Chapter 11: Match

Part 1

Pushing himself so far that even his heart had begun to crack as he wound everything back had been the halfway point, but before that, the boy had always been wandering in the world of his dreams. The boy had wanted to grasp something with his hands, to holding something in his arms, as he was buried deep in the darkness.

The thirst scraping away at his throat was like the greed of a selfish child who wanted to keep his toys to himself, and it was also like the burning passion of a man who wanted to hold the woman he loved in his arms and shower her with his affections.

But the boy didn’t know what it was that he wanted. He couldn’t touch anything no matter how far he reached out, and all that was ever left in his grasp was futility. And so, the boy continued to drown in the darkness.

But then, he realized that there was a crimson light glowing from far away. The boy staggered toward the captivating light, like a moth to a flame, when it began brightening up the darkness around him. But the light grew farther away the closer he tried to get toward it, and the boy continued to be pushed back into the darkness with his hand ever stretched out toward the light. And so, he stopped walking and wandered the darkness yet again.

The boy did not return to reality even when he awoke —he only continued to ruminate blankly over his dreams. The beats of his heart were faint, as if the boy was at death’s door. This was how Arhad had spent his childhood.

One day, however, Heinrich had brought him a sword that would pull him forcefully out from his dreams. Arhad’s heart had thumped furiously the very moment he had set his eyes on the sharp blade. And a certain scene had come to his mind, as vividly as though he was actually seeing it with his eyes, while his heart had continued its fierce beating.

“I’m sorry for breaking my promise.”

The horrid feeling of his heart being ripped to shreds. The intense pain as his life was being cut apart. The dim crimson light that seemed to fill his vision. The hot tears that fell down his face.

Just barely, he had managed to spit out,

“Why……?”

Why are you crying?

The memory blacked out sharply before he had been able to finish what he had wanted to say. He couldn’t see what came next.

He didn’t know who he was talking to or where the memory had even come from.

“Sob…… Sob…….”

And yet, Arhad, who had lived like he was never fully present, had sobbed like he was pouring out all the tears he had not shed until then. He failed to hold back his emotions as he buried his face in his hands and sobbed his heart out.

His heart was filled with the bitterness, hatred, betrayal, and sorrow directed to the person he had seen.

But hilariously, what he felt underneath those negative emotions was his love for this person whom he did not even know —his overflowing affections that even he could not bear.

~~*~~

Arhad raised his sweaty hand. She was so close that he could touch her if he simply reached out. She was still just a girl who hadn’t fully developed yet, and she likely didn’t remember anything, but Ianna was walking forward into a new time and she still meant everything to him, just as she always had.

His golden eyes, which glowed in the darkness as though he was a nocturnal creature, fixed on her crimson figure like he was enthralled. He reached out before he realized what he was doing.

His hand touched her shoulder, hidden behind the curtain of her crimson hair, and Ianna glanced back as Arhad finally realized what he was doing and brought his hand back in alarm.

“Did you wish to say something to me?”

Just what is it that has changed you so?

Arhad swallowed the words. He rubbed his hand over his face in bewilderment. Nothing had changed. Everything was the same as it had been before he turned everything back. He was attending the Institution, just as he had back then, he had established Camastros, just as he had back then, and the situation, too, was progressing just the same as it had before.

He was first supposed to see Ianna a year from now, but there were only supposed to actually meet and their twisted relationship was only supposed to start in two and a half more years at the swordsmanship tournament where he had accidentally wounded her pride —and Arhad had been waiting eagerly for the day, thinking that nothing would change until then as if everything had been prearranged.

If he changed anything, then the future might also change completely, and he would no longer be able to predict what was to happen next. He would not know what to do if he had to begin living his life anew. He might make another mistake, and he did not have any more chances. And so, he had retraced his every step from the past as he waited only for the day he would finally start to change things.

But perhaps it was only sophistry to say that everything was exactly the same. He could never be absolutely sure that nothing had changed. It was entirely possible that some small fry, whom he hadn’t bothered to remember about because they were worth so little in his eyes, had changed, and his heart, cracked so badly that it could shatter any moment now, could not possibly be the same as he lived through the decades he had already experienced once before.

It was not possible to turn back time. Time was an independent and unchangeable force that existed only as a straight line pointed in one direction. It was something that not even the gods could touch or bend.

Arhad acknowledged the fact that he could not control time —but he could erase the marks that time had left on others.

Everything forgot the time that had been erased from them —as if it had never happened to begin with— and was now living through a new time. No one realized that an entire chunk of time had vanished from them.

The time that could no longer be remembered. Only those memories from before the erased chunk of time could be ruminated over.

But, had Ianna’s last words been imprinted onto her soul? That woman always did whatever she said she would —had she defied his powers through sheer strength of will? That shouldn’t have been possible…

Or had small, unperceivable changes, like the fluttering of a butterfly’s wings, affect her life like a great storm?

Why was this woman, who should be in the Theodore Academy by now, attending the Institution? Why was she here travelling with him like this?

“No —there was a leaf in your hair.”

“Really? Thank you.”

Why was she smiling at him so openly without any reserve whatsoever?

Arhad stared at Ianna as she smiled and her eyes narrowed gently before she turned away. He could not get used to it no matter how many times he saw her smiling, and it always made his heart skip a beat.

Arhad had thought that the world would end when he had crushed the monster’s heart and had been caught stealing life. After all, that was the very thing that had caused this woman to turn away from him eons ago.

What if she reacted on instinct? Would she reject him again in this life? His mind had been plunged into the depths of hell, and his body had grown cold.

So, what had changed that made her still smile like that even after learning about his secret? All else aside, did she not feel uneasy as a living being? Was she not revolted? Did she not want to leave him out of fear that he would shove his hand through her heart and steal her life like he had the monster’s?

“I understand that you had no other choice but to do what you did.”

But do you truly understand me?

You, who could not accept me for who I was until the bitter end and killed me?

“…….”

Are you sure you want to say that you “understand” me so readily? I’ll have to keep doing this until the day I die —do you truly understand this?

Arhad clutched at his heart. It ached. He felt like the wounds on his heart opened up again every time he gasped for breath.

The memory of death that he had known since the day he was born. The reason behind his death, which he had learned with every fragment of his memory, filled with both his memories and his feelings, he had recovered.

She had failed to understand him and had ultimately thrust her sword through his heart after saying she was sorry. She had broken her promise to never leave him, to never cast him aside, and had pushed him into the depths of an eternal hell.

When the man met the woman again after they had been reborn, he fell in love with her again, was hated and rejected by her again, and the man had fallen into despair and had given up on everything.

But the foolish man had found hope again in the last words that she had said to him seemingly out of pity. And so, he had thrown away everything he had, even his own heart, to erase everything and start anew.

And now, in the present, he was being swayed by each and every smile she showed him because of the love that had remained deep inside his soul in both his first and second lifetimes……the love that he wasn’t even sure still existed.

“Haha.”

Arhad laughed nonsensically. He knew that Ianna was looking at him strangely, but he could not help himself.

He was despondent.

‘Ianna doesn’t remember anything.’

He was so stupid. He had completely forgotten that he was the only one who remembered that long stretch of time. Ianna had forgotten both her first and second lifetimes and was living her life again anew, not as the chief of the gods but as a mere human molded from clay —what was there for him to be afraid of?

And yet, he could not help but be afraid.

He had been abandoned because he had to steal life in order to live. His abandonment had left behind a large scar on his heart. He would have to continuing stealing life again until the day he died. The beings of this age were not like the gods, who could live for all eternity, and so no one would share their life force with him out of pity.

But, what if Ianna learned about this and cast him aside yet again?

His insides twisted. That smile. He never wanted to lose that lovely smile which nearly brought his heart to tears. The very thought that her smile, which was now finally free of spite, might vanish made it difficult for him to breathe. Like someone was strangling him.

He would forever reminisce and be afraid when he was alone. The terror might settle down and hide away while he still had her favor, but it would jump him and gnaw at him with its razor-sharp fangs at the slightest opportunity. It was the price he paid for not forgetting the past.

This was why Arhad was relieved and delighted that Ianna had allowed him to postpone his explanation. He was overjoyed that he could delay the onset of an uncertain future and enjoy her smiles and goodwill for just a little longer. Ianna would keep smiling for him, so long as she didn’t know the truth.

But he knew that he could not postpone things forever. Ianna had already witnessed the truth with her own eyes, and Arhad knew that, while he might be able to maintain a shallow friendship with her, he would never be able to win her entire heart if he kept his secret forever.

He would have to disclose his secrets someday. But for now, his lips were glued shut by an adhesive named fear.

“This life……is over. But……in the next, I won’t be your enemy……but your……knight…….”

Arhad had absolutely no clue as to what was happening, but those words were the only reason for her change that he could think of. She had probably lost all her memories, but perhaps her promise had been etched into her soul. That was the kind of woman Ianna was, after all.

He trusted her. He was trying so hard to make her his —who else would he trust if not her? He had no choice but to trust her, even if she would ultimately lead him to his ruin yet again.

Yes, so, I’ll watch over the situation for just a little while longer; I’ll enjoy her genuine goodwill for just a little while longer, and once a bit of time has passed, little by little……little by little, I’ll…….

Arhad continued to rub his hand across his face before he suddenly realized that there was something he could do for Ianna. His face stiffened up in anxiety. He didn’t know how things would play out, but she had wanted it so much and he knew that he could not avoid her forever.

Arhad stared at Ianna’s back with wavering eyes for a while before he slowly closed them.

……Very well. Then, I’ll start with this.

“We’re here. It’s a good thing we made it back in time.”

The day was growing brighter. Ianna and Arhad had reached Theodore not too long ago, and they were now standing at the entrance to the Valgenta Institution. Their robes were acrid and covered with dirt, and their fatigued bodies were starting to grow languid. They had always been running whenever they weren’t eating or sleeping, and yet they had only just managed to make it back on the day of the Swordsmanship Department orientation one day before the semester started.

“I’ll see you later,”

Ianna said as she made to head back to her dorm before Arhad reached out and grabbed her by the wrist.

“I’d like to ask you for a favor.”

Ianna looked up and was puzzled when Arhad, who had kept his mouth clamped tight ever since they had left the forbidden lands and had only run behind her, suddenly grabbed her and asked her for a favor out of the blue.

“A favor?”

“Will you please be my sparring partner while we’re still in school?”

It was his consent to Ianna’s persistent requests under the guise of a favor. Ianna fell into a moment of silence.

“Oh…….”

She could not hold back her sudden outburst of joy and her eyes and lips arced smoothly into crescents.

“…….”

Arhad was captivated yet again, as if his very soul had been sucked out from him, and his heart beat so furiously that it ached when Ianna smiled with her back against the sun, which had begun to rise above the Institution’s tower.

“I’d be more than happy to. When will we start?”

Arhad bit down hard at his lip. His grip around Ianna’s wrist tightened, and he nearly spilled unsightly tears from his eyes.

This woman, who was so endlessly genuine when it came to the sword. This woman, who was stronger and fiercer than any other. She was so beautiful and so radiant.

Arhad dropped his gaze. His subdued golden eyes saw her hand, which he had so badly coveted, just above the wrist he was grabbing. Her hand was not the hand of a dainty lady and had grown rough from training, and yet it was still more charming than any other.

He felt a fire burn in his heart. He pulled her hand up on impulse. And slowly, he brought her fingers to his lips.

Yes, I…….

“Anytime. Whenever you’d like, Little Ianna.”

I like you. I really do.

……And I want you so badly it’s driving me insane.

“I’ll see you later.”

Arhad bid goodbye and turned his back to Ianna, who had stiffened up, and made his way to the tower at the heart of the Institution.

“You never came on the promised day.”

Someone who had been sitting on the stairs inside the tower jumped down in front of Arhad as soon as he began climbing them.

“I’d thought you would only be a day or two late at most, but you’re back only now that it’s time for the Swordsmanship Department’s orientation. Greaaat, thanks. Were you planning on leaving me for dead?”

Arhad walked past them because their sarcastic voice and face were familiar to him.

“Where are you going? Aren’t you at least going to make up an excuse for yourself? As to why you left a certain somebody a huge pile of work to do while you went off on an extended date with Little Ianna? Hmm?”

Arhad huffed quietly……with laughter.

Excuse me? Eiji, whose words had been laced with sarcasm, frowned heavily and lost his temper when Arhad didn’t seem even the least bit apologetic.

It was not the time for him to be playing games. Camastros had forged a tie between themselves and one of Roanne’s royal princes thanks to their actions from the high-profile auction incident. Now, they had to work with the prince to keep the Black Fox in check while also avoiding the Bahamut imperial family’s eyes as they chipped away at Bahamut’s power.

The Black Fox was the dog of the Bahamut imperial family.

The Bahamut Empire was vast, but most of its territory was comprised of unusable wastelands and mountains. It was easy for the empire to produce weapons because it had an abundance of metals, such as iron, and it had plenty of room to build more strongholds and grow as a militant nation, but the country could only grow so much because it was difficult to farm in its territory.

The reason why the Bahamut Empire could swallow up the smaller countries around it and grow into such a large empire lie outside of its borders. It received tribute from some countries, plundered those that refused to pay them tribute, and also received massive shipments of goods periodically from the Black Fox.

The founder of the Bahamut Empire had appeared on the world stage as abruptly as if he had suddenly dropped out of the heavens. He had been called the Black Demon for his superhuman strength and had been feared by all. The Empire’s longstanding history began toward the dawn of the Age of Magic when the founding emperor conquered and began to rule over smaller countries that no longer existed.

The Black Fox was an organization that had been established when House Bahamut had been formed with the founding emperor as its head.

On House Bahamut’ orders, the Black Fox went down south, where food and nature was abundant, and slowly built their foundations there with its overwhelming military might. The Black Fox had a hand in all sorts of businesses, but they mainly operated in those that allowed them to earn lots of money quickly and in secret —drug dealing and slave trade. Goods from the South had begun pouring into the North due to their efforts.

House Bahamut eventually became the Bahamut imperial family, and the Black Fox grew larger and dominated the underworld in the southern half of the continent. Shortly afterward, a specialized intelligence division was developed within the Black Fox and quickly became as prevalent as its drug dealing and slave trade divisions. The Black Fox’s intelligence division seized hold of the weaknesses in the ruling classes of other countries.

House Bahamut had carried a particular ambition ever since it had been founded, and the North was much too small to sufficiently quench its thirst.

The imperial family was already unhappy with the fact that they had to steal resources from the South to begin with, so they let their ambitions run wild and attempted to subjugate the South when they learned that its rulers were wasting its abundant resources like pigs belching atop fields of gold.

