Roma looked at Ansi with a complicated expression. She didn’t want to lose this foolish yet upright girl. She didn’t want the life that shone through the contract with her to be extinguished.

“This is the curse I’ve placed on Rubella, Ansi. I don’t want to see you bear that curse any longer.”

Roma said sadly. However, Ansi shook her head again.

“No, this is not a curse but a blessing, ma’am. With this power, I realized that there are people more precious than my life, and I protected the ones I love. If I didn’t have this power, my end would have been much more miserable.”

Ansi had a calm and steadfast look in her eyes. In the end, Roma lowered her eyes and nodded.

“In the end, you make that choice. Will you not regret it?”

“Absolutely not.”

Despite having an extremely frail body, Ansi, who looked ahead with a face filled with certainty, appeared large and solid.

Roma turned her body. Ansi gazed at her back.

At that moment, a brief gust of wind blew. Squinting for a moment and then looking ahead again, Roma had already disappeared.

Returning to her room, Ansi packed the bare minimum into her luggage bag.

Surely something would happen to Damion in the war. Although she hadn’t dreamed about that event yet, it was so when she saw Roma’s warning.

So Ansi was planning to volunteer as a nursing staff at the front lines.

She had received basic education in medicine, and in this wartime situation, each nursing staff would be important, so she could be dispatched to the field immediately.

Ansi hesitated for a moment after closing the bag.

The image of Sofia suppressing her tears in the room flickered in her eyes.

She had told Delle to do what he wanted, but Ansi could easily guess how much she was suffering when making that decision. Knowing how deeply Sofia was trapped in sorrow while Delle was away.

When she was blinded by revenge against Orphe, she thought Sofia would also be able to live refreshingly if she achieved the cause. She thought her sorrow would be sublimated if she could avenge the unjust deaths of her father and Delle.

But while staying in Marelle with Delle and the others, she realized. What Sofia needed was not revenge, but the small happiness of the present.

If it weren’t for Damion… If she hadn’t felt happiness in the daily life she spent with him, Ansi would never have known until the end. How precious and happy it is to share small moments together.

“Ansi, come eat.”

Sofia’s voice was heard from outside. With a small meal for two set on the table between them, the two sat facing each other and began to eat.

Sofia talked about everyday things as if nothing had happened. It was obvious that she was trying not to show her emotions about Delle’s matter, so Ansi found it even more difficult to bring it up.

“Ansi, is something troubling you?”

Sofia asked with concern.

Ansi opened her mouth.

However, the words she wanted to say were stuck at the tip of her throat and wouldn’t come out.

“…No, it’s nothing.”

I’ll tell her tomorrow and leave. Since I haven’t dreamed about Damion yet, there’s still time. Whispering to herself like that, Ansi forced a smile.

Various emotions were mixed inside, stirring her whole body. It felt like she had to smile in order not to show it.

Ansi couldn’t fall asleep until late into the night.

Sitting on the bed hugging her knees and staring into the void, tears kept flowing down her cheeks. She herself couldn’t define this emotion.

Whether it was guilt towards Sofia, longing for Damion, or fear of death.

Not knowing why she was shedding tears, Ansi just blankly cried.

That’s when it happened.

The door quietly opened, and Sofia entered.

“…Mom?”

Sofia approached with a bitter smile and sat on the bed. Then, without a word, she embraced Ansi and patted her back. Ansi’s face crumpled at the soft and serene patting that was like the beating of a heart.

On top of that, Sofia’s gentle voice was added.

“Your mom truly loved your dad, and she truly loves you and Delle. So she knows how special and valuable it is to like someone and to act for them.”

Sofia kept comforting Ansi’s back. She took a deep breath. And then she spoke again.

“You should also find your love. I won’t stop you, my daughter.”

“…!”

It meant to go where Damion was.

Even though he was an Orphe. It also meant acknowledging the fact that Ansi loved him.

“I also know that Damion is actually a good person. I’m sorry for not telling you earlier.”

“…I’m sorry, Mom.”

