Chapter 148: Sleeping Spell?

"And the equally overprotective paranoia of your father, Duke Kaelus von Nacht."

Seraphina sat up straighter, the hair on her arms standing up. "What did they do?"

"They left," Bartholomew stated, throwing his hands into the air in a gesture of pure exasperation.

"Left? Left where?"

"For the Ashen Forest!" Bartholomew groaned, doing a frustrated squat. "The moment they realized an ancient anomaly was buried beneath the territory, they didn’t just sit in the war room and make a perimeter plan! Our Duke, Leonidas insisted that they needed to ’visually assess the threat’ before the Imperial military bureaucracy got involved. And your father, terrified that the anomaly might eventually pose a threat to you, agreed that a preemptive strike was the most tactically sound option."

Seraphina’s jaw dropped.

Her mind, which had assumed the two Archdukes were currently sitting at a table drinking tea and drawing maps, completely stalled.

’They went to the anomaly?!’ her inner monologue shrieked. ’’Just the two of them?! Without an army?! Without backup?! They just casually strolled out the front door to go poke a sleeping demon with a stick?! Are they insane?!’

"But... but Papa Duke put me to bed!" Seraphina stammered, her mind racing, desperately trying to piece the timeline together. "He brushed my teeth! He gave me milk! He tucked me in! He said he was going to a meeting!"

Bartholomew looked at her with a mixture of deep pity and grim realization.

"Lady Seraphina," the butler sighed heavily. "Did the milk you consumed possess a slightly... floral aftertaste? Perhaps a hint of crushed Lavender-root extract?"

Seraphina froze.

Her memory flashed back to the patisserie. She remembered falling asleep mid-bite. She remembered Kaelus gently feeding her a sip of cool, sweetened milk while she was half-conscious.

She had assumed it was just exhaustion.

But looking back on it... her sleep had been too deep and heavy. It was the kind of unnatural, leaden slumber that couldn’t be broken by normal means.

The realization hit her with the concussive force of a physical blow.

Did he put in a sleeping pill? Or perhaps, a sleeping spell?

He hadn’t just brushed her teeth, but made sure to put her in a deep sleep so that they can go to the forest and return by the time Seraphina wakes up from her sleep. Otherwise, he wouldn’t do something and give her things that might harm her.

So it was a sleeping spell...

He knew that if she was awake, she would demand to go with him. She would argue with him, and insist on helping, utilizing her powers to protect him.

And Kaelus, the terrifying, overprotective Reaper of the North, was absolutely unwilling to let her anywhere near an ancient anomaly.

So, he had weaponized his good parenting.

He had used a sleeping draft to bench his own daughter!

"That... that treacherous, manipulative hedgehog! Papaaaaaaa!" Seraphina gasped, her voice trembling not with fear, but with a eruption of pure fury.

She threw the silk duvet off her legs, jumping to her feet in the center of the mattress. Her small hands balled into tight fists.

Her dark eyes, previously wide with shock, began to narrow, flashing with the faint, terrifying glow of violet light.

"He tricked me!" Seraphina yelled, her voice vibrating with dark mana. "He gave me a bath! He brushed my teeth! It was all a deception! He knocked me out so he could go fight a boss-monster without me!"

Bartholomew took a cautious step backward, sensing the shift in the six-year-old’s aura. The ambient temperature in the room plummeted.

The red embers in the fireplace died, suffocated by the heavy shadows that began to pool around Seraphina’s small, bare feet.

"My Lady, please remain calm," Bartholomew urged nervously, holding his hands up. "His Grace’s actions, while they were unethical and manipulative, were born of a desire to protect you. The anomaly in the Ashen Forest is ancient. It is not a plaything."

"I don’t care!" Seraphina roared, completely ignoring the butler’s logic.

Her soul was fired up right now. She wasn’t just mad that he had left her behind; she was mad that he had lied to her.

He had promised not to leave her in the dark. He promised that they were a team.

And the very first time a real threat emerged, he had shoved her in a box, locked the door, and run off to play the tragic, self-sacrificing hero!

’He thinks he can just handle everything alone,’ Seraphina fumed, pacing back and forth across the mattress, her cloud-patterned nightgown swishing aggressively. ’He thinks he’s invincible. He thinks he’s going to just waltz into a sealed cave with Uncle Leonidas, freeze the bad bug, and come back in time for breakfast. He is an arrogant, emotionally stunted fool! What does he tthink he is? A tragic male lead out of some romance novel?! He’s the supposed future villain boss! Not a self-sacrificing hero for god’s sake!’

She stopped pacing.

She looked at Bartholomew, her eyes burning.

"How long ago did they leave?" Seraphina demanded, her voice dropping into a deadly register that sounded terrifyingly identical to Kaelus’s own commanding voice.

"Roughly three hours ago, My Lady," Bartholomew reported, snapping to attention under her intense glare. "They took the Vanguard commanders as well, Sir Lucas, Sir Gallahan, and Sir Boris, as well as Captain Pyros and an elite detachment of Fire Mages. They intended to scout the perimeter of the excavation site."

"Three hours," Seraphina calculated rapidly. "They are already there. If the anomaly is as bad as the grandpas said, they might have already breached the seal. They might be fighting it right now."

A sharp, painful spike of terror pierced through her anger.

Yes, she was furious.

She was going to ruthlessly ground Kaelus for an entire month when he got back. She was going to confiscate his swords and make him write apology essays.

But the anger was secondary.

The primary priority was ensuring he actually came back.