I nodded for a long time, knowing that of course we shouldn’t get caught.

Mom and I barely managed to escape from there, and the Emperor was crazy enough to want to own my mom and I.

The Emperor was the one who did this evil to mom and I.

“I hate just thinking about it.”

Since my mom died, the Emperor has been tormenting us a lot. I wanted to save my mom in a different way every time I lived again, but it’s enough to just go through all of that again.

“Then, my mom… Mom… I’ll do anything. I’ll go back to the Emperor so let me cure her. I can do that. I hate losing my mom more than I do dying.”

To let my mom die again… I was happy to come here, eat lots of delicious food, see flowers in person and jump on my own two feet. But even when Mom came here, she was always lying in bed.

‘You’re not really my mom… but you’ve always protected me for so long and say you love me.’

I hope that Mom can be happy. Even if I’m taken to the Emperor again, even if I suffer all kinds of things like I did in the past, only Mom needs to be happy.

‘I don’t know if she’ll get mad at me later on, but I hope so.’

When I thought of my mom, my eyes started to tear up. I couldn’t stand it. Looking at me like that, my dad leaned over.

“You don’t have to. You’re my daughter and she’s my wife. I will take care of it.”

“Huh…?”

“I don’t know what Adele will think, but I’m not going to let her go. I want to protect her as much as you do.”

My tears stopped as my father said those unexpected words.

“Do you want to protect my mom too?”

“Yes.”
“Because she’s my mom?”

“There’s that…”
As if to say something else, my Dad stretched out his words, but in the end, I couldn’t hear any more reasons.

As if waiting for this time, the door suddenly opened and the priest came in. As if to show that he ran, Kayle, the priest, came to my mom without hesitation.

“Don’t tell me… Your Highness.”

He sighed deeply, as if he had anticipated this situation.

“Yes, it happened to be what you said, much faster than I thought.”

“Ah.”

“Is that the only way to do it?”

“Yes, other than that… you would be right to think that there’s none.”
My dad hugged me as I clung to my mom. He patted me with his big strong hands, as if to say ‘Don’t worry’.

“There’s no more time for you to do this.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Kayle placed his hand on my mom’s forehead. Like last time, brilliant light filled the room, but the light faded in an instant, like putting water in a bowl with a hole.

“…I can’t do it anymore.”

“You’re the one who became the candidate for the high priest. What do you mean ‘you can’t do it’?”

“I’m just strong because of the power God has given us, and I have to ask the High Priest for cooperation to use the power.”
I quietly listened to the two. I held my dad’s hand tightly so my emotions wouldn’t affect me again.
“I guess.”

“The problem is the relationship between the High Priest and the Emperor. It’s nothing else to do with the power of the gods, but there’s no way that the Emperor will not step in. It’s not something that you can just use. And if you use it, the current High Priest will…”

“…You could die.”

To save my mom, the High Priest is needed. However, it could result in the death of the High Priest.

Who would sacrifice their life to save others. I was a little happy over the existence of the High Priest, but I couldn’t help but be a bit sad.

“Now what?”

“What can I do? Who’s the father?”

“Dad…”

He’s crazy.

He’s someone who seems to be endlessly nice to me but sometimes he’s out of his mind.

‘Is Daddy going to get hurt?’

After thinking for a while, I smiled awkwardly instead of answering.
“W-Well.”

“You look like you’re hiding something. You look exactly like your mom sometimes. I know that now.”