The woman remained silent, still floating above the wooden wardrobe. Leo approached her, his face etched with annoyance, his legs barely able to support his body, which felt like that of the living dead.
For some reason, his legs suddenly refused to move, and Leo ended up collapsing, his face hitting the floor first. As a result of the fall, his forehead began to redden, and his cheek was scratched by a small splinter of wood, drawing a line of blood.
"Hey, are you alright?" the woman said, floating down to approach the helpless Leo.
Selena, that was the woman's name. Perhaps she wasn't an ordinary human, but a curious spirit who had deliberately followed Leo into the human world. After leaving the spirit world, Selena could freely take the form of anyone she desired.
She transformed into a beautiful woman wearing a long white dress that reached her ankles, her eyes red, and her black hair flowing down to her shoulders. About a century ago, she had been a woman who had accidentally been trapped in a strange world, a world where spirits resided.
The intense spiritual pressure separated her soul from her body. Since then, Selena had lived as a spirit in that world for a hundred years. It was then that she saw a human walking by, complete with a body and soul, which amazed her.
Sensing that this person was different from her and possessed a strange ability to withstand this spiritual pressure, Selena wanted to use him to escape the spirit world. In the end, Selena clung to a part of his body as a dewdrop.
When Lucas interrogated him, the deadly chill had been Selena's doing, to prevent Lucas from extracting anything from Leo's memory. It was just her way of expressing gratitude without uttering a word.
And now she stared at Leo's prone body.
"Selena, that's my name," she murmured briefly.
Leo, still lying face down, heard the voice and abruptly woke up. "Huh... How can you be on top of the wardrobe? And why can't anyone see you except me?"
Without the slightest hesitation, Leo fired off the question without any doubt. Hearing this, Selena only smiled faintly before answering as she knew.
"The spirit world... perhaps I was just a wandering spirit back then, deliberately following you to this place," she directed her smile at Leo, continuing, "So I only made it so that you alone could see my form. But now, I have taken the form I had about a hundred years ago, when I was still human, so now others can see me in this appearance."
The explanation was quite lengthy, causing Leo to tilt his head to the side.
A hundred years ago? She's much older than me… even though her face doesn't show it at all, Leo thought with a puzzled expression.
"...What do you want to do next?" Leo asked, his face serious and his eyes piercing.
...There was no answer, the room suddenly became silent. Before answering, her veins tightened and her expression became very serious, unlike before.
"I... will follow wherever you go, it's not like you imagine, it's just–"
Before Selena could finish her sentence, Leo suddenly cut her off and said, "I get it… so you're bound to me, right?"
Selena nodded at the question, as Leo had hoped that this woman could fulfill his goal of returning to Earth. But for now, he would first go find something that could bring him back to Earth.
"One more thing, Selena," his eyes stared at her without blinking, continuing, "Can you get rid of this side effect? My body feels like a living corpse."
Without much thought, a gust of dew floated in the air towards Leo, who was sitting, and circled his body. With a flick of her finger, Selena made the dew enter Leo's body and neutralize the effect from within.
Five seconds later, Leo's body was back to normal. His body was upright, unlike before. His legs were no longer limp like before, because his body had returned to normal. Leo decided to leave the house, to look for what was in this world.
He didn't forget to say goodbye to his mother and sister first, but they flatly refused Leo's request. But he kept asking continuously to be allowed to leave the house.
Actually, Leo knew that this was the worry of someone who was afraid of losing a loved one. Archie's father had died 10 years ago in a road accident, and since then his mother had been saddened by the news.
On the other hand, at the same time, Isabelle cried while hugging little Archie tightly. And since that day, the three of them had lived with expressions full of worry, afraid of losing their family again. Therefore, his mother always paid attention to both of her children, including Archie, and held both roles at the same time.
....
Because Leo kept asking her for permission, Nana finally allowed him to go out, but on one condition: he had to come home in the afternoon.
Leo only nodded at the order, but in his memory he felt reluctant to leave this house, whether because he was afraid of losing something or whether this was Archie's emotion that he felt when talking to his mother.
Imagining that made Leo a little calmer, missing his real parents who were waiting for his return. But now, he was in a different world, but he didn't give up. Leo would find a way to get out of this place as soon as possible.
"Let's go, Selena!" Leo said, grabbing a thick, warm brown coat from the closet and immediately putting it on with a quick, confident movement.
Selena smiled and nodded in agreement, she had also transformed into her original spirit form so as not to be seen by his family, clinging to Leo's brown coat.
Before leaving, Leo took a brown round hat and put it on when he had closed his bedroom door.
"But I'm very sorry, I don't think I'll be able to come home this afternoon," he said in a slightly suppressed tone.
Huuh! Does he intend not to return? That question kept spinning in Selena's mind.
Leo sighed, and he stepped out of the house with a firm step. The atmosphere outside the house was very crowded, many people were passing by and many voices were echoing everywhere.
Several horse-drawn carriages passed not far from him as he walked.
Right not far from his sight, a horse-drawn carriage was parked on the side of the road. Suddenly Leo approached it and immediately got on it.
"To Shire City center, sir!" he said softly, in a calm tone. The coachman nodded, then the crack of the whip was heard, and the carriage began to move.