Klerien was aware that nothing had been certain yet. The parchments in his hands might be completely random or valuable. However, as he ran through the midnight forest with the moon shining upon the glistening leaves and shrubs scattered through the forest floor, all he could think was his purpose.

The overwhelming pounding and exhilaration in his chest caused his fingers to tremble in anticipation and dread. Klerien finally felt a connection. It was bridging and connecting a thin string around his limbs towards whatever awaits him far ahead. This was the start. He was still searching for the door.

Now, with Leos, he could feel a string connecting him to it. Reaching his destination, his legs gave out from all the running. Slumping on the base of the great tree, a piece moved in place inside his mind.

“Mother, Liezel… Father.” Klerien’s stifled whimpers, subtly and quietly drifted with the gentle wind of the midnight forest.

That night, he slept on the forest floor, curled up and tightly clutching the parchments in his hands. Klerien slept peacefully for a long time, without caring even if Hemlock was attacked and annihilated by mythical creatures, labelled as a werwulf.

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“What are you doing? Sleeping on a cold forest floor when you have a perfectly functioning house? Did the wolf effected your sleeping habits too? I know that you’re prone to growl, but damn.” A high-pitched voiced roused him from his sleep. Slowly opening his eyes, the dark soil and evergreens greeted him. He blinked at a pair of feet at his line of sight.

“Carmine?” He rustled his head, pulling himself from the ground. A shiver ran through his skin as he felt the morning breeze. Rolling into a ball, he glanced at the smiling blonde. “W-what... how?”

“Are you alright?” She reached for his cheeks. He could feel the warmth from her hands on the sides of his faces.

“No, I have another favour.”

“The first thing you say after waking up to my beautiful face, you ask for a favour?” She scoffed, fog coming out of her mouth due to the cold. “I need a place to hide first. They became more assertive and aggressive. It looks like they learned that I killed one of their men.”

Klerien breathed out. “I’ll show you a place where no one will find you.” Lifting his head, he reached out as a snowflake landed on his palm. It immediately melted leaving a wet spot.

She smiled. “I have a hunch about the key’s importance. It might be a property of they leader. They were frantic and had terrible expressions when they realized that I stole it.”

“Good.” He nodded, pushing himself to stand. “I found two addresses. I need you to confirm its location.”

She stared at the man in front. His chest moved up and down. His brown hair was rustled and his nose, ears, and cheeks red from the cold. She grinned, glancing at his purple lips. “You know, what you make me do is supposed to be a man’s job. Aren’t our roles reversed?”

“What do you say?” She smirked, fingers trailing from his temples to the base of his neck. Stepping closer, she pressed herself into his chest, arms circling his torso. Her head nuzzled against his neck. “Don’t you feel cold? Should I let you feel warm?”

“Carmine.” Klerien glared at her taunts before pulling away. He hated that he allowed something to happen between them when he couldn’t control his actions. “Remove yourself, it was one time.”

“How cold.” She giggled as she skipped behind him, staring at the reliable figure from behind.

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Klerien had an unfocused stare. The permanent burden on his shoulders was slightly lifted from all the crying and moaning that he did last night. He didn’t know why he would feel tired at such moment, but it felt like it took all his energy to lift all that invisible heavy burden.

“Where were you?” Leos stood behind the door as it slowly opened. He stood firmly with his feet apart and reached for his hands.

“Guten morgen, Leos.” was all Klerien said. His voice came out hoarse and scratchy. The tips of his fingers were frozen from the cold early morning breeze. His hair even had a couple of short twigs and dead leaves in them.

Leos could not keep his eyebrows from furrowing. He gently let go of his cold hands. “Guten morgen,” he muttered. “Did you sleep on the forest floor?”

His hands skimmed through Klerien’s brown locks. He didn’t do anything to remove Leo’s probing fingers. The twigs and leaves fell onto the floor with Leos’ help. He nodded at Leos.

“What were you thinking? You could have frozen to death, sleeping on a forest floor in winter.” Klerien scoffed, swatting his hand. Leos’ hand fell on his sides as he watched in disbelief.

