“Welcome, Lisa. What did your parents say?”
“Of course, they’re happy to come. They’ll be here in a few days.”
Lisa's cheeks flushed red at the delightful news that her parents were coming. Aila had invited Lisa's entire family to the capital.
The day after Byron was captured, Aila immediately apologized to Lisa. She confessed to every lie she'd ever told—except the one about the regression.
There's also the story of how she grew up as the adopted daughter of Scott and Debbie on the slopes of Mount Helzig, and how her adoptive parents were killed in a bandit attack and her house burned down, leaving her the only survivor.
When Lisa heard that all of these stories were made up by Byron to send Aila to the Duke's house, she seemed very confused at first.
That was because it was a story that was not easy to understand.
Aila is the real Aila, but she was raised under the mistaken belief that Byron was her biological father, and was ordered to assassinate her biological father and infiltrate the Duke's household, and in fact, Aila already knew the whole truth... A complicated story of mutual deception.
And after a while, Lisa, who understood the whole story, couldn't help but be astonished.
To have a daughter kill her father? She never thought such a vicious idea was possible for a human being.
When Lisa's usually gentle smile turned into an angry expression, Aila shrugged and repeatedly apologized. She had mistaken her for being angry at herself for deceiving her.
But Lisa defended Aila, saying, "I'm not angry at you at all. Strictly speaking, it wasn't you who deceived us, but Byron himself."
Afterwards, Aila sent Lisa an invitation to Baron Herzig's house, hoping to meet him in person and apologize for the deception she had previously committed.
And today, the reply finally arrived.
"That's great, Lisa. I bet you've missed your parents a lot."
Aila smiled brightly and patted Lisa on the back. Lisa shook her head with a dignified expression.
"It's okay. I'm just glad we can see each other, even if it's just occasionally. Just because we're physically far apart doesn't mean our hearts are distant."
At her words, Aila smiled meaningfully.
Because they were soon planning to have the Baron's family live in the capital.
After the nobles who had cooperated with Byron's rebellion were weeded out, there were a few vacancies in the administration.
There was talk of putting Baron Herzig in one of those empty seats.
The reason Baron Herzig never entered politics was not because of a lack of ability. It was because of his stubbornness and intolerance for injustice that he earned the dislike of several high-ranking nobles.
However, several of the high-ranking nobles who had been the symbol of this evil had coincidentally been caught up in this treason and had lost their positions, so it was time to put the Baron's abilities to use.
"How's the work on capturing the traitors going, Miss? You'll only feel better if you catch all the remnants..."
“Yeah, I guess it’s almost over.”
At Lisa's question, Aila gave a slightly sad smile.
Most of Byron's conspirators were arrested.
Those whose names were not included in the data Aila investigated were either uncovered through investigation or caught with the help of internal collaborators.
That collaborator was none other than Cloud Air.
Cloud wasn't a snitch from the beginning. Even though he confessed, he kept his mouth shut afterward.
However, after the Emperor granted his pardon to his niece Laura, he was able to obtain the names of several of Byron's assistants.
The reason Aila was smiling bitterly while things were being concluded like that was that one of the key figures was still missing.
It was none other than Laura's mother, Capella.
‘I’ll catch you soon, so it won’t be a problem...’
Aila tried to shake off the uneasy feeling that kept raising her head.
There was a terrible prison in the palace.
It wasn't like that... a place that didn't get any sunlight, that smelled bad, and that was full of filth.
Rather, everything was made of stone and neat, and there were even small ventilation windows, so the facility itself might have been much better than other prisons.
But the reason this place was notorious was that so few people got out alive.
Because it was a space only for the royal family, who had committed treason.
And now, inside that prison, Byron Lionel Vito Peles was locked up.
A very evil man who tried to overthrow the former Emperor and his own father and take his place.
He sat leaning against the cold stone bed, staring listlessly into space.
'... It's not over yet. Capella Air hasn't been caught. If it's her... she'll gather the remaining soldiers and come rescue me.'
Byron heard everything and scratched the stone floor with his bloody fingernails. Unable to accept the situation, he tried to tear open the bars with his bare hands, resulting in wounds.
If it were Capella, she would have done anything.
Because that woman had a very strong determination to make this undertaking a success.
Her strong will to regain her status as a Countess was almost an obsession.
Her desire may have been greater than Byron's desire to regain the throne.
So he wasn't going to give up yet. He couldn't just die here.
It was when he was struggling to get up from his exhausted body with such thoughts.
A rustling noise came from beyond the iron bars. Byron turned his gaze to identify the person.
And standing there was a strange woman. A young woman, around eighteen or nineteen, wearing shabby, tattered clothes and a hat.
Seeing her holding a broom in her hand, she seemed to be a maid cleaning the prison.
Byron, who had no time to waste on a lowly maid, turned his head back to the window, and the strange woman tapped the bars with her fingers.
'Now, even such a lowly woman considers me inferior.'
When Byron, who was displeased, glared at the woman, she smiled brightly, though she didn't know who he was.
“Hello, Father. Nice to meet you. I’m your daughter.”
