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chapter 13
The knights on the ramparts turned the pulley and opened the castle gate.
“Your Grace.”
Lempri and the knights dismounted and bowed with proper courtesy.
“Welcome back, sir.”
Kilian spoke without preamble.
“Did the healer come with you?”
Zeke and Gabriel stepped forward with Hakin, who was laid on a stretcher.
“Commander.”
“Zeke, Gabriel.”
“Hakin has been injured.”
Before Zeke even finished speaking, Lempri barked an order to the knights.
“Move the wounded to the cart!”
The knights transferred the unconscious Hakin onto the cart, and the healer climbed aboard alongside him. The cart set off toward the ducal estate ahead of the others.
The remaining healers also began to move quickly.
“Your Grace, please show me where you’re hurt. I must check if any miasma from the beast is on you.”
Kilian dismounted and removed his cloak and armor to reveal his wounds.
“I’ll give you light treatment.”
After inspecting his injuries thoroughly, the healer gave Lempri a reassuring signal.
‘It may not be a major wound, but he looks terribly pale. I must send a messenger ahead to warn Sir Kramer.’
After sending a falcon to the manor, Lempri approached Zeke.
“What happened?”
Zeke answered in a heavy, troubled voice.
“We were ambushed while searching the ruins of the Havina Temple. A remaining stone pillar happened to fall directly toward Hakin. He couldn’t dodge in time.”
Lempri looked shocked.
“The Havina Temple ruins?”
A round trip to the temple ruins in the middle of the snowy plains took at least ten days.
Gabriel, who was sitting nearby being treated, shook his head with a wry smile.
“One day’s delay and the horses would’ve collapsed first. I’ve never ridden without rest like that in my life.”
Lempri moved toward Kilian, who had finished being treated.
“Your Grace, are you all right?”
He had heard the steward’s worried words several times already.
‘Even before leaving for the snowfields, he spent days without rest searching for the lady. And he hasn’t had a proper meal in days…’
Even with monster-like stamina, he must have reached his limit.
But Kilian brushed aside Lempri’s concern and mounted his horse again.
“We depart for the estate.”
Lempri let out a sigh as he returned to his horse.
“Zeke, once treatment is done, lead the knights back to headquarters.”
Kilian was already galloping far ahead.
‘He won’t rest until he sees with his own eyes that she’s safe.’
Lempri spurred his horse to catch up.
“Hyah!”
Once he pulled up alongside him, Kilian asked with a stiff expression:
“Did Cielina truly return unharmed?”
Lempri hesitated. Far too much had happened for him to simply say “yes.”
Kilian only knew that Lempri had rescued Cielina in the western underground passage.
‘Still, the important thing is that the lady returned safely.’
After deciding, Lempri answered.
“Yes, Your Grace. She’s exactly as healthy as when you last saw her.”
Only then did Kilian’s expression soften.
“So she didn’t encounter them.”
He let out a faint sigh of relief and murmured to himself:
“Good grief…”
A tired smile even flickered on his face.
“Did you hear how she ended up in the underground passage?”
Lempri inhaled sharply in panic.
It had been a long time since he’d seen the master so unguarded.
‘Where do I even begin?’
Kilian, sensing the strange silence, stared at him.
“Well?”
After a moment of hesitation, Lempri cautiously spoke.
“My lady… was right. It was the young master and young lady.”
“What?”
Kilian yanked on the reins so hard his horse skidded to a stop.
“The talking dragons my lady saw… were likely the young master and young lady. My lady didn’t know what demonic beasts looked like, so…”
“The children left the annex and approached Cielina?”
Kilian’s once gentle eyes turned icy cold.
“Where are the children now?”
* * *
Hans was pounding on the door as if trying to break it down.
“My lady!”
“Hans, calm down! I told you, I’m fine!”
I quickly dragged the small table beside the door and pushed it against it.
Because of that, the vase on top fell to the floor.
Crash—
“Heavens, my lady! Are you hurt?”
“My lady!”
“Head maid! Is my lady inside? Why isn’t she opening the door?!”
“My lady!”
Anna’s and Lily’s shouts blended into a chaotic uproar.
‘This is insane!’
Cold sweat trickled down my back.
“Cielina…”
“Cielina…”
The children, terrified, were inching backward with pale faces.
“Erhi, Irene! Don’t open the curtains.”
