Seeing his deathly pale face made my heart ache.

‘I must save Father first.’

In the original story, Father doesn’t appear. It was because he had already died from the incurable mana heart disease.

That meant he would face death within the next three years.

She couldn’t let that happen.

Plop. Drip-drop.

Large teardrops fell onto the dress. Liria wiped the tears flowing down her cheeks with her sleeve. She barely stopped her sobbing and trembling shoulders and urged herself on.

‘Don’t cry, Liria. Let’s think about what I can do from now on.’

As Liria left the hospital room, she quickly hid behind a curtain sensing someone approaching. Then, the family doctor and Duke von Roberg appeared.

‘…Grandfather?’

Heading towards the hospital room, he asked the doctor with his usual cold face.

“…Is there still no improvement?”

“Yes, the pulse is normal, and the mana flow in the body is gradually becoming smoother. If you wait a little longer, consciousness will return. However, high-level magic puts a strain on the mana heart and is dangerous. If you’re careful about that, then for the next few years……”

The Duke bit his lip at the doctor’s trailing words.

He knew without having to hear it. Those with holes in their mana hearts don’t live long.

“I see.”

“St-still, it’s fortunate that he survived.”

But the Duke’s patience shattered at the doctor’s insensitive remark.

“You dare call that a proper statement?”

“…Gah!”

The Duke seized the doctor’s collar, his veins bulging with anger.

“My son has a hole in his heart. He might not be able to function as a magician. What? You say it’s fortunate he’s safe?”

As his rough breathing subsided, the Duke quietly ordered.

“I want to be alone. Get out of my sight immediately.”

“…Yes, I-I misspoke, Your Grace.”

The doctor bowed his head and hurriedly left as if fleeing.

Left alone in front of the hospital room, the Duke finally collapsed to the floor as if all strength had left his body, weeping and sobbing.

It was the first time I had seen Grandfather’s broken appearance.

‘Grandfather, I will save both Father and our family. Definitely.’

Liria, who had been watching, felt her heart grow heavy and quickly turned her steps towards her own room.

As soon as she entered the room, her nanny Marit was standing guard.

“Have you been at the young master’s hospital room until now?”

“Yes.”

Marit bent her knees and hugged Liria tightly.

“You did well. But if you keep this up, you’ll get sick too, miss. Don’t skip meals and stay strong, so the young master can regain his strength…!”

“Um, Marit. I can’t breathe.”

Trapped in Marit’s embrace, Liria struggled and looked up at her.

I heard Marit was a half-elf, half-human, and she was as strong as she was beautiful. Are all elves this strong?

Come to think of it, she seemed to be a head taller than an average human woman.

“Oh my. Miss, I’m sorry! I couldn’t control my strength for a moment…”

Startled, Marit quickly let go of Liria. With drooping eyebrows, she clasped her hands and asked.

“My dear miss, you’re not hurt anywhere, are you?”

“Tell me honestly. What was your previous job?”

Liria put her hands on her hips and tilted her head, asking suspiciously.

“Ohoho, it’s time for our miss to go to bed now, isn’t it? Come on, shall we put you to bed?”

“Sigh, what kind of nanny are you? You should feed the child and then put them to bed!”

Marit felt like laughing at the sight of Liria’s round head shaking and her cheeks puffing up.

It was both cute and pitiful how she sometimes spoke like a little adult while still being such a young child.

Liria was clearly different from other children her age. Even as a baby, unlike children who cry and fuss when hungry, Liria would stare intently at the milk bottle, flapping her body and giggling.

The only time Marit had witnessed Liria, who rarely cried, sobbing loudly like a child was recently when she encountered her injured father after a long time.

‘Still, you shouldn’t grow up too fast, miss.’

Marit was grateful that Liria had regained her spirits and returned.

It was truly painful to see a child who had completely lost their appetite.

Because there was nothing she could do while this tiny child was immersed in sadness.

“You’re not crying today.”

“Yeah. I’m not going to cry anymore. Give me food. I’ll eat.”

“Miss, really? Then promise me now. You’ll eat your meals properly, and sleep soundly in bed under the covers. Ah, but don’t kick off the blanket.”

“Okay. But kicking off the blanket is a sleep habit, I can’t help it!”

Marit gently stroked Liria’s soft cheek as she smiled softly and said.

“Hmm, I’ll come to cover you up to three times. Not four times!”

“Marit, food.”

“I’ll bring it right away. What would you like to eat?”

“Hot stew and pumpkin pie!”

Marit left after watching Liria eat her meal diligently, brush her teeth, and then lie down in bed.

Click.

As soon as the door locked, Liria’s eyes flashed open and she tapped the moon-shaped magic lantern again.

Finally, she could be alone.

Liria sat down and became lost in thought.

The most hopeful thing at this point was that Grandfather was still healthy and serving as the head of the family.

In the original story, Grandfather rapidly lost his health due to an accident and stepped down from his position.

He passed on the role of family head to the eldest son, Osdel, and went down to a quiet countryside estate for recuperation and rural life, spending the rest of his days there.

‘The cause was a carriage accident.’

Of all things, he hit his head, and his judgment became so clouded that he could no longer manage the family affairs.

But it was a suspicious incident.

Grandfather is an excellent grand magician, strong enough to protect himself even if a carriage accident occurs.

Even if he couldn’t react, a Roberg carriage would have magical safety measures in place.

Moreover, there would have been guards around.

‘Could someone have deliberately set it up?’

Osdel, who claimed the position of family head.

Benjamin and Belita, who carved up the vast fortune—from business shares to family mines and estates.

Some people had clearly profited from this.

‘This, too, is part of the future I must change.’

And there were forces that welcomed Osdel becoming the head of the family.

If possible, Grandfather maintaining his position as head of the family for a long time would be beneficial for the Roberg family as well.

The Roberg family was excellent and powerful enough to appear in the empire’s history books.

It was too precious to be destroyed by the hands of the male lead because of just three pieces of trash.

For a thousand long years, the Roberg family was a great family that changed the world based on powerful magic.

Their achievements and influence were enormous.

They were the empire’s only ducal family that even the imperial family couldn’t easily deal with.

In such a family, they squandered Grandfather’s precious bank and businesses and even engaged in illegal activities…

Moreover, how they treated Adrian was an unforgivable act.

Liria had clearly observed in the original story how the fate of a family can diverge depending on who becomes the head.

‘I need to prevent Grandfather’s carriage accident. So he can take care of the family for a long time.’

The second most hopeful thing was that Liria still had three years.

Before Adrian, at age twelve, was kidnapped here, Liria’s primary task for the next three years was to keep her father and grandfather healthy.

‘Let’s make a plan for how to move forward.’

Liria sat at the children’s desk and opened a sketchbook. Grasping a blue crayon in her hand, she wrote down her goals one by one.

Although it was a child’s hand with underdeveloped muscles, with consistent practice, she could now write quite neatly.

Moreover, since no one here could understand Korean, even if someone read this, they wouldn’t be able to interpret it.

Well then, shall we begin?

Ultimately, it’s a plan to prevent the downfall of the Roberg family and survive, but it’s still difficult to reach that far.

Liria decided to start by listing the plans she could think of one by one.