“Too bad it couldn’t become mine! Sealing it was the best option. So, it’s a good thing that it ended like this, which I believe will be helpful for your mental health.”

He roughly dropped Ariel’s chin after speaking. Her face hit the hard ground.

But the pain and emptiness of the loss of her mana prevented her face from feeling the pain it should have felt.

‘Everything I’ve suffered like a dog has become a mere bubble. It’s so annoying that I could die… I want to sew up that bastard’s mouth for saying things I can’t understand.’

As Ariel gritted her teeth, Diaton grabbed a handful of her disheveled hair in his fist. Then he wrapped it around his wrist and twisted it. Her hair was tightly pulled.

Her head, held by his hand, started to float in the air. Ariel glared at him fiercely.

But he continued without paying her any attention.

“Ah, you don’t understand. The reason why you were able to become so strong. I will show you mercy. The abilities bestowed upon you by the Demon King were abilities exclusive to you. Therefore, your mana core, which was created by those abilities, cannot belong to anyone else.”

He said that and slapped her head with his palm, causing Ariel’s forehead to hit the ground.

It hadn’t been long since she suffered pain without mana. Anger rose clearly in her heart, but her pupils, looking up at him, grew blurry.

‘Demon King… Destruction… Does that mean the voice I heard in the darkness belonged to the Demon King?’

Her head was spinning due to the shock of having her mana taken away, and the pain made it hard for her to think clearly.

She tried to hold on to her fading consciousness, but opening her eyes proved futile.

‘Ah, now I’ve reached my limit.’

Her pupils lost focus, and her eyes slowly closed. As her mind grew faint, the whites of her eyes flipped.

Eventually, Ariel lost consciousness and closed her eyes.

Only then did tears, which had filled her eyes, flow down her pale cheeks. Her eyes were filled with tears that her pride had prevented her from shedding.

***

“Miss…”

A familiar voice and sobbing sounds. Ariel slowly opened her eyes. As her consciousness returned, the events that had occurred in the cave flashed through her mind like a panorama.

‘Aah… That’s right. Unfortunately, my mana was completely taken away by that bastard. It feels like my insides have been emptied like a bamboo. But that guy… It seems like he talked about something important…’

She couldn’t remember it well. Her body and mind felt like empty shells.

Ariel’s pupils wandered emptily in the air.

“Miss!”

Even when May called her, Ariel didn’t react. With a lethargic expression, she blinked her eyelids slowly.

Reddened snowballs and tear-soaked cheeks appeared in her field of view.

“Miss, can you hear me?”

May shouted with a teary voice.

Finally, Ariel turned her head and nodded while looking at May.

“May, I’m sorry….”

She had endured nearly ten years of suffering since arriving in Kolnman, only for everything to become meaningless. But because she had been unconscious for quite some time, she didn’t have the energy to open her mouth and eat anything.

After confirming that Ariel had regained consciousness, May poured warm water into Ariel’s mouth. Her dry lips and throat became moist.

“Sir Hyle found you in the forest. It’s already been three days since you went missing.”

May raised her hand and wiped away the tears flowing down her cheek. With her moist hand, she held Ariel’s hand and bit her lower lip tightly to suppress her sobs.

“Miss… I apologize for having to convey this message in such a situation. The Marquis sent a letter. The madam is very ill, they’re requesting you to return home…”

May said, restraining her emotions.

“….”

Ariel, who was attentively listening to May’s words, tightly closed her eyes as her words reached their end, as if she were afraid.

Leaving like this was not what she intended. She didn’t endure ten years of suffering, only to lose everything and return with an incompetent body. But staying in Kolnman for longer wouldn’t make any difference. If her mother was also ill, she had to return home even more.

Ariel covered her face with a blanket. She didn’t want to show May her complicated emotions.

May looked at her with a deeply saddened look and quietly closed the door, leaving.

***

A few days later, as soon as Ariel regained her strength, she prepared to return to Atlan.

