When Aila first disappeared, Ophelia was literally out of her mind.
Where in this world would there be a mother who would remain sane in such a situation?
The late Emperor was seriously injured in Byron's rebellion, and his life was in danger; the only one who could save him was Ophelia, who was skilled in magic.
So, while she was leaving her child with the nanny and going to the palace, her precious daughter, who shr would never have missed, disappeared.
She cried so much that she almost fainted, and even tried to leave the house barefoot in the middle of the night, saying she was going to go find her child.
There were days when she would spend all day in bed crying, and there were also days when she would beat her husband's chest out of resentment at him for calling her to the palace.
And the next day, she cried in his arms, saying, "I'm sorry for saying that when it must have been hard for Roderick too."
It took a long time for Ophelia to regain her composure, like she does now.
But then she discovered that Byron had taken in her lost daughter and was raising her as his own.
He expected her to go crazy, of course, although not as much as when Aila was gone.
But Ophelia was eerily calm and serene. It was a calm that felt like the calm before a storm.
“So that’s how you knew. That girl Natalia met on the boat was using a dagger.”
“...Yes, that’s right.”
Ophelia asked in a quiet voice, and Roderick, still watching her, answered in a deadened voice.
And then a moment of silence.
When she opened her mouth again, no emotion was read in her voice.
“I will go to the Inselkov Kingdom.”
“...Ophelia, that is.”
“My daughter might be there. Our Aila, next to that horrible man...”
Ophelia shuddered as she thought of Byron.
It was unfair. What on earth did she do wrong to deserve this suffering because of a man named Byron?
She can't tell how disgusting it was when he pursued her so relentlessly from the moment he first saw her, acting as if she were already his woman.
He's been interfering in her life, harassing her with everything, and now he's even taken her daughter away.
“I will kill him with my own hands...! I will not forgive him.”
Ophelia cried out, tears streaming down her face. It was a blood-curdling scream.
Heaven couldn't figure out why God had taken her magical powers away. In the past, she could have engulfed Byron in flames with a snap of her fingers.
Of course, Noah was born thanks to the disappearance of the powerful magic that had been flowing within her body to the point of preventing the child from taking root in her womb, but Ophelia's thoughts, dominated by anger, did not reach that level.
“That won’t do, Ophelia.”
And the one who stopped her was none other than her friend Candice.
“Is it because of Noah? I can take him.”
“...Where are you going with a newborn baby? And that’s not why.”
Ophelia argued, wiping away the tears of anger flowing from her eyes, but Candice shook her head with a stern expression.
"Aila told His Highness the Crown Prince that. She told him to tell us secretly, without anyone else knowing. What do you think that means? It means there's a spy by Byron working for you."
“...”
"But if you, so soon after giving birth, were to head abroad. To the Inselkov Kingdom, where Aila and Byron might be. Wouldn't Byron find that strange?"
Candice went through it rationally, point by point.
It was a good thing she had put a soundproofing spell on it before they started talking.
If Ophelia had been screaming like this, wouldn't it have been a disaster if the spy had heard?
Roderick opened his mouth to join in on the conversation, but Candice held out her palm and silenced him.
"For the same reason, Roderick won't do it either. You were going to say, 'I'll go instead,' right? Where are you going to go when the Duke is away?"
Roderick sighed, as if hit to the core, and closed his mouth.
If it had been normal, he would have realized this problem first, but since it was his daughter's business, his emotions got the better of him, and he couldn't think rationally.
“...Then what should I do? Should I just believe that she’ll come back and wait?”
Ophelia finally buried her face in her lap and burst into tears. She felt like she was going to die from the frustration.
For ten years, she did everything she could to get her daughter back.
Suddenly, one day, without any explanation, she lost her magic powers, and now that she has finally found a clue as to where her daughter is, she is told to do nothing but wait.
It was such a cruel reality.
“I’ll go. You two stay here.”
But Candice smiled brightly like the character she had drawn and said this.
