The World Without My Sister Who Everyone Loved - Chapter 21-to-35

Chapter 3: The Pure Child

Note: This chapter consists of kkp episodes 21 to 35.

The next day, the employees of Nacht’s duchy naturally raised this topic when they met.

“Did you hear that? The cradle of the moon.”

“The orphan?”

“Shh!”

The maid was frightened by her colleague’s insensitive reply and quickly looked around to see if there was anyone who would overhear.

“Be careful! She just got pomegranates.”

“Pomegranate? The one in the Nacht family?”

The crest of the Nacht family was of a crow holding a pomegranate with one foot and spreading its wings.

“I don’t know, but as I walked by, I heard that it means that ‘They’ acknowledge her as a member of Nacht’s family.”
(T/N: ‘They’ meant the grand duke and his sons.)

That means if you mention anything related to her and orphans, you’ll end up being in danger.

“Come on, don’t tell me.”

“I’m not kidding. A member of the Ming army was called as a tutor this morning, and said that ‘she’ was an orphan in front of her face and is now enlisted.”

“Oh, my God, he was kicked out and joined the army in a day?”

Serving under the Grand Duke of Nacht meant wealth and honor were guaranteed for a lifetime. It was a position that countless cadets of the military wanted to bet their life on.

But the maid snorted as if she was sick and tired of it.

“He got kicked out? Thank God then.”

“How lucky is he to be kicked out?”

“There’s a saying going around, ‘whether you belong to this world or the underworld,’ not the removal of your position.”

“…That’s exactly what Nacht does.”

“I mean, to be honest with you, I wouldn’t have worked here if my father hadn’t owed him any money.”

“That’s right. There’s something gloomy about this castle. If you observe, it seems that it is not wrong to say that the people of the Grand Duke family give off an evil aura…”

As with other high aristocratic families, in Nacht, higher-ranking employees were more likely to be employed by inheriting their parents position, but the position of simple employees increased toward the end. The two maids here were like that.

Even the maids, who had to be somewhat kept in the dark about the family affairs, knew all the news about Sienna.

Sienna couldn’t help but wonder. She said she wouldn’t think about it, but as it was, she had one of the largest boulders in a sack of stones, resting very heavily on her chest.

“Now, let’s stop mistaking this girl for a servant and go to the army to pay the price.”

An innocent child.

He said Sienna was like his daughter in faith, a blood-related daughter.

‘…How important is that pomegranate.’

She had a headache.

She hadn’t felt good since Madam Deborah made a big deal out of it. She thought she made a mistake when she had family luck, but it got worse as time went by.

She couldn’t get rid of the thought that I had committed a terrible taboo unexpectedly.

“I don’t know.”

Eventually, when asked by Sienna, Madam Deborah shrugged with a look on her face as to why she was degrading the situation.

“Just as Michael explained at the time. Sharing a pomegranate, which symbolizes the family’s power, is a meaning of welcome, blessing and recognition, and everyone quickly recognizes and accepts your presence.”

“Uhh….”

In Sienna’s ears, it still sounded confusing and plausible.

‘I think there’s more to it than that superficial meaning.’

Madam Deborah readily admitted to Sienna’s lackluster expression.

“Actually… this is an old custom of the family, but I don’t know all the details.”

Madam Deborah was a relative of a former head maid and was still unfamiliar with their customs.

Although she was a very influential figure in the employment system of the duchy, which was difficult for outsiders to penetrate, Sienna could not be given the answer she wanted.

“Why don’t you ask the young masters if you want to hear more?”

“Pardon? No, that’s a little…”

Sienna refused at once. But before Madam Deborah could say anything back, it suddenly became noisy outside.

“Ya!”

The door burst open. Surprisingly, it was Michael.

“Little Duke!”

This was not the first time Madam Deborah had rebuked him harshly.

“I told you not to do this when you visit the young miss!”

“Oh, I’m sorry!”

Michael, who had rushed in like a runaway engine that no one could stop, was surprised by her words. He immediately backed up. It seemed as if he was going to slam the door..

Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock.

It was an impatient sound, more like banging on the door rather than knocking.

“….What do you do?”

“I’ll open the door…?”

He seemed so anxious that he turned a blind eye to the door. I’m scared of what’s going to happen when it opens.

Suddenly, the door opened and Michael shouted out loudly.

“I’m so sorry! I knocked again, so let me off the hook!”

“Oh, yeah. Well…”

“By the way, you!”

Did I make a mistake again? Sienna thought with a heavy heart.

“When I first saw him, he gave me a bad impression! He was a jerk!”

“What?”

It was so out of the blue that Sienna quickly didn’t understand who Michael was talking about.

“Your tutor!”

“Ah.”

I was wondering what it was. Rumors that heated up among the servants throughout lunchtime seemed to have finally entered Michael’s ears.

“If I were standing by you, I wouldn’t have had that happen.”

A young man who didn’t know anything was saying the most terrible thing.

“It’s okay.”

Sienna had never been so sincere, but Michael was furious.

“It’s not okay!”

Everything was fine, but it seemed like it would take a long time to talk about it. Sienna swallowed her throat vaguely.

“Anyways I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay… no, you don’t have to apologize. It’s all settled.”

Was it this hard to talk about the situation and just saying that it was okay? Michael sighed as he looked pitifully at Sienna, who was stumped.

“That’s enough. Anyway, I told my father. You can learn with me for the time being.”

“What?”

Unbeknownst to me, it seems that there is a rule in this house that says you must be interrogated for the truth.

“That’s a bit….”

The expression on Sienna’s expression, which didn’t want to say thank you or that it went well even if her mouth was frowning, became subtle.

Michael’s eyes narrowed.

“You’re worrying for nothing again, aren’t you?”

Sienna nodded blankly. Worried…if it’s worrying, then I’m doing it. As a person who was being sentenced to spend over three hours a day with a person I didn’t want to run into, of course I’d be worried…

“It’s remarkable that you don’t want to cause trouble to me, but it’s already decided that way, so you can’t change it.”

“Yeah…?”

She felt like she was waking up from a dream that didn’t make any sense because of all this nonsense he keeps speaking.

“What do you mean?”

“Of course it will be difficult for you to keep up with my class progress, but what can I do? What if another guy is brought, and he’s similar to the last?”

‘What should I do, what should I do?’

Even if I get hit, I won’t feel the blow as much, but this time I have to treat this calmly. Don’t make it a big deal.

“I don’t know you well yet, but I don’t think you’re going to tell me if such a thing happens.”

Flinch.

I didn’t know that a 10-year-old could read the inside story accurately. Seeing the careless Sienna flinching, Michael smirked.

“Look. I guess I’m right. That’s what my father said anyway. I’m going to be careful until he finds a suitable person.”

“Then if I just wait until then…”

“No, I mean, there are a lot of people who despise you as an orphan right now. Don’t you want to flatten their noses as soon as possible, huh?”

Michael laid out blueprints with his jewel-like red eyes twinkling.

“Now, how many people would rather support a child other than you! Don’t you want to show them that you have received a pomegranate and that you are good enough to be educated in a short period of time?”

“Yes. Not really.”

I don’t have a hobby of building a sand castle where the waves will someday sweep it away. If I do something wrong, not only the castle, but also my whole body will be swept away by the strong waves.

Whether others despise her or not. It was no longer Sienna’s business.

“Hey! What are you…”

Michael, who was about to scream at the harsh and prompt reply, tried to calm down when he saw Sienna’s gentle gaze looking up at him.

“…I’m sorry I keep getting angry.”

What’s wrong with him? Sienna was puzzled, but she nodded meekly.

“It’s okay.”

“What are you saying you’re okay with all the time? I think I’m allergic to your saying it’s okay now.”

“Okay… woohoo.”

“Just eat this.”

Michael put an apple in Sienna’s mouth. The apples Madam Deborah carefully chose and brought were very delicious, and Sienna chewed the apples without much complaints because she was afraid of future troubles if she spat them out.

“Eat all of this and go to class.”

The apple was delicious, but there was a moment when she missed the cold-blooded Michael, who used to keep a distance because he hated Sienna.

* * *

Michael’s study room had a more academic atmosphere than Sienna’s study room, which had a semi-playroom feel.

“Are you here, Miss?”

It was already her second meeting with this gentle young man.

“My name is Seth. I am in charge of the education of His Highness, and for the time being, I will also be in charge of the education of the young lady. Please take care of me.”

Even though Michael’s class was disrupted, Seth did not seem to regard Sienna as a thorn.

“Come here.”

No… If it sounds like they are very welcoming, am I mistaken?

Unexpectedly, Sienna sat in the seat recommended by Seth. Textbooks and writing tools were already neatly placed in the seat.

“Can you read the title of the book?””

“Basic Magic…….”

“See? She knows how to read letters.”

Sienna was the one who read, but Michael shrugged. Seth deliberately ignored the boy and nodded.

“Good job. You will learn magic from me in the future.”

Seth explained that it hadn’t been long since the second young master began taking classes from him anyway, and it wouldn’t be difficult to make progress.

“Of course, if the Second Young Master allows it, will you?”

“Of course.”

“Excuse me…….”

Why am I suddenly learning magic here? Sienna was a little perplexed.

“I know how to read, but I can’t write properly yet. The teacher who came to me a while ago told me to practice my handwriting.”

“Yes?”

Seth asked in surprise.

“Hey, excuse me. Was that person going to make you practice your handwriting?”

“That’s right. I listened carefully.”

Michael is ten and Sienna is eleven. Usually, it was around the age of ten when aristocrats started teaching magic.

One child was moderate and one was a bit slow.

‘I can’t say it’s too late, but she still can’t waste time practicing spelling and such.’

In front of the children, Seth just clicked his tongue inwardly. Anyway, it was fortunate that the man who could not be called a nightmare in the tutor world became either alive or dead early on.

“Um… First of all, another teacher will come, not me, for the other general education classes. And I don’t think you need to learn how to write.”

“……?”

Sienna tilted her head at Seth’s explanation. She even looked more docile and lovely because she contrasted with Michael who was sitting next to her.

A kind reply came from the depths of his heart.

“Anyway, there are things to take notes on during class, so you’ll get used to writing quickly. Don’t worry.”

“What is that…….”

Michael muttered with tired eyes. Teacher Seth said it kindly, but to be honest, doesn’t it sound crazy that he will train her with a tremendous amount of study until she gets used to it?

But it was Sienna.

“I see, thank you.”

It was of course better to learn magic that I had not learned properly before than to review the basics I already knew. If I want to enter the military academy, the knowledge I will learn from now on will be of great help.

Naturally, Sienna’s eyes began to twinkle with a passion for learning. She was on the verge of being compared to the rebellious second young master sitting next to her.

Seth’s heart pounded.

‘Hey, maybe this……’

Am I finally going to teach a model student?

“……Teacher?”

“Aren’t you going to start class?”

“Ah, ah, yes. Now, would you like to open the book first? Today, I will only explain the overall direction of the class.”

Unlike Sienna’s book, which was brand new, Michael’s book had traces of being opened, but only the front page. It seemed to prove that he had just started his education.

Well. The noble families do not educate their children in magic early, even if they don’t know everything else.

If you do not reach a certain level of mental maturity, you will be sensitive to even the smallest fraud. Early education had to be avoided in order to avoid an accident in which precious heirs went crazy prematurely.
(P/N: Fraud refers to the corruption of their mana, which will drive the child crazy.)

“As you may already know, magic refers to ‘supernatural phenomena caused by people who possess and can use magic’.”

Although he asked them to open the book, Seth hardly looked at the book.

“In the world we live in, this energy called magical power is distributed. This flow of energy is called mana. Occasionally, when fraud seeps into a stagnant place, a beast is born. Beasts instinctively know how to handle magic from the moment they are born, and they distinguish it from human magic by calling it justice.”

Seth picked up the chalk and sharply scribbled the words ‘Human-Magic’ and ‘Magical-Judicial’.

“Hmm.”

Michael only listened, but Sienna picked up a pen and started taking notes on the prepared notebook. Seth’s eyes lit up at that sight.

‘You’re a good student!’

Although the way she was holding the pen and writing was awkward, it didn’t matter much.

What was important was the attitude. Sienna’s attitude was clearly the ideal model student that Seth had dreamed of.

Seth was thrilled. But since he was conducting class, he couldn’t express himself.

Above all, Sienna was concentrating, so he didn’t want to interrupt her.

He went on to explain.

“Mages are very vulnerable to fraud. So the first priority in magic is always to maintain stability… to put it simply…”

At the bottom of the small note earlier, Seth wrote this:

How can I use magic without going crazy or becoming a beast?

Eleven-year-old Sienna and Michael both became silent at the naked sentence. Seth smiled apologetically.

“It may be a little early, but this is the fact that you two must always face and live as wizards in the future.”

“……It’s bloody, it’s horrendous. It’s okay for me, but…”

Michael glanced at Sienna, and was a little surprised to find out that Sienna was writing down Seth’s words in a blunt manner as usual.

Seth comforted the children again.

“Don’t be too surprised. As I said, stability is a top priority in modern magic. In the process, a very special kind of wizarding genealogy was born. That is…”

Terraformer.

“Among those specializing in healing or purification, it refers to a very highly specialized type of wizard.”

“…….”

“Simply put, they are people who help other wizards to use their magic freely. And that’s it.”

Seth spoke cheerfully and looked through the elementary magic book. And he stopped a little before the half-way mark.

“This is an overview of the contents of up to page one hundred and thirty-five. Following the framework I outlined, the two of you will be tasked with summarizing the contents of the first half of the book in one notebook. Let’s see, by next week will be enough time.”

“……What?”

Instead of taking notes, Michael, who had been listening roughly, stopped and stiffened.

He told him to open the book, but he did not ask him to read it together, it’s not that!

To make matters worse, Seth smiled softly and raised his index finger.

“Ah, one more! In today’s class, you can’t share your notes.”

“Sorry…?!”

Not minding whether Michael refuted it or not,

Seth immediately paid attention to Sienna, a model student candidate.

“Lady, how was it? Was my class understandable? If you don’t think you’ll be able to do your homework, this time…….”

“No.”

Sienna responded quickly with a strangely urgent attitude.

“You’re asking me to write what you said today. I understand. I’ll try.”

“Oh my……!”

Seth’s expression darkened. Even if he knew that his four-year-old daughter was a genius, he thought it would be difficult to make him laugh more than this. Even now, an unidentified hymn, ‘She’s a model student, she’s a model student~’ was resounding in his ears.

“Then don’t overdo it and just try as hard as you can.”

“Yes, Teacher.”

* * *

Sienna, who succeeded in accumulating additional points under the relative evaluation system by answering nicely and calmly, returned to her original study room.

A teacher for general education as well as etiquette had already arrived there.

Fortunately, the new teacher had heard enough of Lowell’s unknown ending before coming here.

It was for Sienna, but it was also a life-saving measure, so the new teacher taught Sienna in a very exemplary manner.

Sienna followed the dry teachings that completely relieved her thoughts. Originally, she pretended to be learning something new, so she seemed to be learning very quickly.

After an hour or so, the general education teacher, who was nervous and stiff at first, nodded with satisfaction.

“I’ll wrap it up for today. I’ll see you at this time tomorrow for the next class.”

After the general education teacher had returned in satisfaction, Sienna opened her basic magic book and notebook to do the homework Seth had given her.

“Did he say it’s until one hundred and thirty-five pages?”

To estimate the amount in advance, Sienna jumps straight from the introduction to page 135. The first sentence of the page began like this:

The Terraformer owns the space and declares it as its own realm, and at the same time begins purification within the scope.

