<Episode 64>
***
A video showing the image of Edith, a handful of light purple hair cut off from the deeply sleeping child and a paternity certificate received from the Temple of Fire.
That should be enough to show as evidence.
Meinhardt completed all preparations and emerged from hiding after about seven years.
His destination was the Capital.
The purpose to be accomplished was…
‘After this moment, leave and leave no trace. And when seven years had passed, inform Roberick of the existence of the child I had conceived.’
Informing Roberick Arne Heilian of Edith’s existence.
“………”
How will Edith accept the sudden appearance of her biological father?
Meinhard thought.
If she found out that her biological father brought down her maternal grandfather, who gave her all her love on behalf of her parents, to a miserable downfall, and not only betrayed her mother, but also gave her the stigma of being a wicked woman…..
Would she be able to accept him as her father?
Suffering from hatred that would not go away and gnawing at one’s soul was not a pain that a child who was only seven years old should have to endure.
The conflict spread like wildfire, stopping his steps and putting him in agony.
However, he did not have what it takes to dare to defy the fate that had been decided.
Meinhardt clenched his jaw and walked stiffly.
***
“You……How did we get here?”
“Your face looks nice.”
Meinhardt was sitting in a room filled with cold air, his back to the wide open window, and he gazed indifferently at Roberick’s face that showed a mixture of shock and disgust with sunken black eyes.
After a moment of silence, Roberick, who had overcome his embarrassment, twisted his face and asked fiercely.
“Don’t make me say it twice. How dare you come to this place, as henchman of a criminal?”
Nothing changed.1That’s true, he never changes, but how he got Mariette with this personality is still a mystery to me…
Meinhardt thought as he looked at the foolish man with extremely cold heart.
All he had to offer is the superiority of his lineage and his noble identity.
‘I am different from you! I unfairly lost my father and was cast out as the child of a traitor, but your parents truly broke a taboo! So, why does uncle Bastevan and Mariette, treat you and me the same way…?’
‘I should stand above you with my identity, you are inferior to me…..’
Funny enough, it was as if he was brainwashing himself by saying those words, not me.
‘If only your family had not completely collapsed and your name disappeared……..Surely they wouldn’t have considered you equal to me, no, they must even be closer to you, Mariette considers you closer than me, and the Duke Bastevan was also a close friend with your great aunt, he would be more inclined towards the blood relatives of his comrade in arms….’
Worrying about when other people’s affection would leave him in the end.
Because of that he ended up distorting the situation.
“You’re still incredibly foolish.”
“What?!”
Meinhardt sighed as he defined Roberick in one word.
Then he raised his straight finger and pointed in one direction.
Roberick’s indignant gaze turned to the direction Meinhardt had pointed to.
“That is…….”
Roberick looked slightly surprised and muttered softly after discovering an object that did not originally exist in his office.
“Go and see. That’s what I came here for.”
“…..Sneaky guy.”
With a look of contempt in his eyes, Roberick walked across the office and picked up the video display on the desk.
Then he saw the image contained within it.
“…….That”
Roberick’s complexion slowly hardened in surprise and embarrassment as he looked down at the girl, who was so pretty that anyone who saw her would smile.
He should be able to recognize her at a glance.
That’s because that little child retained the image of her biological father.
“Do you remember Mariette Aydin Bastevan?”
“Why are you bringing up that name….”
Meinhardt answered while jumping down from the window.
“Because the child contained in that video sphere is your child born to Princess Mariette.”
“………What?”
Roberick looked at the child again with blank eyes and muttered.
Meinhardt suppressed his growing disgust and added an explanation.
“The hair left next to the sphere belongs to that child, but you should be able to recognize her by her appearance alone.”
“Nonsense, this kid really…she is my child?”
“Don’t you believe it yet? Then check the paternity certificate retained from the Temple of Fire.”
Roberick muttered in confusion, holding a handful of hair in his hand.
“If she had my child, why didn’t she say anything…? If she did so, she wouldn’t have been deprived of her title and ordered to be exiled…”
“-That girl you’re hanging out with exists, so what’s the use of telling you?”
I tried to hold back as much as I could, but it was impossible to ignore those stupid whispers.
Meinhard spoke with anger in his eyes, which were filled with empty darkness.
“Do you think she would have wanted the position of Grand Duchess, which was given to her just because she had your child?”
“………”
“Now that I have told you the truth, I have no further obligations. Take care of her in the future.”
Meinhardt spoke in a voice filled with cold contempt and then jumped down from the window without any hesitation.
The scene of the Archduke’s residence, with its bright lights shining wherever the eye could see, seemed to Meinhardt to be even more disgusting and vulgar than ever.
***
I don’t know if it was fortunate or unfortunate that her prediction came true, but Roberick Arne Heilian who was obsessed with the fact that the child was his blood relative, tried to take Edith away from Siorn.
Naturally, in order to avoid losing his granddaughter, the only family member he had left, Siorn ran away with Edith and asked for help from his former comrade, Mekaila Euphorium.
In the end, wasn’t fate something that cannot be changed?
