Leopold carried Isabella as he strolled down the village path. The night breeze blew in from the fields, gently rustling her loose white hair.
Isabella snuggled in his arms, muttering something incoherently.
Leopold leaned down to listen closely. It sounded like, “...Silly Leo, you don't even know how to hold hands...”
“...Aren't we holding hands?” he muttered defensively, his voice dry.
Isabella closed her eyes and shook her head. “That... that was you pulling me along to run away... That doesn't count!”
“Then what counts as real hand-holding?” Leopold sighed helplessly, looking down at Isabella in his arms.
“When on a date... when taking a walk... you have to hold them slowly!”
“...Slowly, is it?” Leopold didn't know where Chief Toby had arranged for him to stay.
“That's right!” Isabella cried out excitedly.
Leopold helplessly clasped her flailing hands, only wishing she would quiet down for a bit.
With her hands caught in his, Isabella indeed quieted down for half a second, but then she squirmed and muttered, “...Not like this... like this...”
In her dazed state, she turned her wrists, sliding her fingers one by one between his until their fingers were fully intertwined. She hummed with satisfaction. “...Now this is holding hands!”
Leopold looked down at their intertwined fingers, temporarily at a loss for words.
The night breeze blew in from the fields, carrying the scent of freshly turned soil and the fragrance of the distant wheat fields.
It seemed... this wasn't so bad either.
Leopold couldn't help but chuckle softly. He wondered if Isabella would blush with embarrassment tomorrow when she woke up, assuming she even remembered what she had done.
“...Leo,” Isabella murmured, seemingly in a final struggle before drifting off.
“Hmm?”
“You can't... like anyone else.”
“Of course, I won't,” Leopold quickly cleared his throat. “Then... Bella.”
“Hmm?” Isabella looked up, her gaze wandering, yet firmly locked onto him.
“Will you ever like anyone else?”
Isabella leaned against his shoulder, her eyes half-closed and her eyelashes fluttering slightly, as if she were struggling to process the meaning of the question.
Only after a long while did she finally mumble:
“...Silly Leo... asking such a question.”
“How is it silly?”
“How... how could I like anyone else...” She buried her face deeper into his chest, her voice growing fainter. “...I liked you... so early on... and you didn't even know...”
Leopold's footsteps froze. As the night breeze blew in from the fields, he stood in the middle of the village path, holding the drunk, white-haired girl in his arms.
He looked down at her. Her eyes were closed and her breathing was steady, as if she had already fallen asleep.
“...Bella?”
There was no response. It seemed she had indeed fallen asleep.
“...Me too, Bella,” Leopold said softly.
“Mr. Leopold!” Chief Toby ran over, panting, with a group of people in tow. They had searched for a long time before learning Leopold's whereabouts from Bill.
In the darkness, Toby jogged over carrying an oil lamp, followed by several villagers holding torches. Seeing Leopold holding Isabella in his arms, his pace slowed.
“Mr. Leopold! I've finally found you. I had someone prepare two rooms in the west of the village—oh, wait, one room! What do you think...”
“Huh? Chief, it was clearly two rooms, two! I cleaned two rooms!” The older woman beside him immediately became unhappy, feeling that the chief was trying to cheat her out of the pay for cleaning two rooms.
“I cleaned them with my own hands, and I even changed the sheets in the eastern one! Chief, you can't go back on your word!”
Toby was somewhat overwhelmed by her shouting and waved his hands repeatedly. “Alright, alright, two rooms, two rooms! Your pay won't be shorted!”
He turned back to Leopold, his expression immediately returning to a polite, proper look. “Mr. Leopold, there is an empty room in the west of the village, and the bed has been prepared. What do you think...”
Leopold looked down at Isabella, who was fast asleep in his arms, then looked up at Toby and the older woman still muttering about her wages, and smiled helplessly.
“One is enough. She had some alcohol, so I'll watch over her.”
Toby nodded understandingly and stepped aside, gesturing toward the west of the village.
“Please follow me. The room isn't big, but it's clean enough.”
“What do you mean ‘clean enough’! Chief, that's really uncalled for. It's bad enough that I did all the work myself, and now you're undermining my efforts...”
The older woman's voice was exceptionally loud in the night. Toby bowed repeatedly to placate her. “Alright, alright, it's clean, very clean! You worked hard, and I'll make sure your wages are paid first thing tomorrow morning!”
Toby sighed helplessly. “This way, Mr. Leopold.”
The room wasn't large, but it was indeed clean and tidy, just as the older woman had said.
On the windowsill stood an oil lamp and a coarse earthenware vase containing a few wildflowers.
Leopold stood at the door, his gaze lingering on the wildflowers for a moment.
Chief Toby took in the scene, which was entirely within his expectations.
Toby stroked his beard, thinking to himself with self-satisfaction:
Offering two rooms showed his thoughtfulness while also testing the depth of the relationship between these two guests. If they stayed in separate rooms, they were just ordinary companions; if they only wanted one... then his favor was delivered to the perfect place.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Leopold's gaze pause on the wildflowers, making him even more confident. This Mr. Leopold did not seem to be a crude man.
“Then you two rest first,” Toby tactfully backed toward the door. “I'll have someone bring over hot porridge tomorrow morning. As for Barrow, I'll handle him for you.”
“Alright, thank you, Chief.”
Leopold watched Toby's figure disappear into the night before gently closing the door.
He turned around, carried Isabella to the bed, and bent down to lay her on the mattress. Her white hair spilled across the pillow, her cheeks still flushed with a post-drinking crimson.
“Your alcohol tolerance is really poor. I'll have to remind you to drink less in the future...”
He leaned against the window frame, looking at the dark silhouette of the distant fields, mentally going over what he needed to do tomorrow.
Barrow's attitude, whether Blake could arrive in time, how the other villages would react—these thoughts surfaced in his mind one after another, and he pushed them down one by one.
In short, that Lord of the Black Tide was definitely a major threat!
The other party was definitely going to summon something dangerous, and he didn't know if he had the means to defeat them completely.
Leopold turned back. In the current situation, it was best to strike first and not let the other party's plan proceed any further.
Clearly, the other party didn't know of Oliver's existence. With such a Six-Star Mage Saint around, Leopold couldn't help but feel a bit more confident.
Leopold stole a glance at Isabella on the bed, silently resolving to protect her.
The morning sunlight seeped through the cracks in the window, falling on Isabella's eyelashes. She frowned and slowly opened her eyes.
Leopold was already awake, sitting on a wooden stool by the window with a cup of water in his hand.
“Awake?”
Isabella propped herself up against the edge of the bed, the quilt sliding down from her shoulders. She looked down at herself, still wearing last night's clothes, then looked up at Leopold and blinked.
“...How did I get back?”
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