*Edited

“……!”

Ethan picked up Sarah’s body, which was falling, faster than anyone else. The handkerchief was not enough to hold Sarah’s blood, so she gradually began to dye Ethan’s clothes red.

“Nan, Nanny. Nanny!”

Claude shook Sarah’s cooling body with one of his tiny hands. Tears that had stopped in anger flowed down Claude’s pale cheeks again. Claude thought it was all his fault. The child knew that if he felt happy, then unhappiness would soon follow. So he hated himself even more.

‘It’s because of me, Nanny will die because of me. Everyone around me will die, just like my mother.’

At that moment, black energy began to vibrate faintly in Claude’s eyes.

“Claude?”

Ethan noticed this and called out Claude’s name, but the child’s attention was focused on the collapsed Sarah. As soon as Ethan tried to reach out to Claude, a faint laughter leaked from Sarah, who was closing her eyes, as she saw the darkness engulfing the child’s green eyes.

“Ah, ah ah…… It hurts, Young Master Claude.”

Her voice was weak, but there was a mix of laughter. Sarah opened her eyes and raised her hand, caressing Claude’s cheek. Then, the black energy that had risen in the child’s eyes subsided in an instant. Only then did Ethan’s shoulders, which had been tense, relax a little.

“Are, are you okay? Are you okay, Nanny?”

“Of course. Did you really forget? I’m a great and strong magician.”

“Don’t say that……”

Claude cried and stuttered, clutching the hem of Sarah’s clothes. Perhaps she knew how the child felt as he used a lot of strength to squeeze her clothes, thinking she seemed to disappear soon. Sarah raised her hand and stroked Claude’s head, leaving her body in Ethan’s arms.

“I’m just out of energy. What should I say…… I’ve been using mana for so long that my body doesn’t have strength? It’s just that.”

“Are you having a hard time?”

“Um, if Young Master Claude kisses me, I will feel better?”

Saying that, Sarah grinned. When they heard her whining as if she were playing a joke, they thought she was faking it. However, her complexion was so pale, her body was drooping, and her head was sweating.

“Sir Harper, get the carriage ready. I will bring Countess Millen to the Ducal House.”

“I will prepare quickly.”

Even Jade, who had been sitting down from exhaustion, checked her complexion at Ethan’s command and jumped up and ran again. Ethan bit his lip, as Sarah’s weight felt in his arms was infinitely light.

Why is this woman’s body so light that she can control the power of Ambrosia at once?

Ethan realized that Sarah was pushing harder to reassure Claude. As if feeling Ethan’s gaze, Sarah smiled at him.

“You don’t have to worry about people’s eyes focusing on the Ducal House of Ambrosia, so you should treat the wound first.”

“It would be better not to heal the wound, Your Grace. Many people have seen my wound, so if I heal them quickly, they will wonder.”

“I’ll take care of that. So, starting with the wound……”

“But, I don’t want to bother Your Grace with just this.”

Ethan creased his eyebrows as he saw Sarah talking indifferently about her wound.

‘Why are you doing this? Why……’

As Ethan tried to get serious, Sarah opened her mouth in annoyance.

“If Young Master Claude just kisses me, I’ll get better? Your Grace, tell Young Master Claude to hurry up and kiss me.”

Sarah tried to laugh and joke, but Ethan’s feelings became more complicated. Ethan, having a hard time looking at her like that, turned his gaze to the child, who had been weeping earlier.

“Young Master Claude, are you okay?”

Sarah followed Ethan and turned her gaze to look at Claude’s face, asking in a serious voice. The child usually blushed when he was in front of Ethan, so he didn’t notice that Claude’s face had a subtle red fever. Noticing this, Sarah raised her hand and touched Claude’s forehead.

“My chest is stuffy. It’s hot. Ugh……”

Claude cried, rubbing his forehead and cheeks on Sarah’s cool hands. Ever since he was relieved to hear Sarah laughing and talking, his heart was pounding so hard that it hurt. When Sarah recognized this, Claude’s complaints spurted out of his mouth.

“It hurts, it hurts……”

“My God, he’s so surprised today that he is suffering from a fever. Is the carriage still not here?”

