Tie thought she had become like a cotton doll soaked through with water.

Her shrunken body had grown so heavy that it barely moved, and she did not even understand how much time had passed.

Above her head, a crimson sunset was already spreading.

"Even if you meet your Father, that man will not recognize who you are."

At first, she did not quite understand what Kkamani’s words meant.

So she decided it was simply an attempt to frighten her.

But now, it seemed, she was beginning to understand.

What exactly those words had meant.

Herself, desperately calling for Father.

Father, who, upon hearing her voice, even if only for a moment, had turned toward Tie.

And then... Father, who had indifferently turned away.

At that thought, all strength completely left her, and she buried her face between her knees.

At the moment when tears drip, drip fell onto the ground.

"Astie!"

"Hey, kid!!"

"Tie?"

Familiar voices sounded right in front of her nose.

Only then did Tie lift her head.

Three figures stood in the sunset.

Basto, pale.

Bale, soaked through with sweat.

And Nordix with a worried expression.

The members of Agavert, created by Tie... Tie’s companions.

Tie sobbed and drew in a breath.

From their appearance she immediately understood.

All this time, they had been searching for her.

She wanted to say that she was sorry for making them worry,

"...hi, hic."

but against her will, as soon as she opened her mouth, a hiccup burst out.

"Hic... hhh... hic."

Resentment surged, and the feelings she had been holding back broke through.

"U, uncle... big brother and grandpaaa..."

"..."

"Tie’s Father, Father..."

"Tie, you know that Father loves you more than anything in the world, right?"

It was the Father who always lifted Tie into his arms and kissed her cheek.

"Our daughter is Father’s treasure. As long as you are with Father, Father can do anything... truly anything."

On difficult days he silently embraced Tie and for a long time hid his face in her small shoulder.

And that Father looked at Tie and simply walked away.

As if she were a stranger to him.

Bitter tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Tie’s Father... hic. I want to see Father, hhhh..."

She missed Father.

Not the Father who saw her and turned away, but the one who used to hold Tie tightly in his arms.

"I, hhhh, thought if I could just reach the Capital..."

Until now, Tie’s goal had been to reach the Capital.

She had only thought that if she went to the Holy Knight Order headquarters, she would be able to meet Father.

But after Father had just turned away from her, forgotten thoughts surfaced in her memory.

If she met Father — and then what?

What would she do after that?

Had she not just confirmed it?

That for Father in this world, Tie was nothing more than a stranger.

The thought that it would be fine even if Father did not recognize her had been a great mistake.

She could naturally understand.

"If Father forgot Tie..."

It meant that he no longer loved her the way he used to.

It meant that she might become tiresome to him, that he might consider her unnecessary.

Strength slowly left her hands.

It had been like that when she lived in the Republic of Korea.

Not all adults loved Tie.

Grandma 107 and Lady 203 took good care of her, but one aunt from another apartment did not like Tie.

If by chance there came a day when Tie was left with that aunt, she had to listen to grumbling the entire day.

"Honestly, really. If they hadn’t fixed my toilet, I would have refused to look after the child altogether. She’s neither my niece nor a relative, no connection at all — and to fuss over her, I’m truly sick of it..."

A bowl of food placed roughly on the table.

Cold looks that one could not even approach.

For some adults, a child was only a headache.

Because they had to constantly watch over and take care of them.

And if suddenly, for Father in this world, Tie had become exactly that... an existing burden...

"...Tie can’t. Can’t."

She did not have the courage to say it.

To say that in truth she was Father’s daughter.

Sad tears rolled down her cheeks drip, drip.

"Even if Tie meets Father again, everything will no longer be like before."

Perhaps she had simply wanted to believe.

That as soon as she met Father — everything would return to how it used to be.

But it was not so simple.

In the end, Kkamani’s words had been the truth.

"Father from Jongno-gu..."

Everything ended at the moment when Father returned to the relic box.

Leaving Jongno-gu, Tie had left everything there.

Tie hated herself for understanding it so late.

That was why the tears kept flowing.

Again and again, not wanting to stop at all.

"Unbelievable, honestly."

In front of the sleeping Tie, Bale grabbed his forehead.

"And what are we supposed to do now? The kid’s completely out of it!"

"Lower your voice, Bale."

At Basto’s words, Bale frowned.

But still obediently fell silent and, together with Basto and Nordix, stepped out into the corridor.

As soon as the door closed, Nordix spoke.

"Did you find out anything about the Luminens?"

Basto’s and Bale’s gazes darkened.

The house where Tie’s Father was most likely to be — Luminen.

They had already inquired about the members of House Luminen in the morning, but...

"No particular results. All four young lords are unsuitable for the role of Tie’s Father."

"And what about the head of the house, Duke Luminen?"

"To be honest, he seems the most probable."

Duke Luminen suited the word "grandfather" more than "father" — a veteran of advanced years.

But still, he was not so old that he could not have a child.

"He has enough authority to remove a child from the house, doesn’t he?"

"But there’s one problem."

Basto interjected.

"Tie clearly said. Until recently she lived alone with Father."

Bale and Nordix fell silent.

They remembered that too.

"If that is true, it means Tie lived all that time alone with Duke Luminen. But has the Duke ever once been absent from official events?"

Valentis Luminen still often participated in Magic Stone suppressions.

He constantly rushed between battlefields, and if a suppression dragged on, he would camp for months by a Magic Stone.

And at the same time lived alone with Tie?

"Yes, that doesn’t add up."

"Besides, the kid said that her Father does not remember her. That there is a spell of oblivion on him."

But who would dare interfere with the memory of Valentis Luminen?

The head of House Luminen and the great holy knight?

No matter how one looked at it, Duke Valentis was far from the image of the "Father" Tie had spoken about.

"If Tie’s Father is not in the house of Duke Luminen..."

"But the strongest holy knight belongs only to Luminen."

The three, completely at a loss, fell silent.

In the quiet, Bale slightly opened the door.

Through the crack it was visible how Tie, exhausted from crying, had fallen asleep.

"Stupid kid. What kind of King of the Dead is she."

Heavy worry lay on Bale’s face.

"All she does is whine that she wants Father..."

They had never seen Tie cry so inconsolably before, and so Nordix and Basto could not say anything either.

"Tomorrow I’ll go to Jester."

Basto said.

"Bale, you stay with Tie. There are always plenty of mercenaries in Jester, perhaps there is more information there about the holy knights."

If they were lucky, they might find another holy knight who could ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) be suspected as a candidate for Tie’s Father.

While he was thinking about this, Nordix, who had been standing quietly, muttered.

"Don’t you think... we should simply ask the child directly?"

Bale’s and Basto’s gazes turned to him.

"What exactly her Father’s name is. What he looks like, where they lived."