Chapter 3: Roberstein

Part 1

This world is brimming with the God Laos’ miracles. The God Laos personally created all things with his own power, and he gifted his creations the chance to live in the wonderful world he had created.

The believers of the Faith of Laos, the national religion of the kingdom that most of her citizens practiced, spread their belief that Laos had created all things when the world began.

The doctrine of the Church of Laos was to never doubt the existence of the God Laos, to believe that the God Laos had created the world, to always give thanks to the God Laos for the gift of life, and to repent one’s sins and turn to God.

That ‘you will be taken under God’s wings and be able to find true rest after your death if you believe in God and sincerely adhere to the church’s doctrine’ was the main reason why believers sought after Laos in everything they did. They prayed that the day would be a peaceful one at the start of every day, and they reflected on their actions and confessed their sins after giving thanks to God at the end of every evening.

Most of the people of Roanne, regardless of rank or status, from the royal family down to the lowliest of commoners, were devout believers of the Faith of Laos.

Ianna, however, was not.

“You haven’t read the Holy Book of the God Laos yet? Truly?”

“No.”

Gerard, who had left the Roberstein lands after receiving summons from the king when Ianna was thirteen, had come to visit her today. He was here while on vacation and was laughing as he was about to tell her about the Great Temple of Laos in the capital. He had asked Ianna if she had read the Holy Book simply as a matter of form, but Ianna had honestly admitted that she hadn’t.

“Not even during your scripture lessons?”

“I told the Count that I would read the Book on my own. I study everything on my own these days —not just the scripture.”

“Hahaha. Then why haven’t you read the Holy Book yet?”

“Because I don’t feel the need to. I don’t have the time to waste reading a book full of baseless myths when I could be using that time to read books that’ll teach me knowledge that I’ll actually need. People say that Laos briefly came down to earth at the beginning of the Age of Magic to create the world. But was Laos a god that really existed?”

Ianna spat out words that would have made a devout follower of Laos come running at her while frothing at the mouth while calling her a blasphemer, if not a heretic.

“…….”

While Gerard was a believer of the Faith of Laos, he was not so fervent in his religious beliefs that he would froth at the mouth and criticize people like Ianna who said that God didn’t exist or call them heretics. He thought that what she was saying was curious, rather than uncomfortable to listen to. Ianna, who was barely fifteen, was saying the same things as did elderly magicians who were thoroughly absorbed in their craft.

“I don’t believe that God existed at the beginning of the world. Laos was probably a fictional character that people made up, or he could have been an actual person. After all, Laos has never appeared before the world again after the beginning of the Age of Magic, no?”

“No, he has not.”

“Exactly. The world runs perfectly fine on mana even without God. It doesn’t sit well with me, but the Church of Laos divides time into two eras —the Holy Age and the Age of Magic. There were said to be many gods other than Laos during the Holy Age, and it is also said that the world began running on mana in the Age of Magic. And right now, we are in the Age of Magic.”

The Age of Magic referred to the ‘age where people could control mana’.

But what exactly was mana? Simply put, mana was an invisible gas that carried energy. It flowed evenly around the world like air and was used in a variety of applications, like strengthening or reinforcing the body, casting magic, or imbuing artefacts with power. Mana was so thoroughly incorporated into the lives of the people who lived in this age that nothing would work properly if it suddenly were to disappear. In other words, mana was the foundation of the current age.

“I don’t think there is any real reason why we have to believe in God and read the Holy Book. After all, it’s clear that no gods exist in the present regardless of whether they existed or not in the past.”

Ianna believed in mana, which actually existed, instead of the gods she couldn’t see.

Gerard gently scolded Ianna for being so obtuse.

“But why wouldn’t God exist? It is said that mana, which you so speak so highly of, is but another gift from God.”

‘……Sophistry.’

Ianna knew she was being insolent toward her teacher, but she thought that the believers of the Faith of Laos were insane. What proof did they have that the power of mana was a gift from God?

