“Eyes filled with pure, unconditional trust. You usually only see that in beasts, don’t you think so, Miss Rian?”

The name Rian felt unfamiliar. Though she had lived just as many years as Rian as she had as Jiah, the name still felt like it belonged to someone else.

“You must have mistaken me for someone else.”

She brushed it off with a reply she’d given countless times before. Like a machine, she repeated the same line. Jiah had no intention of becoming entangled in his life ever again.

“I never said it was a person.”

“…Pardon?”

When she furrowed her brows slightly, Tristan’s lips curled into a smile right before her eyes. She thought she had walked straight into a wordplay trap.

“I lost the beast I once raised. I thought you might be able to find it.”

She couldn’t tell if he was joking or being serious. Jiah didn’t answer right away this time. She took a moment to choose her words carefully.

“I’ve never raised an animal before.”

She had never raised one, never lost one, and never tried to find one either.

“Let’s find out. I believe someone like you could, Miss Rian.”

The certainty that he would never know the truth wavered slightly.