“Benefactor!”

Edith turned towards the voice and spotted a woman cradling her swollen belly with one hand while waving at her with the other.

“Mina?”

Mina. The bold little girl who had sought her out years ago, holding her father’s hand while he carried her mother who was suffering from the manaha disease that had swept through the South.

‘We cannot admit people of unknown identity.’

‘If you could at least deliver this letter…’

‘No. Please leave.’

‘What’s going on there?’

‘Ah, Director. Some peddlers…’

‘Brote. Brote told us to come here.’

That little girl had grown up and was now becoming a mother herself. Several decades had passed since the world had been turned upside down. During that long yet somehow brief time, Edith’s world had completely transformed.

‘Edith Settler.’

First, the family name that followed hers had changed, and second, her social position had shifted dramatically. Edith was no longer merely a mage in the royal mage corps.

She was no longer the young lady of House Hopper, nor had she become someone else’s possession. Edith Settler, she existed now as herself alone.

When most people had turned their backs on the Crown Prince or pretended not to know him, she had received a new surname in recognition of her service alongside aide Benjamin, supporting him until the very end.

Of course, Edith’s acquisition of a new surname, position, wealth, and power as an “unmarried woman” was also due to the honor she had earned by discovering a cure for the “manaha disease,” but regardless of the specifics, these two changes were undoubtedly the most visible transformations in her life.

However, what had truly shaken Edith to her core was something else entirely, the change in relationships. The disappearance of Brote, who had been practically her entire world; the downfall of House Hopper, which had sided against the Crown Prince; the division of the Colin and Veritatis houses and the South’s independence after losing their heirs; the death of Brighton, who had been another pillar of mental support for Edith.

These relationship changes beyond her control had profoundly influenced her thoughts and beliefs.

“Have you had lunch?”

“No, not yet. Have you?”

“Of course not! I was waiting to eat with you, Benefactor!”

“Is there anything special you’d like to eat?”

“Hmm… Let’s go for seafood, your favorite! I know a place!”

While she had once strived to gain power, now she pondered what she wanted to accomplish with that power. It made the ever-forward-moving Edith pause and look back, slowly retracing the life she had lived. It made her reflect on what was truly precious.

‘Edith. Please stop this nonsense. What’s so great about this magic that you disappoint Jeffrey? Hmm? Did you really have to do that? Why are you looking at me like that, Edith! You show no signs of remorse at all. Fine, I’d rather die than continue this conversation. I can’t stand the sight of you—go to your room immediately! Goodness, where did you get such stubbornness? Watching what you do just turns my stomach. Your mother is saying this for your own good, but you never understand and just keep rebelling. I sometimes wonder whose womb you came from.’

She recalled why she had wanted to rise to such a high position in the first place. Edith had wanted recognition. And she belatedly realized there had been someone who had given her that recognition from long ago.

By the time she realized this, Brote was no longer by her side. Except for occasional letters, she had no means to initiate contact. Even if she wanted to send a letter to the North, the gates that had stopped functioning during the long war would take time to repair.

After time passed and the clouds of war hanging over the kingdom had completely cleared, Edith approached His Highness.

‘The cure for the manaha disease, which greatly helped bring in the southern front, could not have been completed without my friend’s help, Your Highness.’

The Crown Prince, immediately understanding what she meant, asked what she wanted, and Edith answered without a moment’s hesitation.

‘I wish to visit the North.’

‘I cannot send you alone.’

When she finally reached the North, leading the delegation provided by His Highness, what greeted Edith was a ruined mansion.

Winter ‘Grand Duke’

Contrary to that grand title, the mansion, smaller than even House Hopper’s and now in tatters, was all that welcomed her.

The collapsed walls marked with wild animal tracks, the somehow gloomy spire, and the mansion with its large hole. The memory of those cracks spreading like spider webs throughout the mansion and extending to the greenhouse and annexes behind it remained vivid in Edith’s mind.

She could still picture the greenhouse with its precariously fitted glass panes making strange sounds as they wobbled in the wind, the graveyard of books and portraits submerged in glass fragments, and the room beyond the curtain filled with books inscribed with the same sentence in one person’s handwriting.

Brote was nowhere to be found. The only thing Edith could obtain there was a single pale leather book, which might not even have belonged to Brote.

After returning to the royal palace with that hollow feeling, Edith soon discovered the reason. 

With the permission of His Highness, now His Majesty Louis, she gained access to the chronicles that recorded the complete history of all the royal families that had ruled the kingdom. 

There, she found the answer to her question.

