The walk back from Sin Rouge felt different this time.
Not heavier and lighter.
Just… sharper.
Every neon light seemed too bright.
Every passing demon too loud.
Her own heartbeat too obvious.
Because she was still replaying his words.
His name.
"Malerion."
It fit him annoyingly well.
Quiet. Sharp. Clean around the edges.
A name that didn't beg for attention it simply existed, the way he did.
But it wasn't the name that bothered her the most.
It was what he told her.
Verosika pushed open the door to her hotel suite, tossed her jacket onto a chair, and let out a long breath. Minca and Kordel looked up instantly.
They didn't even have to ask.
She walked past them, poured herself a drink she didn't even want, and leaned against the counter.
For a long moment she said nothing.
Then:
"…He knew things."
That made both bandmates straighten.
Minca was the first to speak.
"…What kind of things?"
Verosika stared at the glass in her hand.
How the hell was she supposed to explain this?
"He told me," she said slowly, carefully, "that he's been keeping people away from me."
Kordel shot up from the couch.
"What people?! Who?!"
Verosika held up a hand.
"Not fans random idiots. The other kind."
Understanding dawned on Minca's face.
"Agents."
Verosika nodded.
"Predatory contracts. Loan sharks dressed as 'managers'. Clubs that would've eaten me alive.
He knew exactly who they were."
She pressed her lips together.
"And he kept them from reaching me."
Silence.
Which was rare for Kordel.
"…How?" he finally asked.
Verosika laughed once, humorless.
"I asked the same thing."
She remembered his eyes calm, almost too calm when he answered.
"Quietly. Indirectly. Your success is yours. I merely removed the things meant to break you before you could become anything."
Those words hit deeper now, hours later.
Minca sat next to her.
"Why would he do that?"
"I asked him that too," Verosika muttered.
She hadn't forgotten his answer.
"Because talent should rise on its own merit. Not be slaughtered early for someone else's convenience."
His tone hadn't been:
dramatic.
proud.
seductive.
manipulative.
Just matter-of-fact.
And that was the part she couldn't shake.
Kordel leaned forward, staring.
"You believe him?"
Verosika didn't answer right away.
She remembered how he looked at her.
Not hungry.
Just… present.
She remembered how he spoke: reserved, honest, irritatingly measured.
And she remembered how every lie-spike in her instinct every warning she'd built through years of surviving this ring stayed silent.
"…Yes," she finally said. "I do."
Minca blinked.
"Wow. That's rare."
Verosika drank.
"It is."
Kordel paced dramatically.
"So let me get this straight this guy has been quietly saving your ass for a year, and you just NOW talk to him?!"
"That's not I didn't KNOW it was him!"
"And you STILL didn't get anything out of him?" he pressed.
Verosika stiffened.
"…He gave me his name."
"That's something," Minca offered.
"No," Verosika insisted. "You don't understand."
She set the glass down and pressed her palms to the counter.
"He gave me his name.
gave me truths.
And explanations."
She swallowed hard.
"But he didn't give me him."
Not his intentions.
his history what he really was.
Why someone like him cared about someone like her.
And that bothered her more than she expected.
She wasn't used to being the one in the dark.
Minca crossed her arms.
"So what do YOU want from him?"
Verosika's tail flicked once.
Then again.
"…I don't know."
"You do," Minca corrected softly.
Verosika looked away.
Okay. Fine. She did.
She wanted to know what made him different.
Wanted to know why she couldn't read him.
Know what he wasn't saying.
And irritatingly she wanted him to look at her again with that same terrifying calm, just to prove she hadn't imagined it.
Because someone who could see her without wanting something from her…
Someone who helped without demanding payment…
Who wasn't trying to own her, use her, exploit her
That was new.
Dangerously new.
Kordel broke the tension with a grin:
"So basically… you're curious."
Verosika glared.
"…Fine. Yes. I'm curious."
"And a little impressed."
"ONE MORE WORD AND I SWEAR"
He dove behind the couch.
Minca laughed.
But Verosika didn't.
She stood by the window, looking down at the Lust Ring the lights, the crowds, the chaos.
Her voice was quiet when she finally spoke.
"…No one protects without a reason."
Minca nodded.
"Maybe he'll tell you when he's ready."
Verosika's eyes narrowed.
"…Or maybe I'll make him."
Her reflection smirked in the glass determined, dangerous, curious.
She wasn't planning romance.
Planning obsession.
Anything stupid.
But she was absolutely planning something.
Because Verosika Mayday did not leave unanswered questions alone.
Especially when the question wore a calm smile and said:
"Your success is your own."
She whispered to herself:
"I'm not letting you walk around my world without explaining why you stepped into it."
And with that thought, she finally let herself fall back onto the bed.
Still irritated. fascinated.
And even more determined than before.
Because now she knew his name.
And that meant he had nowhere left to hide.