“I’m saying that Dad is also important.”

Damian’s eyes welled up with tears at the warmth of his daughter in his arms.

He raised his arms at the child’s gesture of hugging his neck, but couldn’t move a single finger.

Whether he should hug her back, or if that would be a terrible thing to do.

Damian’s shoulders trembled. Tears flowed from his closed eyes.

“Dad……”

The child’s small voice reached his ears.

Damian could no longer think about such things. With the child’s voice, he tightly hugged Lucy in his arms.

Damian’s eyes crinkled at the soft, small, but warm sensation.

“Dad…… don’t go.”

The child, clinging tightly to his neck, held onto Damian with a trembling voice. That made Damian crumble.

Damian wanted to answer the child’s words, but it wasn’t the answer Lucy wanted.

Damian had to leave, and only by doing so could Eriel and Lucy be safe in a world without him.

Biting his trembling lower lip hard, he opened his closed eyes. Though his focus wavered due to tears, his vision was clearer than ever before.

What he should think about is neither the empire nor the emperor.

My wife and my daughter.

For the wife and daughter who only wait for me.

Damian stood up while holding the child. He patted the back of the child who was still hugging his neck and burying her head in his shoulder.

It was Damian’s small apology for Lucy’s plea not to go. He just hoped the child wouldn’t understand that apology.

“Dad will…… make sure that castle can be protected even if Lucy doesn’t have a little brother.”

The child’s upper body, cradled in his arms, rose.

Green eyes, trembling in disbelief, looked at Damian. As if wondering how he knew the meaning behind the word ‘little brother’.

However, Damian, rather than reading such thoughts of the child, gently rubbed Lucy’s eyes with his finger as she faced him.

Eyes resembling Eriel’s and crinkled eyes resembling his…… my daughter. My daughter. Our daughter.

“Dad……”

He will do his best to protect the surname attached to the child’s name.

Because she’s my daughter. But even if things go wrong and you’re adopted into the Borges marquis family, you’re still my daughter, Lucy.

Damian smiled at the child, swallowing the words he couldn’t bring himself to say.

Bang-!!

A man pushed open the door with tremendous force, as if kicking it, and entered the duke’s residence.

The impact caused the doorknob to rattle and fall out.

Damian, who hadn’t even assumed a battle stance, calmly looked at the man who had kicked the door.

The man who had the guts to kick the door of the duke’s residence in the morning was…….

“Uncle is here.”

It was Blake, with a deeply furrowed brow.

His hands were full of gift packages.

Presumably gifts for Lucy, he looked back and forth between Damian and Lucy before dropping the gift packages.

Blake opened his lips and pointed at Damian in disbelief.

“Brother-in-law…… no, you’ve gone from an idiot to a brother-in-law. Just yesterday you had the eyes of a soulless doll.”

“Uncle!”

Damian sighed while holding the child. Lucy, who called out to her uncle in confusion, vigorously wiped away the tears that were still pooled in her eyes with her sleeve.

Damian stroked Lucy’s hair once as she was held in his arms.

“Lucy.”

Damian’s voice calling his daughter softly was warm. Lucy slightly closed her eyes at her father’s touch, then opened them and answered.

“Yes, Dad.”

“Stay at home with your uncle. Dad will be back soon. Just for a little bit.”

“What do you mean a little bit.”

Blake, who had walked over with heavy steps, narrowed his eyes and frowned at Damian. Then he boldly spread his arms towards Lucy.

“Lucy, come here. Leave your lying dad and come to uncle.”

“Uncle.”

However, Lucy, who called out to her uncle, widened her eyes.

“Uncle! This is a white lie. Don’t you know what a white lie is?”

“A white lie?”

One of Blake’s eyebrows rose.

“A white lie that Dad tells for my sake. Mom said that you shouldn’t get angry when you see the heart of the person who told a white lie. So I’m not angry at Dad either. But regardless of the white lie, I’ll go to uncle. Because Dad has to go.”

Lucy rustled in Damian’s arms one last time. Then she held Damian’s cheeks and gave him a short kiss.

“Dad, come back safely. You told a white lie to me and Mom, so make sure you keep it when you return. It’s okay if it takes long. Mom and I will wait for you well. We’ll wait well, so make sure to come back. That’s all.”

Damian froze at the child’s kiss. He wasn’t the only one who froze seeing that.

Blake looked at Damian’s face with very envious eyes.

