Dorothea then spoke to Claudia in a way very familiar to Noah.
“There, there. What a good girl...and now, goodbye.” Her hand withdrew, hesitantly. Still watching her beloved daughter, Dorothea asked, “Will you give my thanks to Volkhard? And also... Tell him I’m sorry.”
“As you wish.”
“And tell Karlheinz, ‘Make sure you keep warm at night.’”
Dorothea rose to her feet, still wearing Claudia’s smile. “One more thing, Noah... Protect her, won’t you?”
A sound like shattering glass pierced the darkness.
And then—in the blink of an eye—Noah was standing once more beside the coffin, back in the chapel, just as he had been before. The only difference was that now the barrier that had separated Claudia from the world was gone without a trace.
“As you command, Lady Dorothea,” Noah answered quietly.
He once again knelt before the coffin and slowly reached out to touch Claudia’s cheek.
His fingertips brushed her cold-as-ice skin.
Noah closed his eyes.
From the wound left by the broken barrier, a single drop of crimson blood slid down his hand.
To defile Claudia’s skin was something that, under any other circumstance, would have been unthinkable. Even so, with the blood-slick pad of his thumb, he touched her lips.
“Princess...”
The vivid rouge applied as part of her makeup darkened with the color of his blood.
“I will now return to you what you once gave to me.”
He opened his eyes, recalling the sight of Claudia’s magic as he’d once seen it, ten years prior. Through the channel of his blood, he poured the magic back into her.
“So, please—”
The magic began to flow into her.
And his breath caught.
Claudia’s body was suddenly wrapped in light. Reflexively, Noah raised his arm to shield his eyes.
In an instant, golden brilliance filled the coffin, spilling until it drowned out the world. When the light finally faded, a figure lay where it had once been—a woman, a form he had seen her transform into so many times before.
“Your Highness.”
This was not the Claudia who had lain here moments ago, frozen in time at thirteen.
Her figure had grown taller; her body now had graceful curves. She appeared sixteen years old—as though the time halted by her suspended state had suddenly caught up with her.
And yet...
Noah quickly reached out to her and gently raised her into his arms. However, the smile he had thought he would see was not there, nor did she open her eyes.
Her white form lay limp in his arms.
Knowing full well the impropriety, he pressed his fingers to her neck.
There was no warmth in her veins. No pulse beneath the skin.
Her heart... It isn’t beating.
Dorothea’s words from just moments before echoed in his mind.
“Whether or not it will succeed...I cannot say.”
“Princess...”
At that moment, a deafening impact, like a tremor shaking the earth, rang out, accompanied by the sound of a magical barrier shattering.
Lemilsia...
As he continued to hold Claudia’s body close, Noah looked up toward the ceiling of the chapel.
Claudia did not awaken. Her lips alone stood out vividly, still slick with Noah’s blood.