Chapter 12 A Cold Night

The midnight air was freezing as Leo walked down the dim corridor. The mansion was completely silent, except for the faint whistling of the wind against the roof tiles. He had just finished his late patrol around the lower floors, checking every window latch and back entrance twice. Every shadow made his shoulders tighten, but everything was quiet outside.

He took his position right beside Bella’s bedroom door, leaning his back against the wall. He let out a long breath, watching the faint mist of his own breath disappear into the cold air.

Suddenly, a muffled, choking sound came from inside the room.

Leo snapped his head toward the thick door, straining his ears to listen. It wasn't the usual sound of her tossing in her bed or pacing the floor. It was a ragged, breathless gasp, followed by a low, desperate sob that sounded completely heartbroken.

"Lady Bella?" Leo called out quietly, tapping his knuckles against the door frame.

There was no verbal answer, only the sound of something small clattering against the floorboards, followed by a sharp, panicked intake of air. It sounded like she was suffocating.

Leo didn't wait. He turned the handle and pushed the door open a few inches, peering into the dark room. The curtains were wide open, allowing the pale moonlight to flood the floor. Bella wasn't in her bed. She was curled up in the tight space between the nightstand and the wall, her knees pulled tightly to her chest. Her silver hair was a wild mess around her face, and her entire body was shaking so violently that her teeth were clicking together.

"Get back..." she gasped out, her green eyes wide and completely bloodshot as she stared blindly at the empty center of the room. "The... the wine. It burns. My neck... everything is breaking."

Leo stepped into the room, keeping his hands up where she could see them, moving as slowly as possible. He recognized those words instantly. She was remembering the poison from Loop 5 and the broken carriage from Loop 8. Her conscious mind didn't have the clear memories, but her soul was replaying the agony of her previous deaths in her sleep. The system was torturing her from the inside out.

"Bella, look at me," Leo said, his deep voice incredibly soft and calm. "You are safe. There is no wine, and there is no carriage. You are in your room."

"No! Stay away from me!" she shrieked, pressing her back so hard against the wall it looked like she wanted to disappear through the plaster. She clutched her throat with both hands, her fingernails scratching her pale skin. "I can't breathe, Leo! There is blood everywhere... Why is there so much blood on the floor? Why won't it stop spinning?"

She was completely trapped inside her own mind, looking right at him but seeing a phantom world of horror.

Leo knew that if he tried to grab her or force her to stand, her paranoia would spike and make the panic attack even worse. He took a slow step backward, moving all the way to the threshold of the room. He sat down right on the floor, leaning his back against the open door frame so there was a wide, safe distance between them.

"I am right here, Bella," Leo said, his voice dropping into a steady, rhythmic tone. "I am sitting by the door. Nobody is coming in, and nobody is going to hurt you. Just listen to the sound of my voice."

Bella let out a miserable, high-pitched sob, her chest heaving as she struggled to get a single gasp of air into her lungs. "It hurts... my head feels like it's exploding. Everyone wants to leave me in the dark. You left me too... you stood there and watched..."

Leo’s stomach twisted with a brutal wave of guilt. She was remembering Loop 15. She was remembering the exact moment he had stepped aside and let the assassin drive a blade through her heart. Even though time had reset, the raw pain of his betrayal was still bleeding into her soul.

"I am not leaving," Leo said, his voice cracking slightly with a sudden rush of real emotion. He cleared his throat, forcing himself to stay steady for her sake. "I am right here. I am going to stay right against this door all night. You can close your eyes, Bella. I will watch the dark for you."

Bella didn't answer, but her loud, frantic gasping began to slow down just a fraction. She kept her green eyes locked onto his face, using his calm expression like a lifeline in the middle of a stormy sea.

"Tell me something," she whispered, her voice tiny and completely broken, sounding like a frightened child instead of a proud noble heiress. "Just... talk. Don't let it get quiet again."

Leo looked down at his own large hands, thinking about what to say. He couldn't talk about this world, and he couldn't talk about her family. So, he decided to talk about home.

"Where I come from," Leo began softly, staring at the moonlight on the floorboards, "there are these tiny shops that stay open all night long. The lights are always bright, even at three in the morning. When it gets freezing cold like this, people walk inside just to buy a warm cup of coffee or a hot bowl of noodles. It’s completely quiet. No monsters, no guards, no scripts. Just ordinary people trying to stay warm before the sun comes up."

Bella listened, her head slowly slumping sideways against the nightstand. Her breathing was still shallow, but the violent shaking in her shoulders was finally starting to fade away. "Bright shops... in the middle of the night?"

"Yeah," Leo said, a small, sad smile touching his lips. "The glass windows are always clear, and you can see the whole street from the counter. I used to work there. I used to just sit by the window and watch the rain fall on the pavement. It was the most boring job in the world."

"Sounds nice," she murmured, her eyelids growing incredibly heavy as the sheer exhaustion of the panic attack finally caught up to her. "No fighting..."

"No fighting at all," Leo confirmed quietly.

He kept talking, spinning simple, boring stories about rain, quiet streets, and warm food for another hour. He didn't stop until he heard her breathing turn deep and regular. Bella had slid completely down against the floor, her head resting on her arm, finally asleep.

Leo stood up slowly, making sure his boots didn't make a single sound against the floor. He walked over to her bed, pulled a large, thick woolen blanket off the mattress, and walked back over to her. He knelt down and gently draped the blanket over her shaking shoulders, taking extra care not to touch her skin or wake her up.

As he looked down at her quiet face in the moonlight, she looked completely defenseless. "I won't let them delete you, Bella," Leo whispered into the dark room. "I promise."