Chapter 275

Chapter 275. From Death Row Inmate to Escapee

Pia, ‍​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌​‌​‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​​​​‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌‌​​​​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌​‌​​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌​​‌​​​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌​‌​​​‌​‌​‌​‌​​​‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌‌​​​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌​​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌​​​‌​​​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​​​​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​‌​‌​​​‌​​‌​​​​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌‌‌​​​​​‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌​​​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​​‌​‌​​​‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​​​​​‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌​​​‌​‌​‌​‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​‌​​‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌‌​‌​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌‌​‌‌‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌​‌​‌​​​‌‌‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌‌‌​​‌​‌​‌​​​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‌​​​​​‌​​​​‌​​‌​​‌‌‌​​​‌‌​​​‌​‌​‌​​‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​​‌​​​​‌​‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​‌​​​‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌​‌​‌​​​‌​​​​‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌​​‌​​​​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​​​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌‌‌​​‌​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌‌‌‌​​‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​​​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​​‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌​‌​‌​​​‌​​‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​‌‌‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​​‌​​‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‌​‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌​​​‌​​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌​‌​​​‌​​‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌​​​‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌‌‌‌​​​​‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌​​‌‌​​​​​‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌​‌​‌​​​‌​​​​​‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​‌​​​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​​‌​​‌‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​‌​‌​​​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌‌‌‌​‌​​‌​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​​‌​​‌​​‌‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌​‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​‌​​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌‌‌​‌‍the Second Daughter, opened her eyes in a space filled with dark blue mist.

She ‍​‌​‌​‌​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​‌‌‌​‍had closed them on her bed at the signal touching her Core and opened them in a dream. Now she asked cautiously,

“What ‍​‌​‌​‌​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​‌‌‌​‍brings you all the way here…?”

Her ‍​‌​‌​‌​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​‌‌‌​‍father had clearly initiated the conversation through the dream, but he said nothing.

She ‍​‌​‌​‌​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​‌‌‌​‍swallowed against that painful silence, clenched her fists tightly, and trembled at the shoulders.

THUD―

She dropped to both knees.

“…I'm sorry. I've disappointed you. I never imagined they'd get through the Tower of the Sky's surveillance network and head for Sky Island….”

There were so many excuses she wanted to make.

The Black Ship that had broken through even the surveillance network of the reinforced forces. The Fifth Son, who had certainly been on the front line. And Millesdusk's younger blood relatives.

The Fifth Son's resistance to fire, which had let him withstand 6th Circle flames with his bare body. The neutralization of the Wind Dragon. The 2nd process Dark Elixir, and more.

All the excuses she had devised amid regret and self-reproach while lying like a corpse on the bed hung on the tip of her tongue.

“…I'm sorry….”

In the end, she could not properly voice a single one. She bowed her head and forced them down.

Even as her throat tightened and she felt as though the words would choke her, she pressed them down and held them inside. She had lived her whole life this way. Why would it be hard now?

“I'm sorry, Father….”

As a daughter. As a mage of Wisdom. As the effective commander who had gone to the front line. The Second Daughter begged Wisdom's Family Head for forgiveness again and again.

A voice sounded through the dark blue mist, which until then had held only her apologies.

[You have nothing to apologize to me for. It would be different if you were apologizing to the mages who died on the battlefield.]

“…….”

[Did you fall into that pit because you could not even bear to return to the family and atone?]

“…I suspected they were planning to occupy Sky Island, and I thought that if there were forces besides their blood relatives, it would be fastest for me to handle them alone….”

Pia's voice was faint, unable to carry her words through to the end without breaking.

[Whatever excuse you make, it does not change the fact that you volunteered to command and fell for the enemy's scheme.]

“I will accept any punishment.”

[Enough. We can discuss that later. Pia, Second Daughter. Report the current situation.]

“…Yes.”

The Second Daughter searched her memory as carefully as she could and explained.

“Millesdusk is keeping me in a guest room at the Master of the Tower of the Sky's residence. The mages they captured on Sky Island are in the basement.”

[A guest room?]

“Y-Yes. Unlike what I expected, Millesdusk is treating its prisoners with courtesy.”

[That is only your perspective. How do you know what is happening in the basement?]

“…I'm sorry. I hadn't thought that far.”

[Anything else unusual?]

Pia recounted what she could remember, one thing at a time.

