Chapter 01
“Shh. Don’t make a sound. Come this way.”
A commotion had broken out in the middle of the night.
The Duke of Claudis shook his sleeping daughter awake and quietly led her away.
Eroica’s room was located in the innermost part of the ducal mansion.
The small flower garden behind her room was Eroica’s favorite place. It was also connected to a secret passage that allowed her to leave the ducal residence at any time.
The Duke brought his precious daughter there.
In the distance, a familiar face was waiting for Eroica.
Soma Jordan, the eldest son of House Jordan, existed solely to protect the Claudis family. The moment Eroica saw his stiff expression, she realized that something serious was happening.
When they reached the entrance to the secret passage leading into the forest, the Duke knelt down to meet his daughter at eye level.
Two pairs of identical violet eyes met directly in front of one another.
“Never forget this, my Eroica.”
Her father’s voice, as calm and warm as a tranquil lake, was no different from usual.
“You are a Claudis, the family that protects the Empire. You must survive. Protect the Empire… and Franz.”
The Duke of Claudis took in every detail of his daughter’s face, knowing it would likely be the last time he ever saw her.
Eroica desperately clasped the large hand stroking her cheek with both of her tiny hands, which trembled like aspen leaves.
Her uneasiness was instinctive.
And when she saw the fear reflected in her father’s trembling eyes, she knew for certain that something was wrong.
The trembling that passed through his hand crushed his already wounded heart once more.
The Duke pulled his little daughter tightly into his arms and held his breath for a moment.
He wished time would stop just like this.
But cruelly, time was already moving forward.
There was no more time to waste.
“Soma. I entrust the future of the Empire to you.”
The Duke turned toward the boy standing beside them. His eyes were firmer than ever.
“Yes, Your Grace.”
Even in that short reply, Eroica could sense the boy’s desperate effort to hold back his tears.
He was only a young boy, merely three years older than his daughter. The burden placed upon his shoulders was far too heavy for someone his age.
But there was no other choice.
A bitter shadow fell heavily across the Duke’s face.
Yet there was no time to indulge in sentiment.
The commotion outside was approaching mercilessly. It seemed the Emperor’s soldiers had begun searching even the deepest parts of the mansion.
The Duke handed his daughter’s tightly held hand over to the boy.
“Go to the docks. When you find a man with a scar on the left side of his face, tell him, ‘Hide the Moon of Franz.’ He will take you somewhere safe.”
“But, Father… why…?”
So many words crowded inside Eroica’s mouth, but she could not bring herself to utter a single one.
One thing was certain.
This situation was unnatural.
The Claudis residence had been designed so that no one in the Empire could ever break into it.
Not even if the intruder were the Emperor of Franz.
No one should have been able to invade this place.
And yet, it was the Emperor’s soldiers.
“This way. Search every corner.”
The sound of soldiers trampling through the mansion grew louder.
The impossible had become reality.
“Go! Don’t look back. Run. You must leave the Empire.”
Sensing the approaching footsteps, the Duke shouted, almost like a command.
Soma hesitated for a moment before grabbing Eroica by the arm and running.
Once he confirmed that the children had disappeared into the forest, the Duke calmly walked toward the Emperor’s soldiers.
Eroica’s vision blurred.
She had wiped away her tears so many times that the skin beneath her eyes had become red and raw.
As she ran, she repeatedly turned her head to look back.
Through the bushes, she could vaguely see the Emperor’s soldiers binding her father.
And then, for just a brief moment, her blurred vision cleared.
Eroica’s face went deathly pale.
The face of the child who had just walked over to the Emperor was far too familiar.
“Lady Eroica?”
Her footsteps slowed, and she felt the hand holding hers tighten.
She stared blankly into the distance, her eyes devoid of focus.
But the voice calling her name brought her back to her senses.
“Ah… yes… Let’s go.”
Eroica never looked back again.
The image of that child was the last thing she saw.
After that, she simply ran.
She ran desperately, wanting only to get farther and farther away from the mansion.
Her strength left her body several times, and her breath rose painfully to her throat, making it difficult to breathe properly.
Even so, she never stopped moving her legs.
The children were still dressed in their pajamas.
Thorns pierced their feet, leaving scratches and wounds across their skin.
