Until the foul black water receded, the sewer was empty.
Shiya coughed up several mouthfuls of dirty water, opened her eyes, and immediately sat up.
“Leonora?”
No response.
‘In the churning waves, I lost the young lady.’
Shiya’s heart ached.
She felt that she had just—
Cold, wet fabric clung to her body as a chill spread.
Then her foot hit something soft.
When the girl sneezed while getting out of bed, her foot slipped, and she kicked it.
A sudden yelp rang out.
As the back of her head hit the ground hard, two voices cried out in unison.
The next moment, Shiya, lying on the floor, found herself staring into a pair of pale red eyes.
Shiya instinctively hugged the owner of that maple-red hair close, nuzzled her, and whispered a complaint.
“Miss, why didn’t you say anything just now?”
With her face buried in that soft fullness, Leonora’s slightly childish voice sounded very annoyed.
Just as Shiya felt something was off, her chin was bumped by a small head.
“Let me go, you big cow idiot!”
She let out a soft hiss and released the tiny figure in her arms.
Leonora, who had been sleeping soundly and had inexplicably been stepped on, was very angry.
But when the young lady of the duke’s family wanted to shower the woman before her with sarcasm, the words caught in her throat.
“You’re older than me, so why are you crying?”
The tiny Leonora crouched down, elbows on her knees, palms cupping her cheeks.
Her lost gaze drifted to the white-haired woman’s delicate features and those misty, pale gold eyes.
Shiya couldn’t care less about the stinging pain from biting her tongue.
She quickly sat up and grabbed Leonora’s arm—so small and slender it didn’t seem real.
“Miss, how did you get so small? And don’t you remember me?”
The girl could read the strangeness and distance in Leonora’s eyes at that moment.
This unsettling turn of events left her mind almost completely blank.
Just as she thought.
Little Leonora shook off her hand and rubbed the reddened mark on her arm.
“How rude. Do you realize you’re offending a proper lady of the duke’s household?”
“I could have my father punish you at any time.”
Little Leonora only meant to scare the white-haired woman.
But when the woman’s eyes instantly turned bloodshot and stared straight at her, the tsundere, sharp-tongued young lady couldn’t help but shiver.
Shiya, who had always been gentle and charming in front of Leonora, now wore a grim expression.
She leaned down and pulled little Leonora into her arms again.
Then the two of them rolled under the bed together.
“What are you doing? Pervert!”
Little Leonora had clearly seen the dark, obsessive look on the white-haired woman earlier.
She kept slapping Shiya’s shoulders and struggling violently, hoping to break free again.
But this time, Shiya’s pale gold eyes were cold, devoid of any emotion.
She brought her lips close to little Leonora’s ear.
“Someone’s coming. Stay quiet.”
The moment her words fell, a heavy footstep sounded.
Along with it came the grating noise of a metal knife scraping across the floor.
The discomfort—almost enough to tear off one’s eardrums—made little Leonora instinctively want to cover her ears.
But the white-haired woman was faster.
Her soft, warm palms covered the girl’s ears.
For some reason, the tiny young lady felt her cheeks burn under Shiya’s touch.
Just as she lifted her lively pale red eyes to look, she saw that the woman was also raising an eyebrow, scrutinizing her.
Leonora’s mood sank a little.
She was certain she didn’t know this gentle woman with snow-white hair.
So…
Had she mistaken her for someone else?
Soon, the sound of a door being violently broken interrupted all the young lady’s stray thoughts.
From the next room came the clear sounds of a metal blade cutting into flesh and breaking bones—each noise made it hard to breathe, her heart thumping so hard it seemed ready to burst from her chest.
A man’s scream rose sharply, then fell.
Silence returned.
Little Leonora’s small body trembled uncontrollably.
She covered her mouth and nose, forcing herself not to sob.
Why had she come from the hospital’s VIP ward to a place like this—a living hell?
Where was her father? Where was everyone from the duke’s estate?
Seeing the frightened, helpless little girl in her arms, Shiya sighed inwardly.
She leaned in gently and used her cheek to wipe away the tears from the corners of Leonora’s eyes.
Shiya was now absolutely certain: this person was Leonora.
No matter what form the young lady took, even if she turned to ashes, Shiya would recognize her and hold her tight in her hands.
‘But miss… how could you forget me?’
Shiya greedily stored away the warmth of every touch of their skin against each other, deep in her heart.
Little by little, silently, she pushed little Leonora further under the bed.
At some point, a pair of men’s feet quietly appeared behind her.
A bright red boning knife dripped blood, leaving a winding trail on the floor, finally staining the girl’s once pure, flawless snow-white hair under the bed.
Shiya lowered her eyes.
If this man hadn’t first noisily and brutally killed someone in the other room like a butcher, then with his ability to sneak silently into the room, she and the young lady would probably be dead by now.
But it didn’t matter anymore.
Even if she were discovered and dragged out, as long as the young lady stayed hidden and safe, that was enough.
A chubby little hand grasped her slender, pale fingers.
Fingers interlaced, holding tightly, refusing to let go.
Shiya was momentarily dazed.
It felt as if time had rewinded to when she, the transmigrator, first met the young lady—fleeing from the hospital to the archives.
Back then, the young lady had pressed her staff against Shiya’s chest, just as stubborn and helpless as she was now.
The heavy footsteps gradually faded.
The man had not noticed the two girls hiding under the bed.
Soon, the sound of violent door-breaking echoed from the end of the corridor.
Then a woman’s shrill scream tore through the silence.
Little Leonora finally couldn’t hold it in anymore.
Tears and snot began to flow as she sobbed quietly.
Her doll-like delicate face actively buried itself in Shiya’s chest.
Shiya’s gentle brows lowered inch by inch.
Patiently, over and over, she used her fingertips to stroke through little Leonora’s maple-red hair, wiping away the mess on her face.
But soon, this ever-proud little phoenix wiped away her own tears, lifted her head, and raised her slender brows.
“You look so much like her… Are you Shiya’s mother?”
The girl’s phoenix eyes, now older, wandered a bit.
She turned her face away almost imperceptibly.
“That one… I mean, Shiya—why hasn’t she been coming to school? Is she sick?”