“Why? Don’t say that you waited for me?” Leos sighed glancing at the slumped form of the man on their cot. He tsked and made a displeased sound at the back of his throat. Klerien buried his face on the soft, but cold pillow. There was a faint trace of musky scent and evergreen.

“Did you?” He glanced at the man looking down at him. Leos had not said anything.

“I’ve been waiting for you all night. Do not worry. Since you seem to have a lot of time to spare, I decided to spend time wisely instead of blindly waiting. I read through all the parchments and tried to make sense out of it.” Leos softly sat on the cot, making their proximity closer. Klerien could feel the heat seeping from his skin. Because of spending the night on the winter forest floor, all he could only feel the cold throughout his body from the tips of his limbs until the wide span of his skin

“Well, did you find something?” Klerien murmured. His eyelids struggled to remain open. His breathing slowly settled into deeper breathes. He’s falling into another deep sleep.

Leos reached for his hair. He gently placed his hand on the man’s lulled head. “You can sleep for now, we can talk later.”

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When Leos heard a groan coming from the mess of sheets on the cot, he placed the parchment on the side table. He watched as Klerien stretched his arms followed with a soft yawn and sigh.

“Leos?” Maximillian pounced on Konrad’s chest. He chuckled as the wolf howled before nuzzling his neck.

“You’re awake.” He muttered staring down at the half-asleep figure. “I let you rest since your body is probably tired from sleeping outside the cold. You should have really thought about the consequences, Konrad.”

Klerien lifted his body into a sitting position, rubbing the sleepiness from his eyes. His arms wrapped around Maximillian’s warm body. The wolf whined as he hugged him tighter. He could not believe that he had lowered his guard around Leos. Something could have happened on the time that he was unconscious and unaware. After clearing his throat, his mind eventually cleared as he remembered what Leos was supposed to report to him when he came back.

“What were you about to tell me earlier?”

“First, tell me if you recognize the name that I’m about to tell you.” Leos said. His fingers ran through his cropped auburn locks before reaching for the parchment. “Do you possibly know a man called Gilles?”

Klerien pursed his lips. “It has only been days and I still hasn’t forgotten my visit in the plaza.” His breathing stuttered, seeing the severed head of Stumpp spiked on top of a wild wolf’s body.

Leos narrowed his eyes.

“I heard that name when I was strolling around the plaza.” Klerien said, disbelief apparent in his tone and voice. Then, he clenched his fists, and spat. “They attached Stumpp’s head on a body of a wolf, leaving the decaying bodies to rot for everyone to see. I was walking around town to investigate and look for any leads when I saw the revolting sight.”

Leos grimaced. How far did Hemlock’s rottenness will go? He only left for months and he felt like it already runs deeper into the roots of the town until the surface of the townspeople. However, that is not what dominated his thoughts.

He glanced at Konrad. He winced when an unwelcomed thought entered his mind. It was like someone had decked him in the gut. Leos blocked the thoughts from further invading. He thought that he was about to involve a complete bystander when he decided to offer a deal to Konrad. However, the man was truly something else. Something blossomed inside his guts. The thought that Konrad might know more about some things that Leos also wanted to know made him wary.

‘I need to know his intentions before I proceed. If not, this might be more dangerous and riskier for me after all.’ Leos thought.

“Konrad, will you truthfully answer a question for me?” Leos asked. Their eyes met, and both realized that the next minutes will be crucial for their deal. Leos gave Konrad a soft but disguised glance. Leos saw the recognition in his green eyes. Konrad was a cautious and observant man.

“What is it?”

“Konrad, when did you start looking for your leads?” Leos said, emphasizing the last word. “We may have had a silent agreement to not talk about our own intentions, but we can no longer keep this up. We cannot rely on this alliance if we are hiding the most important aspect that keeps alliances together. I need to know your intentions, and you would want to know mine. This might not be the proper time, but I need to at least know that you are being truthful.”

A pang hit his chest. He was being unfair, he knew. He was not exactly being truthful either but would throw his sympathy and guilt out of the window when it comes to their deal.

