Eventually, Hilda couldn’t hold back and opened her eyes.

At that moment, a raindrop fell on her cheek.

It was raining.

Over the forest.

The scene was so unfamiliar that people stopped momentarily, unable to grasp the situation.

Simultaneously, the sound of something collapsing was heard.

Hilda, who regained her senses first, moved toward the source of the sound. Her walk soon turned into a run without her realizing it.

Finally, she arrived at the pile of tower debris that was collapsing with a thunderous noise.

An acrid burning smell persisted even through the pouring rain. No wonder, as the pile of debris before Hilda’s eyes was burned black.

Black and white ashes dissolved and flowed with the rain.

Among the blackened debris, a golden light flickered.

Golden hair covered in ash was being washed away by the rain. A small golden-haired child was sitting among the debris.

As if sensing Hilda’s presence, the child raised their head, and Hilda met unfocused purple eyes.

“Ah…”

The child, who seemed about to say something, collapsed sideways.

Only then was Hilda released from her paralysis and able to survey her surroundings.

Such as the familiar boy lying on the fallen blonde child’s lap.

“…First Young Master!”

Hilda rushed over and applied pressure to Chamuka’s leg wound.

The unconscious boy showed no response to Hilda’s hands pressing on his wound.

Hilda lifted the boy to take him to a physician.

“…?”

But when she had trouble lifting the boy’s body and looked back, she saw Chamuka’s hand tightly gripping the fallen prince’s clothes.

His grip was so tight that Hilda eventually had to cut off the piece of the prince’s clothing.

The rain continued for a day after that, and Chamuka didn’t release his grip on the prince’s clothing until he regained consciousness.

***

The Grand Duke and Grand Duchess were found in the innermost part of the tower’s debris.

Only after clearing debris throughout the rainy day could they find the Grand Duke buried beneath.

He had held the Grand Duchess so tightly that at first, only the Grand Duke was visible.

With the entire family incapacitated, Gaien, who had been confined in the underground prison, came up to handle the situation.

Gaien wasn’t particularly worried about the collapsed Ferik. With Ferik’s abilities, he could have broken through the walls and escaped unharmed when the tower collapsed.

“The Grand Duke will wake up soon, just put him in his room.”

“Are you sure we don’t need a physician?”

“Rather, have them check on Astrid one more time.”

The reason he hadn’t escaped and instead endured the tower’s collapse was likely because of Grand Duchess Astrid in his arms.

Thanks to Ferik, Astrid was able to survive without a scratch.

Gaien couldn’t understand his son who so desperately protected Astrid, who was practically dead already.

He left the Grand Duke couple’s bedroom and headed downstairs.

“How’s Chamuka?”

Yen, who was guarding Chamuka’s bedroom, answered immediately.

“He’s improving. Though he lost a lot of blood, thanks to being found and treated quickly, they say he should wake up soon.”

After confirming Chamuka’s face, which definitely had more color than when first found, Gaien turned away. This floor, bustling with physicians coming and going, would function well without Gaien.

However, when he went down to the first floor, such bustling was absent.

Though there was clearly a patient here who hadn’t regained consciousness, it was only quiet.

This bothered Gaien.

So, was this what irritation felt like?

He entered the prince’s room carrying this unusual, uncomfortable feeling.

Hilda, who he thought would be by Astrid’s side, was sitting beside the prince’s bed.

“How is the prince’s condition?”

“……”

“Hilda?”

Finding it strange that she neither turned to look at him nor answered, he approached and saw Hilda staring intently down at the prince.

The pale-faced prince still lay in bed, looking very small and thin, and beside him lay a silver bundle of fur…

“…?”

For the first time in a while, Gaien was taken aback.

What lay before his eyes wasn’t the familiar silver-furred wolf-dog.

What had buried its head in the prince’s shoulder was-

None other than a child. About four or five years old.

Of course, his surprise wasn’t because a child was suddenly lying next to the prince. It was because the child had a face that looked far too familiar.

The face of the ruthless Basilinte bloodline he saw every time he looked in the mirror, or when he saw his son Ferik, or his grandson Chamuka.

There was only one difference.

The bright blue eyes stared intently at the prince.

Gaien muttered unconsciously.

“Tan?”

Silver hair, blue eyes, and features that echoed the Basilinte lineage—but unlike Chamuka who was Ferik’s mirror image, this face held subtle traces of Astrid.

There was no mistaking it—wasn’t this his second grandson, the one they had laid to rest in a coffin immediately after birth?

Gaien grasped the shoulder of the child who remained fixated on the prince, refusing to respond to his calls.

The child glanced at him briefly but quickly turned back to the prince.

Finally, Gaien asked Hilda.

“Who is this child?”

Hilda, who had been silently staring down at the prince, finally blinked and turned to Gaien.

“This is the Second Young Master, Lord Gaien.”

“He should be dead.”

“Strictly speaking, he wasn’t completely dead.”

Hilda kept glancing at the prince as she replied.

She seemed almost entranced. Both Hilda and that child.

“His body died and went into the coffin. Only his soul was placed in an animal’s body.”

“He was in that coffin. I took him out because he was knocking on the coffin lid.”

Having heard this much, Gaien couldn’t help but lift the child up.

When their blue eyes met, the child immediately frowned.

The child flailed as if wanting to be put down, and soon his eyes grew wet. Then tears formed in those bright blue eyes and dropped down his cheeks.

“Auh, ah…”

A whimper closer to that of a beast than a human child escaped.

Gaien was startled and dropped the child.

A crying Basilinte?

What nonsense was this?

As soon as the child fell onto the bed, he crawled back and clung tightly to the prince’s side.

Gaien stared speechlessly at the child’s tear-stained face.

Hilda said, “The Second Young Master is probably closer to a beast than a human right now. After all, he has no memories of growing up as a human.”

Gaien barely managed to understand.

The curse placed on the Basilinte grows stronger as they age. That’s why even in the Basilinte family, newborn babies could cry and laugh.

Even though he looked like a five-year-old child, if that was his newborn state, it might make sense, but…

“Why is he attached to the prince?”

“I didn’t put him there, the Second Young Master is staying there of his own accord.”

“If he’s in a newborn state, how would he even know what he’s doing?”

“Because he’s in such an unknowing state, he’s more true to his instincts. If the First Young Master takes after His Grace, then the Second Young Master takes after Lady Astrid, which means he inherited Lady Astrid’s instincts.”

Hilda struggled to maintain her gaze that kept drifting toward the prince.

Right now, the prince was like a treasure before a thief’s eyes, or a feast before a starving person to Hilda. Especially in the sense that she couldn’t take her eyes off him.

And that was probably similar to what the Second Young Master, who was clinging tightly to the prince’s side, was feeling as well.