Marianne’s eyes flew open helplessly.

“Not like that—then how is it.......”

“After Father died, back then.......”

Silence hung between them.

Raul could not continue for a long time, and then Enzo stepped forward.

“Every night Mother cried, and whenever there was a chance she tried to go into the lake.......”

Marianne had not been in her right mind then.

She began to fear that even Raul and Enzo would leave this world like her husband—far more than anyone could imagine.

On days when the stress became too much, she had attacks after which she lost consciousness.

“We left the Order not because Father died.”

It was in order to calm Marianne, even if only a little.

But the twins did not tell her that.

Because there had been a request from their maternal grandmother—Marquise Weybril.

‘......Raul, Enzo. This old woman asks you.’

‘.......’

‘There is only one way to save your mother, who is withering before our eyes. It is you.’

Only Raul and Enzo tied Marianne to life.

‘I must save my daughter Marianne at any cost. Even if I have to use you, whom she loves so desperately.’

According to the words of Marquise Weybril, Raul began pretending to keep bad company.

Enzo acted as though he refused to eat and locked himself in his room.

And after that everything went exactly as the marquise had calculated.

When the twins began to look as though they were going astray, Marianne gradually came to her senses.

When they left the Order, it was visible in her eyes—deep down she was relieved.

And at that same time she agreed to take the post of ruler of Pearlcity.

“......I was afraid too. Like Grandmother.”

Enzo, biting his lip, murmured.

“That is why we left the Order. We wanted Mother to feel even a little better.”

Marianne’s face became emptier and emptier.

She could not have imagined that the twins were thinking such things.

“Enzo is right. Mother, it seemed you calmed down only when you saw that we were doing nothing and gradually falling apart. Of course, you understood with your head that it was not so. We know you worried about us, but.......”

Raul ran a hand through his hair, as if tangled in his own thoughts.

Marianne still could not say anything.

Because she herself had vaguely felt it.

‘......Yes.’

The children were right.

She took their swords away and wanted to keep them by her side for life.

Because she was afraid—what if she lost them too, like her husband.

Tears gradually welled up in Marianne’s eyes.

“The post of ruler...... Grandmother arranged that as well.”

She sank where she stood.

Even before, it had seemed strange to her that the offer came to her, who had dealt only with household matters.

Just like the fact that the twins left the Order.

Raul and Enzo had always been straightforward and strict—like their father.

So it was natural that they mourned him.

But that they seemed to lose their will entirely and abandon the sword—felt excessive.

And yet she did not stop them.

Did not support them, did not push them to continue their path.

Having become a parent, she seemed to wait until her wavering sons broke, and left everything as it was.

It burned beneath her throat.

“Mother.......”

Enzo stepped closer and looked into her eyes.

“We are not blaming you.”

Raul also stepped forward and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“We are not saying we left the Order because of you, that we threw away the sword because of you.”

A tear slid down Marianne’s cheek.

She knew.

She knew better than anyone.

No one knew Raul and Enzo as well as she did.

“Raul, Enzo.......”

She felt ashamed, and at the same time her thoughts cleared.

All this time she had watched the King of the Dead fight, commanding the souls of the dead.

When she saw the black silhouettes of human souls, only one thought arose in her head.

‘Perhaps my husband too.......’

Until now she had thought that death was the end.

That her husband returned to the earth, and she would never see him again.

But the King of the Dead showed her.

Showed that after death a person can continue to exist.

“If your father were looking at me now, he would be disappointed.”

Marianne’s fist clenched.

Her husband wanted °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° to raise Raul and Enzo as worthy men.

That they entered the Holy Knight Order following their father was a continuation of his will.

“Instead of being your support, I.......”

“That is not so.”

Enzo embraced her.

Raul firmly took both her hands.

“For us, you yourself are already support.”

“.......”

“That is why we want to take up the sword again. At first we thought that if we simply abandoned it, it would be easier for you. But it seems that is not so.”

Marianne, with a heavy expression, slowly nodded.

When she first learned that Raul and Enzo had ended up isolated at sea, everything went white before her eyes.

If this conversation had not happened now, perhaps she would never again have allowed them to step beyond the administration building.

After remaining silent for a long time, Marianne finally parted her lips.

“......What are you going to do?”

If they want to take up the sword again—does that mean they intend to return to the Holy Knight Order?

Raul and Enzo, like their father, possessed holy power.

If they resumed training, they could become worthy holy knights.

If not that, there was the path of receiving investiture within the family and becoming knights there.

But the twins’ words were not what she expected at all.

“We want to follow those people.”

Marianne’s eyes widened.

Enzo lowered his voice beside her.

“We never properly told you. Why Father...... died the way he did.”

Marianne was struck speechless, and Enzo calmly continued.

“It was at the border of the capital. Four units together were assaulting a large Magic Stone.”

“.......”

“At the end of the siege another one appeared—a small Magic Stone. And it was in a residential district. The problem was that by zone it was already considered outside the capital.”

Marianne’s lips parted.

Sieges of Magic Stones that appeared outside the capital were mostly entrusted to mercenaries.

Holy knights also sometimes participated, but that happened extremely rarely.

Holy knights are the forces of the Imperial Holy Knight Order and the palace.

They moved only by order of the palace and the Order, so obtaining permission to assault a stone outside the capital was not easy.

“Father insisted that the stone had to be assaulted. It seems the headquarters also understood that for the sake of protecting the people it was worth going......”

The problem was that the palace refused, stating that valuable forces could not be lost.

Since it was impossible to deploy the entire force, a small platoon was unofficially formed within the unit.

The father of Raul and Enzo fell in battle, fighting in the front ranks.

By order of the commander he was recorded as having died within the capital.

Otherwise he would have been considered a deserter who died outside deployment and dismissed in disgrace.

“......If permission had been given faster, Father would not have died like that.”

That Magic Stone that appeared in the residential district was small.

If they had had just a few more people, the casualties could have been avoided.

“It is the same with Pearlcity.”

Marianne raised her head.

“From the very beginning the capital’s system of using holy knights is too inefficient. Pearlcity is effectively part of the capital, but today we received no help at all.”

“.......”

“Holy knights in essence protect only the palace, the Order, and the nobility concentrated in the center of the capital.”

Raul was right.

Marianne recalled the mercenaries who one after another refused the siege during the day.

If not for Agavert, she could not even imagine how devastated the city would have been tonight.

“If the sacred mission is to save people and exterminate Magical Beasts, then mercenaries look holier than holy knights, honestly.”

Enzo nodded.

He looked at the King of the Dead gathering the cores of Magical Beasts that had fallen onto the deck.

Black silhouettes still floated around him.

To the high officials of the Order that power would seem repulsive,

“......But to me, that is true holy power.”