Rustle~
It didn't take long for the reinforcents to co.
"You're here!"
"What's going on...?!"
But by the ti they had arrived, everything was already over. It couldn't be helped. The entire sequence of events didn't take more than several minutes in total.
While it felt like several hours had passed, it had all been incredibly quick.
From the defeat of the mbers of the Inverted Sky to Kiera's aunt's escape. It had all taken just a few minutes.
'It also wasn't hard to look for the teleporation device.'
All I had to do was spread out my threads through every inch of the place in order to find it.
"...You're finally here."
I turned my head to see a pair of familiar gray eyes erge from one of the bushes.
He looked sowhat surprised to see doing fine.
"Why do you look disappointed?"
"...I'm not."
"You are."
"You're right."
My lip twitched. He wasn't even trying to hide it.
I was just about to open my mouth and say sothing when sothing blurred past , heading straight for Kiera. I tried to react, but I wasn't fast enough.
"Wai—"
By the ti I reacted, it was already too late, as the silhouette pounced on Kiera, who opened her eyes wide.
It was also then that the silhouette beca clear, and I stopped dead in my tracks.
"You're fine, aren't you?"
A voice lingered in the air.
It was calm and also warm. However, looking at his large back from where I stood, I could see that it was trembling.
"I understand that you resent for what happened with your mother, and I understand that. But... I still don't wish for anything bad to happen to you. Whatever happened in the past, you are still my daughter. Please take care of yourself if you won't allow to."
Kiera's mouth opened as she tried to say sothing, but soon stopped as she brought her hands around her father's.
"Okay."
That was all she said, but at the sa ti, her hands squeezed tightly around her father.
"...I'll do it."
"That's goo—"
"I'll let you take care of ."
"Huh?"
"It's your job, after all."
***
The next day.
"So you're saying that Rose was able to defeat the four guardians by herself?"
Naturally, after the events of the previous day, delegates from the grail family were sent to the estate to interrogate us. With the severity of the incident and the loss of an entire squad, the situation quickly escalated.
I, alongside Kiera and a few others, was put into questioning.
"Yes, it was just here. I saw her defeat all four of them with my own eyes."
Right now, I was lying through my teeth.
The deaths of the squad mbers were largely the result of what the three of us had accomplished together.
And no one would believe that Kiera and I had played a role in defeating such powerful opponents.
In fact, it was still unbelievable.
"I don't know if you found it, but there should be an arm lying around sowhere. That belongs to Rose—she took quite a few injuries during the fight."
"...Yes, we managed to find it."
Interrogating was a lanky man with sharp eyes and brows. With shoulder-length black hair, he appeared to be extrely serious as he analyzed the information in front of him. As he looked through them, I overheard him mumble,
'The fact that they're all burnt to a crisp aligns with her abilities... There's no sign of anything else at play. Is this really the truth? But if so, does that an she's even stronger than previously reported?'
I just patiently waited in my seat while he continued mumbling to himself. I was confident that they wouldn't be able to find anything even if they tried their hardest.
The bodies of the people who had been killed had all been burned to a crisp, therefore making it impossible for them to notice any trace of Emotive Magic in their bodies, even if they wanted to.
There was no way they'd be able to link it to .
Of course, I also knew that things were far from over.
I still had to answer to those from the Inverted Sky. Nonetheless, I was already prepared.
"I see. Well, everything aligns with what we've observed. It seems we'll need to re-evaluate the individual known as Rose."
As if satisfied with what he'd found, the man stood up and closed the evidence book in front of .
He extended his hand in my direction.
"Thank you very much for your cooperation, and I'm sorry for bothering you. As you know, this is quite a big matter, so we were left with no choice but to interrogate you."
"It's fine."
I cooly replied, similarly standing up and shaking his hand.
Then, without casting another glance in his direction, I turned around and left the room.
Clank—
Waiting outside of the room were a few familiar faces.
"Were you guys interrogated as well?"
"No. We weren't directly involved, so there was no need for us to be interrogated."
"Oh."
Answering was Aoife, who looked troubled. Was she worried about the four guards who had been killed?
I briefly considered a way to comfort her but ultimately decided against it.
The less she knew, the better.
"But there's sothing else that's bothering ..."
Aoife's brows furrowed extrely tightly. So much so that I started growing concerned. Did she find sothing? If so, then things were going to be quite troubleso...
