Marinette's POV

Huff huff

Heavy...

It was so shocking for me to see the black blood come out of his mouth out of a sudden. I wasn't in my right mind when seeing how he treated me earlier and ended up crying and sobbing like crazy even though I'm not really his real daughter.

He was even worse than a drunk person, and somehow I felt like I used to carry a drunk person home back when I lived on earth.

His cold arm was put on my shoulder, I grabbed his hands with both of my hands to stabilize it and after that, it was all raw strength of dragging his unconscious body.

The duke didn't die yet but his pulse was getting weaker and weaker. On top of it, my light magic didn't seem to work on him for an unknown reason.

The only thing I could think of was to get help from the prince, I could only wish for him to stay at the same spot in the alley full of trashes.

The sun soon rose upon the empire as the dawn was approaching. The knight will increase and the citizens will wake up and it will be a lot troublesome from there.

"Seriously...why don't you get your beloved daughter...to help you???!!"

Urgh...his body was like a body of an elephant, and the blood didn't stop flowing from his lip. It was dripping all over my clothes.

If it wasn't for the drawing which fell from his pocket, I would never become soft to help him like this.

You damn old man...just you wait...just you wait!!! When you're healed...when you open your eyes...I will hit you, I will ask you...and no matter what, I will make you realize how much Marinette loves you and teach you a lesson that your wife's death isn't your daughter's fault.

Talking about trouble...I really didn't want to lecture him like how I yelled at Tristan, but some people won't ever understand if you always say to them nicely and warmly.

Cough cough

"Don't...die...Marinette...she will be sad..."

Your body can't become colder and colder like this...even though you would look or glare at me coldly, even if you would never show any affection to me...I mean Marinette...but at least...just exists to be a father to her.

I didn't want Marinette to end up at some point which she had to erase her father from her memories.

I finally arrived at the end of the alley of trashes, but the first prince didn't stand there as I thought he would be.

Noo...no!!!!

It can't be!!! The old man can't die this way!!

I immediately laid the duke on the ground casting all the trashes aside, my chest was throbbing in pain when his face started getting paler and paler.

Light Magic!!

Light Magic!!!!!

Light Magic!!!!!!!

Heal!!! Please heal!!!!

No...no...it can't be...no...no...no...

Heuk...euk...hic...

You can't...

You aren't allowed to...

Huff huff

Think calmly...Su...Sun-hee...

There's nothing the light magic could cure since it was powerful enough to make a cripple person walk and run again.

There's no way it can't heal a normal wound...except--

It wasn't the wound on the outside...it...is the internal wound.

But how could I possibly know how he got the internal wound?? I need to use the...the...memory magic again...to read his memories.

But...I only got three people left...and among them, my father...I already erased half of my memories of him.

It's not enough...it will never be enough for me to use it to read the duke's memories.

I was trapped in the deadlock. No choice I made was better than another. I will lose all the remaining of me as Sun-hee if I ever used the memory magic.

But if I don't use it, the duke will die. I didn't even know if Tristan is alive. If in any case Tristan is dead, the duke is needed but what if the duke also dies???

Stupid and greedy Diana will definitely stay in the northern emperor. Marinette will be alone...and the Mortel dukedom will fall to the ground without a head of the family.

I will use it!

But...again...

My indecisiveness was a problem at that time. And the duke started fading away from me, his hands which I held tightly didn't even have energy in them.

Is there any way I could use the memory magic without sacrificing my memories?

Wait...a damn minute...I also have Marinette's memories...

What if???

Memory Magic--

I can't use it????!!!!!

Ah...

Huff huff

My anxiety filled my head, my chest felt so tight. The chill went down my spine as I couldn't think of any way to rescue the duke. My braid was burning smoke right at that moment.

Light and the memory magic couldn't be used at all!!!! And the death roses magic...

Hm?

Didn't all the death roses magic users suffer from the side effect?

Marinette suffered like hell because of her overwhelmed death roses magic but the duke...

Death Roses Magic: Rose Energy, Detecting...

!!!!

The trashes turned to roses, my hair was fluttering all over the place, I grunted as I stretched my hands to the purple magic circle that appeared above the duke's chest.

Cough

Damn it...it's not enough...

All the death roses magic energy is different from each other, so if by any case, if in the million chances, the duke really had...

