Yuriel finished her work as usual, but did not head to her lodgings.

Passing the entrance of the imperial palace, Yuriel entered the space filled with buildings and walked aimlessly.

Her steps came to a halt in front of the Blanchet mansion.

The mansion, which barely fit into one’s field of vision even when looking up, boasted the most vast and majestic atmosphere in the capital after the imperial palace.

It was laughable how long ago she thought Alphonse was her entire world.

Yuriel stood there for a long time, looking up at it.

But lingering around the mansion was all she could do, with no other results.

The man who always sent medicine according to schedule clearly forgot about her existence in the urgent situation of going to the battlefield.

Or perhaps she had lost even that much value to him.

Still, recalling the man’s kind voice she had heard last, she repeated to herself that her value couldn’t have disappeared completely.

However, imagination and avoidance alone were not enough to shake off the anxiety.

With each passing day, the anxiety piled up like a tower.

‘Would he have remembered to bring that medicine while leaving for the battlefield so urgently?’

If he disappears, the way to receive the medicine becomes distant.

If that man left without giving any instructions…

She wanted to ask something, but there was no way to reach him.

Only then did she realize that there was no way to reach him on the battlefield unless he contacted her first.

Ah, that’s how it was. The belated sense of reality chilled the back of her head.

Even after that, time flowed as usual and the cycle came around again like a revolving door.

Yesterday was the day her mother had to take the medicine.

Thinking that there might be a contact, she lingered in front of the house all day, but his underling never appeared.

The anxious feelings she had tried to ignore accumulated and burned her heart black, unable to flow away.

After that, when she came to her senses, she was like this in front of the Blanchet mansion.

It was because of the subtle expectation that there might be someone he had left behind.

Of course, if he had intended to leave someone behind in the first place, the medicine would have already been in her hands without having to come here.

So she knows it’s all in vain.

But even knowing that, she couldn’t give up.

‘Is there really no way to reach that man?’

Her gaze at the article reporting on the war situation trembled as usual.

Fortunately, according to the article’s report, Young Master Cassian was performing brilliantly and the war would end much faster than expected.

However, even that rapid conclusion period was still months away.

‘If months pass without receiving the medicine, Mother will…’

Just imagining it made cold sweat run down her forehead.

She couldn’t just sit and watch her mother in such a state.

Staggering like a person who had lost her mind, she entered the main building and rummaged through the documents of the postal processing office.

Among those mails were also those of Blanchet heading to him.

It was natural since items heading to the battlefield necessarily required the seal of the administrative office.

Even he, the young master of Blanchet, could not be an exception to that.

With trembling hands, she inserted her letter, pressed firmly with her own seal, between them.

At first, she was afraid that the Blanchet family might recognize it, but at some point, such things were no longer a problem.

Sitting still and watching her mother lose her breath every second like this, even such an act didn’t seem dangerous.

The image of her mother calling for her with a pale face this morning flashed through her mind.

After missing the cycle, her mother became thinner and paler with each passing day.

Every time she saw the bones protruding over her already skinny hands, her heart sank.

Her mother, who was gradually unable to recognize her due to the memory loss caused by the side effects of the medicine, called her name.

Recently, even her name was forgotten, and her mother asking who she was was a clear change from before.

Every time her mother regained her memory, another heavy stone was hung over her heart.

It was as if her mother’s memory was made by grinding away her life.

If her memories had slowly returned after being declared cured, she would have gladly rejoiced.

But her mother’s returning memories from not taking the medicine felt like a disaster.

When she reached out her bony hand to touch her face and call her name, she had to regulate her breathing to keep tears from leaking out.

Of course, she tried her best to find the medicine.

Even knowing the result already, there were things in this world that one couldn’t give up on.

Foolishly searching through guilds and looking for merchant groups that distribute the medicine…

But even if she found that medicine, it was impossible to find someone who would lend her the enormous amount of money.

The more she recalled the reality she already knew, the more the reason she had to reach that man grew just as much.

That desperation was imbued in the letters she piled up every day.

However, even as the number of piled up letters became quite a lot, there was no reply from him.

At first, she thought it must not have been delivered and let it pass.

Like the warning text embedded in the center of some post office, delivering mail to the center of the battlefield was an uncertain thing.

In fact, it was a bit strange that it couldn’t be delivered to Blanchet’s camp, which was solidifying its advantage, but the battlefield has many variables.

He must not be receiving the letters due to circumstances she couldn’t know.

But as time passed, her heart beat rapidly with the rushing impatience.

‘What if he never replies…’

No, to be precise, if he’s not unable to reply, but choosing not to.

Her mother’s hourglass didn’t have much left.

After all that sand has flowed down, irreversible things will happen.

Human life is complex and noble, unable to be flipped upside down like an hourglass.

And so today again, when she came to her senses, she was once more at the Blanchet mansion.

A long shadow fell before her with steady footsteps.

