Lizardfolk – beings who see differently.
They do not perceive the world as other races do – their vision doesn't register faces in the traditional sense. For them, only one thing matters: the eyes. Those are the key – the gateway to the soul, the vessel of truth and emotion.
They evolved in the dark, treacherous swamps of the Tygon Empire – a place filled with eternal fog, impenetrable humidity, and constant danger. The world there was not friendly – monsters lurked in the reeds, and the very landscape could become your executioner. In those cruel conditions, the lizardfolk had to learn to see deeper. It wasn't enough to *see* – they had to **understand**.
Over time, their vision sharpened to its limits – not in the physical sense, but in the emotional. They didn't recognize people by the shape of their nose or the line of their jaw, but by their gaze – the intent hidden in their eyes. They could tell when someone was lying. They knew when a person was angry, ashamed, frightened – even who they truly were. For them, eyes became something more readable than words or actions. In the swamps of Tygon, they learned one thing above all:
**Faces can lie – eyes never do.**
***
Toru – the Eighth Court Knight of the Kingdom of Ero, one of the most powerful warriors in the capital of Inormi, wasn't the kind of person to lose control easily. And yet – when his gaze once again fell upon the boy with the unassuming figure and those terrifying eyes, something inside him snapped.
At first glance, the boy seemed ordinary – perhaps a little absent-minded, maybe a bit disconnected from reality. But his eyes… his eyes were everything they shouldn't be. At first, Toru thought he was a psychopath – the gaze too empty. Or maybe a sociopath – not a trace of empathy, not a single emotion. But when he realized he had met this same boy before, in the capital… his instincts went wild.
The boy's voice was the same – identical. But the eyes? Different. Entirely different. Terrifying. They screamed from within his skull, wept without tears, begged for help that no one could give. Every emotion was trapped there, and all of them desperately trying to escape.
Toru didn't know who the boy was. And honestly, he didn't want to know.
His body, heart, and soul told him only one thing:
**This boy must die.**
***
He couldn't do it right away. Leni was with him – and confrontation with a mage was something Toru preferred to avoid. He despised fighting mages – never understood their inner logic, their strange rules. So he chose to retreat. Not to give up – but to wait.
To wait for a moment when no one would stand in his way.
***
The next day, once his rage had cooled and a sliver of reason returned, Toru tried to distance himself from his emotions. For a brief moment, he genuinely considered letting go. Maybe it was all in his head. Maybe he was overreacting.
But when he walked past the boy in the castle dining hall and looked into his eyes, everything returned.
All the hatred, the fury, the overwhelming terror... It hit him with such force that all previous doubts vanished like smoke.
There was only one goal again: **to kill**.
***
From that moment on, he started following him. He watched his every move with surgical precision – first from the shadows in the library, then during a solitary walk around the castle grounds. When the boy eventually returned inside, Toru followed silently, like a shadow, unseen and unheard.
When the boy disappeared behind the doors of the library, Toru was ready to resume his observation – until she appeared again. Leni. A seemingly scatterbrained woman, but Toru, who could read eyes, knew better. She was far more observant and intelligent than she appeared.
He decided to withdraw. For now.
***
When night fell, he returned. The library was almost empty. Inside – only Leni. No sign of the boy. Toru turned to leave, but before he could exit, he heard her voice behind him:
"Hey, Toru. Come here for a moment."
Her tone was just a little too loud for a library – deliberate. She wanted him to hear.
Toru, consumed by bloodlust, barely restrained himself from snapping at her. But he had to play along – had to pretend.
" What is it, Leni? What do you want from me?"he asked, doing his best to keep his tone calm.
" If you see Klein, tell him it's rude to spy on people… okay? You'll tell him that, won't you?"she said gently, not even looking up from her book.
Grinding his teeth, Toru hissed:
"Sure..... If I see him, I'll remind him."
He turned to leave, but her voice stopped him again.
"Oh, one more thing, Toru. I have another favor to ask."
This time, his knees nearly gave out. His vision began to blur, as if his own rage was burning through his retinas.
"Y-Yeah, Leni?"he forced out through clenched teeth.
"Yesterday, you were really rude to my friend Edo. I know you like scaring the newcomers, but please – apologize to him, okay?"
At that moment, his mind filled with savage thoughts.
He wanted to gouge out her eyes, snap her neck, rip off her fingers, and shove them into every hole in her body.
"Toru… are you okay?" Leni suddenly asked, a hint of concern in her voice.
