Elina smiled faintly as she listened to Rigo talk about Leon.
That night, as usual, she was tending to her daughter’s wounds in a room illuminated by the soft glow of candlelight. Every time she saw the bruises and cuts covering Rigo’s body, a quiet pain pierced her heart. Yet she could not deny the small sense of happiness she felt.
Since Leon arrived, Rigo—who was normally quiet and rarely spoke—had begun to open up a little.
The girl talked more often now, especially about the new experiences she shared with Leon.
Elina listened carefully as Rigo recounted what had happened in the Araezel cave—how Leon had insisted on saving the hostages while Rigo herself believed killing them all would have been the easier and faster solution.
Rigo spoke in her usual flat tone.
But tonight, there was something different in her eyes.
A faint confusion.
Something Elina rarely saw.
“Leon stopped me,” Rigo said quietly.
“I could have disabled him, ignored his words, and finished the mission quickly. But somehow… when he looked at me, I felt… frozen. As if I saw something I couldn’t understand.”
Elina looked at her daughter gently while applying ointment to the wound on Rigo’s arm.
She didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, she let Rigo continue speaking.
“In the end, his decision brought good results,” Rigo continued. “The nobles thanked us. Even the Emperor praised us.”
She lowered her head slightly.
“But… I still don’t understand why. What makes it different from what we usually do? Wouldn’t it have been easier if they had all died?”
Her voice softened, almost as if she were speaking to herself.
“What confuses me is… why didn’t I resist Leon? I could have. But I didn’t.”
Elina sighed softly and paused, studying her daughter’s troubled expression.
Rigo, who was normally so composed and strong, now looked like a confused little girl.
A girl questioning things she had probably never questioned before.
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Elina knew that Rigo’s life had always been nothing more than a series of orders and missions.
There had never been room for doubt.
But now Leon’s presence seemed to have awakened something new within her daughter.
“You feel confused because Leon showed you something different from what you’re used to seeing, don’t you?” Elina asked softly, gently stroking Rigo’s hair.
Rigo nodded slowly.
“Yes, Mother… it feels strange.”
“When he speaks, I feel like… like he’s the adult and I’m the child. As if he understands this world far better than I do.”
Elina smiled faintly.
She could see how deeply this small change had affected her daughter.
Leon, despite being only a child, seemed to possess a perspective that dared to question everything Rigo had always accepted as absolute truth.
His presence had challenged the beliefs that had been planted inside Rigo since childhood.
“Rigo,” Elina began gently, meeting her daughter’s confused gaze, “sometimes doing the right thing isn’t the same as doing the easy thing.”
“You’ve been taught to complete missions as efficiently as possible, without considering whether those actions are right or wrong.”
“But Leon… perhaps he sees something you’ve overlooked.”
Rigo looked up.
“What do you mean?”
“Leon sees the value of every life he encounters,” Elina said softly.
“He knows that killing the hostages would have ended the mission quickly. But he also knew they weren’t a threat.”
“So he chose to consider the value of their lives… even if that made the mission more difficult.”
Rigo frowned slightly, trying to process her mother’s words.
The idea felt unfamiliar to her.
All her life, she had never been taught to think about the “value” of someone’s life.
Anyone who stood in the way of her mission was simply a target.
No exceptions.
But now…
She found herself questioning that belief.
“But… if we let them live, wouldn’t that be a weakness?” Rigo asked hesitantly, as though trying to defend the principles she had always followed.
Elina smiled gently.
“Not always, Rigo.”
“Sometimes mercy can be a strength that isn’t immediately visible.”
“You saw the result yourself, didn’t you?”
“The nobles were grateful because you saved their families. They now believe the Empire values their lives—not just its missions.”
“Things like that may seem unimportant during a mission… but in the end they can build trust and loyalty.”
Rigo fell silent.
She still struggled to accept the idea that mercy could be a form of strength.
To her, mercy had always been weakness.
The sign of an assassin who failed to complete their task.
Yet what she had seen from Leon made her feel as though there was something she had missed all this time.
Elina gently placed her hand on Rigo’s shoulder.
“Maybe Leon is showing you that there’s another way to carry out a mission—one that doesn’t always require death.”
Rigo looked at her mother with uncertainty.
“But… why did I listen to him?”
“I shouldn’t have allowed a child like him to influence me. But in that moment… it felt like he was the more mature one.”
Elina smiled softly.
“Perhaps, Rigo, it’s because Leon carries experiences and wisdom far beyond his age.”
“Maybe in his eyes you saw someone who has walked through the same darkness as you… someone who has already learned painful lessons about life.”
Rigo nodded slowly, trying to understand.
Maybe it was true.
Maybe there really was something in Leon’s gaze that had stopped her.
Something that made her hesitate.
“Rigo,” Elina continued, “it’s okay to feel confused.”
“Life isn’t only about orders and missions.”
“Sometimes we need to question what we do in order to truly understand its meaning.”
“You’re fortunate to have Leon beside you—a friend who can help you see the world differently.”
Rigo was quiet for a moment before nodding slowly.
“Maybe… maybe you’re right, Mother,” she said softly.
“I feel like there are many things I don’t understand about this world… things Leon sees that I can’t.”
Elina smiled and gently stroked her daughter’s hair.
“And that’s alright, Rigo.”
“You’re still learning. Your journey has only just begun.”
“You don’t need to understand everything right now.”
“But as long as you keep your heart open to learning—like Leon showed you—you’ll find your own path.”
Later that night, after Elina finished tending to Rigo’s wounds and wished her good night, Rigo lay quietly in her bed, thinking about everything they had talked about.
She still didn’t fully understand.
But she knew something inside her had changed since Leon appeared in her life.
A new doubt had formed.
A curiosity she had never felt before.
In the darkness of her room, Rigo stared at the ceiling and asked herself:
Could mercy really be a form of strength?
Could every life truly hold value?
And most importantly…
Was there another path?
A different way to be an assassin… without killing everyone in her path?
With those questions filling her mind, Rigo slowly closed her eyes.
Inside her heart, a new door had opened.
And even though she didn’t know where that path would lead…
For the first time in her life,
she felt that perhaps—
she was no longer walking alone.
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