IWMHWD 95

Chapter 95 – A Contract with the Devil
2024.02.03

Maximilian spoke with desperate sincerity, as though this was the only thing he wished for. Anton’s eyes, however, remained fixed on Rosalyn. His daughter’s face was so peaceful that it seemed she might open her eyes and rise again at any moment.

At that moment, the knights of Embley, who had been waiting outside, entered the room.

“Lord.”

“Did you confirm it?”

“Yes. The bodies of the slain knights were already decomposed, so we cannot be absolutely certain, but they were clearly no ordinary victims. They were trained knights, without a doubt.”

A knight who had gone to inspect the site where Rosalyn had been ambushed gave a detailed report of what he had seen. Anton clenched his teeth tightly.

“Anything else?”

“We discovered this.”

“…So it was indeed Atillai.”

What the knight brought forward was a pigeon used for carrier messages in Atillai. The emblem of a white serpent painted on its wing was clear and unmistakable.

Anton pounded his chest in anguish. His innocent daughter had been struck down, and the grief was unbearable. No matter how short his remaining years might be, the heart of a parent longs for even a single day more with their child.

The fury he had been suppressing surged again. Yet he was the head of House Embley. He could not allow himself to act solely on emotion.

Just then, Maximilian staggered to his feet. Carrying the infant from the maid’s arms, he brought the child before Anton.

“This is the child Rosalyn left behind. She named him Daniel.”

“Daniel…”

When Anton saw the child’s hair tinged with a faint crimson glow, his heart collapsed within him. He took the infant tenderly into his arms. As Rosalyn’s only remaining legacy, the child felt like her very embodiment.

Maximilian spoke again.

“For Daniel and for Rosalyn, I will fight alongside the Margrave of Embley against Atillai.”

“You? What use could you possibly be?”

“Of course, having lost my magic, I cannot be of great help. But I spent my entire life in that wretched Atillai. I know their weaknesses, how their private forces are structured, better than anyone.”

“Such scraps of information…”

Anton sneered. Maximilian bowed his head low.

“My life is already forfeit. Had the Margrave not spared me—had Rosalyn not persuaded him to allow me to flee to Ansen—I would have been executed in the royal prison. Therefore, my life now belongs solely to the Margrave.”

“Then you wouldn’t mind if I took your head right here?”

Anton drew the longsword at his waist. The sharp tip pressed against Maximilian’s throat. Without hesitation, Anton dragged the blade across.

Blood streamed down the sword, yet Maximilian did not groan even once. He simply closed his eyes, waiting as though for judgment.

At length, the sound of the sword sliding back into its scabbard rang out. Maximilian opened his eyes.

“What do you know?” Anton asked.

“I gave my life to Atillai. To devote my soul to destroying them is nothing in comparison.”

Maximilian laughed wholeheartedly.

But Anton, finding that smile repulsive, looked away. He had not spared the man because he found him useful, but because there were more pressing matters.

Maximilian, Atillai—it mattered little. To Anton, only Rosalyn mattered.

“Prepare the carriage. Lay Rosalyn inside.”

“Yes, my lord.”

The first priority was to bury his daughter in a sunlit place, to hold a proper funeral. He longed to leave this hot country with her remains as soon as possible.

As the coffin was loaded onto the carriage, Anton felt hollow inside.

He thought he had braced himself when the physician first warned that her heart condition would not let her live long. Yet seeing Rosalyn’s cold face shattered his resolve like a sandcastle washed away by the tide.

He still could not believe it—his daughter was gone. Even now, it felt as though she would step out of the carriage, call him “Father,” and smile.

Suppressing the grief that threatened to overwhelm him, Anton gave the order for the carriage to depart.

Daniel, unsettled by the unfamiliar change in surroundings, began to cry again and again. Anton took him from the wet nurse and gently patted his back.

“It’s all right. Everything will be all right. I will protect you.”

Whether the infant understood or not, the sobs that had burst out in fits soon quieted down.

