“...Tesetan.”

Valentis was only able to open his mouth after several seconds of silence.

“My son belongs to the mercenary squad led by the King of the Dead, Your Holiness.”

He said it as though being close to the King of the Dead was only natural — after all, he was the one entrusted with his youngest son.

Yet the doubt in Luciano’s eyes did not fade.

“And that is the only reason?”

“What other reason could there possibly be?”

His heart pounded heavily.

For several months now, Valentis had deliberately stopped keeping his distance from Astie.

During the naming ceremony, he had even approached his granddaughter first and spoken to her.

Of course, for safety’s sake, it would have been better to pretend not to know her.

‘But how could I do that when that once-bright child had shrunk in on herself like that?’

At the ceremony, Tie had looked utterly crushed.

Tie had not grown up in Tallocium and had never before encountered such a rigid class system.

Everything about it had been foreign and frightening to her.

That day, he compromised with himself and simply approached the child first.

Though what he truly wanted was to seat her on his lap and speak to her calmly.

But Tie carried too many secrets that had to remain hidden.

Once everything was over, Valentis wanted to free the child from at least part of that burden.

If only they could resolve the issue with Luciano, the girl would still have a few years before facing the temporal paradox.

And if Ardiana managed to finish matters within the imperial palace during that time, even better.

‘Astie will become a princess.’

The child would be able to become the very “princess” she had always admired and live warmly and peacefully.

At last putting aside unnecessary fears and anxieties.

Spending quiet days beside the people she loved.

He truly believed that.

But—

“Valentis. Shouldn’t we be more honest with each other?”

As though a crack had formed in the future he imagined.

“I know you well.”

Luciano’s eyes gleamed right in front of him.

“You always kept your distance from that child, Theseos, did you not?”

Valentis unconsciously touched the scabbard at his waist.

“Was that not why, when the boy left the family, you did not immediately bring him back? And yet.”

“...”

“A man like you suddenly reconciles with his son and grows close to the King of the Dead, who is merely a mercenary.”

Luciano lowered his gaze.

Blue veins faintly showed beneath his pale eyelids.

“I find it difficult to understand.”

Valentis’s throat moved slowly.

He had thought Luciano might suspect Tie, but never the Holy Knight Order itself.

After all, throughout his entire life, Valentis had never once gone against the church’s will.

He had even obeyed when they demanded he surrender his youngest son at only four years old.

“I heard he is a mage of exceptional ability. And that his identity is shrouded in mystery, to the point that almost nothing is known about him. Is that true?”

Luciano lifted his gaze again.

The corners of his lips rose once more into that familiar gentle smile.

“Perhaps you have heard something that even I do not know?”

The air gradually grew heavier.

Luciano’s power vastly surpassed Valentis’s own.

Valentis could feel the thickening pressure of Luciano’s power bearing down on his body.

A drop of cold sweat slid down his temple.

‘This is no longer a question.’

It was a threat.

The obsession of a man determined to drag out any information related to Astie.

“The King of the Dead...”

Parting his lips, Valentis tightened his grip on the scabbard.

From the very beginning, he had never expected things to proceed according to plan.

But he had not expected everything to begin collapsing this early.

Valentis’s gaze swept across Luciano’s vital points.

It seemed impossible to inflict a fatal wound.

Because Valentis, who wielded holy power himself, could see the transparent yet sturdy membrane covering Luciano’s body.

But buying a little time...

Right then—

“Grandpa!”

An unexpected voice struck his ears.

Valentis froze.

It seemed even Luciano had failed to sense Tie’s approach — his eyes slowly turned toward the child.

“Grandpa?”

The instant Luciano murmured the word, Tie tightly grabbed Valentis’s right arm.

“Grandpa! Sniff... how could you leave Tie all alone!”

The child puffed out her lips with tearful eyes.

“Tie kept waiting and waiting, but you never came, so Tie went looking herself!”

The girl turned her head.

Bright green eyes stared directly at the Pope.

“Hello, Mister Pope.”

