Chapter 72
At a loss for words, only blinking, I listened as Arkel’s words continued.
“Ladia. The Archduke’s wife… that child was also my disciple.”
“……”
She was stronger and wiser than anyone, yet every breath she took carried an inescapable kindness.
“That’s why the Elite Corps was created. Under the pretense of recruiting talents for the Empire, in truth, he’s been searching for his lost child—without resting for even a single day—for the past eight years.”
Lucilea’s heart pounded violently. No, it felt like it had slammed into the ground with a heavy thud.
“His Grace the Archduke… was searching for me?”
And my mother, the one who gave birth to me, was the disciple of the Archmage?
It was a relief that her guess had been correct—that the one who cast the disguise magic on her had been her own mother. Yet the rest of the story was so shocking that her mind struggled to process it.
In the original novel, this was dismissed in a single line:
“The lost daughter was found.”
She never imagined that behind that short sentence lay such a long and painful history.
Arkel gazed at Lucilea quietly as he continued in a calm tone.
“His Grace believed. That the child was still alive. That Ladia must have ensured the child’s survival somehow.”
“……”
For some reason, Lucilea couldn’t look away from his eyes.
He believed. That the child would still be alive. Those words felt almost as if he were speaking directly to her.
A breeze swept through the glass garden. Light flickered between the leaf veins, and Lucilea’s fingertips curled slightly.
“That’s why, together with the Elite Corps, he left footprints on every road where the child might have passed—black markets at the border, slave markets in the South, and even the gladiator pits at the fringes. For eight whole years.”
Black markets, slave markets, gladiator pits…
Then suddenly, a fragment of memory clicked into place like a puzzle piece.
“In the original story, the Elite Corps was supposed to find me at a slave market…”
At the time, she had wondered why the Archduke’s men would even show up at a slave market.
“So it wasn’t a coincidence.”
They had been searching. For his child.
“And because she was a child he finally found after such hardship, maybe that’s why… even when she grew twisted and committed cruel deeds, he couldn’t do anything but watch.”
He had covered for every wicked act the villainess Lucilea committed, and even embraced her cruelty and savagery as though they were his own sins.
“Yes… His Grace would have done that.”
The strange warmth that sometimes flickered across Elbadin’s emotionless face, the incomprehensible tolerance—she could now see a glimpse of what they really were.
Lucilea averted her gaze for no reason, brushing her fingers again along the leaf veins. The green felt cool against her fingertips, but strangely, the corners of her eyes grew hot.
But then…
“Then who kidnapped Mother?”
As that question rose, the heat at her eyes vanished as if it had never been, replaced by a chilling cold flowing through her veins.
Lucilea quickly steadied her emotions and barely managed to speak.
“Then, that day… why did Lady Ladia disappear?”
Arkel’s gaze deepened.
“No one knows. The struggle to uncover that ‘why’ has continued to this very day.”
“……”
“And just as the Archduke believes, many others do as well.”
At those words, Lucilea turned toward him. Arkel smiled softly and went on.
“That the child is still alive.”
“……”
Lucilea quietly returned his gaze.
“Master of the Tower…”
“What is it?”
“……”
Lucilea inhaled once, then opened her mouth.
“I… I’ll do better.”
Her words trembled faintly, but her eyes were clearer than ever.
Arkel blinked at her sudden reply, then his eyes curved into a smile.
“Yes. I’ll teach you even more diligently. Because you—whatever it is—you’ll surely succeed.”
Once more, the wind swept across the glass garden. Somewhere nearby, the cry of an unknown bird echoed and then faded away.
A few days later, the results of the field training were announced.
The children’s performances were graded by detailed categories: contribution in battle, suppression of monsters, teamwork and leadership, crisis response, and mission accomplishment.
These scores directly determined the level of future support and the amount of their dignity allowance.
And the group that completed their mission with the best results was, unsurprisingly, the Special Team.
<Their calm response during the unexpected encounter with the ancient divine beast, the ‘Griffin,’ and their successful rescue operation of their comrade was highly praised.>
No one could object.
“They actually encountered an ancient Griffin?”
“And survived?!”
Of course, the fact that Lucilea had ridden the Griffin’s back and even given it the name “Choco” was conveniently omitted.
But just the fact that they had faced a Griffin at all was enough for everyone to acknowledge the Special Team’s results.
Irenel was finally assigned a bedroom on the 5th floor of the western annex.
Kaelin, instead of receiving a reward, was given supplemental training, though she claimed she had no complaints.
Thus, Lucilea’s first real field training concluded successfully.
And into her hands fell two heavy pouches.
Her eyes widened.
“Th-this… what is this, May?”
May beamed as she replied.
“These are the dignity allowance you’ve been waiting for, and the reward money for the field training~.”
“……”
Dignity allowance! Reward money!
Lucilea froze for a moment, then suddenly bolted to the sofa and sat down.
First, she opened the pouch of dignity allowance and poured it onto the table.
Clatter!
“Huuuh?!”
[Lu—Lucileaaa!!]
Startled, Lucilea gasped, and Cookie echoed her name in surprise.
From the pouch spilled no less than 10 gold coins.
“Th-th-the dignity allowance… the monthly dignity allowance is ten gold?!”
“Usually, new members of the ducal household receive five gold. But Lady Lucilea received so much more! His Grace clearly recognized your talent!”
“……”
Mouth agape, Lucilea’s eyes darted to the other pouch—the one with the reward money.
That was the real problem.
Even by rough estimation, it looked far bigger than the allowance pouch.
Clatter, clatter!
She upended the pouch, and sure enough—
More gold spilled out than even the allowance.
“The reward is twenty gold coins!”
“Huuh… huff… huff…”
Lucilea gasped for breath.
Ten gold for the allowance, twenty gold for the reward.
“That’s a total of thirty gold!!!!”
Considering a maid’s monthly salary was six silver, a carriage horse cost five gold, and a trained warhorse fifteen gold…
Lucilea just stared blankly at the heap of gold coins on the table.
Thirty gold.
This wasn’t just “a lot” of money.
It was the kind of sum a knight of the Archduke’s household could only earn after risking his life for an entire year—and with it, one could buy not one, but two of their precious warhorses.
A fortune so vast she thought she’d never even touch it in her lifetime was now glittering before her eyes.
“I…”
She placed her hand on the pile of overlapping gold coins.
“I… I’m rich now!!”
With this money, couldn’t she leave the ducal house and still live well on her own?
That thought lasted only a moment.
“No… that’s for the far future. I’ll think about it later.”
Ever since hearing from Arkel about the Elite Corps, just the thought of leaving the ducal house made her heart ache.
Surely, it was because of her guilt toward Elbadin, who had been searching so desperately for her.
“More than that, just staying here in the ducal house earns me a monthly dignity allowance of ten gold.”
That was 120 gold a year, 1,200 gold in ten years!
“There’s no way I’m giving that up!”
On top of that, there were the extra earnings from field training.
With good results, she could win reward money and get any support she wished.
She could even gather alchemy materials!
So really…
“…I’m absolutely not staying because of guilt. Absolutely not.”
It was simply because the money was so good…
Lucilea looked down at the pile of gold on the table, her eyes dimming slightly.