Remembering how he had once soothed Rosalyn as a child, Anton clumsily rocked and comforted Daniel.

The life Rosalyn left behind gave her father a reason to endure each day. If not for Daniel, Anton might have wandered aimlessly, drowning in drink like a beggar.

Even as a newborn, with features not yet distinct, Anton sought traces of Rosalyn in the baby’s face.

“His nose looks just like the young lady’s,” remarked the nurse who had cared for Rosalyn.

At those words, Anton spent an entire day holding Daniel close, staring at his tiny nose.

The day before they were to set sail from Ansen for Erche—

“Aaagh!”

While camping in the forest, a scream rang out, carried by the wind. The knights immediately drew their swords.

Sophia and the other maids, having lived through one attack already, huddled together in terror.

“What’s happening?”

“I’ll go check.”

The eldest knight volunteered and headed toward the sound. But no matter how much time passed, he did not return.

The summer nights of Ansen were usually warm, yet the breeze brushing against their cheeks now felt piercingly cold and sharp.

Anton signaled to the wet nurse cradling Daniel.

“Take the boy into the carriage. Guard him with your life.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Clutching Daniel more tightly, she hurried inside. Anton drew his sword, cutting through the ominous air.

“Who goes there? Show yourself!”

The other knights formed a protective circle around him, their vigilance sharp.

Then—an arrow suddenly flew from the shadows, striking a knight standing directly before Anton.

“Argh!”

“There! The enemy is over there!”

One knight shouted. In response, several soldiers and two knights rushed in the direction of the attack. The rest closed ranks around Anton.

Thoom!

This time, it was not an arrow that flew—but a blazing fireball.

“Hey. Mind if I sit here?”

“…Huh? Ah—no, please, go ahead.”

In the communal dining hall, while Cordelia was eating alone, a black-haired young man struck up a friendly conversation. He looked two or three years older than her, handsome and neat.

“I’m Ilias Nassau.”

“I’m Cordelia Vasquez.”

“I know. By now, I don’t think there’s anyone in the Mage Association who doesn’t know you.”

With a smile, he set down his tray of food across from her as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“Me?”

“Yeah. You were already famous when you turned up alive as Lord Atillai’s disciple. And then, not long after officially showing your face here, you passed the Intermediate Mage exam.”

“Oh, um…”

“Everyone wants to talk to you, but they don’t dare because they’re afraid of Lord Atillai.”

“…Why my master?”

Cordelia blinked wide-eyed at the sudden mention of her teacher. Ilias chuckled.

“You didn’t know? Not long ago, Lord Atillai sent out a formal notice to every faction. Said that anyone who so much as laid a finger on his disciple wouldn’t be left alive.”

“What?!”

Overprotective didn’t even begin to describe it. Cordelia was dumbfounded. This wasn’t some monster-infested barony like Dilroana—this was the Mage Association! What danger could possibly lurk here to justify such suffocating protection?

And this wasn’t the first time, either.

Ever since Leonard had drunk himself silly in Matilda’s laboratory, his overprotectiveness had grown so extreme that Cordelia wasn’t even allowed to leave the lab.

This was her first time in the dining hall in a whole week. Until now, Leonard himself had been personally bringing her meals.

“So, you’re not worried about talking to me?”

“I don’t mind. I’m already notorious as a madman anyway. And don’t call me ‘you,’ call me Ilias.”

“…Actually, now that I think about it—”

“Hm?”

“Why are you speaking informally to me right away?”

“If you want, you can speak casually too. I’m an Intermediate Mage like you.”

“Really? Then I won’t hold back.”

Cordelia dropped formalities at once. The abrupt change made Ilias chuckle, shoulders shaking.

“What’s so funny?”

“You’re more amusing than I thought. They say you’re a genius, right? According to Lord Kainon, you dismantled a 7-layered magic circle in under a minute. How did you do it?”

“You just push mana into the weak points.”

“…That’s it? Come on, explain properly. I still struggle to break even a 5-layer circle.”

“You just… do it.”