Lark closed his eyes tightly.
Navia's power felt as soft and gentle as spring, yet it was a blue night, not a midday.
It was an energy reminiscent of a spring night, with young leaves sprouting on every branch and fully bloomed flowers basking in the moonlight.
Truly, an energy resembling this quiet and tender child.
This energy seeped through Lark's desolate magical power, filling the cracked earth like mending wounds.
It embraced his soul, lost in chaos, and overlaid it with light.
Creed's power had strongly reinforced the magic in the mansion, but it was not enough to prevent the fractures.
But this power was different.
'The curse has weakened.'
Lark felt the power of the curse he had cast on himself, forcing him to revert to an eight-year-old, had weakened.
Having witnessed Navia's miraculous self-recovery despite having stopped breathing, he somehow readily accepted this current power.
'Camilla, what did you do?'
Lark strongly sensed that these powers were Camilla's doing.
'Where are you?'
He wished she would at least send some news, even if she didn't appear.
Lark felt his unstable body finding its place, and his soul, lost in chaos, now protected.
The fractures that once crazily appeared would now hardly occur within this mansion.
But the changes were not just that.
'With this, I might be able to leave the mansion for a short time.'
It was a surprising development.
But that was the end of it. The curse had not disappeared, and if Creed didn't stay in this mansion, Lark would eventually die.
It would be as if all these events had never happened, returning him to an eight-year-old.
Navia also felt she had reached the limit of her healing and stopped using her power.
"This is as far as I can go for now."
"Thank you."
Lark said, gently stroking his daughter's hair.
His touch was so careful and affectionate that it seemed to make the observer's heart tighten even more.
Lark began to talk while softly stroking Navia's hair.
"Let me tell you what I found out while you were down."
"...?"
"You are my daughter, Navia."
Navia felt that this didn't sound like she was just being adopted.
Lark confirmed her suspicion.
"You are my natural daughter, born between me and a noble lady named Camilla Vladina."
Navia, with disbelief, stepped out of his embrace.
"I'm your natural daughter?"
"Yes."
Lark spoke of the day Camilla suddenly left him.
And Erkin Vladina, who had come to him with intense eyes, asking if he had seen his sister.
And Navia, who had intruded into his house out of the blue.
As he finished the story in this order, Navia still had a dazed expression.
'The Duke is my real father? And my biological mother is a lady from the Vladina Ducal House...'
She had never even imagined this.
She was a noble. A true Lady of Eseled.
She recalled those who had scorned her for her lowly birth.
"I can't believe it..."
"But it's true."
He showed her the unbroken ring of their contract, revived because Navia had come back to life.
"We promised each other not to kill our family. This ring reacted on the day you absorbed the fracture."
Navia recognized his ring as a wizard's contract token.
"I don't know... I have no clues or memories about my mother. My past was all about Agnes."
Navia began to reveal her past, which she had never intended to speak of.
First life, died at twenty in a carriage accident, struggling desperately for recognition without knowing anything.
Second life, died at ten for revealing the cure for Vivian's illness too soon.
Third life, confessed she was a regressor and died at eight.
Fourth life, died on the first day of her regression by falling from a balcony.
Fifth life, frostbite. Sixth life, a sacrifice.
Seventh life, broke free from brainwashing, and in the eighth, drank poison and met a miserable end.
Navia did not delve into the details.
It wasn't a pleasant story, and it was a past that had now disappeared.
But even just explaining it like that, Lark struggled to contain his boiling murderous intent.
It was almost to the point where his divine power would leak out and distort the space-time of this place.
Navia, trying to calm down the enraged Lark, said.
"I'm not afraid of anything now. So neither Agnes nor the imperial family can harm me."
"Of course. I'll smash them to pieces before that."
"No, I didn't mean that."
Navia laughed faintly and continued.
"Dad, don't you want to end the regressions?"
That was Lark's wish.
Navia easily guessed that he longed for eternal death.
As a fellow regressor, she knew better than anyone how terrible it was to repeat a life like a nightmare.
"I hope this life is our last regression, if that's what you wish, Father."
Like everyone else, we hope to make this life our last, as usual.
"But I don't want to end it by destroying everything."
"Are you suggesting we should consider the future?"
"Yes. Even now and for those who will become our family in the future."
Lark could not be sure if this life would indeed be his last.
