At times like this, it was really fortunate that Meriel wasn’t his real daughter. That’s why he could firmly hold onto his heart.

“Bring Meriel.”

“Bring the young lady? What do you mean by [dash]?”

“Make a fake one.”

“Even if you do that, it will be exposed soon.”

Septer replied promptly. It wasn’t someone else, it was Meriel. Lebiana wouldn’t fail to distinguish the real Meriel.
“Who can really show it? Just make it look that way.”

“Look that way?”

“Coincidentally, Meriel’s body was in a situation where recognizing the burnt form was difficult.”

“But the Academy has no escape corner due to its location. At best, it’s a cliff, and surviving a fall from there is practically impossible.”

“It doesn’t matter. People tend to believe only what they want to believe.”

Why didn’t I think of this earlier? When I let go of the vague guilt, there was no simpler conclusion than this.

Beck leaned back on the chair, his face adorned with a deep smile.

“Meriel doesn’t necessarily have to be alive. We just need the hope that she might be.”

“Hope…”

“My wife. I know her better than anyone else.”

Lebiana was emotionally stable and more on the rational side. Most things couldn’t shake her.

But Meriel was different. The existence of her young daughter was more special to Lebiana than anything else.

If even a straw-like hope appeared, she would act.

“If Meriel is taken as a hostage, Lebiana won’t be able to turn away, absolutely.”

“If that happens, Madam, you will really [dash]”

“I’m already receiving hatred. Adding more here won’t be a problem.”

She had lived her life with a different man anyway. Instead of trying to look good unnecessarily, she should have crushed and subdued them with force.

“To leave me for another man, impossible.”

“…”

“This time she’ll find out too. What the virtues of a submissive wife are.”

Although it was unpleasant to have another man in her heart, his wife was a woman beautiful enough to endure it. If she kneeled and begged, he could accept her back at any time.

When you forget, pain rushes in.

Calix searched through his pocket and took out a medicine. Although he heard advice to take it with water, chewing and swallowing it quickly was more effective to see results.

‘I’ve also become quite dull.’

The bitter taste in his mouth was due to the medicine. Calix wiped the blood-stained sword with a cloth while remaining vigilant of his surroundings.

Felt continued to send people to get Beck. It was impossible until he realized that, so he couldn’t let his guard down.

He couldn’t afford to be complacent that Beck hadn’t noticed that he was being targeted and protected.

Beck shouldn’t die yet. He was the one among Felt’s subordinates who was closest to him so far. There was information he needed from him.

Knowing that, he was secretly following Beck’s guards. And…
Knowing that, he was holding his breath and secretly guarding Beck. And…

Calix exhaled slowly.

Nothing had changed. The warning, with a tingling sensation on the back of his neck, was still present.

A shadow of death appeared to Lebiana, or rather, it seemed even darker than before.

“…”

As he shook his head at the eerie feeling, the hand wiping the sword slipped, and the tip of his thumb was slightly cut.

Calix let out a bitter laugh as he looked at the drops of blood forming on his fingertip. Making such a mistake after all, he truly seemed to have become dulled.

Looking at his reflection in the polished blade, Calix chuckled bitterly.

Although he had expressed it as sensitive to the extent of being blurred, in reality, what he felt was beyond that.

To him, a shadow of death appeared.

It all began when he died and came back to life. What started as a faint silhouette, like a shadow, gradually became clearer every time he crossed the brink of death, leading to the present.

He had to face many deaths himself before realizing that it only appeared to those about to die.

Still, it wasn’t a big problem for him.

It was a strange phenomenon, but he no longer had the will to investigate each one.

Above all, even though a shadow of death appeared to him, there was nothing he could do about it.

The shadow of death simply foretold death. Preventing death was impossible. However…

The blood vessels on the man’s rough back of the hand swelled.

He recalled the reunion with Lebiana thousands, tens of thousands of times. He had thought about what expression she would have when they met again, what she would say, thinking about it over and over again.

He had thought about whether she would resent him, or ask why he did that. He had pondered various thoughts.

But among the cases he had recalled, there was not a single one where she had such an appearance. To be precise, it was more appropriate to say that it was an event he couldn’t even think of.

He had never considered that there would be a shadow of death by Lebiana’s side when they met again.

He thought it was a mistake. It was originally an unreasonable thing.

The journey back was overly peaceful compared to the outskirts he had spent. It was an entirely different world from the battlefield filled with the shadow of death.

Nevertheless, a shadow of death appeared to Lebiana. Moreover, unlike the battlefield, where the shadow of death was full, it was even more noticeable because there was no shadow of death. There were limits to turning a blind eye.

In the end, he had to admit it.

He did not wish for Lebiana to die.

Even though he knew better than anyone that he couldn’t change the predetermined death.

He knew that it wasn’t something that could be done with a mindset.

Above all, the shadow of death appearing from Lebiana was much larger and darker than usual. And usually, in such cases, a pitiful death was scheduled based on experience.

“……Yet, it had definitely disappeared.”
It happened only once, but there was a moment when the shadow of death became so faint that one might mistake it for disappearing. When Meriel died and faced Lebiana again, at that moment, she almost didn’t see the shadow of death.

Even for Calix, who had seen countless shadows, it was a phenomenon he had never seen before, but the man took it as hope.

The shadow of death visible from Lebiana was constantly changing depending on the situation.

Once he realized that, he couldn’t give up.

Calix fixed his grip on the sword and looked up.

Even though his body wasn’t fully recovered with the makeshift antidote, it was better to have some pain than nothing at all.

Just as the shadows became visible every time he crossed the brink of death, as his body became more unstable, his senses became sharper, making it easier to grasp Lebiana’s condition.

Whether he could call it fortunate or not, the shadow of death visible from Lebiana was so large and threatening that it was easy to distinguish. Considering that, it was better to maintain the current body condition even if it was forced.

As time passed, the shadow of death possessed by Lebiana, which was getting larger and darker, had now become much more noticeable than when he first saw it. To prevent any unforeseen circumstances, he had to be vigilant at all times.

Just like now.

Calix’s head turned in a certain direction, as if bouncing. It was towards the direction of the capital.