Countess Lucia urged him with an anxious look, even pushing him forward when he wouldn’t move.

“N-No! I’ll go with you…!”

“You can’t. It’s too dangerous. You could die.”

“Then what about you, Mother? I can’t leave you and Father behind!”

Hubert screamed desperately, his suppressed sobs finally breaking free.

“I can’t leave you and Father behind!”

“Hubert….”

The anguish in his voice caused Countess Lucia’ eyes to waver. She wanted to scold him for being immature, to reprimand him for his useless stubbornness, but her voice choked with emotion. She needed to send him away, even if she had to force him, but the words wouldn’t come out.

Just then, an urgent shout came from behind.

“Look out! Get down!”

“Damn it!”

Sensing the incoming attack too late, Countess Lucia quickly cast a protective spell. However, the blood-red aura cut straight through the magical shield.

“No!”

Realizing the spell had been broken, Countess Lucia instinctively reached out and pushed Hubert away. But she was just a moment too slow.

“Aaah!”

Hubert screamed as he clutched his right eye. The moment the searing heat brushed over his tightly shut eye, it felt like fire scorched his face. In an instant, his vision turned blood red.

“Hubert!”

Countess Lucia let out a heart-wrenching cry at the sight of her bloodied son. Blood trickled down from beneath his hand, staining his shirt crimson.

“Ugh…”

Hubert couldn’t respond. Painful groans escaped through his clenched lips. Every time the heavy rain struck his face, the nauseating scent of blood stung his nose. Realizing it was his own blood made him retch.

“It hurts.”

It hurt so much—unbearably so. It burned! Overwhelmed by excruciating pain, Hubert writhed and gasped for air.

“Oh, dear.”

Countess Lucia hurriedly began casting a healing spell, her hands trembling. Unable to endure the pain, Hubert whimpered, but as the warm magic coursed through him, he finally regained a semblance of composure.

“Are you all right?”

“Y-yes….”

Hubert replied weakly. Although the wound had healed, his eye still felt hot and stung sharply. But he was grateful it wasn’t worse. If his mother hadn’t pushed him the moment the shield broke, he might have lost his right eye entirely.

“Whew.”

Countess Lucia sighed in relief. She removed her hands after confirming the bleeding had stopped.

“Let me see.”

With worry etched across her face, the countess examined Hubert. Thankfully, the wound hadn’t been as deep as she feared, but the situation was far from comforting.

“Of all places… your eye….”

Despite knowing that a scar was inevitable after being struck by a Swordmaster’s aura, the sight of the injury made her bite her lower lip in frustration.

“I hope there won’t be any lasting effects.”

A Swordmaster’s aura was fundamentally different from that of an Expert Knight. Even a minor wound could lead to complications later, potentially affecting his vision.

“Get up quickly. Hurry, run…”

As Countess Lucia helped Hubert to his feet, Aaron let out a thunderous roar. The deafening sound was enough to make ears ring.

“Graaaaah!”

“R-run away!”

“Raise your shields!”

Aaron swung his sword wildly, tearing into the ground and splitting rocks. Countess Lucia dodged falling trees, pulling Hubert along with her.

‘We’re going to die. We might die.’ Hubert trembled uncontrollably in his mother’s arms, his distorted vision taking in the chaos of a battlefield that now resembled a wasteland.

“Your Grace! Get a hold of yourself!”

“…?! Darling!”

Amid the screams echoing around them, an urgent voice pierced through. When Countess Lucia turned her head toward the sound, she was horrified to see her husband gravely injured.

“Are you hurt?!”

“Lucia…”

The Grand Duke, with a deep wound in his side, leaned heavily on a knight’s support, panting for breath. Dark crimson blood seeped from his lips, suggesting internal injuries.

“This place is too dangerous… You must flee, cough…”

“Father!”

When the Grand Duke coughed up blood, Hubert called out to him in shock. Countess Lucia hurried to heal her husband’s wound.

“Huff… Take Hubert and get as far away as possible…”

The wound was severe. With a tense expression, the countess bit her lip as she cast healing magic on her husband. Her gaze shifted toward Aaron, who was locked in a deadly struggle with their knights.

The situation was dire. More than half of the knights and mages under her command had already perished. Aaron, now a bloodthirsty monster, wouldn’t stop until everyone was dead. If they couldn’t stop him, they were all doomed.

