“Sleep, my sweet Dalia, rest in my arms,

  Safe from the world and its cruel alarms.

  Your breath is a whisper, your hands soft as lace,

  A flower that fades in time’s gentle embrace.

  Oh, stay a while, don’t drift away,

  The dawn can wait another day.

  Though goddess Hecate calls, though magus sigh,

  I’d trade my soul to hear you cry.

  The halls are so quiet, your laughter so thin,

  Like echoes of joy where life once had been.

  Your cradle stands empty, the candle burns low,

  How can I bear to let you go?

  Oh, stay a while, don’t drift away,

  The dawn can wait another day.

  Though goddess Hecate calls, though mages sigh,

  I’d trade my soul to hear you cry.

  If I could steal the pain from you,

  And bear it all as love ones do,

  I'd carry sorrow, dark and deep,

  If you could wake, if you could keep.

  But hush now, my darling, don’t be afraid,

  A path is lit where stars cascade.

  Go where the roses never die,

  Where love remains, where dreams still fly.

  Oh, let me hold you one last time,

  Before you soar, before you climb.

  Though goddess Hecate calls, though magus sigh,

  I’ll love you still—this is not goodbye.”

  I open my eyes while hearing a song, I would recognize Leonore’s voice anywhere, ‘you don’t need to worry Leonore, I’m still alive and planning to stay that way.’

  Analyzing the lyrics of the ballad that she was singing with a lot of emotion in her voice, I can tell she’s expecting me to die soon.

  If I were in her shoes maybe I would think the same think, a baby that’s always sick, needs to take medicine every day, and from time to time she would be in a coma for weeks, the situation doesn’t seems optimistic.

  “Hello child.”

  The moment Leonore and I see each other in the eye, I can tell she’s devastated.

  “Le…”

  I try to give her a reassuring smile but this time I don’t have a lot of energy.

  “Mr. Lud, Miss Dalia is awake, you should come.” Leonore calls Lud, and what I see it’s concerning, he doesn’t look like a real human being.

  “I’m glad you woke up love.” Doctor Lud tries to give me a smile but I want to tell him to just sleep for a few days.

  “Do Lu…” I tell him only that, my speaking abilities only grants me that.

  “You are really lucky young lady, if a real magus wasn’t passing by our territory and if he didn’t need our help you’ll probably be dead now, even with his help, we weren’t sure of your survival.” Doctor Lud tells me something shocking and now I know that those points invested in my luck stat were really useful.

  “You should sleep more little one.” Leonore says it while caressing my hair. I start losing focus and fall sleep.

  -----------------

  The next time I wake up I’m in my room again, I can see the servants sitting in a couch, I try getting out of my crib and they notice how I’m awake and full of energy.

  “I’ll go and inform someone about this, look after her.” One servant says before leaving.

  “Hello little Miss, I don’t know if I have permission of putting you on the floor, just wait a minute Miss.” The other servant says in a respectful way.

  I nod with my head and she seems surprised that I understand.

  When Leonore comes she’s accompanied with a man that I’ve never seen before.

  “Well it’s good to see in good health the child that I help.” Says the man the moment he comes closer to me.

  “Yes, Magus The bright light.” Leonore says to the man with respect in her voice. I don’t try to use sense mana, if I do it, he’ll notice it if he’s indeed a real Magus.

  “I’ve heard from Lady Audrey how this child has made you all worry for her health since she was born, it’s interesting to see someone who was born with a negative luck stat.” The man tells Leonore what he thinks about my situation.

  “Yes, she needs us more than the normal child, but we should be there for her.” Leonore explains.

  “Well, it’s really unfortunate her situation.” The man says still staring at me, like he want to dissect me and analyze what is wrong with me. It gives me the creeps the way he continues to see me.

  “I understand that you are a busy person, but Lady Audrey asked me to invite you for a cup of tea with her.” Leonore notice the way he stares at me and tries diverting his attention to mother.