It was only after they passed through the forest and reached the outskirts of the village near the docks that Soma finally stopped.
“The village is just ahead. Would you like to rest for a while?”
“I’m fine. Let’s hurry.”
Keeping up with Soma, who had been running at full speed, must have been exhausting for her.
Yet Eroica had never once shown that she was tired.
She simply took the boy’s hand and focused on reaching their destination.
It was a bleak winter dawn.
The biting winter wind seeped through their thin pajamas, while the freezing stone pavement of the village painfully pressed against their wounded feet.
But none of that mattered.
She had watched her beloved father being taken away right before her eyes.
That could only mean that her mother and siblings would not be safe either.
If there was any way to ensure that her family’s sacrifice would not be in vain, then it was to survive, just as her father had told her, and leave Franz.
In the early hours before dawn, while everyone slept, they crossed the empty streets where not a single light could be seen.
It was when they passed through an alley that the sound of footsteps quietly following them increased from two sets to three.
Sensing the unfamiliar presence, the children quickened their pace.
Soma grabbed Eroica’s hand once more and began running.
But the large man quickly caught up with them.
“Eek!”
A short scream escaped from Eroica’s tiny mouth.
At the same time, Soma drew the dagger his father had given him and swung it through the air.
“Who are you? What the hell do you want?”
Soma bravely brandished the dagger, but the man who suddenly appeared before him easily subdued him.
“My, where did a kid like you get a weapon like this?”
The dagger was clearly expensive.
A child dressed in shabby clothes carrying such a costly weapon.
And a silver-haired girl with violet eyes that resembled her master’s.
Tiller had spent the entire day waiting at the docks after receiving a letter that morning.
When he spotted children wandering around in their pajamas in the middle of the night, he followed them just in case.
Could these children really be the ones he had been waiting for?
Just as the thought crossed his mind—
“Give me back my dagger! That’s…”
Soma fearlessly lunged at the man, whose body looked three times his size, trying to retrieve his stolen dagger.
“You little—!”
Tiller reached out to stop the boy’s reckless attack.
Just as the small boy, filled with fighting spirit, was about to collide with the enormous man—
“Hide the Moon of Franz!”
The little girl, who had been silently watching everything beside them, squeezed her eyes shut and shouted.
Tiller and Soma stared at Eroica in surprise.
Only then did Soma raise his head and properly look at the man standing before him.
Because of the man’s enormous size, he had not had a chance to see his face before.
It was only then that he noticed the large scar over the man’s left eye.
Early that morning, the symbol of House Claudis—the Black Tusk Moon—had been delivered to Tiller’s blacksmith shop.
Along with a short message.
“The docks.”
Tiller worked as a blacksmith during the day, concealing his true identity.
In reality, however, he was a knight entrusted with the most dangerous tasks of the Claudis family.
The Moon of Franz.
That was the secret name used for House Claudis.
And with those words—Hide the Moon of Franz—a young member of the Claudis family now stood before him.
If something serious enough to make me move has happened… then His Grace must have already fallen.
Judging by the expressions of the children following him, Tiller could already guess what had happened.
“Here we are.”
Tiller took the children toward the harbor.
A small boat was waiting there.
The Duke had already prepared it.
Tiller skillfully raised the anchor.
“Please, get aboard.”
“Lady Eroica, take my hand.”
Eroica climbed aboard while holding Soma’s hand.
Her expression was hollow.
As their boat left the harbor, the dawn that had seemed as though it would never end finally passed, and the sun slowly began to appear.
Eroica stared blankly at the rising sun.
Soon, exhaustion overcame her, and she fell asleep.
“Where are we going now?”
“We’re going to Palestian.”
Soma asked Tiller as he accepted the blanket the man handed him.
Palestian.
Unlike the Franz Empire, where winter seemed to reign endlessly, it was a kingdom on the opposite side of the continent where all four seasons were warm.
It was a strange and distant kingdom that Soma had only ever encountered in books as a child.
“Get some sleep. It’s going to be a long journey.”
After securing the ship’s wheel in place, Tiller settled down beside the children.
There were no words of comfort he could offer after the horrific events of the previous night.
So Tiller could do nothing but watch Soma quietly cover the sleeping Eroica’s shoulders with a blanket.