“The instant meals receive some preparation before they're served. The Pursuer's Binding Rope prevents me from using mana, but there are no other restraints.”

Beyond her own circumstances, she had learned something else by chance.

“Besides, it seems Josephine is here, too. She appears to be living a life in which she's recognized.”

[…I have no interest in that.]

Denial. She had heard the Family Head's voice denying things until she was sick of it.

He had denied everything from objects to her very existence and the value she had been born with.

She had heard it so many times that, absurdly enough, she could now tell whether that voice was sincere or lying.

With that ridiculous ability, Pia recognized his latest denial as a lie.

Human hearts were exasperating.

Only moments ago she had felt sorry for Josephine, but she could not help this feeling of inferiority.

“Father, you spare more feeling for the daughter who abandoned our family and ran away than for the one held captive in enemy territory….”

[…What did you say?]

Like her youngest brother, Pia could not help herself either. Though she knew no good would come of it, her mouth spoke on its own.

“You think more about the daughter who is after my family from the enemy's side than about me, who did everything I could for your family.”

[Do you claim to have read my thoughts? That is so absurd I am at a loss for words.]

The Family Head denied it again. Again, he lied.

“Why? It's always been this way. You kept Josephine in Majia and treated her as if you'd cast her out, yet you couldn't actually abandon her.”

All inflection left Pia's voice. The rise and fall appeared instead in the Family Head's.

[I judged that better than leaving blood from the direct line to rot somewhere nameless in the West. What do my past decisions mean to you now?]

“While I was captive, I kept thinking. When you learned Josephine had sought asylum in the East, why didn't you keep it secret and control her with dream magic?”

[…….]

“But no matter how I thought about it, I couldn't find an answer. If you had reduced Josephine to a helpless shell back then, the course of the war might have changed.”

[So this is how you cast blame. None of this has any meaning.]

Pia murmured the word Page had been using.

Meaning. Meaning. Meaning.

She had thought of its meaning just before falling asleep.

“To tell you the truth, I was terrified before I answered your summons. I thought you might suppress my mind.”

[…….]

“But I came here thinking you couldn't possibly use on me a spell you never used on Josephine, even after she sought asylum.”

The silence she had met at first returned.

“Isn't that right? I'm right, aren't I, Father? Please answer me. Please?”

This time, she could not use her ability to tell whether her father's denial was true.

[You are unstable.]

“Father…?”

[Wisdom is a vast magic circle. You are one of the major formulas within it, and you have become unstable and dangerous. It is right to cut you out now.]

Her father did not deny it.

CRACKLE―

“Aagh…!!”

The sound of something being crushed rang inside her eardrums.

It felt as though her brain, rather than her head, was being kneaded. Her body lost its balance and fell.

She tried to resist somehow, but it was impossible. Against the oppression of an 8th Circle mage, resistance could only buy time.

Sooner or later, things would go as the 8th Circle mage wished.

But there was something she wanted to say before she died. Even if these were truly her last words, she had to say them.

“Hngh…!! All I wanted was one warm word! One piece of praise that didn't have to mean anything would have been enough…!”

Her cry, wrung out through the pain, reverberated through the dark blue space.

[…If there is a next life, do not become my child again.]

The answer that came back was as cold as the dark blue around her. She lay sprawled like an insect, her face drenched in tears, rubbing it against the floor in her pain.

Was it because her head hurt, or because her heart felt ready to split open?

She wanted to know where this pain came from, but it seemed she would not know before she died.

“Anyone…. Please….”

She reached into empty air with a hand no one had ever held since she was born.

As though she had fallen into water too deep for her feet to touch bottom, her outstretched hand flailed just above the surface.

But even that was only another desperate struggle.

There was no one who would ever take her hand…

“You look like you need help.”

SWISH―

She felt a touch against her outstretched hand. A hand at least one finger joint larger than hers took it and pulled her up.

“Hnghh…! Hngh!”

She gasped as though she had just emerged from beneath the water.

She gulped down air and, through eyes awash with tears, saw pale red eyes.

“If I'm going to treat you properly as a prisoner, you have to remain a prisoner. You can't go dying on me.”

“You….”

Her voice cracked like drought-stricken earth as she looked at the person holding her hand.

And she was not the only one who could see him.

[…Fifth Son. How did you get here?]

“Your family quarrel was loud enough. This is someone else's house. Shouldn't you mind your manners?”

[You are nothing but a chick, you bastard.]

