Leona's expression was very serious; she wasn't joking.
She was really sleepy and wanted to sleep with Eric for a while before waking up to deal with Mammy, the big trouble.
Of course, by "sleep" she meant just sleeping, nothing else.
She didn't have any particular feelings for Eric—in her eyes, he was still just a high school boy, even though she knew that people in the 19th century had shorter lifespans and males of his age could already marry and have children under the witness of their parents. If he were in the modern era, he'd probably be in his first or second year of high school—so smart, he might even skip grades and go to college early.
Thinking this way, the fear inside her suddenly subsided a lot.
But Eric thought she was making fun of him.
Before her words had finished, he had already drawn his dagger and plunged it beside her pillow, staring down at her coldly from above.
He had been mocked like this many times and really disliked such "jokes."
Inside the white mask, his breathing suddenly became heavier.
Leona could almost imagine the scene of angry, scorching breath expanding, accumulating, and finally condensing into droplets slowly dripping down inside the mask.
She swallowed, her throat tightening slightly. On the surface, she was very calm, but in reality, she was almost as unable to control her bladder as Mammy.
If they got familiar with each other in the future and could communicate normally with language, she would definitely make him change his habit of misusing the dagger.
"...You misunderstood me," she said with difficulty, "I sincerely hope you can stay and sleep with me for a while."
The air seemed to freeze.
Eric stared at her coldly.
Under his gaze, her scalp went slightly numb, and the hair on her body stood on end.
Suddenly, she realized that Eric might never have believed in her, nor had he ever wanted to cooperate with her.
He was indeed shocked and even panicked by that kiss, but he soon realized that it came at a price.
He might yield to a kiss, but not to one that was clearly priced and insincere.
Leona broke out in a cold sweat instantly.
She had almost forgotten that although he looked indifferent and empty, like a soulless wax figure, he had an extremely clever mind.
What others learned in a month, he could learn just by glancing at it, and of course, he could see through her rhetoric at a glance.
The good news was that for some reason, he had punished Mammy for hurting her.
Perhaps he wanted to repay her sympathy, even though her sympathy had ulterior motives; perhaps he just wanted to vent his inner murderous desires on someone.
As for whether she would get into more trouble because of his punishment, that was not within his consideration.
In an instant, countless thoughts went through Leona's mind, but none of them were enough to resolve the current dilemma.
After a long while, she gritted her teeth and made up her mind—no matter what, she would keep him first.
If a kiss couldn't keep him, then what about a hug?
She had changed his expression several times through physical contact.
He was reclusive and peculiar, and extremely wary; even the people around him felt disgusted just mentioning him, so how could he possibly have physical contact with someone?
Maybe a hug could bring them closer.
Leona felt like she was playing a dangerous game—he held a dagger, and every move he made was completely unpredictable; hugging such a person was tantamount to seeking death.
But if she let him leave like this, leaving her alone with the seriously injured Mammy, she wouldn't be far from death either.
Leona no longer hesitated, leaned forward, and hugged him tightly.
For a moment, time seemed to stand still.
Eric's movements froze.
His heavy breathing also disappeared.
Leona's chest was nearly spasming with nervousness, far from being as calm as she appeared—no one could guess what Eric was thinking, and he could stab her in the back at any moment. Just thinking about this made her legs go weak.
Fortunately, her guess was correct.
He couldn't resist physical contact.
She could feel the muscles in his arms tensing and relaxing, as if he was hesitating whether to push her away, kill her, or maintain the status quo.
He was very thin, thinner than she had imagined, almost just a bundle of bony bones, like a large predator in the wild that was starving but not lacking in muscle.
Such a person could single-handedly subdue a solid and strong adult woman, and could also be trapped by a purposeful embrace.
A strange feeling surged in Leona's heart; she couldn't tell if it was sympathy or something else.
She didn't know how much time had passed when Eric suddenly moved—he let her hug him, leaned forward, pulled out the dagger, the blade slightly turned, and pressed it against her back.
At that moment, her heart almost stopped, her blood froze, and she thought she wouldn't see the sun rise tomorrow.
Fortunately, he just scraped the blade along her back and then put it back into his boot with a flick of his hand.
Leona breathed a huge sigh of relief, as if her throat had been gripped and then released, almost fainting.
...Anyway, she had bet correctly.
He hadn't left, and she was still alive.
"Thank you..."
Leona didn't even know what she was thanking him for; having just been saved from the brink of death, she couldn't help but want to say thank you.
If she had known she would live such a life, she wouldn't have become an actress but would have gone to a animal training class, or volunteered at a wildlife park.
