“Teacher, Mom…”

Celine was heading home as Theodore had instructed. However, she occasionally turned her head, looking outside the village with anxious eyes. Somehow, an unsettling premonition gripped Celine’s body. At that moment, she noticed Marion running from a distance.

“Celine!”

“Mom!”

While Celine greeted Marion with a brightened face, Marion’s expression remained dark.

“Mom, where is Teacher?”

“…”

Searching around to find Theodore, Celine couldn’t spot him. A complex expression appeared on Marion’s face. Suddenly, screams from people in the distance reached their ears.

“Aaah!”

Startled by the sound, Celine and Marion turned their heads to see knights attacking people as they approached. Marion swiftly led Celine into the house.

“Mom, what’s happening? Who are those people?”

Celine asked with a terrified expression. Instead of answering, Marion watched the movements of the knights through a crack in the window and hurriedly opened a drawer, taking something out.

“Celine.”

“Yes?”

“Listen carefully. Mom has something to say…”

But Marion couldn’t continue her sentence. The reddish light rising as if to engulf mother and daughter prevented her.

“It’s a fire, a fire!”

Someone shouted from outside. Simultaneously, screams echoed from all directions. The fire was spreading rapidly. Marion tightly grabbed Celine’s hand, then released it.

“Mom, what’s going on?”

With a fearful face, Celine asked. Marion, instead of answering, quickly opened the window.

“Celine, first, you…”

“Celine!”

As Marion opened the window, she turned around to see that flames had already reached the house. Then, a massive wooden pillar seemed about to fall towards Celine. Seeing this, Marion threw herself towards it.

“Mom!”

Marion pushed Celine away, and the wooden pillar crashed down. Celine, crying and calling out to her mother, witnessed Marion lying beneath the fallen pillar. Marion, as if trying to reassure Celine, forced a smile.

“Celine, go. Okay?”

“I don’t want to! I want to go with you, Mom!”

As if she couldn’t leave alone, Celine shook her head while crying. Marion, trembling, placed a necklace in Celine’s hand.

“Take this, Celine. If you wear this around your neck, even the wolves won’t harm you. So…”

“Mom!”

Marion attempted to explain something more but couldn’t continue. Another pillar fell on Marion, preventing her from speaking further. In the recoil, Celine collapsed.

“Ah, ah…”

As Celine, in pain, crouched down, she saw that she was already outside. Her own house was blazing. Celine trembled all over.

“Over there, catch her!”
However, without falling into the sorrow of losing her mother, cries from the knights who had spotted Celine from afar echoed. Staggering to her feet, Celine ran as she was. Not knowing where she was heading, she tightly held the necklace Marion had given her in one hand and continued running.

“Celine!”

Amidst screams echoing from all directions, someone called out to Celine. She immediately recognized the owner of the voice.

“T-Teacher…”

“Are you okay? Are you hurt? What about Mom?”

“Mom, Mom…”

Upon seeing Theodore, tears welled up in Celine’s eyes again. Celine rushed into Theodore’s arms. Sensing Marion’s death from Celine’s tears, Theodore bit his lip.

“Let’s get out of here for now, Celine. Come on.”

As the acrid smoke caused Celine to cough, Theodore enveloped Celine with a cloth, lifting her up. Celine, already exhausted, blinked her eyes slowly. Yet, her hands instinctively clutched Theodore’s clothes.

“Is the smoke too much for you? Don’t worry, close your eyes. Teacher will protect Celine…”

“What are you doing?”

At that moment, the knights and Heir revealed themselves. Celine, looking at Heir with blurred vision, closed her eyes as if losing consciousness, and Theodore covered Celine’s face and body with the cloth.

“Who’s the child you’re holding? It can’t be your child again, right?”

“…”

Instead of answering, Theodore tightly embraced Celine. Heir glared at Theodore and spoke harshly to the knights.

“What were the knights doing? You can’t even handle one like him properly?”

“Sorry. We were caught off guard when the lord suddenly rushed in… We let our guard down.”

While Heir and the knights were talking, Theodore looked around. Behind them, buildings were engulfed in flames, and in front of them were Heir and the knights. Theodore slowly spoke.

“…I am truly disappointed, Father. How can you mercilessly slaughter innocent people like this?”

“Just making a fuss over the loss of a single countryside village. How can I entrust my legacy to someone who is so concerned about such an incident?”

In an instant, the village turned into ashes with nothing left. The knights approached Theodore step by step to take him away again. While watching them, Theodore raised his head.

“No. Father. I won’t go with you anymore.”

“What?”

“I am so disappointed in you, to the point that I can’t even call you father. You, who mercilessly massacres innocent people. How can you do such a thing?”