Thanks to Ione’s careful management, the Bakran planting was completed without issue. The mages, who had gone out on a wide-range expedition, returned much earlier than scheduled.
Ione personally commended the mages who had accompanied Adrian on the expedition.
"You’ve done well.”
“It’s an honor to see you again.”
Seton and Penelope, who greeted her with polite formality, looked visibly haggard. Dark shadows clung under their eyes, and their lips were dry and cracked. The sub-tower master hadn’t even made it to the audience—he had been sent directly to the physician. That alone was enough to show just how grueling their schedule must have been.
“Please rest as soon as you can.”
“Let us finish the report first, then we’ll rest.”
At the end of his sentence, Seton staggered slightly—but he didn’t begin his report. Not until Adrian offered a word.
“You may speak.”
“Here, my lord?”
“Would you rather do it somewhere else?”
With a soft sigh, Seton relented.
Ione wasn’t a fool. It was obvious Seton didn’t want to speak in front of her.
It would be best to excuse herself, she thought. But as she tried to stand, Adrian reached out and gently took her hand.
“Stay. There’s nothing happening in Preses that you’re not entitled to know.”
“But…”
“This is your home now. How long are you going to treat yourself like a guest?”
Ione grimaced at the lingering bitterness in Adrian’s tone but nodded nonetheless. Refusing him now would make her look foolish.
Once the short standoff between them ended, Seton began his report. He unfolded a map drawn on oiled paper.
“The nests appeared evenly distributed at first glance, but in truth, they were concentrated toward a single direction.”
Ione leaned forward, studying the map closely.
All the nests pointed toward the same area—toward the northernmost edge of the territory. The coastline.
“What was there?”
“Nothing.”
Seton replied, his expression weary.
Adrian turned to Penelope, who also shook her head.
“There was a large nest, but no brood-mother.”
“Could it be pre-metamorphosis?”
“No. While we can’t be entirely sure without a full investigation, there was no sign of a mother.”
“Then what are we looking at?”
“It seems like… the remnants of someone’s failure.”
The situation was already suspicious enough. That cryptic statement only made things worse.
‘Should I really be hearing this?’
Ione’s shoulders hunched a little.
But she was the only one unnerved. The two mages and Adrian were all sharp-eyed, focused.
“Who would dare to tamper with territory under the name of the House of Van?”
“We couldn’t identify them.”
That was where the report ended.
Adrian laughed, coldly.
“Or perhaps it’s just that your abilities weren’t up to the task?”
Penelope’s eyes sharpened but she said nothing. All three of them knew it—something had happened, and they had failed to catch it. Worse still, they couldn’t even begin to pursue it.
Just then, Adrian’s gaze dropped to Ione’s hand. She flinched when she realized she had been fiddling with her ring absentmindedly.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“You just seem to be holding something,”
he said casually.
So… he still couldn’t see it.
Ione forced a smile.
Since that day, she had put the ring back on.
Removing it hadn’t restored her memory, but she hated the eerie feeling of weightlessness that followed when she took it off. She hadn’t noticed it before, but once she understood the sensation of truly having her feet on the ground, she couldn’t tolerate anything less.
‘I can’t let this be taken from me.’
She smiled awkwardly as Adrian continued to look at her. No one else could see the ring, but she couldn’t help feeling tense anyway.
“No wonder something felt off,”
Penelope murmured, looking pointedly at Adrian.
“Her finger is bare.”
Then she turned to Adrian, her expression full of blame.
“You want her to wear something I didn’t even give her?”
Though Adrian’s eyes were on Ione’s hand, the accusation was clearly aimed at Penelope.
Penelope looked like she had a lot to say, but ultimately let herself be dragged out by Seton.
When they were alone, Adrian suddenly asked,
“How would you like your wedding to be?”
“…Pardon?”
The question came so abruptly that Ione couldn’t help but ask again.
“If you have no specific preferences, would you allow me to arrange it?”
“Are you sure about that?”
She didn’t dare say she didn’t want one—it would only earn her a scolding for trying to escape again.
‘Well… what would be the point in refusing anyway?’
Even without a ceremony, everyone knew the Duke of Preses had taken a Duchess.
Originally, she had thought to leave the wedding for the heroine, believing her marriage would eventually be nullified. But why should she suffer for someone else's sake?
“Are you really okay with becoming Duchess without a wedding?”
“Let’s do it, then.”
She kept her reply short.
Why not? It wasn’t like she’d have another chance.
This marriage was her first and last. According to the imperial law, once bound to a duke of royal blood, one could never marry again. Not that Ione had ever dreamed of marriage anyway.
Her goals in this life were simple: live long, live quietly.
So why not have a wedding, just this once?
“Do you have anything specific in mind?”
“Not really. I’ve never even thought about it.”
Adrian smiled at her answer.
Adrian had told them not to hold back, but Seton and Penelope kept certain details from Ione.
The cliff by the sea.
That was where they had found the nest of the enormous Jaeger.
Calling it a monster wasn’t enough—it was a grotesque beast of staggering size. Its nest was filled with eggs. But no mother.
The three mages had spent an entire night in that cave.
Sometimes, brood-mothers would leave the nest to hunt while the eggs incubated. The mages didn’t foolishly expect to fight a fully grown Jaeger with just three people. They only wanted to gather intel: its size, behavior, and numbers.
But even after a day and a half, the mother did not return.
And neither did the eggs change. They were very much real—but they looked like models, perfectly formed yet lifeless.
It was as if time had stopped.
What was more unsettling was the gradual drop in life signs as they neared the coastal cliff.
The most active nests were those closest to the duchy, especially in the Black Forest. The further out they went, the quieter it became. The large Jaeger nest was the only one where no signs of life were detected at all.
What could it mean?
None of them dared speak the thought aloud, but they all felt it: something was wrong.
And they were supposed to explain this to a duchess with no background knowledge on monsters?
That soft-hearted woman would worry herself sick.
Seton let out a laugh, surprised at his own thoughts.
He was Seton—the ancient mage who had lived so long he had grown numb to the world. Emotions? Interest? All long since dead.
And yet here he was, worrying over a duchess bought with money.
“Strange, isn’t it?”
he murmured.
“What is?”
Penelope asked in a flat voice beside him.
“The duchess. She doesn’t really do anything, but everyone naturally gathers around her.”
“….”
Penelope narrowed her eyes thoughtfully, then slowly nodded.
“She’s pretty.”
“…You really need to work on your phrasing.”
“Oh, I almost forgot.”
Suddenly clapping her hands, Penelope looked visibly anxious.
“I thought I imagined it the other day, but I didn’t.”
“What?”
“The Duchess’s light—it disappeared. I kept staring because it vanished again earlier. It’s completely gone.”
“That ‘light’ of hers doesn’t matter. Just confirm if she has magic or not.”
“Don’t worry. The light may have vanished, but the inside isn’t hollow.”
“As if you’d notice something like that,”
Seton scoffed.
But Penelope just smirked.
“The only ones who lose their inner light are the dead.”
Deep within the nest of the motherless Jaeger—inside a vast sea cave filled with unmoving eggs—something stirred.
Crack.
A faint sound echoed in the gloom. A single shell, long inert, began to split.
Then others followed.
The once silent cavern filled with a chorus of fractures and rustling.
Thump.
Something hit the ground.
A strange, beastly cry echoed next.
Kyarrrrrr.
No mother. No guide.
Yet the nest had awakened on its own.
And from within, something vast and monstrous—an adult Jaeger—emerged.