Chapter 56

“Are you doing a mana test today?”

Lia was in Johann’s drawing room with Rafaella today.

“Yes. In noble families, it’s typical to check a child’s mana around this time.”

“Do they have to draw blood again, like last time?”

She asked anxiously.

“No, you just need to place your hand on the mana stone for a moment.”

Johann bent down to Rafaella’s level and whispered kindly,

“It’s a simple test, so there’s nothing to be afraid of, Rafaella.”

“Yes!”

Rafaella answered brightly, so different from when she took the paternity test before.

A little later, Samuel entered with a mage.

The mage offered Rafaella a mana stone, black as obsidian and about the size of an adult’s palm.

“Miss, could you please place your hand here?”

Rafaella carefully placed her hand on the stone.

No sooner had she done so than the stone began to vibrate strongly and shimmered with iridescent light.

“Hmm, that’s quite a lot of mana.”

The mage analyzing the stone let out an exclamation.

“How much?”

“It’s less than when you first manifested, but not by much, Your Grace.”

“…Then shouldn’t she have manifested already?”

Johann furrowed his brow.

He himself had manifested mana at the very early age of six.

He’d even had to endure a fever because of it.

“Indeed. With this much mana, it wouldn’t be strange if she manifested right now….”

“Is there some problem?”

Lia broke in, seeing their conversation grow serious.

“Rafaella’s mana is quite abundant, but she hasn’t manifested yet.”

“Is it bad if it’s delayed?”

“…It’s hard to say for sure.”

If it wasn’t a big deal, he would have just said it was fine, but this wasn’t something to gloss over.

He thought it best to be honest, as Rafaella’s parent, and face it together.

“The more mana you have, the earlier you usually manifest, so the mana can circulate well in the body.”

“If manifestation is delayed, can something go wrong?”

“I’ve never seen a problem, but usually it’s when the amount is low that it’s delayed….”

He pressed his lips together.

He couldn’t easily reassure himself when it was his daughter’s issue.

“…….”

Until Lia died, Rafaella had not manifested her mana.

It seemed there had been no trouble after that.

But she didn’t know if that was because Rafaella had manifested, or because she hadn’t.

“Emma, look into this matter, but be careful that Rafaella’s mana level doesn’t get out.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

The mage nodded and left.

“For now, the mage will investigate, so let’s wait and see.”

“All right.”

“Rafaella, if you feel even a little different than usual, tell someone, okay?”

Johann bent down and spoke to Rafaella.

“Yes. But what counts as different?”

Rafaella blinked.

“If you get a fever, or your heart feels tight, or you feel weak—anything.”

“I’ll watch her carefully too.”

Lia, beside her, wrapped her hand around Rafaella’s shoulder.

“Good.”

A simple mana test had weighed heavily on everyone’s mind.

“Oh, and—”

As Lia was about to take Rafaella out, Johann stopped her.

“Yes?”

“Soon, we’ll be going to have an audience with the Crown Prince.”

“Th-the Crown Prince?”

She asked in surprise at his words.

To suddenly go see the Crown Prince—

“Yes, His Highness wants to see Rafaella.”

“Will Raffy be able to behave in front of someone so important?”

Lia frowned with worry.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be with her, and above all, His Highness is very kind to children.”

“…That’s a relief, but…”

Even with Johann’s reassurance, she couldn’t relax.

After all, the Crown Prince was the one who had sentenced Rafaella to execution before the regression.

‘He’s changed, so Raffy’s future will change too. Then His Highness would never give such a terrible sentence to Raffy. Don’t worry too much.’

She tried to comfort herself.

* * *

Before she knew it, the day for Rafaella’s audience with the Crown Prince had arrived.

“Raffy, today is the day you go to the Imperial Palace.”

Lia put a teddy bear necklace with a ruby around Rafaella’s neck.

“Dad told you last time, right?”

“Yeah.”

“His Highness the Crown Prince is said to be kind, but you still have to mind your manners.”

She straightened Rafaella’s clothes and reminded her.

“Yeah, but Mom, aren’t you coming too?”

“Um, I wasn’t invited, so I can’t go with you.”

She answered awkwardly.

“…Can’t I go if you don’t come, Mom?”

Rafaella whined.

“Raffy, meeting the Crown Prince isn’t something you can do so easily.”

Not only was it about the invitation, but the procedures were complicated too.

“If I can’t go with you, Mom, I don’t want to go either….”

Rafaella muttered, not knowing how troubled Lia was.

“Raffy, Dad will come get you soon. Let’s get ready to go, okay?”

“…I want to go with you, Mom.”

Rafaella’s face crumpled.

“…Mom wants to go with you too, but…”

Seeing Rafaella on the verge of tears, she patted her daughter’s back.

