“I can’t remember what was said after that.”

Lorencia clutched her head with both hands, trying hard to recall the forgotten conversation with her mother. But she couldn’t remember what her mother said next.

The violet crystal orb emitted light again, showing another scene. Upon seeing it, Lorencia was so startled that she took a step back from the orb.

It was a scene she wanted to forget, no, a scene she could never forget.

The violet crystal orb began showing 29-year-old Lorencia, imprisoned in a dark cell without a glimmer of light, starving to death.

Why is it showing me my own death?

“Is it showing this so I won’t forget?”

Her imprisoned self was clearly starving to death. She was longing for potato soup more than the man she loved, resenting, regretting, and reflecting on the evil deeds she had committed.

-Bang bang!

Someone broke through the prison wall and appeared. As bright light suddenly illuminated the inside of the cell, Lorencia closed her eyes. Then she heard an unfamiliar voice.

Lorencia watched Teishar, who had broken through the prison wall.

Lorencia bowed her head and shed tears. Teishar approached and forcibly moistened her lips with water from his canteen. As soon as the water touched her lips, her body, regardless of her sad feelings, began drinking the water he offered in big gulps. It was truly a thoughtless instinct.

She regretted everything and didn’t want to live, but at his words, an indescribable sensation of relief or dejection was conveyed to her heart.

At Teishar’s words, 29-year-old Lorencia slowly opened her eyes and looked at the bright light.

The moment Lorencia took Teishar’s hand, she felt a sensation as if her breathing had stopped. Her eyes kept blinking involuntarily. With each blink, countless scenes passed by.

Then the surroundings changed like rippling water. The rippling water stopped, and the surroundings became calm.

At the sound of someone calling her name, Lorencia slowly opened her eyes.

“What’s wrong, Lady Lorencia?”

“Nothing.”

The scenes she had just seen vanished in an instant. Looking around, she saw Evan and Teishar looking at her with concern.

“Are you feeling dizzy perhaps?”

“Yes, I think so.”

“Then let’s quickly return to your room, Lady Lorencia.”

Teishar, who had been looking at her with worry, politely held out his hand. Lorencia recalled the scene the violet crystal orb had shown her.

Upon receiving a letter from his son Teishar about discovering the young tree Lorencia, Magnus wanted to rush over immediately. However, there were things he had to do in the Poloid Empire for the young tree’s sake.

That was to meet with the former Duke and Duchess of Glosston to inform them about Lorencia. Unfortunately, the former ducal couple was away.

“Lord Magnus. A letter has arrived from your father in the Isuter Empire, no, from former Head Butler Evan.”

He received a letter from Evan, who had left for Isuter first. It contained detailed information about the young tree. The most striking part of the letter was:

As soon as he read the letter, tears flowed involuntarily. It was so painful and sad. Reading on, learning how the young tree had lived in the Isuter Empire all this time, anger surged up. Magnus couldn’t stand it.

In the end, he put down the letter and began crying, shedding tears. Holio, who was watching Magnus’s second cry, was very flustered, but being a veteran head butler, he skillfully took out a handkerchief and handed it to Magnus.

“Holio, at times like this, you’re supposed to quietly close the door and leave.”

“I thought you might need a handkerchief.”

“I said leave!”

At his shout, Holio scurried out like a puppy with its tail on fire. After confirming Holio had left, Magnus wailed loudly. Then he came to his senses, realizing this wasn’t the time to be crying.

In the absence of the former ducal couple, he had to at least meet with Baello, Kane’s older brother and the current Duke of Glosston. Magnus decided to send a letter to Baello for the time being.

As he wrote about the circumstances of finding Lorencia in the letter, Magnus soon stopped his quill pen.

20 years ago, he had not informed Baello and the former ducal couple of Glosston about Musilla’s pregnancy. The reason was that when the two went missing, the Duchess at the time, Abrelina, collapsed, and the Duke, Welson, also had a hard time, stopping eating and drinking.

He couldn’t bring himself to tell them, who were suffering, that Musilla had disappeared with Kane while pregnant. He had contemplated telling them honestly but chose to remain silent for their sake, as they already seemed to be in pain and sorrow from losing their child.

But now, after all this time, how was he supposed to convey that Kane and Musilla were dead and only their granddaughter had been found? He might have to explain to Baello and the former ducal couple about the serpent’s red eyes of the Spencer family.

If they would at least acknowledge Lorencia as Kane’s daughter and take her in at the Glosston ducal family through that, it would be fortunate. But if they refused to believe it and rejected Lorencia, he had to consider a last resort as well.

Only if the Glosston ducal family accepted Lorencia as a member of their family could he inquire about Musilla and Kane’s affairs with the Pol Heredian Count’s side. And he had to get them to cancel Lorencia’s family name that had been entered into the Pol Heredian family registry.

Magnus put down his quill pen. There was too much to do. Fabricated rumors would torment Lorencia.

“This is no ordinary matter.”

A sigh escaped involuntarily. Magnus picked up the quill pen he had put down. Then, as if he had made a resolution, he wrote on the letter paper.

The letter he wrote was sent to Baello of the Glosston ducal family.

Until he read the letter, Baello honestly didn’t want to meet Magnus. Because whenever he met him, he often saw his mother and father fall into sorrow over talking about Kane.

Time is needed to process painful emotions, but looking at Magnus and his parents, their time seemed to be frozen in the painful past 20 years ago. And for 20 years, he had watched his family suffer by his side.

Not being able to forget is another form of pain. As you endure the pain, you become numb to it.

Then you start to think, ‘This level of pain is bearable.’

Thinking it’s bearable means that even though you’re miserable for life, the pain you feel is tolerable, so you can continue to live in that pain.

Baello didn’t want to feel that pain. So he deliberately kept himself busy with work.

His time never stopped flowing.

It’s not that he didn’t think of his younger brother Kane, but he buried those thoughts deep within the flow of time and let them wash away with time. He thought Kane must be living well somewhere, put aside thoughts of him, and lived on.

But today, after reading Magnus’s letter, the second hand of his stopped clock moved a little.

“Unbelievable.”

Magnus’s letter was about finding Kane’s daughter, his niece.

“Then what about Kane?”

Nowhere in the letter was there any mention of Kane. It only talked about his niece. Baello’s time that had been flowing returned to 20 years ago. And he recalled the last conversation with Kane that he had buried in the flow of time.

The joy of becoming a father was a happiness that could not be exchanged for anything else. Although they had conceived a child without being married, he congratulated Kane and Musilla on the happiness of becoming parents.

Kane’s face was overflowing with joy and happiness. He looked the happiest in the world. Baello smiled at his younger brother. He believed in Musilla, whom Kane had chosen. And he celebrated the two of them coming together. Others feared her simply for being the child of goddess Ella, but Musilla had never used her powers for evil. She always used them to help people.

Despite receiving Musilla’s help, people called her a ‘witch’ at the instigation of the priests of the Ella temple.

Bad words spread quickly by people’s mouths, while good deeds became known belatedly. Baello found that fact very unfortunate.

Sincerely.

But his thoughts changed after Kane disappeared. When Kane went missing, he resented Musilla, who had disappeared along with him. It felt like she was taking revenge on the parents who opposed their marriage.

He knew that wasn’t the case, but at the time, all the members of the Glosston ducal family blamed Musilla. Otherwise, it was too hard to bear the pain of losing a family member.