The tragedy came without warning.

Aeli felt a sinking feeling in her heart for the first time in a long while.

Surely something similar had happened before.

[If you don’t eat your medicine, I won’t go in… Hmph…! I won’t go in!] […Alright! I won’t go! Is that okay now?!]

[Then… promise to eat your medicine…] […! My baby!]

Before Aeli revealed to Adi that she was his mother.

The child already knew Aeli’s identity then, but she tried to secretly leave the mansion, worried that rumors might spread about the child seeing strange things, which could negatively impact his future.

When that was discovered, there was a time when the child climbed onto the roof looking for her and fell.

‘That time, I was able to magically return to the attic room and was fine.’

But what about now?

Back then, it was a familiar location and the distance was close, so she got lucky and succeeded with magic to come out unscathed.

In the first place, teleportation magic wasn’t that easy.

Regardless of the child’s magical abilities, it was unreasonable to expect him to designate coordinates and come up on his own in time at an unfamiliar place.

Could she bet her child’s life on the uncertain chance that he may or may not come up?

“……”

Aeli looked at the child who had been flung out of the carriage.

They say that when an important moment comes, the world seems to move slowly, but even after thinking this much, the child was still before her eyes.

“…No.”

Having made her decision, Aeli threw herself out of the carriage after the child and embraced the small body in her arms.

At the same time, Lutis opened his eyes wide in shock and reached out his hand.

Tak!

“…!”

Aeli, who firmly knocked away that hand, smiled faintly.

She was certain that with Lutis’s reflexes as a Swordmaster, he could definitely pull her and the child up, but she couldn’t let that happen.

If he did, the ground that was already precariously holding up the carriage would not be able to bear their weight and collapse.

‘You stay there.’

The moment Aeli mouthed those words to Lutis, her long hair shot upwards.

As that scene filled her vision, Aeli realized a bit slowly.

… It wasn’t that her hair was shooting up, but that she was falling down.

Please.

‘At least let Adi…’

If at least this child can be safe, that’s enough.

Thinking that, Aeli fervently prayed and hugged the child even tighter.

Her vision darkened as fast as her plummeting body.

[This is the timeline separator]

And how much time had passed?

“Ugh…”

Aeli let out a short groan from the pain that felt like her whole body had been pummeled, and opened her eyes.

“……”

Let me say it again.

She opened her eyes.

‘…I’m alive?’

How could one be unscathed after falling from that height?

Startled, Aeli immediately looked down to check on the child.

He seemed to have lost consciousness, but aside from his clothes being a bit dirty, there didn’t appear to be any major problems.

Thinking the child must have used some magic again to reduce the impact, she was about to ask, but felt it would be better to wait for the child to wake up rather than forcibly wake him.

‘Anyway, the important thing is we survived, so it doesn’t really matter either way, but-‘

Upon realizing that fact, the surroundings belatedly came into view.

“- Where is this, kek, cough! Cough!”

Where in the world is this?

She tried to say that, but as soon as she opened her mouth, Aeli coughed repeatedly from the surging pain that came up.

It seemed a few of her ribs must have broken from the fall.

‘It hurts!’

Really, extremely, tremendously hurt.

It seemed painful like this if she took a deep breath or opened her mouth to speak.

Only after coughing with a pained expression for a while did Aeli realize this and barely managed to close her mouth.

Instead, lacking the energy to even get up, she remained lying on the dirt floor and looked around.

‘It seems like… a forest?’

She didn’t know how long she had been lying here unconscious.

Although the sky that could be seen at a glance was blue, signaling it was definitely not dusk yet, the forest was dark.

It seemed to be due to the shade created by the tall and dense tree leaves.

‘I need to get up and do something before it gets dark.’

Aeli bit her lip and furrowed her brow.

Even during the day, a dark forest is very dangerous.

It’s obvious that you never know what beasts or monsters might jump out, and it was unfavorable to run away from danger in this situation without any weapons to speak of.

The child could use magic, but he was still clumsy when it came to using it for attacking.

As for herself, she couldn’t even use magic in her condition, and was injured on top of that.

‘In this situation, even encountering a wild boar, let alone a monster, would be big trouble.’

She at least needed to find a place to hide until the group came down here to search for them.

With Lutis, he would definitely have people search for their bodies even if their life or death was uncertain. So if they just endured, although it might take some time, there was a high likelihood of being rescued.

She knew that, but…

“…Ungh.”

Perhaps her muscles were startled or her stamina was depleted – or maybe something else was wrong somewhere besides her ribs.

Her body simply refused to move.

After trying to get up for a while, Aeli soon collapsed back down exhausted.

She was still conscious, but her blurry vision didn’t seem like it could be considered a positive state.