“…….”

In the past, Sienna had never been properly taught magic. This was because, after being bullied by Teacher Lowell, she lost her magical powers to Loreina and became ‘incapable of salvaging and does not need to be taught’.

The first sentence on page 135 was very unfamiliar to Sienna. She could read it and knew the meaning of each word, but it was difficult to put it together and understand the context and content.

But the more she faced that sentence, the more her heart pounded strangely.

Ironically, she felt like she was at the starting point now.

Like a traveler who had traveled a very long way, then turned around and belatedly started a proper journey.

Her clothes were old, her shoes were worn out, and her body and mind were exhausted.

Nevertheless, the moment she realized that this was the starting line, surprisingly, she wanted to run.

Glancing at the sentences she could not fully understand yet, Sienna left page 135 again and returned to the introduction of the book.

And she started from there.

* * *

It was  the weekend. The sky was gradually turning blue as winter had passed. However, the air in the sky blowing against the watchtower was still cold, so white breaths puffed out.

The watchtower of the Sioban Military Academy was the only place where one could see the whole of the military academy’s citadel and the historic academic city.

If it was a tourist attraction, it would be a popular spot, but only seasonal. It was not just mere words that being on the watchtower can sting your flesh in winter, but it was also a very dangerous place because of the sudden gusts of wind in the air.

“So, to come at this time of year, doesn’t it mean that he doesn’t care if he falls down the cliff of the tower and his head is harpooned?”

The other person whistled at Jonas, who was trembling and staring at Ashiel’s back.

“I can’t help it, Dehan. Since he’s doing that over there with the intention of dying, let’s just kill him. And we’ll go down here as if nothing had happened.”

“Well, maybe our highness is confident that he won’t fall.”

“I know that! But why are you so fine!”

“I’m from the North.”

“You’re both going crazy!”

Whether a friend was going crazy or he jumped or not, Ashiel was only staring at the distant sky, standing in front of a windowless window that had a single wide gap pierced open to expose his whole body.

No, it wasn’t a distant sky.

It was something that appeared in the distant sky.

What appeared as a dot in the distant area quickly grew in size.

It steadied its gigantic wings to ride the wind without flapping its wings vigorously.

As the hawk closed the distance and opened its mouth, there was a terrible sound as if it were tearing the sky.

It was about to rush in and tear anything caught in his claws, but Ashiel calmly stretched out his arm and called out.

“Yi-oh.”

It was a moment that felt like he could be eaten, but surprisingly, the wings of the hawk slowly folded. Two hook-like feet gripped the boy’s outstretched arms.

Keeek!

“Yes, yes.”

The hawk slowly calmed it’s twitching feathers at the gentle soothing sound.

Hushing so as to calm the hawk down, Ashiel skillfully unwrapped a letter from the it’s ankle.

“Using the skies as a transport route is not something I would highly recommend.”

Ashiel calmly sent the hawk back.

“There was no other way.”

“Recently, you’ve been receiving letters from home almost every day. Is something going on?”

“……Nothing?”

He said it was nothing as if it was flowing casually, but Dehan quickly caught the sign of something hidden from Ashiel’s tone.

At that age, like an active volcano, Ashiel’s sharp blade-like attitude was strangely familiar to the men.

‘Essentially, he’s almost the same as the Grand Duke..’

Once he decided to hide something with that mouth, it never leaked. Dehan just shrugged.

“I guess I’ll go back to the duchy this weekend as well.”

Ashiel shook his head with an expressionless face.

“Let’s just go down. If it’s a conversation, we’ll go down and have it.”

“Oh, yeah. I agree. I thought I would kill Jonas if I heard him complaining that he was freezing to death one more time.”

Jonas protested against the cold comments of his friends.

“I thought about it very early, you idiot! By the way, I’m already half-frozen to death, so you better think about how to revive me.”

“It wouldn’t have been bad if half of you was frozen to death, and your mouth was frozen.”

“I agree.”

“Ah, but were these bastards serious from a while ago?”

Jonas grew annoyed and tried to negotiate with his friends who were quickly ahead of him.

“Grand Prince, show me your construction engineering report when we go down.”

Now it was clear why Jonas had followed Ashiel even though he cursed.

“I’m sorry. I haven’t touched it yet.”

Of course, even if Ashiel did, he wouldn’t be one to reveal it.

“Lies! I know that you’re building a tower with construction books on your pillow because you don’t have enough tables these days, but you haven’t written a report yet?!”

Ashiel turned towards the stairs first and spoke.

“You also put Princess Perrato’s letter on the bed or on the table, but you never read it.”

“Is that and your case the same?”

The sound of the three boys walking down the stone steps rang, and the watchtower soon became as still as it was in the beginning.

* * *

The weekend came, and Sienna was still busy with the homework Seth had given her.

“It’s terrifying, it’s terrifying.”

To some extent, even Michael put his tongue out (in protest) against the barrel of the finger protectors that children put on when using a pen.

Like it or not. Sienna was only copying the passage, ‘The talent of a Terraformer is imprinted on the soul and manifested at birth’.

It was also surprising that, as Seth had predicted, the messy handwriting had changed to a more pleasing sight in three days. Michael was fed up.

“Compared to her, my talent for studying is not imprinted on my soul, right?”

It was a surprising praise, but Sienna didn’t accept it right away.

‘No talent, what nonsense.’

Ever since he entered the military academy, he was very strict about the subject he was going to occupy.

Madam Deborah happily responded to Michael’s exaggeration.

“The young lady is really working hard. Isn’t this all from the wonderful desire to repay the kindness of Nacht?”

Madam Deborah’s ability to positively perceive the situation was something far beyond Sienna’s realm of understanding.

Even if we say that it’s a part of graceful speech, it’s not because Sienna is good at holding on to her homework for a long time. If she does well, she will be able to finish it in two hours without taking notes like Michael did and be sleepy.

‘It’s because I’m an inferior student, an inferior student.’

It was Sienna’s first time studying magic. There were times when she had to go through the piles of books in the study room to fully understand a sentence in the book.

Actually, there was no need to do that. Anyway, what Seth suggested was to summarize the contents of the book according to the outline presented, not to understand the book alone.

It wasn’t a big deal to keep up with Michael’s pace as long as she just copied and filled the pages with what seemed to be roughly important.

It was Sienna’s stubbornness to hold onto it for this long….

‘……I can’t help it. It’s fun.’

The process of struggling to understand what she was seeing for the first time was simply enjoyable. As she lined and annotated the new book to make it tattered, Sienna felt a kind of pride she had never experienced in her life before.

Perhaps Michael’s displeasure was because he instinctively noticed that Sienna was in the early stages of becoming a major magic maniac. Perhaps if time passes smoothly like this, Sienna will fully awaken as a researcher and say, ‘Research is really interesting……!’ Because it was in a situation where she would go around making crazy noises that he couldn’t tolerate as an ordinary person.

In this way, Sienna’s career plan was just to the point of being in the top 30 percent, so she was making a sharp turn from being a low-level soldier in an ambiguous position to a researcher who can take her salary on time. But anyway, the castle was peaceful after a long time.

Madam Deborah pretended to squeeze out tears that she couldn’t get out from her emotions.

“When she just came to the castle, she was so poor that she couldn’t eat properly and just laid down and slept.”

Her attitude was grand for something that she remembered about a week ago.

Anyway, compared to that time, it was true that Sienna was eating well and getting a good night’s sleep.

Although the habit of going to the maid’s room and staying locked up in the Cradle was still there, Madam Deborah accepted Sienna’s travels as ‘a quirk that every child with outstanding qualities possesses’.

Of course, she had no intention of leaving it as it is, she would just change the plan, to try to improve it in the long run.

The woman suddenly looked out the window. Winter was coming to an end, and green energy was shining in the expansive garden.

It was the season where the greenery returned.

‘It’s a pity to just sit and study in one place.’

Recently, Sienna started walking through the garden on her own for a light walk. However, that alone felt insufficient.

‘Looking at the time, it’s also a good idea to take them on an outing to bask in the spring sun… Huh?’

An unfamiliar sight caught by Madam Deborah’s gaze as she searched the garden for a good picnic spot.

‘A messenger?’

A well-dressed man was delivering something like a letter to the attendant at the entrance.

‘To send a servant directly without going through a postman…… Is it an invitation?’

It was soon revealed that the letter was no mere invitation, and the madam did not yet know that the brief peace was coming to an end.

* * *

On a weekend afternoon, Ashiel returned.

This time, the butler greeted him instead of the grand duke, who had gone on a subjugation operation to a farther place than the suburbs.

“It’s a really strange thing, Young Master. It’s been three years since you entered the academy, and only now do I know that you can return home from the military academy so often.”

Ashiel shook away the chill from his clothes and smiled a little bitterly.

“I’d rather be openly swearing that he’s this ungrateful bastard.”

The butler was only smiling gracefully and kindly.

“Recently, the young lady has been busy with her studies. She will probably be in the study room at this time.”

“Do you have to make it so obvious that you read everything inside me….?”

“Isn’t that the privilege of an older person? If you don’t like it, wait until the day I die.”

“You mean I won’t be able to win even a single word until you die. It’s understandable.”

Shaking his head, Ashiel could not readily decide what to do.

The child his father had recently brought to the castle as a guardian did not adapt easily.

From the moment the grand duke first invited her to come to the grand duchy, she was terrified of it.

His father was a man of great stature and few words.

Objectively, he was a handsome man, but…….

‘Jonas said this. He said ‘it looks like a masterpiece made by a genius sculptor who broke his temper by wielding a knife at random.’

It was a really Jonas-like expression, and although it may have been insulting to some extent, it was also accurate enough to make him laugh.

To put it bluntly, the grand duke, who had no soft lines anywhere on his body, was supposed to be the one who ruled the underworld of Natch. To be honest, it is not reasonable to expect the child to follow quickly at a time when he was nicknamed the underworld king.

At first, he simply thought so.

But now Ashiel knows.

Sienna’s refusal was not due to her childlike fear.… There was something special about it.

‘Should I say that it feels like she’s throwing a tantrum, or that she’s sick and tired of it…….’

It might be a speculation of leaps and bounds for a child.

‘However……’

Why? Ashiel couldn’t forget the green eyes of Sienna that he sometimes encountered.

What should he say when those big, empty-looking eyes look at him,  full of vigilance?

There were times when he had a strange feeling, like he had to fold because he made a mistake without any good reason.

It was a factor that caused irrational change. What’s even funnier was that he kept wanting to look into the child and check to see if she was okay there.

After all, she was a ward of the grand duchy, and she was a child who even received a pomegranate. Even if the significance of the pomegranate was not known to everyone in the underworld, it must have been clear that the Grand Duke would treat the child as a family member.

Even if he doesn’t care, the vassals will take good care of her. If she’s sick, they’ll call a doctor, if she’s hungry, they’ll give her food, and they’ll buy her clothes with the allocated budget and give her education.

So, it meant that he didn’t have to go and check up on her often, as a member of the family, even if the child felt nauseous and faint.

It wouldn’t help at all for the child to adapt.

If the grand duke was a person who suppressed his emotions with reason, Ashiel was a person who had learned to control it. With this kind of natural disposition, he would have to find a different reason aside from his position.  But anyway, Ashiel’s reason has never failed to persuade and suppress his emotions like a crazy foal…….

“……Well.”

Ashiel let out a low groan. Come to think of it, it happened recently.

Didn’t he almost smash the vicious head of the orphanage in front of the child in question?

It was unusual. Even the expression of an accident or a mishap would be appropriate.

So far, Ashiel had been the type of eldest son that others praise as ‘evidence that the eldest son fell from heaven’. To borrow Jonas’ expression, it was also ‘the incarnation of discipline and norms that make people spin’.

The grand duke, who was indifferent to everything, used to let his eldest son do whatever he wanted to do.

With that in mind, the butler showed an elegant expression of ‘conventional trust’, but well. Ashiel chose not to think deeply.

In any case, even such a grand duke would have said something about it.

“It’s rare for you to act like that. Is there anything I should keep in mind about your feelings?”

He was the one who asked the question, but it was Ashiel who was most confused at the time.

“……I’ll be more careful in the future.”

While staring at the eldest son who was avoiding giving an exact answer, the grand duke stopped reprimanding him at that point. It was because Ashiel was the eldest son who was too capable until now to ask again if he will do well on his own.

In any case, it happened that Sienna was the catalyst.

If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be okay to admit that Ashiel was losing control over Sienna-related matters?

‘No, it’s a leap.’

Even if it’s not a one-sided meal, isn’t she a child with only two sides? Ashiel had other reasons to think logically.

‘This is all…….’

Ashiel pressed his hand on the spot where his pounding heart should be.

But there was something he couldn’t justify.

The butler, who was staring at the reliable young master who was thinking for a long time, made a jab.

“Didn’t you send flowers when you heard that she was awake? It would be less embarrassing to go see her at least once.”

“That…”

Was it satisfying to drive people to a point where they can’t refute? Ashiel sighed.

He did. He sent flowers. It was inexcusable.

She wouldn’t want to think of him because he showed a terribly violent appearance from the first meeting, but he sent flowers and inevitably inserted a card with his signature.

Later, when he prodded the messenger and heard the story, he found out that the child had broken up the bouquet and shared it with everyone present.

Was it something that a child who grew up in an orphanage in need and being squeezed by a careless director can do? His heart felt pathetic and proud as if looking at a small flower that barely bloomed on a parched ground.

‘……Wouldn’t it be okay to ask if she received the flowers well because I gave her flowers?’

Perhaps as they passed by, he would lightly say hello. Maybe that would be fine.

Ashiel, who was born without feeling attachment and lived in a position where it was not necessary to develop sociability, had never asked anyone for their greetings from the heart.

But he thought it might be okay to change it up a bit. That child is not a stranger, but a child who has become a member of Nacht.

In an instant, Ashiel’s emotions succeeded in persuading his reason.

It happened unconsciously.

* * *

It was a matter he had considered over and over again, but in the end, the child was not in the study room.

“Well, the lady went out for a walk a while ago.”

The new maid, named Madam Deborah, greeted him with an awkward look on her face.

“All right…”

Ashiel felt dejected. In the end, he was surprisingly ashamed that he’d thought so much about what would happen.

Perhaps because he was embarrassed, he couldn’t leave easily. Naturally, he could see the scenery in the deserted room.

A cute little desk, a table with tea utensils, small bookshelves filled with books, and blackboards. There was also a cozy carpet and cushion in one corner.

It was a place carefully prepared according to the age of the person who will use this room.

‘At least I’ve confirmed that the child is being treated as one of Natch’s even when she’s out of sight.’

Now that he’s seen this, he may not have to do anything scandalous this week, such as sending a reliable attendant to deliver a rushed letter.

With that in mind, he looked around the room again, and this time, a sense of familiarity stung his eyes.

“…Come to think of it, isn’t this the playroom I used to use?”

“Yes. It’s the closest room to the Moon’s Cradle and there’s still furniture for children, so I asked the butler and had it decorated as a study room.”

“Is that so?”

He didn’t know. Unexpectedly, it was the room he used as a child.

“The desks and bookshelf there were used by His Highness at the time.”

Did it feel intimate because it was originally his room? Or was that simply an excuse.

In any case, Ashiel quit pacing in front of the doorway and suddenly entered the room. Then, he swept a hand over a surprisingly small desk.

In one corner, there was still a small accidental mark left from when he was young. He casually looked at it a little longer…

“…….”

He found a sight which could not be laughed at.

A red shadow under the desk caught his eye at first glance. At first, he thought something like a play block rolled under.