But Bahamut’s conquest both started and ended with the Kingdom of Roanne, which shared a border with the empire along the Lotso Mountains.

The war of conquest had begun because of the imperial family’s unfathomable animosity toward the Roanne royal family and Bahamut’s lust for Roanne’s fertile lands, and it had ended because Bahamut had suddenly stopped attacking Roanne, which had successfully guarded itself against Bahamut’s invasion for centuries.

Not even the wisest of sages could fathom the reason behind Bahamut’s fickle change of heart —but Eiji knew. They had suddenly stopped the war because they were devoting all their time and resources to finding the impudent woman who had stolen the blood of the imperial family and her son, Arhad.

But even the incredible Bahamut empire had failed to find Arhad for over two decades. It was said that the shadows were the darkest directly beneath the lamp —and Herinrich, a retainer of House Bahamut, had hidden Arhad carefully away, Eiji, the Black Fox’s chief informant, was keeping important information out of Bahamut’s hands, and Arhad had kept his amazing talent a thorough secret and only acted behind the scenes.

Heinrich was acting to keep his bloodline safe, Eiji was acting to resolve his grudge, and Arhad was acting to eliminate the imperial family, which was after his life, and had founded Camastros, a powerful militant organization, to weaken the Black Fox —the imperial family’s foothold.

Members of the Bahamut imperial family were superhuman monsters. He would have to avoid their eyes no matter what until his preparations were complete. Everything would be over if the imperial family found something suspicious and learned about Arhad while looking into Camastros before Arhad had enough power to hold his own against them.

Which was why Camastros had struggled so hard to earn themselves a shield in the Roanne royal family, the Bahamut Empire’s greatest enemy, and had finally won the sponsorship of the royal price with the greatest aspirations.

They had planned to meet the prince in secret over break. But Arhad had strongly desired to accompany Ianna in her travels, and the possibility that Ianna might take their side was so tempting that Eiji had only earnestly asked Arhad to make it back by the promised day.

Eiji quivered in anger as he followed Arhad up the stairs.

“How can you laugh like that after breaking the promise we had with Schneider?”

“That isn’t important right now.”

“Are you out of your mind?”

“I’ve been found out.”

Eiji looked back at Arhad in blank amazement, unable to comprehend what he had just heard.

“Excuse me, what?”

“Ianna found out that I’m the leader of Camastros and the fact that I have to steal life in order to stay alive.”

Eiji, whose face had started to turn red with rage, immediately paled when he heard what Arhad had said.

“You were wearing both the ring that controls one’s vocal cords and the mask, so how in the world did she know it was you? And more importantly, she found out about that too?”

“The former, at least, was my mistake. Then again, she said that the dwarf she saved told her that I was the leader of Camastros even before I slipped up. The latter was completely out of my hands because divine power began sucking out of me as soon as I stepped foot inside Karankell. I should avoid the four corners from now on.”

“I see…….”

Eiji grew grave as he listened to what Arhad had to say before he returned to his senses and hurriedly asked,

“Did Little Ianna say anything?”

“I was taken aback when Ianna wasn’t only calm but actually seemed delighted after finding out I was the leader of Camastros. And, while I don’t know how honest she was about the issue regarding my need to steal divine power, she said that she didn’t mind it in the slightest if there was nothing I could do about it.”

Eiji kept quiet and organized his thoughts as they continued to climb up the rest of the tower, and he plopped down on the sofa once they had reached the room on the highest floor.

“This was probably for the best. I was wracking my brains trying to figure out how we were supposed to explain that one to her. She really is one remarkable lady. To be able to accept it so readily like that.”

Eiji tapped his fingers against the armrest as he continued,

“Did Little Ianna also figure out that you were the guy in the black robes that shadowed her a few months back?”

“No.”

Arhad rubbed his temple because just thinking about it hurt his head. He continued,

“I can’t let her find out. Ianna thinks we first met during the swordsmanship competition…….”

In concurrence, Eiji muttered,

“Of course you’d need to keep quiet on that one, since you’d become both a pervert and a liar in her eyes if she ever found out. You’re already hiding more than a few things from her, so she might even end up hating you if she finds out that you lied to her on top of that, right? Haha. I’ve finally grasped your weakness.”

Eiji was startled and raised his hands in surrender when his light jest invited a bloodthirst so sharp that it seemed to cut through the very air itself.

“Alright! I’ll keep my mouth shut. Besides, I don’t want for that either. She’d figure out my identity too if she finds out that it was you back then, and I don’t want Little Ianna to learn about me quite just yet.”

~~*~~

It had truly happened out of nowhere.

Ianna, who was sitting in the middle of the first-years, stared so fixedly at the back of Arhad’s, who was sitting toward the front of the fourth-years, head that she could have drilled holes into him while they were sitting in the large lecture hall for orientation.

Ianna had not missed the look that had crossed Arhad’s face when he had lowered his head that morning. She had been elated about finally being able to spar with him, but she had been bewildered when he had looked down as if tears were about to spill from his clouded eyes.

‘Why did he make that face? What did I do? Was he truly that happy that I said I’d wait until he was ready to tell me his secret? Or was he just sad about finally having to spar with me since he was avoiding it so desperately? But I’m fairly sure that shouldn’t be the case.’

And then, he had suddenly kissed her fingers.

Ianna clutched her hands together before she could stop herself when she recalled the feeling of something brushing against the back of her hand.

Ianna had been so bewildered at the moment because of Arhad that she hadn’t been able to prepare herself as he slowly raised her hand to kiss it and had simply stood there and let him do it. Arhad’s lips were already pressed against her fingers by the time she had regained her senses. She would have snapped back to her senses immediately if he had pulled at her hard, but she had failed to perceive the way he had taken her hand ever so gently, so gently that she had barely even felt it, and had ever so carefully brought her hand up.

She stretched out her fingers. A kiss on the back of the hand didn’t really mean much. It was often used as a greeting by a nobleman to a woman who was above his station or a close friend. Ianna had previously been kissed on the back of the hand out of courtesy before she had become a knight and as a show of her superiority from her subordinates after she had become a duchess.

But this was the first time in her life she had ever been kissed like she was the most precious thing in the world.

Ianna tapped against the desk with her index finger as she continued to stare at Arhad.

‘No, wait…….’

She recalled the man in black robes from a few months ago. He had suddenly embraced her only to run away, taken care of the monsters after secretly tailing her, and had kissed her on the fingers when he thought she was asleep.

Now that she thought about it, she had thought his voice had sounded like Arhad’s when he had embraced her. And the contact she had felt as she had been kissed also felt rather similar.

‘No way……’

A dark shadow fell over Ianna’s eyes. It was quite the grand conjecture. There was no reason that Arhad should know who she was at that point in time and no reason why he would hold her so affectionately like that, and so she had ignored the delusion that the mysterious man could have possibly been Arhad until now.

But now the two were overlapping quite heavily in her mind because of the kiss she had received at dawn. And her doubts didn’t cease once they started.

‘What if he was Arhad?’

The black-robed man had definitely acted like he knew who she was. Had she met Arhad sometime before the swordsmanship competition and simply didn’t remember it?

‘Was it like this in the past too?’

She began to grow suspicious of the Arhad from her first life. She had initially thought that he was simply being greedy for talented individuals in his position as emperor, but that didn’t seem quite right now that she thought about it more carefully. An obsession of a different nature……what could it possibly be?

‘Do I remind him of someone he used to know?’

Ianna grew displeased for a moment when she speculated that Arhad might be seeing someone else in her. But she quickly brushed her displeasure away and shook her head clear. Arhad’s eyes were always direct as he gazed at her piercingly. There was no way that he was seeing someone else in her.

‘What are you thinking of when you look at me?’

Ianna had thought that she could guess what Arhad was thinking to some extent because she had been reborn. And yet, she felt like she was trapped in a labyrinth right now.

‘No, wait, before that —can I even be sure that Arhad was the black-robed man?’

She felt like her head was about to explode. She almost wanted to cast everything else aside and break open Arhad’s head to see what was going on inside.

‘I’ll be embarrassed if I’m wrong, so I’ll just keep it in the back of my mind for now until I find out with more certainty.’

She rather laboriously reached a conclusion.

“It’s been a while, Arhad!”

“How have you been?”

People were loitering amicably around him. He replied to every greeting he received. Ianna rested her cheek against the palm of her hand and simply observed him. She knew that he had been like that in the past as well. He was a strange man whom people would flock to even when he wasn’t doing anything.

“Hmm…….”

Ianna felt strange as she watched people crowding around him. Dwarves and monsters were so terrified by him, so why was it that people swarmed to him like bees to honey?

His attractive features, the charisma he exuded even when he wasn’t doing anything, his poised maturity……she had heard that people were attracted to these qualities like they were to anyone who was aloof and superior, but Ianna could not empathize with the sentiment. After all, Arhad had always openly flaunted everything he had as he implored her to come to him.

“Ugggh. Morning, Little Ianna…….”

“It’s been a while.”

Eiji’s, who had walked up to Ianna at some point, eyes were sunken as he rested his chin against the desk.

“Little Ianna, Sir Eiji —it’s been too long!”

“What’s up, yawn?”

Herrace and Taro showed up not too long afterward and greeted them cheerfully. Ianna greeted them just as she would have two months ago, but Eiji simply raised his hand and waved at them.

Herrace grew worried as Eiji, who was usually playful and mischievous, reacted so feebly he could have been ill.

“Were you working on something difficult over break? Little Ianna was busy working a part-time job and Sir Taro went back home for break, but I didn’t see you at all even though you were still in the capital. You aren’t sick, are you?”

“Nah, it’s nothing like that. I’m just a bit tired. I was busy all break cleaning up after an asshole who decided to ignore the work he should’ve been doing. I finally have the time to breathe.”

Ianna stole a glance at Eiji. Now that she thought about it, he had known who the man in black robes was. And he had also known what the medicine the robed man had given her was.

Eiji —the mysterious young man of the underworld controlled by the Black Fox and Camastros.

Ianna had not missed the strangely offensive word, ‘asshole,’ he had used and his mention of the fact that he ‘finally’ had the time to breathe.

‘Arhad was accompanying me, Eiji ended up doing Arhad’s share of work, and Eiji’s only ‘finally’ able to breathe now that Arhad is back?’

Ianna scratched at her dried lips. Everything meshed together perfectly like pieces of a cogwheel.

Eiji’s eyes looked as hollow as those of a dead fish at a harbor as he stared forward before he turned around to look up at Ianna.

“How was working as a part of a caravan’s guard detail, Little Ianna?”

“It was a valuable experience. I learned a lot.”

Not only had Mursi paid her handsomely for her work, but she had also gained many precious things that she would never have been able to buy with money. Hanidelf’s magic bracelet, which she probably couldn’t have bought with even a thousand gold, a one-of-its-kind divine sword, Arhad’s friendship, and even Arhad’s secret. There probably weren’t many students who had as productive of a summer break as hers.

“What did you do, Herrace?”

“Me? Well, I spent most of my time training.”

Ianna glanced at Herrace. He was still as slender as ever, but he no longer looked sickly. He had grown significantly healthier after taking Ianna’s advice and holding back from pushing himself to use mana. But there was a shadow cast over his face. He continued,

“I had to attend a lot of social parties with my father. He said that it was high time that I found myself a fiancée.”

“Ack, already?”

“It’s actually not that early. There are many nobles younger that me who are betrothed.”

Herrace was being reasonable, as young noblemen in the Kingdom of Roanne typically married in their early twenties.

“Must be exhausting to be a noble.”

Eiji shook his head as if in exasperation. Taro, on the other hand, flushed red as he lost himself in his fantasies.

“So it’s like, whatchamacallit, promisin’ to marry the girl ya like well ahead in advance? Like markin’ yer girl beforehand so no one else can touch her? Man, the noble life might be tirin’, but at least that’s one good thing about it. I wanna do that too, with my G-Goddess…….”

“The girl you like? Marriage is generally used as a tool to unite two houses who can be useful to each other together, rather than as an expression of goodwill between a man and a woman,”

Herrace said with his head tilted to the side as Taro began daydreaming. He continued,

“It’s not that there’s never any goodwill involved, but marriage partners are usually chosen for their house and not the actual person.”

Taro’s face froze stiff.

“B-but ya told me that there wasn’t anyone who Lady Lalatua liked, Herrace. Does that mean that Lady Lalatua might still get married ‘cause of her household regardless of if she wants to or not?”

“Well, she is a princess, so it’s entirely possible she’ll get married off for political reasons regardless of her feelings. But I don’t think that’s likely. Miss Lalatua’s practically independent from her kingdom, and she’s the type of character personality-wise to marry a man she’s taken a liking to and tie him down to her.”

Taro was focused too hard on the first half of Herrace’s explanation that he did not hear the second.

“Sob…….”

“Hm? Did I say something I shouldn’t have?”

Herrace asked Ianna restlessly as Taro slumped over the desk and was on the verge of tears. Ianna simply smiled, as she had an idea about what Taro was thinking, and shrugged.

Lalatua had not been married in the future. Ianna did not know what her relationship with Taro had been, but she had dragged him, and only him, around like a servant everywhere she went. Ianna knew the future and therefore knew that Lalatua would not get married to anyone else, but she mean-spiritedly enjoyed Taro’s misery as he sorrowfully imagined Lalatua’s marriage to another.

Part 2

“It’s been a while, everyone. Did you enjoy summer break?”

Ryan, the Department Head of the Swordsmanship Department slammed open the lecture hall doors and walked in while the students were chatting amongst themselves.

“Hello, Department Head.”

People began greeting Ryan boisterously from all directions. The lecture hall quickly grew noisy. Ryan waved his hand in an attempt to get everyone to settle down, but the floodgates had been opened and the students, excited to see their friends again, clamored on.

“Silence.”

Professor Filliger walked into the lecture hall. The lecture hall quieted down immediately when the Tiger Professor made his appearance.

Ryan smiled bashfully as he walked up to the platform at the center of the hall and picked up a loudspeaker artefact.

“Every student in our department is admirable, so I trust that you all spent your breaks wisely —the reason the entire department is gathered here today is so we can decide what we’re going to do for the school festival this year.”

The first-years’ eyes sparkled when they heard the words ‘school festival’. They sat up straighter in anticipation as they looked to Ryan. The upperclassmen, however, sighed in exasperation and slumped down in their seats.

