Leonard was sorely missed. Come to think of it, except for when she went to Abrams for Craig’s funeral, she had never been apart from him for this long.

‘I like you.’

She recalled his eyes as he spoke calmly. They were filled with unwavering certainty, without any doubt. Cordelia found this both fascinating and surprising.

‘Why does he like me, I wonder?’

Compared to Leonard, she had nothing to offer, nor was she as beautiful as Lydia, and she even had the experience of being married once. So how on earth did Leonard fall in love?

“Love. He says it’s love…”

Cordelia muttered, as if hearing the word for the first time.

Of course, she also held her mentor in high regard. He had pulled her out of that hellish mire and allowed her to live like a person, making him more special and precious than anyone else in the world.

The longer they were apart, the more she missed him, and he was the first thing she thought of when she opened her eyes in the morning, but she wasn’t sure if this was close to the ‘love’ he spoke of.

If only she could face him, she might find some answers.

‘I should have just ignored whatever letter Father sent.’

If it weren’t for that letter, if she had ignored it as usual regardless of what was written, she wouldn’t be in this pathetic situation now.

Cordelia fiddled with the ring Leonard had given her, blaming herself. Despite having experienced a kidnapping not long ago, she seemed to have thought too lightly of it. Who would have thought that Anton would bribe her father and set a trap to prevent her from using magic?

At this point, even the sloppiness of the first kidnapping seemed suspicious. It was as if it had been done deliberately to check what Cordelia could do and what she had, or perhaps to lower her guard.

Chelsea was taking her time returning. Bored of waiting for her, Cordelia got up and wandered around the patio. The sun was quite strong, but not unbearable to walk in.

Just then, someone grabbed her shoulder forcefully.

“Huh?”

“Why are you here alone without your maid? What if you collapse?”

Anton’s face was as red as his hair, as if he had run from afar. Moreover, in his other hand was the parasol Chelsea had left behind.

He hurriedly placed the parasol over Cordelia’s head. Cordelia didn’t feel entirely comfortable with Anton’s strange show of kindness. Plus, that tone. It was a tone that seemed to project his own daughter onto her, which made her feel even more disconnected.

“Let’s get to the shade quickly.”

“Margrave Embly.”

Cordelia gently removed her shoulder from his grasp and took a step back.

“Have you already forgotten that you kidnapped me and fed me a deadly poison that melted my insides?”

“…”

“I am not your daughter.”

“I know. You’re not our Rosie. Rosie is…”

He stopped mid-sentence. Then he stared down at Cordelia again. Cordelia noticed various emotions swirling in Anton’s eyes, but she couldn’t tell if it was longing, anger, or sadness.

“If Rosie had been healthy, she could have wandered around without a parasol even in broad daylight like you.”

“If you miss your daughter, go to Ansen instead of doing this to me.”

When she had casually asked Chelsea about Rosaline’s whereabouts, she had smiled ambiguously and replied, ‘The young lady has gone to Ansen for recuperation as her health is not good.’

Cordelia thought that Rosaline was deliberately hiding because she was pregnant without a husband.

“Rosaline.”

Anton closed his eyes and held that name in his mouth for a long time before swallowing it.

Cordelia stared at Anton. His actions were full of contradictions for someone who had bribed her father to kidnap her and poisoned her.

Although he didn’t seem to be even forty yet, the look in his eyes was sometimes as empty as that of a man well over sixty.

Anton silently moved his lips, then suddenly grabbed her wrist. The parasol he had been holding fell helplessly to the ground.

“Wait, where are you taking me?”

“To Rosie.”

“Isn’t Rosaline Embly in Ansen?”

Cordelia was on high alert and tried to manifest a barrier spell, but with her body not yet fully recovered, it was laughably weak and crumbled like a sandcastle hit by waves.

“Oh my, young lady.”

They ran into Chelsea, who was returning with iced tea. The maid quickly lowered her eyes upon seeing Cordelia caught in Anton’s arm.

Anton didn’t care that the servants were looking at them with strange eyes.

They entered the mansion and headed to the top floor. It was also a place Cordelia was absolutely not allowed to enter. As soon as they entered the corridor, a strong scent of roses stung their noses.

He stopped in front of a certain door. And took a deep breath. Cordelia could instinctively sense that there was something beyond her imagination inside.

“Ugh.”

When Anton opened the door, the rose scent that rushed out was so strong that she instinctively wrinkled her face. It was like a concentrated essence of a rose garden.