‘If I faint in this situation and some beast or monster comes while I’m out,’

Then there would be no meaning in having survived the fall from the cliff.

She sufficiently understood it in her head, but her body absolutely refused to listen.

Aeli slowly closed her eyes as her vision grew hazy.

– Tok.

Just before closing her eyes, it seemed like something lightly tapped her cheek.

[This is the timeline separator]

Tok.

Tok tok.

– To do tok.

…Smack!

“Ahhh!”

But was that not her imagination?

Aeli was startled awake by the hand strongly slapping her cheek and abruptly sat up.

For some reason, her body felt much lighter than before she lost consciousness.

‘What, what is it?’

They say the human body has better regenerative abilities than you’d think, but it shouldn’t be to this degree.

As Aeli was blankly touching her stinging cheek with widened eyes,

A sullen and cantankerous voice was heard from the side.

“Hey! How dare you hit my mommy!”

“Squeak squeak, squeak!”

“Then why did you hit her instead of waiting?! You’re mean!”

“Squea…!”

“Apologize!”

“…Squeak squeak squeak!”

“This, this is really…!”

“……….”

Just what kind of situation was this?

Setting aside the fact that she suddenly found herself in a hut when the last place she was in was the dirt floor of a forest corner,

While she had been unconscious, the child who seemed to have woken up was huffing and puffing at the floor.

It was a relief that he didn’t seem to be hurt, but just what happened-

“…?”

Aeli’s gaze followed the child’s to the floor and abruptly stopped.

That small, oval-shaped, brown, palm-sized lifeform at the child’s feet.

The animal, which looked like an ordinary mole no matter how you looked at it, had one peculiar thing about it.

Right in the center of its body.

In other words, in a spot that seemed to be around the belly for a human, a light green silk ribbon was prettily tied.

Recognizing the familiar pattern embroidered on the ribbon, Aeli unknowingly opened her mouth.

“- Jalapeno?”

“…! Squeak!”

As if answering her question, the lifeform that swiftly turned its head scurried over.

‘…Is it really Jalapeno?’

A scene from Aeli’s childhood flashed through her mind.

[Big brother, I want to raise this.] […Aeli. How many times have I told you, we can’t raise a mole in the mansion.] [No! I’m going to raise it! Are you ignoring our Jalapeno right now, big brother?]

She had called out just in case since the ribbon tied on the mole she had stubbornly insisted on raising at home before sending it away was the same.

As if appealing that it really was him, the mole approached Aeli and rubbed its face all over her dirty skirt hem.

Uh… somehow it felt more like a resentful appeal rather than just appealing. Was it just her feeling?

“Hey! Get away! She’s my mommy, you have your own owner!”

“Squeak! Squeak squeak, squeak!”

“My mom’s not your owner’s niece! Move aside!”

The child huffed and approached Aeli, picking up the mole.

Then as if using magic, the mole that floated up was transported to a corner of the hut.

As she quietly watched that scene, the child opened his mouth while looking up at Aeli.

“Mommy, are you hurt?”

“…Huh?”

“He hit you… Even though I told him not to!”

“No, Adi. So…”

Where should she start asking about this?

From her body that suddenly became better, to what this hut was, and how they met Jalapeno and ended up like this here.

Moreover, what question should be asked about the reaction that seemed as if he was conversing with the mole?

Aeli opened and closed her mouth with difficulty for a while before speaking.

“…Adi, can you talk with the mole?”

“…? Mommy, you can’t hear him?”

He’s so noisy. As if that was true, the child frowned and glared at Jalapeno who had already returned to their feet.

Then he began to spill information that hadn’t even been asked about.

When he came to, his mom was collapsed while holding him, so he cried in fear, but suddenly something popped up from the ground and tugged at his pant leg.

It seemed like the mole was telling him to follow, so he used magic to levitate his unconscious self and followed, and a hut appeared.

“But when we got here, he started talking. He told me to speak respectfully because he’s an adult!”

“Squeak, squeak squeak!”

“What do you mean you’re right! You’re smaller than me and not even human, this is the first time I’ve seen you!”

“Squea…! Squeak, squeak…”

“Oh my…!”

The child opened his mouth wide as if dumbfounded.

And Aeli’s mouth also fell open seeing the two of them.

If that was true, it meant the child could converse with animals.

‘But it didn’t seem like that was the case until now.’

Was her child actually a princess-like being from fairy tale books with such an ability?

“In the first place, it doesn’t make sense how a mole would know about this kind of hut and guide us here…”

Aeli muttered while slowly rubbing her chin.

It was at that moment.

“That’s because I told him to guide you here.”

A beautiful woman who opened the door and entered the hut replied.