“The school festival, the largest event the Institution hosts every year, is to take place in October. The festival lasts for a week, and outsiders will be allowed to visit the Institution and freely appreciate the festival regardless of their station. The Institution will be hosting a party on the last day of the festival, and each department is responsible for holding events that are appropriate for their major during the other six days —naturally, we will be hosting a swordsmanship tournament again. Unlike the swordsmanship competition, the tournament will not be split between upper and lower classes, so everyone will have an accurate understanding of how each participant ranks within the department. It is also a great opportunity to get your names out to the nobility.”

Roanne had entered a time of peace now that Bahamut had stopped invading, but she had always been a militant nation that glorified her military might, and it was important for her nobility to recruit strong subordinates because other kingdoms were in the middle of waging fierce wars for territory and military might was the path to wealth and power.

Which was why the nobility took great interest in the events that would be carried out by the School of Martial Arts, including the swordsmanship tournament. It was a once-a-year opportunity to scout out talented personnel with their own eyes.

Swords, in particular, were popular and used universally across the continent, so the nobility took a particular interest in the Swordsmanship Department’s tournament.

“You will all want to fill the back of your transcripts with the names of nobles who’ve taken an interest in you, I’m sure.”

Nobles could visit the department office and write their names down on the last page of a student’s transcript if they wanted to keep an eye on any particular student. The Institution would reach out to them when the student graduated, and the noble could invite the student to visit them if they were still interested in that student. In turn, students could accept the invitations of the nobles whom they were interested in, have a sincere discussion with them, and decide to work under them if they so wished.

There were hardly any students in the Swordsmanship Department who failed to find work upon graduation thanks to this system. Students with good grades could even knock on a noble’s doors and ask for work directly.

“If you want to work for a high-ranking noble in the future, then it would be in your best interests to put your best foot forward in the tournament and get a good grade.”

Ryan flipped through the stack of papers in his hands and continued,

“The champion will be awarded a trophy and be personally bestowed a sword by His Majesty the King, our department’s greatest sponsor, and those who rank among the top thirty are granted the right to become a knight in the royal guard. If you make it into the royal guard and serve well, you may even be granted the peerage of a baronet —though you won’t be able to pass the title down.”

The students grew excited upon hearing what Ryan had to say and cheered. There were some students in the Swordsmanship Department who had applied because they genuinely wanted to become outstanding swordsmen, and there were others who applied because they wanted to polish their swordplay and become skilled mercenaries so they could make a lot of money. But such students were in the minority, and most students had applied to get ahead in life and secure a stable future for themselves.

Ianna felt a little out of place, as she didn’t share the other students’ thrill.

“Train hard, everyone. You all know that the reigning champion won’t be a pushover, right?”

“Hey, Ryan, putting the first-years aside —why don’t you cut us some slack? You won last year, so you already have a fancy sword.”

“Isn’t your transcript already filled to the brim with the names of the royal family and other high-ranking nobles? You probably don’t even have the space to fit more names, so save some for the rest of us!”

The school festival wasn’t simply a festival to enjoy but a battleground to polish up one’s specs in preparation for future employment.

“Quiet down! Let me finish what I was saying. Gambling isn’t illegal, but the kingdom strongly recommends that we refrain from it. But betting always runs rampant to spice things up at large events like this. Official betting stations will be manned within each department to prevent outsiders from starting their own. And, as always, snacks will be provided by the Culinary Department.”

“Corn covered in chippy fruit juice is the best.”

“Stone-plate grilled squid paired with some good beer is to die for.”

Students began chatting amongst themselves in good cheer. Ryan let them continue. He watched over his juniors for a brief moment before he rolled up the papers in his hand and tapped it against the podium.

“That’s enough about the swordsmanship tournament —we need to come up with an event for our department to host during the festival that everyone can enjoy because the tournament doesn’t count.”

“What’s this bullshit about enjoying anything? Aren’t we just going to run another bar?”

“We always run a bar. And we always see the same brawny men drinking amongst ourselves every year……kch. I’d rather go somewhere with a lot of pretty girls than come to our department’s bar. Can’t we just not host an event and visit the other departments’ events instead?”

The upperclassmen grumbled. Swordsmanship Department students had little to do during the festival because they didn’t have to participate in the tournament if it wasn’t their turn, which was why the Institution made the Swordsmanship Department host a second event. But there was only so much that a department teeming only with a bunch of brawny men could do, and no outsiders visited their event unless they were interested in a particular student.

Ryan sighed.

“I’m getting tired of running a bar too. So why don’t we try to think up of a few better ideas this year? Is there anything fun we could do? I hear that the Stewardship Department is hosting a tea house decorated with a lot of flowers and frills so commoner women can enjoy feeling like noble ladies for a day. Maybe we could do something similar? We can call it a knight-themed tea house or something and decorate a room with flowers and pink lace. Then, we can dress up in knight uniforms and wait on women?”

“Are you crazy?”

“Just thinking about it make me sick to the stomach!”

The other students reacted extremely poorly when Ryan gave his opinion. Ryan tried to justify himself.

“I’m sure there’ll be a good number of you who end up being personal knights for some noble lady, so it’d be good practice. A personal knight isn’t supposed to leave their master’s side, after all.”

“C’mon man, we want to enjoy the festival too! And now you’re trying to get us to decorate a bunch of pink stuff?! And we’ll have to surround ourselves with pink for six days straight?!”

someone yelled back. Ryan’s idea was immediately discarded as people began shuddering at the thought before they could stop themselves.

“Then, shall we run a bar again?”

“I guess that’s our only option.”

It looked like they would ultimately end up running a bar again. Eiji, who was still leaning across the desk, yawned while looking bored and smacked his lips.

“Everyone here’s a slave to employment —slaves, I tell you. It’s the only thing they’re thinking about.”

“Slaves? Slaves!”

One male student jumped up from his seat when he heard Eiji’s meaningless mumbling. Eiji looked at him in alarm. The male student made a fist.

“What if we ran a slave auction, Department Head?”

“Excuse me?”

Ryan had a blank look on his face. Everyone else, including Eiji, was looking to the student in blank amazement as well.

“We’ll be the slaves. Oh, don’t look at me like that and just hear me out. Some of us might be a bit on the uglier side, but we all stand out in terms of education and ability, right? Wouldn’t we sell like crazy?”

Everything the student was proudly pointing out was technically true. With very few exceptions, the students in the Swordsmanship Department had no time to take part in other hobbies because they would lag behind if they didn’t keep up with their training. Still, even if they were completely exhausted after finishing their hellish training, there were still people who wanted to get closer to them and people who looked at them with envy in their eyes and followed them around. The students in the Swordsmanship Department were all talented individuals who were practically guaranteed future success in life, and it was always worth forming a relationship with them.

“So we should hold an auction every day after we finish preparing the venue.”

“Every day?”

“The swordsmanship tournament is carried out every day, but those who drop out of the elimination matches still carry out ranking matches to figure out how they place, right?”

“That’s correct.”

“Which means that people will drop out of the elimination matches every day, so any student who drops out can be put up for auction. Anyone who’s successfully bought will be their bidder’s slave for a day. If you’re lucky, you might get to spend the day enjoying the festival with a pretty lady or escorting a nice noble around the Institution……. It’s this a great idea? Bidders wouldn’t be allowed to do anything weird to us, of course. And everyone would eventually be up for auction —including the champion!”

The male student’s proposal caused the entire lecture hall to stir.

“That might actually be pretty fun.”

“First-years usually rank the lowest in the swordsmanship tournament, and upperclassmen tend to place in the higher ranks, so in that case……we’ll probably end up being auctioned off by year. Wow, it’ll be so embarrassing to drop out prematurely and be auctioned off with your juniors.”

“What happens if no one bids for you?”

“I doubt that’ll happen. Swordsmanship Department students are incredibly popular —we’re just too busy training to notice. Everyone will be bought out one way or another, even if at a cheap price.”

“What if you get bought by someone questionable……?”

“Well, that’s just your luck then.”

Eiji rested his cheek against the palm of his hand and muttered,

“You can only talk about slave auctions so readily because you don’t know how slaves really think or live. Even if you are just joking around……. But still, will the professor allow this?”

Ryan, who had been watching quietly over the boisterous student body, turned to Professor Filliger, who was standing beside him, and cautiously asked,

“A lot of people seem to like this idea…but still, to call ourselves slaves of all things… Will this be allowed, Professor?”

Filliger fell into thought for a moment before replying,

“Human trafficking is illegal, but this is closer to servitude than it is to slavery since it’s voluntary, and it’s not all that bad of an idea since the festival is essentially like a job market for students to scout out potential future work.”

“Then again, we’d basically just be escorting around our employers. An event where we can get paid to escort a guest around for an hour or two…… It’s a pretty good idea.”

“And people will be working harder to win, since they’d be embarrassed if they dropped out on the very first day, no? Though it would probably be for the best not to call it slavery.”

It sounded like a foregone conclusion at this point. People were even beginning to talk about how the money could be donated to the less fortunate.

‘But a slave auction?’

But Ianna was rather disgruntled. She disliked the idea of someone setting a price tag on her precious sword. She was very displeased at the thought that her swordplay might be used as something to merely raise a price.

How was this any different from a performer doing cartwheels for money? She only had to be a ‘slave’ for just one day if someone successfully bid on her, but would she really have to act the part and play her bidder’s slave regardless of her wishes?

Ianna absolutely loathed to be influenced by another. She would not tolerate it even if it was only a joke. She had kept quiet during the Black Fox’s slave auction since she had been planning on ruining the entire event anyway, but the festival was a different matter.

Still, she stayed silent because she did not want to be the one to throw a wet towel on the fired-up atmosphere in the room. Ianna waited patiently until the assembly was over and students began noisily leaving the lecture hall before making her way to Ryan. Ryan looked up from the materials he was cleaning up as she approached and smiled wryly when he saw that it was her.

“I’d like to abstain from this event, Sir. I will abstain from the tournament as well. And there seemed to be a few others who weren’t very pleased with this idea. What should we do if we don’t wish to participate?”

Ianna did not wish to show up to an event that would be mostly attended by the nobility. She had made the mistake of letting her irritation get the better of her and had showed off the fact that she could control mana easily, so the rumor that she could control mana at the young age of just sixteen would have spread like a steady wave and it was all too clear to her that the nobles would look at her like she was some kind of rare creature throughout the entire tournament.

And she had been auctioned at the Black Fox’s slave auction too, so any nobles who had been there would recognize her immediately. It wasn’t that being around the nobility made her uncomfortable, but she didn’t want to be treated like a freak show without good reason.

“Hmmm…….”

Ryan knew about Ianna’s circumstances now. And he understood that the situation was awkward for her. She might be scorned for being the daughter of a mistress, but Ianna was still a noble. She may get along with commoners and even be polite to them, but her conduct was more aristocratic than most other nobles and she was as proud as she deserved to be with her high level of skill. It was only obvious that she would find the situation disagreeable, even if it was mostly just for fun.

“The swordsmanship tournament is an obligatory event, so I can’t give you permission to abstain from it. You will have to participate. The only way to avoid participating is by withdrawing.”

Ianna sighed. She would have to withdraw when she hadn’t even broken her arms like last time? She would not tolerate a loss to be recorded in her life in the form of withdrawal unless she absolutely had no other choice. Ryan continued,

“And as for the slave auction…… We can’t ignore the minority outright, but the majority opinion still rules. And everyone will be excited since this is a new event. It’s not actually slavery —people are just trying to have a little fun—, and it’s a departmental event, so I’d prefer it if everyone participates. I’m sure you know well, Little Ianna, that it doesn’t have a good effect on the rest of the group if someone abstains from a group activity. It’ll open the doors for more people to not participate if one person abstains, and it’ll make it easier for the entire event to fall apart.”

There was reason to what Ryan was saying. What to do? Ianna pressed at her furrowed brows with her thumb.

Ryan gauged Ianna’s reaction and stealthily gestured her closer. Ianna leaned her ear in toward him. Quietly, he whispered,

“Then what about this? I heard that you were close to the owner of the Paella Company. He donates a lot of money to the Swordsmanship Department, so the Institution is planning to invite him to the festival as a VIP guest. He’ll probably attend, so why don’t you ask him to bid on you?”

“What are you…?”

“I’m suggesting that we pull off a trick. I’ll return Lord Mursi’s money to him no matter how much he spends to bid on you. And he’s a big name in the business world, so no one would find it strange even if he bids a huge sum of money.”

“…….”

Ianna thought about it for a moment before she shook her head no.

“The money is supposed to go to underprivileged children, is it not? Anything that was earned during the auction will be written down in a ledger, so it’d be a problem if the money suddenly went missing. But it’s not a terrible idea. I will ask Mr. Mursi to place a bid on me, but the Institution won’t have to pay him back for it.”

“You must be rather close with him, I take it? Then again, it won’t end up being too large a sum anyway. I doubt that prices will go very high in general.”

“No. That’s not what I meant. I will buy myself —Mr. Mursi will simply be my proxy. I’ll pay him back the money he bids on me.”

“Oh, I see, but wow…… Goodness, Little Ianna…”

Ryan nodded in admiration as he pat Ianna on the shoulder. He continued,

“You’re amazing. I’d be very grateful if you could do that. Thank you for being understanding.”

“Not at all. You were the one who pitched me a good idea, Department Head. Then…”

Ianna bid Ryan goodbye and left the room only to find her friends waiting just outside to ask her how things had gone. The mood around her had been grave when the topic of the slave auction had come up, and they knew that Ianna had gone to speak with Ryan to ask if she could abstain.

“I could hardly believe it, but then it actually happened. What the hell is wrong with that guy?”

Eiji muttered with his face ashen as he rested his forehead against a wall. Cautiously, Herrace asked,

“How’d it go, Little Ianna?”

“I’ve decided to participate.”

Eiji straight—ened himself up and turned to her.

“You’re participating? Seriously?”

The others had accepted it just fine when Ianna had told them, so Ianna tilted her head to the side when only Eiji reacted particularly vehemently. His face looked pale.

“Why are you reacting like that?”

“I-I just……that doesn’t matter right now!”

“It won’t be a problem because I’m just going to buy myself. I’ll bid on myself through a proxy.”

“We can do that?!”

Eiji, whose visage had been shadowed over, immediately brightened up. He looked like a rope and been lowered down to him from the heavens while he was floundering in deep waters. He continued,

“Go ahead and register for classes before me. I’ll be right back!”

Eiji immediately ran off in great haste no sooner than the words had left his mouth. Ianna, Herrace, and Taro watched him go with a strange look in their eyes before they made for the department office to pick up their course catalogs.

