As a child Eren always knew he was a hinderance, his existence made his cowardly father abandon his mother. As an upcoming star she was swindled, promised love, fortune, and marriage but reality proved to be much different. When she got pregnant all her movie roles dried up and so did his father's affection, he moved on to the next big star. When asked she confessed the only reason she went through with the pregnancy was because she couldn't bear the sin of killing her own flesh and blood.
He was an unwanted child from the start, a fact she never forgot to tell him repeatedly when times were hard. His life experience is the reason why at times he felt overwhelmed by David's unconditional affection for Ariellia. It made him feel guilty for being a fraud to the kind duke, making him feel uncomfortable and unable to respond most times. It never occurred to him that a parent could love their child so much. In this one thing, he's extremely envious of Ariellia.
That is why the sight of the duke covered in blood, barely breathing, and dying threw him for a loop. He's never felt such deep sorrow before, not even on the eve of his own mother's passing. He felt it as invisible chains sprang forth, tightly binding his limbs, and then dragging him back into the depths of their soul. He realized it was Arie taking control, pushing him to the back but he didn't fight it. In a situation like this he had no right to stop her. For a brief moment as their souls pass each other, he felt her turbulent emotions, a gut-wrenching pain like someone had ripped out her beating heart. He watched powerless from behind the seal as she struggled out of Rei's arms, stumbling and fumbling towards her father's body.
"No! Daddy!" She desperately grips the duke's deformed armor. "This can't be happening. I promise not to complain anymore, I won't snap at you, I won't ask for anything anymore, just please don't leave me!"
Her tearful wails echo throughout the battlefield, causing all the knights of the duchy to hang their heads in shame. Neilos most of all had a wretched look on his face, still stuck in disbelief that a war hero like the duke would trade his life for an unworthy youth like him. He never meant for it to be this way, never wanted to see her sobbing so bitterly. The sound of her cry was like a knife stabbing his heart. His incompetence led to this, what gave him the confidence to act so recklessly and implicate others.
"I'm sorry Daddy…I promise I'll be good from now on, please don't die! Don't leave me…I can' lose you too…" She doesn't care to uphold her noble image anymore, openly weeping with a face covered in snot and tears.
"My precious little princess…who made you cry…tell Daddy…I'll break their legs for you…" David can barely get the words out before violently coughing up blood.
"Damn it, it's too soon. I don't have the spell to save you yet. Why David, why didn't you wait for me!" Jasper's endless flow of mana into the duke's body is the only thing keeping death at bay. He knows time is running out but also knows he doesn't have a means to save him.
"That's right, Uncle Jasper is strong. You must have a way to save Daddy." It pains him to see the desperate hope in her amethyst eyes.
With a heavy heart he tries to explain, "ever since your father made a vow with your mother, binding him to her in this lifetime, I've been looking for a way to undo it. This is why I joined the monk's guild, using their extensive network I tracked down several artifacts, read countless old scrolls until I found it."
"Then-!"
Jasper shakes his head regretfully. "I found a method, but it requires your father's current life to end and his soul to be transferred into a suitable vessel."
"Vessel…what vessel? Please tell me and I'll find it. Does it have to be a person? Can I be the vessel?" She frantically asks, not even thinking about the consequences. She desperately wants to save her father and is willing to latch onto any lifeline.
"No child…argh…I forbid it…ha" David grimaces at the pain but still firmly rejects the motion.
"I'm not crazy, I would never ask our precious gem to sacrifice herself as a vessel even if she offers it. I already have a suitable vessel, a dragon egg from my tribe without a heartbeat."
"Then-"
Still Jasper shakes his head ruefully. "I have a vessel but no means to transfer his soul. I've scoured the land for such a spell but found none. I am sorry, if only I had more time…I've failed you both."
"No…it's not your fault. It's mine, he said I was meant to die. It's my fault for bringing him here, he changed so many things and now my father is dying!" She cries while hugging David, not caring if she's soaked in his blood. First her birth caused her mother's death and now this. If she hadn't summoned Eren, if he hadn't tried to advert her death wouldn't her father still be alive right now.
"I do not know what you mean by this darling but none of this is your fault. David would never stand for anyone harming you."
'Do not give into despair yet child. There is still hope, the duke can still be saved.' While everyone's attention is focused on the dying duke a certain black steed was making his way over to their group. Time seemed to freeze much like the time she spoke with the oracle in the capital so many years ago. Feeling like this is déjà vu, Ariellia looks beyond the smoke screen from the burning wreckage and past the frozen knights gathered around to see a black horse steadily approaching her.
'Mori-fae?'
'Did you forget me already master. There's no way I would stand idly by while one of my descendants dies right before my eyes.'
'One of your descendants?'
'Indeed, before I became as I am now, I was once known by the name Myran Garrod'
'Myran…isn't that the founder of our tribe!'
'It's as you say, I was the one who led our people from the cruel cold north and established the place you currently call home. I have been cursed to walk the land in this form for using forbidden life magic.'
'And my father? Can you save him?'
'Not me, my current form has many limitations.'
'Then what use are you!'
'In light of the dire circumstances I will forgive your rudeness just this once.' He may be a horse at the moment but the regal tone in his voice makes her feel embarrassed by her outburst.
'Even if I can't perform such grand scale life magic at the moment, don't we still have you?'
Ariellia looks startled, 'Me?'
'You are one of my direct descendants, you bear my gift more strongly than others.'
'Your gift?'
'Life magic of course. I have never seen someone with as much potential as you.'
'That can't be, my element is darkness!'
'That may be true for the other one, but you are different from him, no?'
'You-!' She gasps in shock.
'As I said, we are bound in more ways than one. I am well aware of your other half currently sealed within you. I wish we could talk more but as I said my powers are limited in this form. My domain magic is waning and soon this space will collapse. Do you still wish to save your father?'
'Of course, what kind of stupid question is that!' There is so much she wants to ask Mori-fae but now is not the time. The most important question she needs to be asking now is only one thing. 'How do I save my father?'
'I shall pass on one of my original spells through our contract bond. When this space collapses, combine your life magic with Rei's Light mana to cast it. You should be able to transfer the duke's soul with this spell. Usually, such life magic would border on the line of forbidden magic with many negative effects on the soul being transferred, but luckily your spouse is a light user. He should be able to purify and negate the cost.'
'Thank you…hic…thank you so much ancestor' She feverishly rubs her eyes, but the tears won't stop flowing. An overwhelming sense of relief floods her system. She can save her father, he doesn't have to die and leave her too.
'David is worthy of house Garrod. I too do not want to see such a promising star disappear before his time. Remember, once you leave this space, tell no one of what we discussed here.'
'I promise!' Even on pains of death, she would never tell a soul.
'Good girl, go now and save your father.'