  “I’m honored for the invitation and would love to attend.” The man says while he stops looking at me.

  “Then please follow me my Lord.” Leonore acts accommodating to the man.

  They exist the room but before leaving the room the man gives me a final look and offer me a smile.

  I don’t know if this was the best it can offer my luck stat, the man seems like bad news to me, besides who in the world make others to refer to him with their title as a magus.

  When a Magus reach tier 2 with their mana core, magic society gives a title to the Magus, the more achievements the better the title, if his title it’s only the bright light I can assume he’s not that great, I would be impressed if the title was something along the lines like the eternal light. In my past life my title used to be the great reality distorter.

  What worries me it’s if he’s a tier 2 Magus and he diagnosed me, he should be able to tell how I’m a Magus too, and for the way Leonore and Mr. Lud keeps talking to me, they don’t know anything, and that means he’s keeping the information private.

  Leonore and Aurora don’t come to see me this day, the only person who comes and spend some time with me is Mr. Lud, he visits me to do a full checkup.

  When the night arrives I’m preparing to have some rest when I notice something strange, my head starts to hurt and I feel a little disoriented, my mental resistance skill activates on his own and I feel like me once again, I search with my eyes the room and notice how the servants didn’t go to their rooms and instead they are sitting in their chairs.

  The servants are asleep and that never happens, they always make sure I’m okay before exiting the room and go to their own rooms. The strange feeling I’ve been having the whole day returns, I feel a knot in the stomach.

  Always expecting the worst, I make a mana scan but don’t discover anything. The more I think about it the weirder it gets. I start gathering the mana in me and circulated it for my mana network until it reaches my mana core, my goal it’s to get it full to release everything in a single spell, I can’t talk yet and it would be weaker that way but with hand signs I could manage to make it work.

  When the mana core it’s full and concentrating in my hand signs, I release the mana while I’m thinking Revelat ac notas occulta. The mana it’s expelled and I only manage to cover a small radius around me, around 50 feet, the spell would provide with any irregularities that a simple quick scan cannot do as long as whatever it’s hidden doesn’t use superior magic of tier 2 or an artifact that surpass that level.

  [New skill acquired.]

  [Silent Spell Casting Lv1]

  My spell gives me the information of a human approaching slowly, he passes the guards and they don’t react to him, I hear the door opening and the figure stops for a moment beside the servants, when the person notice how they don’t move, the person continues their path and I can see the face finally, it’s the same man who came with Leonore, he seems surprised to see me awake, only to move rapidly trying to silence me before I alert in some way the guards.

  I need to act fast and I do the first thing that comes to me, channeling my mana, I gathered it in my vocal cords, this it’s going to hurt but I’m too accustomed to it by now, I cry expelling the mana, I can feel my throat taking damage for what I’ve done.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  “Bwaaaaa!” The cry makes the windows to shatter and the man cover his ears for a few seconds before he recovers.

  [New skill acquired.]

  [Amplified voice Lv1]

  Luckily my cry alert the guards and they enter the room only to discover the man next to my crib with me crying in it.

  I can see how the man starts to panic for the way he starts to tremble when he sees the guards.

  “Don’t come closer! Stop right there!”

  Instead of acting like someone with a brain he starts yelling at the guards with fear in his voice, demonstrating how badly prepare he’s for life in general.

  “Calm down.” One guard tries controlling the situation with a hand in the handle of his sword.

  “What’s happening here?” The other guard demand an answer from the intruder.

  “I think we need to inform the Viscount.” The first guard who talked to the intruder says.

  “No! Don’t you dare!”

  He’s losing his composure and tries to grab me, I continue to cry, I fell into the little bed, dodging his hand but I know that if the guards don’t stop him he would harm us, the worst thing possible it’s them giving him enough time to cast a spell.

  I feel how the mana is responding to his emotions now that he lose the concentration over his spell that permitted him to remain hidden.

