Chapter 8 The Guarded Room

Leo stood outside the high bedroom doors, his arms crossed tightly over his chest armor. His eyes never left the long corridor. After learning about the system penalty, he had made a strict decision. The outside world was too full of random dangers. If he kept Bella locked inside her suite, he could control the environment. He could check her food, watch the windows, and keep her away from rogue carriages or sudden ambushes.

The sound of pacing inside the room had been going on for hours. Step after step, the restless movement never seemed to stop.

Suddenly, the door swung open with a violent click. Bella stood in the doorway; her silver hair completely tangled around her shoulders. Her pale face was tense, and her emerald eyes looked wide and bloodshot. She didn't look like a proud noble lady anymore; she looked like a hunted animal.

"Why am I not allowed to go to the garden today?" Bella demanded, her voice high and trembling with raw panic. "The servants told me you canceled my walk. Who gave you the right to ground me in my own house?"

"It is for your safety, Lady Bella," Leo said, keeping his voice low and steady. "The estate is not secure right now. There are threats we cannot see yet. It is better if you stay inside."

"Threats?" Bella let out a sharp, breathless laugh, backing up a step into her room. "You keep saying that! Every day it’s a new threat! First it’s assassins in the afternoon, then it’s the food, then it’s the carriage! You are creating monsters in the dark, Leo!"

Leo took a slow step forward, closing the door behind him so the passing servants wouldn't hear her shouting. "I am not making anything up. I am doing my job. If you step outside these walls, I cannot guarantee that I can protect you."

"No, you are lying!" Bella screamed, her fingers digging into the fabric of her skirt. She pointed a shaking hand at him, her chest heaving as tears of absolute frustration pooled in her eyes. "I know what you are doing now. It all makes sense! My head has been pounding for days, and every time I look at you, I feel this horrible, freezing terror. You are doing this to me!"

Leo felt a sharp stab of guilt in his chest. He knew her headaches and terror were the side effects of her losing three lives, a direct result of his choice in the last loop. But he couldn't tell her that.

"I am only here to guard your life, Bella," he said softly, using her name without the title, hoping it would ground her.

"Don't use my name!" she shrieked, pressing her back against her vanity table, knocking over a couple of silver brushes. "You are trapping me in here! You locked the doors, you watched my every move, and you won't let me see anyone. You are trying to cut me off from my father! You want me weak so you can steal from my family, don't you? You want to take everything we own!"

Leo stared at her, completely stunned by the wild accusation. "Steal from you? I am a low-ranking soldier. I don't care about your family’s gold."

"Then why won't you let me leave?" Bella sobbed, her voice breaking as she covered her face with her small hands. She slid down the side of the table, collapsing onto the floor in a heap of tangled silver hair and expensive fabric. "I am a prisoner in my own room. Everyone is whispering about me. They think I am crazy. My father won't even visit me because he thinks I am having a tantrum. You did this. You ruined my life."

Seeing her break down like this made Leo's stomach twist into a painful knot. In the earlier loops, she was just a loud, annoying brat who treated people like dirt. But now, looking at her small form shaking on the floor, he realized how truly broken she was. The system was eating her mind, and she was completely terrified, lonely, and helpless.

He walked over slowly and knelt a few feet away from her on the floor, making sure not to get too close to scare her further.

"I am not trying to steal from you, and I am not your jailer," Leo said, his deep voice filled with a quiet, heavy emotion. "I know you hate me. I know you don't trust a single thing I say. But I swear on my very soul, I will not let anything hurt you. Even if you want to execute me later, just stay inside where it is safe. Please."

Bella slowly lowered her hands from her face, her tear-stained green eyes searching his expression. She looked for any sign of deceit, any hint of a killer or a thief. For a single, fleeting second, the wild paranoia in her eyes seemed to soften, replaced by a deep, childlike confusion.

"Why do you care so much?" she whispered, her voice raw and tiny. "Nobody else cares if I live or die. They just care about my father's name. Why are you acting like my life is the only thing that matters?"

Because if you die, I turn to dust, Leo thought bitterly. But looking at her miserable face, the truth was becoming more complicated than just a survival system. He was starting to feel a terrible responsibility for her fragile mind.

"Because it does matter," Leo said quietly, standing back up and adjusting his armor. "Rest now, Lady Bella. I will be right outside the door."

He walked back to the entrance, leaving her sitting in the quiet room. As the door clicked shut behind him, Leo leaned his head against the cold frame, closing his eyes as his muscles trembled from the pure stress of the long afternoon. He had kept her safe for today, but her mind was slipping away faster than he could catch it.