DTBTHS Chapter 1

Duke Franz Eldier looked young for his age.

Lustrous platinum hair, eyes blue as a clear sky, balanced features.

Though closer to forty than thirty, his beauty remained undimmed—people called him a work of art.

He smiled, that beautiful smile that improved the mood of anyone who saw it, and said:

"Welcome, Archmage."

Archmage Solan Garcia looked at the Duke's smile and thought:

'I'd like to burn that face right off.'

The old Archmage made no effort to hide his feelings. He spoke with his face twisted in displeasure.

"Don't smile."

"Pardon?"

"Looking at you grinning like that, I might make a mistake. Must be my age—my patience isn't what it used to be."

"...Ah, yes."

The Duke's smile faded. He cleared his throat.

"I'll say it again—my wife's death was as sudden for me as it was for you. You know she'd always had a weak constitution."

"And the bastard who knocked up a weak girl and dragged her off is quite the talker, I see."

"We loved each other! And her death had nothing to do with the pregnancy!"

The Duke's voice rose sharply.

The Archmage crossed his arms, settling in to hear what this damned son-in-law would babble about.

The Duke took a deep breath and continued.

"Our daughter is already seven years old. There's no way she would collapse now because of a childbirth from seven years ago."

"Then what did you do to make my daughter die before she even turned thirty?"

"I told you. It wasn't because of me—it was because of the Taint."

"Gloria was a Spirit Mage. A Spirit Mage dying from the Taint? Say something that makes sense."

"She'd never actually fought the Taint because her body was so weak. For a Spirit Mage to end up like that just from entering a Blighted Region—do you have any idea how shocked I was?"

The Duke struck his chest as if frustrated and wronged. The Archmage gestured at him with his chin.

"Then explain why you suddenly sent your wife to a Blighted Region. You knew perfectly well Gloria had never been to one in her life. Why?"

"She said she wanted to go."

"Even if she wanted to, you should have stopped her."

"I thought the same thing—countless times. That I should have stopped her. Why couldn't I stop her—"

The Duke paused. Tears pooled in his blue eyes. He pleaded, voice breaking:

"But Gloria... she said she was a Spirit Mage too, so why couldn't I trust her. That if I was her husband, I should believe in her and support her. She begged me, said she could do it."

"I... I only wanted what was best for her... I never imagined it would end that way..."

The Duke lowered his head and began to sob.

The perfect picture of a husband grief-stricken by his wife's unexpected death.

The Archmage stared at him blankly, then spoke as if tossing the words aside.

"You were smiling just fine earlier. Now you have tears, I see."

"I thought time had made it better... but whenever I think of my wife, I become like this. My apologies."

The Duke wiped away his pooled tears as he answered.

His expression, his tone—everything was heartfelt. His fairy-tale-prince beauty made it all seem even more sincere.

But the Archmage only felt more displeased.

'Disgusting bastard.'

Duke or not, he'd wanted to kill this pretty-faced bastard from the moment he'd gotten his youngest daughter pregnant at eighteen and married her.

When he'd told her that if she married this bastard she should consider herself disowned, his youngest daughter had actually cut off contact.

After she entered Eldier Duchy, the Archmage received no word from his daughter at all.

Once she decided on something, she never looked back—stubborn just like her father, apparently.

'Even if she wouldn't contact me, that son-in-law should have!'

Eight years of complete silence, no matter how you looked at it. He found it deeply objectionable.

If she was going to leave like that, she should have at least lived well enough to make it worth it. What was the point of dying before even turning thirty?

'And to only hear about it after the funeral was already over... to not even see my daughter's final journey...'

It felt as though his heart had become a stone covered in thorns, stabbing his insides.

The Archmage converted that pain into anger and roared.

"Why did you send word so late? I didn't even attend my daughter's funeral!"

"I sent word immediately! I had no way of knowing the messenger party would be wiped out by monsters on the road!"

"If that happened, you should have sent another! How could you just sit there doing nothing!"

"As soon as I understood the situation, I sent new messengers, but by then it was already too late..."

"If you didn't receive a reply, you should have sent another messenger while investigating the situation, shouldn't you? Or postponed the funeral until you could make contact!"

"You'd never contacted us even once, so when there was no response I thought perhaps you'd received the news but were ignoring it. It took some time to confirm."

The Archmage, finding himself without a retort, closed his mouth for a moment.

Eighteen-year-old Gloria had asked, sounding hurt:

'Won't you even come to my wedding?'

The Archmage had answered without even turning around:

'I won't attend a wedding with that kind of bastard. Call it off even now. As for the child, just get rid of it.'