Since he came all the way here, he thought he should pick it up, so he looked closely and realized it wasn’t.

In the corner of the shadow of the desk, a large, round, half-stomped flower was lying on the floor.

He could not recognize it.

It was a flower that he hand picked and sent himself.

An indescribable feeling thumped and pressed down on his chest like a stone.

Ashiel looked down at the floor without saying a word, Madam Deborah, who was puzzled, approached……

“I’m sorry, Your Highness. I made a mistake while installing and cleaning.”

Madam Deborah quickly claimed it to be her mistake, but Ashiel did not notice.

He was only staring at a dying flower on the floor with a strangely long and deeply trembling gaze.

As if someone had nailed all of his gaze to it.

No, no…… It may have been his mind, not his gaze, that was unwittingly stabbed.

“Your Highness?”

“…….”

Ashiel was shocked and surprised at the fact that he was shocked.

‘Why?’

Objectively speaking, it was just a flower. And a bouquet of flowers, which was, in fact, nothing that he couldn’t send to an enemy if necessary.

Considering the age of the person, it was not unusual for one of the flowers to be lying on the floor of the study room. It was a rather unreasonable request to expect an eleven-year-old to put a great meaning to these flowers just because a prince gave them as a gift.

It could be. That could have been the case. Ashiel tried to understand. But the septum was not easily healed.
(P/N: Talking about the stinging one can get in their nose when they are upset.)

Although he was never the kind of person who wanted to give someone a gift and have them cherish it as if they were looking at his face.

Even though he was the type of person who gave meaninglessly and forgets easily……

“Your Highness, even if you’re upset, it’s all Deborah’s fault, so let go of your anger…”

The maid tried to say something, but she had misunderstood the situation in the first place.

“I’m not angry… I’m not.”

He wasn’t. He wasn’t angry.

It just felt like his heart was breaking, and the problem was that he didn’t know the cause…… So it was just frustrating.

Besides…

‘Have I ever experienced something similar to this?’

There was no way he did, but he felt a strange sense of déjà vu. No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t figure out the answer.

“Your Highness?”

Finally, Madam Deborah looked at him as if it was strange. Ashiel secretly took a deep breath and gave an order in a low tone to keep his voice from cracking.

“Don’t let the child know that I’ve been here.”

“All right.”

“Your Highness, you are here!”

Just then, a group of people appeared. Everyone had a bewildered expression, as if they had certain intentions.

“…What’s going on?”

“We brought you a letter from Count Gildinak.”

If it was Count Gildinak, Ashiel knew him too, but he didn’t leave a particularly noteworthy impression.

No matter if that person sent a letter, it was impossible to guess why it warranted for so many people to make such a commotion to deliver it.

“So?”

“A request to let his daughter claim ownership of the 13th Named.”

* * *

When Sienna returned from her walk, the atmosphere inside the castle was a bit strange.

Madam Deborah also looked strangely frantic before she disappeared somewhere and only Michael was left to answer Sienna’s puzzled questions.

“The Count sent a letter asking what the procedure is.”

“What?”

Is the grand duchy overturned like this with only a count’s letter?

“Do you remember the necklace you saw in the corridor exhibition room before?”

Sienna nodded her head. The 13th Named Hesaros. She couldn’t forget the flame-like jewels she had kept in mind for a time when living here would become unbearable to death.

“The Named in the Ancient Millennium Box are the treasures of humans. There is some historical background, but it is thanks to the Named that we have secured our territory up to this point against the beasts.”

Up to this point, it was a legend that even Sienna knew.

“Basically, a Named takes a qualified wizard as its master. And any wizard can challenge the ownership of a Named without an owner.”

“Ah…….”

“Of course, most people don’t try. They’re sure to fail. But why did the Count ask to let his daughter challenge the ownership?”

Then the puzzle was put together.

Nacht had four strategic weapons called Named. Among them, two belonged to the grand duke and the grand prince, one was missing, and one had no owner.

“Hesaros has never had a master before. It’s not an object to rush into… Anyway, that’s why everyone went crazy.”

It was an incredibly accurate ability to judge reality at the age of ten, but Sienna, who’s age transcends that of an eleven year old, sensed that there were more circumstances than what Michael explained.

‘Are you going to become the master of an ancient weapon that has never chosen a master before in human history?’

It smelled rancid.

If it was Count Gildinak, he was a figure in Sienna’s memory. He was the kind of aristocrat who didn’t pick exactly which camp, but changed his position according to the situation.

It meant that he was a character who only pursues practical interests to the extent that it is somewhat unscrupulous.

‘And this has never happened in the past.’

Hesaros slept in complete silence until destroyed by Loreina. It was said that no one had disturbed the historic and venerable Named’s sleep.

At that moment, Sienna was convinced.

If something that didn’t happen in the past is happening now…….

‘I’m the cause.’

Sienna was the only foreign substance that could change the world’s variables, memories, and more.

‘I’m the cause, so what can I do to provoke the Count of Gildinak?’

From there, the inference was easy.

‘Come to think of it, the little prince once said something like that.’

She didn’t listen to it carefully, but she was able to roughly remember the content.

When he heard the news that Sienna became a ward, he said that there were many people who would rather support his children than orphans.

The fact that Grand Duke Nacht had decided to support the orphan was not left unanswered. Because it was impossible in the first place.

The nature of the underworld was not simply the castle of just any lord, but the ‘kingdom’ of the Grand Duke of Nacht.

It was not a title that included autonomy over an independent state, and it was not called a court because of its somewhat closed nature, but in any case, all kinds of people, including employees, vassals, and merchants, had no choice but to enter and exit from time to time.

It was impossible for the emperor, but not for the grand duke, to control even the words that were carried by so many people.

‘Even if a beast falls from the sky and we become dumb together, we will spread the word through writing.’

Sienna knew that better than anyone.

In any case, after Sienna appeared, the Grand Duchy of Nacht was no longer a pie in the sky.
(T/N: reminder; wards of Nacht often end up as the spouse of the princes/young masters.)

‘If I had been without existence as in the past, it wouldn’t be a problem……’

This time, the orphan lived in the ‘Cradle of the Moon’ and even received something called ‘Pomegranate of Sentences’.

It was something everyone should mourn over, for the noble Grand Duke Nacht cared so much about the commoner orphan who no one even knew where she had rolled in from.

Maybe if you just stretched out your hand, the place could have been yours, and so you think you’ve missed your chance. They must be grumbling through their teeth for losing the place to an orphan.

‘It’s probably the same context as asking him to challenge the ownership of Hesaros.’

It’s not really a serious challenge.

During the challenge, he will meet the grand duke and will try to appeal that his child is excellent enough to seriously consider as the owner of the Named.

‘……That’s a good idea for someone like Count Gildinak to come up with.’

The Counts of Gildinak and the couple had a similar argument against Loreina in the past, but they committed suicide.

This time, the target happened to be Sienna.

Sienna decided to turn her mind off at this point. Whatever it was, she thought it was none of her business.

* * *

Sienna’s guess was correct.

The Count of Gildinak was always a person who snoops, sniffing around for profits, and therefore reacted very quickly to news that Grand Duke Nacht had brought in a ward.

“Oh my God, who knew? It’s not just between us, it’s going to be on the front page of Page Six. The Grand Duke is raising orphans!”

“I’m a little angry. No, there are a lot of girls who are more qualified than anyone else and have a guaranteed pedigree.”

“That’s right. For example, Young Lady Loreina of Count Minangsi, and ours, too, there are plenty of children right? But leaving all those children aside and choosing an orphan, it’s as if the Grand Duke decided to insult the mothers of our society!”

It was a stretch, but the problem was that it sounded plausible to those who were overheated at the same time on the same topic. When Count Gildinak also came to his senses, he noticed that he was nodding his head between them.

Returning from the salon party that day, the count said to his wife.

“Viscount Dalmas’ words are a bit extreme, but I don’t think it’s too wrong.”

“I think so too.”

The couple couldn’t get along better than this in that they both pursued the interests of the family like ghosts.

“People say that the Count of Minangsi’s child is the best, but our Isabelle isn’t the kind of child that is lacking, isn’t that right?”

“She’s not lacking. If given a chance, she’ll stand out from everyone else. It’s just that our Isabelle didn’t have the same luck as the Minangsi girl.”

If so, it would be the parent’s job to feed that luck.

“Honey, how about doing this?”

“What good ideas do you have?”

“Nacht has a Named whose owner has not been decided yet.”

“The thousand-year-old treasure?”

The count was astonished.

“But it’s something no one has ever owned…”

“Oh my gosh, honey. Who cares about having it?”

The Countess of Gildinak persuaded her husband, as she often did.

Up to this point, it was exactly what Sienna had guessed. There was nothing wrong with the fact that it was not an idea from the count’s head, who had a similar greed, but was far inferior to his wife in intellectual ability.

And Ashiel was looking through the same thing. He asked in one word.

“Has His Excellency been less notorious lately?”

It was sarcasm with the meaning of not knowing why he would, with a sane mind, think of bringing his daughter into the corner of this house otherwise.

Last year, in the Battle of Thandeville, after rumors of the grand duke roaming the battlefield with the staked head of a beast, which was cut off by the Named Il Rusgetter, in his possession spread, didn’t things settle down after that?.

The butler shook his head as if he had no jaw.

“The position is so attractive that it can be covered by such a small notoriety.”

It was said that the drug had fallen off.
(T/N: ‘drug’ as in ‘fear for the grand duke’.)

Ashiel smirked.

“He’s a little infamous for slaughtering a beast for an hour with its bloody head pierced with/staked on a spear, it’s really a character that drove the nation crazy.”

No matter how common war, death, plague, and monsters are in a country, isn’t it too much?

The butler pretended to appease Ashiel, who reacted particularly sharply.

“Endure it. Doesn’t that mean that Your Highness is a good groom? You have to bear it.”

“There is no law that a ward must marry the son of the household.”

“But everyone believes that it is a place where marriage to the Grand Prince is guaranteed.”

In that fanatical atmosphere, there was no way that objective statistics were mentioned.

Damn it. In spite of the habit of wanting to spit it out like that, Ashiel smiled coolly.

“It’s my fault right now.”

“Your Highness is bright. Now, what will you do?”

The prince sighed.

“I’ll let my father know first. But I don’t think he can do anything about it.”

In principle, the appearance of the owner of a Named contributes to the public interest of mankind.

Therefore, the person or family who kept the Named without an owner was obliged to treat the challenger at the level of public interest. The challenge was very sacred and valuable to the empire.

Of course, that’s why, until now, everyone hadn’t carried out the bold idea of ​​showing off their skills by challenging the Named. Wasn’t there a minimum of common sense and shame?

Gildinak had broken that common sense.

If it was very poor or there was a reason for disqualification, he could have refused the challenge, but unfortunately Young Lady Gildinak did not fall under that category.

As much as the greed of the parents, the skill of their daughter was genuine.

‘Besides, to become the owner of a Named, your skills are not necessarily the only condition.’

Ashiel, the owner of a Named, knew it well. Named ones were sometimes picky like the ladies who ordered clothes as they like for spring but returned them 30 times.

In addition, Hesaros had no record compared to other Named, whose ownership conditions were revealed more than once in history.

Logically, it meant that a drunkard lying on the street could suddenly become the owner.

So…… There was no reason to refuse.

“You must be bothered for the time being. It might be better for you to go back to school, but… until the Grand Duke returns, it won’t be a big deal.”

If the final decision maker was absent, and such a request had been made, the successor had to remain in place.

“Because it’s good to end the situation as soon as possible. There’s nothing much to say.”

Whatever the other party’s intentions were, it didn’t matter. It wasn’t a difficult thing to do.

Invite them, let them do whatever they want. If they fail? Send them back politely. End.

‘But why.’

It was a feeling of irritation and uneasiness for no apparent reason, slowly permeating like ink smearing. Ashiel muttered involuntarily.

“There is only one child of the great Nacht this time.”

That’s the way it was.

It seemed like it had to be.

* * *

Grand Prince Ashiel sent a reply as the full authority in the absence of the grand duke, allowing the challenge for the ownership of the Named Hesaros, which was sent by Lady Isabelle, the youngest daughter of Gildinak.

At the same time, the servants of the castle began to prepare for the reception of guests.

It didn’t seem like a very welcomed guest from the owner, but a guest was a guest. Moreover, whether to be welcoming or not was a matter for the grand duke’s family, not from the point of view of ordinary people.

“Rather than the orphan, isn’t there a higher possibility for Count Gildinak’s maiden?”

“Isn’t that obvious? Hey, you know that. Originally, aristocrats do not treat them unless they have the same blue blood as them.”

It is said that the Grand Duke’s family doesn’t appreciate visitors like this, but people don’t know anything about it.

As not long ago, no one knew that the grand duke would bring an orphan and sponsor him.

“The case of Lady Gildinak is a possibility, and the Moon Cradle child thing should be called an accident. Usually, such rare luck doesn’t happen twice in a person’s life.”

These ignorant people didn’t think they could cut corners in treating a guest who might become the future grand duchess.

Naturally, even their head maid, Madam Deborah, who had been watching Sienna for a while, had a hard time seeing her face.

Rather than simply increasing the amount of time away from work, she neatly removed her hands from taking care of Sienna by sending a new maid to replace her.

“From today, I will take care of you.”

The explanation was that.

She didn’t even have the least bit of sincerity to make excuses like, ‘The madam was busy, so she only helped for a little while in the beginning’, but Sienna didn’t dare raise any questions.

‘After all, I am well aware that Madam Deborah was sensitive to power relations.’

Anyway, it was strange that she had paid attention to Sienna until now.

If she hadn’t woken up now, robbing herself of a more probable line (person), Sienna would have thought it was even more strange.

The problem was that the introduction of the new maid on behalf of the head maid was not only insincere.

In a nutshell, the time without Sienna was longer than the time with Sienna.

It was fortunate that Sienna wasn’t a real child in need of delicate care.

‘It’s not like I’m afraid to get hurt again.’

Really, everything was fine. Until yesterday, she had no problem sitting at her desk to study, putting on the arm warmer that Madam Deborah had given herself.

……No, there was one minor problem. It was really a very minor issue.

A book in a high place.

It was a six-story bookcase. The book she needed was on the fifth.

She had to raise her heels and stretch her arms to the fullest, but she still wondered if she could grab the book on the fifth shelf with her underdeveloped height.

After thinking for a moment, Sienna went back to her desk and pulled a chair. With the help of the chair, it was at eye level with the fifth compartment.

“Um… ah.”

The book was so heavy that her arms were shaking. Her feet were unstable and it was difficult to use her strength.

“Oh.”

Eventually, the chair shook and Sienna rolled onto the floor.

“Aww…”

She wasn’t seriously hurt because of the carpet, but her sides, which had been crushed with her weight, were a bit sore.

It’s not a big deal. Sienna roughly rubbed the area near the most painful spot and forgot about it. Anyway, she didn’t take out the book.

“…….”

But the fact that she rolled so flashily and no one responded, just silence……

Oh my God. It was surprisingly unfamiliar.

“Shit.”

Sienna mumbled abusive language without realizing it and washed her face dry.

So to be precise, that’s exactly what Sienna was afraid of all this time.

Unwanted care and attention approaching her, making her get used to it even though she didn’t want it, and then leaving.

Being alone and realizing that she had gotten used to it all of a sudden, even if she tried not to be conscious……

It made people miserable.

Sienna pursed her lips tightly. And instead of being immersed in useless thoughts, she dragged a chair right in front of the bookshelf and opened the book on the desk.