She bid farewell to Hyle, who had treated her like his own child.

Hyle, who knew Ariel’s state better than anyone else since she lost her mana, was worried that she might make the wrong choice.

So, he volunteered to be her escort knight and go to Atlan with her.

But Ariel opposed, saying that the Master should live his own life. Going back to Atlan would make it impossible for him to live the same free life, bound by status and rules.

“If it’s described as a seal, maybe I can get my mana back. As long as I meet the conditions to break the seal that they have set.”

After saving four children from the clutches of the giant beast five years ago, she became the heroine of Kolnman, succeeding Hyle.

After hearing the news of her departure, the residents of Kolnman came out to the streets to wish her happiness. Even on the faces of those bidding farewell with a willing heart, a touch of regret could be seen here and there.

Ariel lowered the window and waved her hand towards the people on the street.

People looked at her with admiration, and Ariel found comfort in their gaze. Something warm surged within her.

‘In the end, I haven’t achieved anything… Yet, that doesn’t mean everything that happened here didn’t happen. I was able to learn what it means to live as a human, not the life of an apathetic noblewoman. Those memories will forever remain within me. And I’m okay with that.’

Her eyes turned red. As her body weakened, her heart weakened as well. She silently murmured to herself.

“Miss…”

May, who was sitting next to her, held Ariel’s hand placed on the dress. Tears welled up in her eyes as well.

Looking at the two of them, Ron’s nose began to itch.

“As a daughter, it’s only right that you stay by your sick mother’s side.”

“Yes, Miss.”

May made a resolution as she discreetly wiped her runny nose with her sleeve. She wouldn’t show weakness in front of the young lady, who was not in good health.

After finishing the conversation, Ariel turned her head and looked out the window again. She forcefully suppressed the sorrow that was trying to burst out.

A bitter taste filled her mouth.

***

It had been a month since she returned home. Unless there was any special schedule, Ariel stayed at home.

To her family, it might have seemed like she was idling around the house, but in reality, she was fighting against an emptiness.

The never-filling feeling didn’t leave Ariel.

Perhaps it was due to the shock of losing her mana.

Even when she ate delicious food with her mother or watched entertaining operas with her brothers, her expression remained unchanged.

Her clear green pupils had become empty and dull.

The sensation of discomfort from the sharpness of a sword was unbearable when she was focused on hunting the magic beasts.

The repulsive smell of the hot blood of the magic beasts made her sick.

But now that she was unable to hunt… she yearned for all of it desperately.

She even thought it would be fine to drench herself in the scorching blood of the magic beasts. But at that moment, Ariel’s hand, which was holding the teacup, quivered.

‘Ah, no matter what, that’s not it. Even if I wash it a hundred times, I won’t be able to get rid of that foul smell of blood.’

Ariel, shaking her head vigorously, brought the teacup to her lips.

Seeing Ariel’s empty teacup, May started pouring tea again.

Ariel watched May steep the tea leaves and pour out the water—absentmindedly staring at the tea being brewed again.

May quickly stood up and lowered her head towards him. The Marquis gestured for May to leave. Soon, May left the living room.

Ariel lazily observed the scene, leaning against the sofa.

“You were drinking tea.”

“Yes. What is it?”

Ariel avoided Louis’ gaze. The Marquis nervously touched the back of his head as if unsettled by Ariel’s cold attitude.

The Marquis’s lie was exposed, and the previously amiable relationship between the two became awkward.

As soon as Ariel returned home, she searched the house to find Rose. When she came across her in the dining room, Rose still exuded the same youthful vitality and delicate beauty.

A pleasant aroma emanated from her as she tightly embraced her beloved daughter.

At that moment, Ariel realized that the bright red lie written in her father’s letter, claiming her mother’s health was not good, was a lie.

Ariel did not say anything to her father.

No, nothing came out of her mouth. Since even the trust she had in her family, who had held her so close, had crumbled, it might be more accurate to say she had lost her words.