AFTERMATH

"DARLING, are you alright?"

Rufus Quinzel turned to Amber who sat beside him on the sofa.

Right now, they were in the lounge area of Madam Hammock's office. The Healing Sage wasn't done treating Hanna yet so all they could do was wait there. His wife checked on their daughter a while ago and now, she just got back at the lounge area to probably check on him.

I made her worry again.

Rufus suddenly felt guilty. Amber looked very worried about him so he smiled and held her hand. "I'm okay, darling," he assured her, then he lowered his head to "look" at the teacup on the table. He didn't want his beloved wife to see how miserable he looked at the moment. "I'm just… thinking."

He was thinking about how useless he was as a father and as a duke.

When Princess Nichole summoned Lady Raven, her Soul Beast, he couldn't stop it from burning up his precious daughter. If it weren't for Madam Hammock, Hanna would have been gone by now.