Looking up, there was a well-trained knight.

Over him was armor stamped with the Blanchet seal.

“I’ve seen you wandering around the mansion repeatedly. Do you have any business here?”

Business… Her purpose was to meet his person and receive the medicine, but she couldn’t say that directly.

Saliva painfully slid down her throat.

Her head finished thinking that she should say it’s nothing and leave this place as usual, but her feet wouldn’t move easily.

Her voice, born of desperation, finally trembled and leaked out.

“Are any messages… getting through to Young Master Cassian?”

She wondered if she had asked a useless question, but for a human with nowhere to retreat, choices didn’t exist in the first place.

By this point, she wanted to know for certain.

Whether all those letters really didn’t reach Cassian’s hands.

Whether the person delivering them intentionally left them out, or if they weren’t delivered in the first place.

Or if he was intentionally not replying to hers.

‘If it’s intentional avoidance by that man…’

As her thoughts became complicated, the Blanchet knight who had been looking at her with a calm face showed a momentary surprised expression at the mention of Young Master Cassian.

But soon he seemed to judge her as an uninvited guest and hardened his face.

Just as she expected an order to leave to be issued, another knight appeared behind him.

The number of emblems engraved on the armband indicated that he was a superior officer.

The lower-ranked knight who had been making a harsh face until just now disappeared inside following the instructions of the superior officer.

As only the two of them were left in the space, the superior officer asked in a polite voice.

“Are you perhaps Miss Yuriel?”

“How do you know my name…”

Could he be the underling that Cassian had left behind?

Her heart pounded rapidly.

The superior officer who had been quietly looking at her continued speaking calmly.

“I know the reason why you’re looking for him.”

“…Pardon?”

“You came to receive the medicine, correct?”

It seemed like a ray of hope was visible, and she felt like tears might leak out.

“Yes, that’s right.”

But…

For some reason, a troubled light fell over the face of the unnamed superior officer.

“I’m sorry, but it seems we can no longer provide that medicine.”

The arms she had been holding together flowed down limply.

“You can’t… give the medicine?”

“Young Master Cassian ordered us to tell you so. Therefore, we’d like you to stop coming here from now on.”

His kind voice, the last eye contact they made, was still vivid.

But why.

Her vision became hazily blurred.

She couldn’t understand a single word the person in front of her was saying.

“Did Cassian… really say that himself?”

The knight answered bluntly without showing any change in expression.

“Yes, that’s correct.”

Stupidly, she had been certain that she simply hadn’t received it.

He had given such an order from the beginning?

Don’t give her the medicine? There’s no more of that?

Her mind went blank and her heart plummeted vertically.

“I’ve handled it as you ordered.”

The hand of Duchess Elise, who had been embroidering, came to an abrupt stop.

She nodded her head slightly and quietly rose from her seat.

As Elise stopped by the window, the image of Yuriel’s clear face flashed through her mind.

The sight of the girl returning, immersed in shock, was as expected.

It seems the child has more affection for her birth mother than anticipated, so things will likely fall into place soon.

Everything was proceeding well according to her plan.

That girl will probably resent her son, and that resentment will pile up like the sky.

Elise’s footsteps passed through the corridor and somehow headed towards the warehouse behind the mansion.

The iron door opened with a screeching sound like a scream under her hand.

Entering inside, Elise checked the prepared medicine packages and took them out.

She had no desire to give this to that girl.

However, to make her into an impudent girl who took everything she could get and ran away, having the medicine in that girl’s hands would make the perfect picture.

After organizing her thoughts, Elise got into the carriage right away with the medicine.

She had considered calling for a messenger.

However, she preferred not to leave any evidence behind.

The setting sun cast a red light over the carriage as it left the entrance of the Blanchet mansion and headed towards the imperial palace.

Looking at the beautiful light coloring the earth according to nature’s law, she drew a smile on her lips.

The Blanchet carriage, crafted by a master, moved forward without the slightest shake.

As they approached the entrance of the imperial palace, noisy sounds spread around the carriage.

Elise, who had been leaning back with her eyes closed languidly, raised herself and turned her head towards the carriage window.

It seemed someone had collapsed, as a person was being carried out on what appeared to be a stretcher.

Looking at the shabby cart that couldn’t be considered noble, Elise furrowed her brow.

Just as she was about to close the window, a familiar back figure came into her view.

Elise couldn’t help but fix her gaze on the red hair that caught her attention quite a bit.

The profile glimpsed in passing was certainly Yuriel, that girl.

Beside her was a woman with blood stains, lying down.

Elise intuitively knew that woman was Yuriel’s birth mother.

The woman with a face as clear as the girl’s, despite her emaciated appearance, was quite beautiful…

Elise’s gaze, which had flowed over the face of Yuriel’s birth mother, soon stopped, hardening.

A thick wave spread over Elise’s surprised eyes.

‘Could it be…’