Sarah raised her body leaning against the Duke to hug Claude.

“Ugh.”

But soon, her exhausted body lost balance and stumbled. Ethan once again caught her body. Thinking that she needed to hug and comfort the child so that he could calm down a little, Sarah looked up at Ethan and said.

“I can’t do this because I don’t have the strength. Can you hug Young Master Claude instead of me?”

Sarah tried to give Claude to Ethan. Ethan, who had rushed to grab Claude and hug him, realized that there was no ring on his hand, and stopped and stiffened. The power that was temporarily under control due to the broken artifact lost control again and was on the verge of rampaging. If the black energy that covered Claude’s eyes a while ago was Ambrosia’s power, his power might run wild again. It would definitely have a bad effect on the child.

“……”

Claude realized his father was hesitating for a moment. Claude slowly lowered his arms, which had been about to reach his father. Then he held out to Ethan what he had held dearly in his arms.

“This is?”

“It’s the Imperial Palace Pass, you left it behind.”

“……”

“If you don’t have this, you will be in trouble, Father. I’m here to give you this.”

Claude placed it in Ethan’s hand, which stopped trying to reach him after hesitating. With a face wet with tears and fever, it was worth trying to scream for a hug, but the child didn’t. Claude, who cried to Sarah and even hugged her, could not approach Ethan. A six-year-old boy looked at him.

‘What is this? Only because of this……’

Ethan’s face contorted in pain. He wanted to hug the child right now and see if he was really okay, but he couldn’t.

‘Everything you cherish will die. All born with that blood will die! Because Ambrosia is cursed, because you are Ambrosia’s curse!’

He could hear his mother’s voice, which sounded like a curse. He couldn’t express his feeling because he didn’t know how to express it. He was too afraid to even get close.

I’m afraid I’ll break him. I’m afraid I’ll ruin him.

But for Ethan, Claude was a very precious child. He was the only blood left behind by his younger brother, who had left for the peace of the family. There was no way he wasn’t precious.

“Thank you, Claude. Thanks to you, I…..”

Ethan couldn’t speak. It was because despite not being able to hug Claude, who was in a fever, the child’s face was filled with joy when he said thank you. Just because he said say thank you. Barely. With that one thing.

“Ah ah, really,……”

At that time, there was a small sigh and a sound of finger snapping. At the same time, Ethan’s long and delicate fingers shined azure with a ring of mana spinning around.

“Countess Millen!”

Ethan called Sarah in astonishment. It was because Sarah had no power to support her body but she still trying to control Ethan’s power by raising mana again. However, Sarah said in a firm voice while sweating.

“Even if Your Grace hug Young Master Claude now, the power will not resonate.”

Why? Because Claude is the child of Dieline? Because of the request from Dieline who asked her to take care of Claude instead?

He couldn’t understand Sarah, who only thought of Claude and Ambrosia with an attitude that she could do anything. No matter how much he looked into it, there was no benefit Sarah could get from helping Ambrosia.

“Everyone has moments like that. A moment when a child is so adorable that you want to hug him as best as you can.”

Sarah rolled her eyes and smiled as she looked at Ethan, who had a blank expression on his face. Ethan’s desire to hug the child right now was so desperate that Sarah tried to overdo it a bit. That was all.

“……”

Ethan, who was looking at the child with shaking eyes at Sarah’s words, gently touched Claude’s face. He could feel the warm temperature of the child in his large palms. Claude smiled brightly as he received his father’s long-desired touch. Seeing that adorable appearance, Ethan couldn’t help but embrace the small body of the child with all his might.

‘I’m so glad……’

Sarah looked at the two father and son with delight, enduring the nauseous feeling inside her. Feeling that she would vomit a lot of blood, Sarah closed her eyes constantly trying to circulate mana. She couldn’t vomit blood here now.

It was then. Ethan held Claude in one arm and Sarah in the other arm and lifted her up.

“Oh my!”

There was no time to be surprised by his power to lift Sarah, a mature woman, as lightly as holding a teddy bear. Sarah opened her eyes and looked at Ethan’s beautiful face, which almost touched her nose.