The believers had deluded themselves into thinking that mana was a gift from God without any proof to back up their claims and they argued vehemently for it. By their logic, it was possible to make something unreasonable true just by strongly insisting that it was.

“Also, all living things carry both cold mana and the warm power of the gods —divine power. Everything that is alive has life and moves because God shared his power with us. This world is filled with God’s miracles.”

Divine power was a type of energy that was said to exist despite that, unlike mana, no one could actually perceive it. Cold mana and warm divine power. It was said that divine power was a warm energy that gifted life to the living and was imbued in all things that lived, unlike cold mana, a power that responded to human desire.

It was God’s amazing miracle that allowed living creatures, which were ultimately made of simple dirt and water, to have life and move.

Divine power, unlike mana, could not be felt by humans because Laos did not allow people to handle divine power, to the extent that his creations would not covet the gods’ territory…….

Ianna, however, believed that this nonsense was all just a pipe dream with no part to play in the present state of things that the believers of the Faith of Laos had propagated for the sake of spreading the religion.

“How utterly absurd……I’m sorry, teacher, for being rude. But nobody can feel divine power, no? So how can they say that it even exists? And, they also say that the god Laos created the world, but to be honest, I don’t believe that either.”

‘If anything, it sounds like one giant lie,’

Ianna thought, but didn’t say her last thoughts out loud. She continued,

“Even if I were to yield and say that the god Laos did indeed create the heavens and the earth, then wouldn’t that just make him a highly skilled mage who made good use of the mana that existed when the world began? In other words, he would have created everything with magic. As proof of this theory, isn’t everything in nature and everything alive composed of different arrangements of mana?”

As stable as everything in the world was, it was still composed of a complex arrangement of mana. This was a fact that had been uncovered as the result of ongoing research, unlike the lies fabricated by the Church of Laos.

“Also, I’ve heard that magic originated from the God Laos, but…”

Gerard, who had simply been watching as Ianna voiced her firm opinions, opened his mouth and said,

“But have magicians ever been successful in creating life?”

“……Of course, we haven’t discovered all of mana’s properties yet, so research hasn’t progressed that far……but magicians have been successful in creating animated golems as a fruit of the research that they’ve already done.”

“Golems are essentially just puppets. They are dolls that cannot think for themselves and strictly follow only what the magic imbued inside them tells them to do. They are objects —and it cannot be said that they are living. What else?”

“They were also able to create nature using artificial means. I heard there are flowers and trees made from mana in the magical towers scattered across the world.”

“No, Ianna. Those are artificial things that were modeled after nature —they are not living organisms. I’m sure you haven’t seen them, but you cannot feel the vitality of life from them at all. Besides, how can you say that these illusions that vanish as soon as the spells that stabilize their mana are lifted are living organisms?”

“…….”

“Even you admit that life is uncharted territory in terms of research, right, Ianna? Sure, let’s say that people believe in God because there exist phenomena that absolutely cannot be explained through theory alone. But there is a reason why people say the things they do. In the annals of the royal dynasty, it is recorded that the first queen who founded the royal family of Roanne was a follower of Laos, who created the world, and that she followed him like he was her own father and saw him perform miracles as she chased after him.”

Ianna could not refute him.

“Is there proof?”

Gerard opened the up the first page of the Holy Book and presented it before Ianna.

My Golden Demon.

I weep bitterly.

For Phaemdra’s, the token of our promise, life has run dry

And only the End remains in Paradise.

Today, you will obey my sword and disappear.

In Pandemonium, located at the end of birth and immortality.

It is there that you shall slumber.

I, too, will be at your side.

And, at long last, the blinding moment of the sun shall come upon the world…….

“There is a gravestone from the distant past in the depths of the Great Temple of Laos, yes? These words are engraved on the stone, and even the wisest of mages can’t determine when it was created…… It is a mysterious gravestone filled with divine power.”

The gravestone in the Temple of Laos that was filled with divine power was famous. Currently, it was impossible for even rulers of nations to visit the gravestone in private, but it had once been made available for research in the past. All of the mages who had studied the gravestone during that time had declared that the energy dwelling within the gravestone was not mana.

