That day, everyone who witnessed the contents of Aeli’s coffin was ordered to keep silent.

The witnesses were at most the knights’ commander including Lutis and his assistants, and if we were to count further, the technicians preparing for construction from a distance away.

In fact, the technicians didn’t directly see inside the coffin, so they were only cautioned about the sight of the coffin wrapped in roots.

[……Put surveillance on them to prevent any loose talk. If there’s any sign, handle it appropriately.] [Yes, I understand.]

He didn’t know what became of the technician who left the duke’s residence with a grinning face after receiving a pouch filled with gold for hush money.

Since there were no special reports from the surveillance afterwards, he could only assume that the technician was keeping quiet on his own.

The construction project was indefinitely suspended after that incident. This was because he thought he needed to figure out what exactly had happened.

If someone had seen it, they would have judged that a preservation spell had been cast, and it would have been more than enough to drag them to the execution stand immediately.

If safety was the concern, it would have been better to proceed with the planned construction and bury the coffin back in the ground as scheduled.

However……

[Your Grace, what shall we do with the Madam’s coffin… Dawn will break soon.] […….]

There was no way he could bury it again in the ground without even having time to think after seeing it all.

Once he had seen Aeli’s face with closed eyes, how could he do the same thing twice?

Lutis closed his eyes, furrowed his brow, and said,

[For now… move it to the basement. Be careful not to let it be seen.]

At first, he clearly only intended to assess the situation to figure out what had happened.

If he had gone mad and unknowingly had a mage cast a spell, he would need to undo it.

After that, he was determined to quietly bury her again. He knew that was the proper respect for the deceased.

He had no desire to disturb Aeli’s rest.

[What is this……]

However, even after investigating the characteristics that appear when a preservation spell is cast on a person and comparing them with Aeli’s appearance, there was not a single similarity.

Because only the outward form is maintained, the hardened skin tissue does not return as time passes. Although it may look fine on the outside as decay is prevented, when touched, it feels rough like touching tree bark.

The red liquid flowing under the blood vessels no longer remains liquid, having dried into a sticky, viscous substance.

It only looks fine on the surface; it cannot be perfectly preserved, in other words.

“……”

However, the skin of Aeli that Lutis touched was not like that.

Soft and supple skin, no different from the day she opened her eyes in bed.

Moreover, contrary to the assistant’s words that decay had been prevented with a cooling spell, there was even a lingering warmth as if she had just died.

‘……Crucially, the needle……’

When he inserted a syringe into her arm to draw blood for examination, the next day the mark where the needle had been inserted had disappeared without a trace.

As if the cells of a living person had regenerated the wound.

Her heart wasn’t beating. Likewise, there was no breathing.

But it wasn’t a preservation spell, and she remained intact for months, even regenerating wounds on her body on her own.

Is this a normal situation?

At least he had never heard of such a thing. Even if he asked around, it was obvious he would only be ridiculed as mad.

Lutis stood in front of Aeli’s tombstone for a long time, thinking, and finally turned his back.

In the end, he couldn’t even touch the gravestone.

[This is the timeline separator]

Lutis turned his back and left the place where Aeli’s tombstone was, moving his steps.

The basement, rarely visited and not open to anyone, with only sentries knowing the way, besides the guards.

Even the sentries guarding the front would think they were guarding the duke’s secret warehouse.

Lutis entered the basement and walked straight along the corridor. At the end of this path was his wife, who had yet to find complete rest.

Click.

Lutis opened the thick iron door, entered, closed it, and headed to the center of the spacious space.

Facing Aeli’s face lying in the coffin with her eyes closed, Lutis hesitated for a moment before slowly opening his mouth. It wasn’t a very loud voice.

“……The child has grown a lot. Perhaps because she was raised by the maid who grew up with you, her personality is very similar to yours when you were young.”

As if now saying what he couldn’t during the day, Lutis continued.

About the food and toys the child likes, her snack preferences, what games she plays and how much she’s grown. Also, how much she likes the room you decorated and the doll she gave me before.

It was mostly that kind of talk.

But once the initial topics ran out, Lutis had no choice but to bring up words he didn’t want to say.

“But…… it seems the child is seeing things that aren’t there.”

I was reported by the head servant that she talks to thin air….. Lutis trailed off, speaking with eyes that couldn’t quite focus clearly.

At first, he dismissed it as coincidence, but after taking the child into the main house and observing, he realized it wasn’t a simple matter to overlook.

Lutis recalled the voices he heard from beyond the door at the time the child was presumed to have just woken up this afternoon.

