CH 30

Forgetting the words we exchanged just now, the two of us ran desperately. The bizarre looking, blood-soaked ghost followed us stubbornly with a strange scream. I thought I would die if I got caught. Screaming at each other, we ran hard but numerous mirrors in front of us blocked our way.

Leto initially tried to knock on the mirror, but there was no more path ahead. Naturally, Leto and I hugged each other and closed our eyes tightly. Nothing happened. As the surrounding became quiet again, I carefully opened my eyes and only saw darkness.

“Leah.”

Leto still had his eyes closed. When I tapped Leto, he collapsed as if his legs were numb. Even then, he never released the hand that held me. Leto, who hasn’t opened his eyes yet, seemed really afraid of this situation.

“Leah, it’s okay. The ghost is gone now.”

“……Damn it.”

When I comforted him, Leto opened his eyes and muttered. He looked at me awkwardly, quickly rose up and brushed his pants. Looking at Leto’s pale face, I regretted that I had brought him here for no reason.

“Are you okay?”

“I just hate the dark. Let’s get out of here quickly.”

Leto took a deep breath and said calmly. The problem was that every corner was blocked by mirrors and there was no way out. As I touched the mirrors one by one, my hand suddenly sunk inside one of the mirrors. It was magic.

After passing through the mirror, my breath stopped at the sight of the great amount of dolls. The dolls under the red light looked horrifying. Leto, who followed me through the mirrors, frowned at the dolls. Can we really escape?

When I was in deep thoughts, the light suddenly went out.

“Kyaa!”

This time, it was pitch black and I couldn’t see anything. The dolls were scary, but the darkness was even more terrifying. Leto and I screamed and panicked without making sense of what we spouted.

【Lumeni!】

While I was wandering about in the dark, I heard Leto chant a spell. Then, the darkness disappeared and light shone. Everything was illuminated. The whole mansion was lit up by how much power he had used while casting the spell.

“What on earth?”

“Hurry up and turn off the lights!”

I could hear the wizards inside whispering. They tried to dispel the magic, but Leto’s powerful light magic was not extinguished easily. Leto had a satisfied expression under the bright light. However, the props and decorations were still scary, so he quickly moved his steps.

I chased after him. Since the wizards were busy trying to extinguish the light, the ghosts did not appear anymore.

“Hey, look at that. Isn’t it shining?”

“Wow, that’s amazing. Shall we go in?”

Somehow, the haunted house appeared differently under the light. We pretended not to know anything and tried to escape out of here.

“Hey, you guys!”

However, the manager blocked our way and looked at us with a fierce face.

“This is your doing! It’s difficult for ordinary people to cast a powerful light magic, and looking at your uniform, you seem to be from the Lexley Academy!”

I can’t believe we got caught so easily! When Leto and I couldn’t answer anything, the manager muttered something.

Leto casted his spell too powerful. Lights leaked through the window of the gloomy mansion, and the people around murmured. The mansion was instantly transformed from a dark villa to a mysterious holy place made by God.

“You can’t run. You guys have to take responsibility.”

“What?”

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I can’t believe I’m using magic in this way. We acted as wizards working in the mansion as punishment for using magic and lighting up the entire mansion. My role was to create the shape of a ghost, and Leto was ordered to do a magic trick of spraying water out of nowhere.

The darkness was one problem, but hearing the people screaming continuously wasn’t very pleasant either. Compared to me, who was quite exhausted, Leto became more and more quiet. By the time we were done with our tasks, it was dark outside. The manager was delighted that the sales were higher than usual thanks to our powerful magic.

At the same time, he showed us a quiet place with a good view of the fireworks. Perhaps feeling sorry for pushing us around.

“Do you want to watch the fireworks now?”

I agreed with Leto. We climbed up the hills behind the lake that the manager had told us about. The place was high enough to see the whole theme park. Just as the manager said, it was a hidden spot. Compared to me, who instantly felt happy, Leto slumped down, appearing tired.

My smile slowly disappeared at Leto’s solemn face.

