The Residence of Marquis Agnes.

“Marquis, a guest has arrived requesting to see you.”

“A guest? I don’t have any appointments today.”

“It’s a young lady dressed in a wedding gown.”

Adin, who had been attending to matters in his study, rose from his seat.

Looking out the window, he saw a woman standing opposite the guards. She was a young lady with orange hair, dressed in a wedding gown.

Adin tilted his head, unable to recognize her.

‘Who could this be?’

Her face was not among those recorded in his network of acquaintances.

“Could she have come to the wrong house? Did she say she came specifically to see me?”

“Yes, Marquis. She even mentioned your name.”

“Is that so?”

“Shall I send her away if you’re not inclined to meet her? She might be a peddler or some such.”

“…Let her in.”

Before long, Ertel appeared in the reception room. Adin found himself face-to-face with her.

‘She looks… somewhat familiar.’

She gazed at him with a deeply affectionate look, which struck him as odd. It was strange for someone he had never met before to look at him that way.

“Who are you, and why have you come to see me?”

“……”

“And dressed in such an extravagant outfit.”

At that moment, the butler leaned in to whisper to Adin.

“I heard there was a wedding today at the royal chapel for Duke Juan. Could she be someone connected to that event?”

“……!”

Adin was well aware of the Juan family. It was the most powerful noble house, one that no one could afford to oppose.

And given the wedding gown… could she be the bride?

Faced with Adin, Ertel found herself choked up, unable to speak.

It was understandable—before her regression, she hadn’t even known of his existence.

Swallowing her tears, Ertel finally managed to speak.

“Don’t you… recognize me?”

“……?”

All of this was information revealed to her by the god Kaiya upon her regression.

“Ertel le Agnes. That’s my real name.”

The name Ertel had been given to her by Adin himself.

“…You abandoned me when I was two years old.”

“!!”

“Father.”

In that moment, Adin’s peaceful life was shattered.

He froze, as if his mind had stopped functioning.

“What… what is this…?”

For the past twenty years, he had buried his guilt and lived as though nothing had happened, as though he had never had a daughter.

And so, Ertel’s sudden appearance was a profound shock to him.

“Er… Ertel?”

He remembered.

The bright, intelligent eyes of the tiny baby.

The beautiful child with distinctive orange hair.

“I knew you wouldn’t come looking for me, so I came to find you myself.”

The butler, equally stunned, alternated his gaze between the two like a startled goldfish.

Adin dismissed the butler, asking him to leave the room.

“Please, have your conversation, my lord.”

Once the butler had left, only the two of them remained in the reception room.

Adin, who seemed as though he might say something, remained frozen, simply staring at his daughter.

“Ertel, is it really you…?”

Adin approached her as if in a daze, gently cupping her cheeks in his hands.

The baby he had last seen at two years old had grown into a fine young woman and now stood before him.

Yet he could still clearly remember her features from when she was a baby. Now, he saw that those same features were unmistakably hers.

Instinctively, he was certain.

This was his daughter.

Adin’s eyes wavered like waves, and his lips trembled.

“You’re alive… You didn’t die…”

It wasn’t that he had wished for her death, but he had believed her chances of survival were slim.

A child born with a gemstone was destined, he thought, to a tragic fate.

“Yes, as you can see, I’m alive and well.”

“I see… You seem healthy and unharmed.”

Though countless words swirled in his mind, he couldn’t figure out where to begin.

Ertel, too, was desperate to know what emotions her father might be feeling after seeing her again.

“I don’t blame you, Father.”

“Ertel…”

“I understand. You had no choice.”

“Haa…”

“What I want to know is about now.”

Being abandoned once was something she could accept. But…

“Will you abandon me a second time?”

Ertel’s face reflected a faint hope she couldn’t let go of.

Adin bit his lip, struggling to hold back the redness in his eyes. He felt overwhelmed, unable to feel purely joy or sorrow.

Before her regression, Ertel hadn’t even known what her father looked like.

