The sun had just risen.

  Outside Oliver's mansion, two soldiers stood silently near the gate. Neither of them moved or spoke.

  The front door opened.

  Olric stepped outside and immediately noticed them.

  Their armor was scratched. Their faces looked pale. One of them was trembling slightly.

  Both soldiers looked at each other for a moment when they saw Olric.

  Then one of them forced a desperate smile.

  "Where is Lady Lossaile?" he asked.

  Olric felt a sudden chill but didn't ask any questions. He simply nodded and led them inside.

  They entered the main hall where Lossaile was resting on the sofa.

  When she saw her son entering with the two soldiers, she frowned slightly. The soldiers' shaking hands did not escape her notice.

  Suddenly—

  Both soldiers dropped to their knees.

  The sound made Lossaile's body stiffen with fear.

  "I… I am sorry, my lady," one of the soldiers said, lowering his head.

  "During last night's attack, Sir Oliver fought with great honor and bravery…"

  He paused.

  "…but he was killed during the raid."

  Lossaile began shaking before the sentence was even finished.

  "No… no, that's not true," she whispered.

  "That's not true. Don't play with me like this."

  Her hands covered her eyes as tears began to fall.

  Olric's entire body trembled.

  Without thinking, he lunged forward and grabbed one of the soldiers by the collar.

  "Do you think you can get away with lying to my mother?!" he shouted.

  The soldier didn't resist.

  He didn't even look up.

  Instead, tears rolled down his face.

  At that moment, Ashley entered the room after hearing the commotion.

  But after hearing the words—

  She froze.

  Like a statue struck by lightning.

  "…Sir Oliver is dead?" she said slowly.

  Her voice was tight.

  "Do you know who did it?"

  The soldier hesitated.

  "We don't know exactly who it was," he answered. "But witnesses reported that the attack was led by an obese man wearing black clothing."

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  Olric's fists tightened.

  His anger burned, but his mind struggled to process everything.

  Then the soldier added quietly,

  "We are preparing to bury the fallen… but it has also been reported that the priest was killed during yesterday's raid."

  The room fell silent.

  "…Father Lucen too?" Lossaile whispered, breaking the silence.

  Ashley immediately straightened.

  "This was not an ordinary raid," she said sharply.

  "Send a messenger to the capital. Immediately."

  "It has already been done, ma'am," one of the soldiers replied.

  "But we cannot bury the bodies until someone who knows Auralin arrives to purify them."

  Olric slowly released the soldier's collar.

  His mind was becoming clearer with each passing second.

  Without another word, he walked toward his mother and gently lifted her into her wheelchair.

  "Prepare the carriage," he ordered the guards.

  "We are going to see Father."

  "Young master…" one soldier said hesitantly.

  "I don't think you would want to see this."

  Olric stared at him coldly.

  The soldier fell silent.

  A few minutes later, the three of them left the mansion and headed toward the crematory.

  Olric walked toward the bodies that had been wrapped in white cloth.

  He stopped beside one of the soldiers stationed there and spoke quietly, his eyes fixed on the ground.

  "I want my mother to see Father one last time."

  The soldier hesitated.

  "My lord…" he said slowly. "During last night's attack, Sir Oliver's head was decapitated… and we were unable to recover it."

  He lowered his gaze.

  "Our assumption is that the assassin took it with him."

  Lossaile heard those words.

  She wheeled herself forward.

  Then suddenly—

  She collapsed beside the body.

  Her arms wrapped around her husband's corpse as she held him with every bit of strength she had left.

  "Lossaile…" Ashley whispered, tears already falling down her face.

  Olric turned his face away.

  He didn't want to see his mother like that.

  But the sound of her crying broke through his composure.

  For the first time—

  Olric cried.

  Yet even as the tears fell, a single image burned inside his mind.

  The obese man in black.

  His heart filled with hatred.

  "Hey! You can't enter here!" one of the soldiers shouted suddenly.

  Another soldier stopped him.

  "No… let him pass. He knows the priest."

  Aleck stepped slowly into the cemetery.

  His face was swollen from crying for hours.

  When he saw Olric's family there, he understood what must have happened.

  But he didn't react.

  Instead, he walked toward the guards.

  "I know Auralin," Aleck said quietly.

  "Let me perform the burial."

  The soldiers looked toward Ashley.

  Lossaile was still crying uncontrollably.

  Ashley nodded.

  She trusted Aleck enough.

  Olric didn't object either.

  Aleck took the bowl of holy water into his hands.

  Without expression, he began sprinkling it over the bodies.

  One by one.

  Yet every time he reached the body covered with Lucen's white cloth—

  He paused.

  Only for a moment.

  Then continued.

  When the ritual water had been given to everyone present, Ashley gently pulled Lossaile away from the body, though she continued sobbing.

  Aleck stepped forward.

  Then he spoke in Auralin.

  "Death is but a shadow.

  The Goddess's light pierces all darkness.

  Go now, and be guided into eternity."

  When he finished—

  Silence filled the cemetery.

  No one cared about his black hair anymore.

  The soldiers began crying openly.

  Not for Aleck.

  But for their fallen comrades.

  For their leader.

  For their failure.

  Olric had stopped crying.

  He sat alone beneath a nearby tree.

  Aleck slowly walked toward him.

  Olric lifted his head and looked at him.

  Aleck hesitated.

  Then he spoke.

  "The hooded man in the forest… the one who saved us."

  "He's the one who killed Father Lucen."

  "I think both deaths are connected."

  Olric stayed silent for a moment.

  Then he nodded slightly.

  "It's highly possible."

  His voice hardened.

  "I will get stronger."

  "No matter how long it takes."

  "I will kill that man."

  Aleck didn't say the same words.

  Because he wasn't sure of his own strength.

  But deep down—

  That was exactly what he wanted.

  Revenge.

  Olric looked at him again.

  "I'm entering the academy this year."

  "If you want to grow stronger… join when you turn ten."

  Aleck said nothing.

  He was still unsure.

  After a while, he finally spoke.

  "Was it… our fault?" Aleck asked quietly. "Should we have told Lord Oliver about that man? Maybe nothing like this would have happened."

  Olric heard the crack in Aleck's voice.

  He knew Aleck was close to breaking down again.

  Olric took a moment before answering.

  "We can't change what's already happened," he said.

  "And even if it was our fault… I still need to grow stronger."

  His voice hardened.

  "I can't just sit here and think about it all day."

  With that, Olric stood up and walked away.

  Aleck remained seated beneath the tree.

  "Academy…" he murmured to himself.

  "Father warned me about the capital… but…"

  The thought brought a memory rushing back.

  Father Lucen.

  Lying there.

  Still smiling.

  Aleck's fists slowly tightened.

  And this time—

  He didn't loosen them.