For a brief, fleeting moment, Ren allowed himself to imagine a life where warmth and care weren't fleeting, where people didn't always bring danger or pain—something he witnessed all his life.
Then, a voice echoed in his mind.
How dare you even think about that? Are you planning to abandon him?!
The young man jolted from his seat.
The voices growled in his mind, unrelentingly.
"Where are you going?" Hannah and Lillia asked, confused.
"I—The general must have returned from his quest. I need to attend to him," he lied, rushing out of the garden.
Today, the general wouldn't return until late at night.
But Ren simply wanted to run—to escape this place that felt too warm, too alive, where the coldness of his usual existence weighed on every sense he had.
The two ladies glanced at each other with worried faces.
"Did we say something wrong?" Lillia asked, perplexed.
Hannah shook her head.