"...What?"
“What did you say, Candice?”
And the couple simultaneously expressed their doubts.
She has been staying here for the past few months, checking on Ophelia's health and, at the same time, conducting research to track down the magical tools she has created.
She was the most powerful wizard in the world, but now she is no longer in this world, so she uses all kinds of methods to destroy the security spell.
In fact, if Ophelia's magical powers had remained intact, tracking Aila's location wouldn't have been a problem.
Anyway, Ophelia is grateful and sorry for everything she's done for me so far, but now she's going abroad to find Aila herself.
"Actually... the prototype tracker was completed a while ago. Of course, the tracking range is very narrow, so you have to be very close. So I'd like to try it out myself."
“...Candice.”
Ophelia called her friend's name in a choked voice.
"You don't have to say thank you. What's going on between us? I miss my first niece, too."
Candice placed her arms on Ophelia's and Roderick's shoulders, respectively, and spoke in a gentle voice.
"Well, it's about time I head back, so no one would suspect me of sneaking aboard Natalia's ship. And what's so special about having a younger sibling? I could just drop you off at Inselkov while I'm at it."
The Inselkov Kingdom, located at the tip of a long peninsula, was so far south that it was practically impossible to drop them off 'on the way'.
It is a road that takes a long way around.
“I know it’s shameless, but I have to ask, Candice.”
Ophelia said, holding her hand tightly.
If only she could find Aila, she wouldn't mind giving her life to Candice.
And Roderick, who had been quietly listening to the story, quietly opened his mouth.
“But... are you okay? Shouldn’t you be heading back to the council and the academy soon?”
Since she had been away for several months, it was clear that the Republic of Tamora was also waiting for Candice.
Hearing his words, Candice narrowed her eyes and lowered her arm that had been linking arms with the couple's shoulders.
"Will Roderick do the same? Seriously, I should just resign. Oh, I don't know. I'm going to pack my bags now. I need to go find my two daughters as soon as possible."
As he watched Candice leave the room, waving her hands lazily, he found himself laughing out loud, even though it didn't seem appropriate for the situation.
“...You’re not really resigning, are you?”
Roderick asked with a worried voice.
He was so grateful to be helping her find Ayla, but he felt it would be a shame to have to quit her job because of it.
"Don't worry. There's no one quite like Candice, so if she were to resign, the Congress and the Academy would probably kneel before her."
Ophelia answered, still wiping her red eyes.
They say that if you laugh after crying, something happens somewhere. She thinks that thanks to her cheerful friend, she can laugh even in situations like this.
The carriage carrying Aila and Gerald traveled for another two hours to Cenospawn County.
The atmosphere inside the carriage was as cold and frozen as a midwinter snowstorm.
And the knights had to look at them with bewildered faces.
The young master, who had seemed excited by the joy of being alone with the girl he liked when he had chased them away, could not understand what had happened while he was away that had made him glare at the girl with such an angry expression.
However, Aila, who was receiving Gerald's murderous gaze, turned her gaze out the window as if nothing had happened.
No, it was actually fun. It was quite a sight to see him glaring at her, his nose and cheeks red from sleeping awkwardly on the table.
Before, she thought he had a somewhat tolerable face, but seeing his face filled with such discontent and anger, Aila realized that he was just like my father, with his grumpy face.
'What good will it do to someone like me to look at you like that?'
She doesn't think he's stupid enough to tell his father everything that happened today.
He knows full well that he can't defeat Aila with force, so he expresses his discontent only by snorting like that.
It was so ridiculous.
In such a suffocating silence, the carriage arrived at the Count's mansion.
As soon as the carriage stopped, Gerald got out in a hurry and, without even thinking about escorting Aila, walked alone to the main building of the mansion.
It was a truly dramatic change, considering that when they were leaving, he was trying to somehow hold her hand.
As she got out of the carriage with a snort, Cloud, who had been waiting for her, strode towards her with long strides.
