“Lady Linton.”

Calling her softly, Saul walked around his mahogany desk. His feet, which had been treading the boundary between the solid wooden floor and thick carpet, soon stepped fully onto the fabric.

As his heavy footsteps continued, Saul gazed at Catherine, who stood motionless. Their eyes remained locked. They simply looked at each other without hesitation or suspicion, much like during a peaceful moment of everyday life.

A shadow fell. It stretched from Saul’s feet as he stood beneath the flickering light overhead. It crept toward Catherine, climbing up the hem of her skirt. From the moment Saul’s shadow reached her feet, Catherine, blinking slightly, silently watched it gradually approach. When the approaching shadow covered the back of her clasped hands, she blinked again.

For a moment, her gaze lifted. Meeting Catherine’s deep green eyes looking at him, Saul asked with a respectful manner:

“Have you… lost your way?”

Then he faltered, surprised by his own question. He had meant to ask if she had made her choice, but had blurted out something meaningless instead. Since the question was unexpected even to himself, it must have been the same for Catherine. The eyes meeting his blinked. But that lasted only for an instant.

Catherine’s face, as she looked at Saul, still revealed nothing of her thoughts. But her gaze was clear—showing no hesitation or doubt, the gaze of someone who had made a decision. And in that gaze that left absolutely no room for uncertainty, Saul suddenly realized that his meaningless words had not been a mistake. He unconsciously stopped his retreating foot.

He suddenly felt afraid. He had a strong premonition that Catherine’s decision would be different from what he had expected. This is wrong, he thought. Belatedly, regret followed that he should never have drawn Catherine into this. 

His vision seemed to ripple. He tried to regain his composure after a moment of silence. Then he moved his stiffly set lips. There was still a chance to return to normal, pretending nothing had happened.

“It’s getting late…”

Saul hoped that Catherine would leave. If she would just turn around, pretending she had truly lost her way, this could end with nothing significant happening. But Catherine did not.

Warmth touched him. Saul stopped speaking. His gaze dropped. He saw the back of a hand gently resting on his own hand that gripped the doorknob. His bewildered gaze lingered on the curved knuckles, staring at the shape of the protruding bones and the shadows pooled between the joints below.

“Saul.”

But after that soft call followed, he couldn’t even do that. Saul swallowed quietly. That call awakened something in his mind, which felt stiff and dried up. Until now, Catherine had only called him “Count” or “Lord Cavendish,” never using Saul’s name.

What this meant was clear. Just hours ago, Saul had confessed everything to Catherine. He had no choice but to reveal almost everything he had kept hidden until now. Ironically, it wasn’t entirely for Catherine’s sake. 

It was partly due to a shred of conscience he didn’t know he still had, and partly due to unavoidable circumstances. Cowardly, indeed. For this reason, Saul believed that even if Catherine fled, he couldn’t blame her.

“May I come in?”

But Catherine didn’t flee.

Saul didn’t answer that calm, serene question. He merely looked at Catherine, not knowing what to do. And he deliberated. The impulse to pretend not to know and push her away surged within him. But he couldn’t actually do it.

Between the two, Catherine was the first to move. She pushed past him into the room, seemingly never expecting an answer from Saul. The hand that had covered his knuckles was now gripping his forearm, pushing him aside.

Saul yielded helplessly to the pressure. Despite being perfectly capable of stopping her if he wanted to.

Only after hearing the door close with a thud did Saul stop walking. Catherine also stopped. Standing before Saul, she was already inside his office.

“…Lady Linton.”

“Call me Catherine.”

Interrupting Saul’s words, Catherine spoke. Her tone showed no trace of agitation. For a moment, she watched various complicated emotions flicker across Saul’s face. She couldn’t clearly identify what they were. In truth, she thought knowing was unnecessary at this point.

“…Very well, Catherine.”

Saul whispered, wiping his face with his thin hand, seemingly trying to hide his momentarily exposed expression, or like someone extremely tired. 

His voice mixed with a faint breath, almost like a sigh. It sounded nearly resigned. At the same time, he seemed unable to understand Catherine. And Saul made little effort to hide this.

