She's Not Our Daughter! Ch 99

Should We Just Get Married?

Sierra closed and opened her eyes as she stared blankly at Hanael, who had turned into a bird.

The revelation brought immense relief. Collecting her thoughts, Sierra tried to reject the idea. Yet strangely, she couldn't bring herself to deny it.

No one held Sierra back; instead, an inexplicable anxiety rose within her like a haze. Therefore, she merely parted her lips in silence.

Instead of telling the child that she could call her mother, she gently stroked Hanael's bright yellow beak and whispered.

[Sierra] "......Hanael."

Sierra had not fully organized her own thoughts yet, so she couldn't find the right words to explain the situation to the child. She wiped her face.

[Sierra] "What should we do?"

[Hanael] "Cheep?"

Hanael tilted cutely.

[Sierra] "......It's nothing."

[Hanael] "Cheep! (Don't worry so much!)"

The child's words pierced her chest.

[Hanael] "Cheep! (I am here with you!)"

The assurance resonated with deep warmth. Sierra brushed back her messy hair and grinned.

[Sierra] "Right, I have you. I won't worry too much."

Although the fragmented vision from earlier showed Hanael dying, the present differed.

Sierra stroked Hanael with a resolute expression. Just then, the tent door opened, and a weary Cassius walked in. She prepared to wave her hand to tell him about her vision and discuss the mysterious mage. However, the moment she met his eyes and saw them waver, she realized the truth. Cassius had witnessed the same vision.

[Sierra] "You drifted off for a moment?"

[Cassius] "Yes."

Lately, my life feels entirely like a dream.

Cassius couldn't understand himself. He had never fallen asleep against his will, whether during life-or-death battles or in times of peace. Yet today was an exception. Right in front of Sierra's tent, with Hanael perched on the back of his hand, Cassius had drifted off as if distracted. The slumber claimed him with irresistible force.

[Sierra] "Since the two of us experienced the same thing at the same time, could it be a prophetic dream......?"

A prophetic dream represented the worst possible outcome. As she voiced the words, her pupils shook with intense panic.

Cassius offered no immediate answer. Instead, he fell into deep thought. Sierra watched him, reading his expression intently. He spoke slowly, his deep voice carrying a heavy weight.

[Cassius] "Perhaps it features you and me from a different world."

[Sierra] "A different world?"

Confusion clouded his face, a rare sight. Since these unsettling sensations lacked physical form, anyone might dismiss them as ordinary dreams. Yet Cassius couldn't overlook them, as his sharp intuition flared.

[Cassius] "It differs from a prophetic dream. A prophetic dream shows inevitable events, rendering them unavoidable. But this......"

He swallowed a sigh.

Tension gripping her body, Sierra clenched her fists and cast her eyes downward.

[Cassius] "It is something we can change in our present."

[Cassius] "Perhaps the world is flashing a warning sign, urging us to alter that reality."

Their sharp gazes locked instantly. Sierra bit her lip, overwhelmed by the thought of that vision being real. If that vision stood as reality, they were already married. If that stood as reality, Hanael was her biological daughter. Then who was her sister, and if it was an event from the past, why did Hanael exist beside her now?

Unresolved questions lingered. Then, as if clearing the chaotic thoughts cluttering her mind, Cassius spoke gently.

[Cassius] "But since you and I were married in that place......"

He tossed the words out playfully.

[Cassius] "Should we just get married here too?"

Sierra let out a low chuckle.

He really chooses the craziest times.

His gaze was profound. Though his tone was playful, the weight of his words remained heavy.

Wondering how to respond, Sierra decided to clear her mind and countered mischievously.

[Sierra] "......Our end in that world was destruction, so what if we replicate that too?"

Cassius bit his lip at her half-joking, half-serious remark.

The iron-blooded Duke and legendary swordsman, who never showed panic under any circumstances, displayed this vulnerability exclusively before Sierra. Delighted by this fact, she cheered up and laughed softly once more.

Cassius rubbed the back of his neck with one hand and let out a low laugh, looking embarrassed by his own relaxed demeanor.

Total sincerity filled his voice as he addressed Sierra.

[Cassius] "We will be happy this time."

Sierra nodded.

[Sierra] "We must be happy. To achieve that......"

She smiled as she pictured the enemy exposed before them. In the mysterious vision, the Crown Prince wielded immense power, driven by a maddening inferiority complex. Sierra and her companions had suffered helpless defeat against him. But things would change.

