The scene changed, and at the Full Moon Dumpling stall, Kurt was doing everything he could to help the vendor family. Just before sunrise, a warrior approached with a few soldiers and announced that his commander had officially requested their Hotring Dumplings. Kurt was to prepare a hundred of them immediately. Upon hearing the request, our protagonist promised he’d get the order ready and deliver it to the castle himself. So the soldiers wouldn’t just stand around doing nothing, the young cook offered them a fresh batch he had just prepared. Upon tasting them, they were speechless at how delicious the dumplings were. The officer leading the group then realized that, despite working non-stop during the event, he didn’t feel tired anymore. Kurt, who is completely disconnected from reality, simply responded that it’s normal to feel more energized after eating something sweet.
And so, Kurt managed to prepare the 100 dumplings and was escorted to the castle. On the way, he tried to remember who ruled over these lands and only recalled it when he stood at the gates of Margrave Taicone’s palace—the very place where Hildegard was being held captive. Without wasting time, Kurt was taken to the kitchen and informed that the dumplings had been prepared for the princess. This made him panic; after all, what if he ended up arrested for not serving something good enough? The palace staff then calmed the young man and asked him to remain in the castle until the event ended, as both the Margrave and the princess might request his services at any moment.
The scene changes to where the nobles were gathered. At that moment, Tyone was expressing regret over how one of the city’s officials had been terribly rude to Liselotte the day before, but she assured him it was no big deal. In truth, what would have been worse was if the Margrave had sent someone to follow her around. Embarrassed, Tyone stammered as he lied that he would never do such a thing. Although Yulishia could see that her friend was handling the situation well, she still felt like she couldn’t leave Liselotte alone with that man. At the same time, if she was going to stay, all she could do was hope that Kurt didn’t mess anything up.
Speaking of our protagonist, he was killing time in the kitchen while Akuri played pretend feeding her stuffed animal. He kept worrying whether the rest of the crew was doing their part, as this was supposed to be the moment to act. But the fear of screwing something up completely froze him. He couldn’t stop glancing at a suspicious-looking door, convinced that Hildegard might be behind it trying to help her dad. Suddenly, Akuri grabbed him and teleported him to the other side of the door, completely catching him off guard with her incredible ability. Excited, Kurt asked to be taken back to avoid raising suspicion, but Akuri explained she couldn’t do it again right now. This led Kurt to believe his daughter couldn’t perform two teleports in a row. The poor girl even started to tear up, thinking she had messed everything up. But Kurt didn’t scold or blame her for a second. Quite the opposite—he quickly adapted to the situation and moved forward with what he had.
He then heard a woman’s voice coming from another door in that corridor and, convinced it was Hildegard, proved that nothing is truly impossible by breaking open that inviolable door with the help of something metallic—and a lot of protagonist power. However, who was there wasn’t Hildegard, but an older woman, and my guess is she’s the wife of that Tyone guy.
The scene changed again. Back in the drawing room, the Margrave got straight to the point and invited Rikuto to become the new Viceroy. But before answering, Rikuto said he had a few questions for the Margrave in private. That sudden request made Tyone raise an eyebrow, already suspecting something was off. Liselotte’s copy said she would step out to give the men some privacy, and Tyone gave a sly, knowing smile. Invisible thanks to her magic, the real Liselotte immediately went on high alert, as that smirk made it clear the scumbag was scheming something he didn’t want her to find out.
Rikuto, admitting he wasn’t as skilled a negotiator as Liselotte, didn’t beat around the bush and asked what the Margrave truly wanted from him. Tyone smiled and said that Rikuto clearly knew how the world worked and wasn’t bad at the art of negotiation himself. Then Tyone asked, “Are you by any chance interested in eternal youth?”
In another scene change, the strange woman before Kurt thought he was just an unusual guest and offered him the room to rest. Kurt tried to figure out who she was but had no idea. Akuri intervened and asked if the woman was feeling unwell. She admitted she had no appetite lately. Hearing that, the little girl offered her one of her dad’s dumplings. Without hesitation, the woman took a bite, and despite having lost her taste for all food, found that dumpling absolutely incredible.