  “Augue.” He says a tier one fire spell and a fireball forms in his hand. “Retreat!” He demands with the spell already casted.

  I don’t think he realizes the situation he’s creating and how bad everything would end for him if he decides to continue.

  “We need you to cancel your magic and come with us sir.” The second guard speaks slowly and with a calm voice so he doesn’t disturb the man.

  We can hear more guards approaching, the distinctive sound of their armor echoes through the house, if so many of them are assembling in this part of the house, the Viscount and his wives must be inform by now about how something bad is happening inside the house, it doesn’t matter if they don’t have magus in their workforce, a Viscount should have people of good levels in their ranks, I’ve never seen them but I am always confined to this room.

  Hearing all the noise outside the room and how he’s been surrounded, the magus takes extreme measures and throw the fireball to the guards, the basic spell does little damage to them being protected with their armor.

  If he took a minute to think about the situation, he would notice that the best thing to do would be to comply with their demands, unless he have a high level, which I doubt, being only a tier two magus, I don’t expect a lot from him.

  Acting fast he tries to grab me for the second time, and I can do little to avoid it.

  I want to yell at the guards for being this incompetent but my vocal chords are damaged and need time to recover, I cannot make any sound with my mouth. His hand squeezes my arm and he puts me closer to him.

  He hugs me with one arm preparing himself to run away, he turns around to face the window and I’m scared that he’s trying to jump through the window, this is the third floor and I can’t survive from this height.

  More guards come inside the room and I can feel something different from them, especially the man in the front, the atmosphere that radiates from him it’s suffocating, how strong he needs to be to have that effect in people without the need to activate his aura, an artifact or magic.

  “Be prepared.” The man gives the order and the guards start surrounding us slowly. “I’m giving you the chance to surrender, I should warn you that things won’t end well for you if you resist. Release the child and we can still talk.” The man advice the intruder but he starts holding his sword, like he’s expecting the man to make the wrong choice.

  “Leave me alone or she die!” He yells in fright, putting more strength in his arm I have difficulty to breathe.

  “Calm down and we can solve this.” The man starts approaching us slowly and the magus reacts with hysteria.

  “Ignis bullet.” I hear how he casts a tier two fire spell and throws it to the imposing man.

  I see how the man activates his aura and I missed the moment he unsheathes his sword.

  “Fool.” The knight responds with a smirk in his face. “You should have taken the opportunity when you still could.”

  I start to fall to the floor out of nowhere until I hit the ground, I begin to notice how wet I am, only to realize that I’m wet from all the blood that continues to fall.

  “Aaahhhhh!” I hear the scream of the intruder, I turn my head a little and see how the man is missing an arm.

  “Capture him.” The knight gives the order and people arrest him rapidly. “What a waste of my time, I think for a moment something fun could happen finally.”

  The knight turns around and leaves the room, the guards drag the intruder with them, and I can see Mr. Lud following behind them, probably to save the man from dying.

  More servants come into the room and one of them proceed towards the ones that are sleeping, even with everything that happen in front of them, they didn’t wake up. Something must be going on over there. Before the rest of the servants can manage to come to my side Leonore enters the room running covered in sweat.

  “Is she okay? What happen to the child?” She grabs me from the ground, and while she’s hugging me, I can hear how she’s crying. “I’m sorry baby, I shouldn’t have brought that man to your room.” She’s blaming herself, even if I want to say something, for the time being I don’t have the capacity to speak.

  She takes me to the bathroom so she can washed me, while the rest of the servants clean the room, but I doubt they can get rid of all the blood if they don’t use magic, and I don’t think Freya is going to be very happy if someone asks her to use her magic for that.

  When Leonore finish to clean me she takes me to another room and refuses to leave me alone, if I could I would tell her how this isn’t something she should be worried about, I been through something worse than this, but if I tell her that, I wonder if that would only make her sadder.