“Why ask, Leos?” Klerien blurted out. He expected something else, not a question about his purpose. Due to his purpose, he could never be too truthful to anyone in this lifetime anymore. No one will ever truly know the real him anymore and it extends to Leos and their deal. Klerien would never allow anyone to fully know him. There were also certain risks that accompanies it, especially everyone knows that he’s already dead to this world. His heart painfully thudded at his inner thoughts, but he ignored it as always. He directly stared at Leos’ golden eyes.

“Is it that crucial for you to know my purposes, Leos? I never did ask for yours. I thought that that was enough. All I want from you is information. I-”

“Yes, I realize that. However, Konrad, I might not have enough time to recklessly spend in my hands. I have a lot of things to do and I am sure that so are you. We cannot work together if we are not certain what we are trying to accomplish from the whole… this.”

Klerien sighs. “Is this about yesterday? Did you learn something urgent from your sudden errand?”

“Yes.” Leos said.

“Ah…”

“What do you want me to tell you?”

“What are your motives, Konrad? Because, I feel like we can no longer hide here like this. We need to take matters into our own hands if we wanted to find any leads to whatever you want to investigate.” Klerien glared at Leos’ spiteful tone. His amber eyes turned darker before disappearing behind the man’s eyelids.

“You can’t avoid this, Konrad. You don’t even have to tell me anything about yourself.”

“How about you, Leos? You’re asking too much from me. I demanded to know what happened that night but you haven’t conceded. The only way that I will tell you my purpose is if you became truthful.” He scoffed.

“This isn’t a matter of being truthful or not. We do not trust each other. Of course, we would doubt each other. In the first place, why would a merchant from Luxor be intrigued by Hemlock’s dubious affairs.” Leos squinted his eyes. His tone grew stiffer and sterner. “Tell me Konrad, how did you, an outsider, ended up in this abandoned house.”

Klerien flinched. “This is your fault, Leos. Why mention an abandoned house in the middle of the forest in our conversation. This isn’t involved. I only had a caravan and a large wolf. Where should I have hidden you. I stumbled in this abode while I escape from the people’s curiosity.”

Leos opened his mouth but he continued. “A woman saw your unharmed form beside an actual corpse. Nearby townspeople would have heard it. To hide and to provide proper medical attention, I needed this exact place. Finding it was a mere coincidence.”

“Coincidence…” Leos trailed off. “There are no such things in this world as coincidences. Everything are inevitable led by various decisions and actions that has its own reason. Is this your first time in Hemlock?”

“It is.” Klerien grounded without hesitation, looking directly in his eyes. “And your question is difficult to answer.”

‘It is, Leos…’ Klerien sighed after staring intensely into Leos’ chest. He unconsciously clasped his wolf’s fur. Maximillian looked at both men. “Give me time. You should… do what you have to do, then find me later. Maybe, I’ll be able to tell you something by then. I-”

“No.” Leos said. Konrad’s tone stirred his chest. He detected it. He knew that Konrad will probably still evade him later, because he didn’t want to meet his gaze. “You should find me when you decided to stop hesitating. What would you do if I did commit murder? Hemlock isn’t what it seems anymore. There are powerful forces behind the men that governs over the town. If you truly...”

Leos defeatedly and angrily shrugged his shoulders before turning around for the doorway. As he reached for the closed door, he waited for Konrad to say anything, but… nothing. Leos frowned. “Let us not wait for each other this time. I’ll come when you decided to tell me the truth.”

Klerien silently sat on the cot as the door slowly and softly shut. He didn’t know if he would have preferred it if he slammed it shut instead. He sighed before glancing at the perfectly relaxed wolf beside him.

“It seems that it’s only the two of us again, my friend.” He muttered. Maximillian merely stared back at him with his peculiar wolf eyes. Thoughts shuffled in his mind as he watched the friend that accompanied him throughout the whole year. Then, he thought about the soft shutting of the door. The image suddenly weighed on his mind. It felt too… final.

Cursing, the guilt struck him. Sleep did not come for a long time.