"Are you a crazy woman who looks normal? I don't have a daughter. Don't bother me and get out."
Byron opened his mouth with a displeased expression. His voice was hoarse, perhaps from shouting so loudly.
“Ugh, that’s too bad. You don’t recognize me...”
Despite Byron's cold words, she let out a coquettish snort, seemingly unconcerned. It was as if she were really complaining to her father.
“Just wait a moment. There’s... about a minute left. After that, Father will know.”
She took a pocket watch out of her bosom and tapped it rhythmically with her finger, as if counting the seconds.
He had no idea what he was going to find out.
And then, a minute that seemed like it would never end passed.
An unbelievable sight unfolded before Byron's eyes.
This was because the brown color gradually disappeared from her hair and eyes, which had featureless brown hair and brown eyes, and soon changed to a different color.
A unique hair with a hint of blue-purple. It was a very rare color, but it felt familiar to Byron.
And what was even more shocking than that was the color of her eyes.
A radiant amber. Byron was left speechless as he gazed at those eyes, so similar to his own, as if looking into a mirror.
This was because golden eyes were a characteristic that only appeared in the royal family.
“Are you a member of the royal family? No, there aren’t any women your age among the royal family...”
Byron muttered incredulously. He'd always thought she was just some crazy woman, but she was actually royalty. Even so, she could never have been his daughter.
Because he has no children.
“Well, since I'm my father’s daughter, I must be of royal blood, right?”
She smiled languidly. Her expression and gestures were so eerily similar to his own that Byron felt a slight shiver.
“I never had a daughter like you...”
“When you see this necklace, you will change your mind.”
She interrupted him, untied the necklace she was wearing, and showed it to him. The familiar azure gem sparkled in the sunlight streaming in through the narrow window.
“Wait, yes... I remember. The one I gave to the maid girl a while ago...”
Byron frowned and searched his memory.
Before he met Ophelia, he had kept several beautiful maids by his side and cherished them.
One of them had hair like violets, very similar to the woman who now claimed to be his daughter...
After an accident and being exiled to the countryside for a while, she disappeared and was never found again.
He doesn't even remember her name now, but at the time, he must have been quite fond of that maid, as he even went out of his way to tell her to come find him.
And then, not long after, he got distracted by another woman and forgot about it...
'If this child is that maid's daughter.'
Byron came to the incredible conclusion that she might really be his daughter.
“You, are you really... my daughter?”
As he gasped for breath in a slightly strangled voice, his daughter, whom he had never known existed, responded with a cheerful smile.
"Yes, Father. Let me introduce myself again. Your daughter, Binka."
“Of course, they’re happy to come. They’ll be here in a few days.”
Lisa's cheeks flushed red at the delightful news that her parents were coming. Aila had invited Lisa's entire family to the capital.
The day after Byron was captured, Aila immediately apologized to Lisa. She confessed to every lie she'd ever told—except the one about the regression.
There's also the story of how she grew up as the adopted daughter of Scott and Debbie on the slopes of Mount Helzig, and how her adoptive parents were killed in a bandit attack and her house burned down, leaving her the only survivor.
When Lisa heard that all of these stories were made up by Byron to send Aila to the Duke's house, she seemed very confused at first.
That was because it was a story that was not easy to understand.
Aila is the real Aila, but she was raised under the mistaken belief that Byron was her biological father, and was ordered to assassinate her biological father and infiltrate the Duke's household, and in fact, Aila already knew the whole truth... A complicated story of mutual deception.
And after a while, Lisa, who understood the whole story, couldn't help but be astonished.
To have a daughter kill her father? She never thought such a vicious idea was possible for a human being.
When Lisa's usually gentle smile turned into an angry expression, Aila shrugged and repeatedly apologized. She had mistaken her for being angry at herself for deceiving her.
But Lisa defended Aila, saying, "I'm not angry at you at all. Strictly speaking, it wasn't you who deceived us, but Byron himself."
Afterwards, Aila sent Lisa an invitation to Baron Herzig's house, hoping to meet him in person and apologize for the deception she had previously committed.
And today, the reply finally arrived.
"That's great, Lisa. I bet you've missed your parents a lot."
Aila smiled brightly and patted Lisa on the back. Lisa shook her head with a dignified expression.
"It's okay. I'm just glad we can see each other, even if it's just occasionally. Just because we're physically far apart doesn't mean our hearts are distant."
At her words, Aila smiled meaningfully.
Because they were soon planning to have the Baron's family live in the capital.
After the nobles who had cooperated with Byron's rebellion were weeded out, there were a few vacancies in the administration.
There was talk of putting Baron Herzig in one of those empty seats.
The reason Baron Herzig never entered politics was not because of a lack of ability. It was because of his stubbornness and intolerance for injustice that he earned the dislike of several high-ranking nobles.
However, several of the high-ranking nobles who had been the symbol of this evil had coincidentally been caught up in this treason and had lost their positions, so it was time to put the Baron's abilities to use.
"How's the work on capturing the traitors going, Miss? You'll only feel better if you catch all the remnants..."
“Yeah, I guess it’s almost over.”