Boommmmmmm

!!!!

"Huh...???"

What...

"That's Marinette!" the little spark illuminated the dark alley flashing the wall turning it to purple, my hair dropped back down to my waist.

The duke turned out great, his breathing was fine and that didn't mean the thorn was taken out of my heart yet since...

The duke got up standing on his two feet looking like a zombie, a mindless human with his eyes glowing in red. My lean touched the dead-end wall as I back away from him.

Shiinghistorical

He just took out his sword.

"Long time no see, Jellal!!" I only noticed Diana's voice approaching us. And who the hell is the woman beside her?

She's clearly not in the novel. And not in Marinette's past life memories.

"Don't you dare...touch my daughter..." that cold voice...was terrified when the duke turned himself to those people. I never got to see the serious side of the duke like that before.

I got up slowly backing him up since I knew for sure that glowing blue eyes Diana wasn't really a grateful person much.

And the energy, the killing intent I sensed from the grey-haired woman wasn't exactly very good news to me.

What worried me the most was the duke's condition, I didn't even get to perform my magic on him yet. One thing I knew for sure was that his magic energy and Marinette's matched.

"Diana, what're you doing??" I almost didn't recognize Diana at first with her burnt face. Even when she faced the man who raised her for two decades, she showed no sign of sympathy toward the duke.

"Oh...is this your daughter??? Like father...like daughter...a monster..."

What did you just say??

"Hm??? Killing intent??? Hahaha...kinda remind me of that woman...princess Athena...it's unfortunate that I don't get to kill her right now...but I will after I cut both of your heads."

She...really talked a lot, completely opposite to her, the duke didn't mutter anything for the past few seconds after the sentence earlier.

He was on full guards with his sword raising to protect me who stood behind his wide back.

Cough...

"It's too bad I didn't have my hypnosis magic in me right now...or else I would be able to see daughter killing her own father...well...it's gonna be fine--"

Death Roses Magic: Roses of Hell

"Huh???"

"Shut up, will you?"

"You imbecile...I was going to spare you some seconds to breathe or hear your last words...but I was wrong...you're just like that b*tchy mother of yours!!!"

"How dare you..."

How dare you called Marinette's mother that way??? I'll kill you!!!

"Diana, kill Jellal. I'll kill this brat first."

"You'd better keep your promise."

"Diana, are you crazy???!!!!! He's your father!!!!"

"I don't care." Diana jumped into the air and descended back bringing along the rose vines with thorn directly at the man who loved her dearly ever since she was a child.

"Duke--ack..." my body was knocked against the wall, I groaned gritting my teeth seeing Diana strangle the duke and he didn't even attack her back, he kept making his way to me.

"No..."

"You'd better be responsible for what you just said...and don't worry, I'll send your bastard with you too--"

Dark Magic: Hellfire!!!

!!!!

That woman screamed out of her lung, but her pain won't be much worse than the pain in my body after I cast that magic. Casting dark magic was like dying. I rushed to hug the duke cutting all the vines cast by Diana.

I grabbed his sword and raised it before Diana pointed at her neck.

"Diana!!!!! How dare you attack him????!!! How could you!!!! He loves you!!!!!!"

"Love???? What's that??? Is it eatable??? How much it is worth???!!!! He's useless to me now that I have an emperor as my father..."

I sneaked a glance at the duke with no emotion shown on his face, his eyes kept staring into something but he didn't show any sign of humanity at all.

"Die, Marinette!!!" Kira also jumped behind after the fire on her body faded.

Death Roses Magic: Rose Shield

They cut off the shield I made, the chain came out of the sudden from that strange woman's hands and roses gathered into a sharp spear striking at us.

"I said...don't touch my daughter..." they were all blown away as that loud voice echoed in the valley. A hand grabbed my arm tightly making me feel safe and protected.

The duke protected me!

His body was even worse than before swinging his sword like that. His magic energy was in the worst condition, and I couldn't look at him anymore when seeing the black blood coming out of his eyes, nose, and mouth.

"Stop it...you'll die!!!!! Stop!!!!"

Light Magic!!!

Light Magic!!! Please heal this old stubborn man!!! I don't need his protection, I only need him to step aside!!! Don't try to be a good father at a dangerous time like this!!!!

You stupid old man!!! You can't...die...

To be continued....!