How much time had passed?

“…Mmh.”

As night settled in, Zahid frowned and opened his eyes.

“…Still… nothing?”

He meant—had Cecil still not called for Julian? I nodded.

“Yeah. Not yet.”

“That’s odd…”

Zahid sat up slowly with a sigh, tilting his head and murmuring,

“To avoid raising suspicion, I figured she’d make her move before everyone went to bed…”

When someone’s cursed with black magic, there are usually no symptoms for about a week.

So she could cast it in secret and just walk away—there’d be no need to sneak around late at night and draw attention.

“Is she aiming for the next full moon instead…?”

It was just then—

A sharp knock rang out.

“Lady Rosie! Lady Rosie!”

It was Heidi’s voice.

“Lady Shulva asked me to deliver this!”

Heidi burst into the room holding a note.

Shulva had been secretly watching Cecil in Meida at my request.

I jumped up and snatched the note from Heidi’s hand. It was hastily written and short.

Cecil Doroa has requested a private audience with Count Noart in Meida ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) regarding the child

“…What?”

It felt like someone had struck me in the head.

She asked for a private meeting… with Grandfather? Not Julian?

Wait. I hadn’t seen that coming.

My hands began to tremble.

Everything started to rearrange in my mind.

What should have been happening around now…

Julian dies.

Then, after some time… Grandfather starts to fall ill.

“No!”

I shouted in panic. Snatching the silver mirror from the table, I bolted out of the room.

Her target was Grandfather! Not Julian!

Before regression, Grandfather’s health had gradually declined. He held on for several months… then passed away.

I’d been so fixated on protecting Julian that I hadn’t even considered this.

Grandfather wasn’t sick. He was cursed by black magic!

I ran like mad.

But Cecil was in Meida—far too far away.

“Hey, kid! Where are you going!”

Julian’s voice roared behind me.

But with his right foot wrapped in bandages, he was painfully slow.

Different target, different plan.

I thought frantically as I ran.

Using Julian as bait is more effective now, but in the past, the goal was always Grandfather.

She must’ve used a different method before. But the intention and outcome were the same.

Grandfather would never go to the Temple for healing!

Black magic is easily treatable at the Temple.

But knowing his personality, he’d rather die than accept their help.

Still… for the Temple to be using black magic? They’ve fallen farther than I imagined.

The Temple’s job had always been to eliminate black magic. And now they were using it themselves?

Grandfather probably didn’t even consider black magic a threat—he never expected the Temple would sink this low.

If Zahid hadn’t already been suspicious because of his parents’ deaths, even I wouldn’t have seen this coming.

“No… Grandfather, no…”

His office was closer to Meida than Julian’s room.

And I had to account for the time it took Heidi to bring the note.

So I ran with everything I had.

But my legs were too short, the distance too far, and I was already gasping for air.

What do I do… Even if I give it my all, I’m going to be too late… I’m too slow…

Just then—

“Hey!”

My body was suddenly lifted off the ground.

“Get on!”

Startled, I looked back.

It was Zahid who had picked me up.

Then he hoisted me onto Fire’s back and quickly asked,

“Where to?”

Ah…

Of course. Fire can be ridden.

I caught my breath and shouted,

“Th-the path to the left!”

With me and Zahid on his back, Fire dashed forward like lightning.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

* * *

Count Noart—Caliban—was striding toward Meida.

Meida was where Cecil was “resting.”

Well… resting. In truth, it was more like partial confinement.

“Please trust me. That woman is suspicious. And if we confine her first, we can figure out why she came.”

Just as Rosie had insisted—Cecil had been quiet. But once night fell, she asked to see Caliban.

She spoke of the child’s fate, but she clearly had another motive.

So Caliban was heading there with a small battalion of subordinates.

Frankly, he didn’t believe Cecil was pregnant with Julian’s child.

Her behavior today only strengthened that belief.

Rosie seemed to know something… And even if she hadn’t begged me while trembling, I already found the whole thing suspicious.

And when he arrived at Meida—

“Count.”

Cecil sat calmly on the bed, caressing her belly as she began,

“I asked for a private audience.”

“What?”

“Send the guards away. I don’t trust servants’ mouths.”

She lifted her chin as she spoke.

“This place is basically a fancy prison. Even if I did try something, I couldn’t escape, could I?”

Caliban stared at her, displeased, then spat,

“Everyone wait outside the door.”

He meant: if anything happened, they were to rush in.

In the end, only Caliban and Cecil were left in the room.

Cecil slowly began,

“Let’s be honest.”

Moonlight from the barred window cast a silver glow across her face.

With a soft, seductive smile, she said,

“You don’t want this child, do you?”

Caliban stood by the door, gazing down at her with a stony face.

“It feels like this baby’s going to drag Julian down, doesn’t it?”

“What are you getting at.”

“I’ll leave quietly tonight. Without Julian knowing. I’ll go somewhere far away. I’ll never set foot in the Empire again.”

Cecil looked up at him and smiled sweetly.

“Just give me a modest settlement and some child support.”

If Rosie hadn’t said she was suspicious, Caliban might’ve thought this was a simple, transparent ploy.

But was this the woman Rosie had trembled and begged him to watch out for?

Cecil continued with haughty elegance when Caliban remained silent.

“You’re paying for a Noart bloodline. So pay properly.”

“There’s no proof the child is Julian’s. Why should I?”

“But it could be. You haven’t even considered that? And you’d have to accept a woman like me as your granddaughter-in-law.”

Cecil, who had caused a scene all day, smiled brightly as she rose and slowly approached Caliban.

“If I were you, I’d pay whatever it took to get me away from Julian.”

“……”

“Look into my eyes, Count. And decide for yourself.”

She whispered with sultry charm,

“Am I really the kind of woman you want standing by Julian’s side?”

Caliban sighed deeply.

He was just about to meet her gaze and issue a stern warning—

“Wait!”

A sudden tack tack sound echoed in the distance.

The door flew open, and something blocked Caliban’s view.

He frowned instinctively.

…A wolf…?

Then—flash!—a burst of red light.

Rosie, riding Fire, had burst into the room just in time. She blocked Caliban and thrust the silver mirror toward Cecil.

And in that same moment, the reflected red glow struck Cecil head-on.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep