Ricador had been about to press Riersha further when his gaze drifted to the soap bubble drifting lazily in the air, the demon creature trapped inside it.
He could feel the traces of powerful magical energy all around him.
It was an unfamiliar presence — and yet, somehow, a familiar one.
“You…”
Ricador faltered, the words catching in his throat.
Then he looked at Riersha — flinching, trembling, her eyes wide with fear at the sight of the demon — and in one swift motion, he incinerated it.
That was Ricador’s ability.
True to his nature, the savage black flames raged on for a long moment before finally dying down.
“Damn it. I can’t believe I missed something this big.”
Ricador muttered, irritation bleeding into every syllable.
“H-how did Oppa end up here…?”
Riersha asked, her face flushed with confusion. Ricador tilted his head at an angle, his crimson eyes narrowing as they swept over her.
“That’s exactly what I should be asking you. Why are you here? Do you have some kind of death wish?”
“…”
“Do you have any idea where you are—”
“Waaaaah, Oppa!”
But Ricador never got to finish his sentence.
Riersha had already sprinted toward him and buried herself in his chest.
Filthy and disheveled, she pressed her face into his shirt, and Ricador froze — his whole body going rigid, his arms hanging uselessly in the air on either side of her, unable to push her away.
He just stood there, stiff as a board, hands hovering at shoulder height.
“Hey. You’re… getting me dirty.”
But in the end, he couldn’t bring himself to push her away.
It was because he could feel it — the wave of pure, trembling relief coming off this small child. The tiny hands locked around his waist were shaking.
Ricador exhaled slowly.
“…Thanks for coming to save me. Again.”
Riersha murmured after a long moment.
Ricador stared down at her with an expression that said he didn’t quite understand.
“Again?”
“Mm.”
Riersha gave a small, almost imperceptible nod.
Ricador Oppa came to save me again this time, too.
Something swelled in Riersha’s chest.
A foolish, fragile hope bloomed inside her — the thought that maybe, just maybe, this time she could live happily with her family.
I shouldn’t let myself hope for that.
She remembered all the times she had hoped, and all the times she had been disappointed. The memory made her pull back.
When she lifted her face away, Ricador’s shirt was stained in the perfect shape of eyes, a nose, and a mouth.
Ricador stared down at it, his expression souring.
“Hey. My shirt…”
“Sniff… I was so scared!”
“…”
“Thank you for coming to save me.”
Even now, thinking back on what had just happened made her eyes sting all over again.
But wait — what did he mean earlier, that he’d missed something?
Riersha tilted her head to the side.
Had he been talking about that demon? Did that mean Ricador had come to this forest often?
She wanted to ask, but at that very moment, the last soap bubble popped — and all the strength drained from her body at once.
She caught a glimpse of Ricador’s face, startled, turning toward her.
“Huh?”
Her body swayed. Her vision began to tilt.
Ricador reached out for her in a rush.
“Are you alright?!”
But it wasn’t Ricador who caught her.
Someone else stepped in and gathered Riersha into their arms. She tilted her head back, looking up at whoever held her from behind.
…Who is this?
A man was looking down at her — wearing a monocle with a long gold chain.
Through the haze of her fading consciousness, she heard his soft, pleasant voice.
“My sincerest congratulations on your awakening, Miss Riersha. From this moment on, I will be at your service.”
Riersha’s eyelids grew impossibly heavy, and the darkness swallowed her whole.
⁂
“How long were you watching?”
Riersha had collapsed from the aftermath of her awakening. Ricador turned toward the man, his voice sharp as a blade.
The man’s identity was Rosinante — aide to the Young Duke of Arachrene.
Rosinante cradled Riersha carefully in his arms and tilted his head with an expression of perfect innocence.
“And yet, shouldn’t Young Master Ricador be in the middle of his lessons? It seems you may have taken quite the wrong turn. This location is in the exact opposite direction of where your successor training takes place.”
“Don’t play dumb. You knew from the beginning that she’d gone into the forest.”
“I did not.”
Rosinante smiled pleasantly and replied without a moment’s hesitation.
