“Did you just say Kaiya Stone? Surely, we must have misheard you.”

“You did not mishear me. The child in your wife’s womb is carrying a gemstone. It is a child with immense power, so I urge you to raise them well. Depending on how that power is used, their life could take a drastically different path. Please remember my words…”

“That’s impossible…! Check again!”

“No matter how many times I look, it remains the same.”

“What kind of thunderbolt-like nonsense is this? Are you even reading this properly? Look again! I said look again!”

“No matter how many times I listen, I hear it clearly. The wailing of the god Kaiya.”

“Ha.”

“If you turn a blind eye to this, an even greater calamity will strike. All you can do now is accept the fate that has been given to you.”

Adin regretted coming for a fortune-telling.

He had come with a light heart, but now he was left feeling uneasy.

He left the place, comforting his wife, who was even more distressed than he was.

“Let’s not think too much about it. They claim to be a great seer, but they’re nothing more than a fraud.”

Humans tend to forget what they don’t want to believe and cling to what they wish to believe.

Adin convinced himself that such a thing would never happen and waited for his wife’s due date.

“Waaaah!”

It was the cry of a beautiful baby girl.

The childbirth had gone smoothly, and the couple shed tears of joy.

“You’ve done well, my dear.”

But that joy was short-lived. On the back of the newborn’s neck was a mark—a butterfly-shaped symbol, the emblem of the god Kaiya.

“……!”

The happiness on Adin’s face froze instantly as he held the baby in his arms.

‘What is this…!’

It was the moment Magrid’s prophecy became reality.

He couldn’t believe what he was seeing, and his legs trembled as he barely managed to stand.

For the Agnes family, which had maintained peace for generations, this was a bolt from the blue.

To him, this mark signified nothing less than the downfall of his family.

The events that would unfold played out in his mind like a panorama.

Fear quickly overtook him. The baby, who had seemed so lovable just moments ago, now filled him with dread.

After much deliberation, Adin proposed to his wife in a heavy voice.

“We can’t keep her with us like this.”

His wife, unable to believe what she was hearing, clung to his arm, sobbing.

“She’s our blood. If we don’t take care of her, who will?”

“Belle, my heart aches too, but for the safety of our family, we have no choice. We cannot accept her as our daughter. We must hide the truth about the gemstone and give her up for adoption.”

“Oh, Adin… I can’t do that. Sob. Give her to me, my baby.”

Belle could not accept her husband’s cold judgment. She had longed for a child throughout their marriage. After endless efforts, she had finally conceived despite being told it was a late and risky pregnancy. Whether the child was cursed or not, it didn’t matter to her.

Belle was a woman with an overwhelming maternal instinct.

She snatched the baby from Adin and held her tightly.

“This child’s name is Ertel. It’s the name you gave her when I was pregnant.”

“Belle.”

“Ertel le Agnes.”

“……”

“It is a name blessed by the gods, so it will protect her, surely.”

In the end, Adin was overruled by his wife.

Though his cold logic told him they needed to abandon their daughter, he couldn’t bring himself to go against the wishes of the wife he loved so dearly.

“Belle, our lives will become difficult from now on. Are you prepared for that?”

“I am. As long as I’m with my child.”

>><<

The forces that hunted gemstones had long been active, and they quickly caught wind of Ertel.

No matter how much Adin tried to hide the mark on the baby, rumors spread in secret that Ertel was a gemstone bearer.

Perhaps because of this, tragedy struck Belle one day.

While out with the two-year-old Ertel, she encountered an unknown gemstone hunter who attempted to kidnap the child. Belle lost her life protecting her daughter.

Before she died, she hid the baby safely in a cave. With her own blood, she left a message on the cave wall as her final will.

‘Please, protect my child…’

When Adin heard of his wife’s death, he was consumed by grief.

He couldn’t believe this had happened on the one day he hadn’t accompanied her.

He clutched his wife’s lifeless body in the cave and wept like a child.

“Sob, Belle, come back… You can’t leave me like this…”

Having lived his entire life devoted to his wife, he couldn’t accept the fact that she was no longer breathing.

His gaze, filled with resentment, soon turned to the baby.

