***

The Grand Duchess sleeping in the western tower.

Though one might expect her to lie in a beautiful coffin adorned with flowers, the reality was completely different.

Astrid’s room at the top of the western tower was eerily empty.

Only a round tank occupied the center, where a woman with ghost-like pale skin and pitch-black hair lay submerged.

The sight of her long black hair swaying in the tank was terrifying enough to haunt anyone’s dreams who might have seen it.

And Ferik stared down at that sight intently.

Though the shadows cast by his lamp made it even more frightening, Ferik continued to gaze into the tank with an expressionless face.

As if the being before his eyes might change somehow.

Perhaps a pale finger would move, or those tightly closed eyes would open.

However, just like the past 5 years, the woman in the tank remained as motionless as a corpse, and Ferik watching her remained equally still.

“……”

It was the usual silence.

Until the surface of the tank where Astrid was submerged showed a faint ripple.

“Astrid-“

Ferik called out to her reflexively. But before that brief call could end, the tower shook violently.

Water from the tank spilled onto the floor, and the ground trembled. The walls wavered, and soon the tower lost its form and began to collapse.

CRASH!

Everything that made up the tower plummeted to the ground.

As Ferik heard the deafening sound of collapse that nearly deafened him, he reached out toward the tank. He pulled the cold, wet body into his arms.

Finally, as the tank shattered into pieces, they both fell downward.

***

“Ugh…”

Leticia opened her eyes to the intense pain throughout her body. Her vision was completely black.

Plop, something like small stones seemed to be falling above her head.

As she blinked to adjust to the darkness, she soon saw a familiar shadow sitting near her.

“Lord Chamuka…?”

With a rustling sound, a half-broken lamp lit up. As expected, Chamuka was sitting among the scattered broken lamps.

To Leticia, who was confused about what had suddenly happened, Chamuka said.

“The tower collapsed. We’re lucky to have fallen into an empty space, but can you move before it collapses further?”

“A little…”

A large pillar above them was holding back the debris of the collapsed tower. Its rather sturdy appearance suggested it could hold for quite a while.

Chamuka gestured toward a hole on the left.

“Try going that way first.”

“What about you…?”

“I can’t walk.”

Only then did she notice Chamuka’s blood-soaked thigh. And his face, though maintaining an expressionless mask, was covered in cold sweat.

She almost reflexively asked if he was alright, but changed her words. After all, he clearly didn’t look fine to anyone.

“How long do you think you can hold on?”

“I’ve never been injured this badly before, so I don’t know.”

Even speaking seemed difficult as Chamuka closed his mouth and finally winced.

“The bleeding won’t stop… I can’t hold on long.”

“I understand, don’t say anymore.”

Leticia rose with her aching body and ran in the direction Chamuka had pointed.

Like how they had fallen into an uncollapsed empty space, fortunately, there was quite a long open area.

But going a bit further, she could see the debris of the collapsed tower completely blocking the way ahead.

Leticia forcefully squeezed her body into the gaps between the piled debris.

However, even that wasn’t easy.

She couldn’t even tell exactly where they were. Whether it was the tower’s first floor, underground, or which way would lead to an exit.

Licking her lips anxiously as she remembered Chamuka’s blood-soaked thigh, Leticia’s eyes widened at the feeling of wind at her outstretched fingertips.

“…!”

If wind was coming through, it meant there was a connection to the outside.

Leticia quickly gauged the nearby debris with her palm. The debris was too tightly entangled to break through.

“Hey! There’s someone here! Hey!”

After shouting for a while, Leticia finally pulled herself out from between the debris.

Chamuka was injured and bigger than her. It would clearly be impossible for him to squeeze through these gaps.

But they couldn’t wait for all this debris to be cleared from the outside either.

Since Chamuka wouldn’t last long, they needed to at least signal their location as quickly as possible.

Leticia stared briefly at the debris where furniture and bricks had collapsed together, then turned around. She quickly returned to where Chamuka was.

“Is that side open…?”

Leticia tore her tattered sleeve and pressed it against Chamuka’s mouth. Confusion flickered in his golden eyes.

“Lie down. And keep your mouth covered.”

With those final words, Leticia ran back the way she came, carrying armfuls of broken lamps.

Arriving at the piled debris, she completely removed her outer garment. Fortunately, she avoided being completely n*ked thanks to the thin shirt underneath, but there was no time to worry about such things.

She wrapped her outer garment around her right hand and poured the lamp oil over it.

Swallowing once, Leticia squeezed into the gap in the debris. Then she pushed her right hand into where the wind was coming through and lit it on fire.

If they were lucky, the debris would burn and create a path, and if unlucky, at least someone outside would see the flames and come running.

After all, the knights guarding this tower would know that members of the Grand Duke’s family were inside.

Leticia thought these things with her eyes tightly shut.

Soon, accompanied by a sharp, acrid smell, an intense burning sensation began to spread from her right hand.

Enveloped by reminders of that traumatic day, Leticia succumbed to unconsciousness as waves of excruciating pain washed over her.

***

Hilda ran frantically at the sight of the collapsing tower.

The Grand Duke would surely be in the western tower at this late hour. Which meant both the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess were in that collapsing tower!

“Huff, hah…”

Arriving at the massive debris of the collapsed tower, knights were already moving frantically.

Hilda shouted at Yen, who was busily directing knights in a similar disheveled state as herself.

“What happened here?!”

“That’s what I want to know! What happened to the tower!”

Realizing they both knew nothing about this situation, the two quickly moved to handle the crisis.

Yen spoke urgently.

“Both His Grace and the First Young Master were in the tower. Please search for their locations as quickly as possible.”

Of course, Astrid and Tan were also in the tower.

But Yen only mentioned the Grand Duke and his son because that was the priority for Yen as a vassal of Basilinte.

However, that wasn’t Hilda’s priority.

“I’ll search for Lady Astrid first. His Grace will be with her anyway.”

Instead of arguing with her already-made decision, Yen just nodded.

Hilda approached the debris, closed her eyes, and concentrated. Born with a magical aptitude for mental magic, she had a talent for tracking and interrogating people.

However, Hilda’s magic power, which had extended to search for living beings’ responses, suddenly recoiled.

“…?”

Like prey encountering a predator, the recoiled magic power was similar to when she first witnessed Astrid’s magic.

Like a small boat realizing its insignificance before a massive tidal wave, Hilda’s magic power trembled.

Inside the collapsed tower lurked a magical power so vast that Hilda dared not even attempt to measure its magnitude.