Maybe I should—
"I usually bring my cara with , but in the rare ti that I didn't, I missed the chance to capture Kiera crying. Do you guys think there's a way to turn back ti? Just a little bit? Just so that I can remind my past self to bring the cara?"
"....."
Right then, whatever words were about to co out of my mouth stopped.
I soon felt my face change as I stepped back.
"What? Why are you looking at like that? It's as if you're looking at sothing disgusting..."
I didn't answer and just moved away.
What a sick princess.
Capturing a photo of Kiera in her weakest mont.
What utterly disgusting degener—
"Hey, why are you repeatedly looking at your forearm? Is there sothing wrong with your forearm?"
"Eh?"
I pulled my hand behind .
"I... injured it."
Even now, it still hurts.
I was only looking because it hurt. Not because of Aoife's words.
It wasn't as if I could actually do what Aoife said.
going back in ti to interact with my past self?
Never...
'Damn it, why did I also forget about the cara?'
***
At the sa ti, elsewhere.
Within the Nurs Ancifa Empire, four powerful Duchies held dominion. Each controlled vast territories, their influence second only to the prestigious grail Estate.
Each territory bordered one another, often leading to several small skirmishes between the territories.
Thankfully, the clashes were minor, occurring only occasionally—often due to small disagreents. None of these conflicts ever escalated into anything significant, nor did any of the Duchies have any real intention of engaging in a large-scale war.
Not only because the grail Family would imdiately step in but also because of a certain Duchy.
The Rosemberg Duchy.
With Orson Rosemberg at the helm, leading Central—and in no small part due to his only daughter, Delilah V. Rosemberg.
With the two at the helm of the Rosemberg household, none of the other Duchies entertained the thought of starting any conflict. In fact, one might even argue that the three other Duchies were submissive to the Rosemberg Household.
Currently, within the main manor of the Rosemberg Household.
A small dinner was taking place.
"I'm very happy that you've finally made so ti with , Delilah."
A thin smile crossed Orson Rosemberg's face as he sliced the steak before him. This was one of the rare occasions he could enjoy dinner with his daughter.
How long had it been?
".....Yes."
As opposed to him, Delilah didn't look particularly excited.
Staring at the steak in front of her, she sliced it before placing it in her mouth and chewing it.
"So? How is it? It cos from an extrely rare breed of cows that I managed to find just for this occasion. The marbling not only is amazing and rich, but the taste is just on point."
"Oh, it's good."
Delilah pretended to agree.
In fact, she didn't care. It wasn't chocolate, so...
"...I'm glad you like it."
Orson appeared genuinely satisfied by her word and sliced another piece.
Very good.
"Oh, right. How is the Academy? You haven't been telling much."
"It's good."
"Tha'ts all?"
"Hmm..."
Delilah thought for a mont before cocking her head.
"...A bit boring now."
"Boring?"
Orson blinked his eyes.
"Why? Is there a lot of work? Oh, right. Considering what had recently happened, then it does make sense. If—"
"Not really."
Delilah dismissed her father's words.
The workload was not that much more. The reason why she was bored was sothing else.
"Then...?"
Sensing sothing, Orson frowned.
"Don't tell it's because you aren't eating chocolate. Delilah, what is it with you and chocolate? We've talked about this before. But—"
"No, not really."
Delilah once again dismissed her father.
"Not chocolate?"
His face showed genuine signs of shock. Not chocolate? Was this really his daughter? Orson suddenly started to have a weird feeling as he stopped slicing his steak.
"This... boredom... is the reason you're bored because you're by yourself?"
"...."
Delilah blinked for a mont before nodding.
"Yes."
Orson pursed his lips as he set his utensils on the table.
"Ho, I see. I think I get what's going on. You're bored because you're missing soone."
"Missing...?"
Delilah's large obsidian eyes blinked for a mont before she nodded again.
"Yes, you can say so."
"Wow, so you've made a friend?"
Orson looked at his daughter with a happy smile. Outside of pleasant surprise, he was also sowhat shocked. Of all people, soone actually was able to be friends with his anti-social daughter?
This...
'Whoever she is, she must be a saint.'
"I see. So you're bored because your friend isn't here. Haha."
Orson let out a small chuckle.
"That's rare of you. If that's the case, then you must like them quite a bit!"
"....."
Delilah didn't answer imdiately and blinked her eyes for a brief mont.
Like them quite a bit?
She thought about her father's words for a brief mont before answering.
"Yes, probably."
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