  “Don’t worry baby, I’m here with you, I know that you cannot talk for what happen to you.” So she’s assuming that I got affected with what happen to me tonight. “You can feel assured that nothing will happen here with me by your side, try to sleep a little bit, maybe a small lullaby can help you, just close your eyes.”

  “Hush, my star, close your eyes,

  Let the moonlight dry your cries.

  Softest winds will kiss your cheek,

  Dreams will hold you when you’re weak.

  Drift on silver waves so high,

  Sailing safe across the sky.

  Angels hum a lullaby,

  I am here, so don’t you cry.

  Night is kind and full of light,

  Fireflies dance to make it bright.

  If your heart still feels afraid,

  Hold my hand, you’ll be okay.

  Sleep, sleep, little one,

  Morning comes with golden sun.

  You are loved, you are free,

  Rest, my darling, next to me.

  Drift on silver waves so high,

  Sailing safe across the sky.

  Mages hum a lullaby,

  I am here, so don’t you cry.”

  Closing my eyes I start dreaming by the end of the song, it’s been a while since I had a nightmare, a precious thing thanks to my mental resistance skill, but this time it’s different, I’m running and I know that I can’t stop or something it’s going to catch me, I just know it, the fear that I’m feeling don’t permit me to move correctly and I fell to the floor.

  Turning my head I see a man without an arm walking towards me, I try to scream but no sound comes from my mouth, I get on my feet and run again, but for some reason the man close the distance, even when I run with everything that I have, he’s moving quicker than me.

  I start remembering that I shouldn’t be able to run yet, I’m still a baby, when that idea comes to me I stop and turn around, this isn’t real, I know it’s not real, I stabilized my breathing and wake up.

  [Skill level up.]

  [Mental resistance Lv14]

  When I open my eyes I see Leonore looking at me, she sees how I’m awake and gives me a smile.

  “Hello little Miss, the day it’s really beautiful, we should get you ready, and what do you think if we visit Lady Audrey?” I hope she’s joking because there’s no way that means a beautiful day. “Try not to think about what happened last night, you are safe now.”

  She dressed me up with a beautiful blue dress, she arranged my hair in a complicated design before carrying me in her arms, we arrive to a room where I’ve never been before, and she knocks on the door and comes inside after someone gives her permission from the inside.

  When we enter, I can see it’s a living room and some ladies are having a tea party, at the center I notice mother. The moment I see her, she sees me too, and she tries to hide it but I can see how uncomfortable she actually is.

  “What a lovely child, who is this if may I ask?” One of the Ladies asks Leonor when she notice me.

  I can see how every woman in this room keep their eyes in me, I know for experience what those expressions hide behind their masks, they’re trying to asses me and calculate what is the best course of action, in which way they can use me, how laughable that is, they think they are really smart but all of them are the same.

  “Lady Olebert, this child’s name its Dalia Davenport, I bring her to see her mother for a little moment.” Leonore smiles to the Lady when she presents me like a precious treasure.

  “Davenport? We didn’t know that you have a girl Lady Audrey, you have presented all of your boys, I think the last time you were pregnant you give birth to some precious twin boys.” Another woman speaks with thorns in her words to my mother.

  “Oh, you must got it wrong Lady Sommelie, I have always told everybody how I gave birth to a girl and two boys.” My mother says with a tense smile.

  “I suppose you are right Lady Audrey, what kind of mother would neglect her own child, haha.” Other Lady enters the conversation and I can tell that neither of them have a good relationship. Nobles, always hiding behind pretty words when they insult you.

  “The child must be tired Leonore, you should take her to rest, please.” Mother gives the order to Leonore, clearly stating how unhappy she was for Leonore to bring me with her. “I would visit her when I have the time.” The only thing that I can think of it’s how my mother likes to lie, she will never come.

  “I understand my Lady, if all of you excuse us.” Leonore departs with me in her arms, leaving behind the snake reunion.