She tricked her senses by rubbing her hip bone, as if it didn’t hurt. It was the same when she was in pain. Stop looking at the wounds and focus on something else.

Sienna threw her little spirit into a magical world that was so deep and vast without hesitation.

* * *

The homework that she worked harder than necessary on was completed.

There was no way that Sienna’s homework could avoid the majestic truth that everything in the world has a beginning and ending.

When she put a period on the last sentence and looked up, the sunlight reflected on the floor of the study room was the sunset.

She had been locked up in this study room since morning, and no one visited Sienna and time passed like this.

‘What.’

Sienna paused, as she tried to think if something was wrong.

‘……Hungry.’

This time, it was a more serious matter, rather than a trivial matter.

The moment she realized the passage of time she had forgotten, the hunger she had also forgotten came flooding in.

No matter how much she had the spirit of an adult, it was her body that contained the spirit.

She looked around, but there was still no one and it was quiet. Sienna has been stuck for a long time.

“…What should I eat?”

The question was not exactly what to eat, but how to eat it.

‘Actually, there is a way.’

When Sienna was really eleven, there were times when she had to starve if the employees forgot about her. After Loreina came, she was able to get food and daily necessities without being forgotten, but not until then.

She remembered being bitter about how easy it was to actually get food in this castle when she started working like a semi-employee as time went on.

There’s nothing she could do. She couldn’t just starve like this. She didn’t like it because it wasn’t a matter of being patient or not, it was making herself miserable.

“Shall I go?”

After tapping her skirt, Sienna went out of the study room.

The nature of the castle was such that there were several passages through which the servants could travel unnoticed.

No, actually, there were too many passages.

Built in ancient times, this castle had too many secrets. Although it was remodeled to some extent, it did not completely solve the existence of all magical devices.

Most of them were just so spooky that the rumors got weird, but there were real reasons not to go to some places.

Still, at least one person goes missing from this castle every year…… Sienna had experienced it before, but it wasn’t just because the castle was too wide.

Fortunately, Sienna, who had been a servant in the castle for many years, knew several safe, barely used passages.

One of them, the stairs of Gujeong Pavilion, was in the corner of the hallway on the second floor.

On the way, there was a fruit basket decorated to look good and smell good, so Sienna picked a red apple out of the bunch.

She rubbed the apple against the tied apron that she wore so as not to ruin her clothes with pen ink. It was sweet and crunchy when she took a bite.

Crunching an apple with her little mouth, Sienna slowly walked up and down the occasionally curved stairs that were like an ant-dug burrow.

There were a total of three exits from the crooked stairs, one of which led to a small door towards the castle’s kitchen.

This small door was always closed, because sometimes a creepy sound like a ghost crying was heard when the door was open, whether it was because of the complicated structure of the stairs or something really was asleep.

This door was locked at first, but one day after the chef started claiming, ‘I heard something crashing and thumping from the inside!’

Anyway, thanks to this, the southern kitchen has almost become a storage warehouse for food ingredients.

Sienna grabbed a small cake wrapped in oil paper from the shelf. And as she was accustomed to, she went out the other side of the exit……

“…….”

“…….”

She ran into a grown-up boy who was looking at her with eyes that showed he didn’t know what to do.

Red eyes. Just like a cadet who came home on the weekend, he wore a comfortable outfit consisting of a shirt and pants.

It was Ashiel.

“…….”

“…….”

Silence passed. Sienna nodded, bowed and greeted him.

“…His Highness the Grand Prince.”

“How are you here… No, why did you come here?”

Ashiel’s voice was different from usual, with a tinge of embarrassment. To her amazement, he too had half a piece of muffin in his hand.

Amazing. Siena thought dully. The two seemed to have encountered each other in this kitchen for the same purpose.

In the past, they had never seen each other so often at home. When he was attending the military academy, Ashiel only came back on New Year’s Day and Thanksgiving. Even so, he would come in the morning and return before the evening of the same day.

Sienna, who became a child of Nacht at the end of February, had first met Ashiel on Thanksgiving in October of that year, as originally, there was never a second visit to the orphanage to collect Sienna.

How was it when they first met?

At that time, she must have thought that the prince didn’t hate her. Because Ashiel was consistent with his cold attitude that was perfect towards everyone.

At that time, Sienna could like him by the mere fact that she was not hated.

“…I never knew the kitchen… How did you get here?”

There was no need to lie, but Sienna answered with a good attitude. A partially omitted version.

“I was hungry, so I was walking…”

Ashiel narrowed his brow.

“Didn’t the maid bring snacks?”

They didn’t bring a meal, let alone snacks. But it was cumbersome to explain it in detail.

“The Madam is busy.”

“Come to think of it, it seems like they’ve been busy in the lobby since before lunchtime… Wait. Then you didn’t get your meal at all?”

Well, Sienna thought that although Madam Deborah left to grab a fine rope instead of a rotten rope, it was not deceptive to abandon her irresponsibly.

“The Madam sent someone else.”

“So…….”

Anyway, he guessed they starved the child.

Ashiel sighed in shock, his gaze staying on the small bite marks that Sienna had made on the red apple.

Seeing that it was polished, it must have been a decorative apple. It must have been that she could not stand her hunger as she followed the smell of food to the kitchen.

Because she couldn’t stand her hunger.

In his castle.

The boy who once broke the head of the orphanage clenched his teeth. It was not because he was angry, but because his heart seemed to be crushed for a moment.

Even at that moment, Sienna was just spaced-out. Rather than not knowing what she had suffered, it seemed like a very daily routine to suffer from this.

‘Damn it.’

Ashiel buried his face in the palms of his hand for a moment in order to hide his face that was about to become sharp and showed his feelings of misery.

“…Let’s put that down and go up. I’ll fix it…”

What? Sienna took a step back without realizing it.

“It’s okay.”

It was embarrassing.

She didn’t like meeting this guy here, and she didn’t want him to step up for her.

It was like this before. Sienna hastily decided that this person doesn’t hate her.

The reason why she learned and made a self-defence tool on her own and presented it to Ashiel was because she believed that he would not despise her best humble efforts.

It was speculation and blind faith.

“Sienna.”

“I don’t want other people to get scolded because of me.”

Ashiel was speechless.

Come to think of it, it was like that.

After paying a little less attention, the people who he thought would do well on their own starved the child.

It wasn’t hard to guess how the child would be treated if the employees were punished for this.

“Yeah. I know what you mean… But it’s better to go up first. I’ll take you there…”

“I can go alone…”

Seeing her green eyes full of careful vigilance, Ashiel regretted what he thought he should have never done.

‘I shouldn’t have broken that scumbag’s head then.’

Of course, it was not that he wanted to respect the life of a human species as a life itself. It was just painful to see the child in front of him fearing him so much.

* * *

Facing the terrified child’s rejection, Ashiel couldn’t do much.

Reluctantly, he secretly called the butler to pick up the child, and insinuated that the butler should take care of this.

“Uh-huh…”

Mentally, he was angry to quietly move on from everything he wanted to do from start to finish, but he couldn’t help it.

It’s not like he can be next to her every day.

He wanted to do so only if he could, but the biggest challenge was that Sienna herself was afraid of him and did not want him unless there were realistic conditions.

“You should approach it slowly.”

“I know.”

Because the butler’s words were comforting, he roughly replied that he knew, but he wasn’t really sure.

Will it be forgotten in her mind that he crushed the orphanage director’s head horribly just because he approached slowly?

……No, is it right to fear him because of it in the first place?

That was the only thing he could point out, but an unfounded feeling that somehow it wasn’t the only thing tormented him quietly.

The butler gently added a word of consolation.

“Once Young Lady Gildinak’s business is resolved and as time passes, people will gradually accept her.”

“It should be.”

The ice-cold prince uttered his words in a voice that was rarely angered.

The next morning, a certain maid’s theft was discovered in the castle.

“It’s not me!”

The maid, whose complexion had grown pale, desperately made excuses, but no one believed her.

Thus, the maid was kicked out of Nacht with just her body without receiving any letters of recommendation or severance pay.

* * *

Early in the evening, after the maid was kicked out for a small unsavory thing.

“Hello, Grand Prince.”

The Gildinak girl in question appeared.

“Lady Isabelle.”

A thirteen-year-old lady got off the carriage and elegantly gave her greetings.

“Even at the sudden request, you gave me permission in consideration of the cause, so I’m grateful.”

Lady Isabelle looked very confident while giving her thanks.

The figure that has been calculatively trimmed to make even little stray hairs look attractive…In any case, it was not like a person who came to challenge the position of the owner of a Named that had no owner for 2,000 years of recorded history.

Looking at it, the Countess of Gildinak laughed.

“Oh my, I’m speechless because Isabelle greeted so perfectly.”

From the start, this was to paint their child’s face with gold.
(T/N: to make her seem like the perfect lady.)

‘It’s good that they’re not confused about what purpose they came here for.’

Ashiel did not express his desire to be sarcastic and respectfully treated Isabelle and her mother as challengers.

“From now on, the maid will serve the ladies.”

“My name is Deborah Anis. It is an infinite glory to serve noble people. I will do my best to make sure you don’t feel uncomfortable. Here…”

After a while, after Madam Deborah showed her extreme politeness and took the Gildinak mother and daughter to the guest room.

“Young Lady.”

“?”

Without Madam Deborah, there was no one who would devote their intelligence to stopping Sienna, who had been locked up in the maid’s room in earnest.

The new maid didn’t repeat the mistakes of the old maid, but instead of actively stopping Sienna, she opted for the simple way of knocking on the maid’s room door whenever she had business.

“What?”

“A guest has arrived. The prince has ordered the young miss to attend the supper.”

“…….”

If she was an eleven-year-old, she would have barely understood the phrase ‘you have to have dinner with the guests’ in that sentence, but now Sienna can fully appreciate the depths of the ocean beneath the tip of the iceberg.

‘Gildinak, Hesaros, the challenge.’

Sienna closed the book she was reading.

“Okay.”

* * *

The dinner was set to be a small family dinner.

“There is no need to formalize the visit of the mother and daughter by gathering all the vassals.”

“Yes. Your Highness the Grand Prince must have judged that too.”

Anyway, the Countess of Gildinak and Lady Isabelle deserved an escort.

Fortunately for Ashiel, since the grand duke was absent, he chose to escort the Countess of Gildinak from among the mother and daughter pair.

It may not be very fortunate, but the mother was better than the girl who thought of him as her future husband. Of course, if it was a public place, it would have been a scandal for both of them.

In that sense, the fact that this was the nature of Nacht was not just fortunate, but a one in ten million case of luck.

Well, because of that, his younger brother who incidentally took on the role of escort for Young Lady Gildinak, unlike him, did not find anything to be particularly grateful for.

Michael even complained when he ordered him to be Isabelle’s escort.

“If father was here, you would have escorted her…”

“Michael.”

“This girl, I heard she’s here to take her place? I don’t like it.”

Ashiel immediately noticed that he was talking about Sienna.

It was surprising that the clearly picky younger brother quickly became attached to that child…

Ashiel was a more experienced older brother than he looked, and he knew well that if he pointed out that he was surprised here, he could ignite his brother’s high self-esteem.

So Ashiel said only one word.

“Michael Nacht. As the Grand Prince, I ask for your help. Officially.”

“Brother. What can I do if you’re like this?”

His brother, who was as distant as his father, asked for help. Only then did Michael nod in a reluctant manner.

Even now, Lady Isabelle was talking excitedly about this and that……

“Oh my God, being treated to dinner at Nacht. It’s like a dream.”

“Yes.”

“It will be remembered for the rest of my life. I’m more nervous in this moment than challenging Hesaros.”

“I guess so.”

Ashiel smiled bitterly.

‘He didn’t respond with more than a word at all.’

He couldn’t help it that it was Michael’s limit.

When the brothers and the mother and daughter entered the banquet hall, Sienna had already arrived and was waiting patiently for them.

“What, why are you here so early?”

Michael was the first to react.

“You could have come a little late. Why are you so early?”

Ashiel, who knew that Michael was attached to her, thought he was surprisingly rude. Michael didn’t even show Isabelle, who he was escorting, where to sit, and just sat down next to Sienna.

“Little Prince.”

Sienna answered in a small way, not expressing that she was uncomfortable or shy. Ashiel was a little shocked.

‘You two……’

They got close.

Although Michael was hitting Sienna, who didn’t seem particularly comfortable unilaterally, he couldn’t find anything that showed she was afraid of Michael.

It’s because she sees him often, although Michael’s attitude wasn’t gentle at first…

As for Ashiel who made Siena take a step back even with kind words of help…

“Your Highness?”

“……Sorry.”

This. It wasn’t the time to be silent.

Ashiel sat the countess in the seat across from Michael and Lady Isabelle in the seat next to him, and headed to the top.

“Oh my gosh, this child is…”

“Sienna. A child of Nacht.”

Ashiel deliberately avoided explanatory comments such as ‘They recently sponsored an orphan’.

Isabelle’s expression stiffened at first glance, but the Countess of Gildinak laughed as if she understood it.

“Okay. Well then, let me see. It’s still too rude to call her Miss Siena…?”

It was a tone that urged her to reveal her last name. Of course, it wasn’t meant to be polite.

The countess must have already known that Sienna was an orphan.

So, asking for her last name means…

“I am an orphan.”

“Oh my gosh… I see.”

It was just a cornerstone to get those words out of Sienna’s mouth.

Instead of Sienna, who roughly threw out all the words she wanted and drew attention, Michael raised his head with a glare.

But the second son, who could not match her daughter’s age, was not in the countess’ interest.

“I’m sorry.”

As soon as the wife apologized to Sienna roughly, she immediately began to focus on Ashiel.

“By the way, thank you for the generous hospitality despite my sudden visit. How should I repay this favor…”

“It’s not a favor, and it’s not something to repay.”

It was clearly visible that she was going to bite onto an excuse to reciprocate, so Ashiel cut off her words.

“It’s just our responsibility as the owner of the Named.”

“How come you have such a sense of responsibility…”

“It’s my father’s decision.”

“That’s right. As the eldest son of the great Grand Duke, you must have resembled your father, right? You are very good at the military academy, and you have leadership.”

Even after cutting her off with a cold attitude, embarrassing praise continued. Even with Ashiel’s hardened expression, it was becoming increasingly difficult to hide the uncomfortable look.

Besides, somehow, he kept seeing Sienna’s eyes.

However, Sienna was so busy savoring the meal that it was lost to Ashiel whether or not she noticed him.

‘It seemed that she couldn’t eat well in the past.’

It was nice to see them all and eat well. Perhaps Michael felt the same way, as he spoke, next to Sienna, ‘What kind of ingredients is in that?’, ‘Try it because it’s delicious.’

He was busy making a fuss.

‘Ha…’

Since his younger brother was born, there have been countless small things he envied about the second son, but not at any moment as much as now.

“…Nacht really cares about the child.”

Then, Isabelle opened her mouth.

“I envy you. Sienna, you are undeservedly blessed.”

It just sounded nice at first glance, but……

“…….”

Sienna noticed it calmly.

This was hostile.

It was roughly what she expected, and she wouldn’t have been surprised even if she didn’t expect it.

Originally Sienna was not immune to goodwill at all, but she was a person who was disproportionately trained so that even if she was stabbed with a knife, she would not blink an eye.

“Sienna?”

“…I am grateful to the Grand Duke for being merciful.”

Everyone except Michael was a little surprised by the overly mature tone.

Sienna added bluntly.

“…I’ve learned to express my gratitude.”

It was a very insincere act.

“I’m glad you’ve learned…”

Seeing Isabelle recovering from the attack, Sienna measured.