They picked up their thick catalogs and skimmed through them as they walked through the hallways. Classes that had been popular with the students during the spring semester or those that were famous for being particularly helpful remained in the catalog, whereas unpopular classes had disappeared. New lectures had taken their place.

Herrace flipped through the pages of his catalog repeatedly before he realized that Ianna’s catalog had only been opened to the page with classes in their major.

“Aren’t you going to take a look at any liberal arts classes? Most people look up liberal arts classes first, since the classes we have to take for our major are already decided for us.”

“The Institution has a great system for liberal arts electives, and the classes are fairly good, but…….”

“Wait, that page…?”

The second thing that Herrace noticed was that Ianna’s extremely clear red eyes were looking through courses for second-year students in their major.

“We weren’t allowed to last semester because we’re supposed to use our first semester to get acclimated to life at the Institution, but we’re allowed to take upper level classes from our second semester on if we so wished, yes?”

That was just the kind of place the Institution was. A student could register for anything they wanted to learn about. However, they were beholden to being responsible for their requests to learn more, and whether they did well or not in their classes was completely up to them. In other words, students were allowed to register for upper level classes in their major if they so wished, but they would not be graded any easier on the account of their junior status.

“You’re planning on taking upper level classes on top of our first-years’ classes. That’s amazing. Are you trying to graduate early?”

“Yes. Which is why I’m planning on taking second-year courses in the lieu of two liberal arts electives.”

Ianna had been resolved to graduate early ever since she had met Arhad. She had applied to the Institution so she could be independent of House Roberstein as quickly as possible, but it had been more important to her that she waited patiently for the day she would meet Arhad again.

But Ianna had unexpectedly met him while she was still just sixteen and had voluntarily stepped into his life. She had met him three years earlier than planned, and he did not seem to be facing off against the Bahamut imperial family quite as of yet. Arhad had been in Roanne when she was nineteen in the past, and she could not help but wonder if he would only start vying for the imperial throne in earnest three years later.

If she wanted to be of assistance to him, then she would have to graduate as quickly as possible. Arhad was a fourth-year student, while she was still a first-year. Time was tight, but she would need to graduate in three years’ time.

She would have to take every class designated for her major if she wanted to graduate early. She could register to graduate early as soon as she did, regardless of what year she was in.

Ianna turned the page to where the third-year classes were listed.

“If possible, I’m hoping to take a few third-year classes this semester as well.”

“Urk.”

Taro, who’d been buried inside his catalog as he walked alongside her, suddenly sounded like he was choking on something. He continued,

“Classes are so hard already I think I’m gonna die —are ya out of yer mind? Ya know —I’m startin’ to get short of breath just listenin’ to ya.”

“Don’t I always train until dinnertime anyway? All I’m doing is attending class instead of personal training. Weren’t you always training late into the night as well?”

“Yer brain’s gonna start crampin’ up. I’m okay with trainin’ ‘cause I’m the kind of guy who’s naturally built for runnin’ around and usin’ my body, but I’d wanna die if I had to sit down and stare at a book all day long. Ugh, it’s horrible just thinkin’ about it.”

Taro was pale, as if he was loath to look at even the course catalog he was holding. He continued,

“Our family motto’s ‘Grow up on yer own!’ That’s why my old man threw me out into the desert when I was just a babe —and told me to figure out my food situation on my own. Screw books. My older brothers and I were busy all day just tryin’ to find some food. We even skinned animals for hide and stitched it together to wear when our clothes started fallin’ apart. It was still a heck lot better than havin’ to study.”

Wow— Herrace dropped his jaw. Herrace had been raised with painstaking care and had grown up eating food that had been prepared for him by servants and wearing clothes specially made for him by tailors —Taro’s was a lifestyle he had never and would never experience.

“Your family seem like such fun people, Sir. I’d like to meet them one day.”

Taro grunted and scratched at his head.

“Yer gonna end up meetin’ them during the school festival whether ya like it or not. My entire family said they’ll be comin’ up for the festival…… And the loudest people attendin’ll be my father and brothers. It’s gonna be embarrassin’.”

“Oh, so they’re all just like you, Sir?”

“What’s that? C’mere ya little lump of wheat flour!”

Herrace yelped when Taro wrapped his head under his arm and squeezed. Taro’s brute strength was monstrous. Herrace thought that his neck might really snap if Taro squeezed too hard.

Ianna smiled a little as she watched over their antics before she closed her catalog and looked directly ahead. Graduating from the Institution in three years essentially meant that she would only have less then three more years of peace.

She didn’t know how Arhad had eliminated the imperial family, whom the citizens of Bahamut regarded as gods, but she was certain that a lot a blood had been shed during the process. And, though he had never spelled it out for her directly, it was obvious that Arhad’s illness meant that he would have to constantly spill fresh blood for the rest of his life.

Truly, the man was unlucky in life…….

And Ianna was to be his sword. But not because of the obligation carried by her promise —but simply because she herself wanted to.

The back of her hand, which Arhad had so earnestly kissed, was still hot, as if his kiss had been stamped onto her. She could still clearly feel where his lips had been even though several hours had already passed.

Ianna did not know why Arhad desired her so badly. But she was certain that he had looked ever so desperately and dreadfully lonely when he had kissed her. That fact stayed with her deeply in her heart.

Perhaps the reason why Arhad had wanted her so badly was because he needed someone who was capable of living by his side.

Her sword was currently dulled because she wanted to live as peacefully as possible for now, but her sword would probably need to be as sharp and bloodstained as it had been in the past once she arrived at Bahamut.

Ianna planned to be a sword who obeyed Arhad’s every word no matter what he did. A sword who would cut down any enemy who posed a threat to him no matter who they were…….

Ianna wanted eagerly to tell him, “I will always stand by your side. That’s why you needn’t worry,” but she didn’t want to say it out of the blue when she hadn’t even uncovered anything about him yet. Which was why she could only act in her capacity as his junior at the Institution and as his subordinate as a member of Camastros to learn about him little by little, and she would naturally, ever so naturally…….

“Little Ianna!”

A small shadow ran toward Ianna when she had returned to her dorm room after filling up her schedule to the brim with classes and registering for them. The shadow was fast and on a direct collision course for her, so Ianna reached out and stopped the shadow by holding her hand out against her chest. Then, Ianna pushed away the shadow’s round little face.

“Aww, I missed you so much. Do you know how fast my heart was beating when I saw that your things were here when I woke up?! But you’re just as uppity as ever, I see.”

Priscilla brushed down her disheveled blonde hair as her eyes sparkled. She continued,

“And you’re still just as lovely as ever too, of course.”

Ianna found her sparkling eyes rather concerning. She put Priscilla down and sat down at the edge of her bed. Priscilla tottered back up to her and sat down in front of her with her hands clasped together as she chattered,

“It’s almost time for the school festival —I love it! You haven’t forgotten the promise you made me, right? Do you know what the Fashion Department’s event is like, Little Ianna?”

“I know I promised that I’d wear the clothes you make, but I don’t known any details regarding the event itself.”

Priscilla’s excited and long-winded explanation generally boiled down to the following. Students in the Fashion Department would be selling the clothes and accessories they designed throughout the school festival. The department also held a larger event —a fashion show to determine who had made the best costume, which was what Priscilla was asking Ianna to dress up for.

Each year was assigned a day during the festival to show off models wearing the clothes they had made, and the best costumes would be selected by a vote and a jury panel on the sixth day after everyone had presented.

Priscilla was a fourth-year student, so she was scheduled to go on day 4. She prattled on happily about how the only thing the models had to do was to walk across the stage and spin around once.

It wasn’t a beauty content, but a costume contest —Ianna thought good riddance. Priscilla clenched her hands into fists as the expression on Ianna’s face grew sour.

“Anyone who does well in the contest is basically guaranteed future employment. They’ll end up being buried under work orders, after all! Which is why the students of the Fashion Department work so hard for two semesters straight just for this day. And they comb the Institution carefully to find the best model to make their clothes stand out. There are even some students who snoop around other departments’ classrooms in the spring semester to nab a good model. But I got my hands on the perfect model just as the school year started. Ahaha, hahahahahahah!”

Ianna looked uneasy for a moment when Priscilla started laughing like a maniac with her hands over her mouth, but then she realized that this was simply who Priscilla was as a person and shook her head as if there was no helping it. More importantly, there was something that concerned her.

“My reputation isn’t exactly the best. Especially among the nobility. There will be a lot of nobles attending the school festival, and their prejudice against me might affect how your clothes are evaluated.”

“So what?”

Priscilla asked with a blank look on her face. She continued,

“It’s only the people who’ve never had the chance to speak with you who keep trying to bring you down, Little Ianna. Your real worth was buried under all those rumors, after all. But I think they’ll find that you’re really cool if they ever actually meet you in person, you know?”

There was a peculiar light in Ianna’s eyes as she looked to Priscilla, who was jabbering on as if she was only stating the blatantly obvious. Had Priscilla actually heard all the rumors that had been going around about her? Did she really not care even after hearing them?

Priscilla had never once changed her attitude toward Ianna while they were living together. She was always clinging to Ianna and drooling……she was rather consistent.

“…….”

Ianna stared openly at Priscilla as the latter prattled on. Priscilla was a woman who did not care about anything other than her clothes. She was annoying, but Ianna didn’t dislike her.

Just then, Priscilla met Ianna’s stare and blushed.

“All I need, Little Ianna, is your face and your body. Your beauty can hurl those bad rumors about you to the ground and kick them away and then some.”

That shining light in her eyes, though…

“Your face is so composed and sexy and beautiful, and your body is so……oof!”

Ianna sighed and pushed Priscilla’s face away as the latter drew closer to her with wriggling fingers.

Ianna thought Priscilla was overestimating her looks. She recognized the fact that she was certainly on the more attractive side because she had inherited her looks from Lebony. But she also knew that she was not as stunningly gorgeous as someone like Lilith of House Tarwitt.

There were many beautiful women in the world. Lalatua El Mardial’s good looks might have been obscured by her ill temperament, but she was still beautiful enough that Taro completely ignored every other girl and regarded her as his goddess.

Priscilla thought the others were pretty too, but she did not cling onto them as drastically as she did Ianna. Ianna tilted her head to the side.

‘Is it because she’s scared of them, or is it simply due to her preference?’

If it was the latter, then Priscilla’s tastes must truly be peculiar.

“All right —if that’s what you say. But I won’t be responsible for the outcome. So do as you wish.”

“Oh my my. Look who’s talking? Shouldn’t you be asking me to take responsibility, Little Ianna?”

Priscilla said confidently with her nose up high and her shoulders shrugging, but Ianna couldn’t comprehend why.

According to Priscilla’s explanation, all she had to do was wear the clothes Priscilla made for her, go on stage, spin around, and come back. So, what responsibility was she talking about? Was Priscilla trying to say that she wouldn’t be responsible for the scorn that the nobility would likely direct toward her? But, Priscilla wouldn’t be acting like that if that were the case.

“What are you suggesting that I ask you to take responsibility for?”

“Teehee, who knows? Oh, and I finished my design over break! I haven’t actually made the clothes yet, but I have the design on paper. It’s something that’ll suit you really well, Little Ianna……but I’m keeping it a secret until it’s complete! Haha!”

Priscilla kept glancing at Ianna while she laughed in an attempt to instigate the latter’s curiosity. Ianna, however, simply nodded.

Ianna was not interested in things like clothes, accessories, or makeup —things that women were generally concerned with—, so she would not know what was considered ‘pretty’ or not even if she saw it. She still had preferences and attire that suited her preferences, of course, but her tastes did not always match up with what was universally considered aesthetically pleasing. Personally, Ianna preferred simple clothes that other nobles would scorn and say were meant for impoverished commoners.

It would all look the same in Ianna’s eyes regardless of what kind of design Priscilla had come up with, so it didn’t particularly matter to her if Priscilla kept it a secret from her or not. Priscilla looked wistful as she clicked her tongue.

“Anyway, you might have grown a bit over break, so let me take your measurements again. Hurry and stand up already!”

A promise was a promise, so Ianna had no choice but to cooperate. She moved her body in every way that Priscilla asked her to, and it was only after Priscilla was satisfied that she let her psychologically fatigued body lie down on her bed to rest. A little while later, however, someone knocked on their door.

Priscilla swung the door open wide to reveal a slightly flushed female student whom Ianna had never seen before in her life.

“I-is this Lady Ianna’s room?”

Ianna sat up when she heard her name.

“Did you need me for something?”

“Well, a very good-looking man is waiting for you at the dormitory entrance. He said his name was Arhad.”

The female student had frozen stiff when Arhad had called out to her in front of the dormitory entrance. Her mind had gone blank when the dreamy and attractive man had started talking to her. She didn’t converse with other men very much because she was always busy studying, and she had never seen such a handsome man before in her life.

The female student was still fanning at her face to get her feverish blush to cool down. Men were forbidden from entering the female dorms. And the good-looking man had asked her to call Ianna down. She stole a glance at Ianna. She was so excited just to have spoken to the handsome man, but Ianna, on the other hand, simply looked calm.

She was calm, in fact. Ianna had never cared too much about looks to begin with, and she was already accustomed to Arhad’s appearance because she had seen him so often in her past life that she had almost grown tired of seeing him.

‘What could he want?’

Ianna threw open her wardrobe and pulled out whatever clothes that were decent and began putting them on, and the female student was appalled by what Ianna was wearing. If she had been called down by that attractive man, she would have been busy doing her hair and makeup and would have worn her cutest skirt. But Ianna had put on a simple ivory shirt that was undecorated and had no pattern and a crude pair of leather pants. Her hair had gotten messed up because she had lied down without undoing her ponytail, and she simply pulled the tie out and let her hair down as if she couldn’t be bothered to do it up again as she made to leave the room. In no way could anyone say that she had dressed up for the occasion.

‘But…….’

The female student gulped. There was something different about the air Ianna carried around her even when she was wearing unappealing clothes. The once-shabby-looking clothes looked sleek now that Ianna was wearing them. Why was that?

The female student soon realized the answer.

‘Oh, it’s because of her figure…….’

She looked down and grew blue when all she could see was her feet and listlessly left the room.

“Oh my goodness? Arhad is that absolute hunk of a man whom you spent the summer doing thisandthatandfurioslybeatingheartspinkpink stuff with?! Kyaah, oh my gosh!”

Ianna ignored Priscilla, who had clasped her hands over her cheeks and was freaking out about something all by herself, completely and closed the door behind her. Ianna had seen all too clearly that Priscilla was jumping up and down while crying out, “You’re so heartless!”, but Ianna had no intentions of wasting her time trying to clarify such pointless rumors.

