The dark hour before dawn.

On the first floor of the base, where both Tie and the members of the squad slept.

The embers in the fireplace breathed a dull red heat as they burned low.

At that moment, a closed window on the first floor flew open.

Something black and swift shot inside.

What had taken the form of a small black dragon naturally shifted shape, becoming a young boy.

The instant Lucarion’s feet touched the floor, a voice came from the armchair across the room, hidden in the darkness.

"You seem busy."

Lucarion flinched and looked up.

Had he woken early, or had he not slept at all?

Tesetan sat calmly in the chair.

Lucarion pressed his lips together for a moment, then replied,

"...I didn’t sense your presence."

"Really? I wasn’t trying to hide that well."

Lucarion let out a short laugh.

Tesetan’s answer was both impressive—and unsettling.

Usually, Lucarion could detect almost anyone.

Including Tesetan.

But over the past few weeks—

Tesetan had come to control even physical signs like his heartbeat and breathing.

On top of that, he had minimized the fluctuations of mana and holy power so thoroughly that even Lucarion could not perceive his existence.

"Is that even possible?"

"I did it."

"...How?"

"If I say I just did it because I had to, does that count as an answer?"

Silence fell.

In that silence lingered a strange, restrained tension.

Ever since they returned from Jongno, Tesetan had been constantly busy.

First, he reduced his sleep.

Then he doubled his training time and began refining even sword techniques he had never used before.

He was preparing for everything that might happen on the Central Continent.

"So, any progress in figuring out your true nature?"

Tesetan asked.

As his concealment faded, a faint scent of blood seemed to drift from him.

Lucarion frowned slightly, then answered,

"...No results so far."

"That’s surprisingly honest."

Without replying, Lucarion walked over to the fireplace.

The moment he reached toward the logs, the fire flared back to life.

As he added more wood, he said,

"My memories still haven’t returned. Not even anything about destroying Tregava."

"I see."

"But today, I found something like a clue about the cause."

Tesetan frowned, and Lucarion unfolded a magic circle in the air.

Light burst from its center, soon forming dozens of pages from ancient books.

"Time magic is, in essence, a spell that creates a new world. It’s no different from splitting one world into two."

"Right."

"Which means everyone involved in the spell—and the caster themselves—seems to be assigned a brutal price."

Lucarion flicked his hand, and one of the pages enlarged.

"Erasure."

"Erasure?"

"Yes. But I didn’t disappear. Instead, I lost something else."

Tesetan ran a hand over his chin, deep in thought.

"So you avoided disappearing, but everything in your mind was completely erased. The price of using time magic."

"That’s the most reasonable explanation for now."

Lucarion sat down on the sofa.

For a while, they stared silently at the tables in front of them.

Tesetan turned Lucarion’s words over in his mind.

‘Those eyes I saw in Jongno.’

Room 203.

The vines crawling along the walls and the golden eyes floating in the air rose vividly in his memory.

What those eyes had shown him that night was his entire life.

Just as Lucarion had said—everything he had experienced in another, fractured world.

Many things had been shocking, but one moment stood out the most.

The final moment.

When all the members of Tregava died on the plains of Elderin.

Tesetan shifted his gaze to Lucarion’s profile.

As if deep in thought, he stared at the flames reflected in his red eyes.

In those transferred memories—

the blood-soaked black dragon’s eyes had been the same color.

‘If that black dragon is Lucarion.’

Some of the questions from that time would finally have answers.

The black dragon that attacked Tie had changed its behavior at the last moment.

It looked at the child as if it couldn’t believe it, then took human form and bowed its head before Tie.

Calling her ‘Master.’

"...This is complicated."

Tesetan rubbed his forehead.

And yet, no matter what the answer was, his conclusion remained the same.

"When we go to the Central Continent, I’m going to investigate the World Tree."

Lucarion abruptly raised his head.

"The World Tree?"

"Yeah. From what I saw..."

Tesetan started to speak, then shook his head.

"No. I’ll explain once I’ve sorted it out in my head. But first."

Without realizing it, he clenched and unclenched his fist.

"Since we’re talking about time magic... Astie."

At the name Astie, Lucarion’s eyes widened.

"If I decide not to have any more children in this world,"

Tesetan continued,

"...then Astie won’t disappear, right?"

His gaze grew heavy and deep.

"If another Astie is never born in this world, then the one we have now won’t disappear either, correct?"

Lucarion stayed silent.

Only after a long time did he answer.

"No. It’s the opposite."

"The opposite?"

"Even if you don’t have children, Astie will disappear. Fate is fixed. A being that was never born cannot exist."

A short breath escaped Tesetan’s chest.

He stared at Lucarion in disbelief.

"...That makes no sense. Even if she and I decide to have a child again at the appointed time... who guarantees that child will be Astie?"

Lucarion’s face darkened.

"That..."

Every night, he had scoured the continent searching for an answer.

There wasn’t a single book, source, or tablet he hadn’t examined.

But the answer he found offered no hope.

"It’s not you who guarantees it. It’s the world."

"What?"

"This world exists on a timeline where Astie must be born. That exact Astie must exist here."

"..."

"According to theory, this is when the world intervenes."

Lucarion looked at Tesetan with eyes full of pain.

"Even if you do nothing, Astie will be born. Because everything is already designed that way."

"..."

"The world will interfere—through coincidence or inevitability—to recreate ‘the Astie who already existed in the future.’"

A short breath escaped Tesetan.

"What kind of—"

Words he couldn’t fully grasp.

It was his child, yet he had no control over it.

If he simply continued living as he was, Astie would ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) inevitably be born—

and the daughter currently sleeping upstairs would disappear.

"That’s insane...!"

But despite his words, his hands trembled.

Seven years was still far away.

And yet an overwhelming fear filled his mind.

At that moment, a thought flashed through him.

Tesetan froze for a second, then raised his head.

He looked into both of Lucarion’s eyes, one after the other, and spoke slowly.

"You."

He continued.

"They say at the Clock Tower, you said you couldn’t live without Tie."

Lucarion’s eyes widened.

The Clock Tower.

That moment when Tie and Tesetan were dragged into Jongno, and Ribia pointed her sword at him.

‘Are you our enemy?’

the princess had asked.

And he had answered:

‘I can’t live without Astie.’

Tesetan let out a short breath.

He stared at Lucarion and continued,

"I’ll be honest. The fact that some unknown entity is circling around my daughter saying it likes her—I don’t like it much. But."

"..."

"At least I can tell you’re not lying."

The gaze Lucarion directed at Tie had always been the same.

As if she were the center of the universe.

And that was why he could make this proposal.

No—

only Lucarion could accept it.

"Give me a promise. No... a vow."

Lucarion frowned.

"If in seven years... if by then we still haven’t found a solution, and Tie is on the verge of disappearing..."

Tesetan spoke the next words.

Lucarion’s eyes widened.