“Are you not afraid of me?”

The question shot out, somewhat accusatory.

“Or perhaps you find the story too absurd to believe?”

But only briefly—Saul momentarily realized he was in no position to reproach Catherine and closed his mouth. He should be begging for forgiveness. If anyone should reproach, it would be Catherine.

“How could I not believe?”

But again, Catherine did not. She simply looked at Saul with clear eyes and spoke calmly. No fear, no sign of wariness. Saul simply couldn’t understand Catherine’s composure.

“Had I not seen ‘it’ during the day, perhaps I might have.”

For a moment, silence settled between them. Saul looked at Catherine, and Catherine at Saul. In this moment, they both knew what the other was thinking about.

Catherine’s gaze tilted slightly. Saul’s lips tightened as he followed her unconsciously shifting gaze. Her eyes had settled near the bookshelf behind the sofa meant for receiving guests.

Saul belatedly realized he shouldn’t have let Catherine in here. Coincidentally, his office was where the incident that had forced him to confess everything to Catherine had occurred. Heavy silence flowed between them.

“If ‘it’ hadn’t done that to me, were you planning to say nothing?”

Suddenly, in a tone completely devoid of anger, Catherine asked. She sounded casual, like asking how many sugar cubes one wanted in tea. 

But Saul didn’t answer the question. He knew that whatever he said would be nothing more than a flimsy excuse. And… he didn’t know the answer himself.

Saul wasn’t certain. If he hadn’t lost himself, would he have been able to tell Catherine everything?

“I… might be more dangerous than you think.”

Since he couldn’t provide an answer to something uncertain, Saul merely said that. He did so despite knowing it was an undeniably blatant evasion.

“That wasn’t my question.”

Catherine pointed this out but didn’t press for an answer again. However, it didn’t seem that she had no expectations for his response.

“Even if you were dangerous, it would be ‘it,’ not you.”

Catherine’s voice sounded cold yet extremely rational. But Saul disagreed. He knew that what endangered Catherine wasn’t just the evil residing within him. Saul himself was equally dangerous to Catherine. Whether he could control himself or not, that would remain true.

“How can you be so certain?”

However, he was somewhat more dangerous when he couldn’t control himself. With each passing year, Saul occasionally felt the evil within him becoming more distinct. In recent years, it seemed to stir him at its whim. 

Saul couldn’t remember, but he occasionally lost himself before the evil. When he later regained his senses, Saul sometimes faced yet another sin he had clearly committed.

“If I lose myself again… might I not harm you too?”

Saul recalled his loyal friend with black fur, whom he himself had taken away. He also remembered nearly harming his young brother.

After such incidents, Saul had traded for a period of peace at the cost of a promise. The person standing before him now was that very promise. By drawing Catherine in, he had already kept it. 

His sunken blue eyes momentarily rested on Catherine. Having kept his promise, the deal was done. Saul should have realized this fact earlier. Perhaps this time, Catherine might become the target of Saul’s harm. There were other reasons too.

“I deceived you.”

And intended to use her. Saul turned his gaze away, unable to look at Catherine. In truth, Saul wasn’t much help to Catherine even when he could control himself. From the moment he bargained for Catherine’s death, it was predetermined.

Saul had confessed to Catherine. About the existence of the evil thing and his intention to kill it. 

Even about how he had planned to bargain for Catherine’s death to find a way to avoid remaining an entity like the evil thing. If things had proceeded according to plan, Saul had intended to nullify his deal with Catherine later.

Death was a fair opportunity given to all beings with souls. As long as that opportunity remained, life wasn’t completely severed. Saul wanted to exploit this point. 

He planned to use his given death to kill the evil thing and frustrate its desires, then gain another chance through Catherine’s remaining death. Although he knew that once breath was cut off, one could no longer live a complete life, that wasn’t important. Saul simply needed time.

However, for whatever reason, despite planning to nullify the deal later, the fact that he intended to use Catherine remained unchanged. Even if Catherine didn’t know the truth, it was clearly wrong.