TINOT 25

Chapter: 25

“Where is the commander? Where is the knight commander?”

“My young lord.”

As if he had already anticipated a reprimand, the knight commander quickly dropped to his knees before him.

“Sir Gery, didn’t you send reinforcements to the annex? No—were there even any men assigned to guard it in the first place?”

Edward coolly pointed out each fault one by one.

Truthfully, after casting such a large spell for the first time in a while, he was exhausted and wanted to postpone any arguments.

But if he handled it that way, he had no idea how Lisithea would react.

Determined not to give Lisithea any grounds to criticize him, Edward barely suppressed his irritation.

“Well, that is to say…”

“Can’t you see the state of things? There wasn’t even a single rat guarding the annex.”

While the commander hesitated, a rough-looking woman swaggered into view and sneered.

Edward was already nauseous and dizzy from using such powerful magic. A pain like a chisel scraping through his skull made him frown.

He didn’t know who she was, but he only wanted to settle this quickly and rest.

“I do not know who you are, but you trespassed into Aster during the confusion of the night. You will be held accountable. State your identity—”

“Eddie, shut that mouth of yours. If it weren’t for these people, I’d already be dead.”

Lisithea stepped forward and cut him off.

She spoke in her usual gentle tone laced with blatant insolence.

Already sensitive from pain, Edward glared at her.

“Or did you wish for me to die?”

“Hyungnim!”

Ignoring his shout with ease, Lisithea turned her gaze to the knight commander.

“Sir Gery, I’ll ask you this. You knew that there was a two-hour gap in security around midnight during the guard rotation at the annex, didn’t you?”

“That was an unavoidable decision to prevent a gap in security at the main building. The Marquis approved it as well!”

Father knew?

The crease between Edward’s brows deepened.

If that were the case, this was not something for the heir to intervene in. It could not simply be dismissed as the commander’s mistake.

“I see. I thought as much.”

Lisithea nodded calmly, as if she had expected this.

In truth, she had confirmed it long ago.

Just then, she lifted her head and looked toward something.

Heavy footsteps approached, and soon a group of knights appeared.

“Edward, Celia, what are you doing here?”

It was the Marquis of Aster, returning after driving away the magical beasts from the opposite side, accompanied by his knights.

Seeing his children gathered in a corner of the garden, he approached in confusion—only to frown upon spotting Lisithea.

“Lisi… thea? What on earth happened to you—”

All the necessary players had now taken the stage.

Lisithea drew in a deep breath.

She only had her final lines left to deliver, but she barely had the strength to stand. Her vision flickered.

“Sister!”

“My lady!”

Celia’s sharp scream pierced her ears.

At the same time, rough yet small hands grasped her body in a familiar hold.

Lisithea forced her eyes open and looked down at Marie, who was holding her up.

Marie’s brown eyes were brimming with tears.

Seeing them, Lisithea regained a sliver of clarity.

Ah, right. Marie was here. My clumsy, kind Marie.

In this place where even the grass and trees seemed to reject her, Marie had been the only one on her side.

She wasn’t alone.

Even if she collapsed here, she could simply rise again and finish what she had to say.

Lisithea struggled to open her mouth—

Boom! Boom!

A massive explosion roared, and a blast of hot wind swept in from the direction of the annex.

Had the flames clinging to the basilisk spread to the building?

Or had one of the magical beasts drawn to feast on the corpse been a fire-breathing kind?

The annex where Lisithea had lived was now engulfed in flames.

“Father, I nearly died today. No—if it weren’t for these people, I certainly would have.”

The wind carried the nauseating stench of burning magical beast corpses.

The stench grew in proportion to their number and ferocity.

The overwhelming reek drifting from the annex stunned the Aster family.

What kind of beasts had been there? How many?

That Lisithea had survived such creatures was neither luck nor fortune. It was a miracle.

“Father, I may be a deficient body incapable of using magic, unworthy of becoming Aster’s heir despite bearing the name…”

Her cold voice spread through the crowd, mingling with the foul air.

