Chapter 5
Lamia stood confidently, puffing out her chest and lifting her chin as if to say, “So what are you going to do about it?” Karia slowly bent her waist toward the child. She reached out her pale, slender hand and gently stroked Lamia’s deep blue hair.
The child’s face turned to shock as Karia touched the dark blue hair, which was an exact copy of her father’s. Lamia had always been wary of Karia, so this kind of contact was unprecedented.
When Lamia’s eyes filled with surprise and her pale cheeks blushed a rosy pink, Karia spoke in a calm tone, as if commenting on having eaten bread for lunch.
“You really are a naughty child.”
“What?!” Lamia exclaimed.
With that single sentence, Karia decisively turned her back. Lamia, who had been stunned, suddenly snapped back to reality and, with a sharp voice, grabbed Karia’s footsteps.
“Stop right there! What did you just say?! Did you call Lamia a naughty child? Hah, who do you think you are?!”
“‘Who do I think I am?’”
“Yeah, ‘who do you think you are’! You said you were sick, but have you lost your mind? What if I tell Grandma about this?”
‘How dare she talk back to me.’ Karia was a burden left here by the Grand Duke’s family, who even gave her money. She was naturally dull-witted and knew nothing about work, a lazy parasite living off the house.
Despite being married for six years, she was defective for not being able to have children, and if she got kicked out here, there would be nowhere for her to return to. Therefore, Karia was not supposed to talk back to her.
She was supposed to silently endure verbal abuse, bowing her head whenever angered. The nanny and grandmother who raised her since infancy always told her this.
“Go tell her.”
“Uh, huh?”
“Go and report it. Talk badly about me to your grandmother until you make peace. I have somewhere to be.”
But contrary to expectations, Karia did not tremble at her words. She merely glanced back at Lamia with eyes as cold as ice, then walked away as if nothing had happened.
“What’s wrong with her? Did she lose her mind from tumbling down the stairs?”
Lamia was speechless with disbelief. And those eyes! She had never once seen herself looked at with such freezing cold eyes.
“You’re not supposed to treat Lamia like that.”
“You’re not supposed to treat me like that.” Lamia stood there muttering those words repeatedly. Unfortunately, this seven-year-old, spoiled and indulged, could not be expected to reflect on her own actions.
—
“It’s become a forest.”
Karia left the Duke’s mansion and headed to the estate that once belonged to the great archmage in her past life. Fortunately, after a long time, the once united empire had split into three, but her homeland, Castaros, retained the same name and capital location.
The castle she had received along with the duke’s title from the first emperor Ludvald was also in this capital. Back then, it was ideally located near the city yet quiet, but now it was swallowed by the forest, no one knew when.
“Well, if I go there, I can see if I really remember my past life or if I’ve gone mad.”
No matter how vivid Asmoph’s memories were, or how certain she felt it was her previous life, it was just a hunch. Having spent her whole life as an alchemist, she could not blindly believe anything without solid proof.
“It’s strange that after all that, my name isn’t remembered as a traitor. I should have been hanged by now.”
The founding history of Castaros was treated almost like legend, and nowadays hardly anyone believed in magic, but stories about the archmage Asmoph were recorded without fail in every history book.
A loyal retainer who led the continental conquest as the emperor’s right hand. A passing dog would laugh at that.
However, nowhere were there any stories about Gilford and Eddy. Over time, descendants remembered Asmoph as a man.
“Is this revenge? Since I lost Gilford and Eddy and took my own life, did I erase their existence so I’d be remembered alone forever?”
She did not think Akali had any lingering kindness toward her and did not dare hope so.
“Yeah, ‘dare’ is the word to use here.”
Karia smiled recalling the little girl who had dared to claw at her. She used to tolerate that cheeky tone because she was the stepmother after all. They were the only children in her life, and she was the only one who could be a mother to them.
“Madam, I no longer want children.”
When had she heard those words? Karia vaguely traced the memory. It must have been soon after marriage when she stayed alone in the territory.
Rubyderf, who came for official business, returned drunk after attending a party. She followed her husband like a dog greeting its master, helping him with his coat and washing him. They spent the night together in the drunken atmosphere, and he regretted it in the morning.
“You bastard.”
In her heart, where she remembered Gilford as an ideal lover, disdain for Rubyderf had already taken root.
Yes, he didn’t marry her for love. He probably felt miserable, as if selling himself for a dowry of two million gold. But if that’s the case, he should have treated her better.
To keep pride, even though it was a deal, he should have pretended to enjoy the marriage. So he should have acted like a very lucky man who received financial support and a beautiful wife.
Rubyderf suggested they be “friends,” but they never were for even a moment.
In her alchemist’s eyes, who lived by the law of equivalent exchange, Rubyderf was a damn bastard who never acted like a husband despite receiving money.
“Ah.”
She walked angrily through that unreasonable past until she reached the middle of the forest. The familiar scenery appeared before her eyes.
The main gate was firmly closed, but through the sharply crafted iron bars, the path leading to the garden was visible.
It was undoubtedly Ludvaldberch Castle.
Although rusted, moss-covered, and engulfed by ivy, its grandeur was exactly as she remembered.
Karia instantly forgot all about the father, family, and in-laws who had tormented her life. Instinctively, she reached out her hand to reclaim the happiness that was naturally hers.
“Gilford, Eddy… Maybe, just like me, they have come back.”
The moment she saw the castle, which was not recorded in history books, she discarded all doubt about herself and nurtured a small hope in her heart.
She had never been kind even in empty words. She took countless lives in the war and never showed mercy to enemies begging for their lives.
If somehow she had been forgiven and given a new life, then her kind husband and angelic child would surely have already returned to where they belonged long ago.
<Stop.>
Just as she reached out to touch the iron gate with hope swelling inside, the ground trembled and the floor shook. From below, a huge pile of stones surged upward.
Wearing indoor slippers, Karia lost her balance and fell, but the floor kept rising.
<No unauthorized person may set foot inside the castle.>
It was a majestic voice echoing as if from inside a cave.
Karia slowly lifted her head through the dust storm and saw a huge pair of red eyes.
When the dust cleared, she faced a human-shaped figure made of giant stone.
Standing on its palm.
“-You are—”
<Blond hair and red eyes. A face I have never seen before… You are not the master’s guest. Leave.>
“Andion?”
Karia was genuinely surprised to see him. ‘This’ was the alchemy doll ‘Golem’ she created to guard the mansion.
Designed to run on mana with no set operating time, countless years had passed since. She had naturally assumed it would have worn out or been destroyed by other alchemists.
Unable to speak from surprise, Andion flashed a red light from his eye sockets and leaned close to her face.
“Have you been here all this time?”
<I am Andion, guardian of Ludvaldberch Castle. Since being ‘born,’ I have never left this place.>
Andion flared strong hostility toward this suspicious visitor who had come after a long time.
The master left, many came, but only for a few years. Andion only admitted previously approved guests and steadfastly guarded against anyone removing castle property.
After some time, humans stopped visiting. Although uncertain, the elf forest adjoining the castle expanded, preventing human approach. Yet how had this small, fragile human found her way here? Moreover…
<How do you know my name?>
Hearing Andion’s question, Karia was surprised a second time.
She never gave Andion any self-awareness beyond his duty. He only had the manual to distinguish between intruders, guests, and family members and respond accordingly.
But after a long time and receiving vast information, a self had formed inside him. As an alchemist who seeks the truth of the world, she found this development very interesting.
She also felt a strange fondness and pity for this large, threatening golem who obeyed her orders and guarded the place alone.
