In the year Rudbeckia turned six, Diego decided to become a nobleman of the Empire rather than the king of a small country and surrendered the Glimm Kingdom. After receiving promises of a ducal title and a good marriage from Emperor Adam Perron of the Pergos Empire.

“The Glimm Kingdom has declared surrender! The gates are open! Sound the victory drums!”

“Track them to the border. We’ve received reports that the blonde mother and daughter fled in that direction!”

The mother and daughter ran toward the Sanders Grand Duchy, which bordered their country. It was a land of chivalry that prioritized caring for women and children and protecting the weak!

Two arrows slowed Adele’s steps.

The sight of Adele, limping but using all her strength to drag herself toward the border, is always heartbreakingly painful.

A scene so difficult and cruel it makes one’s stomach churn.

“F-finally……”

Adele ran toward the border, her only lifeline, even as she was shot with arrows like a hunted rabbit, and finally, the mother and daughter were able to step on that land.

“Damn it. They actually crossed over. Shoot! Throw spears too!”

“Huff, huff…… Rud, listen carefully. If, if you ever get separated from mommy…. If mommy can’t give you kisses anymore, you must find the ring. The treasure of the Glimm royal family! The Ring of Light!”

— Thud!

But that was as far as she got. After taking a few more steps on the ground, Adele could walk no further.

“The Ring of Light! Remember, baby!”

A soldier with reddish-brown hair, which looked red as it was stained with blood, threw a spear deeply as if to ensure death.

That long spear cut through Adele’s chest and wounded Rudbeckia’s chest as well, who was in her arms.

“The knights of Sanders are coming! We need to retrieve her quickly!”

“Rud! Baby! Get away! Run!!”

In the distance, a group of Sanders knights could be seen raising dust as they came to investigate the commotion at the border.

Adele pushed Rudbeckia toward that dust cloud, telling her to run.

“M-mommy. Mommy! No, mommy don’t die, you can’t die! Don’t leave me alone!!”

“Go!!”

With that final death cry, Adele was captured by the reddish-brown haired group that had been chasing them.

The soldiers, who didn’t even have time to dismount to avoid friction with the Sanders Grand Duchy, only picked up one of Adele’s legs. Thus, Adele was dragged along the ground as they returned the way they had come.

At six years old, she didn’t fully understand her mother’s words, but she stored them in her mind without missing a single syllable.

And she engraved her mother’s final moments in her eyes.

Her mother, dragged away in a form that was remarkably similar to a ‘hedgehog’ she had seen in the book  「Europa’s Amazing Animal Friends」 last summer…

* * *

“Your Grace. What shall we do?”

“The Glimm Kingdom has already been occupied by Pergos. Crossing the border would be like picking a fight with Pergos, so we stop here.”

“What about this child?”

Rudbeckia wiped her tears with her dirty sleeve and spoke without blinking an eye, looking up at the tall figure on horseback.

“Hello. I am Princess Rudbeckia Glimm of the Glimm Kingdom.”

Blood was seeping from her chest.

But her eyes held a murderous intent, shining fiercely like those of a wild beast.

“Will you come with me? If you come with me, you might have a chance for revenge.”

“…What is revenge?”

“Making those who did that to your mother suffer the same fate as her.”

Rudbeckia recalled the image of Adele, with one leg lifted, bouncing off the stone ground and disappearing.

“Mommy must have been in a lot of pain. She bled and cried. Those people should hurt more than mommy did.”

“If you follow me, you can gain the power to make them suffer more.”

“Give me the power to take revenge on the Pergos Empire.”

Grand Duke Eriton Sanders took Rudbeckia into his arms and turned his horse toward the Grand Duke’s residence.

“With such a high fever, can she survive? Even the doctor says nothing can be done.”

“Did she lose too much blood? Her eyes didn’t look like those of someone about to die. Watch her for three or four days, and if there’s no improvement, abandon her.”

However, on the day they entered the mansion, she was in a state where the memory surge was about to begin.