Two-year-old Ertel was peacefully asleep, unaware of her mother’s death.

Adin approached the child with bloodshot eyes.

At that moment, Ertel was no longer his daughter. She appeared to him as a demon who had taken his wife away.

‘If only you hadn’t been born with a gemstone…’

His wife would still be alive.

If he had gone against Belle’s wishes and given the baby up for adoption, she might still be by his side.

Regret came crashing down like waves.

Adin had yet to feel any affection for the child. To him, she was merely the cause of his wife’s death.

Unable to contain his emotions, he picked up a nearby stone.

He raised it high, intending to strike the baby.

“……”

But his trembling hand froze in midair.

The sleeping Ertel looked like an angel.

‘If I kill her… will Belle come back?’

The stone fell from his hand, clattering to the ground.

If he killed the child, he would lose both his wife and daughter in a single day.

The traces of Belle, their love, would vanish from the world.

Looking at the soft orange hair that resembled his own, Adin broke down in tears.

“Ugh…”

Even if he didn’t feel love yet, she was still his daughter.

How could he kill his own child with his own hands?

It was an act too cruel for him to commit.

“Sob…”

In the end, he placed the stone down and collapsed in despair in front of the sleeping Ertel.

>><<

A few days later, Adin held a funeral for his wife.

His eyes were hollow, as though he had lost everything.

He entrusted Ertel’s care to a wet nurse, refusing to even look at her.

Every time he saw the baby, he was reminded of his wife, and it pained him. He feared that his hatred might drive him to kill her.

Living in a daily hell, Adin made a significant decision.

He summoned Anna Leslie, one of the maids in his household.

“You called for me, my lord?”

Anna was one of the most obedient and submissive maids in the household.

Summoning her to a secret chamber, Adin gave her an unbelievable order.

“Abandon the baby.”

“…Pardon?”

Anna raised her head, thinking she must have misheard.

But the eyes of her master were colder and sharper than ever.

“Take Ertel to a place where no one will find her. Make sure no one sees you. Leave her somewhere far away, where someone else might take her and raise her.”

Adin believed this was the best he could do for his daughter.

But Anna, who had been caring for Ertel alongside the wet nurse, was devastated by the order.

“My lord, how could you give such an order…? She’s just a baby who knows nothing…”

“Be thankful I’m not killing her.”

“……”

“She should never have been brought into our family in the first place.”

Anna had no choice but to obey. She lacked the power to defy him.

>><<

The next day, Anna wrapped the baby in a bundle, ensuring no one would see her.

Following the map Adin had given her, she traveled to a forest near a village of elderly couples.

She arrived at a rock where she was instructed to leave the baby.

“Little one…”

She looked at Ertel’s face for a final farewell.

That day, Ertel’s eyes sparkled as she smiled.

She was a baby so beautiful it felt like she could do no wrong.

‘Good luck to you.’

Anna carefully set the baby down and turned to leave.

But after taking only ten steps, she stopped.

The thought of the baby, left all alone and not even crying, tugged at her heart.

“Ha…”

In the end, Anna returned to the baby, gently picking up the small, quiet life.

She couldn’t bring herself to abandon her.

The bond she had formed with the baby in such a short time was too strong.

For the first time, Anna decided to defy her master’s orders.

“I’m sorry, my lord.”

She bowed in the direction of the Agnes estate.

That was the last time. From then on, she resolved to live freely. She decided to run far away with Ertel.

“I’ll protect you since no one else will… little one.”

Thus, Anna Leslie became Ertel’s second mother.

She fled far away with the baby.

>><<

The place they settled was Yukai Forest, known for its delicious figs.

It was far from the capital and out of the public eye.

Anna built a small hut with her own hands to raise Ertel.

Though she had nothing, she was happy. She had gained freedom and the love of a precious child.

Anna had deeply respected and been loyal to the late Duchess during her lifetime.

‘Madam, I will raise Ertel well in your place. Please watch over her from above.’

Her sympathy for the baby blossomed into maternal love over time.

She worked tirelessly, taking on any job to raise Ertel with all her heart. To hide the fact that Ertel was of noble birth, she gave her the Leslie surname.

Thus, the baby’s second name became “Ertel Leslie.”