It was a strange energy that revitalized anyone standing near it. People believed that this energy was divine power.

Ianna shook her head. Who could say that this wasn’t simply because an eccentric archmage had cast a cast a strange spell on it in the ancient past?

‘That stupid gravestone.’

Ianna was cynical about God now, but when she was young, or more precisely, during her childhood days in the past before her rebirth, she had read the Holy Book, praised God, and relied on God more ardently than any other.

What should I do, Lord Laos? Please save me, Lord Laos. Please give me someone, even just one person, who will take my side…….

Thinking back on it now, she had relied on God so heavily that it was shamefully embarrassing. As the years passed, however, she eventually came to realize that nothing would be solved just by waiting for God to help.

God had never helped her no matter how much she had cried out to him. It was her own actions, not God, that had been important in her life. She had accomplished everything in her life using her own strength, not God’s.

‘Which is why I don’t need God.’

Gerard shook his head as he saw the obstinate look etched on Ianna’s face.

“I don’t plan to force you to believe in God since you’re so persistent in your claims for atheism, but the Faith of Laos is the national religion of Roanne. Both the laws of the Kingdom of Roanne and the ways that the people lead their lives are dictated by the Holy Book of Laos. Most atheists have at least read the Holy Book. You should read the Holy Book too, regardless of whether you believe in God or not. Now, make sure to read it whenever you have time starting today.”

“Hmph……”

In the end, Gerard had only lectured her on the Holy Book during his short visit to the Roberstein territory.

Ianna furrowed her brows as she turned the cover of the Holy Book that Gerard had gifted her without much enthusiasm. The epitaph that Gerard had shown her, which were said to be written on a gravestone underneath the Great Temple, caught her eye. She clicked her tongue at the incomprehensible list of words that began on the first verse of the very first page.

The Holy Book was a text that had been written by a wicked believer who had been with Laos in the Beginning. Not only was it filled with baseless myths, but it was also brimming with phrases that scholars still struggled to interpret to this day. The first chapter was the most difficult chapter of the Holy Book to interpret, or rather, it was heaped with riddles that were impossible to interpret. This was because it spoke of the long-distant Holy Age, which predated the Age of Magic.

Nobody could interpret those sentences. After all, no one knew what the ancient demon’s name was, which was referenced in the text, how they were related, or even what some of the ancient words, like Phaemdra, meant. That was why the text had been interpreted many different ways and had resulted in the production of many different plays, novels, and even operas.

“These are famous words that are said to convey the words the person who killed the demon that controlled the world at the end of the Holy Age left behind. Most people believe that this person was the God Laos himself because chapter one verse one of the Holy Book begins with Laos opening the world.”

Ianna could not help the fact that she had wanted to refute her teacher throughout the entire lesson. The deep-seated disbelief she had in God seeped out of her heart in the form of violent repulsion even though it was Gerard, someone she actually liked, who had been talking. She didn’t think that the demon existed either, but she had played along with Gerard for the time being.

“Isn’t it impossible to conclude that it was Laos who killed the demon? Based on the fact that it says that they were close to each other, or even here in chapter one verse two…”

Laos sent away the sorrowful shadow that had been sullied by the demon’s blood.

And, he failed to send the shadow away and treasured it instead.

“If you read this passage, it makes it highly possible that the shadow is someone other than Laos. I think that the most plausible theory is that the shadow was someone who died and Laos was mourning for them. The shadow was sullied by the demon’s blood, so they have to be the person who killed the demon.”

An awkward look had crossed Gerard’s face after Ianna had made her sharp aside with disbelief written plainly on hers.

“Yes. I, too, think it’s highly possible that the shadow was yet another god. There are a lot of sections in the Holy Book that are ambiguous, just as you’ve pointed out. But you’ll never stop doubting once you begin, Ianna.”

Slam.

Having had enough, Ianna closed the Holy Book and left her room. She decided to go on a walk for a change of pace after having wiped any thoughts of God clean from her mind.