"You lie down for a while," Leona said, wiping her physiological tears, "I'll go stop her bleeding. She can't die here; I still have questions to ask her."
Eric didn't respond.
Mammy had already fainted from loss of blood. Leona poured some hemostatic powder into her palm and fed her an ibuprofen to prevent her from getting feverish, dehydrated, and going into shock, then lay down in the sleeping bag.
She was afraid Eric would change his mind in the middle of the night and stab her to death, so she buried her head in his arms, holding his arm tightly and not daring to let go.
Possibly because he really craved physical contact, they both passed the night unharmed and intact.
Mammy also woke up, looking at them with a strange face.
Leona took out her gold pocket watch, glanced at the time, it was five o'clock in the morning, and there was still some time before the others woke up.
Seeing the gold pocket watch on her, Mammy's eyes widened in disbelief.
Leona ignored Mammy's gaze. She quietly left the sleeping bag, but even though her movements were light, Eric still woke up, or perhaps he hadn't slept at all.
One night was enough time for her to recover from the fear of being on the brink of death.
Although her legs were still a little weak when she met his eyes: "...Are you hungry?"
No answer.
Leona was used to his silence: "I want to ask Mammy some questions...about your questions, do you mind? If you mind, I won't ask."
No answer, no movement.
That meant it was okay.
Leona breathed a sigh of relief.
Great.
She couldn't always guess his intentions correctly.
Controlling him was not easy; she needed to learn more about his background.
Leona thought for a moment, walked over to the pile of dirty clothes, avoided Mammy's gaze, found the first aid kit, and took out an energy bar.
Chocolate flavor, hoping it would suit his taste.
She tore off the wrapper, broke it in half, and handed it to him: "Sweet, can replenish energy. We'll share one each, okay?"
Leona ate hers first.
Eric stared at the chocolate for a long time before reaching out to take it.
This era already had chocolate, so he wasn't puzzled by what it was but lowered his head to carefully smell the scent.
Several seconds passed, his head tilted slightly, pushing up one corner of his mask to reveal a small part of his jawline, and he opened his mouth to eat the energy bar.
This was the first time Leona saw his face under the mask, although only his jawline and lips—seemingly not ugly, with a lean and angular jawline, and very pale lips that almost blended with his skin tone.
Just looking at the outline of his jawline, he was quite handsome.
She didn't know which version of disfigurement he had; whether he looked like a skeleton like in the original novel, or like in the musical, where at least half of his face was visible.
Leona tactfully didn't comment on his chin.
It was still early; she decided to get closer to Eric first, then interrogate Mammy.
Leona sat down, tentatively reached out her hand, and gradually grabbed his wrist.
Eric lowered his head to look at her fingers and didn't pull his hand back.
Leona unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief and whispered, "Let me tell you a secret."
No response.
"I woke up and forgot a lot of things...even who I am, and why I stole the gold pocket watch to frame you. All I could find was my diary and a strange-looking bag...the diary warned me not to get close to you, saying you're dangerous. But for some reason, I always feel that you can be trusted."
"Maybe you'll kill me in the end," she said, "but I won't blame you because it was my own choice to approach you and be friends with you. I can feel that you're not a bad person—"
She held out her injured hand to him, the bruises swollen into a terrifying purple-red:
"When you saw me get hurt, your first reaction was to help me take revenge...you didn't even know if I approached you to be friendly to you for another purpose, but you did it anyway. If you're a bad person, then I don't know what a good person is."
Leona looked at him steadily: "I don't know what you've been through in the past, and I won't judge your past, but I want to understand you more—can we be friends?"
A long silence.
Eric looked at her palm, seemingly lost in thought.
After a while, a voice sounded in her ear: "...Why."
Leona suddenly looked up at him.
He actually spoke!
Too shocked to describe his tone, she only remembered it was very clean and pleasant.
Almost the best boy's voice she had ever heard.
For a while, Leona found her voice again: "Because you make me feel safe."
It was the truth.
Even though he could kill her at any moment, she still felt a kind of almost twisted sense of security because of his presence.
Maybe because he was the only existence she knew in this era.
She even knew his fate, knowing that he would later live in the underground labyrinth of Paris and fall in love with a ballet dancer named Christine.
At this moment, a sneer sounded.
Leona looked in the direction of the sound and found that Mammy had somehow spat out the rag in her mouth and was looking at them with a sneer.
Perhaps out of consideration for Eric, she didn't shout or struggle like she did yesterday, but just raised her chin high and looked at them with a look of disgust and fear.
Leona acted quickly, immediately picking up the fire tongs from the corner and aiming at Mammy's head: "Without our permission, you are not allowed to make noise, otherwise I don't mind letting you suffer."