There seemed to be nothing more to find here. Reus turned his steps and returned to the old library.

Since there weren’t many books compared to the size of the library, it didn’t seem like it would take too much time to search through.

So for now, he intended to look for any information about the power passed down in the family in the library. Reus calmly began to examine the books one by one.

Fortunately, he was able to find a very detailed description of the power inherited by the Rochester family in an old book.

Reus slowly read through the slightly fairy tale-like content.

[A long, long time ago, a woman who survived countless tragic nights asked the heavens for a way to end the misfortune that was throwing the mortal world into chaos.

In response, the Moon Goddess who governs and oversees the night answered the call.

The woman begged with all her heart for the goddess to please tell her how to protect people from hunger, conflict, and pain.

Moved by the woman’s heart that did not lose goodwill even in a world on the brink of destruction, the Moon Goddess told the woman that this world would begin anew from her and lent a part of her own power.

The woman asked how long this power would be valid. The Moon Goddess answered until the next inevitable destruction.

Then the woman asked why the goddess was already predicting destruction while placing the beginning of the world in her hands. To this, the Moon Goddess revealed the truth with great sorrow.

The fate of the mortal world can never change.

And finally, the goddess spoke to the woman.

The heart that wants to protect anything is not bad. Whatever choice she makes, that too is fate, she will realize.]

The secret of the Rochester family that piqued the Emperor’s curiosity, which the father did not tell his young self.

Its true nature was the grace and a part of the power bestowed upon the Rochester family by the Moon Goddess.

As a result, the people of the Rochester family gained the power of healing, and the family head also obtained vast mana along with the healing power.

It was recorded that the family members who gained power at that time saved countless lives struggling with death.

And the method of maintaining the healing power of the family members more strongly through the mana of the family head, as well as the method of determining the family head and transferring power, were also recorded together.

The head of the family is replaced through a special ceremony, and in the process, the Moon’s power, which is the basis of the healing power, and a vast amount of mana that will further strengthen it are completely transferred to the next generation’s head, as written.

However, from a certain point on, the people of the Rochester family became reluctant to reveal their healing power to the world.

[At first, those who came back from the brink of death held our hands and thanked us. They knelt down and shed tears. But that was only for a moment. Everyone invariably changed and tried to take our power.

If not, they tried to cling to us, relying on our generosity, and if we refused, they blamed the deaths of many in the world on my family.

Too many people were unjustly killed by the reproach of others.]

There were too many people who were jealous and envious of the healing power, and crucially, people regarded the mana that further strengthened the Moon’s power as very ominous.

[The mysterious power bestowed by the Moon Goddess resembled the color of the night sky. And that became our greatest weakness. Whenever I revealed my power, whether they were saved by it or not, everyone branded us as demons.

I sensed that the moment of choice had come.]

The healing power, which originally could be used by most people of the Rochester family, gradually disappeared, and now only the family head knows and can handle the basis of that power.

But the problem was that the head of the family was changed through a special ceremony.

According to the old book, this ceremony required two people to pledge to each other and share blood.

In other words, before proceeding with the ceremony, there must be two subjects to carry it out: the current head and the successor.

However, Rikasen’s body died, and the basis of his power barely survived and was discarded somewhere unknown, and Reus had no idea of his father’s whereabouts.

He searched thoroughly for any books that described the power, hoping there might be another way, but even this method was only worth attempting after retrieving Rikasen’s heart.

‘Was it too much to expect to find the power by searching the library?’

But it was too early to give up here. Reus began to search the secret library again. He scrutinized every nook and cranny, hoping against hope.

Then, while discovering a small desk in the corner of the library, Reus stopped moving unnaturally as he opened the drawer.

It was because of the two picture frames contained in the desk drawer. One was a family photo of himself, and the other was a frame with a photo of him as a child.

The glass part of the frame had many fingerprints on it. Among them, there were particularly many traces on the place where his face was.

They were probably the traces of his father’s touch.

Reus wanted to put his hand on the fingerprints imprinted on his face, but he soon stopped.

He knew that the moment he touched there, he would not be able to do anything afterwards.

Reus just sat there for a long time in front of the desk like that. And after coming to his senses a little, he opened the opposite drawer.

There were several strangely familiar objects placed inside.

The first thing that caught his eye was a silver fountain pen. It was the one his father, Rikasen, used almost every day, so it was not unusual for his father’s old appearance to come to mind one after another as soon as he saw it.