[…An old man and a young man came and asked the king to create a title for a land that was little more than wasteland. The king asked them what they could give the kingdom in return…]

About a century ago, an old man and a young man had appeared with gold and treasures, and the king had sold them the northern wasteland at a high price.

Recalling the shabby mansion that didn’t match the status of a Grand Duke, Edith remembered the rumors that had circulated widely about the North and the Grand Duke’s family.

The isolated mansion that didn’t match the ‘Grand Duke’ title, the malicious rumors about them, rumors that no one had ever verified.

The truth among those nebulous stories was this: a fleeting sand castle before the waves, a shadow castle for those who existed yet did not exist, a transient illusion, a hideout for those with purpose.

Looking back, that’s what it was.

“…nefactor. Benefactor!”

Edith snapped back to reality at the tapping on the back of her hand. The familiar smell of fish struck her nostrils first, followed by the cool breeze flowing through the wide-open window.

Though she didn’t remember arriving, Edith found herself sitting in a riverside restaurant she had frequented during her academy days.

This was the place she had vowed to visit with Brote someday, the place they might have come together on her graduation day if not for Professor Brighton, yet they had never managed to visit even once.

Afterward, left only with regret and lingering attachment, she had never returned alone. Yet by some twist of fate, Mina had led Edith here.

As thoughts of Brote naturally surfaced, bringing bitterness despite the years that had passed, Mina tapped the back of Edith’s hand again.

“You didn’t answer when I called, so I ordered the white fish dish you like, but I couldn’t choose the wine.”

“Ah, wine… Let’s go with this one.”

“Domero wine? Won’t that clash with fine cuisine?”

“Nonsense. You should try it together sometime. Not today, though.”

“Fine. Not today, but I’ll definitely try your recommendation next time. Then, please bring this and this.”

After placing the order, Mina stretched broadly and turned to look out the window at the capital’s streets. The wind blew, gently scattering her nearly black brown hair.

It was a peaceful scene, one that would have been better with Brote. But Edith, who was no longer young, knew that what was once lost never returns.

She now understood that clinging to regret and lingering attachment wouldn’t improve anything.

Sometimes there are things that must be released, and only then can one live and move forward. This was something she could now acknowledge and accept after all these years.

“The Eternal Church… Benefactor, do you think their doctrine makes sense?”

Edith shifted her gaze to where Mina was looking. There, members of the Eternal Church, one of the newly rising organizations, were distributing something to passersby.

It was obvious what they were handing out: indulgences based on their claim that one must atone for sins in this life to prepare for the next reincarnation.

“Well… I’ve never really thought about it, so I’m not sure, but sometimes I do want to believe.”

Answering Mina’s question, Edith suddenly realized she hadn’t yet heard the baby’s name. This thought immediately became words leaving her mouth.

To Edith, the “baby’s name” was a far more important matter than pointless debates about the Old Church, New Church, or Eternal Church.

“Have you decided on a name for the baby?”

“Yes.”

A smile like spring blossoms spread across Mina’s face as she nodded slightly while caressing her swollen belly. Following her smile, Edith’s lips curved into a gentle smile as well.

With the slight gray in her hair and the gradually deepening wrinkles, Edith’s face had lost the sharpness of her youth and now possessed a profound peacefulness that touched the hearts of those who saw her.

Encouraged by that face, Mina took a deep breath, raised her head, and met Edith’s eyes.

“Bri. I’ve decided on Bri.”

‘Bri.’

The familiar nickname nearly shattered Edith’s carefully composed smile. She reached for her water glass, soothing her tumultuous feelings with the lukewarm water before slowly opening her mouth. She made a jest, pretending nothing was amiss.

“How disappointing. I thought you’d name the child after me.”

“Actually, I considered that, but I thought the first child should be named after her.”

As always, the overwhelming longing subsided after taking time to swallow it once. Completely settling herself with a deep breath, Edith asked with genuine curiosity.

“What if it’s a boy?”

“Then that would be the child’s fate. Come to think of it, a pretty boy like her might be even better!”

Fate… When you think about it, Mina meeting Brote on that mountain path was also this child’s fate. That wouldn’t be so bad either.

“If it’s a boy who takes after her, you’ll have quite a challenge on your hands.”

“That would be an honor.”

And so, Edith and Mina chatted endlessly about the soon-to-be-born child and Brote.

Because the existence of people who remembered her and would continue to do so was both sad and immensely joyful, a faint smile lingered like an afterimage on Edith’s face throughout the twilight hours as the midday sun hid between buildings and the surroundings were tinged with red.