Hello, Readers! I am celebrating my birthday with extra chapter updates, so please enjoy this special chapter release of 4 bonus chapters! 🥳

(Lurelia’s Birthday Bonus – Update 4/4 🎉)

♡ To all readers who purchased these chapters before my Birthday: I can’t express this enough – Thank you for your support. (*ˊᗜˋ*)/ᵗᑋᵃᐢᵏ ᵞᵒᵘ*

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“Ferik must have interpreted that as needing a member of Herta’s imperial family, as he immediately started scheming at the borders to create a situation where he could bring one over.”

Leticia questioned Astrid’s words.
“Then, wasn’t a member of Herta’s imperial family necessary?”

“It was the purple eyes that were needed, so it’s not entirely wrong. The Herta imperial family, perhaps due to the influence of the first emperor, tends to be naturally gifted as mages.”

Of course, thanks to their peaceful lives, imperial family members rarely awakened their magic, so there were almost no true mages among them.

Astrid pointed to Leticia’s eyes and said.
“Highly talented mages usually show signs in their bodies. The Herta imperial family originally had red eyes, but those with talent have blue mixed in, making their eyes purple. Usually, it’s a faint hue, not as vivid as yours.”

Astrid never thought Ferik would be able to find a child with such vivid purple eyes.

Because, in essence, that meant finding a child with the same talent as the first emperor of Herta, who had built the empire with his own power.

“Anyway, I didn’t think a child like you existed in the world. I thought Ferik would fail. That’s why I set that condition… I hoped that when Ferik failed, he’d come to accept my death.”

“But Your Grace wasn’t dead; you were just asleep, weren’t you?”

“I was dead. My body was completely dead, and my soul had left it. It’s just that my magic circuits were connected to Tan, so that part was… let’s say, less dead.”

“But you’re alive now.”

“Doesn’t that seem strange to you?”

Astrid whispered bitterly, contemplating the emptiness of her magic.

“All of my magic had been drained by Tan. In truth, I should have died from magic depletion, and Tan, who could no longer absorb magic, should have died as well. But because I deliberately placed Tan’s soul into the body of a beast to save him, his body stopped absorbing magic.”

Just by looking at Leticia, Astrid could sense how much immense magic swirled within her.

And through the hand touching hers, Astrid could feel how much of that magic was flowing into her empty self.

“Tan and I weren’t really alive. We were in a state that couldn’t be called living.”

Astrid raised her hand, still holding Leticia’s, to make it visible.

“But now, both Tan and I are alive in human form. Whose magic do you think is sustaining us?”

“Is it me?”

“That’s right.”

Astrid declared the tragic truth she had realized.

“Just like me, you won’t be able to endure for long. If you don’t run away from here, your magic will eventually be depleted, and you’ll die.”

“…I came here to die anyway.”

“Even if your death holds no value?”

She spoke the plain truth.

“Ferik brought you here to save me, not to save this land. And even if you resolve to give me your magic and face death, I’ll only live for a few more months. Just like when Tan drained my magic.”

“….”

“You’ve been deceived by Ferik. Just like Gaien was.”

However, Leticia didn’t seem persuaded. Instead, she quietly stared at Astrid, searching for any flaw in her words.

“That’s not true, Your Grace. In my subconscious, and even now… my death wouldn’t have no effect on this land’s curse, would it?”

Astrid remained silent.

She slightly regretted letting her guard down when she entered Leticia’s subconscious, thinking she was just a small child.

“And I didn’t come here to die because I had any particular value. It doesn’t matter if I die. Even if it’s only for a few months, I’m fine with dying if it means Your Grace and Lord Tan can live longer.”

“You’re too precious to die so easily. With magic as powerful as yours…”

“If my magic is so great, then unlike you, Your Grace, maybe I can endure Lord Tan absorbing my magic.”

Astrid let out a reflexive, bitter laugh, like someone had just claimed the sun rises in the west.

She knew Leticia’s words were impossible. She knew it all too well.

Why Tan absorbed magic, where that magic went, and why it never ended no matter how much was given.

This was the research Astrid had clung to until the moment of her death, the answer she had discovered, and the reason she had despaired.

“It’s not Tan who’s absorbing the magic. It’s the curse that turned this land into a wasteland.”

At one time, Astrid had believed this land was cursed, just as everyone else did.

But then, why did only the descendants of the Basilinte family lose their emotions? Why only the Basilinte bloodline, and not all humans living on this land?

“The curse’s origin lies in the Basilinte bloodline, not the land. Ferik, Chamuka, Gaien, Tan… Every ancestor of Basilinte is the reason this land became a wasteland.”

Connecting the Basilinte bloodline to magic circuits meant connecting to the source of the curse.

“I wasn’t giving magic to Tan. I was essentially watering this vast wasteland.”

Astrid bitterly recalled the consequences of her ignorant mistakes in the past.

“That’s why the magic was drained endlessly.”

Her murmur was heavy. Her tone was light, but the content was anything but.

“Yes, maybe if enough magic was poured into reviving this wasteland, the curse would be resolved, and Tan and I could live. But…”

She asked Leticia a question she already believed impossible.

“Child, do you think you can pour enough rain over this vast wasteland to turn it into grasslands again?”

It was a heavy question for a child to bear.

But Leticia didn’t run from the question or deflect it with lies. Instead, she answered clearly.

“I don’t know until I try.”

“….”

“I’ll do my best, and if it doesn’t work, I can run away then.”

Leticia firmly held Astrid’s hand.

If she ran away without trying, she would regret it in the end. She didn’t want to regret it. Nor did she want the kind mage in front of her to run away and regret it.

“I want to try.”

Astrid remained silent for a long time after Leticia’s declaration. Until the rain gradually began to subside.

And finally, after moving her lips several times, she spoke in a hoarse, faltering voice to the child who had held onto her.

“…If I see signs of your magic depleting, I’ll kidnap you and make you run. So, as you said, fine. Just once.”

After a series of excuses and justifications, Astrid relented.

“Maybe, just once… it might be worth hoping for a miracle.”

Leticia smiled.

Astrid thought that perhaps this child was the miracle itself.

For her life and everything tied to the name Basilinte.

In the end, this child would be the miracle of this land.

Eventually, the rain stopped completely.

Through the rain-soaked forest, the Grand Duke who had been pursuing them appeared.

This time, Astrid didn’t run away.