Sally's words were like the devil's whisper. Even though I knew she could make up lies as she pleased, I couldn't cut her off.
"It has gone to the exhibition room now... Anyway, that’s not important. They said there is the essence of magic in that forbidden room."
"Was Sally expelled as punishment for entering the forbidden room?"
"That sounds like a statement that violates the Magic Tower's rules."
Despite being desperate to enter the forbidden room, she followed the other rule quite well.
"How about it? One senior maid has disappeared, and there's a stealth potion, so isn't it worth a try?"
"Are you telling me to go in there?"
"We should go together. There are so many books and magic tools that it would be hard to find what you want on your own."
I thought I would never fall for her suggestion to go together. But now, I was wavering at Sally's words.
'No, this isn't right?'
Now that I had finally found a way to break free from the bondage contract and escape, I could not take such a huge risk. Even if I entered the Forbidden Room, there was no guarantee that I would find a way to deal with the Shadow Contract.
[Sally, come here]
Just then, along with a sharp pain, I started hearing auditory hallucinations again.
[Sally, I'm here. Come here.]
I tried covering my ears, but it was of no use.
'What? You're telling me to come here? Does that mean I should come to the Forbidden Room?'
For the first time, I reacted to the auditory hallucination. Until now, I had held back because I felt like I would really go crazy if I did.
[Sally can come in anytime.]
I covered my mouth with my hand. I hadn't spoken aloud, but this was clearly an answer to my question. Auditory hallucinations capable of conversation. There were only two conclusions: either I was truly insane, or this voice wasn't a hallucination but the voice of a real being.
To verify properly, I tried to have a conversation once again.
'If I get caught, the Tower Master will kick me out, won't he? He'll kill me.'
[Sally, what are you talking about? Eon is kicking you out? Killing you? That can't be true!]
[Sally, don't be scared. Come here.]
Listening to the whining voice of a young child, I decided to think that the voice had an owner rather than that I was crazy.
'Who are you?'
I immediately changed the question. What mattered now was whether he was on my side, rather than the identity of the voice.
'Can you protect me from Eon?'
[Sally, why do I have to protect you from Eon?]
A reply came back as if I were talking nonsense. It seemed as though they were completely unaware of the situation in the Magic Tower, as if they were actually just a child.
'If you can't protect me, I can't go to you.'
[Sally? No. Don't go. I'll protect you!!]
The voice shouted urgently.
'How can I trust you?'
[It's true! I'll protect you!]
"Are you still hesitating?"
It was only then that I realized I had neglected Sally for too long.
Proposals from someone whose intentions were unknown and whispers from someone whose face I had never seen. Nothing was certain, but that didn't mean I could simply avoid it. To find out about the Shadow Contract, I needed an adventure that wouldn't create too dangerous situations.
"Great."
“You said you liked it now?”
"Let's go to the Forbidden Room."
Sally asked me over and over again, as if my answer might vanish.
[Sally, are you finally coming? I'm so happy!]
The two suspicious people were rejoicing at the same time. Thanks to that, I lost confidence in whether this judgment was truly correct.
***
Having gone up to the fourth floor, I stopped briefly in front of the hallway. The hallway, divided into left and right sides by the stairs in the middle, had a single door on each side. The left side was the damn exhibition room, and the right side was that very forbidden room.
"Don't worry. He rarely comes out of his room."
Sally spoke as if she knew what I was worried about. She could speak so confidently because she didn't understand subordination contracts. Whether Eon knew my location or where I was had nothing to do with it. To him, I was nothing more than a living location tracker.
Sally, who was walking ahead, urged me on as I stood still.
"I told you there's nothing to worry about..."
I looked at Sally and put a finger to my lips. Then I lifted my chin and pointed to the end of the hallway. The reason I had been standing there was not merely because I was reluctant to enter the forbidden room.
"Uh."
It seemed only then that Sally also realized there was someone at the end of the hallway. I pressed myself against the wall, and Sally slumped down, clutching the stair railing tightly.
The stealth potion did not turn a person into a perfectly invisible man. It merely erased their presence and made them difficult to distinguish from their surroundings, like a chameleon.