Thinking he had figured out who she was, Kurt asked why she looked so aged. The woman was stunned—not just that he noticed, but also that he had picked the lock and made that mysterious dumpling. Putting the pieces together, she started to suspect that Kurt might be some kind of sorcerer. While he claimed he was just a regular guy who worked at an Atelier, hearing that, the woman revealed something shocking: the demon girl Hildegard was being held captive right beneath that room. Stunned, Kurt looked around for anything he could use to dig through the floor. He found a stale piece of bread and declared he’d turn it into a shovel using just a knife. Confused, the woman decided to make things easier and walked over to the fireplace, then pressed a hidden button that opened a passage straight to where Hildegard was imprisoned.
We then returned to the guest hall, where Rikuto confirmed that eternal youth was in fact the greatest desire of any Atelier Master. Tyone nodded, mentioning that achieving such a goal wouldn’t be easy, but the truth is that many races like elves and demons lived much longer than humans. He continued, saying that in the past, several experiments were conducted using cells from certain species in an attempt to extend human life.
In this world, Rikuto responds that he knows all about it. In fact, he remembers clearly that the experiments failed, and the transplants developed at the time were banned due to severe side effects. But with Rikuto‘s abilities, Tyone is confident they can develop the elixir of eternal youth without any of those side effects, as he’s heard rumors that the medicine Rikuto created in his workshop had spectacular results.
Listening closely, Liselotte begins to suspect that the noble plans to use Hildigard‘s cells to make it happen. She then thinks that, at this moment, she could stage the appearance of a thief and lead him straight to her hideout—but there’s something she needs to do first.
Rikuto asks why the rush, considering that working with demon cells goes against everything the Poland Church teaches—not to mention it’s illegal under national law. Because of that, he presumes that the Margrave already understands he doesn’t want any part in this project, although the man probably still intends to pursue the dream at any cost.
Analyzing the furnishings and décor around him, the Atelier master finds it hard to believe that Tyone is obsessed with wealth or status. So he asks who exactly the Margrave plans to test this miracle drug on. Tyone responds that it doesn’t matter—he needs the medicine, plain and simple. The fact that he refuses to say more only infuriates Liselotte.
Just then, Ulishia‘s voice rings out, mentioning that bandits have broken in. In a flash, she rushes in with Princess Liselotte, pushing her into the room where the two men are. She explains that a group of thieves invaded the castle, and although she managed to drive most of them out, one of them ran toward the kitchen—almost like they were looking for someone.
Dripping with sweat, Tyone orders Liselotte and Rikuto to stay put, then commands Ulia to protect them no matter what. With that, the man rushes out of the room. At the same time, both illusions vanish, revealing that the real Liselotte had been tailing him through the corridors of the hidden section she had finally managed to infiltrate. She watches as he reaches a door she had been meaning to investigate.
Tyone notices strange shadows flickering near the doorknob, only for them to vanish an instant later. Then he sees the door is ajar and can hardly believe it. Stepping inside, he calls out his daughter’s name—Famil—but she’s nowhere to be found. Panic sets in as he imagines she may have been kidnapped by the intruders. Liselotte watches the man’s frantic search with disbelief. After all, everyone says his daughter died years ago.
When Tyone disappears into the secret fireplace passage, Liselotte spots a white strand of hair on the bed. She heightens her senses to sniff out Kurt‘s scent, confirming that he was indeed here. Still, that hair isn’t his. Before doing anything else, the princess decides she should return to Ulishia.
Meanwhile, Famil—whom we thought was the Margrave’s wife—leads Kurt into the room where Hildigard is being held captive. For a moment, the boy regrets going solo, but deep down he knows he has to save her. With that in mind, he unlocks the door. Inside, Hildigard is bound by chains and a powerful magic circle, and when she recognizes Kurt, Famil releases the demon from her torment.
The boy runs to her, desperate to let her know he’s come to rescue her. But as he takes a closer look, he realizes something shocking—she hasn’t changed one bit in the last 10 years. Then Hildigard punches him square in the face, furious, and blames him for everything—for the fact that she hasn’t aged a single day since he gave her that damn potion.
Kurt sheepishly admits he might have miscalculated the dosage of rainbow flowers. Hildigard continues and says that, as if giving her that garbage wasn’t bad enough, he simply vanished from the village, leaving her stuck there, forever alone.
