Soren touched his tail and suddenly thought of Barbara.
“Barbara… maybe she can help me.
She’s Jean’s younger sister, after all.”
Supporting himself against the tree trunk, Soren gritted his teeth and curled up his left leg.
The edge of the splint had rubbed his skin raw, and every slight movement felt like needles stabbing into his bones.
Little by little, he pulled apart the bandages binding the splint to his leg.
His movements were as slow as a snail’s, cold sweat dripping from his chin onto the grass below, spreading into small damp stains.
“I have to find Barbara…”
He muttered between breaths, the heart-shaped tip of his tail stiff with tension.
“She’s Jean’s sister.
Even if she won’t help me escape, at least she can let me hide for a while…”
Using a thick branch he had picked up as a crutch, he limped toward Mondstadt Cathedral.
Along the way, whenever he encountered patrolling knights, he hurried into the bushes and stuffed his tail beneath his clothes.
Jean’s threat still echoed beside his ears.
The words “cut off your tail” stabbed into his heart like ice picks, and he did not dare gamble.
The cathedral’s spire finally entered his sight.
Just as Soren let out a breath of relief, he saw Barbara standing beneath the gingko tree outside the cathedral entrance, holding a thick notebook in her arms.
Her sky-blue eyes were fixed firmly in his direction, and a soft smile lingered on her lips, as though she had already been waiting for him for a very long time.
“Soren!
Why did you come back?”
Barbara quickly walked over, reaching out as if to support his arm.
Her fingertips carried the familiar sweet flower fragrance, yet the worry that had once filled her eyes was gone.
Instead, her gaze swept over him like a scanner, moving from the mud-stained hem of his pants to the loosened splint before finally settling on the tail hidden behind him.
“Your leg… why did you remove the splint?
Sister Jean will be angry if she finds out.”
Soren’s heart skipped.
Something suddenly felt wrong.
Barbara’s tone was far too natural, as if she had already known he would come, even known that he had removed the splint.
Instinctively, he took half a step back, only for Barbara to gently catch hold of his wrist.
“Don’t hide.”
Barbara’s thumb softly rubbed over the red marks on his wrist.
Her smile remained gentle, but a faint layer of gloom spread through the depths of her eyes.
“I know you didn’t want to stay with Sister Jean, and I know you wanted to run away… The moment you hid behind the tree to watch me, I already knew.”
Soren’s whole body stiffened, the tip of his tail curling around his own ankle.
He had hidden behind the oak tree outside the cathedral and made certain no one had seen him.
So how did Barbara know?
As if seeing through his confusion, Barbara lifted the notebook in her hand slightly.
A small image of the Anemo Archon’s Statue was printed on the cover.
It looked quite different from Jean’s leather notebook, yet carried the same unnervingly familiar feeling.
“I take walks around the cathedral every day.”
She opened the notebook.
Dense writing filled the pages, along with several small slips of paper pasted inside.
“Yesterday, Sister Jean took you away from the Knights of Favonius headquarters.
Today, you jumped out of her room window to escape.
Even just now, when you secretly removed your splint behind the tree… I wrote it all down.”
She pointed at one page.
On it was a simple sketch: a little figure with horns and a tail hiding behind a tree.
Beside it was written:
[10:17 a.m.: Soren removed the splint very slowly.
His left leg hurts.]
Underneath that was another line in smaller handwriting.
[His tail drooped so sadly.
He must be afraid Sister Jean will notice.
So pitiful.]
Cold sweat crawled across Soren’s back.
…So Barbara had always been “watching” him; it was not a chance encounter.
She had been recording his every movement like a hunter monitoring prey.
“You… you’ve been following me the whole time?”
His voice trembled.
He tried to pull his hand back, only for Barbara to tighten her grip.
“It’s not following you.”
Barbara tilted her head with a smile.
Obsessive light shimmered within her sky-blue eyes, like they were filled with shattered stars, yet cold enough to make people uneasy.
“It’s ‘protecting’ you.
Sister is too impatient.
She always wants to tie you to her side, but I know you prefer a freer kind of ‘care.'”
She pulled Soren toward the cathedral’s side entrance, her fingers lightly hooking around his.
Her voice was soft, like she was coaxing a child.
“I prepared a little room for you behind the bell tower.
There’s a soft mattress, and Sweet Madame too, the kind you like.”
“I remember you ate two pieces last time, so today I prepared an entire plate.
It’s very hidden there.
Sister Jean won’t be able to find you.”
Soren let himself be pulled along, his legs feeling as heavy as lead.
Looking at Barbara’s gentle profile, he suddenly remembered the focused look in her eyes when she handed him bread at Wolvendom, and the persistence with which she questioned him about his preferences inside the cathedral…
That had never been ordinary concern.
It was voyeuristic obsession hidden away long ago.
It was the kind of fixation that memorized his habits and reactions little by little.
“You… are you the same as Grand Master Jean?”
Despair filled Soren’s voice.
The tip of his tail hung limply against the ground, dragging across the stone path without even reacting.
Barbara stopped walking and turned to look at him.
Reaching out, she stroked the sharp horn atop his head.
Her touch was lighter than Jean’s, yet carried the same possessiveness.
“Not the same.
Sister wants to turn you into someone useless who can only depend on her, but I want you to stay by my side willingly.”
She opened the notebook to the final page.
A pale pink strand of fur was taped there;it had fallen from Soren’s tail.
“I know you like warm milk, dislike overly sweet things, are afraid of hilichurl cries, and even know that the tip of your tail is especially ticklish…”
Her voice grew lower and lower, the obsession in her eyes nearly overflowing.
“As long as you stay by my side, I can pretend not to notice that you want to escape, and I can even help hide it from Sister.
But if you want to leave Mondstadt, if you want to hide from me…”
She paused, her fingertips brushing over the tip of Soren’s tail, bringing a tingling, painful numbness.
“Then I’ll tell Sister everything about you removing the splint and trying to run away.
And when that happens… whether she really cuts off your tail or not, I can’t say.”
Looking at Barbara’s gentle smile, Soren only felt that it was even more terrifying than Jean’s fury.
Jean’s madness was displayed openly.
Meanwhile, Barbara’s obsession hid beneath the shell of “protection,” like an invisible net that was slowly robbing him of even the courage to escape.
Barbara led him into the small room behind the bell tower.
Inside was exactly as she described: a soft mattress spread across the floor, a plate of Sweet Madame resting on the table, and even a cup of warm milk prepared at precisely the temperature he liked.
“See?
I prepared everything for you already.”
Barbara pressed him down onto the mattress and sat beside him, opening her notebook once more.
“Now we can chat properly.
For example… when you escaped from Sister Jean’s room earlier, did you think about me at all?”
Her gaze locked firmly onto Soren’s face, not even missing the frequency of his blinks, as though she were confirming the condition of a treasure that belonged solely to her.
Leaning against the cold wall, Soren watched Barbara lower her head and continue writing in the notebook.
In that moment, he suddenly understood.
He had escaped from one cage only to fall into another… one even more hidden, even gentler.
Outside the window came the sound of wind chimes, as Barbara’s pen scratched softly across the paper, making the same rustling sound Jean’s recordings made inside her room.