The harder a truth was to bear, the more calmly and rationally it had to be handled. I wanted to explain the situation without any unnecessary words and ask for help.

But......

“I’m going to try to find out the truth, step by step, first. It seems the Mage King, to me....... Me....... I.......”

Unlike what I wanted, my voice cracked badly, and I simply could not continue in a crisp, clear way.

“Ha.”

Because, in that instant, I noticed the blue necklace hanging around my neck. It was the thing Boyd had given me on the way north.

The birthday present Dad had apparently meant to give me.

When I saw the jewel shining with a blue radiance, I remembered Dad turning his horse around and racing back toward me.

Imagining Dad agonizing over choosing this for me in secret made my heart feel as if it were being squeezed tight.

“Grandpa.......”

My body swayed. The resolve I had tried to hold upright collapsed. I clung to Grandpa, gripping the hem of his clothes tightly.

“What in the world am I?”

“Ru......by.......”

The old Duke’s face, when I looked up at him, was stunned blank.

His two large hands held me firmly in place, but unlike usual, they were shaking terribly.

“If I really am.”

“How could this.......”

“What do I do if I really am that child?”

My face, reflected in his purple eyes, was horribly distorted.

“What about my mom and dad?”

*****

Balrok staggered forward.

“What in the world is this.......”

His thick palm dragged down his dry face again and again. His breathing was uneven. His eyes were so hot they felt as if they might burst, and the blood coursing through his whole body was even hotter.

Rubian had poured everything out as if vomiting it up, then returned to her bedroom with Boyd supporting her. Her face had been completely flushed, as if her fever was rising again. Borbel, suddenly summoned, seemed to have hurried after her.

In truth, he could not clearly remember how that moment had ended.

He braced one hand on the window frame and let out a rough breath.

“What in the world is.......”

His lips trembled all over. His fist clenched until it felt ready to burst.

“I think I might be the child...... who was buried in the small garden.”

Was such a thing possible?

“Ruby is really.......”

Was she truly Rosetta and Leviathan’s child, whom they had thought dead long ago?

It was a possibility so horrific that merely imagining it made him shudder.

He wanted, rather, to deny that cruel truth altogether. But Rubian had continued speaking with difficulty, her voice trembling.

She had, unintentionally, verified it twice with potions.

There was no child in this world who shared Leviathan’s blood. None except the baby buried in the small garden.

And yet, that grave was also empty......

“Ha.......”

Yes, it was difficult to accept so easily.

But every circumstance pointed toward one fact.

Balrok slammed his fist down on the window frame.

“Impossible!”

The child they had thought dead had actually been stolen?

It was a story he had never once, not even dared, to imagine.

But how.......

Rosetta had most certainly given birth to a dead child.

Leviathan had buried that tiny, cold thing himself. Balrok had been the one who had witnessed Rosetta’s and Leviathan’s despair from closest by.

“I...... don’t know how that part happened either. That’s why I’m saying ‘maybe.’”

Rubian’s thin, trembling voice came back to him.

If that is true.

He swallowed his devastated feelings and sank into a seat.

Could there be anything more cruel than this?

“I’ll tell Mom and Dad myself. I think that would be better. Don’t worry, Grandpa.”

As Rubian said that, the corners of her mouth twitched as if in a spasm.

When Balrok realized she was trying to smile in order to reassure him, it truly felt as if the sky had collapsed.

Even the word devastated was not enough.

“Who is comforting whom.......”

Once the shock passed, rage soon arrived.

When the crouched old Duke slowly lifted his head, the eyes revealed there were like those of a beast.

Who on earth.......

Who on earth had done such a thing!

With a grinding sound, he slowly rose to his feet.

His head was boiling. It felt as if someone had poured red-hot lava straight into it.

Vengeance.

That was what ruled his entire body.

Before he knew it, dawn was breaking.

“Your Grace? Where are you going with a sword......!”

Morris, who had been approaching to check on Balrok, ran over in alarm.

The old Duke’s eyes were unfocused. Like the wind, he descended the stairs with his sword in hand.

“Your Grace!”

It was a sight Morris had not seen even once since the incident where the ducal couple lost their baby.

Morris urgently called the knights. The knights came rushing in a panic and clung to Balrok’s whole body, but it was no use.

“Why are you doing this! So suddenly!”

“Let go. Let go! I’ll kill them all! Even if I have to offer up my life, I’ll kill him now!”

“Who, exactly!”

“The Mage King......!”

Balrok spat the words out as if chewing them to pieces. His eyes were bloodshot crimson.

He had failed to protect her. That tiny child.

And so she had been made to wander battlefields, and the childhood that should have been bright and warm had been made painful.

“If you come any closer, I’ll cut you all down!”

No one could stop the old Duke in his frenzy.

Balrok charged out of the ducal castle with knights hanging off him one after another.

If he did not head south this instant, tell Leviathan about this situation, and cut off the Mage King’s head, it felt as if his own head would burst.

That was how far he had gotten, all the way to the stables.

“......Father?”

He came face-to-face with a woman who had just tied up her horse and stepped out.

Balrok’s steps stopped as if it were a lie.

“You went back after leaving me all alone.”

Rosetta removed the hood of her robe and slowly swept her gaze around the area. One by one, she saw Butler Morris, deathly pale, and the knights.

“Where are you trying to hurry off to at this hour before dawn?”

“......Rose.”

“Did something happen....... Hm?”

Unable to hold back any longer, Balrok approached and pulled Rosetta into his arms.

“Our Rose, my beautiful Rose.......”

His large hand stroked the back of Rosetta’s head again and again.

As if soothing her, comforting her, apologizing to her.

Balrok felt as if he would go mad with pity for Rosetta, who was like a daughter to him. Of course, Leviathan was the same.

Because, after losing their child once in the carriage accident, they had, in effect, lost the child buried in the grave all over again.

“Father....... Why are you doing this?”

Rosetta asked calmly.

Balrok could not bring himself to speak.

With his fiery temperament, he had thought he wanted to run to Leviathan immediately and reveal the truth.

But now that he had actually faced his daughter-in-law first, he no longer knew where or how to begin.

“Why on earth are you doing this? As if something has happened.......”

Only then did Balrok belatedly realize that Rosetta’s voice was shaking wildly.

And also that his shoulder was growing damp.

“......Rose?”

“Please, Father.”

Come to think of it, why had Rosetta ridden all alone in such haste to the north?

As if, as if......

“You. Don’t tell me....... Did you come here knowing something?”

“Please don’t do this. Why are you acting like something has happened?”

Balrok hurriedly pulled her away.

Looking closely, he saw that her complexion was deathly white, and her lips were split open from how hard she must have bitten them.

“Please.......”

She clutched her stomach fiercely.

“Please don’t tell me I lost her.”

Balrok’s hands loosened.

How, exactly....... He murmured that for a moment.

Then Rosetta’s eyes changed.

Rose!

Shaking Balrok off, she began striding toward the memorial garden.