Chapter. Final Showdown

“Are you saying the Mirror of Truth was a person?”

The Duke of Jevillan couldn’t hide his shock. He knew very well what the Mirror of Truth was.

He just never imagined it wasn’t some ordinary object, but a human being.

His own house possessed many books about Eva Faith, but the rarest old volumes—those hard to obtain—were mostly in the hands of the Marquessate of Duriel.

They had been a house that had thrown themselves into searching for the Guardian’s Sword for ages, so it couldn’t be helped. Of course, in the end, the Guardian’s Sword became Jevillan’s anyway.

Tsk.

The Duke of Jevillan clicked his tongue over and over in his head as he looked at the Duke of Sorpel, who seemed half out of his mind.

He understood perfectly why he was like that.

At a drinking table they’d shared before, he’d heard the worry that had been eating at him lately.

“The burden that child carries is too heavy.”

“What burden?”

“Wasn’t the mana-stone mine enough? Now even the Guardian’s Sword chose her.”

“The Guardian’s Sword is still our house’s. The mana-stone mine is something she bought. She wasn’t ‘chosen.’”

“And now they’re even calling her a saintess.”

“I told you to leave the Guardian’s Sword out of it!”

“Shut up! That’s not the point right now!”

He’d already been worried the burden on his daughter was too heavy.

And now the Mirror of Truth is piled on top of that.

It would be stranger if he wasn’t losing his mind.

“Father.”

“...We’re going home. Now.”

“What?”

“We’re leaving. Don’t stay here.”

The Duke of Sorpel grabbed Camilla by the wrist. Right now. They were going home.

He knew what the Mirror of Truth was, too.

Not in the same detail as the Marquess of Duriel or the Duke of Jevillan, but there was one line in the historical records he remembered with perfect clarity.

The Mirror of Truth, shattered to pieces by the hands of Eva Faith...

Even though it was a passage he’d read long ago, he’d remembered it because it had given him a strangely chilling feeling at the time.

And now that was his daughter.

“Come. Now.”

The Emperor’s death, Eva Faith—he didn’t care. The priority was taking this child somewhere safe.

“Father.”

Camilla was honestly thrown off by how completely different the Duke of Sorpel was from usual. She hadn’t expected him to be this shaken.

“First, Prince Abihel—”

In the chaos—when Consort Jabiela died and it was exposed that she was part of Eva Faith—Prince Abihel vanished without a trace.

He must’ve run the instant he realized I’m the Mirror of Truth.

I saw it.

Prince Abihel, turned into a ghost, clinging tight to his own body—his mind lost, just like the others.

They had to find him as fast as possible, but...

“Putting you back at home comes first.”

At his father’s trembling voice, urging her on, Camilla couldn’t make her mouth open.

Why...

Why is he acting like this?

That’s... that is a frightened face.

The Duke of Sorpel—frightened?

Who would believe that?

But that expression was unmistakably fear.

“Father.”

“We’re leaving. Now.”

Seeing the minute tremor in the fingertips gripping her wrist, Camilla couldn’t say anything else.

But...

Camilla’s gaze swept the hall again. Amid the nobles murmuring over the sudden turn of events, she spotted them.

People whose bodies had already been stolen. People with their own souls—minds lost—stuck to them.

When her eyes met theirs, they flinched and hurriedly bowed their heads.

She couldn’t just leave them and go back like this.

W-Wait, they’re running! I have to—

“Camilla!”

“......!”

The Duke of Sorpel clamped down hard on her shoulder as she hesitated.

“Do you not know what those things did to the Mirror of Truth?!”

...Ah.

So that’s why.

He knew.

So that’s why...

Camilla burst into laughter without meaning to. The moment she understood what he was afraid of, she found ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) herself smiling—stupidly—despite everything.

“You brat! Is this the time to laugh?!”

“You’re right.”

Camilla’s eyes had reddened before she realized it, staring at the Duke of Sorpel with his fingertips still trembling.

“C-Camilla!”

The Duke of Sorpel’s eyes widened fast, and he didn’t know what to do. Had his urgency sounded like anger?

“N-No. I’m not angry—”

But he couldn’t finish.

Camilla softly wrapped her arms around his waist.

“.......”

Their relationship had gotten much better than before, but he still felt it.

The child still kept her distance. She still didn’t fully let him in.

But...

Camilla hugging him now felt different.

At the small, quiet sob pressed into him, he gently patted her head, feeling something swell up in his chest.

“Hey! Get off, get off! In a situation like this, what’s with the family play-acting!”

“My Rio hugs me like that all the time these days.”

“What? That little brat’s got some nerve— No, that’s not the point right now!”

“Why? Your kids have hugged you at least once, haven’t they.”

“.......”

“...Should I tell Rio to hug you too?”

“Forget it! You bastard! You’re the worst!”

At the Duke of Jevillan and the Duke of Sephra bickering nonstop, Camilla finally stepped back from her father.

