“What do you mean — appeared?”

At Adeline’s question, Tie stared anxiously at the space behind her.

But since recently, there truly had been something there.

Something visible at this moment only to Tie’s eyes.

“Before, Tie didn’t know what it was either.”

Now she knew.

Because in Pearlcity she had met Basto’s deceased wife — Eve.

Tie lowered her voice.

“It’s... just like a ghost, no, like a soul...”

“Don’t joke.”

But in that very instant, Adeline cut her off.

Her voice trembled faintly.

With bloodshot eyes and her jaw tightly clenched, Adeline said:

“That’s... my mother. No matter how young you are, such jokes...”

Tie lowered her brows helplessly.

“It’s not a joke...!”

She looked to the squad members for help, and Nordix stepped forward with a serious expression.

“The child’s words are true.”

Adeline looked at Nordix without expression.

“The girl is a mage. More precisely, a necromancer who wields dark magic. She has previously seen the dead more than once...”

“And that’s all?”

But sharpness rang in Adeline’s voice.

“I tried to help you. And this is all I receive in return?”

“Adeline, that’s not—”

“If this is not mockery of my mother and of me — then what is it?”

At last, from Adeline’s eyes, drop by drop, the tears she had held back for so long began to fall.

Her clenched fist trembled faintly.

“I...”

Staggering, she sank to the floor, her shoulders shaking.

Tie began to cry as well, shifting helplessly from foot to foot, not knowing what to do.

“...”

The woman standing behind Adeline stepped toward Tie.

From the folds of her clothing, she took out a white handkerchief and placed it on Tie’s palm.

With a sorrowful smile, she looked at Adeline.

As if asking Tie to give the handkerchief to her.

Tie hesitated, then carefully approached Adeline.

And held out the handkerchief.

“Onni, here...”

Adeline, her eyes red, looked at Tie.

The next moment, her breath caught.

On Astie’s palm, thousands of tiny lights gathered.

The light, as if wrapping around something, condensed and took the shape of an object.

“...Ah.”

A short cry slipped from Adeline’s lips.

The light that had gathered in Tie’s hand became a handkerchief.

The very same handkerchief which, on the day she departed for the capital to become a lady in waiting to the Princess, she herself had placed into her mother’s hands.

“H-how is this even possible.”

“She keeps crying while looking at onni.”

“What...?”

“Because onni is crying, the ghost is probably sad too. She’s been looking at onni from the very beginning and keeps crying...”

Adeline’s face twisted uncontrollably.

With a trembling hand, she grasped Tie’s small palm.

Between the child’s fingers, the warmth of the handkerchief passed.

“Uu, hhk...”

Her breathing faltered, and she bent forward, pressing her face into the handkerchief.

“Mother, Mother...”

From the handkerchief came a familiar scent.

The very one that unmistakably belonged to her mother.

Adeline sat there for a long time, curled in on herself.

Holding Tie tightly and sobbing aloud.

At last, when she stopped crying, she asked in a hoarse voice:

“Mother... is she truly beside me?”

Tie sniffled and nodded.

“I... I didn’t know.”

She had thought it was an assassin or an observer.

At times, it had even seemed strange.

That trained stealth operatives could not conceal their presence? Something had felt wrong.

But now she understood.

“It wasn’t because she couldn’t hide.”

She had done it deliberately.

To let her know she was there.

Because she was her mother.

Adeline tightly grasped the handkerchief Tie had given her.

She took a deep breath and asked:

“Can you hear what Mother is saying?”

Astie looked behind Adeline.

But soon, with a crestfallen face, she shook her head.

“I can’t hear. Her lips move like this, but there’s no sound at all.”

“...I see.”

“But she keeps pointing over there!”

Tie pointed diagonally.

Adeline turned her head in that direction, her gaze growing serious.

“Toward the lord’s castle.”

The direction Tie indicated led to the castle.

Adeline’s pupils darkened calmly.

She steadied her breathing briefly.

Then gathered herself and rose.

“Let’s go. If we delay, the interrogation will begin.”

Before entering the room,

in the corridor she had overheard part of Agavert’s conversation.

If Reginald began interrogating Bale, Agavert might truly be expelled from the capital.

“Let’s rescue your companion before the interrogation starts.”

Enzo rose after her.

“Is that possible?”

“Whether it is or not, we still have to try, don’t we?”

The members of Agavert exchanged glances.

“...Thank you. Sincerely.”

At Raul’s words, Adeline shook her head.

“It’s nothing. I was going to help anyway.”

“Truly?”

“When your companion struck Reginald, to be honest, I ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) felt relieved.”

Basto exhaled shortly.

Before his eyes flashed the image of two of Reginald’s teeth being knocked out at once.

“First, we check the underground dungeon. If he’s not there, we’ll have to go up to the top of the tower...”

“No!”

But at that moment, Tie, staring into empty space, jumped.

She shook her head.

“The pretty lady says — not upstairs, not downstairs. She shook her head like this.”

Adeline’s eyes narrowed.

“Neither the spire nor the underground dungeon?”

But other than those two places, there was nowhere to hold a prisoner.

Then she let out a short breath.

“Could it be.”

“Do you have a guess?”

Adeline looked at Nordix.

“I do. When Reginald first moved into the castle, he said one place would serve as a temporary prison.”

It was the stable in the rear courtyard of the castle.

The place where her father, when alive, had personally cared for his beloved horses.

“The stable. It’s probably the stable behind the castle.”

In the darkened forest,

Basto walked bent as low as possible.

He was afraid the branches would strike Tie’s face as he carried her on his back.

“The path is harder than expected.” 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

At Raul’s words from ahead, Adeline nodded.

“Of the back routes to the castle, this is the only one Reginald doesn’t know. It can’t be helped.”

To avoid the soldiers’ eyes, they deliberately took a detour.

The forest trail endlessly shifted from steep ascent to descent.

Because of that, Nordix, who endured for the first twenty minutes, turned back toward the village.

While the squad rescued Bale, he would gather their belongings and prepare a carriage.

So they could leave the village immediately if necessary.

“We’re almost there. That wooden fence over there.”

Enzo looked where Adeline pointed and nodded.

In the distance, among weeds and shrubs that reached an adult man’s waist,

a fence could be seen, as if made from roughly nailed planks.

“If we follow along it, we’ll quickly reach the rear courtyard. There will probably be guards...”

“We’ll handle it. Don’t worry.”

Adeline nodded reluctantly.

“Tie, hold on tight.”

At Basto’s voice, Tie tightened her arms around his neck.

And at that moment—

“Khk... aaaaaah—!”

A scream that tore at the ears rang out nearby.

As if someone were being tortured.

Tie’s face instantly went pale.