Impossible!

Karina soared swiftly through the azure sky.

In less than two hours, she had crossed from the distant Maritime Federation into the Empire’s borders.

However, Karina soon ran into trouble.

The last time she had come to the Empire was eight hundred years ago, and the terrain had completely changed since then.

Hovering in midair, Karina took out a map, scrutinizing it from left to right, but no matter how long she studied it, she couldn’t figure out where she was.

“Come to think of it… this map is also from eight hundred years ago…”

Trying to navigate the land of eight hundred years later with an eight-hundred-year-old map was utterly useless.

To be honest, Karina felt like breaking down.

“It’s all that brat Ledea’s fault! Why did she have to run away from home for so long!”

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became.

She clenched the ancient map tightly in her hands until it was crumpled into a ball.

Only then did Karina realize — even though the map was outdated, since it was the only one she had, she would have to treat it as a lifeline.

With a helpless expression, Karina flattened it out again.

Though now full of creases, the patterns on it could still be barely made out.

“In any case, I should descend lower and try my luck?”

After thinking it over, Karina decided to fly at low altitude.

Maybe she could notice some clues that way.

She slowly dropped down to about one hundred meters and began a carpet search — in reality, it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

The odds of Ledea being near the Empire were very low, but since Karina had searched everywhere else, this was the last possible area.

So she searched carefully.

As she sought traces of Ledea’s presence, she also kept an eye out for human cities.

If she could find one, she could buy an updated map, which would greatly help in her search.

This month, no matter what, Karina was determined to bring her daughter home.

Suddenly, Karina froze in midair.

She sensed a faintly familiar trace of magic in the air.

Whipping her head toward the direction, she realized it was barrier magic — a type dragons were skilled at using!

“Could it be Ledea’s work…”

Without a second thought, Karina flew straight in that direction.

Before long, she reached the entrance of a cave, where a pale blue barrier shimmered faintly.

As expected, it was dragon-style magic!

“Does that mean Ledea is inside the cave?”

Karina didn’t jump to conclusions.

The reason was clear — the barrier was far too weak.

Even if it wasn’t her, an S-rank adventurer could easily break it apart.

If it were really Ledea, there was no way she would set such a fragile barrier.

Still, she had to investigate.

There might be clues about Ledea inside.

She had to capture her daughter and force her to marry that little wife who had shown up at her doorstep!

——

Since Ledea had left the cave, Lily had been restless with worry.

The villains of the Empire coveted dragon hearts.

Since they couldn’t defeat Ledea, they would surely target Emi instead.

In truth, Lily hadn’t wanted Ledea to leave the cave.

But Ledea seemed to have something important to do — perhaps she wanted to investigate the Empire’s movements, all to better protect their daughter?

Either way, now Lily was the only one protecting her child.

Even if it cost her life, she would keep her daughter safe.

“Mama!—”

Startled from her thoughts, Lily looked down at the baby in her arms.

Her daughter had already grown to look like she was a year and a half old, though she was barely fifteen days old.

Lily had little parenting experience, but wasn’t a child of one and a half supposed to start walking?

Would keeping her constantly in her arms affect her bone development?

The more Lily thought about it, the more anxious she became.

But she also worried her daughter might fall while walking.

After much hesitation, Lily decided to place her on the bed to see if she could crawl on her own.

So Lily set her daughter at the head of the bed and then walked to the foot.

“Emi, Mama’s over here!” Lily clapped her hands to get her attention.

“Come here, let Mama hold you!”

“Mama…”

Emi rolled over, getting on all fours.

She tried crawling a few times, but it felt too slow, so she attempted to stand.

But the mattress was too soft.

She couldn’t keep her balance and immediately toppled over onto the bed.

“Ahhh!”

Lily cried out in fright, rushing over in a panic to scoop Emi into her arms.

“I’m sorry, Emi! Did you get hurt?”

Seeing Emi break into a happy smile, Lily finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Still, learning to walk on a soft bed was too difficult.

But the cave floor was far too hard.

If only there were rubber mats she could spread on the ground!

Did this world even have rubber?

It felt more like something from advanced technology.

As Lily was lost in thought, familiar footsteps echoed in the cave.

The barrier Ledea had set couldn’t be broken so easily.

Back then, it had taken two mages bombing it for ages before they finally destroyed it.

And the footsteps sounded so familiar… Lily truly thought Ledea had returned.

Her tense heart relaxed, and a smile spread across her face.

Holding her child, Lily stumbled toward the cave entrance.

She wanted to welcome Ledea home, and also tell her that their daughter had just tried crawling across the bed.

But instead, she came face to face with a stranger.

It was a woman who looked about twenty, with short dark-brown hair and dull red eyes.

She wore a gorgeous black gown, radiating maturity and composure, every gesture carrying an air of royal dignity.

“Ahhhh!—”

Lily shrieked, clutching her daughter tightly to her chest.

She instinctively stepped back, desperate to put distance between herself and the dangerous-looking stranger.

Tears glimmered at the corners of Lily’s eyes, her expression filled with despair.

It made her look so pitifully fragile that even Karina was taken aback.

But wait — why was a human girl living inside this cave?

And she was holding a baby, no less?

The baby looked strangely familiar.

Those crimson eyes — they were just like Ledea’s when she was little.

Except the baby had silver-white hair, while Ledea’s had been jet-black.

This beautiful silver hair must have come from the girl in front of her.

Wait… could this girl be Ledea’s little wife, and the baby in her arms the granddaughter she had long dreamed of?

“That’s impossible!”

Karina grabbed her hair in frustration.

Because she longed so much for a grandchild, she saw every child as if it were Ledea’s illegitimate daughter.

Two hundred years ago, the youngest daughter of the Elf royal family — the one originally meant to marry Ledea — had warmly invited Karina to the girl’s baby’s one-month celebration.

At the time, Karina had thought that baby looked especially like Ledea.

Could it be that Ledea had secretly been with the elven girl, just to surprise her with a child?

For a long while, Karina had truly believed it.

But as the baby grew up without showing any dragon traits, Karina realized she had been utterly mistaken.

It had only been her own wishful thinking.

Her granddaughter didn’t exist!

The girl before her was just an unrelated stranger.

There was no evidence she was Ledea’s little wife, nor any proof that the baby in her arms was her granddaughter.