Chapter 27
After a flash of light, when I opened my eyes, the moss that had been at eye level earlier had dropped down to around my thighs.
“Huh? What? Did I… grow taller? Could it be that I… became an adult? Oh, my clothes? My clothes?”
I quickly scanned my body, and thankfully, my clothes had grown with me.
It was a relief that the spell made sense.
“Phew… I almost couldn’t leave in a completely different way.”
It seemed that my body had transformed into an adult to fully utilize the newly acquired power.
After a few seconds, I could feel my strength draining in real time, even in that brief instant.
I quickly placed my hands on the moss and poured in my energy.
“Grow, grow, grow!”
Golden light burst out around my body, and the moss on the walls began to thicken rapidly.
Rumble!
Just as I expected, the overgrown moss smashed through the wall!
“Good!”
But the moment I confirmed that, I was caught off guard by someone’s gaze.
It was the shackled boy who had been moved to the next room.
His red eyes were even wider than before, as if he too was extremely shaken.
“…You…”
Even this usually silent boy had spoken first.
Anyone would naturally be curious.
After all, someone had suddenly appeared when the wall collapsed—how shocking that must have been.
But I had neither the time nor reason to explain.
“Wait! I’ll save you too!”
I quickly pulled myself out of the broken cage and dashed down the corridor.
Then a problem arose.
All that remained was to climb the stairs at the end of the hallway, but the commotion from the collapsing wall had drawn all the guards in the control room.
“What’s going on? Why did the wall break?”
“Who’s this girl? An intruder!”
“There’s a suspicious girl in the prison! Capture her quickly!”
The guards who made eye contact with me immediately rushed forward.
“Ugh, of all times! The duke is just beyond that door!”
But this kind of situation was familiar.
After all, I had always been the one being chased.
“Yeah, compared to Sir Aster, this is easy.”
Composing myself, I raised the moss I had brought to use my ultimate “frugal 2-minute druid” ability.
I infused it with power and threw it down the hallway like grenades.
The moss expanded endlessly, binding the legs of the rushing guards.
Knowing exactly how big it would grow, I leapt over each massive clump as it formed.
Though my legs wobbled from the sudden adult-sized body, my speed didn’t falter.
Finally, the stairs leading to the ground!
Two minutes had almost passed, and I felt myself shrinking back down, my perspective lowering and my consciousness dimming.
“Ah, time’s almost up! This is bad.”
Exhausted like an autumn mosquito, I mustered the last of my strength and pulled the secret lever.
Creak.
The door opened, revealing the duke pressing a sword to the neck of a bald man.
“Ah, fa-ather…”
“Iri!”
I collapsed into his arms as I said,
“Down… down… save me…”
Thud.
The duke discarded his blood-soaked coat.
He wrapped his daughter in his arms and walked down the stairs.
Clomp, clomp.
Though it was supposed to be a slave storage area, the underground floor was overrun with withered grass.
Also noticeable was the blood seeping between the plants.
The duke’s expression hardened.
Judging by the arrangement of corpses, there seemed to be no survivors.
“…Who could have done this?”
Then, after a small whimper, a tiny black shadow appeared in the center of the hallway.
He was barely old enough to be called a boy.
Was this the child his daughter had asked him to save?
The duke asked,
“Was it you?”
The boy didn’t answer, only shifting his red eyes toward Iri, who was in the duke’s arms.
It was brief, but it seemed he quickly assessed the situation and moved past.
A small body covered in blood, an eerie child unmoved by the corpses—it didn’t seem like someone to be saved.
The duke immediately turned his attention elsewhere.
A few days later.
Duke Dein headed to the imperial palace.
On the carriage, he thought of the child who had been sound asleep in a city mansion.
Though the royal physician found no abnormality, he couldn’t relax.
Whether it was weakness or trauma from the prison—she had already collapsed three times.
“…I should have tracked down all the perpetrators and wiped them out.”
He thought it a poor bargain to exchange this anxiety for the kidnapper’s life.