[Sierra] "Is the strategy progressing well?"

[Cassius] "Yes. I located the exact gate."

[Sierra] "If you found the gate, messing with the Crown Prince will be an easy task."

She relaxed her tense muscles and nodded.

[Cassius] "I wonder how it feels to fall into one's own trap."

Knowing how to interpret his absolute confidence, Sierra smiled; the Crown Prince's camp had to be in utter chaos by now. We can just sit back and enjoy the show.

---

At the same time, inside the Crown Prince's secret chamber. His face flushed with rage, he gripped the collar of his subordinate. Although most of his inner circle gathered in the room—excluding Amille—the Crown Prince exposed his savage nature without restraint. He lacked all composure.

[Prince] "The monster gate I opened using my own power is closing?"

[Subordinate] "Therefore, Your Highness, please calm down first......"

[Prince] "Calm down? Do I look like I can calm down right now?"

The Crown Prince turned a freezing glare toward the subordinate trying to pacify him.

The choked subordinate gasped for breath. Yet the Crown Prince refused to loosen his grip on the collar. Instead, he tightened his hold, grinding his teeth. The subordinate trembled under the prince's relentless gaze.

Disaster always struck whenever the Crown Prince stared at someone this way. Realizing he had become the target, the subordinate regretted speaking up.

[Prince] "Shut your mouth. I have absolutely no interest in your excuses. Explain exactly what happened to the monsters."

He loosened his grip slightly, slamming the subordinate onto the floor.

Grateful to escape death by strangulation, the subordinate caught his breath and spoke urgently.

[Subordinate] "The...... the monsters are returning to the gate of their own accord."

A loud crash echoed as the side table shattered. The impact exceeded regular human strength.

Under normal circumstances, the Crown Prince would have admired his own power, but he merely scowled. A roaring sound filled his ears. His deep-rooted inferiority complex toward Duke Ideos flared violently.

Seeing the Crown Prince's distorted face, the miserable subordinate whimpered.

[Subordinate] "W-We must investigate that......"

Yet the Crown Prince stopped listening. He felt entirely certain that Duke Cassius Ideos caused this issue, arriving at the conclusion without a single shred of physical evidence.

[Prince] "Duke Ideos is the one closing the gate, isn't he? But how on earth is he doing it? That bastard shouldn't know the secret of the blue mana."

Cassius had to be ignorant, since the entire matter remained strictly concealed even from the Magic Tower.

[Subordinate] "......No one knows yet."

[Prince] "What is required to reopen the gate?"

[Subordinate] "It requires a vast amount of blue mana."

A vast amount of blue mana.

The Crown Prince bit his lip. Where could he instantly find someone possessing blue mana? It was impossible.

Had he not risked everything to gather children with blue mana until now? Such an immense power was required.

Yet how did Cassius Ideos close the gate so effortlessly?

Was the gap between their strengths truly this massive?

Making a low, beast-like growl, he muttered.

[Prince] "How on earth did that bastard pull it off?"

Only one method existed to open the gate: the Crown Prince, having absorbed the power of the blue mana, had to go personally and draw the monsters out. However, an alternative remained.

Studying the prince's mood, the subordinate spoke cautiously.

[Subordinate] "Your Imperial Highness must protect your precious person. Currently, there is only one way left to summon the monsters...... the Great Archmage Amille."

Thinking of Amille brought a surge of irritation, bitter as medicine. He believed he had trained the woman to be his perfect puppet, yet she displayed signs of rebellion. Although he had recast the brainwashing curse on her, he had to remember she could resist at any moment. But since she stood as his only option......

[Prince] "Oh, right. We can just use her power to summon the monsters again."

If Amille refused to obey, he would brainwash her dozens or hundreds of times. He cared nothing for the potential collapse of her sanity.

The Crown Prince's mind held only a single objective born from his deep inferiority complex: defeat Cassius Ideos and become a supreme being.

How miserable would Cassius look when the monsters were summoned again right after he closed the gate?

He smirked at the thought. He paid no attention to Philoes, his chief subordinate, who stole anxious glances at his expression.

Philoes bit his lip in silence, struggling to keep his expression from faltering.

If she summons the monsters, Amille will surely die very soon.

A small affection had grown between him and Amille over time. Yet a far more critical matter commanded his attention: if she died, his only clue to finding his parents would disappear without a trace. Though he had pretended otherwise in front of Amille, he was wavering.

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