Blood expected a rejection, but instead, she was asked to take her as an apprentice.

In response, Blood felt the shock of the situation and realized that if the person involved was taking such a stance, she wouldn’t have much to say.

‘It started with what felt like a kidnapping, but if she’s actively involved, then…’

Of course, there was still potential for problems down the line, but at least if things continued like this, the chances of it being linked to ‘that individual’ were slim.

For a witch, the most important thing was personal will.

Since that individual was also a witch like herself, she would undoubtedly turn a blind eye to such a grand principle.

At that moment when Blood was thinking about that, Soul reacted with joy to the Bohemian woman’s willingness to follow her.

“Indeed, I knew you would make the right choice. From the moment I first saw you, I could tell we had a lot in common.”

“Thank you for saying that. I’ll do my best to learn.”

Just hours earlier, they were pointing swords and staffs at each other, but after their interests aligned, the two began to show intimacy.

“Well then, let’s introduce ourselves. My name is Soul Mary.”

“My name is… heh… um… Freddy Mars.”

With a slightly awkward voice, she spoke, and as she heard Freddy’s words, Soul smiled comfortably, feeling that she seemed quite nervous.

To Soul, Freddy was her first apprentice, and considering her talent, she was almost too good to be true.

Moreover, her appearance perfectly hit Soul’s preferences, and right now Soul was looking at Freddy with a gaze as if honey was dripping from her eyes.

‘The more I see her, the more I like her. I have to raise her well and ensure she becomes a great witch worthy of being remembered in history. And if possible, maybe we can aim for a deeper relationship…’

*

The queen introduced herself as Freddy Mars to the witches.

By hiding even her name, she was practically abandoning her status as nobility from Bohemia, but in her heart, there was only one thought at that moment.

‘Power… that’s all I pursue from here on out. The ability to sweep away hundreds or thousands of enemies all on my own. If I gain such power, I can obtain things greater than just being the successor of Bohemia.’

She felt an undeniable certainty about Soul’s immense power from her own experience facing it.

Moreover, from the conversation she just overheard, both of them were affiliated with the powerful Dragona Empire.

With the Empress reigning as the leader, and perhaps because of that background, in the Dragona Empire, where performance was appreciated regardless of gender, the queen thought she would definitely have opportunities to spread her wings freely.

‘Alright… from now on, I am no longer Queen Andreas. I will live as Freddy Mars’s apprentice and do as I please!’

*

“W-what happened?”

“..I’m sorry.. We couldn’t find anything after all.”

The soldiers spoke with sadness in their voices in front of Count Turun.

Feeling all the strength drain from his body at their words, Count Turun lowered his head and spoke with difficulty.

“..I understand.. you may leave now.”

“…Yes, my lord.”

At their master’s command filled with despair, the soldiers exited the room.

Once alone in the room, Count Turun began to tremble in agony, covering his face with his hands.

‘How.. how could this happen.. My daughter, Queen, how could this happen to her..’

At this moment, thinking of his daughter, who had been kidnapped and whose life or death was uncertain, a deep sense of sorrow and intense guilt began to rise within Count Turun.

Queen, the eldest daughter of House Andreas, was a high-ranking mage with outstanding abilities in Bohemia.

Though Count Turun was proud of his daughter, who he felt would stand out anywhere, he rarely ever showed it.

If he had been an ordinary father, he would have expressed these feelings without hesitation.

However, Count Turun was not an ordinary father.

As the lord of Bohemia, he had the duty to govern and lead the many nobles around him.

For him, expressing affection for his child was inevitably tied to succession issues, and he had to be careful in showing affection to his children in that regard.

Especially as he had firmly decided to pass the successor position to his son, Santana, showing affection to Queen could easily influence succession matters, possibly leading to division in Bohemia.

Given Queen’s capable nature, this fact became even more apparent.

Thus, Count Turun had intentionally refrained from expressing affection for his daughter, and the situation became even more pronounced since his son Santana had returned and was showing his capabilities to establish his own standing.

But now…

At this moment, feeling sorry for having deliberately neglected his eldest daughter, whose life and death became uncertain.

Count Turun could not help but feel the guilt and regret towards his daughter he had tried to ignore all this time.

‘No matter how much it was for Santana, I was too harsh.. Even so, I should have at least paid some attention to her.. As a father, I should have fulfilled my duty..’

Feeling profound regret for his actions, while also desperately hoping for his daughter’s safety wherever she might be, Count Turun sat deep within the lord’s castle, shedding tears alone.

*

“Haah…”

Gripped by heavy anxiety, I was pacing back and forth in my room.

With Queen’s kidnapping, both I and Bohemia found ourselves in an unpredictable situation.

Given the circumstances, this incident was presumed to be the doing of the Emperor of the Sacred Empire, and I couldn’t help but seriously worry about what demands that crafty Emperor would make of us.

‘No matter how much, I don’t think my father would make a reckless choice. At the very least, we’d have to bleed quite a bit. The issue is the scale of that loss…’

Since such an event had never occurred in the original work, I could not have a clear conviction about it now, and the potential repercussions were impossible to predict, only amplifying my anxiety.

At that moment, consumed by deep unease, I was struggling to settle my mind.

“Somehow, that doesn’t seem right.”

“Pardon?”

Polena, who had remained silent since the incident occurred, suddenly spoke up.

I looked at her quizzically.

“What do you mean? What doesn’t seem right?”

“About the recent raid incident. No matter how I think about it, I don’t believe it was the work of the Emperor of the Sacred Empire.”

“But in this situation, who else could have committed such an act but the Emperor? Mansfeld is in no position to handle themselves, and there’s no one among the Heretic Alliance who would take such a reckless move.”

“While the Emperor of the Sacred Empire is indeed the most politically probable suspect, the problem lies with the lack of concrete evidence.”

“…What do you mean by that?”

“The magic the raider used.. do you remember what it was?”

“Yes.. According to the soldiers’ testimonies, the assailant used magic to summon ghosts. Not just one or two, but potentially hundreds or even thousands of them.”

“Exactly. Unlike the typical necromancy used by mages, it’s magic that manipulates souls, which is considered forbidden by doctrine. I believe such magic is utilized not by ordinary mages, but by witches from the Dragona Empire located to the east.”

“Wait, what?”

As I processed Polena’s unexpected statement, a deep perplexity began to fill my face.