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It was a voice without distinction. She had too perfectly played the role of an adopted daughter. Chapter 167

Heron looked around.

The miraculous cleric Elbato was staring at him with wide eyes.

Turning his gaze sideways along the wall, he spotted the child he had desperately searched for.

Heron strode over and embraced Viola tightly.

“Ah, Father?”

Viola felt a bit dazed as she sensed Heron’s heartbeat. Thump! Thump!

His heart was beating fast.

Heat was radiating from his body, and he was trembling intermittently.

Breath, pulse, expression, warmth.

All forms of non-verbal language were speaking to Viola.

-Thank goodness nothing happened. She felt desperate and anxious expressions. Viola quietly raised her hands and returned the embrace to Heron.

“I’m okay.”

“I was worried.”

It was only natural. A disaster had struck in the Winter Castle, and Bichen had contaminated it and fled.

“I’m sorry for causing you worry.”

“It’s not your fault, so there’s no need for you to apologize.”

Heron’s eyes were red and bloodshot. For the first time since losing Rael, tears flowed from his eyes.

Heron was surprised by himself.

‘I am…….’

Crying. He considered it unmanly behavior. Yet, he wasn’t ashamed. “Are you crying?”

“Yes.”

Heron did not deny it. He acknowledged and accepted the moment. “Why are you crying?”

“Because I was scared.”

“What was frightening?”

“That I might lose you.”

He already had memories of losing someone precious. Heron had run away from that memory for twenty years, terrified.

Those twenty years had transformed him into a monster known as the Cold Killer.

He had become a being devoid of emotion. Encouraging even the slaughter among kin, he had devoted himself solely to creating a stronger Winter Castle.

That had been his escape. She might have secretly drawn her sword and stabbed Heron, and he would have effortlessly blocked it while praising her.

But the current Viola did not do that. “Elder Elbato said a miracle has occurred.”

In reality, a miracle had unfolded. “Teacher, when will Dad come to get me?”

He had said he would come for her after a hundred nights. Now, he had finally come.

Much more than a hundred nights later..

“It feels like a miracle that my father is standing in front of me right now.”

Though he was late, he looked even more magnificent, and Heron held Viola a bit tighter. “Every day will be your miracle.”

“Thank you.”

Viola’s body trembled. Heron’s tears, which had not flowed for twenty years, explained everything.

“Thank you for becoming my father.”

Heron couldn’t say anything. Viola’s words shattered the world surrounding him.

Viola, who had lived silently alone after losing Rael, broke down the walls of his life.

The already cracked barriers of his heart completely crumbled. Heron resolved to become Viola’s miracle.

And, “You are my miracle.”

That cheesy statement warmed Viola’s heart. This world was such a place. A world where laughter turned into longing, and cheesiness became genuine feelings.

Viola suddenly remembered Bichen’s existence.

‘Where is Bichen?’

At that moment, a voice was heard. “Hehe, Daddy, hug me too.”

It was Bichen’s voice. Bichen leapt up.

He moved like a wildcat, but Heron easily scooped him up in his right arm. With his left arm, he embraced Viola, and with his right, he held Bichen.

“Wow, I got to hug Daddy too!”

Bichen seemed to have no memory of what had just happened. Or maybe he just didn’t want to think about it right now. “It’s my first time.”

He tightened his grip around his father. It was a strange experience.

“I can hug you too.”

Bichen couldn’t continue speaking. His fingertips were trembling. Bichen was still much smaller than Heron.

He bit his lip.

‘I can’t cry.’

That would be an unworthy display for the 5th Prince of the Winter Castle. “I-I hugged Daddy!!!”

Bichen wanted to be loved by his mother and father. “I’m not sad!”

He thought he needed to become a strong predator to be loved, and had been trained that way. So, he acted as he had been taught, and had come to this point. “It’s nice to be hugged, Daddy.”

Bichen’s voice was filled with cuteness. Tears cascaded from his big eyes like a waterfall.

Heron stood still, holding Bichen close.

What was this strange and peculiar feeling? ‘Who am I?’

What kind of life have I lived? ‘What were my past twenty years like?’

They were twenty years without shame. The Winter Castle he governed was unmatched in strength, serving as humanity’s strongest shield against the “Place Where the Eye Shines.” His life was sufficiently honorable. But, ‘it was not beautiful.’

Viola and Bichen’s bodies were small.

Much smaller than he had imagined.

‘Indeed.

That realization struck him sharply.