She stepped outside to find that the sun, which had been shining down so brightly all morning and afternoon, was slowly sinking behind the tall tower. The clouds were dyed a warm yellow in the sunset now, but they would soon be stained in a cool black. The pale moon was preparing to make its appearance from the other side of the glamorous palace, which was visible even from afar.

‘It’s almost nighttime —what could he want?’

Ianna found Arhad leaning against the wall near the entrance soon after she had exited the dormitory. He was staring down at his feet with his back on the wall, but he was attractive even when he wasn’t doing anything meaningful in particular and female students were sneaking sticky glances at the picturesque scene as they passed by.

Arhad felt Ianna’s presence before she called out to him and looked up. Then, he smiled a little.

“You’re here. I’m sorry for calling you down —I’m sure you must have been resting.”

“It’s all right. Though I see that you’re still being polite.”

Arhad rubbed his nose awkwardly when Ianna pointed this out.

“It was just too sudden……. I’ve always spoken courteously to others ever since I was young, and I sound a little highhanded when I don’t because I’ve only ever spoken down to my subordinates. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Ianna was a little shocked when Arhad started talking about Camastros without hesitation. He had grown stiff as soon as anything related to the topic had come up and had been quick to steer the topic away from it when he had been trying to keep it a secret, but he was bold about it now that the cat was out of the bag.

“I suppose you do.”

“Perhaps not while we’re at the Institution, but I’ll make an effort to speak more comfortably when I see you as a member of Camastros. Just as you wanted me to, Ianna.”

Arhad tried saying Ianna’s name without the honorific ‘Little’ in front of it and chuckled quietly when he liked the way it sounded on his tongue. Ianna beamed. It was a great deal of progress. Her name sounded much better without the ticklish honorific in front of it.

Arhad stared back at her and abruptly asked,

“Could you call me by just my name too?”

“Arhad.”

Ianna replied immediately without turning him down even once for courtesy’s sake. Arhad’s breath caught because she had been so unhesitant, and he smiled a little as though he was both a little dispirited and restless as he rubbed his hand across his face.

“That was so prompt……I really can’t keep up with you. Please keep addressing me that way. It’s much nicer than hearing you call me ‘Sir.’”

“Shall I say it again if you like it so much, Arhad?”

“…….”

“Arhad.”

Arhad’s cheeks blushed conspicuously red, visible even under the crimson sunset, as Ianna teasingly called him by his name. He put his hand over his face as if he was trying to hide it, but it didn’t escape Ianna’s notice.

“Hmmm?”

Ianna crossed her arms and observed him with great interest. She had studied his each and every reaction to her actions while they had been travelling together. From what she had seen, Arhad liked it a lot when she had offered him a towel, liked dining together with her, liked walking next to her, and really liked it when she called his name. She had discovered a common feature in his behavioral patterns as a result. Arhad apparently liked it when she was friendly to him.

And then, Ianna thought about something completely inappropriate for a moment.

Arhad had chased after her so confidently in their last lives only to be met with rejection upon rejection, so what if he was dejected and dispirited in this life from the very beginning because of that and got his hopes up again when she was nice to him and was blushing because he liked it so much……?

‘What a stupid thought.’

It was ridiculous to think that this life was an extension of their last, and this was probably simply Arhad’s true nature. There was a reason why people said that a person’s true nature would never change no matter what else about them changed, after all.

‘Was his desire to grow closer to me etched into this man’s soul?’

Ianna couldn’t tell if Arhad was being bashful or if he simply liked it that much, but Ianna suddenly got the urge to keep teasing him after she saw how he had reacted.

“Arhad?”

Arhad looked to Ianna when she continued to call for him and was startled to find that she was laughing.

“Your face is red. I’m rather surprised. Who would have thought you would get so bashful just because I called you by your name? Are you easily embarrassed?”

Ianna leaned against the wall next to him. She looked to Arhad out of the side of her eye. His flushed face seemed to overlap with someone else’s. It was none other than his past self. Ianna continued,

“Or do you just like it that much that I called you by your name?”

Now that she thought about it……she had never called him properly by his name in the past. ‘Emperor,’ ‘you’ ……she had called him by his full name while brimming with hostility too, but she had never simply called him by just his name.

Her mood immediately cooled when she vainly wondered if his past self would have been just as happy to hear her say his name.

“Haha.”

Arhad, who had been staring openly back at her, chuckled briefly before he straightened himself out and stood directly in front of her. Ianna regained her senses as his dark shadow fell over her. Arhad was tall, so she had no choice but to look up at him.

“I had always thought you were only serious, but you had an impish side to you too. And you even know how to tease. I like that about you as well, of course. But…….”

Ianna tried to back away instinctively when Arhad’s hand suddenly approached her face, but she ended up hitting against the wall and flinched.

“…You’re still young. Ianna, you’re…….”

His hand rested against the top of her head, and he tousled her hair underneath his large hand.

“…Still so young.”

Ianna stared back at Arhad in confusion as he smiled and drew back his hand. She felt like she had just been treated like a young child. No, she had been treated like a child —it wasn’t just a feeling.

‘What did I do to make him treat me like a child?’

No one had ever pat her on the head before, save for when Gerard had tried to comfort her when she had cried in front of him in the past.

“My apologies. I couldn’t help myself. You were being too cute.”

‘Cute’ wasn’t a word that suited her very well. Ianna felt strange as she reached up to touch the place where Arhad’s hand had been just earlier.

Arhad was five years her elder, but Ianna’s soul was much older than his. She disliked being treated like a child, but his actions didn’t make her uncomfortable, perhaps because she was a little embarrassed or because Arhad had pat her head ever so naturally, or maybe there was some other reason…….

“In any event, there are a lot of eyes watching us —shall we move to somewhere else?”

Ianna snapped back to her senses when Arhad spoke and met with the stares of several female students looking at her with envy when she looked around. The female students all startled and quickly looked away, but even Ianna could tell that they weren’t happy to see her with Arhad.

Ianna combed down her disheveled hair with mixed feelings and followed behind Arhad, who was leading the way. He had been so confident that she found it too awkward to ask why he had pat her on the head in the first place.

The dormitories were located in a remote part of the Institution campus away from the classroom buildings. There was a small forest next to the dormitories that had been left untouched for landscaping purposes when the dormitories had been constructed, and, while it was a great place to take a walk in during the day, the dense trees obstructed the moonlight and made it too dark for a leisurely stroll at night.

That alone would have made it a great place for lovers to go for a tryst, but it was right next to the female dormitories and students were reluctant to enter the woods at night because there were ghost stories going around about a beheaded ghost.

Arhad was walking toward the forest. What did he want to talk about that he was purposefully going somewhere there were no people? Ianna grew curious.

“Why did you call for me?”

Ianna asked as she stared at Arhad’s back. There must have been a different reason why he had initially sought her out, but they had gotten sidetracked because she had brought up his manner of speech.

“There was something I wanted to discuss with you. So…….”

Arhad hesitated for a moment as he chose his next words before nervously asking,

“Are you planning to win the swordsmanship tournament?”

Ianna didn’t answer and tried to guess at the reason why he was asking first. Did he want her to lose on purpose if they fought each other? Or, maybe he was simply curious?

“I don’t wish to stand out too much while other nobles are watching, but, that being said, I don’t plan to lose on purpose just because they are. I will put in my best effort.”

“I see……. That makes sense.”

Arhad quietly mumbled something Ianna didn’t comprehend. Ianna was waiting for his next words when he suddenly stopped walking and turned around. Ianna, who had simply been following his back, stopped as well. His vivid golden eyes stared directly back at her.

“It’s a little sudden, but there is something I’d like to ask you.”

“What is it?”

He was about to ask something important. Ianna straightened up her relaxed body and stared directly back at him without avoiding his gaze.

“What are you planning to do after graduating from the Institution, Little Ianna?”

She wasn’t able to reply immediately because the question had been so sudden, but her answer was already clear in her heart. Arhad’s query was directed to her life’s goal, which she had etched into her heart after being reborn and had never once forgotten.

Ianna had no reason to hide her answer from Arhad, nor did she have any reason to lie.

“I have no interest in getting ahead in life. My only wish is to reach the ultimate culmination of the sword. And if someone were to need my sword, then I would like to be of assistance to them.”

Ianna’s eyes were pointed directly at Arhad. She continued,

“Which is why I would like to serve under someone whom I acknowledge and who desperately needs my sword, so that I may assist them in their endeavors. I would like to stay by their side and aid them so that they may fulfil their ambitions.”

This someone was Arhad now, but it had been Schneider Lezè Roanne, the second prince who would one day be king, in the past. He had been mentally exhausted because of Arhad, and he had accepted Ianna’s fealty so he could usurp the throne.

Fealty.

The word felt very distant to Ianna. Ianna, who had been obsessed with the sword and with victory, who took pride in only her swordplay, who had been overflowing with selfishness and closemindedness and had cared about no one but herself, had never been able to truly submit to or give her heart to another.

Which was why her attitude toward Schneider was technically closer to cooperation than fealty. She would not go as far as to give her life for him, but she would assist him to whatever extent she could.

Though she had always thought that Schneider was an excellent liege, of course.

“But why do you ask?”

“For now, could you please answer my questions without asking anything in return?”

“Very well. What else did you want to ask me?”

“What do you think about the Kingdom of Roanne? I’m sure you like it more than you do other countries, since you were born here, so do you plan to stay here after you graduate?”

Ianna was starting to see what he was getting at. She thought she could guess why Arhad was asking about this out of the blue. He was trying to lay the groundwork to win her over to his side.

“No. I’m planning to leave the kingdom once I get older, unless I have some other special reasons why I might need to stay. I wouldn’t mind seeking out an outstanding liege and placing myself under their banner. And if I can’t find anyone suitable for the position, I’ll become a mercenary and explore the world.”

She had certainly thrown enough bait, so Ianna was hoping he would start biting by now. After all, she didn’t think that Arhad was dense enough to miss the bait she was dangling directly in front of his eyes.

And, as she had expected, Arhad’s expression brightened up visibly.

“I see.”

“Could you please tell me why you’re asking now?”

Ianna feigned ignorance and scrunched her brows a little as if she didn’t know why he was asking. She continued,

“Now that I think about it, you said that you were the bastard child of a powerful noble in the North. And you’re also the leader of an organization as large as Camastros……. You asked me about what I wanted to do in the future and if I loved the kingdom —are you trying to win me over and bring me completely under your banner?”

The look on Ianna’s face was serious as she cut directly to the heart of the matter —Arhad’s true intentions. Arhad was immediately caught off guard and flinched.

“Was I wrong? I’m a bit disappointed.”

Ianna, who had been a little too direct while looking so serious, raised her hands and chuckled quietly. She heard Arhad’s ragged breathing —and not his answer— by her ear. He seemed rather bewildered. Ianna wondered if she had sufficiently paid him back for treating her like a child just earlier. Just what part of her was childish? Ianna snorted to herself.

Still, she wasn’t joking.

“I think you would suffice.”

Arhad hesitantly opened his mouth and spoke after hearing Ianna’s addendum.

“……For what?”

“For what I was speaking of earlier —someone whom I’d be willing to assist.”

“What do you see in me that makes you say that?”

“It’s just a feeling. I have a good eye for powerful people, so I know that you’re incredibly skilled. And, not only are you squaring off against the Black Fox, which even the kingdom can’t do much about on a national level, but you also have a powerful enemy in the North…… I feel as though it would be fun to assist you in this life. I’m rather fond of dangerous people.”

Ianna preferred living like a shark roaming the stormy seas over living like a fish being carried along by a gentle stream. She would rather live a short but exciting life than a long but boring one.

“Pft!”

Arhad huffed out the breath that he had been holding back.

“Truly……?”

Ianna grew a little expectant as she watched a helpless smile tug at the corner of his lips. He continued,

“I’m sorry, but I’ll explain myself at a later time.”

“Pardon?”

“I’m sure you’re curious, but please wait. My heart is trembling at the moment. I’ll tell you once I’m ready.”

‘So when will that be?’

Ianna pouted a little before she realized what she was doing. She was willing to go so far for him, and yet he was still hesitant?

Still, she was satisfied enough for today that it seemed like he definitely meant to win her over eventually.

‘Was this why he called for me?’

This was something he could have asked her while they had been travelling in the South or while they were making their way back to the Institution. Elsewise, he could have asked anytime during the school semester or while they were working as members of Camastros, since they would be seeing each other often and the question could have been asked more naturally.

So, what had changed about his mindset today that he felt the need to go out of his way to call her out like this? Had something happened today that had been significant enough to sway his mind? Ianna worked the gears in her head.

Today had been the Swordsmanship Department’s orientation day. There had been an announcement regarding what the department would do for the school festival. Ianna automatically recalled the very first question Arhad had asked her as she thought about the festival. Specifically, she remembered how Arhad had trailed off when she had replied to his question about whether she was planning to win the swordsmanship tournament with her answer that she intended to do her best.

‘Something about the swordsmanship tournament?’

Ianna looked to her feet in puzzlement.

“But for now, would you mind having a sparring match with me?”

Arhad’s question struck her eardrums like thunder as she tucked back a strand of hair that had fallen to the side of her face in the middle of her reverie. It was the best thing he could have asked if he was trying to change back the topic. The displeasure and doubt that had been creeping into Ianna’s mind were cleared cleanly away.

“Right now?”

Not only had she neglected to bring her sword with her, since she hadn’t known that this would happen, but the sun had sunk behind the ground past Arhad and darkness had fallen on the earth, signalling the onset of night. Ianna continued,

“Shall I go and fetch my sword?”

But it didn’t matter. If Arhad insisted on sparring now, then she would run back to her dorm like the wind to fetch her sword. Ianna stepped forth impatiently. Arhad, however, shook his head no.

“It’s gotten late, so how about tomorrow morning at six at the third training room?”

Ianna’s heart skipped a beat. Regardless of everything else, she would always welcome a promise to spar. But it was still a surprise.

“I’d be more than glad to, of course, but why so suddenly?”

She found it a little odd. She had thought that he would only become her new sparring partner after the new semester had started. And yet, contrary to how he’d been avoiding her requests up until now, Arhad seemed to want to spar as soon as possible.

Arhad stared into Ianna, who’s eyes had become a little unfocused as she fell into thought.

“I wanted to confirm your skills for myself, Ianna.”