A defect born of the blood of the Duchy of Rowen and the House of Aster, yet unable to wield magic.

Her excessively noble lineage had shackled her all her life.

“But that does not strip me of the rights my blood grants me. If the child I bear is blessed by the stars and becomes a mage, that child will be fully qualified to inherit both Aster and Rowen.”

Everything has two sides, like a coin.

The reason she had been mocked and scorned for not being a mage was singular—

Her bloodline was so extraordinary that magic was expected of her.

“And yet, I nearly died. In a crisis where magical beasts invaded, not a single person was there to protect me.”

“Th-that was an accident! Who could have predicted a horde of magical beasts appearing in the heart of the city?!”

The Marquis’s voice trembled. Perhaps he already sensed defeat.

“Is that so? I hear the Duke of Rowen will soon return to the capital after his long wandering. Do you think he will see it that way? That it was unavoidable?”

Lisithea was not only the eldest daughter of Aster, but also the niece of the Duke of Rowen.

The Marquis was not the only one with the right to claim authority over her.

“Foolish child. Do you think the Duke cares for you? Has Rowen not ignored you your entire life?”

“When did I say he would care?”

She remembered the displeased look the Duke of Rowen had given her at her mother’s funeral.

“They say he raised my mother like a daughter, since she was his much younger sister. How much must he hate the Aster who killed the sister he cherished?”

She also anticipated how immense his fury must be, having wandered battlefields for over a decade in grief.

“No matter how much he may dislike me, could he possibly hate me more than he hates you?”

The Marquis’s face drained of color.

He imagined the terrifying face of the Duke of Rowen, who likely waited for a chance to tear him apart.

“If I were the Duke, I would never let this incident pass. It’s the perfect opportunity to strike back at the House of Aster that killed his sister.”

The Marquis could not deny it.

He had already endured words from the Duke that were akin to curses.

“Lisithea, don’t ruin everything in a moment of emotion. Calm down. Speak calmly, rationally—”

It seemed someone else was the one who needed calming.

Lisithea slowly lowered herself to her knees, watching the Marquis struggle to form coherent sentences.

Kneeling on the dirt, placing her right hand over her heart, she declared:

“I, Lisithea Rowen Aster, inheritor of the blood of Aster and Rowen, seek to preserve this life under the protection of the earth. Grant me personal protection.”

A request for protection was the only recourse available to a child whose life was threatened by their parents.

In other words, it meant the parent had either attempted to kill the child—or allowed it to happen.

“Personal protection? From whom—”

The Marquis, now on the verge of being branded as someone who nearly killed his own daughter, turned in alarm.

All eyes shifted to one place.

A man stepped forward quietly.

Like the moon descending from the heavens, his pale golden hair shone brilliantly.

Taking Lisithea’s hand and helping her up, he answered:

“I accept your request. So long as you stand upon my land, no one shall harm your life.”

Silver-white mana seeped into the ground beneath Lisithea and Diarmuid.

Though his mana could not possibly affect her, the stiffness in her limbs seemed to loosen.

Leaning slightly against him, she spoke her final prepared words.

“Father, now it is your turn to prove it. Prove that today’s incident was not an attempt on my life. Until you do, you will have no right to exercise any authority over me.”

It had already become clear that the security gap at the annex had been approved by the Marquis.

Resolving this would not be simple.

“Prove? Prove what? Who—what are you even saying!”

“Father! Father!”

The Marquis raged wildly—then fainted from his own fury.

All her life, Lisithea had been forced to prove that she was his child.

Now it was his turn to prove that he was her father.

Perhaps he would finally understand how exhausting it was to have the obvious questioned again and again.

Supported by Diarmuid, Lisithea walked away from the people of the Marquis’s household.

No one stopped her. They lacked the presence of mind.

“Wait.”

Once the Aster family was no longer in sight, Diarmuid halted and lifted her into his arms.