Durion! Something terrible has happened! Kian! Kian is gone!

With my face streaked with tears, I ran up to Durion’s room. Durion’s room was located at the very top of the manor, overlooking the entire estate.

Durion, who had been standing by the window monitoring for intruders, hurried over in surprise as I burst into the room.

“You mean the young master is not in his room?!”

“Kian’s window is wide open, and the twins are nowhere to be seen!”

“My Lady, please calm yourself. Let me go down and investigate first.”

What parent could possibly remain calm when their child suddenly vanishes?

Though I adopted Kian out of necessity, from the very moment I took him in, I never once thought of him as anything less than my own son.

He loved me so deeply that I couldn’t help but pour all my love into him—and now, my heart simply would not settle.

After descending to Kian’s room and calmly inspecting it, Durion returned and handed me a handkerchief with a composed expression.

“It doesn’t seem that the young master was kidnapped.”

“If he wasn’t kidnapped, then why isn’t he in his room?”

“There are signs that the young masters changed clothes. It appears they left on their own.”

Where could he have gone? Why would Kian suddenly do something so out of character?

Clearly, I couldn’t just sit here. Just as I prepared to go out searching for Kian, Seo Yeon—who had promised to search the mansion for the twins—appeared, her face also soaked with tears.

“Lady Duchess! I’ve searched everywhere inside the mansion, but I can’t find the children!”

“So they left here on their own feet. It seems we must go out and search for them too.”

As we moved to step outside, Durion immediately blocked our path.

“What are you doing, Durion?!”

“I apologize, but you cannot leave.”

“Durion. I’m warning you—step aside. This is an order from the Duchess!”

“I have an idea of where the young master may have gone.”

“You have an idea? Where?”

“The young master likely went to find the Duke.”

“What? What do you mean?! How could Kian possibly know where Sikar is and go looking for him?!”

Durion suddenly knelt before me, his face solemn as he spoke.

“I… intentionally arranged for the young master to see the letter… I sent to Reidox.”

“What was written in that letter?!”

“The letter contained the location where the Duke and Reidox are to meet. I judged that place to be the site of the decisive battle between the King and the Duke. Currently, the Duke is no longer himself due to the manifestation of the curse. If the curse manifests at that critical moment, the Duke may be gravely harmed.”

“So you sent that child into such mortal danger?!”

“I only revealed the location. Of course… I hoped the young master would choose to aid the Duke, but the choice was ultimately his—and he appears to have chosen that path.”

“Durion… Kian is still just a ten-year-old boy, far too young to be making such decisions!”

“He is the Royal Heir. Even younger than that, he must be capable of making wise choices.”

I realized then just how deeply loyal Durion was to Sikar—loyalty that had rarely shown itself outwardly—and found I had no words to say to him.

My own desire for Sikar’s safety was no less than Durion’s.

But what troubled me was that Kian, who would one day naturally ascend the throne, was now in danger because of us.

“Then… what about the twins? Why did they follow His Highness the Royal Heir?”

“That… I’m not certain. I can only assume they saw the young master leaving and followed him.”

Protecting the protagonist Kian was the twins’ destiny—they may have unknowingly followed that fate.

The children must be safe. Is all I can do now pray to the gods to protect them?

Suddenly, Durion tensed and turned sharply.

“There’s an intruder. My Lady, do not move from this room.”

“In—intruder?!”

“I’ll return shortly.”

But Durion, who promised to return quickly, did not come back soon. Seo Yeon gripped my hand tightly, her face filled with worry.

“What’s happening? Should we go down and check?”

“No. He told us not to move—so we should stay right here.”

Just in case, I pulled a mana potion from my pocket and drank it. Then I gripped my wand tightly.

“Don’t worry too much, Lady Seo Yeon. I’ve been trained by the Duke for moments like this.”

As Seo Yeon looked at me, her eyes widened in horror as she screamed, staring out the window.

“L—Lady Duchess! Th—there’s s—someone outside the window!”

I immediately aimed my wand at the window. The figure attempting to climb in was a royal guardsman.

“Lady Seo Yeon, hide behind me!”

When Sikar taught me wand techniques in the training room, the simulated enemies he summoned were precisely the royal guards.

He deliberately arranged the simulations with people dressed as royal guards, fearing I might hesitate to attack real humans.

Thanks to that, the moment the guard opened the window, I fired my wand. Lightning shot from the wand and struck the guardsman’s chest. Startled, I didn’t hit him on the first try—but by the third shot, I succeeded.

Seeing the guard tumble out the window gave me a surge of confidence.

“Good heavens, Lady Duchess! You’re incredible!”

If we’re speaking of incredible, it’s Sikar—who trained me to target royal guards for moments like this.

