HTRE 01

Chapter 1

“Shh. Don’t make a sound. Come this way.”

A commotion broke out in the middle of the night. Duke Claudis shook his sleeping daughter awake and quietly led her away.

Eroica’s room was located in the deepest part of the Duke’s mansion.

The small garden behind her room was her favorite place. It was also connected to a secret passage that could be used to leave the Duke’s mansion at any time.

The Duke took his precious daughter there.

From a distance, a familiar face was waiting for Eroica.

Soma Yordan, the eldest son of the Yordan family, existed solely to protect the Claudis family. Seeing his stiff expression, it was easy to realize that something serious had happened.

When they reached the entrance of the secret passage leading to the forest, the Duke knelt down to meet his daughter’s eyes.

Two pairs of identical violet eyes met right in front of each other.

“Do not forget, my Eroica.”

Her father’s voice, like a calm lake, was as peaceful and warm as always.

“You are Claudis, the family that protects the Empire. You must survive and protect the Empire… and Franz.”

Duke Claudis carefully took in every detail of his daughter’s appearance, knowing that it would be the last time.

The little hands holding tightly onto his large hand trembled like trembling leaves, as if they were afraid to let go of the hand gently touching her cheek.

The anxiety was instinctive.

Then, when she saw the fear in her father’s shaking eyes, she became certain.

The trembling that passed through her crushed heart once again tore it apart.

The Duke pulled his little daughter tightly into his arms and stopped breathing for a moment.

He wished he could make this moment last forever.

But time was cruelly moving forward.

There was no more time to delay.

“Soma. I entrust the future of the Empire to you.”

The Duke turned toward the boy standing beside him. His eyes were firmer than ever.

“Yes, Duke.”

Even in his short answer, one could feel the brave boy trying hard to hold back his tears.

It was far too heavy a burden for a young boy who was only three years older than his daughter.

But there was no other way.

A shadow of bitterness covered the Duke’s face.

However, there was no time to become sentimental. The commotion was already drawing closer without mercy.

It seemed that the Emperor’s soldiers had begun searching even the deepest parts of the mansion.

The Duke handed his daughter’s tightly held hand over to the boy.

“Go to the harbor. When you find a man with a scar on the left side of his face, tell him, ‘Hide Franz’s Moon.’ He will take you somewhere safe.”

“But, Father… why…?”

So many words circled inside her mouth, but she could not bring herself to say any of them.

One thing was certain.

This situation was unnatural.

The Claudis mansion had been designed so that no one in the Empire could enter it.

Even if the opponent was the Sky of Franz, this place was supposed to be safe.

She could not believe that someone had invaded.

And that it was the Emperor’s soldiers.

“This way. Search every corner.”

But the unbelievable truth became reality.

The sound of the soldiers trampling through the mansion grew louder.

“Go! Don’t look back and run. You must leave the Empire.”

Feeling the approaching presence, Duke Claudis shouted almost like an order.

Soma hesitated for a moment, then grabbed Eroica’s arm and began running.

After confirming that the children had disappeared into the forest, the Duke calmly walked among the Emperor’s soldiers.

Eroica could not see anything because her vision had become blurred.

She had wiped away her tears so many times that the skin under her eyes had become red and raw.

As she ran, she repeatedly turned her head to look back.

Through the bushes, she could vaguely see the Emperor’s soldiers tying up her father.

Then, for a very brief moment, her blurred vision became clear.

Eroica’s face turned pale.

The face of the child who had walked over to the Emperor was far too familiar.

“Lady Eroica?”

When her steps slowed, she felt the hand holding hers tighten.

She had been staring blankly into the air with unfocused eyes, but the voice calling her name brought her back to her senses.

“Uh… yes… Let’s go.”

Eroica did not turn her head again.

The last thing she saw was the figure of that child.

After that, she simply ran desperately.

She only looked ahead, trying to get as far away from the mansion as possible.

Several times, all the strength left her body, and her breath rose to her throat so that she could barely breathe properly.

Even so, she did not stop her moving legs.

The children were still wearing their pajamas.

Thorns pierced their feet, and scratches covered their skin.

When they passed through the forest and arrived at the entrance of the village where the harbor was located, Soma finally stopped.

“We will reach the village after passing this place. Would you like to rest for a while?”

“I’m fine. Let’s go.”

It must have been difficult for Eroica to keep up with Soma, who was running with all his strength.

Yet she never once showed that she was tired.

She only focused on holding the boy’s hand and heading toward their destination.

It was a bleak winter dawn.

The freezing winter wind pierced through their thin pajamas, and the cold stone ground of the village painfully stabbed their injured feet.

But such pain meant nothing.

Her beloved father had been taken away right in front of her.

That meant her mother and siblings would not be safe either.

If there was a way to make her family’s sacrifice meaningful, it was only to survive as her father had told her and leave Franz.

At dawn, while everyone was still asleep, they crossed the empty streets where not even a single light could be seen.

It was when they passed through an alley that the quiet footsteps increased from two to three.

Sensing an unfamiliar presence, the children gradually quickened their pace.

Soma grabbed Eroica’s hand again and began running.

But the large man quickly caught up with them.

“Ah!”

A short scream escaped Eroica’s tiny mouth.

At the same time, Soma pulled out the dagger his father had given him and swung it through the air.

“Who are you? What kind of bastard are you?”

Soma bravely swung the dagger, but the man who suddenly appeared in front of him easily subdued him.

“My, my. Where did this kid even get such a weapon?”

The dagger clearly looked expensive.

A child carrying a dagger that did not match his shabby appearance.

And beside him was a silver-haired girl with violet eyes that resembled her master’s.

Tiller had spent the entire day at the harbor after receiving a letter that morning.

When he found the children wandering around the streets in their pajamas, he had followed them just in case.

Could these young children really be the people he had been waiting for?

Just as he was wondering—

“Give me back my dagger! That is…”

Soma fearlessly charged at the man who looked three times his size, trying to take back his stolen dagger.

“You little brat…!”

Tiller reached out to stop the boy’s attack.

Just as the small boy filled with courage was about to collide with the large man—

“Hide Franz’s Moon!”

The little girl, who had been quietly watching beside them, squeezed her eyes shut and shouted.

Tiller and Soma looked at Eroica in surprise.

Only then did Soma raise his head and look at the man standing in front of him.

Because of the man’s enormous size, he had not had a chance to properly see his face.

Then he noticed the large scar over the man’s left eye.

Early that morning, the symbol of the Claudis family, the ‘Black Ivory Moon,’ was sent to Tiller’s blacksmith shop.

Along with a short letter containing only the words, ‘The Harbor.’

Tiller worked as a blacksmith at the forge during the day while hiding his identity.

But in truth, he was a knight who handled the most dangerous tasks of the Claudis family.

Franz’s Moon.

That was the secret name used to refer to the Claudis family.

Together with the words, ‘Hide Franz’s Moon,’ a young member of the Claudis family was standing before him.

‘If something serious enough to make me move has happened… then has the Duke already fallen?’

Just by looking at the expressions of the children following him, Tiller could guess what had happened.

“There it is.”

Tiller took the children toward the harbor.

There, a small ship that the Duke had already prepared was waiting.

Tiller raised the ship’s anchor with practiced ease.

“Please get on the ship.”

“Lady Eroica, take my hand and come up.”

Eroica climbed onto the ship while holding Soma’s hand.

Her expression was empty.

When the ship they were riding left the harbor, the dawn that seemed as if it would never end slowly passed, and the sun gradually began to appear.

Eroica stared blankly at the rising sun.

Before long, exhaustion overcame her, and she fell asleep.

“Where are we going now?”

“We are going to Pallestian.”

Soma asked Tiller, who was handing him a blanket.

Pallestian.

Unlike the Franz Empire, where cold winter lasted all the time, it was a country on the other side of the continent where all four seasons were warm.

It was an unfamiliar and distant kingdom that Soma had only encountered in books when he was young.

“Get some sleep. It will be a long journey from now on.”

After making sure that the ship’s wheel was fixed to one side, Tiller settled down beside the children.

There were no words of comfort he could offer for the terrible events of the previous night.

Tiller could only quietly watch Soma cover Eroica’s shoulders with a blanket as she slept.