“But…”
“It’s okay. Nothing will happen.”
I forced a smile as I soothed them.
“Stay here with me.”
It was already too late to send them back to the annex. Kilian would arrive soon.
‘If he finds out they came into the main building without permission…’
Hans and Anna could be persuaded somehow. But Kilian would not be so easy.
“My lady!”
“Please answer us, my lady!”
“My lady, we will open the door by force if we must!”
I needed to stall them until the commander arrived.
“If any of you open this door without my permission, I’ll have you thrown out of this house immediately! Keep that in mind!”
Silence fell outside for a moment.
“Hans, where exactly is Kilian right now?”
What kind of hostage-taker line was that?
A ridiculous laugh escaped me.
It felt just as absurd as when I first realized I had transmigrated.
“A messenger just reported that he passed the castle gate and is heading toward the estate.”
Hans forced his voice to sound calm.
“Is Sir Winter coming as well?”
“He likely is. But my lady, what in the world is happening in—”
“Nothing is happening. Go back to your duties. All of you.”
“My lady…”
“My lady…”
Despite my words, the servants wouldn’t leave and hovered anxiously outside the room.
‘Well… I guess I wouldn’t leave either if I were them.’
Because of the arguing with Hans, I had completely forgotten about the children—until…
“Erhi… Cielina said Kilian.”
Erhi bit his trembling lip instead of answering. Irene’s face drained of all color.
“Erhi… Kilian is coming.”
* * *
“Your Grace!”
Kilian ignored Lempri and rode at full speed.
‘My lady has a special ability!’
He let out a bitter scoff as he recalled Lempri’s words.
Even thinking about it again, it was absurd.
‘He must’ve been bewitched by some spell.’
Lempri claimed he saw the children himself. Clearly, unmistakably.
He said the children looked exactly like his brother’s—adorable and unmistakable.
‘Nonsense.’
Kilian refused to believe it.
No—he didn’t want to believe it.
‘For hundreds of years, none of our family heads ever found a way to break the curse.’
His brother was the same.
Not even to his only sibling—Kilian—could he confess the truth, instead scouring the empire alone.
To save the children doomed by the curse.
To protect the family he loved.
But he failed.
His brother and sister-in-law died by the hands of the very children they cherished.
They never even saw their faces.
‘She said the children didn’t look like beasts at first? That merely touching them erased the beast’s shadow?’
The daughter the Grand Duke of Kiev shoved onto him, sweetening the deal with mining rights to a magic-stone mine.
A naïve young lady who didn’t even know what a beast was.
Cielina Kiev, the woman he married, was just that—a normal woman.
“Your Grace, look at the mansion windows!”
Lempri, now right behind him, shouted.
‘The windows?’
The ducal manor looked normal at first glance.
“The floor where your and my lady’s chambers are!”
Kilian’s eyes followed Lempri’s finger.
He was pointing to the lady’s study.
“Your Grace!”
Lempri’s eyes widened in horror.
Between the fluttering curtains, a dark, writhing aura of a demonic beast was visible.
* * *
When I turned to the children, things had already escalated.
“Irene…?”
Erhi pulled Irene behind him, shielding her.
“D-Don’t come near!”
At that moment, faint wings flickered behind Irene—wings I had mistaken for a dragon’s.
They were the wings of a beast.
‘Wings?’
I frantically rubbed my eyes.
They looked like a translucent shadow, but the shape was unmistakable.
“Irene.”
I called her gently. But Irene avoided my gaze.
“Uuuh…”
“Irene, no. It’s dangerous.”
Erhi was trying desperately to soothe her, all while watching me warily so I wouldn’t approach.
“You can’t come closer, Cielina.”
His voice was so firm that I stopped mid-step without meaning to.
‘Because the purification stones aren’t here?’
My conversation with Lempri at the annex suddenly returned to my mind.
‘What are those bluish stones?’
‘Purification stones. They absorb the aura of beasts.’
‘They steal beast energy? Doesn’t that harm the children?’
‘Beast aura is similar to human mana. It’s released consciously during combat or… automatically during rampages.’
He’d told me they were a safety measure in case of an uncontrolled outburst.
‘Is Irene rampaging right now?’
I regretted not questioning him further.
I should have asked what exactly happened when a child rampaged.
“Ciel… lina…”
