My lips moved, but no sound came out.

“Duke Zebbert...”

The second, holding me like a hostage, growled the words out.

“Let go of her.”

My father’s purple eyes flickered low.

It was the first truly terrifying expression I had ever seen on his face.

Dark, black aura poured off him in waves. The killing intent °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° was so fierce it made my skin sting.

The high-rank magical beast sensed the danger instinctively and lunged, spewing fire.

“Dad—!”

But before I could even finish—

BOOOOM.

“Hah...”

The massive body of the monster dropped to the ground in two pieces.

A magical beast that would have been difficult to face even with an entire unit brought in against it had fallen before it could properly release even one burst of flame.

All from a single draw of my father’s sword.

Step. Step.

He kept walking.

“I said let go... and I’m telling you for the second time now.”

My father’s eyes looked somehow off, as if something inside him had slipped out of alignment. They were fixed on only one thing.

The second’s hand gripping me.

But he could not rush in as easily as he had cut down the magical beast.

Because I’m trapped in her grip. He can’t move freely because of me.

At this rate, the Mage King might attack my father first.

I hated that!

I thrashed, trying to wrench myself free of the second’s grasp.

“Let go! Let go!”

Just as I tried to move my magic and smack that hand away again—

Fwhiiiish!

Something fast and sharp sliced through the air.

Thud!

“Ghk!”

The strength went out of the second’s hand all at once.

My body tumbled across the ground, but there were so many fallen leaves that the impact wasn’t too bad.

I jerked my head up.

An arrow had pierced that narrow shoulder.

That arrow shaft... no way!

“Hoo...”

Pink hair fluttered a short distance away. Ragged breathing.

“Right now, my husband is telling you to let go of our daughter.”

Rosetta smiled coldly. She drew the bowstring taut again.

“Why don’t you listen the first time? Rude little thing...”

Another arrow tore through the air.

“......!”

Before I could even track the direction of the arrowhead, someone yanked me violently into an embrace.

“Hah.”

It was my father, who had rushed over like lightning. His large body dropped hard to one knee as he hurriedly gathered me against him.

“Thank...”

His voice, forced down with all his might, kept breaking apart.

“Thank God...”

I squeezed my eyes shut, clutching at his collar.

A rain of arrows came pouring down.

The second frantically threw up defensive magic, but she was being driven back helplessly.

“What a filthy little—”

A slender back stood in front of us, shielding my father and me.

The woman was breathing hard, and even from behind, the fury rolling off her was obvious.

“M-Mom...!”

“Rubian. Are you hurt anywhere?”

Rosetta turned her head slightly and smiled gently.

Still collapsed on the ground in my father’s arms, I stared up at her blankly.

“N-no, but how on earth did you... no, when did you...?”

“Your eyes went all round. How cute.”

“......”

“I came to surprise you, Rubian. But I ended up being the one who got surprised instead. Anyway, don’t worry now.”

My mother slowly turned her head back and faced forward again.

“Because Mom is going to ... ...for you.”

“What?”

A large hand had covered my ears and then moved away again, so I hadn’t heard the middle part very well...

At that moment, the second, who had been flattened against the ground, pushed herself back up.

“...Ha. You’ve lost your minds.”

Blood dripped from the limp shoulder.

“Mom? Dad? You really think she’s some ordinary child?”

Those gleaming eyes turned toward me.

The instant they did, it felt like ice ran down my spine.

The second smiled mockingly.

“She’s—”

“No...!”

“—a mage.”

In that instant, I forgot even how to breathe.

*****

“There’s something I have to tell all of you. I’m actually a mage.”

There was something I had practiced saying countless times.

When everyone found out I was a girl.

I had sworn that this one remaining secret, at least, I would say with my own mouth.

Once I got free of the mark...

Once I shook off the tracking mage, then—

“But I’m not like the mages who brought misfortune to the ducal house!”

I had meant to say it calmly, with as much dignity as I could manage.

I would probably tremble a little, but I still wanted to say it as normally as possible.