They were captured, and Edith promised to follow Roberick to protect her maternal grandfather from the razor-sharp blade of her father’s blade.
Although she was trying to act resolutely, it was not difficult to see the fear and disgust in her eyes towards the ruthless man who claimed the title of her biological father.
“……..”
Feeling a surge of guilt, Meinhardt slowly turned around at the sight.
Was it really right to do this?
Endless anguish consumed his soul.
***
Time continued to pass without stopping.
At a time when everything was engulfed in flames and people were rushing to death, Edith miraculously awakened and proved her talent by summoning the Spirit King.
And not long after entering the Heilian Grand Duke’s residence, she rescued the second prince who had been imprisoned by Oswald Tristan Ruairi and exposed the imperial family’s corruption.
At the same time, she saw through the attempted to use her as a puppet by getting her engaged to the Crown Prince, and cut off the Emperor’s plot once and for all.
She immediately became engaged to the second prince, proving in front of everyone that she was loved by the three spirit kings.
Meinhardt, watching Edith’s actions, was having complicated feelings.
A feeling of admiration for the child who overcomes the crisis with intelligence, and a sense of guilt for having helped put her in a situation where she had to be wary of others and endure endless pressure at a young age.
He couldn’t find relief even as time passed smoothly, owing to these conflicting emotions.
He managed suppressed the strange feelings that were rising up in his heart by the justification of complying with the will of Mariette and the Spirit King.of Wisdom, whom he wanted to follow.
He was able to endure it somehow until that happened…
Meinhardt, who developed several artifacts by borrowing Astrape’s power, always kept a microscopic video sphere by Edith’s side to watch the child after she followed Roberick.
And the moment when he received news that Edith had been kidnapped by the King of Nisha, who suddenly appeared……
“……..!”
The blood in Meinhardt’s entire body seemed to be frozen cold.
After his family disappeared as punishment for breaking an unforgivable taboo.
Although he realized that as a human being, he had lost something that was most important to him that should exist at the centre of his soul.
Because he had Mariette, a person he could lean on and rely on, he was able to hold onto his empty life.
However, after her death, he no longer felt any motivation, his heart seemed to be falling asleep day by day…
As if he had fallen into the cold sea.
The moment Meinhard felt the sensation of not being able to breathe as he crashed down, paradoxically, Meinhard realized that he was still alive.
He realized that even though it was an empty life, the flame of his life was burning without being extinguished.
“………I have to save her.”
I had to bring her back.
‘Everything Mariette ordered had already been carried out. There is no longer any room for someone like you to interfere with fate.’
The old self-loathing had been loudly chattering his mind and holding him back for along while now, but at this moment, those whispers could not stop him.
Siorn Archaitz Bastevan was currently on his way to find the old heroes.
It was rather fortunate.
There was no need to waste time looking for reinforcements.
And when he was frantically planning to leave the hiding place as quickly as possible…..
Bang-!
“You.”
An unwelcome guest came rudely and disturbed him.
“You probably know where Edith is. Hurry up and tell me right now.”
“……..”
In such an urgent situation, it was an intrusion so trivial that it was not worth getting angry about.
Meinhardt stared at Roberick with a cold gaze, thinking about how he could have found his place, and then suddenly realized.
……I used Silphid a while ago. Was that the clue that lead him here?
Ignis and Ilipia turned their back on him, and now all that was left of that bastard was the blessing of Ariel, the Spirit King of the Wind.
In other words, Roberick would have become more sensitive to the movements of the wind spirit.
“Move.”
After packing up the rest of his luggage, Meinhard approached the door that Roberick had blocked and opened his mouth.
Heh!
However, Roberick let out a sharp breath as if he was shocked and glared at Meinhardt.
“Are you ignoring me now? On the subject of ugly taboos and the bloodshed of a ruined family, there is no longer a master who will tolerate your wantonness, and yet you are still so arrogant. I could take your head off right now….”
Edith’s whereabouts could not be found.
And without even knowing who kidnapped his child, he…
Meinhardt’s contempt rose more than his anger towards Roberick, who blindly came to him and poured out mean things in an arrogant manner, feeling that even if he did not know anything, he should have at least made an effort to find her.
“There is nothing to tell a father who cannot protect even his own children.”
The pitch-black eyes hidden under the robe were revealed under the bright light of the light bulb and stared eerily at Roberick.
“!”
Roberick, whose momentum had subsided, trembled.
Meinhardt walked away without paying any more attention to Roberick.
The moment when Roberick suddenly stepped aside and stared blankly at his back.
Standing tall, Meinhardt stopped walking and muttered softly.
“Because of the will that Mariette left behind, I informed you of Edith’s existence… If I had known that this would happen, I would have preferred not to have sent her away.”
That was the consequence of leaving her child in the care of such a foolish and pathetic man.
Even if that was Mariette’s will.
He truly regretted it at this moment.
“What…..!”
Roberick, who was staring at Meinhardt who turned around without regret and walked away, cried out in hatred.
“Meinhard Astrape!!”
A sticky feeling of hostility clung to the back of the man as he walked across the foggy road, facing straight ahead.
