She Is a Daughter Raised As the Son of a Duke

Persis hadn’t properly eaten anything except for alcohol during the time he didn’t have a daughter, and he couldn’t sleep well either. He no longer felt sad or depressed; instead, he felt empty.

In retrospect, that child used to be so bright. At some point, her laughter had decreased. If he had realized this sooner and identified the problem, they could have been an ordinary father and daughter. She wouldn’t have thought of leaving home.

The carriage ride to the Knights’ training camp felt somewhat intimidating to Persis. He didn’t have the courage to meet May, that’s why he was going. He was afraid that if things continued like this, he might go crazy.

If May became completely lost and decided to seek out her father, he feared he wouldn’t be in a right state of mind.

The carriage Persis was on had arrived at the training camp where May was. He looked so sickly and frail that people passing by would glance at him curiously or be startled, but he didn’t care about any of that. His mind was solely on May.

Once inside the training camp, Persis grabbed anyone he could find and asked them to bring his daughter to him.

While waiting, he felt anxious that May might not come to see him. Finally, after a while, May appeared in his line of sight, and his anxiety eased.

“May.”

He rushed toward her with an eager expression, but May took a step back, as if keeping a distance. Consequently, his steps toward her slowed down.

May’s expression was cold and hard.

“Why did you come to see me?”

Her voice was so cold it sent shivers down his spine. It was as chilling as the cruel words he had once spoken to her.

“I… came to apologize.”

It was a sincere and brave confession from him.

However, May didn’t want to hear his apology. She had already made her decision, and she feared that hearing his apology might sway her heart.

“I didn’t threaten to cut ties as a way to demand an apology. It was my sincere decision. I don’t want to go back to Flotina.”

Each word felt like a sharp shard piercing his heart.

He wished he could just die instead. Even if his heart was pierced by dozens or hundreds of shards, he would only feel pain but wouldn’t die.

That fact alone was cruel enough, but there was something even more cruel.

“May.”

A man approached them from behind, and his voice calling her name was familiar. Persis’ face turned contemplative for a moment.

It was Materosin, the man to whom his daughter’s gaze turned instead of her adoptive father.

Materosin greeted Persis briefly and then held May’s hand.

“There’s a specialized éclair shop near the 3rd Knights’ dormitory, so I bought some. Let’s eat together.”

May glanced at Persis as if she had made up her mind and nodded.

“Okay. Let’s eat there on that bench.”

And so, his daughter left with the man she now considered her true father.

They sat on the bench, happily sharing éclairs.

It was a moment when he felt useless, coming empty-handed.

* * *

Inside Iris’s castle, there was a garden so beautiful that once you saw it, you couldn’t forget it.

As Iris watered the flowers in the garden, she let out a deep sigh.

“Ha….”

It was already her third sigh. Cassius, who was watering the plants with her, approached her.

“Is it because of Flotina?”

“Yeah… I think I was too harsh back then.”

Iris had spoken to Floa, worrying about Persis and May’s relationship.

‘It’s partly your fault that they ended up like this in the first place.’

‘You’re paying the price, Floa.’

In retrospect, she wondered if she had brought up such a shocking topic while they were going through a difficult time.

“I’m not sure if May’s decision to cut ties is related to mental magic or not. When Floa’s invitation scroll disappeared, he almost used mental magic to forget her. Even though he knew it could be a great risk to himself.”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Cassius observed Iris as he handed her the watering can and then made up his mind.

He placed the watering can on the ground.

“Let’s go see Floa. Let’s comfort him and give him advice. We don’t want May to live without a family either.”

Iris nodded resolutely.

“Yeah.”

The tranquility of Flotina they found was unlike any other time. As usual, Floa was sitting on the garden gazebo.

“Floa.”

As Iris called his name, Floa turned his head and looked up at her.

“I’m sorry for being so harsh back then. I was too one-sided as a third party. It must have been tough for you… I’m sorry for not comforting you and only criticizing you.”

