The Siegfrieds’ ability was to control monsters. Being able to command ferocious monsters that couldn’t communicate with humans was both a great power and a source of fear. At first, she didn’t understand, but now she thought she could.

“…”

Seeing the monsters lined up, Amelia was at a loss for words and could only stare blankly. Was this the ability to calm monsters? To her, it didn’t seem like that at all. Leonel, not yet fully awakened, couldn’t control monsters. He could only calm them when they went wild.

But now… This wasn’t just calming them. It was complete obedience.

“Mother?”

“…”

Amelia looked down at Leonel, who called her in his usual bright tone, with a puzzled expression. She didn’t know how to react. The Leonel in front of her was the Leonel she knew. But this behavior was from a Leonel she didn’t know.

“Why are you acting like this?”

Feeling the child’s anxiety through their clasped hands, Amelia closed her eyes tightly. Could Leonel suddenly awaken? But his eyes were still bright hazelnut. They weren’t the golden color of Siegfried.

“No, it’s nothing…”

“I trained hard, and now I can do it!”

He said he could control monsters because he trained hard? Leonel’s words were a lie. Leonel wouldn’t awaken until he was an adult. He would awaken after meeting Sierra. Above all, he couldn’t control monsters before awakening.

“Can you control monsters now?”

“Yes, I’ve been training with Father.”

Amelia wondered if she should believe Leonel’s words. Should she pretend to believe even though she knew it was a lie? And she was shocked to hear he had been training with Raphael.

“Isn’t controlling monsters only possible after awakening?”

Leonel, with his brown eyes, seemed unfamiliar as he controlled monsters. His appearance was still the Leonel she knew.

“And when you fully awaken, your eye color changes.”

The reason she could take Leonel with her was that he hadn’t fully awakened as a Siegfried. If Leonel had fully awakened, she couldn’t take him.

“You’re still…”

You have brown eyes. She couldn’t bring herself to say it. It was what Leonel was most sensitive about. How much discrimination had he faced just because his eyes weren’t golden?

“I haven’t awakened yet.”

“Then how can you control monsters?”

“I figured out how to do it without fully awakening.”

Was that even possible? In the original story, Leonel never neglected his training. Even after Raphael died, he worked tirelessly to awaken his power. And now, five-year-old Leonel claimed he could use near-awakened power just because he trained with Raphael? It was hard to believe.

“I can’t fully awaken yet, but I know how to use the power that comes after.”

It didn’t seem like a lie that he hadn’t fully awakened. Siegfried’s awakening couldn’t be hidden. The eye color would change immediately. So, it seemed Leonel could indeed mimic the power of full awakening even before it happened.

“Do people know about this?”

“No, only Father knows.”

So he hadn’t fully awakened but could use the power and was hiding it? How much had Leonel been oppressed for being a half-baked Siegfried who couldn’t use his power? Knowing that, it didn’t make sense to hide it. Unless it wasn’t considered a full awakening.

Raphael was certainly capable of such behavior.

“Did he suggest this?”

“Huh? No, it was my idea.”

Amelia was surprised to hear that it was Leonel’s idea, not Raphael’s. It was completely unexpected.

Leonel suggested it? Why? There was no reason for that.

“Why did you do that?”

“Because I no longer care about others’ opinions. And wouldn’t it be advantageous for us to escape if I’m seen as a half-baked Siegfried?”

It was confusing to think that such thoughts could come from the mind of a five-year-old child. There wasn’t a single thing wrong from start to finish. That made it even more bizarre.

***

Leaving her in her confusion, Leonel demonstrated his ability to control the monsters. It was so perfect that it was hard to believe it was the skill of someone who hadn’t fully awakened. The way the monsters gathered at his command and moved as he directed them was honestly terrifying.

She could understand why people both revered and feared Siegfried. Every time he reassured her and showed her various things, Amelia’s expression cracked more and more.

No matter how much she tried to convince herself that this was just a child showing off his accomplishments to his parents, it was no use. She found herself stepping back in fear without realizing it.

“Mother?”

“Oh… that’s amazing.”

But she forced a smile, unable to show her true feelings in front of the child. From Leonel’s perspective, he might just want to boast about what he could do now.

“We can escape safely through the western forest, right?”

“Yes… it seems so.”

It wasn’t just a matter of escaping safely. When he suggested they flee on the back of a flying monster, she had been utterly astonished. She could only nod, not wanting to hurt the innocent Leonel.

“We can reach the Carta Empire quickly.”

Maybe he was just doing this because he liked her as his mother.

“I agree with you, Mother.”

“About what?”

“About not escaping when Father goes out.”

Even the young Leonel seemed to recognize it as a trap.

“On the day Father feels most at ease.”

“The day before he leaves.”

“Yes! That’s right.”

As soon as she heard Raphael’s words, she had thought the best time would be the day before. Amelia could only awkwardly smile at Leonel’s excited plan. Maybe it was because they were discussing this in front of the monsters.

“Let’s go back now, before Father notices.”

No matter what anyone said, Leonel was indeed Raphael’s son.

“Do you know what the Carta Empire is like?”

“No, but it’s not our final destination, right?”

Should she be glad he was so smart…?

“Leonel…”

“Yes?”

If he was training with Raphael in secret, their relationship couldn’t be that bad… Didn’t Leonel respect and like Raphael? But the current Leonel seemed to dislike Raphael.

“No, it’s nothing.”

It must be her needless worry.

“Father is coming.”

They teleported back into the castle using magic, and she couldn’t understand how Raphael knew to find them. But it wasn’t unusual since he had been finding her wherever she went lately.

“You two are together again.”

“I’m always with Mother.”

These were the emotions that surfaced every time Leonel clashed with Raphael. He was so different from the Leonel in the book. Not quite hostile, but there was an indescribable feeling.

“You’re not going out today?”

“No, I’m a bit tired.”

Could it even be called going out? He knew it was an escape attempt disguised as an outing, yet he spoke casually, causing Amelia’s face to harden.

“You’re taking your medicine, right?”

“Yes.”

As he pretended to be concerned and stroked her face, Amelia could only roll her eyes.

“Father, why are you here?”

“I came to see my wife.”

She barely managed to shift her gaze away from the increasingly strange atmosphere and finished the tense meal. They had one week left until he would leave. Amelia grew more exhausted from the repeated mental battles. She stopped attempting any more escapes to reassure him.

“I like that you haven’t been going out lately.”

Amelia flinched at his fingers creeping up her arm and bowed her head at the strange tension rising again. This was why she tried to avoid being alone with him… Raphael was suspicious but pleased with her recent lack of outings.

“Weren’t you supposed to leave the day after tomorrow?”

“I have to leave before the moon rises.”

She was taken aback by Raphael’s plan to leave now, contrary to her expectation that he would leave in two days.

“I’ll be back.”

With those words, Raphael disappeared in an instant, as if he was being chased by something.

“Raphael…?”

“Mother!”

As she stared blankly in the direction he had left, Leonel appeared with a flushed face. He had a bag slung over his shoulder and wore a robe, looking well-prepared.

“We have to leave now.”

Before she could even ask how he knew, Leonel grabbed her hand, and they packed their things and their robes. Leonel didn’t say a word until they reached the entrance to the western forest.

“Leonel, it hasn’t been long since Raphael left.”

“I know. So we’ll go in now.”

She became anxious, wondering if Raphael had gone to the western forest. What if they ran into him…

“Father needs to be taught a lesson.”

A large full moon, like the one they had seen before, was already hanging in the night sky.