“Rose, that’s not something you need to worry about. And.”

Duke Adrian muttered while glancing at Joseph Osser, who was looking at him desperately.

“We’re searching for traces of Melody Osser, but haven’t found her yet. She seems to be hidden quite thoroughly.”

“I can!”

Rosette, who had shouted quickly, grimaced at the pain she felt in her throat. Although Lucas tried to stop her from speaking, she stubbornly continued.

“I can find her.”

“How can you do that?”

Duke Adrian expressed his doubt.

“Is it true, young lady? Can you really find Melody?”

Joseph clung desperately to the bars.

Rosette nodded, looking back and forth between the two.

“I can do it.”

She carefully began to explain what she could do. Duke Adrian’s eyes widened as he heard it.

[This is the timeline separator]

“That certainly makes sense.”

Celenne nodded after hearing Rosette’s plan from Duke Adrian.

“I’ve never tried it myself, but theoretically it seems plausible. I’m not sure how the little lady thought of such a thing, but…”

At times like this, it’s best to just smile and pretend you don’t know anything.

Rosette simply smiled at Celenne, who was looking at her with a complicated expression.

Still, since Celenne didn’t seem to be taking action, she carefully tugged at her skirt. It was a gesture of urging.

As if understanding, Celenne composed her expression.

“Anyway, I’ll give it a try.”

The method Rosette suggested was tracking magic. It wasn’t used much now, but it was a magic that was occasionally used before Rosette turned back time.

Celenne confirmed with Rosette again.

“We’re tracking using Joseph Osser’s blood, right?”

“Yes.”

Rosette nodded.

The method she proposed was a tracking spell using blood relation confirmation magic.

After confirming the reception range of the magic communication device Joseph Osser had, they would use blood relation confirmation magic within that range. It would take some time, but if they narrowed down the area, they could find Melody.

‘The problem is that it’s difficult to narrow down the range where Melody might be…’

Rosette was confident. She was someone who had become adept at tracking people under the orders of Viscount Dallas in the past.

However, while agreeing with Rosette’s opinion, Celenne was somewhat skeptical.

“But narrowing down that range won’t be easy.”

“We can do it.”

Rosette muttered with her voice that had somewhat returned.

“It’s possible.”

Celenne shrugged as she looked at the confident Rosette.

“Indeed, the criminal cannot understand the genius. Let’s try it together.”

Soon, Duke Adrian had someone bring the communication device that Joseph Osser had.

Rosette closed her eyes while touching the device that a knight had hurriedly brought.

At that moment, Celenne grabbed Rosette’s shoulder. When Rosette turned around in surprise, she smiled.

“Your core is still small, so it might strain you again. I’ll add my mana to help.”

Celenne’s mana flowed into Rosette’s body.

Rosette felt a large amount of mana enveloping her small mana core protectively as she manifested the tracking magic.

‘Southwest of the mansion. At this distance, we’ll need to go outside the capital.’

Rosette opened her eyes and pointed to a part of the map with her index finger.

“It’s this way.”

Duke Adrian, who had been closely watching the map, gave some instructions to his knights. From what she could hear, it seemed he was asking for help from the imperial mages.

Celenne, who had already withdrawn her mana from Rosette, smiled softly.

“I’ll go too. Rosette, you should go back to your room and rest. You shouldn’t overexert yourself again.”

“But I…”

As she was about to say she wanted to go too, Duke Adrian flatly refused.

“Leave it to the adults.”

“But…”

He carefully held Rosette’s shoulders and smiled.

“I know you’ve done a great job, Rose. But this time, won’t you trust your father?”

Rosette bit her lip and looked up at Duke Adrian intently. His purple eyes held various emotions.

When she found worry and affection in them, Rosette nodded.

“Alright.”

“Good.”

At Duke Adrian’s signal, one of the knights approached Rosette.

“Young lady, I will escort you safely to your room.”

As she walked following the knight, Rosette looked back at the duke.

“You must come back safely.”

The duke’s eyes widened slightly, then he smiled again.

“I will.”

[This is the timeline separator]

Rosette returned to her room with a heavy heart. Then the three Adrian siblings entered.

Lucas sat down on the bed with a thud following Rosette and let out a sigh of relief.

“Thank goodness. I thought Father would scold us more.”

Daniel admonished him sternly. His face, which usually wore a gentle smile, was uncharacteristically hardened.

“You’ll get scolded more when Father returns. You deserve more scolding. How could you think of taking Rose to such a place?”

“But…!”

“I said I wanted to go.”

As Rosette interjected, Daniel now admonished her.

“You shouldn’t do that either, Rose. What if something had gone wrong?”

Rosette clenched her fists.

“I can protect Elder Brother Lucas.”

“No, no. It’s not you protecting us, but us protecting you.”

“…?”

“You’re our youngest. You don’t have to do anything.”

“That’s right.”

Isabel agreed.