Karnitz, who normally would have followed after her, was not present because he as attending a training camp held at the Lotso Mountains for a fortnight that all knights affiliated with the Roberstein household had to attend. He had been nervous about leaving her side, but had left without another word after Ianna had yelled at him.

“Whew.”

Ianna took a deep breath and sighed. It wasn’t that she disliked having Karnitz around, but it was so nice to be able to have some peace and quiet to herself and to wander around as she pleased. She loved the warm sunlight beating down on her head, she loved blue sky that immediately came into her view when she looked up and the picturesque white clouds that filled it, and she loved the flowers and trees she could see when she stopped to take a look around her.

In her past life, Ianna had been too busy living fiercely that she hadn’t had the time to stop and look around herself. Now, however, after being reborn, she had a sudden thought every time she emptied her mind and blankly looked around at her surroundings.

‘Did I ever look around like this before……?’

She had not. She had always been so busy pushing her way through life that she hadn’t seen the flowers, the leaves, the trees, the rain, the snow, or the sun. She had simply walked ahead endlessly without seeing any of the beautiful things around her.

Spring, summer, fall, winter —all of the seasons had slipped past her. The seasons had all withered away in her world. And there had been nothing left in her world after the seasons died. Ianna had been left standing alone in a desolate wilderness.

It was only after her return that a sense of composure and warm spring had found her again. The seasons had been reborn in her. And so, Ianna was glad that she had been born once again.

Ianna raised her face and let the warm sunlight rest on her nose. She was just as crimson in color as ever, but time passed by much more quickly than her silent figure. Spring, summer, fall, and winter —the seasons had passed without end and it had already been six years since she had first held a sword. It had already been half a year since she had turned fifteen, which meant that there was only half a year left before she turned sixteen, the minimum age she needed to be to gain admission into the Institution.

Ianna’s skills had improved rapidly during that time. She wasn’t as good as she had been in the past when she was once called the ruler who dominated the realm of swordplay, but she was easily at least as skilled as a knight from the royal guard.

It was preposterous to think that a delicate girl who wasn’t even sixteen yet could best a member of the royal guard, some of the best swordsmen in the kingdom, in a contest of swordplay. But Ianna could do it. This feat was possible for her because Ianna had already seen the very peak of swordplay and was so talented that it was almost demonic.

On top of that, Ianna’s personal charm had begun to shine through now that she was older.

The beauty and feminine charm that other noble girls spoke of was a figure so slim that it could be squeezed tightly in a corset, a pretty face, white skin that absolutely oozed of how preciously they had been raised, and a frailness that suggested that they would perish if not properly protected.

This particular trend of beauty was especially pronounced in militant nations like Roanne. Men, who worked outside, were expected to be strong, while their wives, who took care of the domestic work, were expected to be soft and gentle. The people considered this to be the perfect harmony.

But Ianna was different. Her white skin had been tanned ever so slightly by the sun and was now an apricot color that was overflowing with vivacity. The healthy coloring of her skin better suited her blazing crimson hair than a pale whiteness did.

An even layer of musculature covered over her entire body, which was feminine and didn’t bulk up very easily, that one could hardly tell was even there unless you touched her. Ianna’s figure, which was well-proportioned and curvy, was like that of a slender lioness. It was a far cry from the kind of beauty that people normally spoke of, but she was incredibly captivating nevertheless.

Just as Ianna straightened her back like an arrow and stretched before starting to walk toward the north gate.

Snap.

Ianna stopped in her tracks.

“Gasp, gasp……”

Lebony had stopped in front of her with the skirt of her flowing dress bunched up in her hands.

Unlike usual, Ianna was curious as to why the woman, who was normally busy chasing after Cherno with her seductive body, was standing before her while looking like she was about to cry.

Lebony’s scarlet lips trembled like she was having a spasm as she said,

“Ianna you…you……”

Ianna furrowed her brow a little as Lebony stuttered. She felt like Lebony had lost her mind as of late. She was often found sitting blankly against a tree in the garden and she remained in a blank daze even when the servants insulted her to her face.

