Duke Adrien rushed to Rosette’s room while carrying her. As he laid Rosette on the bed, the children burst in, having heard the commotion.

“Father, what’s wrong?”

“Is Rose sick?”

“What’s going on… Oh my! Squirt! What’s wrong with the squirt? Why is there blood?”

Duke Adrien had no time to pay attention to the three children. He knelt by the bedside and examined Rosette’s condition.

Her already pale face was ashen, and her lips, usually rosy like cherries, were blue. Her breathing was faint, as if it could stop at any moment, and her entire body was burning hot.

Duke Adrien, uncharacteristically, cursed as he held Rosette’s hand.

Earlier, when the carriage exploded, he had barely managed to spread his mana to block the flames. There was no time to wonder who had done this or how.

He was, after all, a prosecutor, and couldn’t handle mana for long.

As his mana weakened, the flames began to engulf him. The priority was to escape safely first.

However, something had been done to the carriage door, and it wouldn’t open with mere force. He tried to break it down forcefully, but each time he did, his concentration wavered, and the mana shield he had created threatened to disappear.

With no choice but to endure, the flames suddenly died down as if by magic. Until then, he had thought Celinne had come to assist.

-Dad!

But the voice he heard was clearly Rosette’s. Indeed, it was his lovely youngest who had opened the carriage and entered.

Why on earth was Rosette here? But before he could ask, the child collapsed.

Duke Adrien realized that it was Rosette who had extinguished the fire in the carriage. It seemed implausible even to him, but given the circumstances, it seemed to be the case.

If so, could something have happened to Rosette’s body?

Duke Adrien frantically returned to the mansion, fearing something might happen to this small and delicate child.

“Rose, try to open your eyes.”

He whispered pleadingly, but there was no response from Rosette. Just then, the door opened, and the family doctor rushed in.

“What happened?”

“The child seems to have used magic, and afterwards, she coughed up blood and collapsed.”

“She coughed up blood, you say?”

The doctor hurriedly examined Rosette. He carefully pressed the child’s abdomen with his fingertips and answered thoughtfully.

“It seems she has suffered severe internal injuries. This requires a magician…”

“I’m here!”

Just then, Celinne burst in, panting heavily. Having heard the situation from the Duke, Celinne took Rosette’s hand and channeled her mana.

“Yes, the young lady did indeed use magic. Her internal mana is disrupted. We’ll figure out how she used magic later, let’s treat the internal injuries first.”

She then placed her hand on Rosette’s abdomen and cast a healing spell. As yellow light seeped into Rosette, the child’s breathing noticeably improved.

However, her complexion and face color did not return. The Duke asked urgently.

“Is she alright now? When will she wake up?”

The doctor examined the child once more and answered.

“It seems all the wounds have been healed for now. She should wake up if we wait a bit longer.”

However, Celinne had a different opinion.

“The young lady’s mana is greatly disrupted. It may not be easy for her to regain consciousness until it returns to normal.”

“Then can’t we calm her mana? I’ve done that before.”

She carefully shook her head.

“This time, there’s practically no mana in her body, so carelessly touching her mana could make things worse.”

“Then what should we do?”

“I think it’s best to wait until the young lady’s internal mana builds up and she stabilizes it herself.”

“How long will it take?”

“At least a day, I think. However, the more internal mana the young lady originally possessed, the longer it could take.”

“A day…”

Duke Adrien looked at Rosette with a troubled expression.

“Is there any possibility she might not wake up?”

“Well…”

Celinne carefully chose her words.

“In the worst case, that could happen.”

Duke Adrien swallowed a groan.

“Find a way to wake Rose up, no matter what.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Before leaving the room, Duke Adrien looked back at Rosette once more.

But Rosette still hadn’t opened her eyes.

[This is the timeline separator]

“I apologize. We have failed.”

One of the subordinates, completely dressed in black, knelt on one knee before Viscount Shane and bowed his head deeply. Viscount Shane, who had been on edge the entire time, slammed his fist on the table.

“How could you possibly fail? Didn’t you say Duke Adrien rode in the carriage sprayed with the drug!”

“That was indeed the case, but…”

“But what?”

“It seems Duke Adrien safely returned to the mansion alive.”

“Hah…”

Viscount Shane messed up his hair in frustration. Then, the subordinate carefully spoke.

“I’m not sure if this will be helpful, but it’s said that when Duke Adrien returned to the mansion, he brought a pink-haired girl with him.”

“A girl?”

“Yes. According to our informant, she’s apparently the youngest adopted daughter.”

“Are you saying the youngest daughter was with the Duke?”

“We’re not sure about that. Whether she was in the carriage from the beginning, or if she followed later, we’ll look into it further…”

“And you’re reporting this without even finding that out?”

“I’m sorry.”