“Look. There isn’t a single trace of it left on my body. Proof that I’m truly far away from that world now.”

So please don’t feel uneasy around me. Please don’t remember the bad past. Please don’t be sad...

That was how it was supposed to be.

Why... why does nothing ever go the way I want it to...?

Where had it all started going wrong?

How had things ended up like this?

I had only tried to do what I could first.

The mark, and the tracker too!

If not that... then what was I supposed to do?

That reality I could never outrun had spread out in front of me again.

I clasped my trembling hands together.

Then I forced up my impossibly heavy head and looked at the side of my father’s face.

His mouth was set hard. His eyes, opened wide, stared straight ahead with a blazing glare.

Dark, low aura shimmered up from those stone-like shoulders like heat haze.

My father was truly furious.

“Do you really think the two of you can handle her?”

The second looked delighted by how pale and frozen I was, smiling with a face twisted by madness.

“She’s a seed of misfortune. One of the very mages you hate so much. You’ve no idea how cunningly she’s lived all this time—”

“Stop it!”

I shouted before I could bear another second.

“Rubian.”

“Please... stop.”

When I rubbed my eyes hard with my fist, hot tears came away on my skin.

“What gives you the right to say that...?”

Do I not even get the chance to say it myself?

“What gives you the right...?”

Every time tears spilled out, I scrubbed them away. When my eyelids turned red and swollen, my father muttered something under his breath and caught my hand, pressing it down.

Then, all at once, a flood of bitter frustration and unbearable panic surged up inside me.

It might not be too late yet. Even now, I couldn’t let this chance slip away.

“D-Dad.”

I hurriedly wiped away my tears and clutched at his collar.

The face looking down at me seemed strangely distorted.

“I know I’m late, but I, actually, the truth is...!”

My breathing was a complete mess.

Reality was nothing like what I had imagined.

I wasn’t composed. I couldn’t hide how badly I was shaking. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

I wasn’t trying to deceive them.

I had really meant to tell them everything once I accomplished what I needed to. But I couldn’t think straight. I had no idea how to explain it without being misunderstood.

“So, actually, I’m from the Magic Kingdom—no, I mean, magic—!”

“Rubian.”

Warmth wrapped around me again.

Pat. Pat.

As his hand stroked down my back, the tears I had been holding in began falling in drops.

“Wait... I have something to say... something I really, really have to say...”

“All right. I’ll listen to everything. So calm down.”

His voice was gentle, soothing me as if to settle a frightened child. He drew back a little and looked at me softly.

“Haven’t I always told you? In our family, you should do what you want to do.”

“......”

“It’s the same now.”

His hand came up and carefully wiped my cheek.

“Ruby, say what you want to say. Not what you think you have to say.”

I lifted my shaking eyes.

“Is that really what you want to say to Dad?”

Plip. Plip.

Tears fell onto my clothes.

What I wanted to say. That was...

“Dad...”

The words came out in a broken, tear-soaked voice. In that brief moment when our eyes met, my father pulled me tightly into his arms, as if he already knew what I was going to say next.

Clinging to that strong neck like a lifeline, I sobbed.

“I’m scared...”

So please.

“Help me...”

That was something I had held back for a very, very long time.

“Someone please help me...”

Maybe that was what I had wanted to cry out ever since that battlefield.

I’m scared. I’m struggling.

Please, someone, help me.

But who?

This was my second life. Enduring things alone was natural. I was used to it.

The only person who ever protected me was myself. That fact had been carved into my bones since my previous life.

And yet...

If I had asked for help sooner, would anything have changed?

Once I solve the mark.

Once I shake off the tracker...

Without any condition to justify it, just—

I’m having a hard time, so please help me.

I’m scared and hurting, so please hold my hand.

If I had clung to someone like that, would that still have been all right?

“...Of course, Ruby.”

A low voice answered me.

“Dad will help you with everything.”

Crunch.

The sound of his hand tightening around the hilt of his sword was chilling.

My father handed me over to my mother and slowly rose to his feet.

A savage killing intent rippled from his broad back like a mountain.