Sched felt Louise, who was more tense than Eve, as he drove Gadwell.

As soon as the horse took a step, a great tremor was felt in their bodies.

Louise, who had hastily departed with Sched, advanced towards the hill of Recherdam with the reins tightly gripped.

Sched’s arms holding the reins passed her waist.

It felt as if she was trapped and held between his two firm arms.

The solid body felt behind her back swayed with her in the same rhythm, following the horse’s steps.

Gadwell strolled across the plain, following the path he had taken Eve.

In the stillness, the wind of Ideana blew.

The autumn wind of Ideana, abundant yet slightly chilly, brushed past Sched, carrying his scent and enveloping her.

‘If Eve says she’s your child…….’

Louise’s lips trembled before his warmth.

Is it alright to do so?

How will you accept the illegitimate child you never wanted?

The accusations poured upon him. If the illegitimate child with a maid is added to that……

The name of the Lester family, which would be covered with all kinds of scandals, came to her mind.

Her head was complicated.

All she wanted was for Eve to become a little happier.

That’s why her lips wouldn’t part easily.

Louise eventually swallowed the truth and cast her gaze far away.

At that moment, Gadwell’s pace gradually slowed down.

“Louise.”

A low voice brushed past her ear.

It was a voice that was indifferent yet boiling.

Fearful of what he wanted to talk about, she gripped the leather strap.

“……I told you all the experiments in Ideana were for you.”

As soon as he spat out those words, Sched felt Louise’s body tremble.

She was afraid. Just by bringing up that topic.

What she had was not mere guilt or fear of punishment, but a fear beyond that.

Swish, the sound of the wheat field crying coolly was heard.

Sched waited for Louise to catch her breath for a moment, then parted his lips again.

“That experiment, was it what you wanted?”

At his question, Louise’s heart sank heavily.

But Sched had to ask.

Because for the first time, doubt arose in the memory that was more than ten years old.

That day when you fell into Lake Anteros, you were terrified as if you knew nothing.

You must have suffered from being unable to breathe underwater.

You must have felt the water seeping into your lungs.

Like that…… you must have sunk into the abyss of death.

After talking with Eve, he had pondered over the memory of that day countless times.

No matter how much he thought about it, all the situations that day were contrived.

Like an experiment planned to observe your death.

“Does it matter?”

A thin, trembling voice avoided answering.

Then Gadwell stood still in that spot.

“It matters to me.”

Sched overlapped and held Louise’s white hand that tightly gripped the reins.

He remembered all those days when the young girl vomited blood, convulsed and collapsed, and couldn’t sleep, trembling from nightmares.

He remembered her longing for the world she couldn’t go out to because her body was in pain, and crying every day, resenting her aching body.

Therefore, Sched had to hear her answer.

At Sched’s question, Louise’s throat felt as if she had swallowed a lump of cotton.

She wanted to say it wasn’t an experiment she wanted.

She tried to move her lips several times, but in the end, she couldn’t make a sound and closed her mouth, gaping like a fish.

As if cursed, her voice wouldn’t come out.

It was because of the guilt choking her deep inside her heart.

Even if she tells the truth, the sins she committed with her own hands won’t disappear.

Pretending to be a victim and blurting out the truth is nothing more than a miserable excuse to make herself feel better.

Moreover, to Sched who lost his brother because of her power……

At that moment, Sched tightly grasped the back of Louise’s trembling hand.

“I killed Parmen.”

At the familiar name that flowed from Sched’s mouth, Louise turned to him.

A deep shadow fell over Sched’s face, with his hair falling down.

If it’s Parmen, he was the brother Sched had mentioned.

Louise had heard Sched often talk about him.

A person who had been with him since childhood, a family, a colleague, a teacher, and a friend.

The person who led young Sched to survive fierce battles.

He was someone who occupied a large part of young Sched’s life.

Since it was a name she often heard from Sched, she had been curious about what kind of person Parmen was.

But Sched killed him……?

“My brother. He was a heretic.”

A deep wound was felt in his voice as he spoke calmly.

Louise recalled the last experimental subject that had remained in Paradel.

Ah, right. That heretic also had the same violet eyes as Sched.

Louise, who belatedly realized the truth, hung her head.

Ah, I have committed another sin against you.

I made you hunt your brother with your own hands.

I drove another nail into your heart.

Her chest ached as if torn by a knife.

