The pills and other supplements begin cascading from the compartment, each one clattering against the tile floor, their echoes amplified in the otherwise silent bathroom—save for the ominous sizzling of her hands.
The air felt dense, and each hiss of heat that escaped her palms seemed to carve a deeper sense of dread into the room.
Fortuitously, a roll of toilet paper landed right beside him. Without hesitation, Leonardo seized it, hurling it in the woman's direction.
The pristine white contrasted sharply against her entirely red ensemble, momentarily breaking the room's visual monotony. Without a second thought, she blasted it away, disintegrating it mid-air, leaving only a few smoldering fragments to fall uselessly to the ground.
She advanced towards him, her steps swift and deliberate, like a predator closing in on wounded prey.
That was far faster than before, but the blast was smaller, more controlled, akin to the one that had passed by him earlier in the balcony.
She had been charging to obliterate his entire face with that first attack, a lethal intent simmering beneath her every move. This woman—what kind of person was she?
She allowed herself a slight smile as she watched Leonardo scramble on the floor, struggling to regain his footing.
Her expression was one of cruel amusement, the kind that relishes in the helplessness of others.
She was definitely used to this.
"Your name is Leonardo, right? I got it from Kaelan, after I attempted to blast his head off. He told me my husband was in this section of the mansion, but I guess he was lying i dont know why i believed him really," she said slowly, her voice dripping with a mocking sweetness as she brushed strands of red hair back over her shoulder.
The gesture was unnervingly casual, as if discussing the weather rather than recounting an attempt on someone's life.
Leonardo's mind raced. He didn't think attachment skills could alter one's appearance so drastically, or perhaps she had intentionally modified her looks to match her fiery attire. Everything about her screamed red—from her flaming hair to her crimson outfit, even the blazing hue of her abilities.
She crouched down, her predatory gaze fixated on Leonardo with an unsettling intensity.
Her brown eyes bore into his amber ones, and Leonardo shivered. There was something profoundly disturbing about her stare; no light flickered in her eyes, no sign of humanity or empathy.
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Just a void—a terrifying emptiness that seemed to swallow any semblance of normalcy.
Either she had absolutely nothing going on back there, or she was purely evil.
"I'll go with nothing back there," Leonardo muttered under his breath, smirking slightly as if trying to mask his growing fear with bravado.
"What?" she says genuinely curious, her eyes narrowing at his Face
"Did you know a bathroom is designed for only a single person?" Leonardo stated slowly, baiting her with a hint of defiance in his tone.
She seized a fistful of his hair, yanking it upward as she stood, effortlessly lifting Leonardo's entire weight with one hand.
The pain shot through his scalp, but he gritted his teeth, refusing to give her the satisfaction of hearing him scream.
"What's the maximum amount?" she questioned, her grip on his hair unrelenting, a wicked smile tugging at her lips.
Her voice was laced with mock curiosity, as if she were genuinely interested in his answer despite the malice in her actions.
"Like I said, one," Leonardo grunted, wincing as she twisted his hair painfully. He clutched her wrist, trying to alleviate the pressure on his scalp. Wait a minute, he thought.
Wizards aren't supposed to be strong, right? Unless she possesses an attachment skill. Even then, with his minor strength boost, he should be able to resist—
Before he could finish the thought, she flung him across the bathroom with surprising force.
Leonardo collided with the wall, a dull thud echoing through the room. The impact jarred his bones, and he slid to the ground, groaning. It would have been better if I were wearing my clothes, he mused, chuckling slightly in an attempt to mask his pain.
He landed in a heap, his legs curled defensively, the white sleeve wrapped around his waist on the verge of unraveling.
That thing only granted me a slight heat resistance, he thought bitterly, while this woman—what's her deal?
"You're lying. I bathe with my husband; he says four is the max. Why lie?" she demanded, her expression shifting from curious to anger from the lie. She approached the wall where she had tossed him, crouching again to meet Leonardo's gaze directly.
Her face was close enough that he could feel the heat radiating off her skin, intensifying the already stifling atmosphere of the room.
"Where is Henriii?" she intoned, elongating the 'I' in Henri with a serpentine hiss, her voice dripping with a mixture of sudden love for her husband.
"He should—"
"Don't lie," she interrupted, her tone flat and unyielding. "Kaelan lied. Lying isn't good." She shoved Leonardo's head against the wall with enough force to make his vision blur momentarily, the pain radiating through his skull like an electric shock.
"Yeah, I'm not lying," Leonardo gasped, struggling to maintain his composure despite the throbbing in his head. "He'll be mad, you know," he added, his voice tight with a mix desperation.
"And why would he be?" she queried, her interest piqued, her head tilting slightly as if pondering his words with genuine curiosity.
"Four people, as in only a single male," Leonardo replied, seizing the earlier information to his advantage, despite his precarious situation.
He was betting everything on this gambit, hoping his calculated response would buy him a moment of reprieve.
The woman's expression hardened, her grip tightening momentarily before she released him, letting him slump to the floor like a discarded rag doll.
Leonardo's heart raced, his mind desperately calculating his next move as he watched her, every second stretching into an eternity.
The room's temperature continued to fluctuate.
