I found it difficult to understand why he was making such an expression while telling me this story.

After all, there weren’t many points of connection between Sigmon and me.

But since it wasn’t a situation where I could coldly stand up and ask, “Why are you telling me this?” I quietly listened to his words.

“She’s the same age as the young master. Ten years old this year… no.”

A bitter smile formed at the corners of his mouth as he spoke.

“If she were alive, she would be ten this year.”

At the words “if she were alive,” I flinched and looked at Sigmon.

Sigmon continued speaking with an expression of reminiscence.

“My daughter’s time stopped three years ago, due to an accident.”

“That…”

“Despite being a doctor by profession, no matter how desperately I tried, I couldn’t make my daughter’s time move again.”

I held my breath at the story, which was more grim than I had expected.

Time stopping meant…

“…What was her name?”

When I asked carefully, Sigmon answered in a gentle voice.

“Aria. Her name is Aria.”

“Aria… that’s a beautiful name.”

“Yes. She was as beautiful as her name. A pure, kind child, full of consideration for others.”

Sigmon’s expression as he spoke was filled with undisguisable affection.

It was evident how much he truly loved her.

But soon, Sigmon’s expression changed to one of despair.

“But gradually, her image is disappearing from my mind. How she smiled, what face she made when sleeping, what her voice sounded like, how she spoke, gradually…”

As if to prove that despair, his expression became increasingly distorted.

I stared at him blankly.

And the next moment.

“Tutor Pellington—no, Lady Livia!”

He suddenly grabbed my hand tightly.

At his unexpected action, I stared at him with wide eyes.

“Please, help me.”

“W-what’s this all of a sudden…”

Startled by Sigmon’s sudden behavior, I leaned my upper body backward.

Sigmon, who had moved that much closer, spoke in a desperate voice.

“Please let me see my daughter, Aria, just once more.”

“But how could I…”

“That ability of yours. With that special ability, it’s possible, isn’t it?”

“…!!”

I looked at Sigmon with a bewildered face.

How on earth does this man know about that?

“Yes? I’m right, aren’t I? You have a special ability. With that ability, Aria could…”

“W-wait. First, please calm down.”

Sigmon’s demeanor, as he moved increasingly closer, was alarming.

As if determined not to let me go, Sigmon had trapped my upper body with both hands.

His eyes, seen up close, were completely unhinged.

I pushed against his shoulders, but Sigmon didn’t budge.

He was clearly not in his right mind.

“Wait, get away—!”

“It’s not a difficult thing, is it? I just need to confirm something. So, that ability…”

His voice trailed off as he reached his hand toward me.

I watched his approaching hand with trembling eyes.

A hand covered in scars.

Just as that hand was about to touch me.

“Ugh?!”

Suddenly, Sigmon’s body flew backward.

Stunned by the sudden turn of events, I blankly stared at where Sigmon had flown.

Thud—!

After the sound of him hitting the ground, another person’s shadow overlapped, and I slowly raised my head.

And the moment I saw that person, I let out a gasp.

Black hair tinged with sunset hues, a blue glass pin, an indifferent expression, and eyes like black pearls.

“Tutor, are you alright?”

Chelsea, who had sent Sigmon flying with one hand, checked on my condition.

I nodded while breathing heavily.

“…Yes, thank you, Chelsea.”

But how did Chelsea get here?

As I looked at her with questioning eyes, Chelsea quietly said.

“I was looking for you because I had something to tell you, and when I saw you being threatened, I removed him. Did I misjudge the situation?”

I shook my head repeatedly.

If Chelsea hadn’t appeared, I would have used the power of the bracelet to remove Sigmon.

‘What on earth?’

It was brief, but it felt truly dangerous.

Like someone who was possessed by something.

Yes, just like.

‘Like Jeffrey back then…’

“Ugh… Pellington…”

Sigmon groaned as he got up.

Chelsea had thrown him so hard that even his glasses were broken.

As if fragments had pierced his forehead, thin streaks of blood trickled down.

Sigmon, whose eyes were rolling properly now, looked like he might rush at me again at any moment.