‘It’s nothing.’

Loreina’s hostility was kept secret for nearly ten years without her even realizing that it was a sword, and it was sharp enough to pierce her throat at once.

To put it bluntly, Isabelle’s quarrel is like… a child’s?

‘It’s cheesy. There’s no benefit in touching something like me.’

Sienna let go of the hostility like dust that could be wiped off.

That indifferent attitude stimulated Isabelle.

‘Cheeky……’

Isn’t she really such a cheeky girl!

Even though she had come prepared mentally in anticipation of her shamelessness, it was unacceptable.

She couldn’t stand it because it was disgusting that she got the position she and her parents wanted to die for in such an unconcerned manner.

Of course, Sienna shouldn’t know what to do because she’s embarrassed, and she should be restless to see her, who has more legitimate qualifications.

How can she be so quiet?

‘Is this to say that she ‘won’?’

Isabelle can’t do this. She wasn’t going to do this.

‘I have to make my subject known publicly.’

It would be her duty as a noblewoman to make such a humble person understand the subject.

“I have a good idea. How about if Miss Sienna here and I challenge the ownership of Hesaros tomorrow?”

“Isabelle!”

“What nonsense is that…”

Everyone, to be exact, Ashiel was stunned, Michael was furious, and even the Countess of Gildinak was startled by her daughter’s sudden action, but Isabelle didn’t stop there.

“No one has ever had the honor of receiving the patronage of Grand Duke Nacht. So Sienna, you must have more qualities than me. I think it’s absurd that I am the only one to challenge Hesaros, while leaving you aside.”

Isabelle thought soberly that it was unlikely that she would ever own Hesaros.

‘If there is no possibility even for me, then that orphan bitch has no possibility at all.’

If both challenge Hesaros’ ownership, the gap will be stark.

Isabelle, she will fail unfortunately, while that will fail miserably.

“How is it?”

Convinced of that, Isabelle smiled sweetly like a melting dessert.

Sienna’s eyes were unimpressed, then a little bit of thought came to mind.

‘Look at this…’

Things are becoming fun.

‘Is this an opportunity?’

This life is ruined, so get out quickly, that kind of help?

* * *

Named Hesaros, or Flame of Hesaros.

It was one of the thirteen weapons contained in the Millennium Box, the most representative of the few relics that have barely survived the Great Destruction of the Ancient World…

“It’s never, ever, literally, never had a master!”

There wasn’t much Sienna had to say to Michael, who was exclaiming that everything he knew was about to happen.

“Incredible.”

“You’re being carefree again? Hey, you’re sure to fail! Don’t you understand what I’m saying?”

“Well…….”

According to Sienna’s reasoning on the day she first met the necklace, something more terrible than a simple failure was going to happen, but she didn’t intend to say it outright.
(T/N: she’s thinking about her first life, not this one.)

“Look here.”

Michael took the book from Seth’s hand and held it in front of Sienna’s eyes.

“That’s how it is here. The Flame of Purification, Hesaros, has never chosen a master, hence the nickname ‘untamed’ !”

At that moment, Sienna’s mind was just jumbled with simple thoughts, such as, ‘It sounds like the people of the Empire really like to give things nicknames.’

“It’s going to fail. There’s nothing more to see.”

“I know.”

Thinking of Loreina’s case, Sienna thought. If Loreina, who had her original magic power and Sienna’s magic power, only managed to win and survive…

‘Isn’t it enough to find the probability of dying?’

It’s not bad to simply fail. For Sienna, she didn’t have to, and she didn’t really want to, to prove that she was qualified as a child in this house.

In lieu of Sienna, who behaved more than casually, Michael held his own head.

“That’s the problem! If you fail and, I really do not want to imagine it, but what if that grumpy girl succeeds?!”

“It’s very unlikely, though.”

Seth, who was still, intervened, but Michael was not persuaded.

“It means there’s almost none. It doesn’t mean there’s none!”

“That’s right, but…”

“If that one thing happens, her situation will be difficult. Hey, what would you do if it really happened?”

“Yeah…”

Then it’s like that. What can she do?

“Now that she’s beaten you, the ward, the girl will claim that she deserves more. What if she sends you back to the orphanage and says she’s going to receive the support instead?”

If so…

“I should go back to the orphanage.”

I’ll just see Teacher Lisa again, right?

Michael was shocked by Sienna, who was not affected at all.

“You, you… how can you say something like that so casually? Do you think I, me, my father, or my older brother would abandon you so easily…?”

“Well…….”

No matter how much Sienna wanted to say ‘yes’.

She knew she couldn’t answer with that.

Reluctantly, Sienna changed her words a little.

“Isn’t that what I should do?”

Aristocrats are always willing to patronize a better child.

A world that requires one to have double the talent if the blood that flows is weak.

If it turns out there is a lack of talent, then of course, there was no need for further care.

“How… hey, such a misunderstanding… it’s not at all. You are already a child here.”

“The sponsorship may be cancelled.”

“It can happen to sponsorships, but not to you.”

Michael made a serious affirmation with a slightly different attitude than before.

“You ate the pomegranate.”

It was the pomegranate again. A topic that was inevitably boring.

“That’s it…”

Sienna tried to go lightly, but…

“You don’t know, but it was already some kind of magic. It’s irreversible.”

…A story that could not be overlooked came out.

* * *

Isabelle had an accident, but the Countess of Gildinak remained calm.

“Yes, it’s a good opportunity. Now that this has happened, let’s make sure the orphan and you are further contrasted.”

“Mother……!”

“Yes, my daughter. Don’t blame yourself. You did very well.”

“But the Prince did not assure us that he would let the child challenge too!”

“Mom will figure it out somehow.”

Isabelle bit her lip as if anxious, despite her reliable affirmation.

“Why so, my dear daughter?”

“…Mom, what if… the orphan wins over me?”

“Where are you talking about such a big deal! How could that be?”

When the countess shouted loudly, Isabelle sniffled and tried to make herself feel relieved.

“Don’t worry. Really, really, even if that orphan bitch is better than you, she doesn’t have this mother?”

“That’s right… that’s right!”

“A maid in this house is an acquaintance of your mother’s relatives. And I’ve already contacted her before coming here.”

As a result of our conversation, the recently changed maid, Mrs. Deborah, was a person who could speak, unlike her strict predecessor, who was an infinite insider.

“Don’t worry, my daughter. You only need to trust this mother.”

The countess muttered with a somewhat fanatical look, as if hypnotizing herself and her daughter.

“Only trust your mother. You will surely become Nacht’s child and the future grand duchess. I will make that happen. You just need to trust your mother…”

* * *

“I’ve got a headache.”

Ashiel evaluated the situation with a firm face.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think anything else will happen other than the both of their failures…”

“The Named is not, as it is known, a kind weapon that only saves the world.”

There was a more possible threat than that.

“…They may not be able to get out of it.”

A Named measures the challenger’s vessel with their own insight.

“We have no idea what vessel Hesaros is measuring. Of course, in most cases they will simply fail…”

“You’re saying that it’s a very small probability that they can’t get out.”

When Isabelle Gildinak said that she would take on the challenge, the probability was so small that he could not be concerned at all.

But when that small possibility was put in Sienna’s, Ashiel reacted in a completely different way.

“What are the qualities of that child?”

“As you know, we don’t know exactly before ‘first manifestation’. If you’re the grand duke, you’ll have a vague guess.… He never gave us a word.”

The grand duke in question was now stuck on the battlefield. Ashiel muttered sharply.

“He’s still not here when we need it the most.”

“He said it’s almost finished, so he’ll be back in a day or two at the most.”

One day, two days. It was the same as Ashiel’s calculations.

‘At least a half a day to two days.’

It meant that he would not be back until after this bloody test was over unless he’s really lucky.

“I’d rather not let her take the test.”

“I’m not going to let Gildinak sit still. No, not just Gildinak.”

“I’m sure she talks a lot. In Nacht, you don’t have to listen to every single thing.”

“If she talks too much, you will suffer in the future.”

For Ashiel now, it was more effective to say this than to speak about the image of the grand duchy.

As expected of the butler, the grand prince bit his lip and sank.

“In my opinion, it’s better to let both of them fail.”

That was also the most probable.

“Since she ate the blessed pomegranate, won’t this land and castle help her? It’s too much to worry about.”

“…….”

“At the end of the day, Gildinak’s young lady is very talented, so after Gildinak fails, no one will try this foolish method.”

Just once.

He only had to do this once. Ashiel knows.

If only she had been the one he had to hang out with, he would have nodded his head a hundred times already…
(T/N: ‘she’ as in Sienna.)

Just then, a presence was felt outside.

“…Brother! It can’t be! Brother, try to stop her! She’s been talking nonsense since a while ago!”

Of course, it was his younger brother Michael who came screaming and shouting, and the one he was pointing at was…

“…Sienna?”

“Grand Prince. I have something to tell you.”

Green eyes like a misty forest looked at him.

Every time this happened, Ashiel felt like she’s a lost child in a distant place…

“I’ll challenge Hesaros too.”

“……What?”

* * *

Actually, Michael didn’t know much about the topic of ‘irreversible magic’. The boy was just thinking it was a magical way to become a family.

“It’s a complicated explanation, but the essence won’t be much different.”

Seth explained.

“Sometimes old customs can become magic when they have power. It’s not common, but… isn’t this the nature of Nacht?”

The legacy of a prosperous era when human magic was the only way to surpass law.

“If it’s a custom that has been practiced for a long time in a place like this, it might have met the conditions to call it magic.”

“Is it irreversible?”

“If a custom has become magic, reverse spells do not exist. It is not a deliberately designed magic, so it is quite difficult to guess the extent to which its effect on the body.”

When Sienna’s expression hardened, Seth hurriedly waved his hand.

“No, it’s not like a curse. Rather, it’s just to help make life easier in this castle. Originally, this place was only allowed to the blood of Nacht.”

“A place only allowed for blood relatives?”

“Yes, there is a powerful magic field in this castle… that makes non-blood-related wizards quite uncomfortable.”

“Ah.”

“So today, I also cast a spell to resist the magic field.”

Sienna nodded her head. It was because she remembered that Loreina had said a similar thing back in the day and periodically cast resistance spells.

Of course, Sienna, who was hardly a wizard, didn’t need that magic.

‘I mean, so…’

The pomegranate’s magic was making this castle recognize Sienna as a blood relative of Nacht, and it meant that there was no way to get rid of it.

Those words sounded almost like this to Sienna’s ears.

‘…Since this life is definitely ruined, aren’t you telling me to just run away?’

Spilled water cannot be picked up and lost time cannot be reversed. In general, this is the case.

In general, yes.

The owner of the unusual experience of drinking poison and waking up again in Room 6 of Kendall Orphanage thought: If you die again, will you go against time again?

It was an interesting speculation, but it was only a hypothesis. The price of a hasty test was life.

But Sienna didn’t care.

‘Well, in such a ruined situation, if I can’t get it back, isn’t it okay to die?’

It could have been a completely insane experimental spirit that if the senior professors in the magical sciences knew it, they might have praised it as ‘a sacrifice for the development of great magic’ and try to take her into apprenticeship…

“You can’t.”

Fortunately, there were obstacles.

Seeing Ashiel coming out stronger than expected, Sienna blinked. The resolute refusal was unexpected.

“Yes, I don’t deserve it, but…”

“I’m not saying that…”

There was a slight crack on his ice-cold face. Ashiel sighed and explained.

“Challenging the Named is not something that can be easily decided like taking a walk after eating. Isabelle Gildinak is unfortunately a well-trained wizard…”

“But I heard that you don’t need any training to challenge the Named.”

“…Who said that?”

Behind the children, Seth smiled modestly. Ashiel sighed.

“This can be a pretty dangerous problem.”

“What’s the probability?”

Sienna’s stab was the deadliest loophole in Ashiel’s ‘don’t do it because it’s dangerous’ logic.

Seth, who couldn’t help it, coughed in and intervened.

“Your Highness, I have no doubt, but may I say something?”

“Sestian.”

“All wizards have the right to challenge the ownership of the Named. The same goes for Lady Sienna. If you don’t like it, it’s a bit…”

Ashiel never thought about it from that perspective, but… That was correct. What the Named tests is not the degree of training, but the innate qualities.

Even for Isabelle Gildinak, it could not be said that it was not possible for Sienna to do what was allowed. That would be an unfair decision.

“But Teacher, I asked you earlier.”

Instead of his brother, Michael opened his mouth.

“What if she fails and the other succeeds?”

“The probability of that is…”

“Brother, do you know? She believes that if Isabelle Gildinak succeeds, she should go back to the orphanage!”

“What?”

Ashiel frowned at the nonsense he had never considered. But Sienna was just calm.

“I thought you would do that.”

Did she really think that if Isabelle Gildinak was superior to her and succeeded, his father would send her back to the orphanage right away?

As if there was something wrong with her, so she’s going to be treated as if he bought the wrong thing…

His head went numb as if he had been hit with a blunt object. There was no way the boy could know what to say in the face of such a strong trust, or even distrust.

Sienna looked unscathed. On the contrary, Ashiel and Michael were to the point of being hurt by such an attitude.

‘Why?’

In Ashiel’s mind, the image of Sienna he met in the kitchen came to mind. Even though she was starving because they didn’t give her food, she chose to wander through this wide and dangerous castle rather than go to him or someone else to ask for help.

What was the child thinking as she wandered through the winding, dark passages in search of food?

Maybe that’s when she started distrusting him.

‘Yeah, I’ll be more careful from now on… If there are more crackdowns in advance to prevent that from happening…’

Can we break down the distrust that’s as strong as a wall?

He thought he could do it in his head, but his instincts did not, it shouted.

That’s not enough to change the mind of a child who doesn’t doubt that Sienna Nacht will be treated unfairly.

‘Why…?’

Anyway, at this moment, one thing was certain.

Neither he nor his father could decide something in an unfair direction for Sienna.

Because that was the only way to break the child’s distrust.

Even if it doesn’t work at all.

* * *

Sienna was allowed by Ashiel to challenge, but the test did not come immediately.

“I heard that the situation on the front lines is going well. Perhaps in a day or two, the Grand Duke will also return?

It meant that she wanted to show off her outstanding skills in front of the grand duke rather than others.

In the end, the mother and daughter were allowed two more days of probation. Meanwhile, Sienna’s maid changed once more.

“Please, Miss.”

Surprisingly, this time, the person wanted her to eat even one more spoonful. From her pleading attitude, Sienna easily guessed the circumstances behind it.

‘What would he say if she didn’t take care of me properly…’

Although she had become a better eater than when she had just arrived at the mansion, Siena was originally a small child.

In the end, unable to overcome the discomfort, Sienna chose to escape to the garden.

“……Oh my goodness.”

Of course, if she had known that she would meet Isabelle Gildinak in that garden, no matter how much the maid pleaded, she wouldn’t have come out.

“Who is this? Isn’t that Miss Sienna?”

The face filled with triumph approached with the flapping of a fan and a sudden change in her eyes.

It seemed to say, ‘You got caught well.’

Of course, she wasn’t afraid of the 14-year-old girl even with this atmosphere.

‘It’s just annoying to deal with.’

“How can you walk around so shamelessly? If it were me, I wouldn’t be able to lift my head in a situation like this. After all, I can’t expect shame from an orphaned baboon who doesn’t even have parents, can I?”

Sienna was wondering what she was talking about considering she dressed up and appeared as if she was targeting.

‘By the way, was this person originally a person who spoke so openly about this?’

The Count of Gildinak and his wife were profit-conscious and cunning, and Isabelle was a proud, noble young lady.

