Abel, who knew perfectly well how he looked in sunlight and the depth of his affectionate gaze, seized the moment as light poured over him.
He would gently call her to turn her head, let her see his reflection in the brightness, and look at her with eyes that suggested love at first sight—
“Shall I draw the curtains?”
“……?”
Seo-ah squinted at the dazzling reflected light and pointed toward the curtains.
“You look hotter than I do.”
Abel, who had removed his jacket as soon as they boarded the train, kept unbuttoning his shirt. It bothered her. If he unbuttoned a few more, his upper body would be completely exposed. She found it difficult to ask him to button it again; no one else commented, and he was so brazen. She wondered if dressing this way was simply common here.
In any case, she assumed he was loosening his clothes because he was hot, and that he would button them once the temperature dropped in the shade.
“I was also getting blinded by the sunlight…”
“……”
“Then I’ll draw the curtains.”
Seo-ah grasped the pulled-back curtain and slid it forward. Then, glancing at Abel, she carefully drew him into the shade.
Click, click, click.
As Abel’s magnificent figure, radiant in sunlight, was swallowed by shadow under Seo-ah’s neat fingertips, the wolves watching clenched their jaws or closed their eyes, suppressing laughter as if by prior agreement.
Abel blinked in disbelief at the sudden darkness. A hollow laugh escaped him at the silent amusement of his colleagues in the distance. The wolves, who had been provoking him to witness his “flower snake” performance, made Abel—relaxed until now—show irritation for the first time.
The woman, who had neatly pulled him into the shade, looked down at the window as if avoiding his gaze, not once glancing at the chest he had deliberately displayed. Abel, assuming she was behaving like a proper lady, began buttoning his shirt one by one, then sent a deadly smile toward his colleagues quietly laughing behind Seo-ah.
Meanwhile, Seo-ah lifted the edge of the curtain slightly to look at the passing scenery. Seeing Abel button his clothes, she felt relieved. Thinking he must indeed have been hot, she returned her attention outside with a calmer heart.
Then she heard his laughter.
His low, cool laughter—like a cold wind rising from a deep cave—was distinctive enough to recognize without seeing him. Somehow, it did not merely touch her ears, but reached deep into her chest.
“Turn around once.”
She thought he meant turning fully around. So, she walked carefully, which seemed to amuse him. The low laughter that had spread lingered like a hallucination even after they returned to the room.
Listening to that laughter filling the spacious train carriage—the same laughter as the night before—Seo-ah gazed at the scenery outside.
The horizon, the first she had seen since arriving here, stretched endlessly. Land worthy of the word earth lay bathed in brilliant sunlight. The sky, unusually high and blue, felt vast. Flocks of sheep moved across fields, a dog weaving among them, and here and there, houses of unfamiliar design.
As she quietly observed the path leading toward Luxen, the train suddenly slowed. At the same time, dormant presences stirred throughout the carriage, and Abel, seated opposite her, rose at once.
When she turned in surprise, a man with a slender, tall frame passed above the high-backed seats. In the confined space, his physique felt even larger as he moved between them.
Looking up, she saw a sharp jawline, a straight nose, and a forehead with edges that seemed newly honed. Oscar, running a hand through his hair as he crossed the carriage, was followed by more than a dozen men in a line. Those left behind bowed their waists toward his receding back.
He seemed to be going somewhere. Not merely somewhere inside the train, but as if he were about to disembark entirely.
“Uh… sir…!”
If her heart had not felt as though it were sinking, she would never have dared to call out. Even as the gazes of the statue-like men fell upon her, all of Seo-ah’s attention was fixed on him.
Oscar, who was about to pass through the door, looked back.
Seo-ah, who had stopped him, was speechless for a moment. Her mind turned completely blank. What should she say? Unable to find the right words, she stammered, then finally asked a question much like yesterday’s.
“…Are you coming?”
She saw his piercing blue eyes narrow.
At that moment, the train, which had been slowing, came to a complete stop. Oscar, who had been looking at her with an unreadable expression, passed through the door without a word. All the men who followed him moved through after him.
The train’s noise—something she had not even registered as noise until now—vanished. Silence descended as if it had substance, so tangible it seemed to have weight.
Even Abel stood and moved toward his gathered colleagues. Then, from beyond the curtained window, Seo-ah sensed movement. She quickly sat down and carefully pulled back the edge of the curtain.
It was not a station. And certainly not Luxen.
The train had stopped in the middle of open plains.
Men in black suits stood scattered across the vast, treeless green field, utterly out of place. A few steps away from them, Oscar stood alone, smoking. Dust motes drifted above the grass, sparkling like fireflies in sunlight. He was wrapped in hazy smoke.
Seo-ah was not even aware she was peeking.
When the cloud of smoke cleared and the sharp face beneath dark hair emerged, his features became distinct. The low laughter that had once touched her ears was gone. Without it, his eyes looked as though carved from darkness—just as when she had first seen him.
He stared at the ground as he smoked, as if lost in thought. Then he lifted his head and ran a hand through his hair.
And in the next moment—
“……!”
Her heart, which had already sunk as far as it could, dropped again at the sudden, unexpected meeting of his piercing blue eyes. Holding her breath, she turned her head away at once, almost instinctively.
Thump, thump.
The tangible silence shattered beneath the violent pounding of her heart.
As she focused on breathing to steady herself, Abel—who had briefly stepped away—returned. Simultaneously, with a loud metallic screech, the train began to move.
Seo-ah, catching her breath, looked back at the window in surprise.
“He hasn’t gotten on yet. Are we leaving without him?”
“He had some business to attend to.”
A pinkish drink was offered, though she did not know when it had appeared. Seo-ah did not even glance at it.
“Then where are we… no, where am I going?”
“To the Reinhardt mansion.”
“…….”
“We’ll arrive in about an hour.”
Abel spoke softly, smiling as he always did.
“…….”
Her gaze dropped.
She tried to calm her anxiously beating heart while staring at the rim of the glass, then turned to the opposite window. The train was picking up speed. Questions rose to her lips, but none came out.
Will he come to the mansion after finishing his business?
You’re not planning to lock me away somewhere, are you?
But the questions sounded strange even in her own mind, so she asked indirectly.
“…Is the destination mansion the main house of the Reinhardts?”
“Main house?”
“Yes.”
Meeting Oscar with the key had not been the end. One of the worst possibilities was that he would simply confine her somewhere. It would be disastrous if he kept her locked away just to open the vault.
Abel paused, then nodded.
“If you’re asking whether it’s the mansion where he primarily resides—then yes. You could say that.”
The mansion where he primarily resides.
Then perhaps he did not intend to confine her in some isolated place.
Anxiety rose again, but she could only push it down.
Between the rapidly passing plains, houses with triangular roofs began to appear more frequently.
Seo-ah wiped her thoroughly damp palms on her thighs and looked out at the rushing scenery.
—
Oscar stood still, watching the tail of the departing train disappear. Then he turned his gaze to the endless fields.
The weather was something people would call pleasant.
A cool breeze carrying the scent of late-summer flowers. A clear sky. Sunlight at just the right warmth.
But to Oscar, such things were no more than fragments of subconscious noise.
Clouds like a veil surrounded him as he opened his mouth, acrid smoke filling his lungs.
“All caught?”
—