The furrow between Ricador’s brows deepened with distrust.
Ricador reached into his pocket and produced a bracelet.
“This bracelet.”
“Oh. Is this young master’s taste in accessories?”
“There are signs it was deliberately cut. That was you, wasn’t it? You were the one who tipped me off that Riersha had gone into the forest.”
“…I’m not sure what you mean. I know nothing about that.”
Behind his monocle, Rosinante’s sharp eyes curved into soft, gentle arcs — the picture of innocence. But woven underneath that gentleness was a flicker of warning: don’t push this further. Ricador caught it immediately and scowled.
The corners of Rosinante’s mouth curved upward.
“I am, after all, the Young Duke’s aide. Surely you know I cannot interfere in matters internal to the family.”
“So you used me instead.”
“I feel deeply wronged by that accusation.”
Rosinante shook his head with a dramatic sigh.
But in this moment, everything had changed for Rosinante.
The restriction that had prevented him from involving himself in the family’s internal affairs — it had just been lifted.
“Well then, please take care on your way back, Young Master Ricador. I’m afraid I have somewhere I must be.”
Rosinante had a great many things to attend to now.
First, he intended to deal with the vermin that had taken up residence in Riersha’s castle.
After that…
It would finally be time to set everything right.
Rosinante looked down at Riersha, deep in sleep, and smiled.
⁂
A flash.
Riersha’s eyes flew open.
She lay still, only moving her eyes as she tried to get her bearings — and then sensed a presence beside her.
“You’re awake, Miss Riersha.”
“Who…?”
A woman she had never seen before greeted her with a respectful bow.
Riersha instinctively stiffened and slowly edged her body backward, wariness creeping into her expression.
The people at the main estate were not, as a rule, kind to Riersha.
The woman paid no mind to Riersha’s reaction and introduced herself calmly.
“Allow me to formally introduce myself. My name is Sona, and beginning today, I have been assigned as Miss Riersha’s personal knight.”
“My… knight?”
Riersha repeated the words, visibly startled.
A personal knight was someone assigned to heirs after they completed their awakening — a guardian whose entire purpose was to prioritize the heir’s safety above all else. It was a privilege that had never been extended to Riersha.
A personal knight’s duty was to protect their charge no matter the circumstances.
Right — I awakened my ability.
Her power, which had shown no signs of surfacing even past the age of ten, had suddenly manifested the moment she returned to this young body.
Riersha opened and closed her hand awkwardly.
The hollow, empty feeling in her body suggested the aftereffects of the awakening hadn’t fully faded yet.
My wounds are gone?
She looked at her elbow with wide eyes. The scrapes had vanished entirely.
Someone with healing abilities had clearly been here.
This couldn’t have happened without Grandfather’s orders.
Her clothes had been changed from the ones she’d worn in the forest — it seemed Sona had bathed her and dressed her in fresh ones.
Come to think of it, Sona herself must have been sent on the Duke’s orders as well.
Riersha still couldn’t quite believe it, and asked again.
“…You’re really my knight?”
“Yes, I am.”
The gentle voice and warm manner made Riersha pause with an oddly uncomfortable expression.
She studied Sona carefully.
Sona wore silver-gray hair that fell to her waist, gathered into a single neat braid. From her appearance, she seemed to be from one of the Arachrene ducal house’s collateral branches.
To think Grandfather had assigned a knight of this caliber to her. She still couldn’t believe it.
“Tona…?”
Riersha tried out the name awkwardly.
At that, Sona’s eyes went wide.
Then, slowly, her mouth fell open too — and the corners of her lips trembled, ever so slightly.
But the change lasted only a moment.
Sona returned to her usual expression, composed and smiling.
“Yes, Miss Riersha.”
“…Tona.”
Riersha called her name again and again. Sona, who had been pouring water into a cup, seemed to reach some kind of inner resolution and spoke with quiet determination.
“Yes. Please call me Tona.”
“Hm?”
“My name is Tona, from this day forward.”
Sona replied with an expression more serious than anything she had shown yet, and held out the cup of water.
