“That woman would have been a hindrance if I had let her live. It was good that I killed her then.”

“……”

I couldn’t think of anything to say.

My mind felt completely empty. I couldn’t form any thoughts.

I was just locked in shock for a while, as if swept away by violent waves.

“Aren’t you eating?”

Duke Everett asked calmly. I raised my gaze from the plate and looked at him.

Before me was not a human but a devil. If I could kill that thing and get rid of it, I felt like I could do anything.

The anger within me gradually boiled up. Like the sea boiling due to a lava under the deep seafloor.

—Lily, calm down.

‘….’

—If this continues, Caligo would notice. You might want to kill that man right now, but not now. Instead, you would end up suffering mental damage!

I understand. The rules when using Somnia’s power.

But I couldn’t control myself. How could I calm down this burning anger? If I don’t destroy that devil’s mind right now.

—No!

Just as Somnia shouted loudly, the dream began to fade away.

Soon, it felt like my vision was plunged into darkness, then my eyes opened wide in reality.

I jumped up and gritted my trembling teeth. I felt my eyes getting hot as I clenched my fists tightly.

Kazef Everett killed my mother.

The person who brought me to this world.

…Did I love my mother? Maybe I did. Whatever I became, she was still my ‘mom’.

Did my mother love me? …I’m not sure. That’s a question that can’t be answered at the moment. The person I could ask about that, my mother, had already died at the hands of Duke Everett a long time ago.

—Lily…

Somnia called me with a deeply apologetic voice. Wiping away the dampness around my eyes in silence, I glanced at the clock on the wall. …It was 11:52. It was still my birthday.

“…Ha…”

A sound that couldn’t be identified as laughter or crying leaked through my lips.

My shocked body still trembled slightly, and my mind was entirely consumed by anger. I wanted to throw away everything I could get my hands on and vent my anger.

‘So that’s why I couldn’t find her.’

Because she was already dead.

About a year ago, I attempted to find my mother. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t even find a trace of her.

The reason was… because Duke Everett had killed her a long time ago.

“……”

I clenched the sheets in my hand. Tears ran down my cheeks. Whether my mother loved me or not, she was the one who gave birth to me and raised me, the first person I loved in this world.

Now, what could I do for her?

All that remained was revenge. There was no way to bring back the dead.

‘…Somnia.’

—Yes?

‘Can you infiltrate Kazef Everett’s dream once more?’

—That’s… not possible anymore. Caligo most likely noticed.

‘…I see.’

Originally, I had planned to find information about the wizard and the dark spirit through Duke Everett’s dream. But because of my emotional turmoil, I failed… I had to find another way.

‘….Perhaps I should personally capture that wizard.’

I threw off the blanket and got out of bed. I won’t be able to sleep like this. Instead of lying still and being consumed by emotions that couldn’t be resolved immediately, I had to do something.

I took out the documents from the safe and spread them on the desk. I placed extra paper and a pen next to them and sat down on the chair.

Tick-tock, the continuously moving minute hand pointed to twelve. At the same time, the hour hand and the second hand also moved. With a clunking sound, all the hands stopped at one place.

It was midnight.

One day had passed, and another was about to begin.

 
* * *
 

The next plan was to meet the crown prince and show him the documents about the rift and the dark spirit.

But before that, I had something else to do.

“We have arrived.”

After the carriage stopped, the coachman knocked on the door from outside.

I gestured to my companions and then got up. However, before me, Theodore had already stepped down from the carriage.

He quickly got off the carriage and helped me down the steps. The coachman’s surprised face seemed impossible to not see.

“…Let me help you.”

Theodore cautiously reached out his hand and spoke. His expression was courteous but desperate, and once again, it was blue those blue eyes. That color that saddened me.

“……”

I silently took his hand and got off the carriage. As I straightened my hat and looked up, an idyllic scenery came into sight.

An old orphanage located in the small village of Solisbury, the Everett family’s estate.

In this facility that clearly looked run down, there was a child that I needed to rescue.

__