Reus’ eyes, which had been watching it, now fell on the old leather notebook placed at the very back of the drawer.

When he opened the notebook, the date and day of the week were written at the top in his father’s handwriting, and trivial daily life was recorded below.

Reus had discovered his father’s diary.

Reus, who was contemplating whether to close it as it was or not, hesitated and began to read the text slowly, thinking that there might be a clue.

But he soon regretted it.

Because what was recorded in his father’s diary was his daily life seen through his father’s eyes.

It contained the slightly hazy childhood memories of Reus.

The time he lay side by side with his mother in the attic and drew pictures. The time when he got lost in the maze garden and cried, and his father found him and comforted him in his arms. The time when he fell asleep in the closet while playing hide-and-seek and made the people of the ducal castle anxious.

The memories that Reus had slowly lost were gradually revived.

His throat felt as stuffy as water-soaked cotton.

In fact, Reus had wanted to cry from the moment he entered the secret library. The moisture had risen right up to his throat, and it would not have been strange if he had shed tears at any moment, but in the end, he did not cry.

It wasn’t that he particularly held back. Reus had simply lost the way to cry at some point.

After his entire life was submerged in sadness, every day was so miserable that he didn’t know when to cry.

Just when he thought he should stop reading now, Reus stopped the hand that was about to close the diary.

The pages that had contained his daily life until just before had changed to pages that directly conveyed his father’s inner thoughts at some point.

That point was since Rikasen saved the Emperor, Den.

Soon, the diary reached its final page.

It was Rikasen’s last record when he was about to leave in a hurry after hearing the sad news from the family of Reus’ mother, Yulivia.

[I heard that Count Erno and the Countess, whom I had seen just a few days ago, have passed away. Yuli is crying miserably, saying that she must go to her family right away, and is preparing to leave the ducal castle.

Of course, I will go with her.

But I couldn’t bring myself to tell Yuli, but I keep thinking that the deaths of the Count and Countess are too contrived.

Just yesterday, a letter arrived saying that Count Erno had safely returned.

The letter stated that an important guest was scheduled to be received today, and that guest was expected to stay for about a week before leaving.

But how were the Count and Countess found dead in a place other than the Erno territory?

However, as Yuli said, we can’t just sit idly in the ducal castle when her parents have passed away.

But… I think I’ll have to leave Reus here.

I don’t know why this memory comes to mind now, but Den’s question asking who I would choose if I could only choose between my wife and son…]

Reus abruptly closed the notebook without reading the diary to the end.

Rikasen’s diary continued in a calm tone, but anyone could see that he was already anticipating the impending misfortune.

The fact that he deliberately visited the library when his wife was not in her right mind, the fact that he intentionally inserted a memo between the diary pages in case his son would one day discover the library, and the fact that he wrote down the various spaces and secrets hidden in the library that he must know in a very urgent handwriting on that memo.

It was a flow as contrived as the deaths of Count and Countess Erno.

At one point, Reus had briefly resented his parents who left him alone.

Without knowing what kind of guilt his father endured when leaving the ducal castle, or with what heart he chose him.

Thinking about it made him want to cry again.

* * *

Reus put his father’s diary back in the drawer and found the other spaces, secrets, and heirlooms hidden in the library that his father had painstakingly left behind.

He thought he might find some great clues in the other hidden spaces, but there was nothing particularly useful there.

Strictly speaking, there were only objects that he, who had no power, could not use.

There was only one thing he could use.

A long sword with a black blade. When he looked for the book mentioned in the memo left by his father, there was a brief description of that long sword.

It is a collection of mana in the form of a sword, and it is used to draw in uncontrolled mana…

‘Draw in mana?’

Suddenly, a realization as intense as lightning struck Reus’ mind.

As a direct descendant of the Rochester family, he possessed a weak healing power, but he had no black mana at all. Because of that, he couldn’t even attempt the ceremony in any other way.

But what if there was a way to handle mana, even if not directly?

It was the same with the place. No ancient book said that the place where the ceremony should be performed was fixed.

The space beyond the library was said to be a place created for the head of the family to train and occasionally gather power, so this much was certain.

If he could break free from the constraints of space, had an heirloom that could absorb the family’s power, and could perform the ceremony without directly handling mana…

Without a moment’s hesitation, Reus immediately headed to the Forest of Silence.