Ludwig’s plan to have a leisurely conversation with Evelia at the imperial palace garden while having lunch was, to cut to the chase, unfulfilled.

Unexpectedly, the former Emperor intruded. He wanted to see his grandson.

“The former Emperor?”

Evelia tilted her head at the unfamiliar term, and Ludwig explained,

“My grandfather. Our father’s father.”

“……!!”

Evelia, astonished at something, opened her eyes wide and her mouth agape.

“Does Grandfather Louis exist?!”

“Is it surprising that everyone has a grandfather?”

His earththief friend was clearly shocked by that statement, for reasons Ludwig could not fathom.

Ludwig, who was going to see the former emperor, kept looking back as if he had lingering regrets, but the earththief just stood there, his face still rigid.

Ludwig had no choice but to look forward to meeting his earththief friend at their secret base in the near future.

Inside the carriage returning to the ducal residence, Evelia sat on Hugo’s lap.

Evelia’s gaze was always directed outside.

It landed on an elderly man walking holding his young grandson’s hand, then on a grandmother buying a small hairpin for her granddaughter.

“Dad, Louis has a grandfather.”

“Mm. That’s right.”

Hugo also uttered an unexpected phrase, which was difficult to comprehend. Is having a grandfather something special?

A child’s thoughts jumped around erratically, so Hugo assumed this curiosity would soon be buried under a new interest.

“Well, thinking about it, Relian also had a grandfather.”

However, Evelia’s obsession with ‘grandfather’ continued until the carriage smoothly stopped in front of the ducal residence.

“Dad, where is your father?”

“I’ll tell you when you’re a little older.”

He gently brushed it off and stroked her head, but his daughter seemed to be fixated on the subject.

Once inside the ducal residence, Evelia sat on the sofa, sipping cocoa, and asked again.

“Mom, where is your mother?”

Hugo and Elysia exchanged awkward looks.

If left alone, her innocent comments would continue unabated.

“Why don’t I have a grandfather and grandmother?”

Only I don’t have them. Only I don’t have a grandfather and grandmother.

While it wasn’t a very pleasant story, given her expression, it was unavoidable.

Seeing her daughter’s sparkling eyes, it was certain that if they didn’t tell her now, she’d be chirping around town saying ‘I don’t have a grandfather, but I don’t know why.’

‘Sooner or later our little one will find out…’

‘It’s better that we tell her rather than hearing it from someone else’s mouth.’

As Elysia let out a quiet sigh and nodded to Hugo, he sat his daughter on his lap and gently started the story.

His voice was as soft and serene as usual, a stark contrast to the dark contents.

Evelia learned of her mother and father’s first meeting, something she had not known before.

The tragic land, .

The description fit the land perfectly.

Once ruled by the BertaShan Earl’s family.

There were various names to describe it, but all of them were miserable.

The land that was first sacrificed, the powerless land, the defeated land…

And the land where the lives of the Artina Duke and Duchess, their ancestors, faded.

The parents who briefly traveled to the territory of BertaShan to meet a rare friend under the pretext of a vacation, fell asleep in that land forever, along with the BertaShan Earl and his wife whom they had gone to see.

The corpses of the parents they returned were horrendous.

As if to prove that they were not lying about being tormented by the demon tribe.

The young boy did not close his eyes.

For three days he stood still as if nailed to the spot, engraving the sight of the corpses in his brain. Without eating, sleeping, or crying, he just stood still.

He was only nine years old at the time.

The boy, who was semiforcibly raised to the position of Duke without other options, swung his sword like a vengeful spirit for seven years after that day.

Even when the sun set, the moon rose. Even in the rain, the snow, the wind, and the lightning.

And then, one dark night. That’s when he was able to emit a sword aura brighter than the moon.

The joy of becoming a Sword Master at the youngest age in recorded history didn’t even have a chance to register. Because he had only one reason for practicing the sword.

With a single sword strapped to his waist, the boy, who had returned with his father’s corpse, headed without hesitation.

To that very land where his parents were brutally murdered, the land that had now become the property of the demons.

Towards <Bertashan>.

All the demons who had rushed towards the solitary boy became the blood flowing beneath his feet.

The boy, drenched in the blood of demons from head to toe, had golden eyes that lacked focus and any sign of life.