Viscount Shane rubbed his face with his large, thick hands.

“I have no face to show ‘that person’.”

“…”

“But it’s alright. We still have that child in our hands.”

Viscount Shane smiled sinisterly. He thought of the blonde child who should be sleeping in the villa he had purchased under an alias.

“Melody Osser, was it? That one is quite the catch.”

“But sir, wouldn’t it be better to dispose of that child now?”

“Dispose?!”

Viscount Shane shouted.

“If we send that child to ‘that person’, they might overlook this incident. So keep her safe. Understand?”

“Understood.”

“No, let’s go see that child first.”

Viscount Shane got up and headed straight for the villa. He opened the door without knocking and entered, startling the child who was sleeping in the room.

“Who…”

The child, Melody, wrapped herself in the blanket and trembled, discovering the large figure. Viscount Shane approached her.

“Shh, be good.”

He grabbed Melody’s face, turning it this way and that, and smiled with satisfaction. Melody asked in a trembling voice.

“When… when will my brother come?”

“Your brother will come soon. So just wait quietly a little longer. Don’t think about running away.”

“Okay.”

Viscount Shane left the room, telling the knight waiting outside to keep a close watch.

Left alone again, Melody got off the bed and went to the window. She made a wish as she watched the rising sun.

“Brother, please come see me soon.”

I miss you.

The child’s green eyes were wet with sadness.

It was a lonely morning.

[This is the timeline separator]

The entire Adrien mansion fell into a deathly silence.

Duke Adrien briefly stayed by Rosette’s side before leaving to investigate the incident, and the three siblings of the Adrien family put aside everything to stay by Rosette’s side.

The three siblings didn’t know exactly what had happened. They only knew vaguely that Rosette had used magic to save their father and collapsed.

“I’m going to check on father. Let me know if she wakes up.”

Daniel, who had been maintaining silence, left his seat.

“I should go too. The mansion is in such disarray, I need to calm the staff.”

Isabel left the room with heavy steps. This left only Rosette and Lucas in the room.

Lucas, who had been barely holding back his tears, burst into tears and held Rosette’s hand.

“Hey, squirt. Wake up.”

There was no answer.

“Wake up, you fool. Do you think I trained you for this? You’re so weak. I’m going to train you even harder from now on.”

[Tweet, tweet.]

Lucas, who had been muttering words to no one, turned his head at the sound of a bird coming from somewhere. A white bird was crying sadly in front of the tightly closed window.

He headed to the window to chase away the noisy bird. However, looking into the bean-like eyes of the unknown bird, his heart softened. For some reason he couldn’t understand, it seemed as if the white bird was crying for Rosette.

“Did you come to see the youngest?”

[Tweet!]

It was as if the bird was answering, ‘Yes, yes!’ After hesitating, Lucas opened the window wide, and the bird flew in and perched on Rosette’s head.

“Hey, don’t do that.”

Lucas flailed his arms trying to catch the bird. The bird avoided him, soaring high and then flying in circles above his head.

[Tweet, tweet.]

Lucas left the annoying bird alone instead of chasing it away. The bird seemed to be watching him, then it flew and perched on top of the bed’s headboard.

“Alright, stay there. Don’t bother the youngest.”

[Tweet…]

To think he could communicate with a bird, his mind must be going strange. Lucas sighed deeply and kept watch over Rosette along with the bird.

And so, the first day of Rosette’s sleep was passing by.

[This is the timeline separator]

Duke Adrien looked coldly at Joseph Osser, who was prostrating himself before him. Although he was trying to suppress it, an uncontrollable killing intent was seeping out from the Duke.

Though he was said to be a promising knight candidate, Joseph was still a youngster who hadn’t even come of age. Having never properly experienced such killing intent before, he trembled.

“Tell me what happened, Joseph Osser.”

A moment ago, Duke Adrien had heard a rough account from Sebastian. Joseph and Rosette had suddenly come, saying the Duke was in danger.

The situation was so urgent that Sebastian couldn’t hear the details. However, with just that brief story, the Duke quickly grasped what had happened.

“Were you trying to betray me and the Adrien family?”

Duke Adrien’s voice was low as he asked again.

He had quite liked Joseph. Despite his youth, he was diligent and showed talent in swordsmanship, and the Duke felt sorry for him taking care of his younger sister alone without parents.

He had plans to sponsor his sister’s entry into the academy when she grew a bit older.

He didn’t feel betrayed. Originally, to live as the head of a family, especially a ducal family, one should trust no one and doubt everything.

So it wasn’t surprising if a youngster like Joseph stabbed him in the back.

He was only angry at the fact that he had almost lost Rosette.

“I…”

Joseph, trembling like an aspen leaf, apologized instead of explaining the situation.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Your Grace.”

However, the Duke didn’t bat an eye at his tears.