But seeing Navia's sparkling eyes, he felt that he might allow himself the hope he had so feared.
With this child, hope seemed no longer frightening.
"I now believe that I can be happy."
Navia spoke with a tone full of conviction.
"Because I'm happy now."
Lark did not believe in happiness.
But how else could he describe the feeling he had when looking at this child, if not happiness?
"Yes."
Lark had to admit.
"I'm happy too, now that you're here."
With her tiny, almost nonexistent hands, Navia wiped the tears from Lark's eyes.
"So now, no more crying."
"You too."
He was the kind of person who, after crying his eyes out, still managed to retort with a touch of petulance.
Afterwards, the two of them talked for a long time, deep into the night.
Navia was most curious about her biological mother, but she could not ask further when Lark showed a painfully strange expression every time he mentioned Camilla.
Instead, they compared the worlds they knew. They talked about the people they had seen and how the world was changing.
After their meal, both fell asleep in his bed, comforted by Lark's awkward patting. They woke up early in the morning as was their habit.
"You wake up too early."
Lark was almost fully dressed, as if he hadn't slept much.
Navia rubbed her eyes, and as he suddenly picked her up and roughly washed her face, her sleepiness completely vanished.
"It hurts."
"Stop being a baby."
Navia burst into laughter.
Was this becoming her everyday life?
If someone asked her what overwhelming happiness felt like, Navia thought she might describe this moment.
They naturally had breakfast together and decided to take a walk outside.
Wearing only a red cloak over her pajamas, Navia held Lark's hand and walked through the desolate garden.
It was almost December, and the world was chilly.
Navia's nose turned slightly red, but she thoroughly enjoyed this morning walk.
Then, Lark snapped his fingers.
"Here, it's the tree you like so much."
In a previously barren garden, leafless trees of a stark light densely sprouted.
Navia, with sparkling eyes, felt incredibly exhilarated as she strolled down the walkway, looking at the trees.
"It's just like a birch forest."
"Do you want me to buy birch trees too?"
Lark hadn't forgotten the bitterness about the poplar trees.
"…That's not what I meant."
Navia shook her head vigorously, forgetting all about decorum.
'I wonder how Creed is doing?'
"Dad, how is Creed doing?"
"He's been moved to the annex. The shadows are taking care of him, so don't worry."
Navia nodded her head in relief and then asked again.
"Which annex is he in?"
With the power of the Black Moon, his wounds should be healable.
Thinking this, she wanted to rush to the boy.
Lark narrowed his eyes.
"You like him, don't you?"
"…Dad, I've lived for almost 60 years. Isn't it sick to like a seven-year-old?"
"You said the oldest you've ever lived to be was twenty-two, right? And you even know what that guy looked like when he was twenty-one."
No matter how you look at it, he was only a seven-year-old child now.
Navia quietly closed her mouth and looked at him. Lark knew very well what that look in her eyes meant. That's why he found it so absurd.
"You're looking at me again as if I'm a hopeless child. Arrogant little thing. You're even shorter than me."
Navia suddenly felt unjustly treated.
"If I'm really dad's biological daughter, then why am I so short?"
"That's true. Camilla wasn't particularly short either. She must have been at least 170 cm."
Lark thought, even considering her mother's side, it was surprising that they were both so tall, which made Navia feel even more dejected.
Lark chuckled and tousled Navia's hair.
"Both your dad and mom are tall, so this time, you'll probably grow taller too."
To Navia, that statement sounded incredibly fascinating.
The act of looking at someone and imagining one's own future seemed so unfamiliar and strange.
Then she remembered Erkin as well.
"He acted strangely when he saw me... Maybe because I resemble his sister."
Navia thought up to that point.
There was no use in pondering it over and over; it wouldn't solve anything.
More importantly, she needed to take care of Creed now.
Navia glanced towards the annex where Creed was and said,
"I should go see Creed."
Lark spoke gruffly,
"That kid is healthier than you are."
At his grumpy words, Navia gave a faint smile.
"He's still a child. I'm worried about him."
Then she let go of Lark's hand, took a few steps away, turned back and said,
"See you in a bit, Dad."
"Suit yourself."
Lark watched his daughter's retreating figure with an amazed expression, almost running away.
"Even though she's a child herself, she worries so much."
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