“I’m sorry too, Floa.”

Both Iris and Cassius bowed their heads and sincerely apologized.

However, Floa looked puzzled and didn’t seem to understand their words.

“What happened to us? Why are you apologizing?”

“On the day of the Guardian Deity gathering, after the meeting ended, we were the only ones left, and you sighed about Flotina Duke and May’s relationship. That day, I-“

Before Iris could finish her sentence, Floa cut her off and looked perplexed.

“May? Who’s that?”

“What…?”

Iris’s gaze shook as if there was an earthquake.

“And, did we have a conversation after the meeting?”

“What are you talking about… You can’t be…”

Floa had neatly forgotten May’s existence. More precisely, he hid May’s existence in his memory using mental magic. So that he would never have to be saddened by remembering her again.

Cassius, realizing that he had used mental magic on himself, firmly held his shoulders with both hands.

Opening his eyes wide, he asked her, “Are you okay? If you keep doing this, your magic power could go out of control and you might die.”

“What are you talking about?”

Not realizing that he had used mental magic to hide May, Floa still seemed ignorant.

Seeing that Floa still showed an attitude as if he didn’t understand, Cassius tightened his grip on his shoulders.

“You’ll be in pain. But endure it. It’s for you.”

Bang! Magic power was immediately released, and a sound of explosion was heard.

Floa groaned as red liquid dripped from his shoulders.

“Huh…”

A large amount of blood spilled out from his shoulder.

“Quickly remember who May is.”

Mental magic is not a perfect magic. If the spell caster is injured, the effects of spiritual magic can be greatly disturbed.

Cassius took advantage of this and hurt Floa to break the spiritual magic.

Floa grabbed his arm as if to tear him off.

“Why are you doing this… I don’t remember who she is.”

Bang! Without warning, he attacked him again. This time, blood flowed from his mouth.

“Remember. May Flotina. You know who she is. You cared so much about her that you were cautious about getting close to me.”

“Stop it…”

Cassius released his magic again. Unable to watch, Iris tightly closed her eyes.

Again, with a sound of explosion, Floa vomited a large amount of blood.

“Stop…”

“If you keep using Mental magic, you will experience even more pain than this. You might even die. Is it still okay? Are you okay with leaving for the afterlife, leaving Flotina, who you should protect?”

Finally, Floa faintly recalled an image of a short-haired girl.

A girl he should protect. A girl who was like his family.

The image of the girl became clearer, but then faded again.

“Get a hold of yourself and remember her.”

FLoa struggled to remember the girl while vomiting blood.

May. A lovely girl named May.

As he recalled the girl’s features, the mental magic was broken.

“Miss May…!”

As Floa seemed to have dispelled the mental magic, Iris quickly approached and used healing magic to treat him. Cassius stepped back a little and wiped the blood off his hands and arms with a handkerchief.

After Iris checked if there was anywhere else to heal, she asked, “Now that the healing magic is used, there should be no problem with your body.”

“….”

“Did you remember, May?”

Instead of answering, Floa nodded her head and shed tears.

Cassius, who had wiped off the blood, spoke.

“We didn’t use mental magic to get rid of sadness. We should properly apologize to May.”

With her head still lowered, Floa replied.

“But she won’t accept it…”

She seemed to have closed the door to her heart.

“Whether she accepts it or not, we should apologize without regrets.”

Yet, Floa only mumbled weakly.

“I want to stop now. I don’t want to be discarded and hurt anymore…”

“So, are you going to die?”

At his resolute tone, Floa snapped to attention.

“There’s a way for you to never remember them again.”

“….”

“You can do that, right? Not only can you not see them, but you won’t even remember them. All the memories you’ve accumulated? Memories exist because they are remembered, so they’ll all disappear. Are you okay with that?”

“No…”

“Then apologize. Keep apologizing until May’s feelings are relieved, until she accepts your apology.”

That’s the only way for everyone to be happy.