“When did our daughter and son grow up like this? I’m proud that you have unwavering beliefs, that you have something truly precious. I mean it. Although it’s sad to be apart from you for a while, this is definitely a value greater than sadness.”

Ansi hugged Sofia tightly.

“Shall we sleep together tonight, Mom?”

Ansi nodded.

She lay in Sofia’s arms like a child. Sofia had the cozy scent she smelled when she was young. It was a night when she thought she would never fall asleep, but she soon succumbed to slumber.

And the next morning.

After saying goodbye to Sofia, Ansi left the house. To leave Marelle and go north, she first had to take a shared carriage to a nearby city, and the roads leading to the city were limited.

It hadn’t been long since she got on the shared carriage and departed.

Suddenly, the carriage stopped. The people in the carriage exchanged questioning glances. Ansi frowned and looked out the window.

A few people in the uniform of the Belgader Imperial Army were blocking the way in front of the carriage. After exchanging a few words with the coachman, they opened the door of the carriage.

“Excuse me.”

The soldiers unfolded a portrait and examined the passengers in the carriage one by one. Then they stopped when they saw Ansi.

“Miss Daisy Forte?”

“…Yes.”

“We have been dispatched here to protect Miss Daisy. I apologize for the inconvenience, but you must stay safely in Marelle for the time being.”

“What do you mean…?”

“It’s an order from Colonel Lionel.”

“Are you mistaking me for someone else? I don’t know Colonel Lionel.”

“Miss Daisy Forte, you are the right person to be protected.”

“I have a place to go. So please let me go.”

“Currently, the safest region in the empire is the south. Leaving this place is not allowed.”

Ansi opened her mouth. They seemed like people with whom words would not work at all.

She didn’t know why this person named Lionel had ordered them to protect her, but it was a useless thing to do. It was of no help to Ansi at this point.

Ansi stubbornly stayed in the shared carriage and refused to get off. She couldn’t go back like this. However, it seemed that the soldiers would stay like this until Ansi got off.

“If you stay like this, other people won’t be able to move either.”

At those words, Ansi finally got out of the carriage.

“We will escort you to your home by carriage.”

“I’ll walk.”

Ansi brushed off the soldiers and took steps. The soldiers followed Ansi like her shadow. Walking like that for a while, a possibility suddenly crossed Ansi’s mind.

Ansi turned back and asked the soldiers.

“…Is there a relationship between Colonel Lionel and Major Damion de Orphe?”

“As far as I know, the Major has been with the Colonel for quite a long time.”

The soldiers lightly answered just the facts.

Ansi was convinced.

The person who prevented her from leaving Marelle now was Damion.

Perhaps he sensed that her life could be in danger. So, in order to prevent her from coming to find him, he attached people to monitor her under the pretext of protection.

Ansi bit her lip.

She had to get out of here to save Damion, but it seemed nearly impossible to avoid their eyes. A sense of helplessness enveloped her.

Using the occupied northern part of Belgader as a foothold, Rezen quickly advanced towards the center.

However, as Damion took to the front lines, their momentum was dampened. In battles large and small, the ratio of Belgader’s victories over Rezen’s increased. Little by little, Belgader began to reclaim the land it had lost.

Recognized for such achievements, Damion quickly gained the title of Lieutenant Colonel.

Delle acknowledged Damion’s skills as a soldier. However, he still didn’t like Damion.

He was Lieutenant Colonel Orphe. For Delle, it was impossible to fully trust and follow someone with the Orphe surname.

The thought that he might backstab at any time while pretending to be nice was always subtly present in Delle’s mind.

“Captain Rubella.”

Damion called out to Delle from behind as he was walking towards the barracks. Delle didn’t stop his steps, pretending not to know.

“Turn around, Captain Rubella. That’s an order.”

An order. As a soldier, it was absolute. In the end, Delle turned around with a face as if he had chewed a bug.

“…What is it?”

“I know you don’t like me. But don’t show it. Expressing distrust is a hindrance to combat.”