[I was gonna plant flowers together……] [Last time…… I was reading a storybook with mommy, but when I looked up, a lot of time had passed and no one fixed it……] [Mommy…… I’m hun……]

Hearing what sounded like a conversation, he thought someone had come in to attend to her.

But how surprised he was when he heard that no one had visited the child’s room at that time.

There were a few more instances he saw directly. Each time, he thought she was particularly talkative to herself.

[As instructed, I waited in front of the study to escort the young lady……] [……] [I didn’t hear the previous content, so I’m not sure, but she said things like ‘I don’t know, it’s not dangerous, it’s not a bad person’. However, there was only the young lady alone in the study……]

As testimonies from others began to accumulate, the questions could no longer remain as mere questions.

When with others, including himself, there didn’t seem to be any linguistic issues other than abnormal behaviors like staring blankly into space or suddenly nodding her head.

But this too, once or twice is fine, but no matter how much you try to silence it, it’s impossible to completely prevent rumors from spreading.

As more and more servants noticed the child’s strange behavior, it wasn’t something that could be hidden forever by raising her only within the mansion.

It was a concern.

“Can I……”

Lutis covered his eyes with one hand.

“……Can I protect her well.”

I couldn’t even protect you, let alone a child much more fragile and small than you…….

“I don’t know……”

Lutis, who had mumbled without realizing it, slowly moved his steps.

There was a blind spot at the corner of the basement that couldn’t be seen from where the door should be.

Remembering that he had made another passage leading outside there just in case, he intended to check one last time if there were any problems before leaving.

It was just as Lutis was feeling along the wall for the device to open the passage.

Thud.

Although it was clear that there was no one but him, the sound of footsteps echoed.

“……”

Reflexively suppressing his presence, Lutis stood with his back against the wall. The fact that someone had set foot in a place where entry was restricted to everyone except Lutis meant that whoever it was, they were an intruder.

Lutis kept his nerves on edge, looking for an opportunity to subdue the intruder.

Although the identity of the intruder was unclear, it was strange beyond compare that there was no presence, only the sound of footsteps echoing.

As it was impossible to gauge their abilities, caution was necessary.

It was just after he had such thoughts, when the sound stopped.

Lutis, who had been standing still until the footsteps drew near, was about to peel his back off the wall when.

−……Huh.

A short exclamation was heard.

To be precise, it was an unclear breath that could have been either a sigh or a sneer, but the moment he heard that short voice, Lutis couldn’t help but freeze.

It was a voice he knew well, one he had heard almost every day for most of his life from childhood until a few years ago.

“……”

Even though he knew it was a sound he couldn’t mistake, given that the subject was no longer of this world, there was only one thought he could have in the current situation.

‘Unless I’ve finally gone mad, how……’

As if mocking such thoughts of Lutis. Then, a proper voice pierced his ears.

−Crazy. It’s all just crazy, unless you’re out of your mind wanting to die, how…

“……”

−Adi… Adi must not…

Lutis rolled his eyes, doubting his own ears.

However, no matter how much he strained, he couldn’t catch sight of where Aeli’s coffin was from his current position.

There was the option of turning his body to check directly, but Lutis couldn’t bring himself to move his feet.

If what he was hearing now was an auditory hallucination, it felt like it would disappear without a trace the moment he confirmed it with his eyes, as if it had never been heard.

“……”

Until the brief speech that had been continuing stopped, and footsteps were heard again, gradually fading away until they disappeared completely.

Lutis remained in place, unable to take any action.

Only when there was not a single sign of presence did Lutis grasp the corner of the wall with his slightly trembling hand and take a step, approaching Aeli’s coffin.

Although he had hoped, she was still lying in the same position as before.

Lutis stared blankly at Aeli lying in the coffin and mumbled.

“……Adi, she said.”

The dead cannot come back to life. Moreover, if several years have already passed, the possibility is as good as none.

So, rationally thinking, it would be right to consider that someone had discovered the existence of the basement and fabricated some dark magic.

Nevertheless.

Lutis recalled a certain time.

[Don’t you think I came up with a really good name on my own?] [Well, the fact that you came up with it alone in the first place is a bit……] [Then what’s the fetal name you thought of?] [……Love, Strong, Grow.] [……] [……] [……You know it’s lame too, right?] [……Yes.]

It was when they were naming the baby. Since it was a name they needed to call between themselves, it was a name that others didn’t know.

……But of all things, that name was heard.

Lutis clutched his chest and his lips trembled.

Whether he had really gone mad, or if the world had gone mad.

He couldn’t tell.

He could only vaguely sense that something was wrong.