CHAPTER 181-—BONUS CHAPTER
Leylin looked down at himself again, seemingly more confused by her reaction than concerned about his own state.
"The flames interfere with external material," he said. "Most things burn away eventually."
"That doesn't mean you should walk around naked every time they disappear."
Leylin considered that seriously.
"…Why?"
Seraphine stared at him in disbelief.
Then she sighed heavily and stepped back out of the basin, water sliding down her legs as she walked toward the small pile of belongings she had carried into the realm days ago.
Leylin remained exactly where he was.
Watching.
After a moment, Seraphine returned holding a dark outer robe folded loosely in her hands.
She stopped in front of him.
For the first time since meeting him, hesitation crossed her face without calculation behind it. Not fear. Not embarrassment exactly.
Just uncertainty.
As though neither of them fully understood why this moment suddenly felt strangely important.
Then she held the robe out toward him.
"Here."
Leylin looked at the cloth for several seconds before taking it carefully.
The material looked small in his hands.
"…For me?"
Seraphine frowned.
"Obviously."
Leylin lowered his gaze to the robe again.
His fingers tightened around it faintly.
And for reasons he could not immediately explain, the gesture unsettled him more than pain ever had.Leylin unfolded the robe slowly.
The material was heavier than it first appeared, dark brown layered beneath black outer fabric that caught the crimson light of the realm in muted patterns. Thin copper-gold bindings crossed the chest and shoulders in sharp geometric lines, holding parts of the robe together like restrained armor rather than decoration.
Along the sleeves and lower edges, faded sigils had been embroidered into the fabric with thread so dark it almost disappeared against the cloth itself. Not ornamental symbols. Burial marks. Old death inscriptions from noble funerary rites designed to ward off lingering spirits and hostile intent.
Seraphine noticed his gaze lingering on them.
"It belonged to someone important once," she said quietly. "Probably dead now."
Leylin slipped the robe over himself.
The hood settled naturally around his shoulders as the fabric fell into place, concealing most of the crystalline texture beneath his skin while the metallic bindings across his chest reflected faint crimson light from the sky above.
Then the realm reacted.
The drifting flames around his body no longer spread outward chaotically. They folded inward instead, sinking into the dark fabric like embers disappearing beneath ash. The robe darkened slightly at the edges as faint crimson lines spread through the death sigils embroidered across it.
Seraphine's expression changed subtly.
For the first time, Leylin did not look like something unfinished.
He looked composed.
Not human,Not even Divine.
But Something worse.
Like a ruler from a civilization that should not have existed anymore.
Leylin lowered his gaze briefly, studying the sleeves around his hands in silence.
Then quieter…It feels strange."
Seraphine leaned lightly against the stone beside the basin.
"What does?"
Leylin touched the fabric once.
"…Keeping something."