Aeli could not understand what was happening in the current situation.

She had thought Lutis was heading to the bedroom, but instead of going upstairs, he moved towards the basement of the mansion, so she followed him down out of curiosity.

After all, when she had previously wandered around the mansion looking for her child, the basement was the only place she hadn’t been able to visit. She thought she might as well check if anything had changed there in the meantime.

[Your Grace―] [Quiet.]

There were sentries guarding the basement. Not just one, but several at the entrance alone.

After passing all of them and entering the deepest room, and then walking for a long time through a secret passage, what she discovered at the end was…….

−…….

If that was her corpse, how should she react to this?

Aeli staggered with a pale face.

‘I just came from seeing the gravestone. ……Then what is this?’

Could it be that was fake? If so, why?

It was impossible to understand the intentions behind this.

Looking at her own peaceful face with closed eyes lying there, an inexplicable nausea rose up, and Aeli clenched her hand covering her mouth and quickly turned away.

She tried to leave the basement as if being chased by something, but her body wouldn’t cooperate.

Thud.

In the end, she collapsed after taking only a few steps on the path from the mysterious basement to the exit of the secret passage. How long had she been like that?

“……this ……more. ……grew up together…… time…….”

Faint voices were heard from behind.

It was Lutis’s voice.

‘……What is he saying?’

The content wasn’t clearly audible.

Though the passage was very quiet without even the slightest noise, the sound was too faint to hear from this distance.

While curious about the content, she simply couldn’t bring herself to listen.

Unable to turn back, nor completely leave the place, Aeli clenched her fist on the floor.

“I don’t know…….”

Among the faint voices that seemed about to break, that was the only sentence that clearly reached her ears.

It was only after a long while, when Lutis’s voice had completely ceased, that Aeli slowly got up.

Since he hadn’t come back out to the passage where she was standing, if he wasn’t still inside, he must have left through another passage.

‘……Noble houses usually have more than one emergency exit.’

The duke’s mansion would be no exception, if not even more so.

Aeli, standing somewhat awkwardly in the middle of the passage, pondered.

Should she go back in there or not?

Honestly, it wasn’t something she particularly wanted to do, given the instinctive aversion she felt. However…….

−How can I pretend I didn’t see that…….

This wasn’t something that could just be overlooked.

At the very least, it was right to confirm whether that was really her corpse, or if it was just something made to look exactly like her.

‘If that gravestone in the open field was fake…….’

That would really be no small matter.

In the end, Aeli moved towards the direction where Lutis’s voice had just been heard.

The path that had seemed endlessly long when she was fleeing now felt too short, and her steps involuntarily slowed.

Passing through the narrow, dark passage, Aeli’s eyes quickly scanned the surroundings as she stepped into the wide space once again.

−Lutis…….

Though it was too dark inside to see clearly, she couldn’t sense any particular presence. He must have left through another passage.

Aeli slowly walked forward. When she finally came face to face with the coffin placed in the middle of the spacious room.

−……Huh.

She couldn’t hide a bitter laugh. It really was her after all.

How was it possible for a body that had been dead for over 4 years to remain so intact?

As far as she knew, there was only one way.

‘Preservation magic…….’

……must have been used.

The white flowers filling the coffin and the single red flower adorning the chest.

They were as fresh as if just picked. Seeing this, Aeli couldn’t help but be certain, and her mouth opened involuntarily.

−Insane. This is all just insane, unless they’re desperate to die, how could…….

No one in their right mind could do this. Who doesn’t know how strict the empire is about magic cast on people?

Especially preservation magic, due to its high potential for abuse by those with vicious hobbies and for criminal purposes, the punishment was even more merciless.

If caught attempting it, even most noble families would stagger from the amount of fines, and once the magic was already cast, the penalty was beheading.

−……Everyone involved, adults and children alike.

This meant not just Lutis who carried out the deed, but the entire ducal family would not be safe.

Even Mason, who was suspected of casting the preservation magic on her body in place of Rattliff who couldn’t use magic, was a prime suspect.

Even for the child, who had a slim chance of survival due to their young age, the most hopeful outcome would be living a life of forced labor.

‘This…… This is instant execution for everyone if discovered.’

Since considerable time had already passed, there was no room for leniency.

At that moment, the faces of the sentries she had seen on the way here flashed through Aeli’s mind.

Did they even know what they were guarding as they stood blocking the doors?

‘…….’

