“Just friends? You’re saying we’re just friends?”

It wasn’t that she was shocked by the term “just friends” at this point. Rather, the slightest feeling of guilt she had towards her father disappeared as if it were a lie.

It seemed that Cordelia meant absolutely nothing to Pablo. The moment she fully realized this, her mind went cold.

“You speak as if I was ever a cherished child to you. Dennis was always your only child anyway, wasn’t he?”

“How dare you compare yourself to Dennis? He’s a true Vasquez. Unlike you.”

Pablo’s eyes overflowed with undisguised contempt. Cordelia roughly shoved away Pablo’s arm that was gripping her shoulder tightly.

“When you sold me off to the Abrams, you told me to fulfill my duty as a Vasquez. Now that I’m of no more use to you, you say I’m not your daughter?”

“That was a debt you should have repaid if you were human.”

“Hahaha. A debt? A debt, you say?”

She could only laugh at the absurdity of it all.

Just then, with a thunderous noise, a sword pierced through the old wooden door. Cordelia and Pablo’s gazes turned to it simultaneously. Beluce’s urgent voice burst through the gap in the door.

“Knights are coming!”

Along with this, movement of magical energy could be seen inside the room where Cordelia was. Though it was an unfamiliar form, it seemed extremely ominous.

“It can’t be…”

Cordelia turned her head so quickly it made a whooshing sound as she looked at Pablo.

If it were just knights attacking them, one could assume they had been followed. But the fact that there was strange magical movement in the room where her father was staying meant this was a trap set by someone who knew in advance that she would come here.

Cordelia took a few steps away from Pablo and glared at him fiercely.

“This time you’ve sold me to Maximilian, haven’t you?”

“What nonsense are you spouting?”

Pablo feigned ignorance, but anyone could see there was no room for doubt.

Currently, the only one threatening her was Maximilian, so it was clear that he had used the Vasquez family to lure Cordelia to the capital under the pretext of a deathbed visit.

Selling off a daughter he never even gave birth to three times – Cordelia felt an indescribable deep emotion towards Pablo. For the first time, she was overwhelmed by a cruel and intense urge to cut off his head and place it atop the collapsed gates of the Vasquez manor.

The door, already slashed several times, finally shattered with a crash. Gasil appeared, panting and holding a blood-stained sword.

“We must flee quickly.”

“Use the Treasure of Ebrad!”

Beluce shouted while fending off the relentless incoming swords. Cordelia quickly surveyed her surroundings to assess the situation. Although Beluce and Gasil were blocking the narrow doorway and holding off the approaching men, it was uncertain how long they could endure.

She felt sorry for the two men, but since Cordelia was their target, it might be better if she wasn’t there.

Cordelia tightly grasped the bracelet on her left wrist and concentrated all her mental energy as before. She tried desperately to recall Leonard’s face and the laboratory within the Magic Association.

However, no matter how earnestly she called out her master’s name and tried to envision the laboratory, the space around her remained unchanged.

The only door was already occupied, and though there was a window in the room, it was so small that a person’s head could barely fit through.

“What are you doing? Hurry up and escape!”

Beluce shouted while gasping for breath. No matter how many enemies they struck down, their numbers didn’t seem to diminish.

“I want to go, I really want to go…”

Cordelia whimpered with a pained expression. She kept trying to recall the sensation from when she first achieved spatial teleportation, but it was as if her magical energy was being blocked by something, cutting off midway.

“Please, please.”

It seemed that the flow of magic beneath her feet was restricting the ability of the Treasure of Ebrad.

With a thud, Gasil was sent flying. As Cordelia startled and tried to approach him, even Beluce staggered and fell to his knees. The floor was covered in blood from numerous small wounds.

The small room was already packed with people. Gasil got up limping, trying to move to protect Cordelia, but he swayed as if about to fall again.

“You still haven’t subdued them?”

An unexpected figure appeared through the shattered door. Cordelia had naturally assumed Maximilian would come, but instead, a red-haired man who looked to be in his late thirties pushed through the knights.

Beluce let out a short groan through his teeth when he saw him.

“Embly…”

“Embly? That man is Grand Duke Embly?”

Cordelia had heard a rough account from Leonard. Maximilian had seduced Embly’s daughter and gotten her with child, and because of this, Embly had taken Maximilian’s side.