“Should we go back, Leah?”

When I asked, Leto shook his head.

“You wanted to see it.”

“What?”

“You wanted to see the fireworks.”

I couldn’t say no. The whole purpose of going to the theme park was to watch the fireworks. I carefully sat down next to Leto, who was staring blankly at the lake below. Unlike just now, it was quiet and peaceful here. Today, so many things happened that I didn’t know how it all passed by.

By now, would Vivian have reached the south? Who knows, he might be sitting in a good spot and looking out at the sea just like us.

“Sorry.”

I turned my head at Leto’s small voice.

“I know you didn’t get on the train because of me.”

He confessed about what had bothered him this whole time. That’s why he had offered to go to this theme park. And even forced himself to enter the scary haunted house together.

“It was my choice.”

Leto shook his head at the firm words.

“You wanted to go on that trip.”

Leto was watching me. I thought I’ve reached the point where I could read his mind. But the fact that Leto didn’t ride the train made me, without hesitation, choose him over the trip. Although it was a trip I was looking forward to, Leto was my priority.

I watched as Leto lowered his head. Leto, full of regret, was unable to raise his head. Since when has he been caring about my feelings to the point he felt sorry for me? Before I knew it, I wanted to comfort him with a sincere heart.

Of course, even when I read the book, I was curious about the character Leto Arsene. In the end, he was inevitably charged for murder despite being a person with many shortcomings.

Since I read about the characters written in the book like a God, I didn’t doubt that I understood Leto Arsene entirely. So when I first noticed that I was possessed, I felt confident that I could easily change Leto.

It must have been arrogance. Leto was a man with his own thoughts and more lively than what I had read in the book. He wasn’t a person who simply existed in written words.

“I’m really sorry……”

He lowered his head even further. Feeling sorry and at the same time, pondering over what had happened during the day. His grim expression had a slight frown and he spoke.

“I…I just couldn’t get on the train. You saw it, right? My father and brother. My father turned away from me and my brother insulted me. I felt like I was on a cliff with everyone’s whispers. But what scares me the most is that you were there.”

Leto turned and looked at me. Then, he opened his mouth again.

“I’m used to that kind of insult. But I didn’t want to show that to you. It was shameful and I wanted to run away because I was embarrassed.”

“I never thought of that, Leah.”

“I know. Seeing how you smiled at me without taking the train…….”

He smiled faintly as he spoke. I didn’t know what he was thinking. Why did he suddenly smile? But he looked a lot better than before, so I didn’t say anything further. Seeing him feel better made me naturally smile as well.

“I like you.”

I blurted the words at his smile. Unlike me, Leto’s expression instantly hardened. My breath stopped for a moment and my body stiffened. Was it too much? I was about to apologise, but Leto covered his face with his hand and his ears were stained red.

“……you too.”

He mumbled something.

“Huh?”

“Nothing.”

He was still unable to raise his head, covering his face with his hands and dodged my gaze. I rose up and made my way closer to him. I could feel Leto’s body tremble in surprise. It was then, a small flare was heard, indicating that the fireworks were about to start.

Leto and I turned our heads forward and looked up at the starry night sky. Several sparks rose up and burst out like a flower. It was beautiful as though the petals were fluttering. I glanced at Leto. The beautiful lights reflected in his eyes. His clear black eyes were filled with the stars.

His eyes seemed to be shining. I stared at Leto’s eyes that seemed brighter and prettier than the night sky.

“Don’t look at me.”

Leto said, holding his breath. It was so cute that I held back the urge to hug Leto. Instead, I stood next to him and listened to his faint heartbeats. I wondered why I could hear the beating sound so well despite the loud sound of fireworks, but my heart was also beating wildly.

“Pretty.”

I said, looking at the fireworks.

“……You’re pretty, too.”

“Huh?”

Leto’s voice was muffled by the sudden burst of the fireworks. When I asked, Leto shook his head and looked at the fireworks again. Even if I couldn’t go to the sea, this moment felt worth it. Most of all, I liked being together with Leto.