If Lutis had made a momentary mistake out of madness before going to war, then after 4 years, it was time to clean up the mess. And yet.

[I don’t know…….]

……What was the meaning of those words?

Aeli stared blankly at the coffin with empty eyes and thought.

‘The child, no…….’

There was a child who was just starting to find their place. An impossibly small and young child, and therefore all the more precious.

So at this moment, there was only one promise she could make to herself.

−Adi…… Adi must not…….

She had to protect him.

Even if it meant tearing apart the corpse before her eyes with her own hands.

−…….

It was a terribly miserable feeling.

[This is the timeline separator]

How many days had passed since then?

Aeli spoke to the child with a troubled expression.

−Adi…… Are you still not over your anger?

“…….”

As the child turned his back without answering, Aeli buried her face in one hand and let out a small sigh.

‘Well, at least he’s just sitting on the couch with his back turned, which is better than before…….’

Just the day before yesterday, whenever she tried to talk to him, he would either go to a different place altogether or spend the whole day lying in bed buried under the covers.

This was all because she had returned too late that day.

After being unable to leave the basement for a long time, she suddenly realized she had been there for quite a while.

So she hurried back to the bedroom where the child was, only to find…….

[Waaaaaah−!] [Young master, young master. Young master?] [G-gone…… She’s gooone, waaah……!]

It was already past noon, and the mansion had been in an uproar for a long time.

The only young master woke up and had been crying hysterically for hours, and not knowing the reason, they were understandably flustered.

‘No…… I didn’t realize so much time had passed either.’

There wasn’t even a clock in the dark basement without a single window. Therefore, estimating how much time had passed was purely a matter of intuition.

However, Aeli, who was in shock, had no presence of mind left to gauge that, and the result was as you can see…….

−Mommy is sorry. I really won’t go anywhere without telling Adi from now on, okay? Even if I go, I’ll tell you before I leave…….

“……It’s not just because of that.”

−Y-yes, of course…….

Aeli’s voice trailed off, feeling intimidated by the child’s sharp response.

Since a similar incident had happened before, and she had broken her promise not to do it again after making it, the child’s anger wasn’t going to subside easily.

It was only natural that the child had become sulky, given that she had disappeared without a word and then suddenly returned, unable to properly focus on conversations for days.

‘At least let me succeed in one thing as a human being!’

Despite braving this chilly atmosphere and secretly going back and forth to the basement every night without the child knowing.

The task of dealing with the thing in the coffin was still at a standstill.

‘Well…… It’s not possession. It can’t enter me or anyone else.’

Not only could she not touch it, but when she tried lying on top of her own body just in case, there was no expected possession, only goosebumps.

As a last resort, she even tried the shameless attempt of borrowing someone else’s body, but it only increased her sense of self-loathing.

In a situation where she couldn’t even be sure that the existence of the basement would remain undiscovered indefinitely,

−……How could I not be troubled…….

Aeli covered her mouth in surprise at the words she had unconsciously spoken aloud.

The child, who had heard those words, turned slightly to look back and met Aeli’s eyes.

“……See? You’re not really sorry to me.”

−That, no…….

“You always break your promises to me. And even now you’re just lost in thought!”

Mommy, I’m……. The child finally lay face down on the couch.

Seeing the firm determination not to make eye contact, Aeli repeatedly rubbed her face dry, not knowing what to do.

“Young master, are you lying down again?”

“Mari…….”

“You seem to have been much less active lately. Not going out either…… Are you not feeling well? If so, you must tell me right away.”

“Mmm…… But someone keeps ignoring me and not playing with me.”

“……Which bastard is doing that?”

Mari, who had just entered with simple cookies and drinks as it was snack time, hardened her expression upon hearing the child’s words.

It was an utterly cold reaction, as if recalling the incident at the annex.

The child, realizing he had misspoken while whining about his hurt feelings, opened his mouth as if to gloss over it.

“Uh, um, you see―”

Crash!

But before he could finish speaking, a loud noise came from the direction of Lutis’s office, and the child couldn’t continue.

Though the office wasn’t far away, what could have happened inside for the sound to be heard all the way here?

Similarly, the child looked uneasy as he glanced around and asked Mari.

“Wh-what is it? Did something happen to Father……?”

“Ah, well, you see…….”

“……?”

“I’m not entirely sure since I only heard it from the head butler before coming here, but apparently they found out who it was that gave the young master a hard time while you were staying at the annex…….”

It was then that unexpected words came out of Mari’s mouth.