“…That can’t happen.”

Countess Lucia gritted her teeth. There was only one way to break through this desperate situation.

“Swan!”

“Yes, Your Grace!”

Having made her decision, she called for the captain of her knights. Swan, who was rallying the remaining soldiers, rushed over at her summons.

“I’m entrusting my son to you.”

“…! Your Grace.”

“There’s no one else I can trust.”

Swan’s eyes widened. A seasoned veteran of countless battlefields, he instinctively understood what Countess Lucia  intended. Her face was resolute, prepared for death.

“…I will protect the young master with my life.”

“Mother…?”

Hearing their conversation, Hubert sensed something was wrong and called out to her.

“Hubert. My son.”

Suppressing the tears threatening to spill, Countess Lucia embraced her son one last time.

“Go to a safe place with Sir Swan. I’ll….”

‘I’ll follow you soon.’ She couldn’t bring herself to say the words. She couldn’t promise her child something she couldn’t keep. Tightening her arms around him briefly, she then released him.

“Young master, I’ll take you from here.”

“N-no!”

Hubert shook his head desperately. Though he didn’t know why, he felt certain that if he left his parents now, he’d never see them again. Swan hoisted the struggling Hubert onto his shoulder.

“Lucia… What are you planning to do?”

“I’m going to use an amplification spell.”

The Grand Duke’s eyes widened at her words. It was tantamount to declaring she would sacrifice her own life.

“I’ll offer my life as a price to stop Aaron.”

“What are you saying…?”

“This is the best option.”

Countess Lucia clasped her husband’s hand. As someone weaker than a Swordmaster, the only way she could hope to defeat him was by using an amplification spell to temporarily raise her magic circle.

“…You can’t do this alone.”

“Darling.”

“Let’s face him together.”

The Grand Duke, realizing he could not dissuade his wife, clasped her hands tightly, his expression grim. He couldn’t bear to let her face it alone. Resolving himself, he gazed tenderly at Hubert, who sobbed uncontrollably in the arms of the knight commander.

“If we combine our strength, we can win this.”

The Grand Duke etched the image of his son’s face into his memory, vowing never to forget it, and forced a smile as he turned toward his wife.

“…Sniff.”

Countess Lucia’s voice trembled with emotion. Whether it was the rain or her own tears, her vision blurred repeatedly. Together, they stood hand in hand. The differently colored magic flowing from their fingertips merged into one.

“No… No! Mother! Father!”

Hubert, feeling the surge of their magic spiraling out of control, screamed desperately from Swan’s arms.

“Everyone who’s still alive, fall back!”

At Swan’s command, people retreated to a safe distance. Trapped within the swirling storm of magic, the Grand Duke and Countess turned back to look. They smiled, their faces as gentle as ever.

“We love you, Hubert.”

Those were their final words. As the two were consumed by their magic, a colossal storm erupted, shaking the heavens and the earth. Then, the world turned white.

***

“…Those were my parents’ last words.”

Grand Duke Eustace finished recounting his story. Lila opened her mouth as if to speak, but instead bit her lower lip, unsure what to say.

“Was it… the Emperor’s doing?”

Though her voice barely emerged, she couldn’t complete her sentence. Lila had long suspected that the Emperor might have been involved in the death of the previous Grand Duke and Countess.

At the time, she had dismissed the thought as unthinkable. But if the Emperor had indeed orchestrated such a thing, even using a Swordmaster to carry it out… Lila’s expression grew conflicted as she looked at the Grand Duke.

Eustace, having dredged up his painful past, looked utterly exhausted, as if he had spent all his strength. Seeing his weariness, Lila found herself unable to speak. In the silence that followed, the sound of rain once again filled the room.

“Why do you look like that?”

It was Eustace who broke the silence. Though he had been sitting quietly for a long time, his lips now curled into a forced smile as he addressed Lila.

“Don’t make that face.”

Startled, Lila blinked as his hand brushed against her tear-streaked cheek. She couldn’t even ask what kind of expression she had been making. Her throat felt tight, and no sound would come out.

“I know what you’re thinking.”

His hand slid down and gently touched her lips. Eustace pressed lightly against her tightly shut lips, coaxing them open. Blood had welled on her lower lip from how hard she’d been biting it.

“You’re probably right.”