‘And that’s only what I happened to see by chance —how much worse is it on a normal basis?’

It was apparently so bad that Isphee, who didn’t like Lebony to begin with, had worried if Lebony needed to see a doctor.

And, had Ianna been imagining things? After she had taken to the sword, Ianna had often felt someone staring piercingly at her from a distance.

Ianna sifted through the buried memories of her past before her rebirth to figure out why Lebony had become so strange. Now that she thought about it, this had been about the time that Lebony had given up on being loved by Cherno. And, it had also been around this time that she had started becoming obsessed with Ianna, who had shown talent in the art of the sword.

Ianna kept herself from laughing out loud. She couldn’t help but wonder if this particular flow of things wouldn’t change even though Sarachè hadn’t died. Still, Ianna did not intend to live under Lebony’s hold in this life.

Ianna, who did not want to pay Lebony any heed, ignored the woman who was watching her with trembling eyes and tried to walk past her.

“Wait!”

Lebony grabbed Ianna by the arm. Ianna scowled because of how tight her grip was. Lebony’s grip was so strong that her sharp fingernails were digging into Ianna’s arm.

“How could you?!”

“Let go of me,”

Ianna roared as she tried to shake Lebony off, but the latter’s grip was tight and she refused to let go. Even with Ianna’s, who had been training and building up her muscles as of late, strength she could not shake Lebony off.

“Even if it’s only natural that I hate you and don’t want to see you, how could you act like this to your own mother?! How could you treat me like this?!”

Lebony shouted. Ianna could not comprehend what Lebony was saying with her unfocused eyes. She continued,

“You…you can’t treat me like this! You’re supposed to be there for me! You! And why do you, with each passing day, feel like that person……!”

Lebony was unable to finish her thought and closed her mouth. Ianna felt an unpleasant sense of disparity as she saw the tears that threatened to fall from Lebony’s eyes. The Lebony standing before her right now was not the mother she knew. She was not the wicked mother who only knew how to chase after love, and neither was she the selfish mother who had pushed her strictly to train in the art of the sword. Right now, she looked similar to the way she looked when she was begging for Cherno’s love.

‘Why is this woman acting like this to me all of a sudden?’

Ianna was dumbfounded. She wondered if Lebony had finally gone insane, considering that she was blabbering absolute nonsense.

“You……you……”

Lebony went back and forth between trying to say something and stopping herself before she finally bit down hard at her lip. She gripped Ianna’s arm even harder. Then, she stared persistently into Ianna as if she was trying to bore a hole through her.

Ianna stiffened up. There was sorrow, a craving for love, and obsession reflected in Lebony’s eyes. It was easy for Ianna to tell because it was the same look in her eyes that Lebony had whenever she looked at Cherno. No, it was even stronger than when she was looking at Cherno.

Just then, Ianna grew so enraged that she could not bear it.

“Let me go!”

She shook Lebony off with everything she had. Unlike before, Lebony let go rather easily. Ianna looked down at Lebony as red anger began seeping into her eyes.

The tears swelling in Lebony’s eyes would have evaporated completely if the flaring emotion in Ianna’s crimson eyes could give off heat. Any blue oasis would have immediately run dry. Any life that had been struggling to drink from it in thirst would have died there and then.

That was how hot her fury was.

Lebony, who was at the receiving end of Ianna’s gaze, could not speak. She simply paled and froze stiffly in place as she looked back.

Ianna closed her eyes, unable to even look at Lebony’s swaying ones any longer because of her fury, and breathed heavily. She did not know what she was supposed to do with the rage boiling inside her.

‘You want me to do what?’

Why was this woman acting like this? Ianna’s normally frigid heart flared up for a moment. She hated Lebony, the woman before her eyes, so much right now that she wanted to strangle her.

Having a fresh start didn’t mean that she had forgotten the past. The memories Ianna had as a child who could not receive the love she craved still remained in her head. In the past, she had clung to Lebony like crazy because she had wanted her mother’s love.

“Mommy, Mommy……”

“Can I please have a hug?”

“Mommy……. I’m so scared of people.”

