On that day, three strangers visited the Count of Vatue’s residence.

All three were expressionless, as though wearing steel masks. And they were wearing distinctive outfits–long robes that covered them from neck to ankle, with the emblem of the Institute for the Control of Magic on them.

The sudden visitors were ushered into the parlor, where Wisteria was also summoned.

Wisteria’s heart beat wildly, as though a cold hand gripped it.

——Did this have something to do with her research on the “Land of Grey Dawn”?

The three guests, the count and countess, Wisteria, and even Rosalie were there.

Wisteria clenched her jaw and stiffened her body.

She was about to resolve herself when one of the men, who identified himself as the director of the Institute for the Control of Magic, spoke expressionlessly.

“Your daughter, Lady Rosalie Bettina, has been deemed the most suitable to become this generation’s ‘guardian.’”

There was no emotion in his voice.

In contrast to the bewildered count and countess and Rosalie, Wisteria felt as if her world was shaking.

(This can’t be true.)

She lost her voice, and everything she saw lost its sense of reality.

——Then, an unprecedented dark stirring ran through her chest.

It was the Count of Vatue himself who asked the question, confused.

“By guardian, you mean…?”

“The guardian of the ‘Land of Grey Dawn.’ The regulator of magical elements. The custodian of magic. That is what they are called. They are the one who goes to that land and plays the important role of regulating the miasma to the right amount. If this were not done, magic would cease to function–in fact, magical elements and miasma would overflow, causing all sorts of disasters in the world.”

The director spoke reasonable-sounding words, but the count and countess remained perplexed.

Rosalie, however, showed her natural strength of heart and asked a question back.

“I heard that the air in the ‘Land of Grey Dawn’ is poisonous and that it is forbidden for people to set foot there. Are you suggesting that I go there and, uh, do some sort of adjustment and come back?”

It was a frank and succinct question, typical of Rosalie, but the director didn’t answer. Rosalie looked quizzical at his reaction, and the count and countess also looked to him for a clear answer.

But the director turned to Wisteria. ——As if to say, you would understand what’s going on.

It was as though he was turning to his accomplice.

The Laffertys and Rosalie also looked at Wisteria.

Wisteria’s shoulders trembled slightly as they all looked at her.

“Wisteria? Do you know what it means to become a guardian? Would you please explain it to us?”

The countess spoke in her usual gentle voice, yet there was anxiety in it.

Wisteria stiffened. ―I don’t want to tell them.

She glared at the director. Her lips drew back, quivering faintly.

But she couldn’t remain silent to her adoptive parents and sister, who were clearly worried.

“…The guardian of the ‘Land of Grey Dawn’ is someone who goes to that land and never comes back.”

——A noble sacrifice to fulfill the role of regulating the miasma.

Sacrifice. Wisteria kept that word within herself.

Even as she tried to stifle her emotions, a scream rose from deep in the countess’s throat.

“Never coming back…!? That can’t be true, it must be an exaggeration, right!?”

Distraught, the countess clutched at Wisteria, then turned to the director as well.

Rosalie’s eyes widened in shock, and Count Lafferty glowered at the director with the most severe look Wisteria had ever seen.

“Are Wisteria’s words true? I don’t know anything about a guardian, but are you asking us to let Rosalie go to such a place and die!?”

“——This is also the will of the royal family.”

“N-Nonsense! I have never heard of such a ridiculous thing!!”

The good count’s face reddened with anger as he raised his voice.

But the directors didn’t show the slightest sign of fear, as if they had expected this reaction or were used to it. They were cool-headed, as though they had only come to tell them what had already been decided.

The countess went to pieces again as she trembled and held her daughter Rosalie. The way she looked at the director, it was like she was looking at a kidnapper.

Wisteria alone was overcome with shock.

“…Why?”

Her voice was hoarse.

The director’s emotionless eyes turned to Wisteria.

“Why Rosalie?”

Wisteria felt a faint tremor in her voice.

——She knew the director’s words weren’t lies. She understood.

The increasing concentration of miasma. The system of the guardian. She also understood that the situation was such that a guardian was needed now. She knew all of this from her research on the “Land of Grey Dawn.”

Suddenly, her consciousness left reality and the scene of a few days ago came back to her.

Bright, laughing in a friendly and cheerful way she hadn’t seen before.

Rosalie, who openly mentioned the fact that he had no magic to his face and was forgiven.

Herself, looking at the two of them.

Why is Rosalie chosen now?

The director answered with cold eyes.

“The person who seemed most suitable is chosen by checking the records and observed values, based on the concentration of miasma and the person best suited to regulate it. The person chosen is to be noble, full of vitality, and of a certain age group. The records have told us those things until now. I believe you know that.”

No, Wisteria whispered weakly, but then shook her head.

“Even if that were true, there must be someone else with the same conditions other than Rosalie!”

“——This was something already decided by the royal family’s will, Miss Wisteria. You will do well to refrain from making careless remarks.”

The director didn’t even so much as move an eyebrow when Wisteria shouted at him without thinking.

The countess was holding Rosalie, who was pale and beginning to tremble, in her arms as though to protect her.

“We will never give Rosalie to you…!!”

The Count of Vatue roared.

Even so, the men, who had received their orders from the royal family and the Institute of Magic they directly controlled, kept their faces impassive.

“This is a decision and a notice. You have no right to veto it.”

They simply and ruthlessly told him so.