Because this moment was beautiful. Duke Heron felt this way.

A page of my life is being filled out a little more beautifully.

But is it okay for my life to be beautiful? I, an insufficient human who could not even protect those I love. Do I even have the right to pursue happiness?’

No one granted permission. This slightly happy feeling terrified him.

It felt like longing for something that an unworthy person should not enjoy.

Viola’s voice called out.

“Daddy.”

Viola knew Heron better than even he knew himself. “You can be happy. Someone wished for your true happiness.”

Without needing to think about it, he could feel the sincerity in Viola’s words. And he felt that this sincerity was very old. “Since when?”

“Long before. Much earlier than you think.”

Heron was Arin’s favorite character. Arin had cried and laughed many times while looking at Heron.

The moment Viola killed Heron in the novel, Arin cried a lot.

“You don’t have to think about worthiness.”

His foolishly stubborn father would be thinking about worthiness even at this moment. He was still bearing the penalty for not being able to save his wife, and the punishment of not being able to die with her.

But this place was Viola’s world, not the world of the author. Viola spoke.

“I want you to be happy, Daddy.”

The world around Heron, which had crumbled, began to revive again. He heard a whisper.

“The power of miracles descends upon the queen’s crown.”

“One day, spring will come, and new flowers will bloom.”

* Tundra regained his senses.

An alien sight caught his eye.

‘Prince Bichen has revived, and Duke Heron has appeared.’

And Heron was holding both of them. Tundra silently watched the three of them.

He began to see new things in his eyes. ‘On Duke Heron’s body…….’

There were thicker and sturdier chains binding him than those restraining Bichen. Chains that were too thick to be cut by any sword. ‘Those chains…….’

Were gradually fading away. As the snow melts in the spring breeze.

Spring was coming.

“When he said, ‘Every day will be your miracle,’ many chains melted away. “It’s nice to be hugged, Daddy.”

Once again, many chains crumbled. “I want you to be happy, Daddy.”

Tundra’s eyes turned golden. He saw many things that were not visible to the eye.

The numerous chains that had surrounded Heron shattered and disappeared.

‘There’s nothing left.’

The same went for Bichen.

All restraints binding Bichen disappeared.

The miraculous cleric Elbato gaped at Tundra in astonishment.

He was the first to discover Tundra’s eyes had turned golden.

Rael, the Water Mage’s words came to mind.

‘You are a fake.’

Rael denied the miraculous cleric Elbato. ‘You do not deserve to be called a cleric of miracles. You are merely imitating miracles by borrowing divine power.’

At the time, Elbato was very angry but dismissed it, thinking it was the hysteria of a dying woman. ‘I need a “real miracle” to survive. Someone with the true miracle power to go against God’s will.’ ‘Who on earth are you talking about?’

‘Well, you’ll know when you see it. After all, you are a cleric.’

Everyone thought it was nonsense. Facing death, they thought they had to endure whatever was said.

That’s what they’d thought. I understand now.”

Rael’s words were not false. He could feel it the moment he saw.

Looking into Tundra’s golden eyes, he realized.

‘A power that can defy God’s will. Furthermore, a power that can establish a new will for God.’

That was Tundra. ‘But Tundra alone cannot do it.’

To establish the power of miracles, there must be someone essential. Elbato’s gaze fell on Viola.

‘Princess Viola.

Only with Princess Viola could Tundra finally shine.

Viola’s yearning was Tundra’s yearning, and it manifested in the form of a miracle.

‘A new wind is blowing across the continent.’

Spring has arrived. Originally, he had no attachment to life. ‘As a moron who couldn’t even defy a single whim of the God’s will regarding someone’s death, I thought it was okay to just die.’

‘I no longer wanted to die.

Seeing Viola and Tundra changed his mind.

He experienced the miracle of God’s will crumbling.

‘I want to capture more with my own eyes.’

He wanted to continue experiencing this miracle. ‘I must go to the Winter Castle.’

Elbato decided to trust himself to the Winter Castle. Duke Heron and his party, led by Viola, left the Elf Forest.

Thousands of elves came out to kneel before Viola at the entrance.

Harmona also knelt.

“Thank you for granting us a miracle.”

“Pongpong did it, not me.”

Harmona thought Viola was a humble king. “I swear by the central fountain of Karenna.

I, the ruler of Karenna and all who breathe here, shall obey your command.”

It was fine up to that point. But then, an unexpected remark slipped out. “My queen.”