“Mommy, please look at me too, and not just at Daddy.”

“Mommy…….”

There hadn’t been a time when she hadn’t shed tears because of the love and affection she couldn’t receive no matter how much she pleaded. And so, she had given up. Ianna had killed the weak little girl she had been and buried the girl deep in her heart, and she had grown up as the little girl decayed in the mold of her pain.

Lebony had been busy ignoring her when she had actually wanted her mother’s love, so Ianna could not comprehend why Lebony was clinging onto her like this for not paying any attention to her mother now.

It had actually been better in the past when Lebony had ignored her and only chased after Cherno. Then, Ianna could have simply told herself that the woman was simply acting the way she had always acted and ignored her. And yet, Lebony’s contradictory behavior only made Ianna recall her past all the more vividly.

Ianna was angry at both Lebony and at herself for being so shaken.

Lebony was different than she had been in the past. Ianna hadn’t noticed anything when she was younger and hadn’t realized that she had been reborn and was only obeying her childlike instincts for survival, but now she could say for sure that Lebony was different.

Ianna never let it show, but she had felt someone staring at her persistently from time to time. And Lebony had only observed her more frequently as time passed.

Ianna remembered the past whenever Lebony acted like that. She remembered the past where Horby, Lebony’s steadfast supporter, had suddenly gone bankrupt and disappeared, and Lebony had had no other choice but to fixate on Ianna as her new object of obsession after losing everything she had loved and obsessed over because of her sudden loss of wealth.

Ianna thought that it was because Lebony wanted to use her as a means of revenge and to rob House Roberstein of all it had. She thought that Lebony had fixated on her because she needed to use Ianna, and her demonic talent in the sword, as a marionette to enact her goals. Ianna also thought that Lebony’s recent change in behavior was also for the same reasons as in the past.

‘But did she look at me with eyes like that in the past too?’

Ianna’s lips trembled as she stared down at Lebony. She had done her best to ignore Lebony all this time, but she had understood the very moment that she had looked Lebony directly in the eye.

Ianna did not take after Cherno. Crimson and blue —they were two opposing colors that would never mix. And yet, Lebony was looking at her with the same eyes that she had when she was looking at Cherno.

‘Is she projecting Cherno onto me because I’m his daughter? Just what does this woman see me as? A substitute for a love that will never be returned?’

“Hah!”

Ianna laughed sharply.

“I don’t know why you’re acting like this all of a sudden, but you have no right to treat me this way. Just as you have never seen me as your daughter, I, too, have never considered you to be my mother!”

A tear fell from Lebony’s eyes at Ianna’s wintry words. Then, she tried to speak again as her lips quivered.

“I……but……you…….”

“What have you been trying to mutter to yourself? Have you really lost your mind? Let me repeat myself, since it doesn’t look like you understood me the first time.”

Ianna sneered as she saw how Lebony’s lips quivered and how her dark red eyes swam all over the place without focus, and said,

“You are nothing to me.”

“…….”

“So don’t even dream of asking something of me. And don’t look at me like that. Just keep chasing after the Count like a dirty whore as you’ve always done. You disgusting, filthy woman.”

“Ah…….”

“I’m disappointed in the fact that you’re my mother.”

The vitriolic words Ianna spat out were so harsh that it was unthinkable that anyone could speak to their own mother in such a manner. Ianna quickly walked past a dazed Lebony with her crimson hair fluttering behind her once she the words had left her mouth.

‘……Lebony.’

She was in a terrible mood. She had started her walk in great spirits, but now it was ruined all because of Lebony. Ianna quickly climbed up the mountain. She felt nauseous.

‘Lebony……Lebony……Lebony!’

That damned woman. That useless excuse of a mother who had never helped her in all her life.

Ianna ruffled up her hair into a mess once she reached her training grounds. She kicked at the dirt. After taking her anger out by kicking things for a while, she grabbed her sword, which had been resting against the tree stump, so fiercely that it clattered and yanked the blade out of its sheath.

Swish! Swiish!