“You’re still small and young. Leave it to us.”

But you and elder brother aren’t that much older than me. You’re still young too, elder sister and elder brother.

She wanted to argue like that, but couldn’t say anything.

Although there wasn’t much age difference, Daniel and Isabel’s faces looked particularly grown-up today.

Rosette lowered her head and fidgeted her feet.

Even though she knew this wasn’t the time for such feelings, her heart fluttered at the sense of being protected.

As she heard Lucas teasing, “The little one’s face is all red!”, Rosette silently prayed that everything would be resolved well.

[This is the timeline separator]

Once Rosette narrowed down the range, Melody could be found faster than expected. It didn’t even take two hours.

Melody was discovered in a mansion on the outskirts of the capital.

“We found her! She’s here!”

Duke Adrian, who had been searching the outskirts of the capital himself, rushed inside at the knight’s words. In front of the door, the guard who had been watching the room was lying subdued by the Adrian family’s knights.

“Let’s go in.”

Duke Adrian slowly opened the door and entered. He could see a lump of blankets protruding on the bed.

He gestured to his subordinates to wait, then slowly approached and sat on the edge of the bed.

The lump of blankets flinched, and a terrified voice leaked out from inside.

“P-please spare me.”

Duke Adrian stroked what he presumed to be the head.

“I won’t hurt you.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I swear by the Goddess Ashela.”

Finally seeming a bit reassured, the child poked out just her head.

It was a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. She matched the description of Melody Osser that Joseph had given.

“Is your name Melody?”

The child’s eyes widened.

“How did you know my name?”

“Your elder brother told me.”

“You know my elder brother?”

“Yes. I came because your elder brother asked me to come get you.”

“But…”

The child, Melody, mumbled.

“Other men said elder brother came looking for me.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. But why didn’t elder brother come?”

“Your elder brother is a bit busy.”

Duke Adrian held out his hand.

“Won’t you come with this mister?”

Melody hesitated.

“But elder brother said not to go with strangers. And I got separated from auntie because I followed a stranger. So…”

Duke Adrian smiled and praised her.

“That’s right. You shouldn’t follow strangers. You learned well. Then will this do?”

He showed her the sword he was wearing at his waist. The Adrian family crest was engraved on the sword hilt.

Melody recognized it immediately.

“Oh? That’s exactly the same as what’s on elder brother’s sword! Do you work for Duke Adrian too?”

“Yes, that’s right. Can you trust me a little now?”

Still, Melody had a thoughtful look on her face. But soon, as if she had made up her mind, she wriggled out of the blanket.

“Okay. I’ll trust you, mister. And actually, I don’t want to stay here anymore.”

“Good, you made a good decision.”

Duke Adrian held Melody in his arms and came outside.

“Now, let’s go see your elder brother.”

[This is the timeline separator]

While Duke Adrian was bringing Melody, his subordinates were busy moving to find the mastermind.

First, they found the owner of the building where Melody was discovered. But the owner wasn’t a noble, just a merchant with ordinary wealth.

Duke Adrian judged that the merchant couldn’t have purchased such a mansion with his means. So after interrogating the merchant, they found out that the real owner was Viscount Shane.

“It wasn’t me! Why would I try to harm Duke Adrian!”

Viscount Shane pleaded his innocence upon seeing the police force that stormed into his mansion.

However, a magic communication device that was paired with the one Joseph Osser had was found in his mansion. It was evidence that he had instigated Joseph.

The Emperor said he couldn’t overlook this incident and personally ordered the Imperial Knights to investigate. Viscount Shane was imprisoned in the underground dungeon of the imperial palace.

And Melody safely came to the duke’s mansion with Duke Adrian.

Upon hearing the news, Rosette came out to see Melody along with the three Adrian siblings.

‘Wow, she’s pretty.’

Joseph Osser’s younger sister, Melody Osser, was a doll-like pretty child unlike her rather ordinary elder brother.

Striking bright blonde hair and blue eyes like the autumn sky. Soft white cheeks as if kneaded with flour.

Looking at Melody, Rosette was reminded of Elisha’s bisque doll she had seen once.

Such a pretty child was trembling with her already round eyes even more widely opened. It was pitiful to see.

However, there was something that caught Rosette’s attention more than Melody’s pretty appearance.

‘That child, if she learns from a good teacher, she could become quite a skilled mage.’

If Joseph was born with talent in swordsmanship, Melody had talent in magic.

Since she hadn’t learned magic yet, the untamed mana energy was overflowing from her. It meant she had quite a lot of innate mana.

Only after seeing Melody did Rosette understand why the Dallas family didn’t kill her and kept her.

They were planning to raise Melody and use her. Moreover, they could also threaten Joseph, so it was killing two birds with one stone.

Melody, who had come down from Duke Adrian’s arms, looked around.

“Where’s elder brother? Where is he? You said we came to see elder brother, didn’t you?”