Her question, her tone… cut through his fury like a blade of ice.
He snapped out of it. Looked at her. Realized what he had just been about to do.
A wave of disgust washed over him.
This… wasn't him. This wasn't his nature.
But that boy…his eyes.... was changing him.
Toru now knew – if he didn't keep this hatred under control, others would suffer too.
"Nothing… I just… don't feel well. Maybe it's just exhaustion… or something I ate… I don't even know anymore." his voice was hushed, like it had trouble escaping his throat."I think I'll just go back to my room and get some rest, you know?" he added, averting his eyes.
He turned and headed for the library exit. His steps were heavy, seemingly tired — but inside, he was boiling. There was no peace, no illness. There was only hatred. Not for the world. Not for Leni. Only for him.
"You don't need my help?" Leni asked gently, lifting her gaze from the book, as if sensing something.
"No… Thanks," the Lizardman muttered over his shoulder. And disappeared behind the door — heading not to his chamber, as he had declared, but to a completely different place — to the room of the boy he wanted to kill.
***
It didn't take long before he stood in front of the target's door. He yanked the handle with all his strength. Once. Twice. Three times. Useless.
Locked.
He growled under his breath in frustration, but he couldn't afford noise. Banging on the door would raise too much suspicion — and this was supposed to be quick, quiet, clean.
Reluctantly, but without hesitation, he slid down to the floor and hid behind the couch in the hallway across from the door. Curled up, motionless, like a predator lying in wait for prey. Only time and patience could save him.
He had to wait.
***
Night dragged on… The corridor slowly emptied until the silence of evening fell. And then — as if fate itself had handed him a gift — Leni appeared.
She walked confidently. Without hesitation, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a key, which she used to open the boy's door. The Lizardman froze. He watched as the mage entered the room. Moments later, she exited… and left the door slightly ajar.
She had no idea she had just opened the path to tragedy.
The moment she disappeared around the corner, the Lizardman straightened and slipped inside like a shadow — soundlessly.
**This was his moment.**
***
Hidden between the bookshelves of the library, the young knight Klein let out a sigh of relief.
"Phew... She didn't notice me… Thank the gods," he whispered, emerging from his hiding spot.
He looked toward the exit where Leni had gone.
"That Edo guy... What the hell is he talking about?! Toru was the one standing at the entrance, spying. Not me. I'd never get caught so easily… I'M WAY BETTER THAN THAT?!?! But still… something's off here…
Toru.. for a moment I had the feeling he might do something... my body was screaming to attack him, but maybe I was imagining things."
He furrowed his brows, then began following Leni, who was just leaving the library.
"Wait... Why is she going that way? She always returns to her room through the left corridor... But down there… that's just guest rooms and student quarters…" he thought, worried.
He followed her at a safe distance, hidden in the shadows, until he saw her stop at Edo's door, unlock it, and step inside.
Klein, hiding behind a marble statue, felt his entire being freeze.
"No... It can't be…" he thought, clenching his teeth. "Did she just… Did she really go into his room? But… how did he do it?! He… and she… They… Are they… No. NO?!?! The world is… cruel! Unfair!!!"
Klein felt himself boiling inside. He clenched his fists so hard his knuckles turned white. But moments later, the door opened again, and Leni stepped out as if nothing had happened, calmly walking deeper into the corridor.
Klein was surprised she'd stayed for such a short time, but breathed a sigh of relief, even though he was still shaken.
"Maybe it was just some small thing… a kiss...? EVEN IF!!! I won't let it end like this! I need to talk to that Edo guy. Find out how the hell he's doing it! I won't let him win Leni!!! I need to sleep on this… if I can even fall asleep!!!"
Klein said aloud to himself.
He was about to leave, when suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a shadow slipping toward the boy's room.
Someone — swift, nimble, nearly invisible — had slid inside.
"What the…?!" Klein whispered, then reacted instantly. He moved. Silently. Lightning-fast. His feet gliding across the floor, slicing the air without making a single sound.
He stopped right by the door and opened it without hesitation.
In the faint moonlight filtering through the narrow window, he saw a figure leaning over the sleeping boy.
In his hand — a dagger, ready to strike.
In a split second, Klein lunged forward, grabbed him by the arm, and yanked him back with force.
He didn't even need to look. He knew exactly who it was.
Klein's voice was as cold as steel:
"Hey....What do you think you're doing? You think behavior like this is fitting for the Eighth Court Knight?"