‘Still… I don’t know, but I thought they weren’t the kind of people who tried their best to trample on others…’

Come to think of it, I think I had similar thoughts when they attacked Loreina in the past.

They’re not like this, I thought.

Preoccupied with such thoughts, Sienna reacted lukewarmly to the insulting lines Isabelle had devised all night long.

“…Are you ignoring me now? How dare you?”

“Ah.”

A light came back in her hazy green eyes, it was not certain as to what she was thinking, but Sienna quickly smiled softly.

It was a little funny because she wondered how much she had to roll her head to study insulting words, even though it wasn’t her aptitude.

“…Are you laughing now?”

Jeez.

Isabelle was trembling with her hairs raised.

“Yeah, to be able to laugh right now… It’s like an insect.”

Staring at her mysterious green eyes, Isabelle gave a clear warning with each and every syllable.

“Listen to me. Being a child of Nacht is an honorable position that only those with the right qualifications and qualities can occupy.”

Sienna nodded her head calmly. Since she said it’s not a laughing matter, this time, with a serious attitude.

“I think so too.”

As much as they agreed, Isabelle’s expression was still not good.

“The person who knows that is now…”

“That’s why I’m rooting for you.”

“……What?”

“……What?”

Isabelle’s mouth widened at the words that transcended the realm of understanding. The fan that had been released from her grip rolled down the floor.

‘Oh no. It looks expensive.’

Sienna picked up the fan without much thought and put it in Isabelle’s hand.

Normally, she wouldn’t have grabbed dirty things again after it fell on the floor, but Isabelle was so shocked that she held the dirty fan as Sienna gave her.

Sienna patted the back of her hand a couple of times and smiled gently.

“Please work hard and take my place.”

“…….”

“I’m rooting for you. Sincerely.”

“What, what, what…”

Isabelle’s face heated up. Sienna thought she seemed to be very angry.

‘If I say more, there will be a firestorm.’

She didn’t want to be bothered. So Sienna quickly moved away and waved.

“Then, bye.”

Isabelle, who trembled, was left alone like that.

“What’s wrong with her?”

No one listened to her even if she shouted belatedly.

* * *

That evening, Grand Duke Nacht returned. He was home half a day earlier than expected.

Sienna was a little worried when she heard that the owner had returned and she had to have dinner with the guests again.

“…Cough.”

It was such an insincere coughing sound that felt shameless.

“Are you sick?”

Since his father is here today, the red eyes of the boy, of course, the youngest, who thought he would be escorting Sienna, glanced at her.

She thought he would be displeased and scold her for the acting where he couldn’t find even the slightest bit of sincerity, but.….

“……Yeah, you’re not in the mood to eat in front of the people you’re openly competing with.”

What? He understood it like this?

Michael kicked his tongue while Sienna widened her rabbit-like eyes in surprise.

“If it was just me, I’d like to kick them out…”

Michael sighed and swept his hair.

“Anyway, yes. I’m sorry. I’ve done all kinds of shit, but I can’t do anything at this time.”

Anyway, Michael even comforted Sienna like that, saying that it would be over tomorrow because his father returned early. Sienna was so surprised that she nodded her head gently at his expression.

A smile spread around Michael’s mouth.

“You’re nice.”

“…….”

Suddenly, she thought of this.

‘If a 10-year-old knows how to say this, this is innate.’

Come to think of it, marriage proposals used to come to Ashiel more, who was icy cold, but I think Michael was actually more popular than him.….

‘Well, let’s be careful.’

For whatever reason, if you hang around next to a popular person, you will get tired. Since it is an eternal truth, Sienna slightly widened her distance from Michael.

“Are you going in? Okay, take a rest.”

However, it was not a day or two for Sienna to slowly avoid him, so Michael did not pay much attention.

* * *

The next day, the fateful day dawned.

While Madam Deborah was away, Sienna was enjoying the freedom of confinement in the small room.

However, as time passed that day, no one came to wake her up.

“Did I wake up early?”‘

Well, she’s not a real lady, so it doesn’t make sense that she wakes up in the morning only when there’s someone waiting for her.

“Let’s go out for now. Huh?”

Clank, clank.

Of course, the handle that was supposed to turn did not turn as if it was tightly blocked.

Clank, clank. Sienna grasped the situation only after confirming that she did not make a mistake by turning the handle a couple more times.

“…It’s locked up.”

Oh, they know how to use this classic method?

The people who imprisoned her in hopes of her being upset and frustrated would be disappointed to find out that Sienna was not very frustrated at all, only letting out a laugh.

‘I didn’t expect it, but it’s not a very unfamiliar situation…’

She truly graduated from panicking over such light bullying when she was 12 years old.

‘What’s left is to escape or just sleep while it’s like this…….’

Of course, she had to escape to stick to the original plan, but she was strongly attracted to the latter.

‘…Yes, it’s not just me anyway.’

She didn’t really want to see Isabelle Gildinak fail to become the owner of Hesaros.

They will open it when the time comes. If they don’t open it, all she has to do is wait for Michael to come and kick the door…

The moment Sienna started crawling back into her bed.

“……Lady!”

It was noisy outside. It was Madam Deborah’s voice.

‘What?’

The experienced Madam Deborah turned the doorknob a few times, and she cried out, “Wait a minute!” and she opened it right away.

“……Madam?”

Sienna, who floundered around, looked like she was about to go to sleep again.

She had gone through a few peaceful moments that didn’t fit Sienna’s situation, and the eyes of Madam Deborah, who knew her well, were sharpened.

“Are you going to sleep again, maybe?”

“That… it seems like that, right?”

“You’re locked up, didn’t you think of asking for help?”

“I don’t think there will be anyone who can help me if I ask for help…”

“Ah, that’s right, but…”

There weren’t many people who could defeat an orphan who used pity as a weapon.

“Anyway, wake up!”

Sheesh. She thought she’d take a little break today with this excuse. Madame Deborah widened her eyes at Sienna, who kicked her tongue so softly but it could still be heard.

It wasn’t scary at all, but I couldn’t keep talking in front of the person who ran to save me, so Sienna had no choice but to get up from her seat.

Madam Deborah grumbled as she changed Sienna’s clothes herself.

“Whatever it is, it is. You didn’t really believe that Deborah was seduced by Countess Guildinak, did you?”

Sienna 100% believed so, but she didn’t think she should answer it right away.

“……Let’s hurry up, you said it was too late.”

“Lady! You have to answer!”

* * *

The place we arrived at was the theater of Nacht Castle.

The wizards dispatched from the tower after being contacted in advance about the Named Challenge. And in the seats, many of Nacht’s senior officers were also present.

People whispered to each other as if it was absurd.

“She’s late on a day like this…”

“It’s really absurd.”

At this rate, Sienna’s reputation was about to fall to the ground before it even started…

“His Majesty the Grand Duke!”

…There was Madam Deborah on this side.

She looked like a strict teacher, but surprisingly good at showmanship. A person who was well versed in the physiology of power and was on Sienna’s side.

The madam started by kneeling down so that there was a loud thud.

“I’m sorry, but it’s all my responsibility that she’s late today! Please punish me.”

Madam Deborah did not refine her disorganized attire at all as she ran around to perfectly refine Sienna’s attire.

Anyone could tell that she was guilty as if something had happened, so the grand Duke roughly guessed the situation.

He did not pass it over by saying ‘Tell me after the ceremony is over,’ but asked like this.

“What happened?”

“It’s…”

The madam bit her lips and pretended to be wary. It was passionate acting that reached the point of admiration. Sienna was amazed.

On the other hand, Isabelle and her mother, who looked at them anxiously, quickly turned pale.

“As the Grand Duke knows… Recently, I brought the young lady around in person to see if there was any unsatisfying possibility like someone ignoring her.”

This was what a head maid should be, and she showed loyalty that should be used as a textbook.

At that desirable appearance, all of Natch’s senior officers nodded at once, saying, ‘Ah.’

“But I’ve been paying attention to the guests for the past few days… Oh my God, just because I’m busy, the people below me starve her.”

“What?”

The grand duke’s eyebrows rose sharply at the words that could not be overlooked.

“They starved a child, is that true?”

“…It is true.”

Ashiel was next to him, and he confirmed while blocking Michael’s mouth, who was about to shout something violently.

“I did it because the child didn’t want to make a fuss and asked me to keep it a secret.”

The archduke was speechless. The same was true for those who had no feelings for Sienna.

In particular, the resentment of the loyal vassals was great.

“Even though she is an orphan, isn’t she the one the Grand Duke decided to support?”

“By the way. Starving Nacht’s child… They’ve decided to tarnish the name of the family.”

“Before that, does it make sense to starve such a small and thin child? Isn’t it something that you can’t accept?”

Sienna was amazed by the sudden change of public opinion that was like a palm flip.

‘Is it magic? This is magic, right?’

The wizard, Madam Deborah, did not stop there.

“But today, after paying close attention, the newly appointed child locked the lady in the small room!”

“Oh my god…”

“Oh, my!”

Now, not only the vassals but also the wizards belonging to the tower have begun to sigh together.

“It’s all because of the lack of Deborah, so it won’t be unfair if you punish me. But… would a maid have done that to Nacht’s lady out of personal resentment?”

It was the climax of the story. People gulped and swallowed saliva all at once.

Madam Deborah got up from her seat.

Then, with her eyes shining fiercely, that she pretended, she pointed to exactly one side.

“When I questioned that part, she immediately vomited. A precious guest from Guildinak promised to give her a hundred gold coins if she wouldn’t let her come here!”

“What?”

“Oh, my. Such a vicious…!”

Everyone was perfectly impressed by Madam Deborah’s amazing storytelling skills.

“No, it’s not! How could we have done such a rude thing?”

Countess Guildinak desperately denied it, but the atmosphere did not change.

“The Madam argument is…”

Finally, the duke’s mouth opened slowly.

“Is my maid lying to frame the countess?”

“Your Majesty…!”

“Well… Interesting.”

Of course, it was ironic.

Everyone here agreed that there was no reason for a maid to side with an orphan and frame the countess.

“Your Majesty, I’m upset, I’m….”

The countess, who had become frantic, desperately tried to make excuses, but it did not go well because she was weighed down by the fierce spirit of the grand duke.

“Your Majesty.”

At that time, an old wizard belonging to the Magic Tower, who came as the organizer of the ritual, stepped out with an embarrassed face.

“I’m so sorry, but it’s almost time for the ceremony.”

Challenging the Named was a significant magical ritual and was not something that could be canceled on the day.

Even if one committed a rebellion against the emperor, he could be punished once he completed the ritual.

“……Let the ceremony be held, Grand Duke.”

A cold voice, excluding all emotions, intervened without hesitation.

It was Ashiel.

“If you fail and then get punished, you will be much more miserable.”

The mother and daughter of the county turned white.

“……I see. You’re right, Ashiel.”

It was a reliable opinion of the eldest son. The grand duke nodded.

“Perform the ceremony. Nacht will cooperate. However, everything else will not be related to the Tower, but between families.”

“I don’t know if there’s anything like that.”

“One more thing.”

The grand duke nailed it in a clear tone.

“Even if Isabelle Gildinak becomes the owner of the Named as of today, Nacht will not excuse you from this matter, so keep it in mind.”

Everyone got it.

Although it was not revealed openly, the grand duke was angry.

The wizard hesitated, but nodded, saying they would know soon.

“Well, Young Lady Gildinak, and Miss Sienna. Please come this way.”

With a pale face, Isabelle responded to the call. These words rang in her ear.

‘That girl!’

‘It’s all because of that girl!’

Isabelle bit her lips and tried to stay calm. desperately reflecting on what her mother had whispered.

“It’s okay. I’m sure His Majesty was just harsh on us because he misunderstood that we insulted Nacht. You just have to show off your superior skills. Baby. Everything will be solved. Got it? Baby?”

Yes, as her mom said. If her skills are proven, everyone will look up to her. She can be forgiven for bothering her so much.….

With the power of brainwashing close to hypnosis, Isabelle glared at Sienna, and faced her like she was her foe.

“……How dare you challenge Hesaros with me?”

“I don’t know. It wasn’t like I was trying to do anything out of necessity…”

Sienna thought today was not the day to die, but she didn’t think things would go like this. She smiled and shrugged.

“…How did this happen?”

Isabelle trembled to overcome her hatred at the answer that seemed to say it was not a big deal.

Just then, something strange flashed in Sienna’s eyes.

‘Huh? What is it?’

At first glance, the blue eyes of Isabelle seemed to show black energy.

It’s something too dark to simply grow so suddenly, and something that’s so close that it’s creepy for a moment…….

“Hmm, hmm.”

Sienna’s thoughts did not continue further. This was because a wizard dispatched as a member stepped up.

“It’s a little late, but let’s get started. First, the two ladies.”

“Yes.”

Isabelle clenched her teeth, gracefully grabbed her skirt, and responded to the call. Sienna looked at the senior wizard silently.

“The gods of the Millennium Chest have egos and choose their own qualified owners. What you should keep in mind is that there is no reversal of the choice of God. It means that if you are rejected, you have to understand. Did you get that?”

“Yes, of course.”

In response to Isabelle’s answer, people whispered, saying, “It’s shameless.” It was only quiet when the wizard coughed once again.

“All right. Being the owner of the Named means winning the honor of being the guardian of all mankind. Once qualified, the Named will allow possession in return for your full wisdom and heart.”

“…….”

“The contract will be made as soon as you’re recognized by Named Hesaros. Are you ready?”

Looking at the wise man’s eyes, the grand and wonderful thought of protecting mankind automatically came to mind… Not. Sienna nodded her head in public.

“Then, come here.”

On the platform, there was a basin made of white stones. Hesaros remained calm in the water.

“Of course, Young Lady Isabelle Guildinak.”

Isabelle stood in front of the basin with a nervous expression. The wizard instructed Isabelle to put her hand in the water.

But…

“Oh…”

As soon as Isabelle’s finger touched the surface, purified water flowed after it broke off slightly with a spark.

“Hey, this can’t be!”

She couldn’t even put her hands in the purified water… Before anyone could say anything, Isabelle hurriedly took off her gloves and tried to dip her hands in the purified water once more.

“Ahh…!”

At first glance, a stronger spark occurred. The old wizard shook his head.

“I’m sorry, but that’s all. Young Lady, please step back.”

“Hey, this is absurd, I…”

The other wizards grabbed Isabelle and made her go down the platform.

“Isabelle!”

Madam Gildinak quickly approached and hugged her daughter, but she couldn’t stop everyone’s scornful eyes from saying ‘That’s right’.

Now they are waiting for the imminent doom.

But there was something else that had to come first.

“Then.”

The old wizard blinked at Siena. Sienna calmly stood in front of the basin.

In the water, Hesaros wobbled quietly. Sienna slowly dipped her hands into the purified water. The purified water did not reject Sienna.

But that was it.

“…….”

“…….”

“…….”

Nothing happened.

She paused for a moment, but Sienna soon understood.

Right now, Sienna only has the power of one person, but back when this necklace was destroyed, Loreina had the power of two people.

The arrogant Hesaros probably wouldn’t even respond to one person’s magic.

‘I guess it’s not the day I’ll die?’

That’s true. That’s my fate.

If life had gone as planned, I wouldn’t have returned to the past like this in the first place.

‘Because I’m not dead… … At least Madam Deborah will be happy.’

The moment Sienna, who had lost steam, tried to remove her hand from the purified water.

[…Don’t go.]

…What?

Pretty sure it just said ‘don’t go’…

Sienna hurriedly looked around and everyone was just staring at her.

‘Did I hear it wrong?’