A smile had already returned to her face.

“Father.”

“Yeah.”

“I have a lot I want to say.”

The Duke of Sorpel’s hand softly stroked Camilla’s hair again.

But a moment later, his face hardened fast.

It wasn’t only him. The Duke of Sephra and the Duke of Jevillan, too, threw chilled gazes toward the window.

KRAK—! KRAK—!

In that instant, a string of small explosions sounded in the distance.

“Father!”

Someone ran in at a fast pace.

It was Ravi.

“It’s that group we saw at the hunting grounds. My brother is holding them off, but there are too many...!”

Ravi’s voice was urgent.

A little earlier, when Ravi and Ludville had checked outside, they’d found a massive number of enemies flooding in.

At Ludville’s order to go inside and report, Ravi had no choice but to rush back.

“But the one leading them is Prince Abihel!”

Unlike the other nobles, who gasped in shock, the three dukes didn’t react much.

They’d already expected it to some extent.

“Let’s go.”

The Duke of Sephra quietly took the lead. The Duke of Jevillan moved to follow—then hesitated and looked back at Camilla.

“Take it.”

“This is...”

The Guardian’s Sword.

“It’s better in your hands than mine.”

“Our daughter is not fighting!”

“I know, I know! Just carry it for protection!”

“Camilla. Don’t move from here. Understand?”

The Duke of Sorpel warned her firmly.

“But...”

If the ones gathering outside were those things from before—

Camilla clenched the Guardian’s Sword tight.

As she tried to follow, the three dukes’ eyes turned to one spot.

The Marquess of Duriel was still there, staring blankly at Consort Jabiela’s dead body.

Feeling their gaze, the marquess slowly lifted their head.

“You may charge them with treason.”

With a flick of the Duke of Sephra’s hand, a massive Black Wolf appeared at his side in an instant.

“The Guardian Houses’ highest priority is protecting the empire.”

Then, at the Duke of Jevillan’s side, a huge eagle appeared, spreading crimson wings wide.

“Huh?”

The Duke of Sorpel pulled King out as well.

Wait—didn’t they say bringing a Guardian into the Imperial Palace was treason? Since when was King here?

Our kid still can’t hide his body yet. Which means...

He brought him in anyway, imperial family be damned.

[GYUU!]

King, thrilled just to have been holding his breath and then come out, ran over and burrowed into Camilla’s arms, oblivious to her dumbfounded expression.

[GYUU, GYUU!]

But only for a moment.

After greeting her, King slipped out of her arms and headed back toward the Duke of Sorpel.

FWOOSH!

A bright light poured down, and as King took a step, his body changed in an instant.

The massive White Tiger from before now filled that place.

“Don’t worry about anything. Stay here.”

Leaving one last warning behind, the Duke of Sorpel immediately left the hall.

“You stay put.”

Ravi, too, looked like he meant to follow the dukes, and he warned Camilla in his own stern way.

“You’re going too, brother?”

Camilla hurriedly grabbed him. Her eyes were full of anxiety.

Why did this one feel like a child left too close to the water, unlike Ludville and the Duke of Sorpel? Was this what everyone felt when they looked at her, too?

“I have to help Father and my brother.”

As if to say not to worry, he poked her forehead with a finger.

Camilla grabbed that hand tightly.

“Don’t die. If you’re still breathing, I’ll restore you somehow.”

“...You really know how to say something vicious.”

Ravi let out a small laugh, then his gaze shifted behind her.

Someone had been silently following behind Camilla like a shadow for a while now.

Arsian was there.

“Protect her.”

Arsian didn’t argue or comment—he just nodded once.

Ravi clicked his tongue at that. He didn’t like that bastard at all, but in a situation like this, somehow, he could trust him.

“Haa.”

When Ravi disappeared as well, Camilla slowly scanned the area.

There weren’t many people left in the hall. Everyone was busy hiding in the sudden chaos.

“Huh?”

Then her eyes widened slightly.

“Where’s Jainer?”

Jainer, who had been nearby just moments ago, was gone.

“I don’t know. He vanished all of a sudden.”

“What?”

At Arsian’s answer, a faint crease formed between Camilla’s brows.

In a situation like this—where did he go?

*****

KRAAAK—!

With a swing of Ludville’s sword, countless bodies tumbled down in a heap.

“Young Master! Over there too!”

The soldiers of the three ducal houses who had been on standby were fighting the enemies, but the number of Eva Faith believers pouring in was endless.

Where had that many even been hiding?

“Why would the second prince—”

Everyone was in turmoil at the sight of Prince Abihel at the front.

The imperial soldiers had tried to follow Prince Abihel’s orders at first, but the moment they saw the Eva Faith believers he was leading, they flinched.

A mob that had lost its mind and did nothing but attack didn’t look normal.

In the end, the imperial soldiers were frozen—unable to do anything either way.

“They’re attacking the imperial family! What are you hesitating for!”

And then, in that moment, a familiar voice rang out.