An expression appeared on Luciano’s face as though he had just encountered something strange and unfamiliar.

“I’m Astie.”

The child smiled innocently.

Several dozen minutes earlier.

“...What? Why was the commander taken away separately?”

At the entrance to the Great Temple.

Among the gathered members of Agavert, Bale whispered quietly.

Tie blinked tensely.

She had seen it too.

Through the gaps between the adults’ legs, Cardinal Mel had led Valentis inside the temple.

“Papa.”

Tie tugged on the hem of Tesetan’s pants.

“Is everything okay? Grandpa...”

Tesetan froze as he lowered his gaze, but soon smiled gently.

“It’s alright.”

Then he turned toward Allerik.

“How many priests went inside?”

“Six.”

“And the knights accompanying Father?”

“I saw two, however...”

Allerik trailed off.

At that very moment, the two Holy Knights who had entered with Valentis emerged from the temple again.

Bale’s eyes widened.

“Why did only those two come back out? Where’s the commander?”

Silence settled over the squad members.

“Looks like we weren’t their first target.”

Basto muttered.

Agavert had been certain Luciano would first attempt to probe them.

But instead, he chose to speak privately with Valentis first.

“If only we could figure out what’s happening in there...”

Raul and Enzo exchanged uneasy glances.

At that moment, Tie, who had been deep in thought, lifted her head.

“Tie knows.”

Suddenly, the child crouched down and pressed both palms against the ground.

“There are so many subordinates underground.”

Tesetan frowned.

He crouched beside Tie as well.

“What does that mean? What subordinates?”

Tie’s eyes sparkled.

“From here and far, far away, Tie can hear the voices of the bone friends. Even where Grandpa is...”

Tie abruptly fell silent.

Her pale brows drew together.

A few seconds later, she lifted her head again, her face tense.

“Grandpa met the Pope. But... Mister Pope keeps asking about Tie’s secret.”

Tesetan’s expression darkened.

Tie stood up.

“What do we do...?”

Through the voices of her subordinates, Luciano and Grandpa’s conversation reached her clearly.

Conversations she had once shared with the squad surfaced in her mind.

‘We need to find Luciano’s weakness.’

‘But to find it, we have to make him lower his guard... how?’

‘As long as his suspicion toward the leader remains, it’ll be difficult.’

As though sinking into deep water, Tie stopped hearing the sounds around her.

And suddenly, a single thought flashed through her mind.

‘Tie became a strength concealing King of the Dead because she wanted to look really strong.’

When she first arrived in Tallocium,

Tie could not afford to look like easy prey.

Back then, she had no Papa, no Mama, no Grandpa, and had to protect herself alone.

‘But now...’

She lifted her head.

Everyone was staring at her in confusion.

But without hesitation, Tie ran toward the temple.

“Astie!”

[M, Master?]

Behind her, Papa called out, while Marbas’s voice came from inside the backpack on her back.

Tie could also feel Lucarion’s gaze somewhere nearby, surely hidden as he watched.

But she was certain.

‘Now it’s the opposite!’

Until now, she had hidden her age.

Hidden the fact that she was a child.

But now things had changed, and this was exactly the moment something needed to change with them.

“Grandpa!”

In the distance, Valentis’s back came into view.

Tie ran up and grabbed his arm without hesitation.

“Sniff, how could you leave Tie all alone!”

She could feel Luciano’s gaze trying to pierce straight through her.

But Tie deliberately made her face look even more naive and puffed out her cheeks.

“Tie kept waiting and waiting, but you never came, so Tie went looking herself!”

She had to appear insignificant.

Had to seem like easy prey.

Tie looked at Luciano.

“Hello, Mister Pope.”

A person hiding their strength always inspires fear.

But what if the person before you was merely a child who could not even control her own power?

A child who constantly needed the squad members’ help, and who had even managed to draw sympathy from Valentis, who had devoted his entire life to the church?

“I’m Astie.”

Tie could only hope Luciano would not notice the slight tremble in her voice.

A strange expression appeared on Luciano’s face.