Roland’s eyes widened in disbelief when she realized Royce and Cameron had actually sailed out to find them. She immediately raised her staff high, and a fireball shot into the sky, exploding like a festive firework that flared brilliantly before vanishing.
The moment he saw the fireball, Royce knew it was the signal from Roland. “Found them!”
By the time he had laboriously rowed the boat over, Roland had managed to swim toward them with the help of her necklace and the hourglass.
Seeing Leonora’s condition, Cameron, who had extensive medical experience, immediately determined that she needed emergency treatment. She reached out toward Roland and said, “Quick! Grab my hand!”
Instead of taking it, Roland first pushed Leonora onto the boat, only then grabbing onto the wooden planks to climb up with difficulty.
As soon as she was on board, she gave Cameron a brief explanation of the situation, pleading with her to treat Leonora’s injuries immediately.
“I can handle this!”
Seeing that Leonora finally had a chance at being saved, Roland finally allowed herself to relax slightly. However, the sharp pain of a cramp in her thigh meant she couldn’t even rest while sitting. She recalled her earlier feelings of helplessness.
‘When I get back, I have to learn every piece of healing magic I can find. I don’t ever want to face a situation where I’m this powerless again.’
“Hold on tight! Things might get a bit bumpy!” Royce shouted as he struggled to steer the boat.
Seeing this, Roland used the hourglass again, forcing the surrounding currents to work against each other to reduce the resistance against the boat.
After finishing everything, she was utterly exhausted and finally closed her eyes. ‘I’m so tired… I need to sleep for a bit…’
‘When I wake up, everything will be back to the way it was…’
‘Leonora… don’t die…’
‘Don’t… die…’
“Where is Father? Where is he? Didn’t he come back?”
In a muddled, muddy dream, Roland saw herself standing before the butler, questioning him about her father’s whereabouts.
“Lady Roland, Lord Rhodes… is dead.”
“Father is dead?”
In truth, she didn’t even know why she was so terrified of seeing Leonora die in front of her.
Even though this was all just a transaction and she had only known Leonora for a mere five or six days, how deep could their bond really be?
Yet, looking at Leonora, she couldn’t help but recall that funeral she had never attended. She remembered the “real” Roland in her memories crying her eyes out, and she remembered the person in that coffin, eyes closed forever, unable to ever speak or offer love again.
‘Was that really my emotion?’
‘It was clearly just a memory, a past that had already happened, so why does it always surge into my heart when I least expect it?’
‘What exactly constitutes my existence? Is it my memories or my experiences?’
‘If all of this is fake, then what is the point of trying so hard?’
‘In the end, I’m just wearing someone else’s face, doing things that person would never do. Even the name “Roland” doesn’t belong to me.’
Everything that happened felt both real and fake, fake yet real—it was more surreal than a dream.
‘Do you regret it?’
As if interrogating her own soul, Roland couldn’t help but ask herself the question.
‘But why should I regret it? Regret what?’
‘How could I regret it?’
‘What is it that I actually want?’
There were no answers to these questions; they weren’t even proper questions.
But as long as she could recall Mia’s smiling face, she felt that none of it mattered anymore.
The days spent with Mia were absolutely real, undeniable, and could not be faked. She wasn’t just a memory, but a person truly living right before her eyes.
‘Mia… what is she doing right now?’
—
One hour had passed since the magic beast attack when Mia finally arrived in the estate’s carriage, later than expected.
The once peaceful village was now in total chaos. Severed limbs and broken bodies littered the ground, houses had been smashed and collapsed, farmland was trampled, and the sounds of wailing and crying were incessant.
However, aside from the carnage before her, there was no sign of the so-called magic beast.
Graham was organizing the cleanup while Isaiah assisted. Both of them looked battered, as if they had just finished a fierce battle.
Mia immediately ran up to them and used her writing to ask about the situation: “Where did the magic beast go?”
“Mia?!” Graham looked incredibly surprised. Hadn’t he told the butler to take Mia to the town for safety? Why did she run back to the village?
Nasha, who had followed her, explained the situation, but Graham frowned and said, “No, you must go back to the town. Lady Roland ordered me to protect you.”
“I will take responsibility if anything goes wrong. Just tell me where the beast went.”
Graham wanted to say more, but Isaiah stopped him. “It’s no use. Once she sets her mind on something, she will see it through no matter what. Continuing to argue will only hurt the villagers more.”
Thinking about the fact that the beast was still alive, Graham felt a stinging sense of shame.
The fact that they hadn’t been able to kill it was a disgrace to the Baron and Lady Roland. Now, failing even his duty to protect Mia, he felt unworthy of being called a knight.
But looking into Mia’s eyes, Graham knew Isaiah was telling the truth.
Having no other choice, he explained the current situation. “The magic beast fled after a brief attack on the village. It is very powerful. If it weren’t for Isaiah’s help, I might have died.”
He said this hoping the danger of the beast would scare Mia away, but her expression didn’t change at all, as if she had expected it.
What else could be done?
Graham couldn’t think of any way to make Mia change her mind. Unless he forced her to leave, fighting the magic beast was inevitable.
“Will the beast come back?” Mia held up her notebook with these words written on it. To save mana, she wasn’t using magic to make the book and pen float.
“That is exactly what we are worried about,” Isaiah said with concern. “Magic beasts are bloodthirsty and brutal by nature, and they love to feed on humans. Once they’ve tasted it, they absolutely cannot control themselves and will return. We must remain on high alert for the foreseeable future.”
“Can we use a trap to catch it?”
“A trap?” Mia’s suggestion gave Isaiah a flash of inspiration.
Taking the initiative might indeed be better than passive defense. The problem was that they would need a bait attractive enough to lure the beast out; otherwise, there was no guarantee it would risk appearing again.
And that person… could only be Mia.
Isaiah didn’t hide anything and spoke his thoughts and reasoning plainly. “This plan is indeed feasible. But just like the demons, magic beasts eat humans for an important reason: to obtain the other party’s power. If we want a trap to work, we must create a plan where the beast feels it must take the risk to appear, and then choose a bait.”
Graham caught the implication and questioned him harshly, “Isaiah! Are you suggesting that Mia should be the bait?!”
Isaiah answered honestly, “As far as the results are concerned, yes. Mia’s constitution is quite special. Whether out of instinctive hatred or a desire for her power, the magic beast will not be able to resist the temptation. It will eventually appear to attack, just like it did today.”
“I refuse! I will never allow Mia to be in any danger until Lady Roland returns! If someone has to be the bait, I’ll do it!”
“The beast likely already views you as a weakling after that fight. To a magic beast, a weakling has little nutritional value; at most, you’d be a snack to satisfy its hunger.”
“Then you go!”
“I’d like to, but I wounded the beast earlier, so it will naturally be wary of me.”
“Then we won’t use this plan! We’ll wait for Lady Roland to return before making a move!”
Isaiah countered, “Even if the magic beast could reappear at any moment and cause even more casualties?”
Graham gave an answer fitting of a knight’s loyalty. “Their lives are not as important as Mia’s. I don’t see any necessity in carrying out this plan.”
As the two argued incessantly, Mia finally couldn’t take it anymore. She manipulated the book in her hand to fly between them, forcibly interrupting the conversation. Then, she used her pen to write: “Let me be the bait.”
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