Ianna’s eyes regained their focus, as though someone had pulled the tangled mess of her thoughts straight when she heard his subtle reply. Arhad’s eyes, which were always soft and gentle when they looked at her, no longer exuded of warmth. Instead, he looked level-headed and nervous, like someone who had been placed at the crossroads between a crucial choice between two options. He continued,

“I am truly being honest.”

Ianna clenched her hands into tight fists.

~~*~~

Part 3

Unlike how she had been in the past, Ianna’s emotions were constantly in turbulence after being reborn.

The neglected little girl who always craved for love and affection had grown ill and had suddenly disappeared.

Ianna had hated House Roberstein, which had scorned her ever since Lebony had been pregnant with her, had been fed up with the violence she had suffered at Cherno’s hands, had despised the eyes that always looked to her with only contempt so much that she wanted to rip them out from their sockets, and, above all else, she had been so utterly exhausted by Lebony’s obsession and unreasonableness toward her that she flared with the impulse to murder her mother dozens —no, hundreds— of times every day.

And, above all else, Ianna had burned furiously in her animosity and rage toward Arhad Roygen, the man who had defeated her at the swordsmanship tournament when she was nineteen, whom she had not been able to find even a trace of ever since.

She had been granted incredible talent, though she was not gifted anything else other than perhaps her pretty looks. The one and only thing that supported her and cleared away the contempt, the scorn, the insults, and the ridicule around her was that which was both the measure of her worth and her everything —the sword.

Perhaps she could have lived in happiness without knowing victory or defeat if she had never participated in the tournament in the first place. But she had confirmed her amazing talent by defeating others during the first tournament she had ever competed in. She had tasted pure joy and bliss as the racket died down with every swing of her sword.

It had given her goosebumps. Those worthless tongues, which would never shut up no matter how badly she wanted them to, could be made to stop wagging through brute force. Those eyes, which were as repulsive to her as was sewage, could be forced to bend knee before her might.

But then she had been ruthlessly beaten just moments later. A certain man had broken her sword, and then he had simply disappeared after smiling as she was kneeling before him.

The bliss of victory had been tainted by the indignity of defeat. Ianna was miserable even though the stomach-churning scorn had been replaced by high praise after the tournament.

She had understood in her head, or course, that she was still yet young and that there were bound to be many who were better swordsmen than her. But there were so many things in the world which she could understand in her head but never in her heart. Ianna had given up on everything else and was finally enjoying life while only living for the sword, only to be stunned by her first defeat, which she had suffered one-sidedly.

“I only have the sword. The sword is my everything. But if someone else can beat me so easily in swordplay, then how is my sword any different from needlework or studying……?”

Ianna had seethed in spite. She didn’t care about anything else, but she had to be the best when it came to the sword. It was the only ambition she ever harbored.

At first, Ianna had been determined to train hard so she would not lose next time and had neglected to attend parties or study so she could build up her body, and she had wholly devoted herself to her training. She had gained practical experience by slipping out of the annex and climbing up into dangerous regions of the Lotso Mountains to struggle desperately against the monsters there and by mercilessly crushing underfoot and pompous swordsmen who had come to challenge her.

Ianna had been undefeated in combat. Her enemies fell before her frantic sword like leaves scattering in the autumn wind. Ianna’s pride in her sword only grew as time passed. Her love and obsession for the sword grew only deeper. But it could not fill the emptiness in her heart.

Ianna had always had the same dream. Arhad’s shadow always defeated her and sneered at her in her dreams. And so, she constantly felt the humiliation of defeat.

And she would never be relieved of that humiliation until she defeated him. She was not happy no matter whomever else she defeated. Arhad was her sole target whom she absolutely must defeat.

Therefore, she had waited eagerly for the day to come when she would pay back Arhad in kind for the insult she had suffered.

And so, time had passed.

“Why aren’t you coming after me?”

Arhad, who had promised to come find her, had not come looking for her even as the months and years had passed.

“I thought you said you would break my glare?”

If she had been able to face the real Arhad and still lost again even after giving it her all, then perhaps she would have simply acknowledged that he was her superior in terms of skill —she would still have continued trying to beat him, but perhaps what little goodwill she had for him would not have vanished for good. But Arhad had not only insulted her, he had never even given her the chance to wash herself free of his insult.

And her sense of defeat had only grown worse.

The hand that Prince Schneider had held out toward her as she was being devoured by her ferocious animosity and as her self-confidence was slowly being whittled away had been a blessing to her.

“I need you. My ambitions cannot come to fruition without you. Won’t you lend me your strength?”

Ianna had cast away everything else and had lived only for the sword. The fact that someone could need her sword so desperately was sweeter to her than she could have ever imagined. The unexpected sweetness taught her the bliss of standing superior to others. It was the thrilling feeling of victory that she hadn’t felt in such a long while.

She had agreed to the prince’s request so she could forget her sense of defeat and chase after that feeling. But she could never fully offer her heart up to another, so she had taken Schneider’s hand in cooperation rather than fealty.

Her defeat had become as a scar in her heart, which Ianna had buried deep within as she became the prince’s subordinate, as she wielded her sword for the prince while never once being defeated, and as she climbed up to the station of duchess. She had piled pride upon pride up in her heart to hide the scars she bore.

Ianna had never lost to anyone who had challenged her at the sword ever since, she had silenced all those who had insulted her with her sword, and she had mercilessly executed all those who were hostile to her. And her pride had grown remarkably as she continued to wield her sword.

Arhad, I will never lose to you again even if you should appear before me. I will force you to your knees and sneer at you. Ianna had ignored her aching scars and justified herself with her arrogance.

And then, Arhad had appeared before her again out of nowhere and Ianna had been defeated so abruptly yet again. There was no way he could have known what state her heart had been in that day.

A colossal flood of animosity and hatred had surged out from her like a broken dam, like a demon springing out of hiding. Her sense of defeat, which she had been hiding away behind her pride, had festered to the point where it could no longer be treated.

She could not hold back her surging emotions and had wielded her sword in loathing and rejection.

And she had been defeated again.

“I haven’t lost.”

And again.

“I haven’t lost!”

And yet again.

“This is just a continuation of our match from before! He who gets the last laugh is the true victor!”

She had acted rather foolishly. And she had never once tried to look into his heart. She had only ever rejected him.

Why was it? Why hadn’t Arhad given up on her? He could have simply let her win if she wanted to beat him that much, so why hadn’t he?

Ianna had only finally conceded her defeat when her life had come to an end.

Why was it? Why had Ianna, who believed her sword to be her everything, been able to struggle until the very end even after her sword had been broken over and over again? Why had she been able to acknowledge her defeat in relief as she died?

Was it because she had given it her all? Was that all there was to it?

Ianna had realized that she had been victorious only at the very end of her life.

She had lost, but she also hadn’t. After all……he had wanted her.

She had always been defeating him with her heart. He, too, had never been able to accept his defeat and had only killed her after finally conceding his defeat at the very end. Which was why they had always ended in a draw.

……You and I —we’re the same.

So, be honest with me.

In truth, I felt like the sense of defeat disappeared from within me little by little whenever I rejected you and hurt you. I felt like I was winning.

So, what did you feel whenever you broke my sword and sent me crumbling to the ground?

Chirp— chirp—

“…….”

Ianna was sitting at the edge of her bed at dawn with a single sword held tightly in her arms. The expression on her face as she stared into the bluish morning light filtering through the window was as calm as the surface of a lake’s waters.

Ianna was reminiscing over her past life for the first time in a long while as she relaxed her heart and organized her thoughts. She did not regret the life she had lived by setting her everything ablaze as she wielded her sword against Arhad. Nor did she regret her foolish behavior as she continuously tried to offset her sense of defeat by hurting him.

She was simply reflecting upon her actions. The Ianna of the present only existed because the Ianna of the past had existed before her.

Now, she had shaken off the past that only she remembered and was starting a new time as she sought to fight a new match. Ianna got up from her seat and left the room quietly so she would not wake Priscilla, who was fast-asleep.

There was no one in the third training room because the semester hadn’t started yet, it was very early in the morning, and the third training room was located in a rather remote area compared to the others. Only Arhad was there waiting for her.

Arhad grinned upon seeing her and nodded to her in greeting.

“You’re early.”

Ianna greeted him back and stopped walking up to him once she was a set distance away. Arhad looked to her firm resolve with mixed feelings and the expression on his face grew slightly stern.

“No one will be here at this training room at this time on this day. And, we will be using a barrier artefact to prevent as much damage to the training room as possible.”

Barrier was a spell that generated a spherical wall of protection around a fixed location. The spell gathered mana tightly together, like a steel plate, and made it impossible to attack from both outside and within the barrier, making it a suitable spell for magically protecting the training room with.

Arhad pulled out a crystal ball from his pocket, injected it to the brim with mana, and threw it toward the center of the training room. The ball was made of thin glass and shattered as soon as it hit against the hard floor. When it did, it created a barrier with a circumference of roughly the length of ten fully grown men lying head to toe with the crystal ball at its center.

“The barrier will last for about an hour. So…….”

Arhad’s surroundings suddenly tingled with dense bloodlust as he spoke. Ianna inched her hand to the hilt of her sword as she felt it.

“Show me the full extent of your strength within that hour, Ianna.”

He was speaking down to her now. It signaled that he was speaking to her as the leader of Camastros. He continued,

“I will personally confirm how strong you truly are.”

Ianna understood that Arhad would use this match to determine whether or not he would fully bring her under his banner and make her his subordinate instead of just a temporary colleague.

Ianna tightened her grip. She had to make it so that Arhad was absolutely burning in his desire to have her. She absolutely had to make him bring her into Camastros’ fold. It was the only way she wouldn’t end up exploding in frustration because of all the secrets he was hiding.

Matches would be decided in just one blow more often than not, so keeping up a match for an entire hour was actually rather long. Moreover, while it was one thing if they were of similar strength, the match would end well within an hour if there was any significant disparity between them. It could even be over in just a single round. And so, she would have to do her best and win his acknowledgement in whatever short amount of time existed before the match was decided.

……No, that’s not it.

If at all possible, she wanted to do more than simply be acknowledged by him —she wanted to beat him. She wanted to win so badly it nearly drove her insane.

Ianna, however, did not believe that she could best Arhad as they were now. After all, he had always been an absolute victor who had always defeated her!

An enemy whom she could never beat even if she struggled desperately with everything she had. Not only had the impossible cliff she had tried to climb scarred her heart, but her sword, which he had cleanly severed in two, could not break his. He was a cliff whose peak she could not see, and he had always stood before her and obstructed her path.

But her never-ending cycle of defeat had been severed when she was reborn, and she was now starting a new match against this man. The canvas was not quite a blank page, but the cogwheels of fate had made their mark by painting over it with white so that a new picture could be painted on.

Ianna was a woman, and Arhad was a man. Ianna was five years younger than he was, and, though she was mature for her age, she was still closer to a girl while Arhad was a fully-grown man. Even if they possessed similar talent, the differences born of their sex and the five years between them would inevitably cause for some disparity.

But, on the other hand, Ianna had also experienced the miracle of rebirth.

She had taken up the sword much earlier than she had in her last life, and she had trained from dawn to dusk every day since in her efforts to bridge the gap between them.

Unlike in her last life, in which she had simply wielded her sword because she loved it, she had rejoiced at being able to take up her beloved sword once again in this life and had trained herself up systematically with the resolve to beat Arhad this time around. As a result, her muscles were supple and her frame was swift —allowing her to handle her sword with masterful grace.

And most important was the blessing she had received as a result of her rebirth —the decades of experience that she had of wielding the sword. Ianna understood that her current self was on a completely different level of skill than she had been at this age in her past.

‘……Could I possibly win?’

Ianna bit down at her lip as anticipation surged from within her. I won’t be too greedy for victory. But I will still do my best. I have a lot of time, so it doesn’t matter even if I lose. The final victor is the one who gets the last laugh. It doesn’t matter even if I lose over and over again —I just need to win once at the end.

And yet, he looked so calm without so much as a trace of excitement.

Ianna’s eyebrows twitched. Arhad, who was looking at her as expressionlessly as a proctor evaluating his inferiors, did not seem to think he could possibly lose at all. He really thought this in actuality, and Ianna knew this.

‘But how are you so certain of your victory when you’ve never even fought me before?’

Her heart twisted for a moment. The sword in her hands jerked with a clatter.

As she had expected, such contrived assurances like, ‘I won’t be greedy for victory,’ ‘I’ll wait for the days to come,’ or ‘There’s no way I’ll be able to beat him yet,’ did not suit her.

‘……Perhaps I was simply trying to justify my defeat in advance.’

Ianna blushed red with shame the very moment she realized this. She had rationalized to herself and told herself that it was only natural to face defeat head-on, and she was trying to turn her eyes away from the appalling sense of defeat she had felt from days past.

She would do her best? But, how could she possibly do her best when she had already decided that she would lose? It was nonsense.

A person’s true nature never changed. She would not change, just as Arhad had not changed. She might get chipped in the process, but it was in her nature to face things head-on. Avoidance didn’t suit her.

She retracted her previous empty statement about doing her best and replaced it with the resolve to ‘do her best and win’ as she set her desire for victory ablaze.

I want to defeat you!

She was quickly overflowing with the desire to punch Arhad at least once in his spiteful face. Ianna sucked in her dried lips for a moment before curling them up into a sharpened smile.

“Don’t you dare go easy on me. You will never see me again if you do.”

And she meant it. The only thing more insulting than defeat was a false victory, and she would truly lose herself in her anger if Arhad didn’t take her seriously.

Arhad smirked as he drew his bastard sword and held it with both of his hands.

“Don’t worry. I don’t intend to take you lightly in the least. Judging by how you are now, I feel like my head would go flying if I went easy on you.”

The tip of his blade was pointed directly at Ianna. He continued,

“Besides, I don’t like losing either. And I especially don’t want to lose to you. Now then, shall we start? Come at me.”

Arhad nodded.

The match had started.

Instead of lunging at him immediately, Ianna carefully straightened out her posture and fixed her grip on her sword. It was all too clear to her that she would be sucked into Arhad’s pace if she allowed her excitement to get the better of her and rushed at him, and she would likely end up making a fool of herself.

Ianna scrutinized him obstinately for the slightest of openings. And yet, she could find no means of catching him off guard no matter how hard she looked.

“Hwoo.”

A breath laced heavily with tension and excitement escaped her. The cold sweat from her palms was absorbed into the soft leather she had wrapped around her hilt. Ianna readjusted her grip on her sword yet again, lest it slipped out from her hands.

Then, she made a decision. She would only be able to make an opening if she was daring in her movements.