Where in this world would there be a mother who would remain sane in such a situation?
The late Emperor was seriously injured in Byron's rebellion, and his life was in danger; the only one who could save him was Ophelia, who was skilled in magic.
So, while she was leaving her child with the nanny and going to the palace, her precious daughter, who shr would never have missed, disappeared.
She cried so much that she almost fainted, and even tried to leave the house barefoot in the middle of the night, saying she was going to go find her child.
There were days when she would spend all day in bed crying, and there were also days when she would beat her husband's chest out of resentment at him for calling her to the palace.
And the next day, she cried in his arms, saying, "I'm sorry for saying that when it must have been hard for Roderick too."
It took a long time for Ophelia to regain her composure, like she does now.
But then she discovered that Byron had taken in her lost daughter and was raising her as his own.
He expected her to go crazy, of course, although not as much as when Aila was gone.
But Ophelia was eerily calm and serene. It was a calm that felt like the calm before a storm.
“So that’s how you knew. That girl Natalia met on the boat was using a dagger.”
“...Yes, that’s right.”
Ophelia asked in a quiet voice, and Roderick, still watching her, answered in a deadened voice.
And then a moment of silence.
When she opened her mouth again, no emotion was read in her voice.
“I will go to the Inselkov Kingdom.”
“...Ophelia, that is.”
“My daughter might be there. Our Aila, next to that horrible man...”
Ophelia shuddered as she thought of Byron.
It was unfair. What on earth did she do wrong to deserve this suffering because of a man named Byron?
She can't tell how disgusting it was when he pursued her so relentlessly from the moment he first saw her, acting as if she were already his woman.
He's been interfering in her life, harassing her with everything, and now he's even taken her daughter away.
“I will kill him with my own hands...! I will not forgive him.”
Ophelia cried out, tears streaming down her face. It was a blood-curdling scream.
Heaven couldn't figure out why God had taken her magical powers away. In the past, she could have engulfed Byron in flames with a snap of her fingers.
Of course, Noah was born thanks to the disappearance of the powerful magic that had been flowing within her body to the point of preventing the child from taking root in her womb, but Ophelia's thoughts, dominated by anger, did not reach that level.
“That won’t do, Ophelia.”
And the one who stopped her was none other than her friend Candice.
“Is it because of Noah? I can take him.”
“...Where are you going with a newborn baby? And that’s not why.”
Ophelia argued, wiping away the tears of anger flowing from her eyes, but Candice shook her head with a stern expression.
"Aila told His Highness the Crown Prince that. She told him to tell us secretly, without anyone else knowing. What do you think that means? It means there's a spy by Byron working for you."
“...”
"But if you, so soon after giving birth, were to head abroad. To the Inselkov Kingdom, where Aila and Byron might be. Wouldn't Byron find that strange?"
Candice went through it rationally, point by point.
It was a good thing she had put a soundproofing spell on it before they started talking.
If Ophelia had been screaming like this, wouldn't it have been a disaster if the spy had heard?
Roderick opened his mouth to join in on the conversation, but Candice held out her palm and silenced him.
"For the same reason, Roderick won't do it either. You were going to say, 'I'll go instead,' right? Where are you going to go when the Duke is away?"
Roderick sighed, as if hit to the core, and closed his mouth.
If it had been normal, he would have realized this problem first, but since it was his daughter's business, his emotions got the better of him, and he couldn't think rationally.
“...Then what should I do? Should I just believe that she’ll come back and wait?”
Ophelia finally buried her face in her lap and burst into tears. She felt like she was going to die from the frustration.
For ten years, she did everything she could to get her daughter back.
Suddenly, one day, without any explanation, she lost her magic powers, and now that she has finally found a clue as to where her daughter is, she is told to do nothing but wait.
It was such a cruel reality.
“I’ll go. You two stay here.”
But Candice smiled brightly like the character she had drawn and said this.
