Chapter 1

“This is a magic stone that verifies blood relations through blood.”

The mage showed the transparent magic stone to Duke Blumhart and Lia in turn.  

It was a perfectly clear magic stone, without a single speck of dust.  

“If a drop of blood from you, Your Grace and Miss Rafaella is placed on this magic stone and it turns red, it means there is a blood relation. If it turns black, then there is none.”  

The mage, who was exclusively employed by Duke Blumhart, extracted a drop of blood each from the Duke and Rafaella, who was sitting on Lia’s lap. Then, he dropped them onto the magic stone.  

The transparent magic stone absorbed the two drops of blood and soon turned a vivid red.  

No one in the drawing room was surprised to see the stone turn red. On the contrary, everyone had expressions that seemed to say they expected this outcome.  

“Your Grace, the young lady is indeed your daughter.”  

When the mage handed the now-red magic stone to the Duke, he merely nodded without any emotion. His gaze was chillingly indifferent.  

“…Only Samuel and Rafaella’s biological mother shall remain. Everyone else, leave.”  

At his low command, the mage packed his belongings, and the butler escorted Rafaella out.  

A brief silence fell over the drawing room, now empty except for the three of them.  

The magic stone had officially confirmed that Rafaella was Duke Blumhart’s daughter. Now, there was only one matter left for them to settle.  

“Your Grace, have you given it some thought?”  

Lia took a deep breath and spoke to the Duke, who was seated at the head of the room with a cold expression.  

“…Fine. Since it’s a request from the savior of my life, I’ll grant it.”  

At his signal, an aide brought two sheets of luxurious paper. On these papers, Lia would write the terms that would compel Duke Blumhart to fulfill his duties as a father to his daughter.  

‘Since he has no paternal affection for a child he doesn’t even remember, the only option is to draft an enforceable contract….’  

Lia sighed quietly as she looked down at the blank paper.  

“…Now, state your conditions.”  

“I want you to be an active father to Rafaella, Your Grace.”  

Lia began to explain her wishes, carefully maintaining a respectful tone toward her husband.  

Throughout her explanation, the Duke frowned and expressed his dissatisfaction. Of course, Lia countered all his objections with ease.  

“…Your demands are excessive.”  

When she finished speaking, the Duke leaned back on the sofa with a weary expression.  

“I only mentioned what a parent is naturally obligated to do for their child.”  

“Because of a child I don’t even remember….”  

He ran a hand over his face and muttered irritably.  

“Just because you don’t remember her, does she suddenly stop being your child?”  

She snapped back, anger flaring up.  

‘What’s so impressive about forgetting your own daughter!’  

Lia glared at him, annoyed by his dismissive attitude. She had only stated the bare minimum of what a parent should do for their child, yet he acted as if it were a huge burden.  

“I saved your life, so you promised to do as I wish for our daughter. Stop complaining and humbly accept it.”

“Who said I was complaining? It’s just that it’s too….”  

“Too what?”  

Lia asked, her tone daring him to come up with an excuse.  

“…I’m too busy, that’s all.”  

If it weren’t for the difference in their social status, she would have grabbed her former husband by the hair and shaken him while shouting.  

‘Do you think I want to entrust her to you? I don’t want to leave Rafaella with a man who doesn’t even remember his own daughter!’  

But she had no choice but to entrust Rafaella to him.  

Because Lia had only one year and nine months left to live.  

She had learned about her terminal condition more than two weeks ago.  

***

In front of the guillotine, a young woman, who appeared to have just reached adulthood, was being roughly dragged by knights.  

The crowd surrounding the square jeered so loudly that it was deafening.  

Lia found herself standing in an unfamiliar square packed with people.  

‘…Is this a dream?’  

She looked up at the woman on the guillotine.  

The woman had disheveled black hair and dull emerald eyes that had lost their luster.  

For some reason, the woman’s appearance felt familiar to Lia, and she couldn’t take her eyes off her.  

‘…It’s impossible, but why does that woman look exactly like Rafaella?’  

Rafaella was only six years old, not a grown adult….  

It was strange.  

Even though she knew it made no sense, Lia was convinced that the woman kneeling on the guillotine was her daughter, Rafaella.  

‘Soon, the blade of the guillotine will….’  

As she imagined what was about to happen, a chill ran down her spine, and her body began to tremble.  

She wanted to run to the guillotine and scream that there had been a misunderstanding, that her daughter was a good person.  

But her legs refused to move.  

Even though it was just a dream, she was furious that her body wouldn’t budge.  