Seeing the demon girl go full fury mode, slapping the poor guy senseless, Akuri jumps in and shouts that she’s not allowed to hit her daddy. Hearing that, Hildigard freezes. “Hold on… did you just say daddy? What the hell do you mean—he had a kid while I was rotting in this dungeon?”
Kurt tries to explain Akuri is kind of his fake daughter—she came from an aquatic bird egg—and it’s a long story. Hildigard decides to drop it for now and admits she’s starving. Having nothing better to offer, Kurt hands over the only food he has: a piece of bread that looks like it’s cosplaying a brick.
Desperate for anything edible, Hildigard tries to bite it and nearly breaks her sharp canine teeth. Famil asks if her immortality really came from the potion Kurt made, and Hildigard confirms it. She asks if he can still make it, but he says he hasn’t seen another rainbow flower since—and that was a key ingredient.
Faced with that grim truth, Hildigard expresses sympathy for Famil, and the second she says her name, Kurt realizes that Famil is Tyone‘s daughter—someone who supposedly went into the ground because of an illness. Famil explains that’s just what her father told everyone, and now that Kurt knows her true age, she figures there’s no need to explain further. However, she’s really underestimating Kurt’s power to understand absolutely nothing that isn’t properly explained.
But we move on. Looking at her, Kurt realizes he should have pieced it all together—but to be honest, he’s still completely lost. Trying to understand what he’s missing, he guesses maybe Tyone couldn’t bear to see his daughter aging so fast, and so he kidnapped Hildigard to create an eternal youth medicine. And up to this point, it seems our protagonist kind of understood.
This theory brings back a conversation Kurt had with Sakura before the trip. They were wondering why the Margrave would imprison Hildigard, and K’s mentioned at that moment that everyone has their own eccentric tastes. Kurt then starts the math: summing up first kidnapping and imprisonment, second the information about eccentric tastes, third the old daughter, and fourth Hildigard who doesn’t age. And the result for this?
Well, before we could hear the conclusion of the equation, we see that Tyone arrived there and hugged his daughter, extremely worried about her. He then looks at Kurt and asks if he’s a thief, and Kurt says he’s no damn thief—and more importantly, what Tyone is doing is wrong.
The Margrave, not understanding what the crazy guy is talking about, listens as Kurt continues. He says he knows everyone has their preferences, but that doesn’t mean he can get away with doing this. The Margrave, probably burying himself without realizing it, says Kurt wouldn’t understand. And Kurt says he does—because he’s also a father, and he loves Akuri and would do anything for her.
Mentioning that, even so, he knows that all children grow up. Instead, Tyone simply lamented Famil’s growth and chose to love Hildigard, who never ages. And he couldn’t be more wrong.
A rock-solid crazy man, Kurt then continues and says that the Margrave couldn’t bear to see his daughter grow up and then made a false declaration that she was gone—all because he considered his daughter’s growth excessive. The Margrave tries to warn that he never did that, but Kurt, acting like a runaway train, keeps plowing through, saying that Famil even took medicines to make her look old—my God, the man lives based on delusion.
Famil now tries to intervene, saying she never drank anything, but Kurt, who is definitely not listening, concludes that Hildigard was kidnapped to become Tyone’s daughter—something that Hildigard this time tries to deny.
The Margrave asks how much this guy had to drink to say so much nonsense in such a short time. And Kurt, showing that the end is just the beginning, gathers his strength and mentions that he only did all this because he’s a perverted lolicon.
The Margrave tries to give the guy some reason, but Kurt, totally unwilling to return to reality, tries to make him remember the day his daughter was born, hoping it will help him see that no matter what, she will always be his little girl. On that special day, at least in Kurt’s mind, Tyone must have thought: “No matter how much this child grows, I will always love her.”
Hearing this, Tyone admits that Famil is the precious treasure his late wife Farnard left behind and that he had sworn to live for her, even if it meant sacrificing his own life.
Kurt is happy to see that the man finally understands what really matters in life. But before he can continue, Hildigard takes him down with a paralyzing spell because she was already fed up with his rambling and just wanted him to shut up for once. And with that done, the demon girl turns to Famil and asks if she’s really sure about going through with the plan.
Famil nods with determination and makes her request clear—she wants Hildigard to kill her father.
And that was quite unexpected.
