw in your eyes… something I'm missing."
— "What is it?"
— "Coldness. But still trying to protect others."
Suael stepped closer. She reached out her hand.
— "Then let me test you. If you truly want to come with me — let me carve a mark into you."
Calen didn't hesitate. He placed his hand in hers.
A cold surge ran up his arm. On his wrist, a faint symbol appeared — like an ancient pattern long forgotten by time: The Soul Pact.
— "From now on… I'll know if you ever betray me."
— "And if I don't?"
— "Then when I fall… I'll reach for your hand."
Calen said nothing, but in his heart, a silent vow was made.
**
— "That's why," Calen concluded. "I'm not following her out of pity or obligation. I chose to."
Violet clenched her notebook tighter. She said nothing more.
An eight-year-old girl bearing the soul of a reaper. A young knight forming a pact with an unknown force. And herself — a medical genius, now being swept into something both shadowy and irresistible.
Suael stood in the hallway's corner, still gripping the railing. The soft twilight light painted her silhouette in a misty hue.
"Even if I'm no longer a Reaper…" she thought, "…this time, I won't let lives be stolen for nothing."
The sky shifted into deep indigo. Somewhere in the city, an unnatural death had just occurred. Another soul was being released.
Suael turned around, locking eyes with her two companions.
— "Let's go. The next soul… has begun to stir."