“I’ve been wanting to ask. If you knew about him.”

Sched said, gazing into the distance.

“But when I returned from the hunt, you were gone.”

At his resentful words, Louise bit her lips tightly.

So that’s why.

The reason he tried to find me.

“……Did you know about Parmen’s situation?”

Finally, Sched asked.

Louise swallowed a painful breath and shook her head.

She wanted to tell him the whole truth about Parmen, but she knew nothing at all.

What experiments her father had done on Parmen, why Parmen had become like that, how he had survived until now.

Only Felix Ideana would know all of that.

Louise resented her own ignorance.

She hated herself for being powerless and unable to provide any answers to the questions that would remain as Sched’s wounds for life.

Since her body was already covered in sins, it would be good to know everything.

All she had was her selfish regenerative power and the curse-like black magic.

“I’m sorry……. Truly.”

She barely spat out the words in a trembling voice filled with moisture.

She couldn’t say anything else.

She didn’t know what else to say to wash away this sin, no, to at least comfort his wounds a little.

She closed her eyes tightly as tears welled up.

At that moment, Sched’s warm embrace enveloped her.

It felt as if she couldn’t breathe in his warmth.

“……That’s enough.”

A calm voice whispered softly, as if blowing all emotions into the wind.

Feeling no resentment or hatred from him, Louise trembled her lips and eventually dropped a teardrop.

Although nothing had been resolved, his single word made it seem like everything was alright.

Sched felt the warmth of tears falling on his wrist.

Louise Ideana was in his arms.

He had searched for her for more than 3 years for this question.

Although he still couldn’t know how Parmen had come to live as a heretic, just knowing that Louise didn’t know about him seemed to make it no longer matter.

Louise was unaware of Parmen’s experiments.

Also…….

‘You probably didn’t want to obtain that power either.’

Sched closed his eyes tightly.

If she had wanted the power of heresy, she would never have lived like this.

She wouldn’t have been running through the forest, chased by hunting dogs.

She wouldn’t have lived as a maid, being looked down upon, ignored, and harassed in the Godwin household.

She wouldn’t have been afraid of Sched’s hatred and anger, or tried to run away, and there would have been no tears shed while trembling to hide her power in front of the regent.

Sched still had too much he didn’t know.

He knew there were many things Louise hadn’t said and was hiding.

He was curious about the secrets he didn’t know.

He wanted to ask more.

But he chose silence.

He had already heard enough of the answers he wanted to hear.

Now he just wanted to forget the memories of the past.

He wanted to leave it to heal like this without digging further.

Because Ideana was also finding abundance and peace again, and because she had returned.

Sched fully sensed Louise in his arms.

Just with her warm body temperature and the sound of her breathing reaching his ears. It felt as if the thorny bushes tangled sharply in his heart were being cleared away.

Louise held the arms of Sched, who embraced her as if he would never let go.

The tears wouldn’t stop like her heart.

But she wasn’t sad either.

She wished for this moment to be preserved and stopped as it was.

Not to be more painful, nor to be happier.

For a very brief moment, somewhat foolishly, while being off guard in front of the suffering of life.

When Sched and Louise returned, Eve was having fun catching grasshoppers with the caretaker.

Eve, who was putting a grasshopper in a glass bottle, saw Louise and Sched getting off the horse and ran over in a hurry.

“Mommy, riding was fun, wasn’t it!”

Eve’s eyes sparkled like stars, hoping her mother had as much fun as she did.

“Yes, it was fun.”

Louise nodded with a smile, finding Eve adorable.

She was worried that her eyes might still be red, but it seemed to be fine.

“Oh, Mommy, look at this!”

Eve abruptly extended her hand to Louise and wriggled her small fist.

Then, between the gaps of her fingers wrapped around her thumb and index finger, a wriggling light green foxtail emerged like a caterpillar.

“Wow, Eve! How did you know this? It looks just like a caterpillar!”

“The horse mister taught me.”

When Eve pointed to the caretaker, the caretaker smiled broadly and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

Eve was being loved so affectionately.

At that moment, the sound of urgent horse hooves was heard from afar.

Knight Hedrick was climbing up along the hill.

Sir Hedrick dismounted in front of Sched, bowed his head, and delivered an urgent message.

“Your Grace, Regent Dietrich is coming.”

“The regent?”

Sched’s gaze turned to Louise for a moment.