"A child who awakens magical power within a paladin family is unclean."

Everyone who belonged to the Order knew this.

Yet even they overlooked one thing.

Where, in the end, those so-called unclean children disappeared to.

Edmund, Leonardo, and Alexander did not know either.

Not until their only younger brother,

Theseos,

became such an unclean child.

"U... waa... Tesetan, it is all right. It will be all right......"

Leonardo still remembered.

How the paladins tore four-year-old Theseos from his mother and dragged him away.

"Mother! Father—!!"

The small child struggled with all his strength.

And the more he resisted, the more violently the magic in his body raged out of control.

Without the slightest hesitation, the paladins placed a prohibition on Theseos.

"A—!"

The child screamed, his entire body twisting in agony.

But the knights only looked at him with indifferent expressions.

When Theseos finally collapsed from exhaustion while resisting, the paladins slung him over a shoulder like a sack.

"We will see you after the purification."

The door slammed shut.

Silence fell over the mansion, and his mother let out a scream that sounded like a wail.

Valentis, holding his collapsing wife, clenched his fist until his knuckles turned white.

That day, Theseos,

born with magical power into the noble House of Luminel,

was taken to the Central Continent by order of the Order.

Theseos returned only two months later.

Noticeably thinner than the day he had left.

"Mother, Father...... brothers......"

"Tesetan!"

Eleonora pulled him tightly into her arms.

"Tesetan, my baby, waa......"

Theseos looked exhausted.

Dark shadows lay beneath his eyes, his cheeks hollow.

But the child tried to reassure his family.

"It is all right, Mother. They said everything has been purified, everything is fine......"

No magic emanated from his body anymore.

The very magic that had suddenly appeared and burst out of him all that time.

From the day he returned, Theseos took to his bed.

And barely rose from it.

A heavy, oppressive atmosphere settled over the mansion.

The air felt cold, and a deep shadow fell over their mother’s face.

"How can I be all right......! My child is in pain, he cries from the pain—how can I......!"

"Eleonora, please......!"

"It is because of us. If I had not been a saint with unprecedented holy power. If you had not been Duke Luminel—Tesetan, our Tesetan......"

Their mother was beside herself.

Every time she looked at the suffering Theseos, she broke down.

"Purification? To place a terrible prohibition in that small body, in the heart of that tiny child, and call it purification......"

Later, the brothers learned

what exactly the Order had done to Theseos.

A special sacred prohibition had been placed upon his body.

So that the magic would not flow outward.

So that it would only accumulate inside.

And they did not care in the slightest

what pain that caused the child himself.

But one could say they were fortunate.

After some time, an unexpected miracle occurred.

"......Mother."

"Tesetan!"

Theseos, who had done nothing but lie down all that time, gradually began to regain his strength.

He started leaving his room.

He smiled again, like before he had been taken away.

He played with his brothers.

"Father, I want to try too!"

And at some point, he even began returning to Valentis’s training grounds.

Eleonora, seeing Theseos appear to recover, gradually calmed down.

She stopped crying at night.

Stopped skipping meals.

Edmund, Leonardo, and Alexander thought:

at last, happiness had returned to their home.

Now everything would be all right.

They simply did not know.

That Theseos’s pain had never disappeared.

That the suppressed magic continued to accumulate,

and its level kept rising.

That little Theseos was simply enduring it in silence.

......They could not even imagine it.

"Huhh?"

Tie stood in the inner courtyard of the luxurious Luminel mansion and widened her eyes.

'The uncle from the carriage and the uncle with the lanterns?'

It turned out the two men welcoming her were already familiar.

And they seemed surprised as well.

"Ah......"

Alexander, who had treated her knee in the carriage on the day of their arrival, approached with a flustered expression.

"It is good to see you again. I am Alexander Luminel."

Tie swallowed.

'Luminel?'

Here, the family name came after the given name.

That meant the carriage uncle shared the same family name as the Supreme Commander.

And they had said the commander had four sons...

"The commander’s son......?!"

Alexander smiled gently.

"That is correct. I am the third son of the House of Duke Luminel."

Tie’s mouth fell open, and she turned.

To Alexander’s left stood the familiar uncle with the lanterns.

"And are you also the commander’s son?"

Edmund extended his hand to her.

"As you see. Edmund Luminel."

Tie hesitantly took his hand and gave it a small shake.

At that moment, the butler standing behind them spoke.

"Please come inside. The Supreme Commander is waiting."

Tie turned to the squad members and carefully took a step forward.

Behind her followed Basto, Bale, and the others.

After walking down a lavish corridor, they entered an enormous banquet hall.

On a table large enough to seat no fewer than two hundred people, every kind of dish had already been laid out.

And at the head of the table—

"It has been a while, King of the Dead."

Valentis, who had been sitting in silence, rose.

Even upon meeting him again, his heavy presence felt just as overwhelming, and Tie swallowed.

Meanwhile, the butler pulled out a chair beside Valentis.

"Here."

Tie hesitated, then approached and carefully climbed onto the chair.

A tall cushion had already been placed on the seat so she could sit at the same level as the others.

"The rest of you, please sit here."

Basto and the squad members seated themselves to Tie’s left.

Soon the three Luminel sons took their seats opposite, and Valentis spoke.

"You have worked hard. Nothing happened on your way from the Weapon Pavilion district?"

Tie’s eyes widened.

'Nothing happened......!'

She immediately raised her hand, about to talk about Caldenbein Ridge—

but Basto gently grasped her hand beneath the table.

Tie understood at once.

'Ah!'

The Luminel household, including Valentis, did not know that Tie was a child.

In the Weapon Pavilion district she had revealed her secret and used Cleansing of Oblivion, erasing the commander’s memory.

So for safety, it was best to say as little as possible.

As expected, Basto spoke instead.

"We were delayed for about half a month in the village of Caldenbein Ridge."

"Half a month?"

"Yes. We became involved in a conflict with rebels who had seized control from the local lord."

"Considering that, you crossed the border of the Old Continent rather quickly."

Valentis replied briefly, then shifted his gaze back to Tie.

"King of the Dead, you seem to have grown somewhat since our last meeting."

Tie’s eyes grew round.

Grown!

For a child, that was an incredibly pleasing compliment, and she instantly forgot that she was supposed to act as the King of the Dead.

Tie fidgeted involuntarily.

"Really? Actually Tie has been eating a lot all this time......"

"Ahem!"

At that moment, Bale coughed loudly.

Tie immediately clamped her mouth shut.

'Oh no!'

She made a mistake again!

Ever since they gained a base and some freedom, Tie had been forgetting more and more often that she had to play the role of the King of the Dead.

Nervously, she continued:

"Ate... so... maybe I gained just a little on top of my head......?"

And then—

Valentis set his napkin down ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) on the table.

And calmly surveyed the hall.

"I will say this now, so it does not happen again."

His gaze settled on Tie once more.

"King of the Dead. Cleansing of Oblivion does not work on me."