“I know that my birth caused my mother’s death.”

“……”

“And I know that you resented me for it.”

Faced with Ertel’s blunt honesty, Adin could no longer evade the truth.

At this point, he had no choice but to confess his own feelings.

“That’s true…”

In his resentment, he had ordered her to be abandoned.

“But not anymore.”

“……!”

“As the years passed, my resentment and grief melted away.”

Slowly, Ertel lifted her gaze to meet her father’s.

There was hope.

Even if it was faint, it was there.

“Then what does my return mean to you, Father?”

“……”

“Just as I’m happy to see your face for the first time…”

“……”

“Are you also happy to see me?”

He couldn’t possibly understand what it had taken for her to come here.

After escaping from Icarus, the first person who came to her mind was her father.

Even though he had never explained why she was born, nor raised her, she wanted to find her roots and place her trust in him.

“All I feel is relief. Relief that you’re safe.”

On the Eastern Continent, few children born with gemstones survived to adulthood.

“Ertel, are you truly safe where you are?”

“…I have been until now. But I don’t think I will be anymore.”

“Why not?”

Ertel gave him a sorrowful smile.

“Because I’m currently running away from my wedding.”

“……!”

He had hoped his ominous premonition was wrong.

He prayed the young woman in the wedding gown before him wasn’t the bride of the rumored grand royal wedding.

“Then the family you were to marry into…?”

“The Juan family.”

“!!”

If it was the Juan family, then her groom must have been Duke Icarus.

Adin, realizing that her marriage was likely not based on love but on the gemstone she carried, clenched his fists in frustration.

“That fiancé of mine was a gemstone hunter. Before I could be brutally slaughtered two years from now, I decided to run away today. Of course, I failed to kill him. As a result, I’ll be on the run for the rest of my life.”

“What a terrible situation…”

“So, will you take me in, even though I’m cornered like this?”

It was, perhaps, an unreasonable request for Adin.

Even knowing this, Ertel made her plea.

The father who had abandoned her as a baby had already proven himself a coward. He wouldn’t suddenly grow a backbone now.

But this was just an excuse.

An excuse to see her father again, to ask if he would abandon her once more.

“I’m sorry…”

As expected, Adin lowered his head.

“I don’t have the strength to oppose the Juan family… I’m weaker now than I was in my youth.”

“……”

“I lack the military power to face them…”

It was the answer she had anticipated.

Oddly, it brought her a sense of relief.

“I understand, Father.”

This much was enough. She wouldn’t ask for more.

“From now on… I won’t come looking for you again.”

So, goodbye.

Fearing she might grow attached if she stayed any longer, she turned away.

Just as decisively as she had come, she leaped out of the window.

“Ertel!”

Adin called out her name as she disappeared into the distance. He clung to the window, watching her retreating figure until she was out of sight.

“Ha…”

No one was more tormented than he was. He despised himself for not being able to give her the answer she wanted.

“Haa, I don’t know what to do…”

He pounded his chest with his fist, his vision blurring with tears.

The memories of eighteen years ago, long buried, resurfaced vividly.

>><<

Eighteen Years Ago.

Among the many noble families forming the capital, the Agnes family was one of the least ambitious.

Unlike other nobles, who pursued power, they preferred a peaceful life of comfort and luxury.

Marquis Adin le Agnes’s wife, Belle, became pregnant late in life.

“A new life has come to us.”

Excited by the prospect of having a child, the couple decided to consult a fortune-teller.

They sought out Magrid, a renowned seer living in a house surrounded by dense foliage.

Magrid was a young blind man with extraordinary foresight.

Placing his hand on Belle’s swollen belly, Magrid’s expression stiffened.

“Kaiya Stone.”

The first words out of his mouth stunned them.

“What?”

“Is this a blessing or a curse? What a cruel twist of fate.”

“…What do you mean?”

“A legendary child is about to be born—one of the few in all of the Eastern Continent.”