'Get rid of it? It's a baby, Dad—your grandchild! Don't you think you're going too far?'

Gloria had stormed out in anger. That had been his last memory of his youngest daughter.

He'd never imagined his next memory of her would be a letter saying her funeral had been held.

'If only I hadn't been stubborn and had checked on her regularly...'

Then perhaps he could have saved her somehow, before it was too late.

Even if Eldier was the kingdom's premier ducal house, he was the Archmage—surely he could have done something more.

Thinking this made tears well up, so the Archmage clenched his teeth.

Words leaked out like a groan.

"If I had... been there... it might have been different..."

The Duke, who'd been watching him carefully, spoke cautiously.

"I did everything I could. Even if you'd been there, Archmage, nothing would have changed. Please don't blame yourself."

Setting aside the Archmage's personal dislike, Duke Eldier was a man of high repute.

Young, handsome, and good-natured. Before his marriage, he'd been considered the kingdom's most eligible bachelor.

His marriage to Gloria Weaver had been called romantic—a love match. Countless people had reportedly flocked to the wedding to celebrate.

The Archmage had been the only one unhappy about that marriage.

Even after the Duchess died, everyone had comforted the Duke on losing his wife.

Gloria's death was, by all accounts, an unfortunate accident.

The Archmage himself, who had investigated before coming to see the Duke, knew this best of all.

No matter how much he'd searched, there was nothing suspicious about his youngest daughter's death.

If there'd been even the slightest irregularity, he'd been prepared to tear down the entire ducal house.

'Maybe I'm only seeing him this way because I've been suspicious of the bastard from the start.'

Gloria's mother—his wife—had also been constitutionally frail.

Yet she'd loved children and had three of them. She hadn't listened when the Archmage tried to stop her.

He found himself thinking repeatedly that his wife's early death might have been because of that.

The Archmage himself hadn't been able to stop his wife's stubbornness.

Thinking of that made it understandable that Duke Eldier hadn't been able to stop Gloria's stubbornness either.

The Archmage sighed.

Realizing the Archmage wouldn't pursue the matter further, the Duke changed the subject.

"Since you're here, why don't you at least see your granddaughter? You've never met her."

The Archmage didn't answer. A granddaughter he was only meeting after his daughter's death—he felt uncertain how to treat her.

The Duke observed the uncomfortable-looking Archmage carefully, then summoned a maid.

Soon a doll-like adorable little girl entered, dressed in a luxurious gown.

"You don't know the child's name. It's Ariadne Eldier. She turns seven this year."

"I know her age."

"Ah, yes."

The Duke gestured for the child to come, then positioned her in front of the Archmage.

"Ariadne, say hello. This is your grandfather."

The young lady held her skirt with both hands and curtsied gracefully. A charming greeting.

The Archmage found himself frowning sharply without meaning to.

The child was very pretty, but she was the spitting image of Duke Eldier.

Curly platinum hair and blue eyes. Slightly upturned eye shape. A striking impression.

Gloria had had light brown hair and purple eyes. Her impression had been gentle and soft rather than striking.

'She doesn't resemble her at all.'

He could believe this was Duke Eldier's daughter alone. How unsatisfactory.

When the Archmage didn't return the greeting and only frowned, the child's complexion turned pale.

He realized his mistake, but it was already too late—what could he do about it now? Playing the grandfather at this point would be absurd anyway.

The child was Eldier's only daughter and looked just like her father, so the Duke would raise her well enough.

"I've seen her face. That's enough."

The Archmage gestured for the child to be sent away.

The Duke immediately moved to dismiss the young lady.

That was when it happened.

The young lady pushed away her father's hand and ran to the Archmage.

The child knelt before him and cried out with a pale face:

"Please take me with you, Grandfather!"

The Archmage's eyes widened at the unexpected development. The Duke looked equally flustered.

Ariadne Eldier looked up at the Archmage as if praying.

'If I miss this chance, I'll never meet the Archmage again. So please...'

From the moment she'd realized what world she'd been born into and who she was, she'd been waiting for this moment alone.

In the 'original story,' at this moment 'Ariadne' had been terrified and had clung to the Duke.

Young children quickly sense whether adults like or dislike them.

To the original 'Ariadne,' the Archmage calling himself her grandfather had clearly disliked her.

That had been true, but avoiding him hadn't been the right answer.

She, who knew the original story, understood this.

That the Archmage who disliked her was still far better than 'Dad.'

Even if she had to endure the Archmage's cold looks and harsh treatment, it would be far better than living in Eldier Castle with the Duke.