The relatively easygoing parents will protest against him, thinking that Duke Roadwick granted a favor out of fear. They couldn’t protest against the Duke themselves.

My Chancellor position is in danger. But how to refuse a request from Duke Roadwick that seemed like a command [dash].

“I’d like my daughter’s attendant to go out once a week, is that possible?”

I have to comply.

That was quite reasonable.

There have been occasions where a student who was not in good health went out for treatment.

The Chancellor hurriedly nodded at the words that came down like rain in a drought.

“It’s entirely possible, Your Highness.”

(This is a time separator.)

Blake was lost in thought inside the carriage stopped at the correction.

It was an event of the winter the year before last.

‘…….’

In the morning, Blake, who had just opened his eyes, was unable to leave the bed for a while.

He couldn’t believe the unfamiliar condition of his body.

Astonishment filled his red eyes as he sat leaning against the head of the bed.

‘What’s happening…….’

Usually, he would feel a headache as if it would break when he got up, but today, his head felt as clear as if it had been washed away.

Not only that. The pain that used to crush his heart, and the heavy feeling as if a strong force was dragging his body down to the ground, were gone.

Everything that had confined him had disappeared. Had there ever been a day when he felt so free in his life?

It felt like the world had changed.

‘I feel like I can do anything now.’

Feeling that his body had improved, the first thing that came to mind was his daughter’s face.

Hadn’t she been noticeably worried about his recently deteriorating physical condition?

It was understandable. His attending physician, Clang, had cautiously told Blake that he might want to start preparing himself mentally.

I must show her quickly.

While changing his clothes, Blake was on his way to Riche’s room.

Anna ran up the stairs that I was descending in a state of panic, crying out.

“Ma, Master! Miss Riche!”

Riche, covered in blood, was found on the bed in her room.

Her whole body was full of large and small wounds.

At just 8 years old, she had bled so much that it was unbelievable how much blood could come out of that small body.

Clang, along with other doctors called into the Duke’s house, examined the delirious Riche.

They unanimously said they couldn’t guarantee her life or death.

It was that critical.

Deon, who was returning to the Duke’s house for Academy vacation, heard the news and ran straight day and night without rest or sleep.

“Hey! Are you okay?!”

“…….”

But the unconscious Riche could not answer.

The entire Duke Roadwick’s house seemed to be in a nightmare.

Riche woke up more than a week after that.

Her eyelids went up, and Blake was the first thing reflected in her silver pupils.

Riche stared at him and gently folded her eyes, smiling.

“It’s a relief.”

What’s a relief?

That’s what he wanted to say.

That day, for the first time, Blake shed tears in front of others.

There was no one among the people present who didn’t cry, so it was not a shameful thing.

“…….”

It’s still a dizzying thought.

The red eyes that were recalling sank deeply.

Duke Roadwick.
It wasn’t merely because Blake was a gifted person that he had earned his place.

From a young age, the gifted ones of Lodwick train to acquire all the skills necessary to befit the head of the family.

In other words, Blake was not someone who could not judge what he saw and heard.

On the first day they met, a child who almost got sold in the slave market.

“Duke Gerwer has been acting strangely lately… He’s been wandering the slave market.”

On the same day, his Om disappeared, Riche, who was gravely injured to the point of crossing the line between life and death.

“Duke Gerwer is muttering something about Letiom…”

The year Riche was adopted, Blake recalled the words that Duke Hibetsu spoke at the hunting festival, and he was certain.

It was Riche. She had saved him, knowing full well that her life was in danger.

And not only for himself.

If he thought back to the words that Duke Gerwer had spoken at the hunting festival, it was clear that Riche had also purified Deon’s Om.

“I am ashamed.”

He already owed two lives to that little girl.

Every time he recalled that fact, Blake’s eyes reddened. He wanted to ask Riche right away. Why she had done it, why, to those not even related by blood.

Regret outweighed gratitude, and sorrow outweighed regret.

It felt like it was his fault that the child made such a choice.

He was saddened by the fact that a gifted person who hurt his lovely daughter was a family member.

It was so painful that he wanted to kneel in front of her and apologize. And he wanted to ask her never to use the power of purification again.

But it was only a thought. Riche was hiding her true identity. There must have been her own reason for it.

So all he could do was pretend not to know.

Instead, the duty to protect his daughter was his, as her father.

“Gerwer…”

Up until the year before, Duke Gerwer, who had been secretly visiting the Lodwick territory regularly, suddenly stopped coming.

It was after Blake had encountered the child he had prepared as Riche’s double.

With a dark conspiracy hidden, his eyes must have seen nothing when he looked at the child.

Deeply disappointed, Duke Gerwer disappeared that day. Reports came from the spies he had planted that Duke Gerwer had ceased all external activities and was searching for ancient relics.

It seemed to be true. He had not attended the hunting festivals held last year and this year.

“Daddy, I want to take the entrance exam for the Royal Academy.”

When Riche, who had recovered, expressed her desire to enter the Academy, Blake granted her permission but part of him wished she wouldn’t.

Even though Duke Gerwer did not tread there, in this academy…

“Master, we’re here.”

Jed knocked on the carriage door. Blake slowly turned his eyes to the door as it began to open.

In front of the carriage stood a boy with shimmering blonde hair.

The color of the badge on the collar of his school uniform was blue. It signified that he was a secondyear student.

From the carriage, Blake looked down at him, and his lips slowly moved.

“It’s been a long time since the hunting festival.”

Then, a low voice distinctly uttered the boy’s name.

“Ian Dwayne Gerwer.”