Ianna frantically swung her sword. Her glistening sword, which she polished with great care on a daily basis, cut swiftly through the air. A shimmering haze began to distort the surrounding area. It was proof that the mana of the world was synchronizing with Ianna’s sword. A sharp wind erupted with every slice of Ianna’s sword.

Normally, Ianna would have been wielding her sword in delight, but now Ianna was simply hacking away haphazardly in fury. The sword cried out in ugly pain with each swing and pleaded with her. And yet, Ianna ignored its pleas and continued to take her anger out on it like a tyrant.

“Gasp, gasp……”

A while had passed before the flesh on her hands ripped and the sword clattered to the ground. Ianna glared sharply down at the fallen sword as she gathered her breathing before taking a deep breath. Then, picked up her sword and returned it to its sheath while saying,

“I’m sorry.”

Ianna placed her sword back on the tree trunk and plopped down next to it. She brought her bloody hands together as if in prayer and closed her eyes tight. She felt her turbulent heart settle down after she had stayed in that position for a while.

It was always like this. Sitting down on the large tree trunk always helped her control her heart. It was her precious shelter —both now and in the past.

Ianna slowly opened her eyes again once she felt that she had regained her composure. She rested her elbows on her knees and placed her chin on top of her knitted fingers. Her face was expressionless —as if she had never been angry at all.

She calmly thought about why she had grown so furious that she couldn’t control her emotions. It hadn’t been because she’d been hurt by Lebony after all this time, or because there was still a part of her that wanted Lebony’s love, or even because new feelings had budded within her. She had simply been in a terrible mood because she remembered how weak she had been in her childhood, which Lebony had wrung the life out of, and because Lebony had seen Cherno in her.

……Lebony.

The woman who had been so crazy in love that she had ensnared the Count with money and become his mistress. The wicked mother who had neglected her own daughter —who had been born as a result of her twisted schemes— to chase after Cherno.

Lebony had fixated on Ianna after she had first held a sword at fifteen and began to rise to prominence after starting to learn the art of the sword officially at sixteen. She had done so because Ianna, who showed overwhelming promise in swordplay, was the only person she had after Horby had gone bankrupt and went missing.

A sneer pulled up at the corner of Ianna’s lips. That damned Lebony was a selfish bitch no matter how she thought about it.

Then, a sudden question popped into her mind. Now that she thought about it, how had she first come to hold a sword when she was fifteen?

“Oh…….”

Ianna’s eyes narrowed coldly as a certain memory played in her mind.

Indeed. It had been just around now. Her knight, Karnitz, had been away at camp for training. She had been attacked in the dead of night around this time.

A strange man dressed in all black had intruded her room that night. Ianna had woken up groggy to find an unfamiliar man with his back toward her and his hand on the doorknob. Ianna had watched the man from behind as she took off her covers and sat up in bed.

“Who are you……?”

The man turned around. He had tilted his head downward. He had walked up to Ianna, who had been looking back at him in a daze, with large strides. Then, he had drawn the sword at his waist. Ianna had simply stared at the man in shock in the dark room as the sword was thrust toward her heart. Am I going to die? she had thought.

Ianna did not resist and simply followed the sword’s progression with her eyes when the thought that no one would cry for her even if she died had entered her mind. Then, she had closed her eyes while thinking that the brilliant light the sword drew through the air was beautiful. However, she opened her eyes again and returned to her senses when she heard a loud clatter.

How had this happened? The man’s sword had definitely been thrust at her heart, but it had fallen to the floor before she knew what had happened.

Ianna had grabbed the hilt of the sword before she knew what she was doing. She had smiled because she liked how heavy the sword was.

She had turned to the man. He had been trembling. Something crimson had been oozing out of his body.

Ianna had been struck by a sudden impulse to stab him.

She had felt dazed as she thrust hard— and stabbed deeply into the man’s heart as he stood strangely still.

She did not remember anything after that. After all, she had fallen unconscious. The man’s corpse had suddenly disappeared by the time she had come to.