Still, since the interior was dark, we wouldn't be caught unless they were looking closely at their surroundings. That is, if the person approaching was a maid.
Tap, tap, tap.
I knew very well that the black flat shoes worn by maids did not make such a sound. Therefore, this heavy sound of footsteps belonged to Eon.
Step, step.
As the sound of footsteps grew closer, the figure of the other person became clearer. Without even needing to deduce it from the sound, it was simply Eon.
Step step.
I hoped he would change direction and go down, but he just walked past the stairs. Three steps? Two steps? That was all the distance left between him and me.
I held my breath tightly. If he came any closer, he would inevitably notice, no matter how much stealth potion I had drunk.
Eon took another step and came to a sudden stop.
‘Did I get caught?'
He must have heard it; I must have been caught. Hadn't Tara been caught too? Yet, the reason I still couldn't let go of the thread of hope was because of Eon's gaze. What he was looking at was the wall standing slightly to the right of me. An empty wall with nothing in it.
He raised his hand. My body flinched reflexively. I couldn't help but imagine being strangled or having my head smashed in right then and there.
'I'd rather just scream and reveal myself first. Strictly speaking, I haven't actually entered the Forbidden Room yet, have I?'
When I made that decision, I realized that Eon's hand was moving much more softly than I had imagined.
Long fingers traced a long line upward from near my waist. They brushed past my back against the wall and narrowly missed my hunched shoulders. Upon reaching the vicinity of my face, they slowed down as if they had reached their destination.
Although I covered my mouth with both hands, my throbbing breathing simply wouldn't subside. No matter how effective the invisibility potion was, at this distance where we could inhale each other's breath, there was no way he wouldn't notice. After all, wasn't this Eon the one who had even found Tara hiding in the garden at night?
'What is his ulterior motive this time?'
My eyes, turned as far to the side as possible, realized what Eon's fingers were doing to the wall. Those fingers—that is, Eon—were drawing a human figure next to me.
I couldn't tell if it resembled me or not. However, because it moved as if it were about to touch me but not quite, it felt like it was a mirror image of me.
How long had he stood there like that? A sound like a sigh escaped Eon's lips.
"From the light..."
I couldn't hear the rest of his words. It was because his lips pressed firmly against the wall—or more precisely, the face he had drawn. I barely managed to suppress the moan threatening to escape. How on earth was I supposed to interpret a man standing within breathing distance kissing the wall right beside me?
All I could tell was that Eon's heart was beating at the same speed as mine, and that the tips of his ears were turning red.
"I look forward to seeing what kind of meeting it will be."
Eon stepped back after leaving behind a cryptic remark. Then, without ever looking at me, he turned around and walked down the stairs.
I stood still until the sound of footsteps receding once again was completely out of my reach.
"Are you okay? I thought I had caught it, but it wasn't. This is truly the first time I've seen a stealth potion this perfect."
It was Sally who got up first. She seemed to think that she hadn't been caught by Eon thanks to the invisibility potion. But me. When I recalled what Eon had done by my side, I couldn't believe he hadn't noticed me.
"I was really nervous earlier, too. Now, let's pull ourselves together and head towards our destination."
Sally grabbed my hand and pulled me along. I obediently followed her lead. Having already handed over Eon, I couldn't run away now. Soon, we stood before the Forbidden Chamber.
As if to say that it was not a forbidden room in name only, an unknown pattern was engraved on the door.
“It’s a magic circle.”
Sally whispered.
"I guess it won't be easy to get in."
"Can you interpret it?"
"The regular hexagon in the center usually signifies a magic circle that protects the space."
As I followed Sally's gaze, I saw a shape hidden within the complex picture.
"So it wasn't a forbidden room because you weren't supposed to enter it, but a room you couldn't enter in the first place."
[Sally, I can feel Sally close by.]
[Sally, you came to see me, right? Right?]
It was a voice that sounded like it was about to burst into tears. It seemed like they were anxious that I might just go back.
While hesitating for a moment, Researcher Sally reached for the handle.
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