A parent’s heart.

Lovell had just heard a series of explanations from Origin, who’d put Elen to sleep, and still couldn’t believe it.

(Prince… half-spirit? Really?)

And yet, the person in question had accepted it.

Lovell was grateful she’d been saved.

But hearing she’d nearly died because of it made Lovell go pale.

Lovell was a parent too. If someone told her a child might die, she’d panic.

The other elders had quickly evacuated the great spirits to Tembar Castle, but Gadiel—somehow cursed—had been unable to approach.

I wish I’d taken her there myself, but it was too late.

＊＊＊

“So tell that scheming little brat I won’t be back for about half a year.”

I couldn’t stop thinking about the words Origin had said.

"...You’re really going to fully make him a semi-spirit?..."

"Otherwise, little one will die. He purified the souls of his fellow spirits clinging to him, and saved Elen. Isn’t it only natural we repay him?"

"But... you’re Prince of Tembarr."

"Lovell, you know perfectly well that has nothing to do with little one, right?"

"But... will the spirits even accept it?"

"Oh, come now. We freed their kin and saved Elen. That’s more than enough. You yourself were like that, weren’t you?"

Lovell had been half-spirit too—but in the beginning, the hostility had been brutal.

Being a noble from Tembarr, and having made a pact with the spirit queen Origin? To the others, that made him nothing but a presumptuous human. They avoided him like the plague.

Back then, the Great Spirits had grown thoroughly hateful of humans, thanks to the actions of the Temberl royal family.

That changed when Elen was born.

Elen was a new goddess, rising in rank beside the Queen. Normally, spirits and humans couldn’t bear children together.

But the Great Spirits, having been told by the Dual Goddesses that Elen had only come into being because Lovell had become half-spirit and made a pact with Origin, accepted Lovell as one of their own.

Even so, he wasn’t entirely indifferent to the human world.

His family. What had become of Isabella and Sauvel. He couldn’t bring himself to say it aloud.

But when Elen was born, he cast all that aside. He made a vow in his heart: he was now one with the spirits.

Still, he worried—would the spirits truly accept Elen, the child born between human and spirit?

But when Elen turned two and it came time for her debut, she seized everyone’s hearts in an instant.

Elen never failed to amuse, always doing something delightfully reckless that kept everyone on edge.

She picked up teleportation instantly, launching explorations through the castle and causing no end of trouble.

You’d think she’d be a handful—but instead, she bombarded the spirits with endless questions, her curiosity insatiable.

Show her a simple spell, and she’d clap her hands, stammering out, “Shugoi shugoi!” with those sparkling eyes.

Anyone who met her gaze through those gem-like eyes couldn’t possibly hate her on mere prejudice.

(…I’ve been the one she’s been saving all along.)

Never thought I’d hear Albert’s words—spoken to me—echo back at myself.

【Have you even realized you’ve been saved by my daughter?】

(That’s true. If she’s the one who saved Elen, then I have no choice but to admit it…)

Lost in thought, Lovell suddenly realized—there, right before him, Origin was smiling brightly.

“Decided, then?”

A voice that saw right through him. Lovell muttered, just a little sullenly,

“Seriously… whenever Elen gets involved, there’s no avoiding it.”

He sighed, muttering that, and Origin laughed right back, “Really.”

＊＊＊

They’d only just escaped the forest a few hours ago.

Sauvel and the others had already reported Amiel’s condition.

Lovell teleported to the office, where the air was thick and heavy.

Depending on the report, the Vanklyft Family might be leaving Tembarl entirely.

(No… not if we consider Elen’s achievements…)

The Vanklyft Family had become indispensable to the kingdom of Tembarl.

All thanks to Elen.

Lovell noticed Raffilia staring intently at him and exhaled.

"Oh— Brother...! Prince...!?"

Sauvel, frantically scanning the area around Lovell, cried out with a pale face.

Not asking about Amiel... that meant she was already reported dead.

Betrayed. Tried to kill Gadiel.

In such cases, to avoid scandal, it was common for the person to quietly vanish.

"There is something I must report."

Lovell bowed to Raffilia, who calmly said, "I'm listening."

"Your Highness... fell protecting my daughter."

"Wha—?"

The air trembled, faintly. But Lavisel remained utterly calm, zeroing in on the core of it all.

"Is he still alive?"

"...Well, you could say that."

"What do you mean, 'you could say that,' Lord Lovell?!"

Lavisel's guard was flustered.

Lavisel silenced him with one hand, locking eyes with Lovell in a flat stare. Then Sauvel stepped forward.

"Where is the Prince now?"

"…………"

"Brother!"

Lovell hadn’t expected such pressure from his younger brother. He muttered, low and tight.

"In the Spirit World."

"Wha—"

A sudden ripple swept through the room. No surprise there.

Everyone remembered this sequence. It was exactly the same as when Lovell had been taken to the Spirit World.

"Will my son survive?"

"The Prince... agreed."

"Agreed to what?"

"………………"

"Lovell."

"……………………The Prince has agreed to become half-spirit."

The silence was absolute. Sauvel and the guards stood with mouths agape, eyes wide as if they’d seen something impossible.

Why was a royal, who couldn’t even approach a spirit, now in the Spirit World—and worse, half-spirit? The question hung in the air, heavy and absurd.

Amidst the stunned faces, the stillness shattered with Ravisel’s laughter.

“My son becoming half-spirit? How delightful.”

“Ah… that’s why I hated it…!!”

Lovell wailed, clutching his head.

“Just so you know—spirits haven’t accepted him yet!”

“Oh? So it seems your son’s already been acknowledged by the goddess, then?”

“Guh…!”

Lovell’s insolence had Sauvel clutching his own head in despair.

“Brother!”

Lovell flinched at Sauvel’s glare.

“When will the Prince return?”

“Ori said it’d take half a year. It was the same for me—takes a little time to get used to the power. The Spirit World and the human world just… work differently.”

Sauvel sighed without pause as Lovell shrugged. The one who’d been most relieved to hear the Prince was alive was Sauvel himself.

If Gadiel had just accepted death, Sauvel’s head would’ve rolled.

“To become half-spirit… that means I won’t be able to stay by your side much, huh?”

“…Yes, that’s right.”

“Understood. Report back if anything comes up.”

Lovell made a face like he’d eaten something sour, said nothing more, and vanished in a blink.

Sauvel turned pale at his brother’s insolence and bowed deeply to Raffilia.

“Still the same old troublemaker, huh.”

“Your Majesty… my niece… I’m so sorry…”

Raffilia twitched one eyebrow at Sauvel’s bow.

"You were there, weren’t you?"

"...Huh?"

"I swore to the queen beneath the academy. Gadiel kept that promise. That’s all."

【I vowed— to the queen, and to the treasure that is Elen— to uphold the pact with the spirits. And to protect Elen, Lovell, and the entire nation.】

"Your Majesty..."

"Bring Rasuel here."

This country doesn’t cling to things that no longer exist.

We can’t burden Gadiel, half-spirit as he is, with any more of Tembarr’s duties.

It was Lavisel’s way of showing care, I suppose.