At Aruwin’s words, glancing at April, I looked down at April in my arms. …This kid, she’s really asleep, right? She’s not pretending to sleep?

‘If it’s April, she could even pretend to sleep…’

Putting my budding doubts aside, I listened to Aruwin’s explanation. His voice was lower than usual.

… He seemed very angry.

“I don’t know everything yet, but the Humanitarian Aid Society seems to have wanted to gain the power of the Great Spirit, forcibly.”

I had expected that. And it didn’t seem that Aruwin was angry for the Great Spirit. Rather than for the Great Spirit…

“The problem is what role the humanoid children played for that purpose. Do you remember the white room where the children were trapped?”

“Yes, I remember.”

A room that steals the life force of whoever stays there. Those Humanitarian Aid Society bastards who had imprisoned children there were unredeemable trash. They should rot in prison for life.

“Following the magic circuit connected to that room, I found a device to store life force.”

“……What?”

I asked back, thinking I had misheard. A device to store life force?

… What is that?

“They were stealing the children’s life force and storing it in that device. I have not yet found out what they were trying to do with that life force. It seems I need to investigate further.”

“…….”

I had heard a story more horrifying than I had imagined. The Humanitarian Aid Society bastards… they had been breeding humanoid children to harvest their fresh life force. It was nothing short of treating them like livestock.

“……Damn, no, damnation won’t be enough for them.”

My voice trembled, murmuring in anger. My arms holding the rabbit involuntarily tensed. If my child… if April had suffered the same fate, I felt like I would go mad with rage.

“……Yes, damnation won’t be enough for them. They all… will never die in peace. Because I’ll make it so.”

Aruwin looked as angry as me, if not more.

It was the first time I had seen him express such intense emotion, and I was a bit dumbfounded. After all, Aruwin always wore an easygoing and playful atmosphere like clothing.

‘That person…’

At that moment, I naturally realized one thing.

…Aruwin really likes children.

“……Anyway, this Humanitarian Aid Society, a pseudogroup, is not one or two things suspicious. Just looking at them holding the Great Spirit captive is proof. When I examined the restricted area, it seems they used magical power that caused a reaction contrary to the spirits, but…”
Arwin’s expression grew even darker. With his head slightly bowed, he spoke, his face cast in deep shadow.

“The magic used there, it is a highlevel magic that requires very meticulous manipulation. The one who designed this facility must be a very talented magician. To the extent that…….”

He raised his head and looked directly at me. In that moment, I was involuntarily chilled. Perhaps because I glimpsed the hostility in those pale yellow eyes.

“……It must be a toplevel magician of the caliber that only the Ainstern royal family can command.”

The hostility was not directed at me, but, well, I couldn’t say it was completely unrelated to me.

(This is the time separator.)

“……So that’s why Evangelin invited Gloria to the garden party?”

King of Ainstern, Laniéro, was sitting on a golden assistant, tilting his head slightly, and snapped one of his hands resting on the armrest.

Although he was a cruel father, he tried to know everything about his children from one to ten. It was a matter of course. His children were his possessions, after all.

Ordinary possessions should not wander outside his territory. That’s a reasonable principle. Therefore, Laniéro always monitored his children’s every move.

“Somehow, Evangelin’s recent behavior seemed suspicious…….”

Laniéro’s mouth curled into a smile. The movement of the finger that had been tapping the armrest stopped, abruptly.

“She was trying to win Gloria over.”

To be precise, to utilize the power that Gloria possessed.

Moreover, that power…… was very unexpected. Even he, who sat in the power seat of a great country and saw through the world, did not expect this.

He never thought that Gloria would contract with the spirits of the world tree.

Among his many children, Gloria Ainstern, who stood out the least.

‘……But it wasn’t like that since Gloria was young.’

When had it started?

Laniéro was one to easily forget old and useless memories. Those memories were as worthless as trash. The memories of Gloria were no different.

Still, he remembered that Gloria was quite smart when she was young. And more than anything, what intrigued him was……

‘That child did not fear me from a young age.’

She was just like her biological mother.

‘So for a while, I did have expectations for her…….’

At some point, Gloria changed. Her cleverness lost its light, and she hid or fled when she saw him. Laniéro knew it was a play but did not show it. If she wanted to be a stupid coward, then so be it.

That way, Gloria acted as a malicious and stupid princess until she became an adult. Acting scared when faced with him was a bonus.

Laniéro secretly laughed at his daughter and gradually ignored her. He had many children anyway. Gloria was just one of them…….

‘Grayan Salisbury……. It was good to use Gloria as a tool to put that insolent brat in an embarrassing situation and marry her off to him.’

It’s an astonishing thing. That Gloria would be chosen by the world tree.

No one would have expected it.

This news, once widely known, will create a stir in the world.

‘Elowin Kingdom will not let go of Gloria, who has become the Duchess of Salisbury, and Grayan Salisbury…… That scoundrel will try to use Gloria as well.’