Ianna kicked off against the ground and closed the distance to Arhad in an instant. The bluish veins in her hands popped out as she gripped her sword just before she reached the optimal distance to attack from.

“Haah!”

Swiiiish!

After her short cry was the fierce scream of the wind as it was torn asunder. Her slender rapier, now drawn from its sheath, was covered in a dark layer of red fortification. The color of her blade, which was originally close to white, was now so crimson that it could have been that color since the day it was forged.

Her slash had been meant to cut through Arhad’s sword and into his body, but Ianna neither stopped nor slowed her attack. Her sword and her crimson fortification exploded like fireworks in a field of reeds toward Arhad.

Not only was her speed remarkable, but her sword was also wrapped in a powerful fortification and the breath of her attack was so wide that it could not be dodged. If Arhad had dodged, her fortification, which she could shoot out at will, would flail out at him like a whip and strike.

There was a dark glint in Arhad’s golden eyes. She may be young, but a lion’s cub was still a lion.

Bzzz—

Arhad drew the surrounding mana into himself. Mana disappeared from their surroundings. All the mana in the air, which had been floating around aimlessly until then, drew into him like a pack of starving hyenas.

The mana was dyed black around Arhad’s blade and swirled around it. The ends of the mana twister adhered tightly to his sword like someone had pulled it taut from both ends. Then, the mana, which had been piling together like it was weaving a net, exploded out as Arhad slowly compressed it and burned in a black blaze.

If Ianna’s fortification was like a dagger that condensed into itself while hiding its strength and evaporated once it had taken its target’s life in one blow, then Arhad’s was like a weapon of mass destruction that put its destructive prowess on full display.

Boooooom!

A deafening roar covered the skies. Blade clashed against blade in the space between their locked eyes —a bloodthirsty red and a sharpened gold. Then, the two swords, which had clashed against each other with the ferocity of a cannon blasting away at a rampart and the roar to match it —it was almost as if they weren’t actually weapons at all—, readily broke away.

Claang! Clang! Cla-clang! Bang!

The two swords clashed against each other at speeds invisible to the naked eye while leaving behind only bluish-white trails in the air and the never-ending ring of metal.

Ianna kicked off against the ground again and swung her sword. Arhad blocked it like it was only natural.

Creak, creak.

Their swords locked against each other and pushed and pulled, and the stalemate was only broken when Ianna’s sword suddenly drew back in the opposite direction. Ianna spun around and her sword drew a circle in the air as it came flying back toward Arhad’s throat. Arhad held his sword up as he blocked her attack.

Arhad drew his bastard sword in a large arc from the left, so Ianna brought her sword down from above to knock him off track, and when his bastard sword, which had veered to the right, came back toward her, she knocked it away again from below.

Clink.

Arhad’s golden eyes flashed ruthlessly as he grabbed his bastard sword tightly with both hands. A trail of light dragged from his glowing eyes as he quickly spun around. He swung his bastard sword crossways with wrath, as if he meant to rend his opponent through both flesh and bone.

Claaang!

The barrier shook when the shockwave from the clash hit against it. Ianna held up her sword vertically and firmly blocked his attack, and she poured strength into her legs so she wouldn’t get pushed back, but the soles of her feet grew hot from friction and stirred up a cloud of dust and smoke.

Skiiid.

She had tried to stand her ground but was pushed back, was unable to beat Arhad in a contest of brute strength, and so she kicked off explosively and jumped high into the air. She flipped in mid-air and beat back Arhad’s sword, which was coming down at her like a bolt of lightning, by swinging her own sword from bottom to top in a crescent.

She landed and used the recoil from her attack to spin backward in a circle, compressed her femoral regions, and sprang up to aggressively beat back Arhad’s sword again as it swept close to her without giving her the chance to recover. Metal screeched against metal. Arhad’s sword was whipped back.

Swoosh!

Ianna opened her legs so they were shoulder-width apart and stabbed her rapier at him dozens of times in the tiny opening she had made in Arhad’s guard. Her strikes were as explosive as though fragments of a broken star were breaking through the atmosphere and falling upon him in a meteor shower, and each stab was as fierce and swift as lightning. Arhad, however, never took his eyes off her blindingly bright attack. And he quickly beat back each and every strike without missing a single one.

Ianna’s sharp and straight attacks continued. Countless flashes of sharpened light were drawn into the air as though they were being reflected off of hundreds of mirrors.

Neither Ianna nor Arhad thought to evade. They continued to attack each other fiercely and chaotically, as if something terrible would happen if either were to back down or as though they were mortal enemies fighting to the death.

Their clashing sword fortifications burst out in countless fragments of sharp mana that filled the air as densely as needlework embroidering through cloth and yet as brilliantly as a shower of arrows being shot at from a castle’s ramparts.

Kaboooom!

The powerful fragments that had been flung off carved out scars in the training room floor. The barrier managed to block any fragments that were cast aside, though it shook perilously as it did, and prevented the carefully landscaped trees from being mowed down, but it could not protect the training room floor.

Their fortification continued to carve out scars of varying sizes into the training room floor as though a giant with blades for feet had been running amok and jumping around on top of it. The training room floor had been reinforced by highly skilled mages with spell after spell to make it sturdier, but Ianna and Arhad’s swordplay seemed to render their efforts useless as their each and every strike carved through the ground.

“Haah, haah!”

“Hwoo!”

Their breathing grew rough with each scar they etched on the ground. And the looks on their faces grew so peculiar and bewildered that they could not tear their eyes off one another.

Ianna could not shake off the two doubts that had begun forming in her mind even as she was busy swinging around her sword.

First. Why was the color of his fortification black instead of gold?

Arhad had been called the Golden Swordsman in the past. He had been called this because, unlike his bloodline, who were called the Black Demons, his eyes were a chilling gold, like the eyes of a savage beast’s, and his powerful fortification was also the same golden color.

And yet the fortification clashing against Ianna’s crimson gave off a blackish light, as though it had devoured the darkness itself.

‘Does something change within the next three years?’

And second.

Ianna’s heart was beating like crazy.

‘Why……do I feel like I won’t lose?’

She didn’t think that she could emerge victorious against him, but, that being said, she didn’t feel as though she would be cast down into defeat again either.

Arhad and Ianna had different styles of swordplay in that one tended to beat opponents back while the other opted for more flexible movements respectively……and yet they were also similar. Ianna was sure of this. Ianna, who was currently clashing blades against none other than Arhad, knew this best. She could guarantee it.

Ianna’s eyes turned upward and she found that the sky was gradually growing brighter. A lot of time had passed, though she wasn’t exactly sure about how long it had been.

“Don’t take your eyes off me!”

Arhad’s sword seized upon her momentary lapse and rushed deeply toward her shoulder. She was slow. Ianna scolded herself for getting distracted for a moment as she rolled back and struck away the black fortification that chased her as she got up.

Clang!

Ianna failed to maintain her fortification properly while she rolled and her arm was pushed upward. She grit her teeth. Her hand, which she had tightened to keep her grip on her sword, hurt. She managed to keep hold of her sword, but her hand grew instantly wet with blood as the skin on her palms tore and started bleeding. It was the consequence of her momentary error.

Still, she only gripped her sword tighter, as though she couldn’t feel any pain at all, as she swung it crossways against Arhad’s oncoming sword.

Pachang!

The swords clashed fiercely.

Ianna would never give up on this moment because of some foolish wound —not until the match was over, at least. Fiery ecstasy began flooding into Ianna’s face.

In the past……he probably hadn’t done it on purpose, but Arhad had utterly trampled over Ianna during their first match without working up much of a sweat at all. The fact had only humiliated Ianna all the more.

Which was why she could tell that Arhad was giving it his all just by seeing how the beads of sweat were rolling down from his forehead. He may have been ill, but he himself had firmly told her that his illness posed no problems for his body, and his sincere attitude toward Ianna told her that he had not been lying.

And so, Ianna’s heart was beating in excitement more furiously than it ever had before.

Clang!

“You rolled away……,”

Arhad muttered as he parried Ianna’s attack. Arhad was only blocking and attacking because he hadn’t wanted to dodge Ianna, who was only attacking and blocking like she had been set ablaze and didn’t know what evading was. Which was why he had thought that Ianna would simply take an attack if she had to —he had never thought even in his wildest imaginations that she would dodge and roll away, as swordsmen of exceptional skill were usually too proud to roll.

“I’ll do whatever it takes to win!”

But Ianna’s desire to win burned much brighter than the average man’s.

Arhad was astonished by her current level of skill —actually, he was beyond astonished and was quite bewildered—, but he did not suggest that they stopped sparring even though he had already taken a good measure of her skills. Or rather, there was no way that he could stop.

She looked like she was having so much fun. The feverish desire to win and radiant vigor Ianna was giving off seemed to surpass time itself and take him back to the ancient past. To that day when he had first laid his eyes upon her. To that day when his heart and soul had been stolen away before he could do anything about it, that day when he had first fallen in a trance and grown dizzy.

Only, she wasn’t as warm as she had been that day.

Destructive possessive desire boiled up to the surface of Arhad’s heart.

‘I want you.’

A hot and muddy feeling filled his head to the brim. His head was overflowing with the pitch-black desire to break the radiant woman before him and turn her into a feeble being that could only live and breathe under his protection.

‘I want to hold you in my hands. I want to make it so that you only see me, so that you can’t see anyone but me…….’

Ianna’s vigor and strength were dear to him, but his contradictory thoughts surged out and swallowed him up from time to time. A turbid light swirled within the depths of Arhad’s eyes.

‘I want to break that sword of yours.’

I love your sword so much, but I also hate it.

Just then, Ianna’s sword cut through an opening in Arhad’s guard just as Arhad had broken through hers when Ianna was distracted. Arhad, however, blocked her sword well enough, and their blades crossed as though they were barring their fangs against each other.

Clatter, clatter.

Ianna could not push Arhad back in a contest of brute strength. She grit her teeth together as her entire body was drenched in sweat. It would have been a different story had it happened anywhere else, but the torn skin on the palm of her hand was fatal to her.

Their swords seemed to have been stuck together, but Ianna slowly slid hers down Arhad’s blade toward his wrists. He tried to push her away, but she gave way when he pushed and pushed back when he tried to pull away, and she continued to slowly slide down his sword without breaking off contact. Ianna was relatively weaker than Arhad, so her attacks focused more on redirection.

Creak—

Her sword continued to slide downward. She was perfectly positioned to cut past the guard on Arhad’s sword and through his fingers and eventually wrists and arm, but she didn’t stop.

Arhad’s golden eyes glistened coldly as he pushed back at Ianna with tremendous strength that could not be compared to how he had been pushing before. He had not only fortified his sword but had also reinforced the muscles in his arms with mana as much as he possibly could to see things through to the bitter end.

“Hah!”

But Ianna, who was standing in a wide stance and held her ground without being pushed back, spun her sword around and held it with her uninjured left hand. Then, her sword rushed toward Arhad’s face.

Pshh!

The deep wound on Ianna’s right hand gushed out blood when she moved her sword into her left hand. Crimson drops of blood fell into the air. Arhad was not only momentarily distracted by her blood, but he also failed to adjust to her left-handed attack because he was too accustomed to her right-handed attacks and did not react in time.

He brandished his sword and turned his head as quickly as he could, but the tip of Ianna’s blade scratched the edge of his lips and cut into his cheek as it passed. Drops of blood burst out from the newly made wound across Arhad’s cheek.

The droplets reflected clearly in Ianna’s red eyes. They opened wide in surprise.

“Ah!”

Ianna lost her balance when the tension left her body, and she fell forward into Arhad’s arms. Arhad instinctively stopped attacking when Ianna suddenly fell into his open arms and subconsciously threw himself back while embracing her with the arm he wasn’t holding his sword with.

The drops of blood floating in the air fell to the ground.

Drip.

The spell broke as the drops of blood collided against the ground. Condensed mana shimmered like a heat haze before scattering into their surroundings and opening up the sky again.

“…….”

Ianna and Arhad remained still as silence fell upon the training room. Ianna was resting in Arhad’s arms with her sword standing vertically next to his throat. Arhad’s sword, which had been targeting Ianna’s back, lost its destination and fell slowly to the ground.

Their ragged breathing mixed into each other.

“…….”

Ianna pushed off against Arhad’s frame ever so slightly as she sat up. She slowly lowered her fiercely gleaming sword from where it was next to Arhad’s throat and retreated a few steps.

Ianna groaned and clutched her aching right hand with her left after stabbing her sword into the ground.

Arhad brought up his own hand and stared at it for a moment before raising it higher. He rubbed his thumb against his stinging cheek and observed the blood that was smeared on it.

“Haah……. Haa…….”

Ianna watched as the blood continued to drip down from her hand, but she clenched her hand into a fist before she knew what she was doing as she failed to keep back the emotions that were flaring up and bubbling within her. The excitement surging within her was so great that it overshadowed even the pain.

It was a draw.

It was truly a draw.

Arhad had torn her palm, and Ianna had sliced his cheek. Their control over mana and their skill with the sword were similar as well. She had not been victorious, but neither had she been defeated. They had ended up in an unbreakable tie.

My rebirth wasn’t for nothing, and my efforts until now weren’t just in vain.

Ianna swept away the sweat pouring down her face with a trembling hand. Her vision was growing dizzy.

Can I beat you? If I try just a little harder, if I sharpen and polish myself just a little more, then can I truly beat you……?

She was finally starting to see the end of Arhad’s seemingly endless and despair-inducing power. Ianna’s face flushed and her fist began to quiver. She brought her hands tightly together and covered her mouth as she stepped back without realizing what she was doing.

“Ah…….”

Ianna began to shiver. Her eyelashes and the corners of her eyes narrowed sleekly. Her eyelids grew brighter and the tip of her nose tingled.

Ianna was truly happy. She was so happy that she could barely breathe, much less laugh. She thought that she might begin crying instead. She had never been this happy before in her life.

She could not maintain her composure as the calm surface of the waters of her heart grew agitated. Ianna had experienced dozens of years and had even been reborn —her emotions were rarely shaken. And yet, a part of her wanted to shout with joy and stomp her feet. She wanted to punch something, and she also wanted to hug something tight and roll around the floor.

“Ha…… Haha…….”

It was only a draw, and yet a laugh began escaping Ianna’s lips as an overwhelming wave of ecstasy flooded over her. An outpour of delight ran straight from the crown of her head to the tips of her toes.

This was the best.

An intense premonition that this life would not only be her utmost but also her very best beat furiously against her heart. Her red eyes were brimming with unconcealable delight, and her sharp eyes were slanted into a smile.