The youngest son gave a faint smile.

“Right. You can't stand the sound of a chick peeping, either, so let's both fuck off.”

His pale fist struck empty air.

FWOOSH—!!

Flames as red as blood radiated out from his fist.

He concentrated the heat at a single point in his fist, then released it all at once.

The process resembled a Fire Attribute mage's method, and the Second Daughter was the first to notice it.

Before she could even feel surprise, the blood flames began to burn the dark blue space. As they did, the lingering pain in her head faded.

[You, I will, defi-nite-ly…]

The dream burned away until not even ash remained. The Family Head's voice burned with it, and she heard him no more.

When the dark blue space vanished, a blank white page appeared. In it, the youngest son said,

“It's time to wake up.”

.

.

.

“Hngh…!”

She bolted upright as though waking from a nightmare.

She felt over her body with both hands, touched her face, and ran her fingers through her hair.

Only then did it feel real that she was alive.

“My hands….”

As she felt over herself, she also noticed that at some point her wrists had been freed. And there was something else that caught Pia's turquoise eyes.

“Th-the Fifth Son…!”

The leader of the enemy. The cause of the war. The enemy of the mages lay beside her, sound asleep.

FWOOSH—!

Flames flared from both the Second Daughter's fists. She would not even need to use force; merely touching him would burn a hole through him.

And because she only needed to touch him, it would take no time. Five seconds. Perhaps three. If she made up her mind, not even one second.

And yet. Surely she could do it, and yet.

“Haaa….”

HISS―

The Second Daughter's hands returned to normal, accompanied by the faint smell of burning.

“Now we're even.”

She left the youngest son alive, rose quietly, and went out of the room.

She sharpened her five senses with mana to take stock of her surroundings and walked without a sound.

Since this was the Master of the Tower of the Sky's residence, she knew her way around the house, including the route to the basement where the mages were being held.

Her body kept moving, but her thoughts strayed as she went.

‘I… Father almost killed me just now.’

Perhaps she would not have died, but a life reduced to a helpless shell was no different from death.

‘Do Ryan and Eldest Sister know about this?’

No. Of course they did not.

Father would have quietly erased every trace of the Second Daughter's existence and covered it up as some other incident to raise the family's morale.

In other words, even if by extraordinary luck she rescued the prisoners and returned to the family, the Second Daughter would be a dead woman.

What should I do, then? What comes next?

Start a civil war against the father who tried to kill me? Could that even happen?

‘Damn it…!’

She cursed inwardly and kept walking.

Whatever was in her heart, her wish to rescue the prisoners had not changed.

‘The basement is just ahead.’

Once she rescued the prisoners, she would have to find a way off Sky Island.

But Sky Island was a floating island. Without a suitable means of transport, escape was impossible.

‘…Right. I'll prepare an escape route first, then come back.’

At the stairs leading to the basement, she changed her mind and started to turn around. Then she saw something strange through the window.

“Trees…?”

They were so unreal that she murmured the word without thinking.

There were trees on Sky Island, but neither the position nor the size of these trees seemed possible.

Outside Sky Island stood trees that had grown all the way up into the sky. One, two, three… four of them.

“How could they grow from the ground in such a short time…? Hngh.”

SHING―

“Looking for the bathroom, Second Daughter?”

She felt a cold blade rise close to her neck. Slowly lowering her gaze, she saw a gray blade that seemed ready to take her head at any moment.

“…First Son.”

“How did you get the Binding Rope off? I heard you couldn't use any mana while it was on.”

The First Son's voice behind her was flat. He even moved the blade slightly away.

But her body, which had seen with its own eyes that his combat strength rivaled Cos's, could not move easily.

Her shoulders, and even her mana, trembled as though she had been left outside on a winter night.

The First Son noticed and let out a faint breath.

“You had the courage to free yourself and run away, but none to resist? How dull.”

SHING―

The gray blade vanished from her sight.

Her body tensed, thinking he was about to stab her, but the sound that followed was a sword sliding into its sheath.

“Go back to your room. I'll spare you for my youngest brother's sake.”

“…….”

She watched his retreating back and slowly stepped backward. Then his dry voice rang out again.

“Jamie's room is in that direction. If I were you, I would stay well away from it. Use the central staircase.”

With those words, the First Son disappeared completely. No, he was about to disappear.

CREAK―

“Ah. Am I too late already?”

The door to the room he had just mentioned had opened.

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