‘How am I supposed to explain to Raffy that we’re different in status, so I can’t go?’

She swallowed a sigh, worrying, when Johann arrived in the room.

“Not ready yet—Is Rafaella crying?”

He saw Rafaella with tears in her eyes and asked.

“Ah, well—”

“Dad, I want to go to the palace with Mom.”

Rafaella answered for her.

“She says she doesn’t want to go unless I go too… I’ll try to persuade her.”

“…….”

Johann fell silent as if deep in thought.

“…Then, let’s just go together.”

After a brief silence, he spoke.

“What?”

Lia’s eyes widened.

“If she wants to go with her mother that badly.”

He gently patted Rafaella’s head.

“But I…”

“Just pretend to be Rafaella’s nanny and stay in the lounge with Samuel.”

He gave a simple solution.

Regardless of status, attendants could enter the palace with nobles.

Usually, they waited in the lounge while their masters attended to business.

“Dad, is Mom going too?”

Rafaella, her tears already gone, asked.

“Yes, so shall we go?”

He smiled warmly at his daughter.

“Yes!”

Rafaella answered, bouncing.

In a daze, Lia changed into her neatest clothes and boarded the carriage to the Imperial Palace with them.

“Rafaella, you’ll go to the palace with Mom, but only you and I can enter His Highness’s drawing room.”

Johann, sitting across from Rafaella, reminded her.

“I let you go to the palace with Mom, so I hope you’ll listen to Dad’s request too.”

“…Okay.”

Rafaella nodded.

“There’s no need to be nervous, Samuel will be there.”

He spoke to Lia, who was tense.

“…Ah, yes.”

She replied a beat late, stiff as a board.

‘No need to be nervous, he says, but for a commoner like me, the palace is a place you might never see in your life…’

For nobles like him, going to the palace was routine, but not for her.

“…And about your illness.”

He touched his lips.

“I’m still looking into it.”

His eyes were filled with apology and frustration.

He must not have found anything.

“Yes, please don’t worry about it.”

She forced a smile to reassure him.

Before long, the carriage arrived at the palace’s grand entrance.

As the carriage bearing the Blumhart family crest pulled up, the knights guarding the front saluted and opened the gates in unison.

It was a privilege of the five ducal houses.

The carriage headed straight for the Crown Prince’s palace.

Lia looked at the rapidly passing palace scenery with a short gasp of awe.

‘My goodness, is that roof really made of gold?’

If the Blumhart ducal estate was stately and elegant, the palace was as splendid as the queen of flowers, the rose.

Everywhere she looked, gold gleamed, and the sculptures and decorations were exquisitely beautiful.

So both Lia and Rafaella couldn’t close their mouths as they looked out the window.

‘…But why does it all feel so familiar?’

Somehow, she felt that if they turned right there, they’d reach the Crown Prince’s palace.

Just as she thought that, the carriage turned right.

And soon stopped, the coachman announcing they had arrived at the Crown Prince’s palace.

‘What is this, how do I know?’

She stepped out of the carriage, surprised.

After Rafaella, escorted by Johann, also got out, a palace attendant approached them.

“Welcome, Duke. His Highness is expecting you.”

The attendant led them to the drawing room and knocked politely.

“Your Highness, Duke Johann von Blumhart and his daughter Rafaella von Blumhart have arrived.”

“Let them in.”

A deep, gentle voice sounded from inside the drawing room.

“You will be shown to the lounge.”

As Johann and Rafaella entered the drawing room, the attendant guided Lia and Samuel.

“We can wait comfortably in the lounge.”

Samuel whispered.

“The refreshments there are delicious, Miss Lia, you will surely like them.”

“Really? I’m curiou—”

Lia, answering Samuel, suddenly stopped.

Because a woman she knew all too well was approaching them.

“Greetings to Her Majesty the Interim Empress, the moon in the heavens.”

The attendant stopped and bowed deeply.

Samuel and Lia also bowed their heads.

“Is His Highness inside?”

“He is currently in conversation with Duke Blumhart. If it is urgent, I can inform His Highness, Your Majesty.”

“No, that’s fine. I must have arrived a little late to see my son after so long.”

The Interim Empress raised her hand and gently shook her head.

Every movement exuded grace.

But Lia’s eyes kept going to the woman standing behind the beautiful Interim Empress, rather than the Interim Empress herself.

‘That woman is definitely…’

The lady-in-waiting standing closest to the Interim Empress, with a gaunt frame, skin so pale her veins showed, sunken cheeks, and large blue eyes.

That maid was definitely the woman who had come to Lia’s cabin before the regression.

‘She said she was a mage from the southern border Mage Tower…’

She’d said she’d never even been near the palace, so why was she standing there?