Without even the strength to scream, she just lay limp, clinging to her fading consciousness.

She had made up her mind to take revenge….

It was a feeble courage, like a candle in the wind.

— Click

“Wow. She really is pretty, just like people said. I heard she was sick, and her whole body is really hot!”

“M-mommy…?”

At that moment, a small boy entered the room where she was lying.

“Huh? Your mommy isn’t here. Only my mommy is here. You need to get up quickly. Otherwise, you’ll be thrown out.”

“Mommy… forehead… k-kiss….”

“Forehead kiss? Your wound is on your chest, not your forehead?”

The boy thought deeply for a moment, then pressed his lips to her forehead and said.

“Ho- ho- hooo-“

The power of the ‘ho-‘ that the small boy blew was incredible.

Like the warmth of her mother Adele, it quickly subdued the surge of memories.

“Ah, ah…? Ahhh……”

Enough that she could immediately raise her hand to rub her forehead.

“Huh? You can move? Was it because of my ho-? I didn’t know I had such an ability!”

In Rudbeckia’s world where she remembered everything, there was only one warm thing—her mother’s lips…..

It was the moment her world grew by one more.

She had heard that only her mother’s loving kiss could calm the surge…..

The warmth transmitted by the strange boy who stopped the unstoppable surge of memories after losing her mother.

“Hello, my name is Caleb Sanders. What’s yours?”

“I’m… Rud, beckia…. Ki, kiss my forehead more.”

Along with Adele’s final scream, it was the day she felt that warmth again—the warmth she thought she would never feel again.

It was her unforgettable first meeting with Caleb Sanders.

After Caleb Sanders kissed her forehead, Rudbeckia’s world began to move again.

When she came to her senses, Eriton gave her a new name and homeland, and placed a sword in her hands.

“From now on, your name is ‘Rud Primrose,’ and your homeland is ‘Sanders Grand Duchy.’ Since it shares a border with Glimm Kingdom, there are many people here with blonde hair and golden eyes, so no one will be suspicious.”

“Yes!”

He was the one who brought her back to a warm home when she nearly died on the cold street.

He was the father of the boy with warm lips.

So why? No reason was needed. Rudbeckia decided to completely trust and follow Eriton’s words, vowing she would even drink lye if he said so.

To take revenge on the Pergos Empire that trampled her homeland, and to kill her traitor father who opened those gates.

She decided to use any means necessary, and the Grand Duke of Sanders and his wife began teaching her everything.

“My lady, it seems the princesses of the Glimm royal family inheriting the title of great sage was genetic.”

“Indeed, when taught one thing she learns ten, and never forgets anything once learned.”

The amount of books Rudbeckia read in a day was enormous.

Grand Duchess Yuli Sanders of the Sanders Grand Duchy first taught her speed reading. It was to enable her to quickly read reports or maps during wartime.

Once speed reading was perfected, Yuli conducted lessons on the continent’s history, other countries’ systems, etiquette, and military tactics passed down from ancient times.

Knowing your enemy and knowing yourself leads to victory in every battle, does it not?

“Isn’t that my mommy’s?”

“Cal! Yes, Master Yuli gave it to me as a gift.”

Rudbeckia received a hairpin as a 12th birthday gift from her master, Yuli. It wasn’t just any hairpin, but one Yuli had used to end enemies’ lives during honey trap strategies.

“I hope you succeed in your revenge with this hairpin. I know you can do it.”

One side of the hairpin was engraved with ‘Yuli,’ and the other side with ‘Rudbeckia.’

“How nice, getting gifts from mommy……”

“If you train hard too, you can get gifts, Cal!”

Rudbeckia spoke clearly to Caleb who trailed off.

Her emotions welled up and her heart beat quickly, making her voice unconsciously louder.

“If I train hard, brother will hate me.”

Though Caleb was only 12, with his height and build larger than his peers, he was already being talked about alongside his eldest brother, Greg Sanders, for the position of next heir to the Grand Duchy.