In the past, Arhad had allowed his enemy’s strongest warrior, Ianna, to walk away free dozens and even hundreds of times, and Ianna knew that she was only second to him and that her life had been prolonged only because of his desires —nothing more, and nothing less.

She did not regret the fact that she had struggled against Arhad until the day she died, but neither could she say that her last life had been her best. Still, she had given it her all and had lived in accordance to her will —she regretted nothing, and neither did she have any lingering regrets. And so, she had never wanted to live longer or start all her life over again.

But right now, now as she recorded her very first draw against Arhad, Ianna was more grateful for her new chance at life than words could ever say.

She knew best that Arhad hadn’t gone easy on her. Arhad’s frame, which she had fallen into when she lost her balance, had been drenched in sweat. It had thrilled her. She loved the way his body expressed that her efforts had reached him so much it could drive her insane.

She acknowledged, of course, that this result had only been made possible because Arhad was still stuck in the past while she had devoted herself to changing the future. But she did not think that she was being petty. After all, what did it matter when she was feeling so delighted?

And, Arhad was staring into her face as Ianna folded her hands over the sword that she had stuck into the ground. She liked the way he was looking blankly at her direction. She had successfully gotten him in the face, just as she had originally wanted.

“Pft…….”

Eventually, Ianna stooped over and laughed to her heart’s content.

“Ahaha! Hahahaha!”

The sun had risen fully into the sky and was watching over them as it showered them with its morning rays.

~~*~~

Arhad stared blankly as Ianna laughed radiantly in delight. He had never once seen her laugh so cheerfully in either this life or his last. Her bright laughter was so beautiful that he could not tear his eyes away. His damned heart was beating so furiously that it hurt.

You’re radiant.

He had thought that her radiance would only be momentary, but it refused to dim away. Her fires seemed to burn him until his insides were reduced to ash, and this throat grew dry before the feverish heat.

I’m parched.

He wanted to drink cool water to lessen his thirst, but he held back and simply swallowed dryly because he knew that his dreadful thirst could not possibly be quenched with just water.

Drip.

He only regained his senses as blood began dripping down from his face. Arhad wiped his hand across his face. It stung. It was only then that the bewilderment that had started to make a mess of his mind mid-way through their match seemed to enlarge.

Ianna’s control over mana was amazing, her skill with the sword was amazing, and her ability to adapt and respond to unexpected attacks was also amazing.

Which was why he was so disconcerted.

‘How did this happen?’

Ianna’s skills were on a completely different level than what they had been on the day she had suffered her first defeat at his hands before he had turned everything back. And she was two and a half years younger than she had been back then, too.

Everything had started going wrong after the Youth’s Swordsmanship Tournament that the royal family of Roanne had hosted. Arhad had done his best to ensure that nothing would change until the day that he was scheduled to meet her in person for the first time. He had grown up and trained in exactly the same way he had the first time around. And so, he was exactly as strong as he had been in the past.

‘Which variables made this possible……?’

That he had showered her with bloodlust when he met her at the Temple of Laos because he had thought she was yet another one of his illusions that he was so sick and tired of? That he had chased after her and embraced her? That he had saved her from the minotaurs and the Bahamut imperial mage? Or, perhaps, that he had kissed her fingers in the barracks and had given her his medicine?

Had those variables caused the change —Ianna applying to the Institution and ending a match in a draw with him here?

But, upon a second thought, Arhad realized that Ianna must have applied to the Institution before any of that. Besides, the skills she had displayed today could not have possibly been built up in any short period of time.

Then, was it because his heart had shattered when he had manifested his power? Because he had stolen divine power from other lifeforms? Or was it the culmination of other trivial differences?

But, how on earth had they induced such a colossal change? Those had nothing to do with Ianna, so how had they had any effect on her?

……It was bizarre.

And, there was yet another thing that he found strange.

“…….”

Arhad stared piercingly as he observed Ianna laughing cheerfully. And he grew puzzled.

‘This was a draw, not a win —so why is she so happy?’

Arhad monitored Ianna’s right hand, which was still dripping in blood. The fresh blood running down the lines of her fingers was as vivid to him as was a black dot against a white backdrop.

Did it not hurt? Was she so happy that it overshadowed the pain? They had ended in a draw —she had not won—, so why was she so happy? He was sure that Ianna wasn’t the kind of person to be satisfied with a mere draw. His misgivings coiled around his true nature like a snake of mist.

But more importantly, the way that Ianna’s wound was moistening the ground with her blood was beginning to bother him a lot. He buried his doubts back inside and cleared them from this head. He walked up to her quietly and grabbed her hard by the wrist since she was laughing so hard it did not seem like she could think straight.

Arhad dragged her directly into the infirmary located next to the training room, sat her down, and rummaged through the shelves for disinfectant, ointment, clean cloth, and bandages. He was about to grab her wrist again without thinking, but he startled when he found her staring back at him.

The storm of Ianna’s emotions had calmed down a bit by then, and she was observing Arhad’s every action. But the blissful smile still hadn’t left her lips and the vitality hadn’t left her eyes at all, making Arhad’s heart beat furiously yet again. His tightened his grip on the bandages he was holding.

In the past……Arhad had been incomplete back then. He had conquered the empire and collected his fragments as quickly as he could because all that lacked sought completion. In a way, Ianna was supposed to be his reward for completing the puzzle.

She was a precious existence, and the only one of her kind in the world. She was the invaluable prize he would enjoy once he had finished everything and eliminated all danger.

Which was why he had wanted to keep her by his side only after the bright light of glory shined upon him.

He had eventually taken the imperial crown and had gathered all his fragments. But everything had boiled down to Ianna in the end. And Ianna had already chosen another liege and had built up walls around her heart by the time Arhad realized this.

He had thought that he had gathered all his fragments. But he had been mistaken. He learned that he could not collect the last fragment at the center of the world without Ianna.

And so, he had waited for the day he would meet her again.

For the moment in time when everything had gone awry. And he had planned to never cross blades with her this time around.

“Weren’t you going to treat me? Why are you staring at me like that?”

Ianna smiled as she held out her hand. Arhad, who had been staring deeply into her, lowered his gaze and took her hand. He wet the clean cloth and carefully wiped away the blood as he continued to think.

‘Is it possible for me to have both your sword and you?’

Wounding Ianna’s pride back then had been a fatal mistake. The sword meant everything to her, and he had defeated her…with a sword. It had already been too late by the time he realized that defeating her had been a mistake. But he could not lose to her on purpose —nor did he want to— and it had driven him insane.

Things had been problematic even after that. Did he maintain that maddening situation so he could continue looking at her sword, or did he break her sword and take her by force? —the two choices were mutually exclusive. But he couldn’t decide between the two because he so badly wanted both, so he had simply gone insane without making any progress toward either. He was determined not to do that this time around.

Having her sword or having her —he knew from experience that the two choices could never overlap when it came to Ianna. Sparring with her in this situation meant that he could never truly have her even if he eventually won her sword. And so, Arhad had opted to give up on sparring with her so he could have her completely instead.

Arhad had resolved himself to never spar against Ianna again after resetting everything.

He enjoyed crossing blades with Ianna. Her sword was beautiful. Her energy and her love for the sword seemed to transfer into him whenever their swords clashed, and it made him feel alive.

But it also made him jealous. He hated that Ianna was so focused on her sword that she never looked at him, and he was jealous of the sword for engulfing Ianna’s entire being and never letting her go.

He couldn’t savor her sword if he never sparred with her, but he could at least have it. He could still watch it. It delighted him just to look at Ianna, so he was sure it would be fine.

And if he still couldn’t have her even after everything, then he would simply break her and take her……or so he had thought.

“Doesn’t it hurt? You should pay your own wound some attention too.”

Arhad, who had dressed the long tear across her palm as carefully as if he was working on a masterpiece and was wrapping a bandage around the wound, startled. Ianna’s fingers were brushing against the bloodied cut on his cheek.

The trails her touch left on his face felt so hot he thought he might be on fire.

“……No man would care too much about getting a scar or two. I’ll treat it later, so please don’t worry too much about it.”

“But what about this handsome face of yours?”

Ianna chided as she picked up some extra cloth and began carefully washing his face of blood. Arhad paid more attention to her touch than he did to his aching wound. Ianna continued,

“I thought you said you would maintain your good looks for me?”

He heard the short peal of her laughter.

Arhad’s heart was thumping in his chest. Unexpectedly, to the point it was bewildering, Ianna had displayed open fondness for him first in this life, and she also smiled often. He had never imagined this could happen even in his wildest dreams.

It made him so happy. But it also made him nervous.

What would happened if he lost that smile? If someone stole her away again from right before his eyes?

Just thinking about it made him dizzy. He would never allow it.

Arhad cast down his eyes and contemplated as he felt Ianna’s touch against his slightly flushed cheek.

He would really lose his mind and want to kill everything should that happen.

Whew. His lips parted as he breathed out a long sigh.

I’m so happy I feel like I’ve won everything the world has to offer when you smile. And it drives me insane, as if I’ve been robbed of everything, when you turn away. So stay by my side and smile for me. Never look away from me.

I want everything —both you and your light—, but I’ll want to force you to stay even if it means extinguishing your light if you try to leave.

“I feel like school life is about to become much more enjoyable.”

Ianna still hadn’t come down from the high of their draw and failed to keep the smile off her lips. She was already eagerly anticipating their next match.

Just then, Arhad realized,

‘I see. Are you seeking to take a victory from me just like before?’

His worth as a target of victory.

Arhad stared piercingly at Ianna. Her skill was amazing. Her growth rate was incredible, considering her age. He might even lose if he kept wallowing in the past like this.

The only worth she had seen in him in the past was in victory. He was not a person in her eyes, just an enemy —nothing more and nothing less. It was horrible. He would lose even the little interest she paid him if he was ever defeated.

Which was why he was so loathe to lose. Ianna always defeated him emotionally, so he could only maintain a tight connection with her by breaking her sword and beating her. Beating Ianna had been his only means of having any sort of relationship with her.

“I’m done.”

Ianna, who had finished applying medicine on his cut and had even put a bandage on it, straightened herself out. Arhad stared as Ianna happily made herself busy. Then, he lowered his gaze. His hands. The feeling of holding her in his arms.

He stared down at his hands as he clenched them into fists. It was not just a foolish thought.

Victory was the only shackle by which he could tie Ianna down. Ianna had been endlessly hostile to him before, but unlike then, she was incredibly amicable to him now. And Arhad desired her dreadfully.

In that case, he could only shackle her again.

‘I can’t stay behind in the past like this if I want to keep you by my side……’

The past had already been distorted, so there was no point in relying on his memories anymore. Everything had been distorted and he could not predict the future at all anymore, but it was more important to Arhad that he seized the opportunity before him.

~~*~~

Arhad had only told her not to push herself and to take it easy for the rest of the day before disappearing off to somewhere. Ianna returned to her room. She left Priscilla, who always said something about sleeping beauties needing their beauty sleep and was practicing what she preached, behind and went inside the bathroom.

Ianna drew herself some ice-cold water and poured it directly over her head. Then, she looked to the mirror. There was an unsightly and almost pouty smile on her wet reflection in the mirror.

Her body was stiff and tired because it had truly been a long while since she had last gotten so worked up and had wielded her sword with her full might. She was happy, pleased, satisfied, and content. Ianna was feeling a pleasant mixture of all sorts of positive feelings that she could not fully express with words at the moment, and it overwhelmed her so much that she could not keep herself under control.

‘I’ll rest up for a bit and go training again.’

Ianna washed her face several times with her uninjured hand. The way her hand was quivering as drops of water fell from it told her that her muscles were screaming at her to get some rest. But she didn’t want to let go of the light of victory that she had only just caught glimpse of.

She had worked so, so hard ever since she was young, and now she had finally achieved a draw. And so, she would take a short rest and immediately begin chasing after Arhad again.

Ianna washed herself up and glared at her bandaged hand in discontent after she got out of the bathroom. She had to hurry and get back to training. She had to stay neck-to-neck with him so she wouldn’t lag behind.

Her wounded hand started to offend her. Her heart was in such a hurry that she remembered the medicine that the black-robed man had given her and had even taken it out and held it in her grasp before she returned to her senses and shook her head. She put the little bottle away again and plopped down on her bed.

What if that man had been Arhad? If he was, then what did that medicine mean for him? And what had that medicine been made from?

If he didn’t take his medicine in time, then he would slumber until he did. And his illness was caused by a heart condition. Arhad absorbed divine power from others and drew it into his heart. He had said that it was basically a survival instinct for him.

If that man in black robes truly was Arhad……then was the medicine made from someone’s divine power?

But Ianna was not disgusted by the medicine, even if that were the case. She had witnessed Arhad stealing life from a monster, but she felt like it was no different from him eating rare and bloody steak or any other raw food.

Everything that lived in the world was both predator and prey. From its very inception, the world had been designed in such a way that living things had to steal life in order to live. It was easy to accept Arhad’s actions if she drew parallels to hunting for survival.

No one had the right to rebuke Arhad for what he had to do. Everything that lived instinctively ate when they were hungry, sought medicine when they hurt, and hurt other life as they went about their lives. And for Arhad, stealing divine power was no different from eating or taking medicine to stay alive. There were surely people who were repulsed by the fact that Arhad had to live that way, but there would also be those who sympathized with him as well.

‘But would they still sympathize with him if he turned on another human being?’

Probably not. Arhad would become as a cruel slaughterer in their eyes as soon as he turned to other people as his targets. People would be seized with fear and call him a murderer, and they might even try to kill him for it.

But Ianna would always be on Arhad’s side. She would greatly prefer it if things never came to it, but she would stand against the whole world if she had to.

All of these worries were premised on whether the black-robed man really was Arhad, of course, but Ianna grew more certain as time passed and as she pondered over it again and again.

The black-robed man had been strong enough to bisect several minotaurs and skilled enough to tail her without her noticing his presence. The touch of his lips on the back of her hand. Both the man and Arhad were exactly one head taller than her, had similar builds, and the shape of both of their muscles had felt the same when they had held her. And their voices were so similar that it had given her goosebumps.

The past had already been warped, and her past life was losing its accuracy in predicting her current one. It was entirely possible that Arhad had been at the temple back then and that they had met by pure coincidence.

Ianna’s eyes slowly closed as sleep fell upon her.

But then, why had he embraced her so tightly that she had thought she might shatter? What had he meant when he had asked if she was not an illusion?

That would have been their first meeting in this life…….

—“Match” End