The only person who spoke out was Michael, who looked at Isabelle on the other side, saying, ‘You’re so arrogant, but you’re not as good as a child from our family.’

‘I only put my hands in the water and it seems that I failed too…’

[What are you saying.You did not fail.]

…No, wait.

It was a voice so clear that she could not deny that she had heard it wrong.

Come to think of it, the old wizard clearly said this a while ago.

“The gods of the Millennium Chest have egos and choose their own worthy owners.”

There is an ‘ego’.

‘That means…’

Did it talk? The handsome Named? Why?

…You want me to be your master?

[You got it right, human. I, Hesaros, have been waiting for you for two thousand years. You, who will be my first owner…]

Sienna had goosebumps all over her back.

‘No way!’

As soon as she made that decision, Sienna quickly withdrew her hand from the purified water.

“Miss Sienna?”

“Oh, my hand suddenly stings.”

She is the owner of the name. What kind of nonsense is this!

“Ouch, it hurts.”

Sienna’s acting had a fatal characteristic that the more urgent it was, the less sincere it would be.

“Anyway, it seems that I failed too, so let’s stop…”

Sienna’s hope for the future was to be a salary thief at an acceptable level. If not, it wouldn’t be bad to walk the path of a researcher who could not leave her name in history because there were countless in the magic world.

But being the owner of the Named, of which there are only a dozen of such people in the whole human race?

A guardian of humanity?

Haha. It was absurd, so Sienna wanted to laugh instead.

‘Give it to the dogs.’

The moment when she wanted to quickly step away from the podium to avoid the cause that would throw her fate into a storm…

[Hey!!]

A loud shout rang in her ears.

[You, I… I told you not to go!]

There’s a crack in the necklace.

Thousands of diamonds split and became shiny powder.

Amidst the five-colored debris like the breaking sunlight and rainbow, the only red jewel that was left was poured from the water.

No, it was no longer a gem.

…It was a flame.

At the same time, flames erupted from the basin.

“Hey, this is…!”

The alarming voice of the old wizard could not be heard. Sienna stared at the flames that were ten times taller than her height.

“Oh, oh. Hesaros…! The flames of purification…!!”

At that point, Sienna had an intuition.

‘…I screwed this up.’

Sadly, the prediction was not wrong.

The flames that soared as if to fill the hall enveloped Sienna.

It wasn’t hot. It seemed to be submerged in slightly warm water. She couldn’t hear other people’s voices well.

The conversation between people who were astonished outside the flame barrier was roughly like this.

“Wouldn’t those in the prosperous era know more about the Untamed Hesaros? But in our time, no one has subjugated it yet…!”

“Then what is that?!”

“It’s the first time in two thousand years since it has had a master!”

[That’s what I’m saying!]

The cold and stern voice answered with a strong tone, but unfortunately only Siena could hear it.

Let’s calm down.

If you are swept away here, you will not have either porridge or rice.
(T/N: You’ll not get anything if you just stay put or don’t stand your ground.)

Sienna, who had made up her mind, spoke politely.

“Hey, I’m sorry, but the Named Haesaros… Sir?”

Can I address you like this?

“I’m sorry, but I haven’t even said a word about becoming your owner yet.”

[Ha! Do you think I’m here to ask your opinion?]

At this point, Sienna also teared up.

“Isn’t the contract originally under the mutual consent of both parties?”

It was a logically valid point, but…

[I do not know. What is that? I do not know. Besides, I’m not even the first Named you met!]

The fire, which had been quiet for a while, blazed fiercely once again.

[I don’t know what kind of guy it is, but I’m sure you’re not arguing with me over that Named?]

“No…….”

Hesaros was the only Named who I actually saw, let alone weighing them.
(T/N: ‘weighing’ as in ‘deciding between’.)

“I don’t know what you’re misunderstanding, but I’ve never seen another Named, and I’m not weighing anything.”

Despite the calm explanation, Hesaros could not easily dismiss his doubts.

[That’s weird. I can’t see the scars wrong…]

It mumbled in a doubtful voice.

[Let’s say that’s true. But if you’re not weighing, why don’t you sign a contract?]

“What? Of course, it’s because I don’t want to be your owner.”

[…….]

She threw a good fastball with no frills, and she crushed the pride of the high-spirited Named with her authenticity.

The Named’s voice, which was irrecoverably shocked, trembled.

[No, by the way… Why?]

“That…….”

‘Uh?’

Sienna’s eyes, as she was about to answer further, suddenly darkened.

Hesaros said ‘Oh my’, then asked.

[You! Could it be that this is the ‘first manifestation’?!]

She couldn’t answer. Sienna staggered and tried to balance, but to no avail.

Soon after, as if her feet had suddenly entered a swamp, she felt like she was being dragged in…

‘Ah…’

Consciousness faded away. It was a familiar feeling.

* * *

All children with the aptitude to become wizards begin their education around the age of ten.

It was also to prepare for the madness caused by early education, but it was usually because of the ‘first manifestation’ around that time.

First manifestation.

It referred to the first magic that comes out instinctively, unconsciously, before formal education.

The scale and disposition of this magic could measure what kind of wizard a child would become and how powerful he would be.

It was very important because it was an indicator that could roughly infer future growth limits, not simply the total amount of power he currently has.

So there were many people who faked the scale of the first manifestation.

There was even an old saying that said ‘the sound of a wizard talking about his first manifestation’ is nonsense that you can’t listen to at all?

“Perhaps we would have said the same thing if we hadn’t seen and heard it today.”

The old wizard admired with a rare excited tone, but the grand duke only looked down at Sienna, who was sleeping quietly.

The child who successfully completed their first manifestation a while ago.

‘…No, it’s overly successful. This.’

She was chosen as the owner by the twelfth Named, Untamed Hesaros, who had not chosen a master over two thousand years of recorded history.

At the same time, the area was purified with the fire of Hesaros.

It was absurd.

Nacht Castle was an ancient castle that was originally abandoned. Numerous magics resided, and at the same time, they seemed almost drenched in the fraud that had been drawn to them.

The fraud that could not be completely removed even if the Terraformer cleaned up periodically was hardly felt now.

“If she was able to achieve this level of purification in the first manifestation, this humble wizard dares to predict that the owner of Hesaros will probably grow up to be an excellent Terraformer.”

“Oh my gosh……!”

“I’m really anticipating it, Grand Duke!”

“How can there be such a joyous thing!”

Everyone was busy giving their congratulations.

“It must be so.”

Michael muttered cynically.

“It’s funny that people who were arguing about it an hour ago are now talking about ‘Nacht’s good fortune’.”

Saying that not everyone was like that did not work on Michael, who was already hurt.

“…Because Terraformers are that rare.”

Ashiel said in a voice whose emotions were hard to read.

To some extent, to use magic is to risk being crazy or becoming a monster.

Losing one’s ego or oneself… The Terraformer was the only one who could protect wizards from such a fatal danger.

‘And any true wizard is sensitive to the threats posed to the Terraformer.’

The stronger the wizard, the more violently he reacts to the threat posed to the Terraformer.

Now that Sienna’s purifying fire swept through the castle once, Ashiel was feeling the effect through his skin.

If he had to use an analogy, it used to feel like breathing underwater, but now it feels refreshing as if he was being hit by a cool breeze in an open field.

‘It’s so peaceful around here… It must be the first time since I was in my mother’s womb.’

It seemed like a lie.

What was even more like a lie was the scenery outside the window.

There were sprouts on each branch, but it was still early March. It was a time when winter had not gone away, so the garden was desolate.

But now…

Every tree has green leaves.

The star magnolia tree species, whose flowers appear before the leaves, had their white petals in full bloom.

Every time a cold wind blew, the flower petals that bloomed prematurely flew away.

“It’s the last snow of this winter.”

“It’s really surprising. I’ve heard that the purifying power of Terraformers often affects natural objects, but I didn’t know I’d actually see it with my own eyes…”

Hearing the praises of the people, Ashiel stared blankly at the spring that Sienna had called.

Why? He thought that he would never forget this spring scenery, which was as clear as ice and as cold as winter, until he died.

It was intuition.

“…Yes, it’s all good. It’s good. It’s good…”

Michael looked dissatisfied with Ashiel, who was generally reliable but was now somewhat absent-minded on a subject, sighed in relief.

“So when is she waking up?”

Yes.

Sienna, who had actually done such a great job, passed out without even receiving any congratulations.

‘I don’t like it.’

The person who really deserved the congratulations had fainted, but the ignorant humans were so noisy that the child couldn’t even rest…

Michael was experiencing firsthand what it meant to be boiling.

“Stop it, everyone be quiet and leave.”

That thought was the same for the grand duke as well.

Those who were excited about the child’s need to rest put on a humble expression on their faces.

“Then we’ll go back to the hall.”

“We will prepare to make a quick decision about Count Gildinak.”

“That’s right. If they dare to harm a child of Nacht, they can’t go on like this.”

“Well.”

When the seniors retreated, only the three from the Nacht family and Madam Deborah were left in the room.

Blood relatives and closest staff.

When there was no danger of words leaking, the grand duke quietly opened his mouth.

“Now that they have returned, you can open your eyes.”

“What?”

Michael opened his eyes wide. And at the same time, Sienna opened her eyes.

“You……!”

His eyes were wide, didn’t she pass out? But it seemed that Michael was the only one surprised.

“Did you know too?”

Ashiel did not answer, but Michael read the affirmative answer and scrunched his brows in annoyance.

Sienna made a blunt excuse.

“There are too many people…”

“Yes. It’s understandable.”

Looking down at the child who was quietly wiggling her hands, the grand duke asked.

“Can you comprehend what you have become today?”

Shake, shake.

Sienna shook her head. The grand duke’s expression became slightly complicated.

Sienna’s acting skills didn’t improve, but that didn’t matter.

One day, after Sienna took hold of his hem, it was as if a part of the grand duke’s hard heart had been withdrawn only for Sienna.

She was still a small child, so it was difficult to know where to start talking when she was in front of him.

“…Yes, then, take a break for now.”

Unable to do so, the grand duke changed the order slightly. Before talking to Sienna, he decided to settle the matter with the Count of Gildinak.

* * *

Of course, Sienna understood exactly what had happened today.

‘I’m probably ruined.’

[No matter how bad it is, isn’t it a bit harsh?]

Sienna could hear Hesaros’ squeaks in her head, but to her, it was just a headache.

‘I roughly expected that I might not die, but…’

Suddenly becoming the owner of Named was not part of the plan.

At all.

An orange ball of fire rose from the troubled Sienna’s fingertips with a small rustling sound.

[It’s the first time in two thousand years that I’ve stopped imitating a necklace! It seems that all my stiff shoulders are relieved.]

Only you will know how the small fireball with an odd structure was attached to the shoulder and whether it actually was attached.

[Oh my ! How could it be this good.]

The small ball of fire burned actively, stretching from side to side as if it was really stretching.

It was absurd in many ways.

Sienna glared at it tiredly and warned.

“This is a scam.”

[Uh-huh, scam! What nonsense is that? You are very harsh.]

“It’s a scam because you unilaterally signed a contract after knocking someone out.”

[One-sided, what does that mean?]

Hesaros giggled softly.

[You don’t seem to know it well, but to dip your hands in purified water is an oath to be clean in front of the contract. An ancient apocalyptic custom of asking for a contract.]

“……Yes?”

[In other words, you have already requested a contract from me by customary action!]

“Would it?”

[I was in a situation where I just had to accept it, I mean.]

Sienna’s eyes narrowed.

“The world calls it a scam.”

[Uh-huh. because it’s not. Anyway, the contract has already been done fairly, and I can’t back down.]

Hesarros tried to stretch out like a fussy man who had not chosen his owner for 2,000 years.

‘If I wrestle with it on this topic, I’ll stay up all night.’

To lower its vigilance, she should ask it something else first. Because that was not the only thing to ask.

“What do you mean I purified this area?”

[That thing?]

As if waiting for a question, Hesaros said, “Ahem,” and increased its size.

[I did it! It is a gift to commemorate the contract.]

No, why didn’t you do it…?

Sienna was stunned. However, Hesaros, who seemed to be a bit ignorant even though it was great, was only showing off to the fullest.

[I didn’t know it was your first manifestation, so I took a lot of energy and used it…]

“So did I faint?”

[Well, if that’s enough, I won’t touch you recklessly wherever I go. Isn’t that important?]

An excited Hesaros leapt frantically in front of Sienna’s eyes.

[How? Isn’t it close? Isn’t that great?]

“Yeah… it’s so amazing that I can barely breathe…”

[Of course it is. Now everyone will look up to you. Because you’re the owner of this Hesaros, and you’ve shown such a great purification!]

In the end, isn’t it for its own pride? I’m in trouble.

“I’m sorry for saying this while you’re having fun, but…”

Sienna said, rubbing her aching head.

“I said I didn’t want to be the owner because I didn’t want to be seen.”

[Eh.]

Hesaros, who had only thought of receiving praise, denied it for now.

[Hey, that’s a lie.]

“I’m not lying.”

It was sincere.

In the past, Sienna had the magical power to covet about a subject she knew nothing about.

That’s why it got involved with Loreina and was destroyed.

‘Well, now I won’t be fooled by my sister twice…’

If there was a confrontation or entanglement, it would not end with just a bit of a headache.

Sienna had no grand dreams or wishes.

Instead of wealth or fame, she could be satisfied with a simple life that would not be taken away.

[Gee, really?]

“Yes.”

Sienna nodded, looking at Hesaros tiredly.

Slowly, very slowly.

The orange flame slowly turned blue. Hesaros asked in a trembling voice.

[Are, are you going to throw me away?]

…Oh?

“Can I throw you away?”

[It can’t be! It’s an eternal contract!]

Oh, what. Was it like that?

Hesaros, who was blue in response to Sienna’s harsh reaction, quickly turned red and began to burn.

[I tried to pretend to be pitiful because I thought you would take pity on me, but you look like a human without blood or tears!]

“You sprinkled ashes on my simple dream first.”

[It’s really ruthless. Really heartless. It’s all about doing good… You didn’t even know that there was someone so near you who was contaminated with fraud.]

“Yes?”

Contaminated by fraud, who?

[Why, there was a kid who they call Isabelle. who dared to touch me with fraud.]

At that moment, Sienna recalled the mysterious black energy she had seen in Isabelle’s eyes.

[The child’s mother was also stained with the same color. Maybe recently, they both did things they hadn’t done before, and their personalities changed somehow. Didn’t you know?]

* * *

At some point, she came to her senses.

There really was no other way to explain it.

At the moment when flames erupted from the basin that contained Hesaros, the Countess of Gildinak was astonished in a different sense/

‘I… What the hell am I doing?’

“Your Majesty, I, I, I…”

But there was no excuse that it was unfair.

Everything she did was right.

She openly insulted a child who was smaller than her daughter as an ‘orphan’.

She tried to feed her a poison that temporarily disperses her magic, but she failed.

Even when it didn’t work, she ordered someone to lock up the child.

‘I, what the hell am I…’

The Count of Gildinak and his wife were clearly bright but somewhat disrespectful.

But the means and methods were obscured.

‘More than anything else, just because we harm that child doesn’t mean that our child will become a ward…’

Why would she do such a stupid thing?

For the past few days, she had been unable to understand herself.

It was as if possessed by a demon.

However, if she said such a thing in front of all the crimes that had been revealed, it would only add to the guilt.

“I, Your Majesty. My daughter doesn’t know anything. It’s all me, I made it up by myself…!”

As one of the four judges directly appointed by the emperor, Grand Duke Nakht, the king of the underworld, was able to exercise judicial power alone.

