Chapter 1
The magician showed a transparent gemstone to Duke Blomhardt and Ria in turn.
It was a flawlessly transparent gemstone.
“If a drop of the Duke’s and Miss Rafaela’s blood is dripped onto this gemstone, and it turns red, it means there is a blood relationship. If it turns black, there isn’t.”
The Duke’s personal magician collected a drop of blood from both the Duke and Rafaela, who was sitting on Ria’s lap, and dropped them onto the gemstone. Soon, the completely transparent gemstone, after absorbing the two drops of blood, turned a bright red.
There was no one in the reception room to be surprised by the red gemstone. On the contrary, everyone seemed to have expected it.
“Your Grace, it appears that Miss Rafaela is indeed your daughter.”
As the magician handed the red gemstone to the Duke, he simply nodded without much enthusiasm, his gaze still indifferent.
“…Only Samuel and Rafaela’s birth mother remain; everyone else should step back.”
When he spoke in a low voice, the magician gathered his belongings, and the butler escorted Rafaela out.
A brief silence fell in the reception room after everyone left.
Through the blood test gemstone, it was officially confirmed that Rafaela was the daughter of Duke Blomhardt. Now, only one thing remained for them.
“Duke, have you thought about it?”
Ria, taking a deep breath, sat down on the chair opposite the Duke with a cold expression.
“…Very well, it is a request from my life savior, so I shall comply.”
As he nodded, a servant brought two elegant pieces of paper. On these papers, she would write that Duke Blomhardt would fulfill his role as a father to Rafaela properly.
‘For someone who has lost their memory, there’s no affection left. So, the only way is to make an effective contract…’
She quietly sighed as she looked at the blank papers.
“Now, let’s talk about your conditions.”
“I hope that you, Duke, will be actively involved as a father to Rafaela.”
Ria began stating her wishes, trying not to forget to show respect to her husband.
Throughout her words, the Duke only frowned or expressed dissatisfaction.
Of course, she gracefully endured all of his complaints.
“…Your demands are too numerous.”
When Ria finished speaking, he leaned back on the sofa, showing a weary expression.
“I only stated what parents should naturally do for their children.”
“Is it normal for children to suddenly become strangers just because you lost your memory?”
She snapped, her anger evident in her tone.
‘I can’t believe he forgot about his daughter!’
The Duke’s annoying attitude was irritating. Ria glared at him.
She only mentioned the things that parents should naturally do for their children, yet his attitude was so annoying.
“As your life savior, you promised to do as I wish for Rafaela. Accept it humbly, without complaining.”
“Who said I was complaining? It’s just too…”
“What’s too much?”
Ria asked with a feeling of wanting to hear his excuses.
“…I’m too busy.”
She wished she could grab him by the head and shake him vigorously, even if he was once her husband.
‘Who do you think wants to entrust their child to you! I don’t want to entrust Rafaela to a man who doesn’t remember anything about his daughter!’
But she had no choice but to entrust Rafaela to him.
Because Ria was a terminally ill person with only a year and nine months left to live.
She had found out about her terminal illness just over two weeks ago.
***
In front of the gallows, a newly adult-looking woman was roughly dragged by the knights.
The jeers surrounding the square grew so loud that Ria felt suffocated.
Ria stood in the crowded and unfamiliar square.
‘…Is this a dream?’
She raised her head to look at the woman on the gallows.
A woman with tangled black hair and faded emerald eyes.
For some reason, the familiar appearance of that woman made Ria unable to look away.
‘…It’s ridiculous, but why does that woman look so much like Rafaela?’
Rafaela was not yet an adult; she was only six years old…
It was strange.
Ridiculous as it was, Ria knelt down and felt convinced that the woman about to be hanged on the gallows was her daughter Rafaela.
She didn’t know where this conviction came from.
“The blade of the guillotine is about to fall on that woman, no, on Rafaella’s neck…”
As she thought about what was about to happen, a shiver ran down her spine, and her body
began to tremble.
She wanted to rush to the guillotine.
She wanted to shout that there was a misunderstanding, that her daughter was a good girl.
But her legs wouldn’t move.
Even though it was just a dream, anger surged when her feet wouldn’t budge.
Then, just as her brother was about to be executed and the blade of the guillotine was about to descend on the woman’s neck…
“No, it can’t be!”
But just before the blade touched the woman’s neck, suddenly everything turned white before
Lia’s eyes, and the surroundings vanished.
