>>>Leonhart's Perspective<<<
Watching her should have been simple.
It started that way, clinical, detached, necessary. I told myself it was observation. Strategy. Nothing more than tracking the movements of something that didn't belong in my body.
But that lie didn't last.
Not when I saw how she lived.
Eunji laughed too easily. Spoke too freely. She filled spaces I had never cared to occupy, softened edges I had sharpened my entire life just to survive. And worst of all...
She wasn't alone.
My gaze darkened as the projection shifted, settling on a familiar scene. Kael leaned too close. Zeref lingered too long. Their presence alone was enough to irritate me, but this…
This was something else.
"…You let them touch you."
My voice came out quieter than I intended, my fingers curling slowly against the armrest of the throne.
I had spent years standing behind them. Watching them surpass me in ways I refused to acknowledge. Strength. Recognition. Presence.
And now...
