Suddenly, a soldier came running toward them.
"Lady Emily… your mother wishes to see you."
Emily startled.
"My mother? Is she all right?"
"She is, my lady. She only… wishes to thank the Douglas heir."
Lusian straightened, his posture shifting into something more formal.
"It will be a pleasure to speak with Lady Marienne."
They walked together a short distance until the countess's figure appeared beneath the archway leading to the central district.
Lady Marienne Carter still wore her mended blue dress—worn, yet dignified despite the strain. Her tired but lucid eyes softened at the sight of her daughter unharmed.
Then she looked at Lusian.
And her expression changed.
A mixture of relief and sincere recognition.
"Lord Lusian Douglas," she said, inclining her head slightly, "I am deeply grateful for what you have done. For my daughter, for my people… for all who found refuge because of you."
Lusian returned the courtesy.
"Lady Marienne. I only did what needed to be done."
The countess smiled—a fragile but genuine gesture.
"Even so," she added calmly, "I am in your debt. The entire territory is."
Emily looked at her mother…and then at Lusian.
And she felt something strange—warm, subtle.
For the first time since the world had turned into hell…
she was not afraid.
Count Daniel Carter rode without rest.
His horse struggled for breath, its coat streaked white with sweat. The eight hundred soldiers who followed him—the same veterans who had survived the war against the Empire—barely maintained formation, yet none dared request a halt.
The count would not have granted one.
Not while the image of his wife and his daughter Emily pulsed relentlessly in his mind.
He had already lost his son, Manuel, months ago.Sometimes he still woke in the middle of the night with trembling hands, hearing the echo of a scream that no longer existed.
He could not endure losing them too.
So when they encountered survivors along the road—women in torn clothing, starving children, elderly barely able to stand—the count hardened his heart.
Their pleas followed him for miles.
"Please, my lord! Take us with you!""The monsters will return! We can't stay here!""My child… my child can't walk anymore!"
His men looked to him, waiting for orders.
But Daniel kept his gaze fixed on the horizon.
Toward his home.
"Advance," he ordered, without turning back.
The looks of horror, despair, silent betrayal…he knew they would haunt him for the rest of his life.
But if he lost his family, nothing else would matter.
When the walls of his city emerged through the bluish mist, Daniel pulled hard on the reins.
"What…?" one of his captains murmured.
The field before the city was scorched, as though a giant had hurled fire and ice at once.
Smoldering craters.Charred fragments of monsters.
Spells of a magnitude his mages could never hope to match.
Who had cast them?
As they advanced, he noticed something even more impossible:
There were no monsters.
Not a single one.
Crossing through the gates, he braced himself for sobbing, screaming, desperate commands—
But what he found left him motionless.
Children running.Mothers scolding.Soldiers carrying sacks of food.Fresh bread.Laughter.
His heart, which had been beating in fear for days, tightened into a fist inside his chest.
"My lord…" a soldier whispered. "They're… all right."
A boy ran past with a stick for a sword, shouting:
"Look at me! I'm a Douglas! Take this, monsters!"
Count Carter frowned.
That name…
At his side, Alejandro Jones—who had accompanied the count from the capital—nearly ground his teeth.
Douglas.
The clan that had destroyed his family.The name that meant blood, death, and ruin to him.
To see children playing as if the Douglas were heroes…
Rage pierced him like a spear.
When they reached the castle, Daniel nearly fell to his knees.
The county banners flew overhead.
But beside them—
Douglas banners rose proudly.
Impeccable.Unmistakable.
Daniel swallowed.
"So…" he rasped. "It was them…"
Alejandro clenched his fists until his knuckles blanched.
Heroes? he thought bitterly. To me… they are murderers.
Inside, Lady Emma Carter ran toward him.
She did not walk.She did not approach with dignified composure.
She ran.
"Daniel!"
The count caught her in his arms, and for the first time in weeks, he felt the ground stop giving way beneath his feet.
Through tears and broken words, she told him everything:
The siege.The hunger.The despair.The arrival of Lusian Douglas.The salvation.
Daniel closed his eyes, burdened by something he could not name.
If he had brought the survivors he found along the road…if he had had just a little more faith…
perhaps they would now be receiving warm bread instead of—
He shook his head.
It was too late.
Too late for everything.
While the count and countess reunited, Alejandro walked the polished stone corridors.
He heard laughter.
A soft, warm sound—impossible only days ago.
Emily's laughter.
He stopped before a half-open door.
He saw her seated, relaxed… smiling.
And beside her, Lusian Douglas, speaking with her as though they had known each other forever.
Emily looked at peace.Safe.Happy.
Something twisted inside Alejandro.
A fleeting, cruel thought—born of pain and fear—cut through him:
Perhaps it would have been easier to find her dead than to see her smiling beside a Douglas.
That dark shadow remained within him.
And it would not leave anytime soon.