At Lisa's question, Aila gave a slightly sad smile.
Most of Byron's conspirators were arrested.
Those whose names were not included in the data Aila investigated were either uncovered through investigation or caught with the help of internal collaborators.
That collaborator was none other than Cloud Air.
Cloud wasn't a snitch from the beginning. Even though he confessed, he kept his mouth shut afterward.
However, after the Emperor granted his pardon to his niece Laura, he was able to obtain the names of several of Byron's assistants.
The reason Aila was smiling bitterly while things were being concluded like that was that one of the key figures was still missing.
It was none other than Laura's mother, Capella.
‘I’ll catch you soon, so it won’t be a problem...’
Aila tried to shake off the uneasy feeling that kept raising her head.
***
There was a terrible prison in the palace.
It wasn't like that... a place that didn't get any sunlight, that smelled bad, and that was full of filth.
Rather, everything was made of stone and neat, and there were even small ventilation windows, so the facility itself might have been much better than other prisons.
But the reason this place was notorious was that so few people got out alive.
Because it was a space only for the royal family, who had committed treason.
And now, inside that prison, Byron Lionel Vito Peles was locked up.
A very evil man who tried to overthrow the former Emperor and his own father and take his place.
He sat leaning against the cold stone bed, staring listlessly into space.
'... It's not over yet. Capella Air hasn't been caught. If it's her... she'll gather the remaining soldiers and come rescue me.'
Byron heard everything and scratched the stone floor with his bloody fingernails. Unable to accept the situation, he tried to tear open the bars with his bare hands, resulting in wounds.
If it were Capella, she would have done anything.
Because that woman had a very strong determination to make this undertaking a success.
Her strong will to regain her status as a Countess was almost an obsession.
Her desire may have been greater than Byron's desire to regain the throne.
So he wasn't going to give up yet. He couldn't just die here.
It was when he was struggling to get up from his exhausted body with such thoughts.
A rustling noise came from beyond the iron bars. Byron turned his gaze to identify the person.
And standing there was a strange woman. A young woman, around eighteen or nineteen, wearing shabby, tattered clothes and a hat.
Seeing her holding a broom in her hand, she seemed to be a maid cleaning the prison.
Byron, who had no time to waste on a lowly maid, turned his head back to the window, and the strange woman tapped the bars with her fingers.
'Now, even such a lowly woman considers me inferior.'
When Byron, who was displeased, glared at the woman, she smiled brightly, though she didn't know who he was.
“Hello, Father. Nice to meet you. I’m your daughter.”
"Are you a crazy woman who looks normal? I don't have a daughter. Don't bother me and get out."
Byron opened his mouth with a displeased expression. His voice was hoarse, perhaps from shouting so loudly.
“Ugh, that’s too bad. You don’t recognize me...”
Despite Byron's cold words, she let out a coquettish snort, seemingly unconcerned. It was as if she were really complaining to her father.
“Just wait a moment. There’s... about a minute left. After that, Father will know.”
She took a pocket watch out of her bosom and tapped it rhythmically with her finger, as if counting the seconds.
He had no idea what he was going to find out.
And then, a minute that seemed like it would never end passed.
An unbelievable sight unfolded before Byron's eyes.
This was because the brown color gradually disappeared from her hair and eyes, which had featureless brown hair and brown eyes, and soon changed to a different color.
A unique hair with a hint of blue-purple. It was a very rare color, but it felt familiar to Byron.
And what was even more shocking than that was the color of her eyes.
A radiant amber. Byron was left speechless as he gazed at those eyes, so similar to his own, as if looking into a mirror.
This was because golden eyes were a characteristic that only appeared in the royal family.
“Are you a member of the royal family? No, there aren’t any women your age among the royal family...”
Byron muttered incredulously. He'd always thought she was just some crazy woman, but she was actually royalty. Even so, she could never have been his daughter.
Because he has no children.
“Well, since I'm my father’s daughter, I must be of royal blood, right?”
She smiled languidly. Her expression and gestures were so eerily similar to his own that Byron felt a slight shiver.
“I never had a daughter like you...”
“When you see this necklace, you will change your mind.”
She interrupted him, untied the necklace she was wearing, and showed it to him. The familiar azure gem sparkled in the sunlight streaming in through the narrow window.
“Wait, yes... I remember. The one I gave to the maid girl a while ago...”
Byron frowned and searched his memory.
Before he met Ophelia, he had kept several beautiful maids by his side and cherished them.
One of them had hair like violets, very similar to the woman who now claimed to be his daughter...
After an accident and being exiled to the countryside for a while, she disappeared and was never found again.
He doesn't even remember her name now, but at the time, he must have been quite fond of that maid, as he even went out of his way to tell her to come find him.
And then, not long after, he got distracted by another woman and forgot about it...
'If this child is that maid's daughter.'
Byron came to the incredible conclusion that she might really be his daughter.
“You, are you really... my daughter?”
As he gasped for breath in a slightly strangled voice, his daughter, whom he had never known existed, responded with a cheerful smile.
"Yes, Father. Let me introduce myself again. Your daughter, Binka."
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