Looking around the room, she realized her thoughts were not an exaggeration. The place was decorated with roses of all colors, but the pièce de résistance was a woman lying buried among rose petals on the bed.

“Good heavens…”

Anton released Cordelia’s wrist and staggered towards the bed. Then, very naturally, he caressed his daughter’s face. Although it was cold enough to chill his fingertips due to the freezing spell, he didn’t mind.

“Rosie, Rosie.”

No matter how beautifully she was made up or how strong the rose scent was used to mask the smell of decay, there’s a difference between the living and the dead.

Having spent months with Craig’s corpse, she could tell that Rosaline’s current state was not that of someone who had died just a day or two ago.

“News of your presence here will have reached Atilei, so he’ll be here soon.”

He rose after placing a brief kiss on his daughter’s forehead. The grief of losing a child was overflowing, consuming him.

Only then could Cordelia understand why Anton’s eyes couldn’t hold any emotion and let everything flow away. His heart was shattered, unable to retain anything.

“Even if my mentor is the strongest magician in Ershe, he can’t bring back the dead.”

She swallowed the saliva that had pooled and carefully opened her mouth.

“He lived.”

“Pardon?”

“Your mentor. He came back from death, didn’t he? Why can’t my daughter do the same?”

“What are you talking about? My mentor never died in the first place. Transferring a soul is completely different from resurrection.”

“Then we just need to transfer my daughter’s soul back.”

He was insisting on something nonsensical. At least, that’s how it seemed to Cordelia.

“I hear that within the Atilei family, magic to resurrect the dead has been passed down.”

“What? There’s no way such magic exists. Besides, resurrection magic is the ultimate taboo. Even attempting it would result in excommunication. You know this well, don’t you, Margrave?”

“Well. What’s so different about transferring a soul and returning from death through resurrection?”

“It’s completely different. My goodness, so the reason you poisoned me and tried to lure my mentor here was to resurrect Miss Embly?”

“Atilei will be able to fully resurrect my daughter. Rosie must be waiting for me too.”

There was no getting through to him. Anton was already firmly believing what he wanted to believe, so no matter what Cordelia said, it was useless.

Anton, who had been gently stroking Rosaline’s arm, turned his gaze to Cordelia for the first time since entering this room.

“I bear you no ill will. If your mentor cooperates with me willingly, I’ll tell you about the antidote. If you take that antidote at the right time, you’ll be able to maintain your life fully.”

“No, resurrection is impossible in the first place. It’s unfortunate that Miss Embly passed away at such a young age, but…”

“My daughter isn’t dead yet! Her soul is still here somewhere with us!”

Anton shouted before Cordelia could finish speaking. Unlike the docile attitude he had shown her before, he was now intimidating, as if facing the person who had stabbed his daughter to death. But Cordelia didn’t cower or back down.

“Don’t make a foolish choice, Margrave. What can you gain by turning against the Atileis?”

“I need nothing else if only my daughter comes back to life. If you understood even a tenth of my feelings, you wouldn’t dare criticize me.”

Anton shouted, exhaling rough breaths. Rather than a shout, it was filled with despair. His eyes turned red.

“How I raised and protected my daughter. The only daughter Lara left behind when she died. My daughter, my treasure, my heart…”

“Margrave.”

Cordelia took a step closer to him and carefully grasped his hand. Anton was startled and looked at Cordelia, but he couldn’t shake off her feeble touch.

“The dead cannot be brought back to life.”

“What would you know? Atilei surely knows a way. He must know how to bring our Rosie back to her original state.”

“As you say, I’m still young and there’s much I don’t know, but I do know that there are unchanging principles in this world. One of them is that the dead can never return to us.”

“…”

Cordelia grasped Anton’s hand more firmly. Despite being much larger and firmer than hers, it was trembling.

“My mentor didn’t come back from a dead body, he separated his soul from his body and returned to his original body. I witnessed the entire process right beside him. Moreover, for that magic to work, Miss Embly would have to be as great a magician as my mentor.”

“No, you’re wrong.”

“I’ve never had or lost a child, so I can’t presume to understand your feelings, Margrave, but I do know that when a loved one leaves us, we must let them go. My mother was ill for a long time before she passed away.”

She continued her persuasion calmly. Anton’s unstable eyes, which had been full of anger and sorrow, began to settle little by little.