In other words, if the grand duke was happy, even if the mother and daughter were cut off to death immediately, no one could hold him legally responsible.

In a desperate crisis, the Countess of Gildinak tried to save at least the life of her daughter.

“Sir, please…!”

“Stop.”

But the grand duke’s face was only cold.

“You wanted to harm the child I sponsored.”

“Ah, ah, ah, my lord…”

With red eyes, the king of the underworld sentenced her.

“Let her know by death. Nacht has no mercy.”

That was then.

“Come on, wait a minute!”

It was Sienna.

“If you send a child in here, are you thinking of getting paid without working?”

“Your Majesty the Grand Duke.”

When Ashiel reacted more sharply than the grand duke, the gatekeepers panicked.

“I asked them to let me in. I have something to tell you.”

Sienna intervened calmly.

“I was a bit forceful, so I hope you don’t scold them.”

Astonishingly, Ashiel shut his mouth.

Oh? People’s eyes were different.

‘Isn’t he the one who takes into account unavoidable circumstances?’

I don’t know the principle, but it was true that Sienna quieted Ashiel Nacht, the incarnation of discipline and norm, and that ice blade-like thing in a word.

People were amazed.

“The owner of Hesaros is also very mature.”

“As expected, geniuses are extraordinary.”

“Sienna.”

When the grand duke called her name, Sienna flinched, at least slightly.

Maybe that’s why, every time the grand duke called Sienna’s name, it felt like he was making a big mistake.

But for the first time, he asked without making such an expression.

“What do you have to say?”

“So…….”

After a while. When Sienna finished explaining, everyone gave a strange expression.

“It’s an unbelievable story.”

That’s right. Sienna thought it was a story she couldn’t believe either. So she decided to put all the blame on the culprit.

“Hesaros told me.”

– Ahem.

“Oh… then…”

The effect was awesome. Sienna admired it inwardly.

‘I said it hoping it would work, but does it work better than I thought?’

Perhaps it was because Siena was the only one who heard the voice that was showing off.

‘Anyway, I think it’ll be good for when I make excuses after committing a crime.’

There were no plans to do anything yet, but Sienna decided to keep this in mind.

The old wizard nodded.

If they were tainted by fraud, the somewhat absurd and reckless behavior of the Countess of Gildinak and her daughter was understandable.

“If the master of Hesaros hadn’t appeared at the right time, both would have become a madman, both of you.”

“Hey, it’s not a sane thing to believe that someone can bribe a maid of Nacht’s nature.”
(T/N: Maids of Nacht are unlikely to be bribed because their fear for the grand duke is bigger than their greed for money.)

Madam Deborah was a relative of a former maid, but by the standards of the closed underworld, she was an outsider.

‘But it’s not that she’s an outsider that needs to be emphasized.’

Despite her fatal weakness as an outsider, she became a maid.

The position of a maid, in nature, was not a place to be taken lightly. She was a person who served close to Grand Duke Nacht, who had 10,000 magicians and 100,000 elite soldiers alone.

He couldn’t just roughly pick. She had to be good at her work, have charisma to control and discipline, and above all, she had to be a person with strong loyalty.

“If you look at it, she’s ten times more talkative than Madam Dulcia, the former maid…”

When his assistant, Viscount Devon, shook his head, Madam Deborah coughed, saying, “What are you talking about?”

“I just wanted to pay back the kindness.”

“Kindness?”

“There is such a thing. It’s a secret between me and her.”

Madam Deborah pretended neatly.

She didn’t seem to have any intention of saying anything. Devon smacked his lips.

‘What the hell did the lady in our cradle do?’

Was that picky maid taking sides with her?

He was curious, but he wouldn’t get the answers just because he asked more questions. Devon, unfortunately, stopped wondering.

The Countess of Gildinak and Isabelle looked up at Sienna in disbelief, who had dramatically opened a way for their lives.

It was then that Sienna slowly realized one thing.

‘This…’

It’s like the courtroom before she was taken to prison.

The moment she realized that fact, various voices passed Sienna’s ears like a fantasy.

“There are traces of witchcraft on Lady Loreina’s body.”

“Sienna… Sienna! She’s my younger sister, but that child… It can’t be… Oh!”

“You’re like a vicious girl who deserves to die! Even if you rip and kill her, it’s not cool!”

“You must kill the traitor and get rid of it, Grand Duke!”

Among the sporadic voices, the clearest, lowest, and most distinct voice gave the sentence.

“I’ll lock her in the deep prison.”

Among the dungeons of Nacht, the deep prison was notorious for imprisoning prisoners with magical barriers.

There were only two ways to get out of there.

Either you’re dead, or destined to die.

The feeling that all hope was lost when she received that sentence.

She remembered the moment when a bottle of poison in her pocket was the only thing she could count on…

“Sienna, why are you doing this all of a sudden?”

At this moment, the voice that ordered her to go to prison asked how she was doing.

Sienna looked up at the grand duke with trembling eyes of fear without realizing it.

Then, suddenly, Ashiel opened his mouth.

“…Why?”

“?”

Everyone looked at the prince.

“Even though they are deceived by fraud, they are not innocent. It is clear that they posed a threat which should not have been inflicted on you.”

“…….”

“Why did you come to save them?”

Ironically, at Ashiel’s ice-cold voice, Sienna regained her composure a little.

She was able to hide her trembling voice to some extent and say what she wanted to say.

“I never saved those people. I don’t have the ability to do that.”

“…….”

“I just thought it was a lie to hide the truth.”

Someone with no sense shed an exclamation. Isabelle stared at Sienna blankly in her mother’s arms.

It was the child that she had terribly insulted.

A lifesaving hand from a completely unexpected place pierced deep into her heart.

…Sienna avoided all those gazes and shifted her eyes to finish her answer.

“I’m just an orphan, so the decision is made by the Grand Duke.”

Just like the day when her sister, Loreina, deceived everyone and the grand duke decided to send her to prison.

* * *

The day the disposal of Countess Gildinak and Lady Isabelle were to be decided.

“…Is this going to work?”

“The Count of Gildinak is one of the greatest lords of the Northern Mountain mines. The sudden promotion to the title of Count can be seen as having been bought with money.”

A mine that could buy even the title of count.

The grand duke demanded an exorbitant compensation of fifty percent of the annual gems from that great mine.

By dividing the stake in the mine, Count Gildinak will naturally be incorporated into a subordinate of Grand Duke Nacht.

Devon nodded in response.

“The next new year’s banquet, Gildinak will attend as a vassal family.”

“Well.”

In fact, it was like dedicating the whole family and offering it…

“Thank you very much.”

The countess, who returned to her original spirit as soon as she was purified of fraud, was too busy thanking them.

I heard that Count Gildinak also went to a Terraformer to receive purification.

Thanks to Sienna, all three were able to avoid falling into madness and missing the treatment time before the magical beast started forming.

For this reason, the Countess of Gildinak did not dare to hold a grudge against the decision.

The same was true for her daughter, Isabelle.

When the ghastly expression of longing desire and jealousy amplified by fraud disappeared, the mother and daughter returned and expressed gratitude repeatedly.

‘Not only that.’

Terraformers were extremely rare. Although it is not a statutory law, if it harms one’s personal life, the punishment is almost equivalent to the murder of an imperial family.

In such a situation, she must have been grateful for saving her own life and the life of her only daughter.

“What about the message left by the Countess of Gildinak?”

Before returning home, the Countess of Gildinak grabbed Madam Deborah and left this message.

“Please tell her. To the owner of Hesaros. As a sinner, I wouldn’t dare to visit her, but I am deeply grateful for the kindness she has given Gildinak and my daughter.”

“…….”

“I will surely repay this favor as long as my life is attached to me. I will raise my daughter as a child who will definitely be of help to the owner of Hesaros in the future.”

“…I think it would be good for her to know as well.”

The grand duke silently nodded at Devon’s opinion.

“Then tell Madam Deborah to pass it onto the young lady. By the way… I wonder where you got the poison that dissipates magical powers temporarily.”

If Deborah had not fortunately moved in the middle, something big would have happened.

“Yes. The situation is suspicious.”

The Gildinak mother and daughter were inflicted by fraud, but who the hell corrupted their minds?

Ashiel, who had been keeping his mouth still until then, opened his mouth.

“It could be a maneuver from the outside.”

“It could be.”

“Father, are you really going to forgive them like this?”

“……What are you saying?”

“Even though it was said that it was fraud, it is also undeniable that she was trying to harm a child under Nacht’s protection.

Who will solve the child’s injustice?

“Ashiel, I think you’re right…”

The grand duke asked while holding a draft of a document stating the details of the compensation.

“Who said this was the amount of compensation that Nacht would receive?”

“…Isn’t it?”

“Okay.”

* * *

The great mines of the Northern Mountains are important because the essential jewels are found there.

“If it’s an essential jewel…”

“It is called the jewel among jewels. It refers to a special jewel that has the power to inscribe magic spells.”

No… I know that…

All jewels have a special energy condensed, but not all can be engraved with spells.

A special jewel with enough strength and energy to inscribe a spell was called the essential jewel.

Usually, purification spells were placed in such jewels to protect the body from fraud.

An essential jewel was always included in the self-defense department that exerted advanced purification power.

In short, it was worth the value.

‘So…’

Sienna looked at the document in her hand with a slightly faint feeling.

A reparation agreement to transfer half of the northern mines owned by Gildinak.

Surprisingly, the beneficiary was Sienna, not the Nacht family. Sienna…

‘The owner of the Untamed Named Haesaros, Sienna.’

She looked at her name that was strangely written. However, there was an additional name written on the notarized field.

Grand Duke of Feyenoord, Minister of Military Affairs of Emperor Feyenoord. The Lord of the Underworld, the Marquis of E-dravalta. Count of Pasinore. The adversary of Loraxar, the owner of the Named Firstborn Illus Getter, ‘Guardian with a spear’ Rodrick Ilandroine Nacht.

It was the signature that comprises Grand Duke Nacht’s splendid achievements from his 15-year-old soldier boy days until now.

‘…Oh My God.’

How intimidating this small, boldly scribbled signature was.

Rather, it seemed less intimidating to the viewer if he wrote frankly, ‘If the contents of compensation are not faithfully fulfilled, I will lead the army as it is and invade the territory’.

‘Even this is inheritable…’

If you accidentally touch the tip of a pen on this document, from that moment on, half of the Great Northern Mine would be permanently owned by Sienna and her descendants.

According to the documents, Gildinak will own half of the shares and will be responsible for the management.

After looking around, Sienna was even designated as the first subject of consultation if Gildinak sold or transferred a portion or all of its stake in the mine, delegated management rights, or sold it.

Conversely, there were no such restrictions when Sienna sold her stake.

‘…What kind of administrator prepared it?’

The bureaucratic aptitude of the unknown administrator was to the point of admiration, but if possible, she did not want to meet him for the rest of her life. Because this document alone was so thorough, she got goosebumps.

“Your Majesty, this is…”

It was overdone, too overdone.

“You probably don’t know the value of that mine yet.”

“No…….”

How could she not know?

It was a problem because she knew all too well.

In fact, the rights to this great mine was not something that should fall into Sienna’s hands now.

In the past, the grand duke had brought Sienna into his home, but he did not pay much attention to her, so rumors did not spread too much in the social circles.

To the extent that it’s just ‘The Grand Duke impulsively decided to support orphans.’

Later, when Loreina came in and it became known that Sienna’s qualities were poor, it was settled with ‘So it is’.

But somehow, the grand duke of this life paid attention to Sienna enough to be called ‘different’ compared to before.

Sienna thought that was the cause of all this.

Isabelle Gildinak was originally jealous of Loreina, not Sienna, and tried to start a confrontation but failed, and Gildinak passed one-third of her stake in the essential jewels to the Count of Minangsi.

However, the title to the mine and the certificate of compensation are now in Sienna’s hands.

It wasn’t even about a third of the essential jewels, but half of the total stake in the mine, including general jewels and minerals.

…A cold sweat was flowing.

“But I don’t even need jewels that much…”

She didn’t want an overflowing wealth, dotted with jewels and gold coins. Again, Sienna wanted only the economic power that could be realistically achieved.

To be more precise, to earn a monthly salary to pay the rent and living expenses, and after about ten years, she would buy a small house with a garden and work diligently, eat, retire and live on savings and pensions!

Some might laugh, but it was a sincere dream for Sienna.

Besides, stealing the property that should have been Loreina’s?

It was clear that there was going to be a backlash.

“In order to act as a Named wizard, an essential jewel is essential.”

“Then, the Grand Duke should receive it, not me.”

“…Sienna.”

Twitch.

The grand duke explained, looking down at the child who always trembled at his call.

“You are no longer an orphan. You are the owner of the Named Hesaros.”

“……”

This was obviously referring to Sienna referring to herself as an ‘orphan’.

“It’s a daunting story for you who have just completed your first manifestation, but being the owner of the Named comes with military responsibility.”

If you are just a wizard, you may or may not become a soldier.

However, it was different for Sienna, the owner of Hesaros, who had awakened as a Terraformer.

As privileges are guaranteed, she will be bound by numerous responsibilities.

In the name of ‘the cause’.

Perhaps that was the part that Grand Duke Nacht wanted to talk about. He also wanted to tie up Sienna, who will be a great power in the future…

“But if you don’t want to do that, it doesn’t matter. If you want to hand over responsibility… you just have to live like that.”

“……Yes?”

…What did I hear now?

Sienna’s eyes widened in surprise.

She thought he would strictly reprimand her to arouse responsibility.

‘…Can I just die?’

Did those words come from the master of the underworld?

“But… so, other people.”

“You don’t have to listen to what others have to say to you. As for the freedom I have guaranteed you as the Grand Duke of Nacht.”

The archduke’s red eyes were shining with determination.

“No one can invade. Even myself. I guarantee that.”

“…….”

“So, just… don’t ever say that you are an orphan.”

Sienna choked.

Her mind was distracted

She couldn’t breathe for a second.

“…I see. Then…”

“?”

“Because you said I can live freely…”

Barely opening her mouth, Sienna pushed the paperwork toward the grand duke.

“I’ll think about this too.”

“…Yes, I got it.”

The grand duke politely replied, and then stood up from his seat.

“Let me rest.”

Perhaps it was because he had said what he wanted to say, the duke’s expressionless expression was somehow more refreshing than usual.

‘…It’s kind of embarrassing.’

This made her realize again.

The past that Sienna remembered had become an ‘it never happened’ to everyone.

The past that everyone had forgotten was shackled around Sienna’s ankles.

Even if she wanted to ask why she had such shackles wrapped around her ankles, and why things were different now than they used to be…

Now, no one in this world can answer.

Because it just became something like that.

It wasn’t that she didn’t think about Sienna at all.
(T/N: as in, the past Sienna.)

After the attitude of the duke and his sons changed, she continued to think.

Can I trust these people?

Can I forgive and forget like this?

“Haha…….”

A laugh came out of nowhere.

Will it be possible to collect the broken pieces and put them back together? Will something new be born here?

…Will this wear away and disappear one day?

“……No.”

She couldn’t, she couldn’t do that at all…

Sienna shook her head. It couldn’t be.

As the lava cools, it hardens and becomes a stone. But you won’t be able to grow something by planting a seed on it.

You can’t forget what hasn’t happened. You can’t forgive someone who doesn’t regret.

So, embracing a question that no one could answer, and trapped inside a closet-like mind with locked doors.

Even so, she has to live the rest of her life.

‘So, goodbye, it’s been a long time since I said goodbye.’

Goodbye.