It was darkness here.

Pitch-black darkness where not even a single finger could be seen.

‘Is this a dream?’

No one told me, but I realized this place wasn’t real.

Because the sensation was completely different from reality.

It was a strange feeling, as if I were floating in the air, or swimming submerged underwater.

After being dazed for quite a while,

a light spread out from my toes like fireflies.

‘Ah, this is me—three-year-old Erilot.’

I lifted my head and looked around.

Only then did the scenery come into view.

I was standing among thorn bushes. Red roses bloomed everywhere in the thickets.

“First, I need to find a way... huh?”

I could speak properly without babbling nonsense.

‘This really must be a dream.’

My voice was very childish, but the pronunciation came out clearly.

‘Well, whatever. Let’s find a way first.’

It was too dark and cold here.

I walked straight ahead. It was dim but not so dark that I couldn’t walk.

After walking a while,

I saw a door in the distance emitting light.

My steps gradually quickened. In the end, I almost ran.

I barely reached the door that was glowing with light,

[You’re not the one.]

—Someone grabbed my wrist.

The person who caught me was hidden in darkness.

Only a silhouette and their hands were faintly visible.

A woman wearing a dress.

Her hands were covered with scars, but she looked fairly young.

[You must be scared, but please trust me.]

“......”

[Though I cannot tell you everything, I am your—]

“Mother.”

I stretched out my fingers to point at her.

I’d seen this pattern many times in novels.

Usually, when someone says things like ‘That’s not the way,’ or ‘Come this way,’ it’s almost always a dead mother.

[Child, I am—]

“Is this the ‘I have immense power, died tragically, and now watch over you as a spirit’ trope?”

[......]

She was silent for a moment.

I could somehow feel the absurdity in the silence.

[Sorry to disappoint, but I’m not your mother—]

“Then you’re Erilot.”

[......]

“The unlucky character who died tragically brought me to this world, watching over me as a spirit hoping I’ll change my fate?”

[......]

Still, no response.

“Or maybe a god.”

[......]

“I’m actually a child of fate sent by a god to this empire, and this is the pattern where the god protects me?”

The woman’s silence lasted long.

After a long time without a word, she released my hand and held her forehead.

Then she... sighed.

[You must go. Go quickly.]

“Why? Isn’t there a hint among those three? I know most fantasy tropes—”

[Go.]

The owner of the voice pushed me toward the other side.

“No, usually the setting unravels here! You’re supposed to tell me something before sending me off—”

[Go!]

Where she pushed me, a new door had appeared.

I stepped into the door without thinking.

‘You’re really sending me off just like this?’

What is this?

How did it come to this?

I even came here coughing up blood, but now I’m just going back like this?

I tried to speak, but all the sounds of the world seemed muffled and the surroundings grew quiet.

My vision began to blur.

As if it really was time to return.

Just before I closed my eyes, I heard that voice one last time.

[I can’t tell you anything. But I believe you will do well.]

‘Belief my ass.’

Belief is useless—give me information.

How am I supposed to survive this harsh life without information?

But apparently in this space, I could hear the other’s thoughts too.

[What a character. Just as expected...]

If she said that, then...

What does that ellipsis mean?

Why do important words always end with ellipses in places like this?

Tell me already!

Gasp!

I suddenly opened my eyes wide.

No sooner had I come to my senses than a stabbing pain engulfed me.

It felt like my entire body had been beaten.

“Ugh...”

The pain was so intense that a moan escaped my lips.

“Miss!”

“Are you awake?”

I heard the noisy voices of the maids Heidi and Betty nearby.

I groaned and shifted my body.

“Why does it hurt so much...? (Why is it so painful...?)”

My speech was still the childish pronunciation I usually used.

‘Was what I just saw a ridiculous dream?’

While thinking that, I heard a clinking sound nearby.

Turning my head, I saw the maids stirring a small bowl with spoons.

One maid, after stirring the bowl several times, offered me a spoon.

“Drink this. It’s medicine.”

The liquid looked like thickly dissolved green tea powder in water.

It seemed it would taste terribly bitter, but this was no time to fuss, so I took the medicine.

After some time passed, I finally felt much more comfortable.

‘I thought I was going to die.’