Then, as the execution began and the guillotine’s blade started to fall toward the woman’s neck, Lia screamed internally.  

‘…No!’  

But just before the blade touched the woman’s neck, everything around Lia turned white, and the entire scene disappeared.  

The guillotine, the crowd, and even Rafaella were gone.  

In their place was a blindingly white space that hurt her eyes.  

Confused, Lia looked around, but there was nothing in sight.  

‘What happened to Rafaella? And where am I?’  

As she wandered aimlessly, a sudden surge of memories hit her like a lightning bolt, causing her to clutch her head and collapse.  

‘Ugh, what is this….’  

Her mind was flooded with rapid flashes of her and her daughter’s future.  

A future where she entrusted her daughter to her biological father, only to die prematurely from her terminal illness, and a future where her neglected daughter committed unforgivable sins.  

[This is the life you and your daughter have lived.]  

After the memories subsided, an eerie voice that didn’t belong to any human echoed around her.  

[If you wish to change your daughter’s fate, move and change your life!]  

With those final words, Lia was forcibly awakened from the nightmare.  

“Gasp… gasp….”  

The warm morning sunlight streamed through the window onto her face.  

“Haah… haah….”  

She panted heavily, as if she had been holding her breath for a long time.  

‘What kind of strange and horrifying dream was that? And why is it so hard to breathe…?’  

The headache and difficulty breathing kept her from getting up immediately.  

While waiting for her breathing to stabilize, she reflected on the dream and the inhuman voice she had heard.  

…Could it have been the voice of a god?  

‘The future I saw in the dream felt too vivid, as if I had actually lived it….’  

How she wished it were just a nightmare.  

While she could accept her own fate, she desperately didn’t want to believe the future that awaited her daughter.  

Determined to shake off the remnants of the dream, she decided to go see her daughter.  

‘Even though my body feels heavy, I need to get up.’  

“Ugh….”  

Oddly, not only was it hard to breathe, but her body also felt as if it hadn’t been used in a long time.  

Every joint screamed in pain, as if she had been resurrected into a body that had long since died.  

The sensation sent shivers down her spine.  

Dragging her uncooperative body, she finally managed to open the door.  

She slowly made her way past the kitchen and toward Rafaella’s room, but her daughter wasn’t there.  

“…Haah, where could Raffy be?”  

Even in their small house, searching for her daughter felt exhausting due to her physical discomfort.  

When she couldn’t find Rafaella anywhere inside, Lia stepped outside.  

Rafaella was playing with a wooden doll near the fence.  

Lia’s eyes filled with tears.  

She mustered all her strength to run toward her daughter.  

“…Raffy, Rafaella!”  

“Mom? Mom, you woke up late to—”  

Before Rafaella could finish her sentence, Lia pulled her into a tight embrace.  

Ah, her beloved Rafaella was safe in her arms.  

Feeling her daughter’s warm body, Lia began to cry.  

“Rafaella, you’re here with Mommy, right?”  

“Yes!”  

Although she wanted to stop crying so as not to worry Rafaella, she couldn’t.  

Breathing, walking, seeing, touching, and holding Rafaella—all of it felt so desperately precious to her.  

An inexplicable longing washed over her heart like a tidal wave.  

‘…It feels like I’ve been apart from her for a very long time.’  

When Lia held her for too long, Rafaella tapped her back.  

“Mom! I can’t breathe!”  

“Sorry, Raffy. Mommy hugged you too tightly, didn’t she?”  

Snapping out of it at her daughter’s voice, Lia wiped her tears away.  

“…Yes! But, Mom, why are you crying? Are you hurt?”  

Rafaella looked at her with concern.  

“Mom’s not hurt. I’m fine.”  

“Then why are you crying?”  

“I’m crying because I’m happy. I’m so glad you’re my daughter, Raffy….”  

She couldn’t cry anymore.  

If she kept crying, Rafaella might truly start to worry.  

Suppressing the tears that threatened to spill again, Lia examined her daughter.  

Her precious child, with jet-black hair like her father’s, sparkling emerald eyes like her own, snow-white skin, and rosy cheeks.  

Her gaze landed on the child’s neck.  

‘…What is that?’  

There was something on Rafaella’s neck.  

A snake emblem with its mouth menacingly open.  

It was the symbol of Hecate, the goddess of magic worshipped by the Empire.  

The emblem was etched in white light, like a mark, in the center of her daughter’s neck.  

Realizing the meaning of the emblem, Lia’s legs gave out, and she collapsed.  

It wasn’t a dream.