Chelsea must have thought the same, as she stood in front of me.

Sigmon stared at Chelsea silently before moving his lips.

“You are indeed…”

Letting his words trail off, Sigmon turned around and disappeared.

“……”

What was that about?

It felt like a storm had just swept through.

Since I couldn’t stay like this forever, I stood up from the bench.

“Ah.”

As soon as I did, my legs gave way, and my body collapsed.

“Are you alright?”

Chelsea immediately caught me.

Thanks to her, I avoided colliding with the ground.

“I’m fine. Just when the tension eased, haha…”

Despite trying to force a laugh and put strength in my legs, they only trembled and wouldn’t stand properly.

This feeble body.

Not helping even at times like this.

Sigh…

‘No choice.’

Sighing inwardly, I forced a smile and said to Chelsea.

“Chelsea, I’m sorry, but I’ll just rest here a bit—”

I’ll rest a bit and then go, so you can go ahead?

That’s what I was trying to say.

But I couldn’t finish my sentence.

“Ch-Chelsea?!”

Suddenly, Chelsea lifted me up.

Like a princess carry.

As I struggled in surprise, Chelsea firmly held my thighs and waist and said.

“I’ll take you to your room like this.”

“N-no, it’s fine—”

“Or I’ll bring the master.”

Is that what you want?

Chelsea’s eyes were asking that.

Wow, Chelsea…

I looked up at Chelsea with a dumbfounded face.

Now she’s even resorting to threats.

Where did the Chelsea I know go?

I felt wronged, but I couldn’t let Cardien see me like this.

‘Though he’ll inevitably hear about it later.’

In the end, I had only one choice.

“…No. Please take me then.”

“Yes.”

With that brief response, Chelsea strode forward.

Each time we passed by servants, I could feel them looking at us as if to say, ‘What kind of sight is this?’

And understandably so, since a tutor was being carried in a maid’s arms.

It was undeniably a bizarre sight.

My face reddened, and I buried it in Chelsea’s chest.

But now that I was being held…

‘Chelsea’s body is incredibly firm.’

I had often thought she was large for a woman, but the arms and shoulders firmly holding me were also very solid.

Clearly, it wasn’t an ordinary body.

Suddenly, Lemon’s words to me flashed through my mind.

‘Don’t trust your maid, Chelsea.’

Don’t trust Chelsea?

How am I supposed to do that?

He should have told me that earlier.

Saying such things now…

‘It’s impossible.’

Chelsea has already become too precious to me.

‘It’s so comfortable…’

I quietly closed my eyes.

Though I felt sorry for Chelsea, who was carrying me, her embrace was so comfortable and secure that my mind naturally relaxed.

So, without realizing it, I fell asleep in Chelsea’s arms.

Thinking that no matter what Chelsea’s true identity might be, she was too precious to me.

***

“Ugh…”

Sigmon let out a low groan as he moved with a limping leg.

The forehead where the broken glass had pierced and the twisted leg were excruciatingly painful.

But this level of pain was nothing compared to when he lost his daughter.

Sigmon muttered quietly.

“Indeed… His words were right…”

Just now, Sigmon’s suspicion had turned into certainty.

‘How dare she imitate the power of God, such a blasphemous being!’

In fact, Sigmon had tested Livia to confirm whether she was a blasphemous being or not.

If Livia had used her ability, Sigmon would have acknowledged her existence.

But until the end, Livia didn’t use her ability.

Because she was a blasphemous being imitating someone else’s power, she couldn’t use it!

‘That too was an illusion.’

Sigmon learned about Livia’s ability when she woke Cardien.

No one knew, but that day, Sigmon had been secretly watching the room.

And that day, Sigmon witnessed Livia’s ability with his own eyes.

To Sigmon’s eyes, that scene was like a miracle.

When he examined Cardien, he was virtually a vegetative state.

Though he didn’t tell Winston, Cardien’s magic power was barely flowing, resembling a dying state.

Yet Livia had awakened such a Cardien.

It was as miraculous as bringing someone back from the dead.

And as far as Sigmon knew, there was only one person in this world who could demonstrate such an ability.