Was this feeling because he had failed to keep his promise to prevent the parents from seeing their child again?
Or was it the result of repeated experiences of family members going missing?
He didn’t know for sure.
All he knew was that the emotion felt far too extreme to simply be from a contractual obligation.
“Welcome, Duke Everhardt. I shall guide you to His Majesty.”
The carriage arrived at the main palace, and the chief steward greeted him.
Following him, they went to the emperor’s office.
Bang!
The door opened, revealing a luxurious office bathed in midsummer sunlight.
“Welcome, Duke Dein.”
“The sun of the empire, His Majesty the Emperor.”
Belgerdor Rigentanos, the young emperor, swept his golden hair aside and smiled.
“Sit here. Would you like some health tonic? It’s made from rare herbs.”
Though the emperor offered him a drink, the duke firmly declined—it was a negotiation.
“Haha, just like you. Good. Let’s skip the pleasantries.”
The discussion before meeting the princess concerned family arrangements.
In short, the first discussion with the emperor, who rarely met with anyone, was about sparing his younger sister.
The duke spoke plainly:
“I will not speak at length. Please apply the special law regarding heir kidnapping.”
The Imperial Special Law stated that abductors of noble heirs would face execution regardless of borders.
Everhardt’s child was likely to grow into someone of significant national importance, so the law had been in place for 500 years with international approval.
However, even with such a clear law, the discussion was necessary because royal blood could not be executed.
Belgerdor said,
“Spare the child. The act was likely due to overzealous affection for you.”
“I am not a child, and I seek the maximum penalty.”
“You’re asking me to exile my own sister?”
The duke nodded impassively.
The maximum penalty, as cruel as death, was to confiscate wealth and title and exile the person.
But the duke had another plan:
To depose the inaccessible Lady Diana and exile her, then obtain testimony.
The reason: she had used the same type of teleportation scroll involved in the incident.
The emperor sighed, rubbed his temples, and suddenly clapped his hands loudly.
“Here’s what we’ll do! Diana will receive a lifelong ban without exile. And your family shall be linked to royal blood.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your daughter and my son. Haha!”
The duke’s face stiffened. The emperor’s unnaturally wide smile and dilated pupils felt almost inhuman.
Moreover, the princess’ contract was only for one year—arranging her as a noble’s heir could be excused.
But involvement with the crown prince was another matter.
The emperor continued, “Consider my position. I’ve only been regent for five years and still need to watch both inside and outside the country.”
His goal was the peace and stability of the empire.
He stressed that the first international event since his ascension could not be marred by scandal.
The duke left the office, asking for time to think. Walking down the corridor, he wondered why the emperor was so eager to back him.
Was it because of the divine beast? Or because the princess had innate talent?
Whatever the reason, he could not shake the feeling of being manipulated, as if the royal family had been involved in Lady Diana’s disappearance.
“…Am I being forced to relinquish my title? Or must I die for this to end?”
Everhardt’s family had always been subjugated by the empire like a vassal state.
He could not gamble his family’s fate for the princess or his fragile wife.
“…Hah.”
Years of helplessness crept over him, but now he had to find an answer.
“How can I prevent this engagement?”
He recalled what she once said:
“Dein, I strive to make just choices because I have someone to protect—my sibling and you.”
He stopped abruptly, realizing that the anxiety he felt this morning had actually clarified what he needed to do.
He wanted to protect Iri. Losing her had created an emotion in a space that should have been empty.
Without the joy and comfort from the child, he could not explain his anger and impatience.
He whispered to his wife,
“Blame me, Cecile.”
Having let go of everything and yet seeking joy shamelessly, he vowed to never lose anything again and to ask for forgiveness when they meet again.
“Shall we go to the mansion, Your Grace?”
The duke handed a pendant with a mysterious emblem to the servant and climbed into the carriage.
“Take this to the mercenary guild.”
“Sir?”
Despite the sudden cold journey, the driver promptly pulled the reins at the duke’s firm command.