“Give one to uncle too.”

When Blake, with his arms spread, said this to Lucy, Lucy firmly shook her head.

Instead, she tried to go into Blake’s arms, but Damian, blocking Lucy’s movement, pulled the child back into his arms.

Then he gave a short kiss on Lucy’s cheek and smiled brightly.

“I’ll be back.”

Tears filled Damian’s eyes. His straight nose bridge wrinkled slightly.

*

Lucy stood in front of the door with the rattling doorknob, waving her hand vigorously towards her father.

Fortunately, Damian, who was walking away, glanced back and saw Lucy’s arm waving.

Though not clearly visible, with what seemed like a smiling face, Damian also waved his arm slightly.

Lucy added one item to the list in her mind to teach Dad how to wave his arm like this when he returns next time.

Yes, when Dad comes back.

That one sentence made her chest tighten and flutter, but Lucy pressed her lips tightly.

She will believe that he will return because he said he would. She’ll think the last words weren’t a white lie.

“Lucy.”

Blake came to her side and called Lucy. Lucy raised her head, keeping her father’s back, now invisible, in her heart.

Green eyes like hers were shining with expectation. Blake bent his waist slightly and looked down at Lucy.

He subtly glanced at the gift boxes behind him.

“Uncle brought a lot of gifts, so give one to uncle too.”

Gauging her uncle’s attempt to exchange gifts for a kiss, Lucy firmly called out to Blake.

“Uncle.”

“Yes?”

“Is Dad…… starting a rebellion or something?”

As she asked, recalling her father’s armed figure walking away, Blake’s eyebrow twitched.

“Rebellion?”

Blake rolled his eyes and went “Hmm-” as if thinking.

“Well. Even if your father’s plan goes well, it seems he won’t be able to avoid a prison sentence.”

“If he can’t avoid a prison sentence, it’s not rebellion, right? Huh?”

The corners of Blake’s mouth lifted.

A smile that seemed troubled was directed at Lucy, and Lucy immediately caught the meaning of that smile and narrowed her eyes.

“I promised your father not to tell his niece, but. Hmm-”

The uncle, who didn’t seem likely to keep his promise with Dad very well, looked at her and grinned. Then he tapped his finger on his cheek.

“Well. If there’s a bribe or two, I might tell you.”

Lucy puffed her cheeks.

My kiss, where……!

“Okay.”

But I need to know what Dad is doing so we can prepare on this side.

Because I believe Dad will come back. Now that I know what Dad is doing, I need to help from behind.

When Mom wakes up, together with Mom!

Because we decided not to hide it from Mom.

“I’ll trade my kiss for you teaching me what Dad is doing. And……”

“And?”

“Find out why Mom can’t wake up.”

Unlike her firm voice, Lucy’s eyes were tinged with sadness. As she raised her head towards the bedroom where Mom was.

*

Eriel fell into a deep sleep.

In that unconsciousness, Eriel constantly searched for the child’s whereabouts.

Lucy, my daughter.

Our daughter, Lucy.

Where on earth is our daughter.

Daughter, please.

If you tell me where you are, Mom will come.

So please, daughter.

Shedding tears endlessly, she moved into a deeper, much deeper darkness in search of her daughter.

Our daughter must have gone to a deeper place.

Again, without even telling Mom.

Eriel’s eyes kept moving. No matter how dark the surroundings were, she wasn’t afraid or scared of anything.

Even if death was at the end of this, if she could just bring our daughter back from there, she could go in instead.

If only she could save our Lucy.

Just as she was about to fall into an even deeper quagmire without direction, a voice was heard from somewhere.

“Eriel!”

Damian?

Eriel’s steps, about to fall into darkness, stopped. Eriel urgently called out to Damian’s voice heard from the opposite side.

“Damian? What about our daughter! Our Lucy!”

Eriel asked at Damian’s voice, but that was all.

As if it had closed immediately, Damian’s voice was cut off from Eriel’s ears.

Eriel, standing in that place, cast her gaze towards where Damian’s voice had been heard.

Her head felt like it was about to split.

Eriel sat down, unable to go further from that place, clutching her head tightly with her eyes closed.

Did Damian save Lucy?

Him?

Wasn’t he…… someone who cared more about the empire than his daughter, than me?

She tried to recall blue eyes, but nothing came to mind.

What was contained in her husband’s eyes?