“……Leonharta?”

“The Empress of this empire. Swear on my name.”

“Ha…!”

Hearing who I was, the children exchanged glances. The naive children knelt simultaneously without doubting or verifying if my words were true.

“We, we, we greet Your Majesty!”

They must not have eaten anything, but the children poured out all their strength to shout loudly. The bodies of the children who knelt flat trembled.

I gestured to the knights watching this scene from behind. The knights who received my command hurriedly lifted the children.

“I have no right to receive your greetings. I failed to protect you, didn’t I?”

If the story of that necklace was true, then Lady Tenen’s abduction and death were a story from decades ago.

It means that this place has continued since then. For a very long time, as children’s nightmares.

Then there was a sound of footsteps from behind. Turning around, it was Levanfell and Clint. Clint’s eyes were still swollen, probably from crying more.

Walking weakly, Clint stood in front of the children, especially in front of the child wearing the necklace.

The big, ferociouslooking man stood in front, and the child was frightened and tried to step back. But before that, Clint knelt down on both knees in front of the child.

The child looked at me, probably scared of Clint. The child stood still when I nodded my head, meaning it was okay.

“……That necklace. Did the owner of that necklace say that Daddy would come to save her?”

The cracked voice squeezed through his lips and forced its way out. The frightened child nodded instead of answering.

“Daddy said, Daddy said he would definitely save her?”

“Yes, yes.”

“……She was waiting for me here. My daughter was trapped here, waiting for me hopelessly for decades.”

Clint’s eyes reddened hotly, and tears flowed again.

“I, I…… Daddy was, Daddy was foolishly wasting time, letting everything go.”

Clint roughly rubbed his face with his large palm, as if trying to stop the tears. And he sniffled loudly.

“Can I, can I take that necklace if it’s okay?”

“……Are you the father of the owner of this necklace?”

The child’s question made Clint cry again, so much that his effort to stop the tears was in vain.

“Yes, yes. I’m…… I’m the father of the owner of that necklace. I, I…… I should have come to save her sooner…….”

The sudden sight of a crying adult made the child tilt its head. Then the child took off the necklace around its neck and tried to put it around Clint’s neck.

But it soon gave up cleanly, judging that the necklace would not fit on Clint’s thick neck. Instead, the necklace was barely put on Clint’s wrist.

“Then I’ll give it back to you, sir. We survived, and you…….”

“…….”

“You look like you need salvation.”

The child smiled brightly. The blue light of early dawn had already begun to dispel the darkness behind the child’s back.
“……I’ll take you home.”

The necklace around Clint’s wrist sparkled. It seemed to have finally returned to where it should be.

“I will, without fail. Even if it costs my life.”

Clint vowed to the children.

“I’ll take all of you home safely. All of you, and even those children who haven’t yet come down from up there. I’ll take all of you home safely.”

Clint slowly rose to his feet, and reached out to the child.

“Let’s go home.”

The child stared intently at Clint’s face and carefully placed a small hand on his big one.

Clint firmly grasped the child’s small hand to protect and looked back at me.

“……Your Majesty.”

“Yes.”

“I will not leave these children alone. It may not only be what happened here.”

An evil expression crept across Clint’s face as he held the child. His anger, seemingly uncontainable, was clearly directed somewhere.

“I’ll root out everything and burn it all. How dare those who touched the children, and my daughter, not even fearing the knights of the empire.”

“…….”

“And the alchemist behind all of this.”

Clint gritted his teeth. Behind him, the dawn began to break.

“I will cut off all their heads and present them to you, Your Majesty.”

The father, having emerged from sorrow, was angry. It was no longer a time for sorrow. It was time for his daughter’s salvation and vengeance.

The salvation of peace for his daughter.

I turned around and slowly nodded to Levanfell.

Then it happened.

“Your Majesty.”

Jaerim appeared, with knights who had ambushed and captured the remnants.

The commander of the 3rd Knight Division approached Levanfell and reported.

“We have captured the remnants. The rest seem to have already heard the news and fled.”

“Well done. Now it’s time to rotate.”

Levanfell issued commands to his elite knights around him with his low, hooded eyes.

“Track down all the remnants. Spare those who say they will tell us everything, and the rest…”

His eyes glared mercilessly.

“Kill them all on the spot. Spare no one.”

“We understand.”

His elite knights moved quickly. As they quickly disappeared, the commander of the 3rd Knight Division spoke.

“But sir… While ambushing to catch the remnants, we captured this person as well.”

He laid down a familiar face on the ground.

“……Huh?”

“He was already fighting the remnants before we attacked. Whether it’s a rift on the same side or he found this place and attacked alone. It seems that investigation is needed.”

The man was unconscious with a battered face. His body was scarred, apparently from sword wounds.

‘If it was a rift on the same side, his condition is a bit…….’

The wounds were all vital. Clearly, the sword marks were meant to kill. Of course, it might have been a situation where one turned on the other due to a rift.

But then, this person was someone I knew very well.

‘Why are you here, of all places?’

I looked at the unconscious man in disbelief and called his name.

“……Raven.”