The guillotine, Rafaella, all gone.
Before Lia appeared a blindingly white space, so white it hurt her eyes.
She looked around bewildered, but there was nothing there.
“What happened to Rafaella? And where am I?”
Lost and confused, Lia sank down, clutching her head as sudden memories flooded her mind.
“Oh no, what…?”
In her mind, the future of her and her daughter swiftly passed by.
Handing her daughter over to her biological father and her own early death, committing
unforgivable sins while abandoned.
“This is the life you and your daughter have experienced.”
After all the memories flooded into her mind, a strange voice, not human, echoed.
“If you want to change your daughter’s fate, change your life!”
With those last words, Lia was forcibly awakened from the horrifying dream.
“Gasp, cough….”
The warm morning sunlight streamed through the window, settling on her face.
“Heavy, heavy….”
She gasped for air as if she had been holding her breath for a long time. Breathing didn’t come easily.
“Why… Why is breathing so difficult? Why do I have such strange and terrible dreams…?”
Because of the headache and the difficulty in breathing, Lia couldn’t get up right away as usual. She waited until her breathing eased, thinking about the dream she had just had. Along with the voice that wasn’t human.
…Could it have been the voice of a god?
“The future we saw in the dream was so vivid, as if it were something I actually experienced….”
How wonderful it would be if it were just a nightmare.
While she might accept it for herself, Lia couldn’t bring herself to believe in the future that awaited her daughter.
She wanted to escape from the remnants of the dream; she wanted to see her daughter.
“Even though my body feels weak, I have to force myself to get up.”
“Ugh….”
Strangely, not only was breathing difficult, but her body also felt uncomfortable, as if it hadn’t been used in a long time.
A terrible sensation, with every joint screaming in agony.
Lia felt a strange sensation as if she had returned to her body after being dead for a while. It sent shivers down her spine.
Feeling as if she had come back from the dead.
She struggled to open the door, dragging her unresponsive body. Slowly, she passed through the kitchen and headed to Rafaella’s room, but her daughter wasn’t there.
“…Sigh, where on earth is Raffy?”
Feeling uncomfortable, it was even challenging to search for a child in such a small house. When she couldn’t find her daughter anywhere inside, Lia stepped outside.
Rafaella was playing with a wooden doll near the fence.
Lia’s eyes welled up with warmth. With all her strength, she ran towards her daughter.
“Raffy, Rafaella!”
“Mom? Mom, I overslept today….”
Before Rafaella could finish her sentence, Lia hugged her tightly with all her might.
Oh, her lovely Rafaella was there in her arms, safe and sound.
Feeling the warmth of her child’s body, Lia couldn’t hold back her tears.
“Rafaella, you’re here with Mom, right?”
“Yeah!”
Lia wanted to stop crying so Rafaella wouldn’t worry, but she couldn’t. Breathing, walking, looking at Rafaella, touching her, embracing her—all felt so desperate.
An inexplicable longing surged through her heart like a tidal wave.
“…It feels like I’ve been separated from my child for a very long time.”
Lia held onto Rafaella tightly for too long, and Rafaella tapped her back lightly.
“Mom! You’re squishing me!”
“Sorry. Raffy, did Mommy hug you too tightly?”
Lia wiped her flowing tears with her hand, regaining her composure at her daughter’s voice.
“Yeah! But Mom, why are you crying? Does something hurt?”
Concerned, Rafaella looked at her face.
“Mommy’s not hurt, I’m okay.”
“Then why are you crying?”
“I’m crying because I’m so happy. Because Raffy being Mommy’s daughter makes me so happy….”
She couldn’t cry anymore. If she kept crying, Rafaella might really start to worry.
Lia held back the tears that seemed about to pour out again and examined her daughter.
With hair as black as pitch like her father’s, sparkling emerald eyes like mine, and rosy cheeks on her fair skin.
My precious child.
Lia’s gaze, which had been looking at her daughter, so young and innocent, so different from the woman in her dreams, landed on something around the child’s neck.
“…What is this?”
Around Rafaella’s neck, there was something visible. A pattern of a serpent with its mouth threateningly wide open.
It was the symbol of Hecate, the goddess of magic served by the empire.
The symbol was engraved in white light at the very center of her daughter’s neck.
Realization dawned on Lia as she understood the meaning of the symbol, and her legs gave out as she sat down in shock.
It wasn’t a dream.
“This is a bloodstone that confirms kinship through blood.”