However, the Grand Duke Embly she now faced looked too young to have a grown daughter.

Moreover, unlike Pablo who was worn down by daily drinking and smoking, Anton had a solid build and a smooth face.

“You can’t even take down two knights and you’re wasting all this time? Tsk. What are you doing? Bring that woman here immediately.”

“Yes, my lord.”

New knights appeared behind Grand Duke Embly. Beluce and Gasil gripped their sword handles more tightly and surrounded Cordelia to protect her. Their hearts were in the right place, but anyone could see they stood no chance.

And that prediction soon became reality. The two men held out well, but soon Gasil collapsed to the floor bleeding, and Beluce was completely subdued by the other knights.

“Beluce!”

“Urgh.”

“The eldest and second sons of Ingrion were always reckless, but the youngest is different. You won the jousting tournament last year, didn’t you?”

Anton looked down at Beluce, who was barely restrained by four knights, with somewhat favorable eyes. Beluce thrashed about like an untamed wild horse.

“Hmm. Well, Ingrion has many sons, so losing one shouldn’t matter.”

Anton casually uttered these terrifying words as he turned his gaze. Cordelia froze as her eyes met his.

“Bring her.”

“Let go of me!”

In the end, even Cordelia was captured by the knights. She tried to draw up her magical energy to use a barrier spell, but this too was cut off midway as if hitting a wall.

Cordelia was dragged before Anton by the knights and forced to her knees.

Anton grabbed her chin and lifted it. His deep blue eyes, seen up close, held no emotion whatsoever.

“Blame your father who sold you for a hundred thousand linkit.”

“Just a hundred thousand?”

Cordelia turned her gaze to Pablo, who was cowering in the corner. She sneered at him with a bitter smirk on her lips.

“You can’t sell your daughter for money anymore, so why didn’t you ask for more? You should have taken this chance to make a hefty profit.”

“Are you fearless? Or just stupid?”

It was an unexpected reaction. Even if she didn’t cry, he thought she would be terrified and unable to make eye contact in this situation.

Since she was around the same age as his daughter, he expected her to react similarly to Rosalyn, but Cordelia didn’t even flinch.

“Do you not understand your current situation?”

“I understand perfectly. Isn’t Grand Duke Embly, who has joined hands with Maximilian, trying to kidnap me by using that thing I call a father?”

“You’re awfully brazen for someone who claims to understand.”

“If you had decided to kill me, Your Grace, I’d be dead already. Instead of dragging this out.”

Cordelia retorted somewhat sarcastically. Her mistake was putting too much faith in the bracelet. Who would have thought there would be magic that could even neutralize the ring given by her master?

“I don’t know what you hope to gain by kidnapping me, but my master won’t move according to your wishes so easily.”

“We’ll see about that.”

Anton took out a small bottle from his breast pocket. It contained a swirling purple liquid. It looked suspicious at first glance, so Cordelia bit the inside of her cheek. It seemed this was certainly not an impulsive kidnapping.

“Clean this up thoroughly.”

The instruction to “clean up” seemed to imply more than just tidying the situation. Embly’s knight drew his sword while stepping on the head of the unconscious Gasil. The same was happening on Beluce’s side. Cordelia felt a sense of urgency.

“W-wait a moment!”

But her situation was too precarious to worry about Gasil and Beluce. At Anton’s signal, the knight holding Cordelia forcibly opened her mouth.

“Urgh, wait.”

As Anton approached with the open bottle, Cordelia resisted violently. She leaned back as far as she could when the bottle touched her lips. Anton grabbed her head rather roughly in irritation and pulled her close again.

“If you don’t want to drink this while unconscious, just open your mouth obediently.”

“Let’s, ah, make a deal.”

“A deal? Haha. What do you have to offer?”

His mockery seemed justified. The situation was entirely unfavorable to Cordelia, and outwardly it appeared she had nothing to offer Anton.

“I may not have anything, but I can prevent you from getting what you want.”

“What?”

Cordelia stuck out her tongue and placed it between her teeth. She looked Anton straight in the eye and said:

“Let those two go. Then I’ll drink whatever you’re trying to feed me without resistance.”

“Why should I do that?”

“Because if you lay even a finger on those two men, I’ll kill myself too.”