Chapter 72
[Sorry, Marion… I couldn’t come out because I was too scared of the Demon Lord…]
Bled apologized as he nervously glanced at me. It seemed that he had been hiding in my left chest pocket the entire time I was facing the Demon Lord. I looked at him with a dazed expression and muttered.
“It’s okay… I understand. Your Demon Lord is really terrifying…”
[That’s right. But…]
Bled swallowed nervously and cautiously asked.
[What… what are we going to do now?]
I immediately grabbed my head and screamed.
“Ahhh!”
[Ma-Marion?]
Bled flapped his wings in a panic, looking at me anxiously.
It was agonizing. No matter where I looked—front, back, side, up, down, diagonally—I couldn’t see a way out.
“What should we do, what should we do? What the hell do we do?!”
I thrashed on the dust-covered floor, unable to figure out where or how to start.
“Marion, My Lady!”
“Marion!”
At that moment, Stella and Lucas came running towards me, their faces bright.
I sat down on the floor, staring blankly at them.
The two who had arrived by now asked me with joyful voices.
“My Lady, the sky has cleared up! Did you defeat the Demon Lord?”
“Well done, Marion! You did it! But where is the Duke?”
They both seemed so happy.
It was understandable. The dark red wound that had been splitting the sky and the terrifying lava rocks that had been crashing down onto the earth had disappeared in an instant.
“My Lady?”
Stella called my name with a puzzled expression.
Noticing something was wrong, Lucas asked with a serious voice.
“Marion, where is the Duke?”
It seemed Stella also realized that something was terribly wrong.
“Ah… Marion…”
She knelt and hugged me.
“How heartbroken must you be, to be so out of it like this…”
Stella patted my back and muttered in a sad voice.
Lucas also murmured with a pained expression.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t be of any help… The Duke was a great hero who protected the Empire…”
“Is the Duke still alive…?”
The two seemed to have misunderstood, so I corrected them. They looked at me with shocked eyes.
“But why…?”
They were probably wondering why I was sitting here like someone who had lost everything, staring blankly.
I explained in a way they could understand.
“You two, we’re on borrowed time.”
“Huh?”
“What?”
They looked confused. It was understandable, as I could hardly believe this situation myself.
“So…”
In a weak voice, I slowly began explaining the situation.
After a while,
The two of them fell silent after hearing everything.
“….”
“….”
Minutes passed, but no one said a word.
We all knew the situation was a disaster.
Looking at the Demon Lord, it was clear he had a significant attachment to the human woman he had loved and their daughter. What would happen if I told him, “I lied saying I was your daughter out of desperation?”
He would likely spare me, but even an ordinary person who gets caught in a lie like that could face a deadly situation in an instant.
It would be fine if only my life were at risk. The problem was that the Demon Lord was involved, and one lie of mine could cost the lives of all the people in the Empire.
In such a situation, what good was it that Kaiden’s life was still hanging by a thread? There was no hope.
Looking at the dark expressions of Stella and Lucas, I slowly opened my mouth.
“…I’m sorry.”
“No, you did your best, Marion.”
Stella immediately responded. She comforted me with a weak voice, saying it was something beyond what any human could handle.
At that moment, Lucas muttered.
“…Let’s make evidence.”
“Huh?”
He looked at me seriously and said,
“Marion, let’s make evidence that you are the Demon Lord’s daughter.”
About 20 years ago, Marquis Fernandi lost his only daughter, whom he cherished more than anything.
In the dead of winter, he still remembered his daughter lying in the middle of the hall in a white dress.
Flowers surrounded her, and her expression was perfectly peaceful.
She looked like a beautiful painting.
But what he had wanted was not a daughter lying lifeless in such a picture-perfect way. He wanted to see Charles alive—moving, speaking, frowning.
There was a culprit who caused his daughter’s death.
The man Charles brought home, the one who wanted to marry her.
“Mercenary Damian.”
“Don’t be so rude in front of my father!”
“…Indeed.”
From his aristocratic face to the arrogance oozing from his mannerisms, it was obvious that he was not a mere mercenary, but his true identity remained unclear.
The Marquis suspected that Damian was the illegitimate son of some noble family.
Even though the Marquis didn’t know his face, Damian’s clothes and jewelry were very luxurious, and his manners exuded nobility.
“Father, I want to marry him. Please, allow it.”
Charles pleaded desperately. But the Marquis, as a great noble, opposed it fiercely because he didn’t want his daughter, born and raised in the house of the Marquis, to live a life of scandal.
“The only daughter of Marquis Fernandi marrying a man of
unknown background? You should break up with him immediately! If you don’t, I’ll personally chase him out!”
The Marquis regretted that decision.
He had thought that his daughter, born as the only child of the Fernandi family and raised in luxury, would come back after running away for a short while. How long could she survive in the outside world?
Though it hurt him, the Marquis had people follow them, thinking he had taken appropriate measures.
However, he lost their trail after only two days.
Thus, the Marquis spent three years in agony, waiting, and finally, when Charles returned as a corpse, he lost all meaning in life.
What forced him to continue, however, were the servants and common people of the Fernandi estate, who only looked at him.
Monsters constantly emerged from the eastern forest. The Marquis had an obligation to raise and lead soldiers to defend his estate.
Years passed like this.
And today, just like any other day, he was facing the monsters.
Then suddenly, the sky tore open, and chunks of lava fell from it. Even the monsters fled in terror to the forest, and the Marquis instructed his soldiers to take cover near the debris.
“What on earth is this…?”
In his over sixty years of life, he had never seen such a scene. Could this be the end of the world?
The lava rocks, which seemed like they would never stop, slowed down and eventually fell to the ground.
Soon after, the sky cleared, and peace returned, but the soldiers cautiously poked their heads out, looking confused.
“Marquis, are you alright?”
“I’m fine. Check if anyone is injured.”
“Yes!”
The Marquis, still unsure what had happened, was internally flustered when a voice rang out.
“Marquis Fernandi.”
A man appeared from the sky, his long black hair flying in the wind. With unforgettable red eyes and a striking figure, the Marquis narrowed his eyes and glared at him.
This was the man who had lured his daughter away, causing her to run away from the family and eventually returning her as a corpse—Damian.
And now he had appeared alongside Duke Waltenstein.
“You…!”
The Marquis’ body trembled in fury, but he soon realized.
‘He’s not an ordinary man.’
The ominous aura emanating from Damian, the sight of the Swordmaster Duke powerless and unconscious—it all felt wrong.
But despite everything, the Marquis could not suppress his anger.
“What do you think you’re doing here?!”
His eyes bloodshot with rage, he drew his sword. Seeing the one who killed his daughter, his fury flared.
“Take care of this man.”
Damian, seemingly uninterested in the Marquis’ reaction, sent Kaiden—floating in the air—towards him. A nearby officer trembled as he caught Kaiden.
“How dare you step foot here! Get out now!”
“Very soon, a red-haired girl will come.”
Damian said, only speaking his mind.
“I’d suggest you hope that girl is your only granddaughter.”
“What…?”
The Marquis couldn’t believe his ears.
“Otherwise, both you and I, and everyone here, will be going to Charlize side.”
Damian began to laugh wildly.
“Haha! Hahaha!”
The Marquis, with a forceful motion, dropped the sword he had been pointing at Damian.
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