I sighed and sprawled on the bed while the maids carefully asked,

“Are you feeling better now?”

“Mm.”

Heidi and Betty’s eyes welled up.

“I thought the lady was going to pass away...”

“Don’t say that. Do you forget how angry the general was with the doctors?”

Father was angry?

I blinked and looked at the maids.

“What happened?”

“It was chaos. The entire headquarters was turned upside down. They were terrified for five whole days, worried you’d worsen...”

“Five days? (Five whole days?)”

“Yes. You’ve been unconscious for five days.”

The maids sobbed as they told me everything.

Right after I collapsed in the dining hall, they called the doctors immediately.

But even the doctors couldn’t figure out why I collapsed.

The maids said, “Could it be Lady Rachel poisoned her?” and they tested all poisons, but it wasn’t that either.

The healer brought from the factory also couldn’t find anything, saying it wasn’t a curse or magic.

At that time, someone helped.

“His name is Michelan. He might be able to help the lady.”

Father was suspicious but had no other choice.

I even told him Michelan’s identity.

He didn’t think someone from the former Empress’s steward would be talking nonsense.

But they examined him thoroughly.

They gave the medicine Michelan brought to him first, and had the doctors and healer test everything meticulously.

“After giving the medicine Michelan brought, the lady woke up in just two days!”

‘I see.’

I should thank Michelan.

I almost died otherwise.

‘But did Erilot usually get this sick suddenly?’

While thinking that, the door suddenly swung open.

“Mommy!”

I quickly got out of bed.

I stumbled for a moment as my head spun from getting up too fast.

Still, I quickly regained my balance and hurried to my father.

“......”

Father just looked at me silently.

‘He got angry because they brought the healer from the factory?’

Father hated bowing his head to the grandfather the most.

What should I do, always bothering him like this?

‘For now, I’ll apologize.’

It’s better to know one’s fault and apologize than to shamelessly act.

Watching his expression, I said,

“Sorry for causing pain.”

“...Please don’t say that.”

Father said that bitterly, so I was surprised.

Worried he was really angry, I froze stiff, but he sighed.

“Seeing you awake is enough.”

Father turned his head toward the maids.

“Give her the medicine on time and fulfill any requests she has. If it’s a request from Erilot’s room, handle it as a top priority immediately.”

“Yes, y-yes, General!”

“Yes...”

After saying that, Father turned away. He seemed about to leave.

‘He must really be angry.’

Even Mom, who cared for me during my illness, was like that.

At that time, before canceling the death insurance, Mom cared for me, but

she showed nothing but irritation from having to nurse me all day.

‘Ah, no!’

I can’t become a child who causes irritation.

I clung to Father’s leg as he tried to leave the room.

“I’m not hurting anymore!”

“......”

“I won’t bother you anymore. Really!”

“......”

“Don’t be mad at me...”

The maids in my room and the soldiers guarding the door all lost their words.

And Father...

‘Huh...?’

Why is he so stiff?

“I told you it’s not like that.”

“......”

Father kneeled down and met my eyes.

His handsome face was contorted with pain.

“As a child, you don’t have to do that.”

Like he was suffering somewhere deeply.

I clenched my skirt tightly.

He looked so pained, like he was really worried about me, and something welled up inside me.

If I messed up, I thought I’d break down crying, so I bit my chin tightly.

‘Why say things like that?’

It makes a person get their hopes up.

I only stopped relying on my parents after dying once, so why make me hope again?

It’s so painful to get your hopes up and then be disappointed. So lonely and sad.

Don’t trust.

Don’t hope.

How many times am I going to get hurt again?

‘I should have realized this by now.’

In the end, there is no love without cost.

Right now, it’s because I’ve done well, because I’ve worked hard to be acknowledged, that I’m noticed.

Later, I might just become a nuisance again.

“I don’t know how to treat you.”

Father sighed.

‘See? I’m already becoming a nuisance again—’

“That’s not something I learned.”

“......”

“I’ll try. So could you please look at me a little?”

“......”

“Sorry for being a lousy father.”

The description that Daymond was the better kind of person among the Astras was a lie.

He was a worse man than grandfather, worse than those wicked uncles.

He pushed his way through the tightly shut door and made me hope against all odds.

