“Now that I know the cause, I can also find a solution. Compared to the times when I was worried without even knowing the reason, it is a much more reassuring moment now.
“Um, Mama.”
I got into the carriage returning to the capital with Valerie. Although Leev said she would hold the little princess, I refused. I wanted to hold Valerie just a bit longer.
“Will everything be resolved once we return to the capital?”
Minister Linke, who was also in the carriage with us, turned his gaze from the window to see Valerie in my arms.
It’s inappropriate to be in the same carriage as the Grand Duchess, but considering anything could happen on our way back, it’s safer to be together. I agreed with that point.
What if someone ambushed our carriage, or something like black magic sprung up unexpectedly? If there’s even a slight chance of danger, it’s better to block it at the source for reassurance.
Prevention is much better than treatment. That’s what I realized through my experiences.
“I will do my best to find a solution. Myself and all the officials in the Ministry of Magic….”
“You mean we can’t be sure.”
If even the head of the Ministry of Magic, who has experienced everything, can’t be sure about this phenomenon, then how could anyone else? I understood Minister Linke’s position of uncertainty, but this situation where nothing is certain was frustrating.
The child inside me is Valerie, and the child in my arms is also Valerie. Although I can’t feel the child in my womb yet, once born, it means this child will be Valerie.
Current Valerie and future Valerie. Two souls that should never meet in the same space and time came face to face. Is it correct to say two souls? They are, in fact, one person.
“Couple.”
As if sleepy, Valerie rubbed her face against my chest. With her chubby hands, she rubbed her face and opened her tiny mouth wide to yawn. At first glance, she looks like the most adorable child. However, the hands rubbing her face have lost color and become transparent. My heart ached at that sight, and I bit my lip.
“It means I have to let this child go.”
“We must send her back to where she originally belongs, to her rightful time.”
After yawning a few more times, Valerie started to breathe in colorful rhythms. She had fallen asleep. I brushed her soft, cotton-like hair and kissed her forehead.
The smell of the child brushing against my nose was incredibly lovely. While it means sending her to where she should be, this also means I can no longer see this lovely child.
“You crossed time from the future, so we can meet again after some time.”
“Yes, I know.”
It’s not a permanent goodbye. We are merely sending a child who shouldn’t be here back to where she rightfully belongs. Otherwise, she might get absorbed into the current soul.
“Since you are now a one-year-old little princess….”
“It’ll take 2 years before I can see her again.”
“The Valerie in the womb will grow and safely enter the world, and it will take another year for her to become the current Valerie.
If I return to the capital to break the spell on the future Valerie and send her back to her original time, it will take another two years to see her again.
“Remember that she is a child like the little princess in your womb.”
“Yes. But…”
The saying that the bond formed from raising her is terrifying was indeed real. When I first saw the Valerie, I felt lost and unfamiliar, but somehow I had truly become the Valerie’s mother.
It seems like it has been quite a while since I began to feel a painful longing, fearing that she might break if I held her, or fly away if I didn’t. Although she is a child like the one in my womb, I felt utterly lost about how to return this small child right now.
A child brought by magic, a child who will return through magic. I worried incessantly about what problems might arise in that process transcending time and space.
“Your Grace, the Duchess.”
Perhaps sensing the worry etched on my face, Linke calmly called out to me.
“Your Highness, the little princess will be all right.”
Although he was trying to comfort me, I could feel his sincerity in his face and voice.
“She will safely return to her original time, and the little princess in your womb will birth safely into the world, allowing everyone to return to where they belong.”
“Yes, Minister Linke.”
His promise to do his best for the Valerie, staked on his own name, slightly eased my intense anxiety.
After finishing this short conversation with Linke, silence fell in the carriage. All I had left to say about the Valerie were anxious questions pouring out of me.
No matter how much I ponder and worry now, there’s nothing I can actually do. Until we arrive in the capital, I could only hold the Valerie and wish for the carriage to go faster.
Linke kept his silence too, having only the reassurance of “You will be okay” for me. So, both of us, along with Rive between us, didn’t say a word as the carriage sped on.
As we hit a bumpy road, the carriage began to shake as the wheels thumped up and down. When my body, holding the Valerie, swayed, Rive quickly extended her arm to stabilize me. Clovis, seated beside Minister Linke, slightly parted the curtain to look outside. That was when it happened.
Boom.
“Eek!”
A tremendous explosion echoed from outside the carriage. My involuntary scream made Clovis spring to his feet.
Bang!
The explosion occurred once more. This was no coincidence. The atmosphere inside the carriage grew tense in an instant.
“Your Grace, the Duchess, please get down!”
“Yes?”
Clovis, peering out the window, crouched and shouted,
“Your Highness, please give her to me!”
Just then, Leev swiftly scooped up Valerie from me and took her away, while Clovis’s golden armor seemed to settle over my face, followed by a deafening noise.
Boom! Bang!
It was a tremendous explosion, far more significant than the previous two. The loud sound shook the ground, causing the carriage to sway, and soon darkness enveloped my vision.
What is happening? My heart began pounding as if it would burst. In the midst of the darkness, I felt like the ground flipped to the sky, and shortly after, I experienced a series of sounds and my body was jolted this way and that, as if the carriage were turning over.
“Ugh!”
Amidst the immense shock and boom, a child’s cry erupted almost immediately. After being in a peaceful sleep, Valerie’s response to this sudden chaos felt more like a scream of panic than just simple crying.
“Her Highness, the Duchess, shield yourself!”
Was this an attack? Had someone ambushed the carriage? But how? This road leading from the capital to the ducal estate was unknown to outsiders, and even if it were known, it was not a path one could freely wander. Yet, I couldn’t grasp who would have done this or how.
The world wavered, and the explosive sounds threatened to pierce my eardrums, leading my mind into chaos. I couldn’t think clearly. Although I couldn’t see, the fact that my body wasn’t hurt while the carriage lurched suggested that Clovis was protecting me with his own body.
Boom! Bang!
After a few more thundering noises, it finally stopped when the carriage ceased its wild shaking. Likely, some explosion had shattered the wheels, and the body of the carriage had rolled downhill, detached from the wheels.
How many minutes passed? All sounds and movements ceased. The earlier chaos felt unreal in the sudden stillness, and I sensed slight movements from Clovis, who enveloped me.
“Your Highness, are you alright?”
Just as I thought, Clovis indeed had shielded me. There was a hint of pain in his voice as he spoke from above.
“Yes, I’m okay. Are you alright, Sir Clovis?”
“Yes. I’m fine.”
After confirming my response, Clovis slowly lifted himself. The darkness in front of me was partly due to the lamp of the carriage being destroyed, but it seemed more so from Clovis’s armor obscuring my view.
“Valerie, where is Valerie?”
“Your Highness, the young lady Valerie is quiet now.”
I couldn’t hear the child’s previously piercing cries. I felt a surge of fear.
***
How long had it been since we started running to find the shimmering traces in the dark? The leading Stilikov stopped once more. The knights following his gesture simultaneously halted their horses. Franz also slowed his horse and approached Stilikov.
‘What’s going on?’
‘The traces have completely vanished.’
‘So what does that mean? Are we stopping here?’
‘The traces cut off earlier than expected. It seems the power of the magic stone was weaker than anticipated.’
‘What kind of explanation is that now? Just saying it went off course doesn’t solve anything! We need to find a solution.’
I hadn’t overlooked the possibility of such a situation. Stilikov pulled something from his cloak—it was a black magic stone, identical to the one he had secretly attached to the back of the magic bureau official.