“But it’s still too early to celebrate, Lady Seo Yeon.”

Seo Yeon, watching me anxiously, soon understood why I said that.

More guards were climbing up toward the window.

Even among the royal guards, the elite First Weapons Unit did not fall easily to Reidox’s blade.

Every time Reidox’s sword completed a single arc, the blades of the First Weapons Unit stabbed forward three or four times.

Each time, Roen deflected incoming blades with her holy power, while Jeremi held off those attacking Roen—but with so many guards, they quickly began to tire.

Above all, the psychological pressure of Pasium’s imminent arrival weighed heavily, making it impossible to focus entirely on the fight.

“Is the Duke even going to show up here? Did that merchant deceive us?”

“Sir Jeremi, please hold on a little longer, even if it’s difficult!”

At the very moment Jeremi felt exhaustion creeping in, he saw Roen smiling brightly as she cheered him on—and suddenly felt ashamed.

Just as he was weary from mana depletion, Roen must also be exhausted from holy power depletion—yet she showed no sign of strain, smiling with serene composure.

Now, it seemed neither Reidox nor Roen were merely enduring until the Duke arrived.

They were fully focused on this battle, giving their all in this very moment—as if determined to annihilate the enemy before the Duke even appeared.

Jeremi shouted like a knight rallying his spirit.

“Hyah!”

Using magic, he broke the wrists of the group charging toward Roen.

Thanks to that, the guards attempting to attack Roen had their wrists shattered. With broken wrists, they could neither grip nor swing their swords properly.

‘This is the best method.’

Jeremi gritted his teeth and yelled.

“They’re all dead!”

Jeremi’s voice reached even the twins hiding behind a tree.

“Someone seems to have died?”

Following Luid, who lifted his head like a meerkat, Lucy also raised her head.

“Dad looks like he’s struggling—we should go help him now.”

Kian pushed down the heads of the twins, who had turned into meerkats.

“No. You don’t even have weapons right now.”

“We can just use the ones from the fallen soldiers over there.”

This time, Kian lifted his head like a meerkat and peered inside. The Duke was still nowhere to be seen.

“It’s no good—we can’t act yet. If I get captured first, I won’t be able to help the Duke. If I can’t offer him any aid, then there’s no point in us being here at all.”

“But Father is in danger!”

Kian knew well that once Lucy started stubbornly insisting with that determined tone, she would stop at nothing to achieve her goal.

“Fine. I’ll help.”

Luid and Lucy were suspicious of Kian’s words.

“You? How?”

“What method?”

Kian stood up toward Reidox and clasped his hands together, channeling his still-raw holy power to aid him.

The bright light radiating from Kian’s hands left Luid and Lucy utterly stunned.

“W—what is this?!”

Lucy stared blankly at Kian, as if to say she had no idea what such things even were.

“Dunno. It’s cool.”

“Can’t we do this too?”

“Let’s try copying him.”

The twins stretched out their hands like Kian—but of course, nothing happened.

Though confused, the children felt somehow that mimicking this might still help.

So the twins clasped their hands together like Kian and squeezed their eyes shut.

Roen realized someone was helping her. But no matter how swiftly she scanned her surroundings, no ally revealed themselves.

Yet someone was definitely aiding her. Holy power—power she had not summoned herself—was clearly intercepting sword blows aimed at Reidox before they reached her.

She looked around several more times, but now was not the time to keep searching.

Though the aid was faint, to the exhausted Roen, it was more precious than anything else.

In this tiring battle, Kian’s help—even if weak—was like two drops of water falling to someone desperate for just one.

“Good! Keep going!”

Since the soldiers were tiring just as much, their numbers visibly dwindled as they collapsed.

Reidox himself could feel the increasing strength defending him. He assumed Roen was squeezing out her last reserves of power.

But at that very moment—the moment they had hoped Pasium would not appear—he revealed himself among the guards.

Jeremi gritted his teeth at Pasium.

“Disgusting wretch!”

Soon, fiery ropes conjured by Pasium coiled tightly around Jeremi’s neck, hands, and feet.

“Ugh!”

While Jeremi grimaced and struggled to break free, the guards simultaneously swung their spears toward him.

In that instant, Roen tried to block the spears aimed at Jeremi—but it was futile. If left unchecked, he would surely be impaled.

Roen gritted her teeth and screamed.

“Reidox! Help!”

Reidox wanted to help, but he was in no position to do so.

At the moment he hesitated, stone spirits intercepted the countless spears flying toward Jeremi.

Someone who could summon—or freely command spirits wandering in nature—

Only one person possessed such power: Sikar.

Jeremi looked ahead with a relieved smile.

“D—Duke!”

Sikar strode toward Jeremi, swinging his sword at the guards charging toward him.