“Wahhh...”

In the end, I covered my eyes /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ with both hands and cried.

Father awkwardly hugged me.

Daymond quietly watched the child sleeping in bed.

It was a strange feeling.

Until he returned from the battlefield, he never expected to feel this way.

‘I thought I wouldn’t get attached to anyone.’

All his siblings had different mothers.

Since childhood, all his brothers were at risk of poisonings and assassinations.

Daymond, who lost his mother early, was especially vulnerable but had great ability.

To his brothers, he was the highest priority target.

‘I won’t die miserably. Whatever is done to me, I’ll return it.’

He lived with that mindset.

No one stayed by his side.

His brothers were worse than strangers—

Those he called comrades betrayed him and tried to assassinate him—

The only friend he trusted died in his place.

For these reasons, Daymond never opened his heart to anyone.

And then that day came.

On his father’s orders, he went to the battlefield. There, Daymond was struck by a curse from an enemy shaman.

A burning, agonizing pain in his heart.

He drifted in and out of death for days until a woman entered his tent.

“Who... are you?”

“I am the source of this curse.”

“What do you mean...?”

“Listen carefully, Daymond Astra. I need the power you swallowed. And you want to live, right?”

“......”

“So this is a deal.”

After that, he lost consciousness.

When he woke the next day, she was gone.

His body felt cleansed and healed.

Exactly ten months later.

“General! General—! Urgent news from the factory.”

“What is it?”

“The general’s child was born.”

“...What nonsense is this?”

According to the soldier’s report, a full-term commoner woman came to the factory.

She said, ‘Daymond Astra is the father of this child, so prepare for the delivery immediately.’

And the child born was Erilot.

The Duke’s wife Marlon died during childbirth.

The description of the woman who came from the factory matched the one Daymond saw when cursed.

This was the first time such a thing happened in his life.

‘A child.’

He never planned on marrying, yet a child.

He lost track of how many days he spent in a daze.

One day, a portrait arrived at the battlefield.

“This is a portrait of Miss Erilot?”

“Let me see. Oh, the hair color is exactly like the general’s.”

“The red eyes are a perfect match too.”

“The upward corners of the eyes as well.”

“...Enough noise, everyone clear out.”

He chased the soldiers crowding around the portrait away.

He left the portrait tossed carelessly on a table.

The war situation was urgent. There was no time to care about something like this.

Looking at the map...

‘She does kind of resemble me.’

Her expression looked like his from childhood.

It seemed the woman hadn’t swapped someone else’s child for her own.

“They say the child went to the Twelfth Tower. Isn’t it too cruel for the general’s bloodline? Contact the main estate immediately—”

“Leave it be.”

“What?”

It was probably for the best.

His brothers were always looking for weaknesses.

If he resisted over the child, they’d see it as a vulnerability and target the child...

‘Why am I even worrying about this?’

It was an unwanted child.

An unexpected accident for him.

‘Better not to care.’

That would be better for the child too.

I pretended not to think about the additional thoughts.

One day, a scruffy parchment arrived.

“This is the first writing the lady did?”

“What does it say?”

“[Astra].”

“Ohhh!”

“Stop distracting us and focus on the meeting.”

Though dismissed, the paper lying on the table still caught his attention.

‘Don’t most kids write their parents’ names first?’

Astra, huh.

What did that old man make her do?

He was annoyed all meeting long.

‘Maybe she wrote ‘father’ instead of ‘Astra’ and no one noticed.’

After the meeting ended, he tried to find the paper. But it was gone.

“Enzo.”

“Yes.”

“Who cleaned the barracks?”

“Yes, it was messy, so I...!”

Enzo answered proudly.

“Haha, even though I’m no servant, I clean pretty well...”

“Go run thirty laps around the camp.”

“What? Why all of a sudden!”

“I don’t like your face.”

Another day, a portrait of the child who had grown a little arrived.

“Wow, the child is growing fast.”

“It looks good growing up in a noble family. I grew up on the streets and was scrawny when young.”

“Her cheeks are plump.”

“Yeah, chubby and very cute.”

‘Are they blind?’

She was small.

Compared to other kids, her cheeks didn’t seem that full.

Does the old man starve the child?