"...What?"
“What did you say, Candice?”
And the couple simultaneously expressed their doubts.
She has been staying here for the past few months, checking on Ophelia's health and, at the same time, conducting research to track down the magical tools she has created.
She was the most powerful wizard in the world, but now she is no longer in this world, so she uses all kinds of methods to destroy the security spell.
In fact, if Ophelia's magical powers had remained intact, tracking Aila's location wouldn't have been a problem.
Anyway, Ophelia is grateful and sorry for everything she's done for me so far, but now she's going abroad to find Aila herself.
"Actually... the prototype tracker was completed a while ago. Of course, the tracking range is very narrow, so you have to be very close. So I'd like to try it out myself."
“...Candice.”
Ophelia called her friend's name in a choked voice.
"You don't have to say thank you. What's going on between us? I miss my first niece, too."
Candice placed her arms on Ophelia's and Roderick's shoulders, respectively, and spoke in a gentle voice.
"Well, it's about time I head back, so no one would suspect me of sneaking aboard Natalia's ship. And what's so special about having a younger sibling? I could just drop you off at Inselkov while I'm at it."
The Inselkov Kingdom, located at the tip of a long peninsula, was so far south that it was practically impossible to drop them off 'on the way'.
It is a road that takes a long way around.
“I know it’s shameless, but I have to ask, Candice.”
Ophelia said, holding her hand tightly.
If only she could find Aila, she wouldn't mind giving her life to Candice.
And Roderick, who had been quietly listening to the story, quietly opened his mouth.
“But... are you okay? Shouldn’t you be heading back to the council and the academy soon?”
Since she had been away for several months, it was clear that the Republic of Tamora was also waiting for Candice.
Hearing his words, Candice narrowed her eyes and lowered her arm that had been linking arms with the couple's shoulders.
"Will Roderick do the same? Seriously, I should just resign. Oh, I don't know. I'm going to pack my bags now. I need to go find my two daughters as soon as possible."
As he watched Candice leave the room, waving her hands lazily, he found himself laughing out loud, even though it didn't seem appropriate for the situation.
“...You’re not really resigning, are you?”
Roderick asked with a worried voice.
He was so grateful to be helping her find Ayla, but he felt it would be a shame to have to quit her job because of it.
"Don't worry. There's no one quite like Candice, so if she were to resign, the Congress and the Academy would probably kneel before her."
Ophelia answered, still wiping her red eyes.
They say that if you laugh after crying, something happens somewhere. She thinks that thanks to her cheerful friend, she can laugh even in situations like this.
***
The carriage carrying Aila and Gerald traveled for another two hours to Cenospawn County.
The atmosphere inside the carriage was as cold and frozen as a midwinter snowstorm.
And the knights had to look at them with bewildered faces.
The young master, who had seemed excited by the joy of being alone with the girl he liked when he had chased them away, could not understand what had happened while he was away that had made him glare at the girl with such an angry expression.
However, Aila, who was receiving Gerald's murderous gaze, turned her gaze out the window as if nothing had happened.
No, it was actually fun. It was quite a sight to see him glaring at her, his nose and cheeks red from sleeping awkwardly on the table.
Before, she thought he had a somewhat tolerable face, but seeing his face filled with such discontent and anger, Aila realized that he was just like my father, with his grumpy face.
'What good will it do to someone like me to look at you like that?'
She doesn't think he's stupid enough to tell his father everything that happened today.
He knows full well that he can't defeat Aila with force, so he expresses his discontent only by snorting like that.
It was so ridiculous.
In such a suffocating silence, the carriage arrived at the Count's mansion.
As soon as the carriage stopped, Gerald got out in a hurry and, without even thinking about escorting Aila, walked alone to the main building of the mansion.
It was a truly dramatic change, considering that when they were leaving, he was trying to somehow hold her hand.
As she got out of the carriage with a snort, Cloud, who had been waiting for her, strode towards her with long strides.
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