“What is this?”

There could be only one thought.

Jeong Myeongcha blinked and stared at the healing wound on her arm.

“Ah, ah, child. You......”

Her voice trembled.

Tie, her face buried in her chest, lifted her head.

“Aunt, hic! Tie is the King of the Dead.”

The child sniffled and continued:

“Tie calls bone friends. And calls subordinates. And even big, bad tyrannosaurus magic beasts like that, Tie catches them all alone.”

Jeong Myeongcha’s lips trembled.

“And bad uncles who hurt Auntie, Tie can catch them too.”

At that moment, dozens of chains connected to Tie trembled faintly.

At the same time, strange sounds—ones they had never heard before—began ringing in the ears of Chae Boksyu and Jeong Myeongcha.

[Take him. We can take him.]

[Is he hanging? Cut the wrist.]

[He’s ours now. He’ll taste good.]

They were voices, like someone whispering directly into their ears, very quietly.

But they did not sound like the voices of the living at all.

“Oh my god!” Chae Boksyu screamed and collapsed to the floor.

Jeong Myeongcha also flinched and stared at Tie.

But the child did not look frightened or alarmed at all.

On the contrary, she widened her eyes, looked at both of them, and—

“Quiiiiet!”

she suddenly shouted into the empty air.

The whispers coming from all directions stopped instantly.

“Grandma and Auntie get scared! You have to talk quietly! Otherwise only whisper to bad people!”

Silence fell.

Even the wind passing through the alley seemed to stop as if by magic.

A second later.

The cut-off whispers began again.

[She said quiet. Mistress said quiet.]

[Whisper. Whisper even quieter. Only whisper to that tasteless spirit.]

[Shall we eat him now? Cut him now?]

[When Mistress says eat, then eat. Leave him for now.]

[Let’s scare him. Scare him.]

Jeong Myeongcha glanced once at her husband, suspended unconscious in the air.

Then she swallowed and looked back at Tie.

The light flickering around the child.

The transparent chains stretching in all directions.

And her palm—clean, as if there had never been a wound.

“......Child.”

She forced the word out with difficulty.

“Tie...... is going home.”

The child puffed her cheeks and looked up at her with tearful eyes.

“Papa left Tie alone here, and Tie is going to find Papa......”

Hot tears dripped onto Jeong Myeongcha’s clothes.

“Tie wanted to say goodbye to Auntie and Grandma...... but they said there’s no time...... have to leave everything and go quickly......”

Seeing the child cry bitterly, Chae Boksyu crawled closer on her knees.

Seeing the chains and aura around Tie, she stammered:

“What the hell are you? Are you some kind of shaman? No way, if a shaman could do that, it’d be on the news, straight to a mental hospital!”

“Waaah!”

Tie sobbed and clung tightly to her.

“Tie is not a shaman, Tie is the King of the Dead......!”

And burst into tears.

“Grandma, don’t be sick. Tie will heal you. Tie will definitely heal you......!”

“How can you even...”

Chae Boksyu stared at the child blankly.

And so she did not notice the golden energy emanating from Tie seeping into her chest.

“......He’s really just unconscious?”

In room 107.

Jeong Myeongcha asked in a nearly inaudible voice.

Tesetan gave a short nod.

“Yes.”

“......He’s not dead, right?”

“Yes.”

Jeong Myeongcha quietly rubbed her forehead.

Then, glancing at Tie, she continued in a trembling voice:

“I just... was afraid something might happen to Tie......”

“Auntie. Tie remove him?”

Tie asked with an innocent face.

Jeong Myeongcha flinched and looked at the child.

“If tell subordinates, they send him far away.”

“Send him......?”

“Yeees. To a place where he never comes back to Auntie again!”

“You little—! Stop saying such scary things!”

Chae Boksyu shouted sharply.

Tie drooped, and then Chae Boksyu pulled her close.

“Send him where? He’s a bastard, sure, but «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» you can’t go killing him!”

“Not killing......”

“Of course not!”

“Just send him traveling to the world of spirits......”

“Oh my god, that is killing him!”

Tie tilted her head.

Chae Boksyu threw her head back helplessly.

The flickering light of the fluorescent lamp hurt her eyes.

‘What is even going on?’

Thinking about it, everything had been strange from the very beginning.

The father and daughter already looked suspicious when they appeared.

And their story?

A father who worked himself to the bone to raise his only daughter, and died early.

And the child who disappeared afterward.

It wasn’t just tragic—it was unbearable.

Chae Boksyu looked again at the empty stand where the urn had been.

Then slowly lowered her gaze.

“......It’s time to hear it. Now we have to hear it, no matter what.”

She turned to Tesetan.

“Explain.”

Tesetan raised his head.

His face carried a complicated, awkward expression.

“Today you will tell everything. No matter what it is, we have to understand what this even is......!”

Under Chae Boksyu’s pressure, Tesetan finally let out a heavy sigh.

He was silent for a moment, then said calmly:

“......Tesetan.”

Chae Boksyu frowned.

“My name is Tesetan. Not Kim Yeonsu.”

Jeong Myeongcha covered her mouth with her hand.

Meanwhile, Tesetan turned his gaze to Tie.

“And Astie......”

Tie fell quiet.

Tesetan avoided her piercing gaze and added:

“......As you said. It seems she really is my daughter.”

“......”

“How that is possible, I do not yet understand. I am confused myself.”

The capital.

“Supreme Commander of the Holy Order of the Tallocium Empire, Valentis Luminel, receive the Emperor’s golden seal!”

Before the main Luminel estate, twenty banners bearing the imperial crest fluttered in the wind.

When the imperial envoy raised his hand, knights brought out a gold-adorned chest from deep within the carriage.

From inside, they retrieved a decree bearing a golden seal.

“By sacred will! To you, sword and shield of the Empire, I command: march to the Central Continent, suppress evil, and extinguish the flames of heresy and demonic forces, proving your worth!”

The envoy dipped his hand into a bowl of blood.

And smeared it across the decree.

“You are granted a portion of the imperial mercenary forces. In addition, the First Princess Ardiana will support the vanguard!”

Inside the estate.

At the resounding voice, the butler turned sharply.

Through the slightly parted curtains, Valentis sat in the light, his face like stone.

“The objective of this campaign is not return! Death is your duty to the Empire and the Church, and the final honor of a knight!”

Silence fell over the office.

An unexpected visit from the envoy.

And an order to march to the Central Continent—something no one had anticipated.

Valentis raised his head.

“What offense have I committed against His Majesty......”

He did have suspicions.

The connections with Agavert, maintained in secret from the Emperor.

It was likely that.

But Valentis treasured Astie.

Not only because she was a child who needed protection.

He had already owed her more than once.

‘I was even able to regain a child I thought I would never hold again.’

But something was strange.

Would the Emperor truly send the Luminel family, which had supported the Empire for so many years, to the Central Continent over connections with mercenaries?

Of course, he had heard that recently the magic crystals there had gone out of control.

Perhaps the Church’s forces were insufficient.

‘But why the princess? And Astie...... why?’

At that moment.

A hurried knock sounded, and the door burst open.

Leonardo entered—his clothes torn, as if he had just come straight from a battlefield through a portal.

“Leonardo.”

“Father. I need to tell you......”

Seeing his son out of breath, Valentis frowned.

“It’s about the King of the Dead... no. About Astie and Theseos.”