It had been the first time that she had killed someone. And yet, she hadn’t been shocked. It had felt incredibly surreal. She had felt like it had been some kind of dream. But the sword in her hand had proven that it was not.

Ianna had sat on her bed in a daze as she recalled how wonderful that brilliant flash of light had been. She was surging with the desire to wield the sword. She had jumped up and began swinging the sword like she had been possessed in order to satisfy her newfound desires. For some unfathomable reason she couldn’t explain, her heart had begun throbbing quickly and furiously, like it had found its missing other half, the moment she first wielded the sword. Then, she had grown inexplicably sad and had begun sobbing.

That incident had marked a new era in Ianna’s life. But it was also a strange incident that she couldn’t explain.

Why had the man, who had clearly been trying to kill her, suddenly frozen up? Where had his corpse gone? Had his accomplices taken him away? But then, why had they simply made off with the corpse instead of killing her while they were at it?

And, how had she been able to stab the man without any hesitation when she had never killed before, and why hadn’t she felt any guilt for having murdered him? She had so many questions, but none of which she could answer.

Ianna never told anyone about this incident. After all, who would believe her for saying that someone had tried to kill her when she couldn’t prove it? There hadn’t been anyone she could tell, either. She had considered telling Karnitz, but had decided otherwise because she knew that he would guard her door all night every night if she did.

But all of that was simply an excuse —the truth was that she didn’t care if she had died in the attack.

But there had not been any more attacks after that. That was why Ianna had decided to write the incident off as a dream and was content to believe that it was fate that had led her to wield the sword. The dreamlike memory had disappeared from her mind when she began focusing on her swordplay afterward.

Then, another memory came to mind after the first.

The disappearance of Horby.

Horby. The man who had used his immense wealth to pressure House Roberstein into accepting Lebony through dirty means because his daughter had fallen madly in love with the Count.

Horby was Ianna’s maternal grandfather whom Ianna hadn’t really cared about. After all, he always busy concerning himself with Lebony. He was a rather consistent figure in Ianna’s life —both now and in the past. He sent her an absurd amount of allowance money from time to time but always ignored her otherwise…….

Ianna hadn’t seen Horby’s face very often, so all that she remembered of him was that he had common gray hair and a reddish tint to his eyes.

Her thoughts spun in circles.

When had Horby disappeared? Her memories were blurry, but she felt like it had been around this time.

She had come to wield a sword at fifteen, Horby had disappeared, she had started learning how to use a sword after turning sixteen a little while later, and Lebony had started obsessing over her.

All of the pieces were falling into place.

Ianna had never thought that it was strange before. But now, she realized that it was suspicious.

……The attack and Horby.

She did not think that her grandfather had any reason to assassinate her, but her sharp instincts were crying out in warning. She had not been able to piece the two incidents together in the past, but a heavy look fell on Ianna’s face as she considered them together.

~~*~~

Part 2

Pezilla, who had been secretly observing the heated exchange between Lebony and Ianna while hiding behind a wall, clutched at her furiously beating heart as she ran away after Ianna had walked past Lebony and headed for the north gate.

She cut across the trees along the path, took the rightmost branch when the path split into three, and made her way to a garden of harmoniously arranged flowers. Then, she charmingly called out to her kindhearted mistress, who was sitting at a round tea table underneath an awning in the middle of the garden that had been designed by a master artisan.

“Lady Sarachè.”

“Pezilla.”

Sarachè turned toward Pezilla and smiled lovingly. Pezilla blushed as she ran up to her. The lovely Sarachè —she was the lady of House Roberstein who was dearly loved by everyone in the household.

“I see that Ianna must have gone up that mountain again, judging by how you’ve come here running.”

“Yes. I have no idea what on earth she does all day at that empty mountain.”

Sarachè, whose wheat-colored hair, the color of fine sand, was tied up neatly with a blue ribbon, tilted her head gently to the side.

House Roberstein was a house that had been established at the dawn of the Age of Magic —around the same time that the Kingdom of Roanne had been founded. The people who lived on their territory held deep love and pride for the house, which had ruled over the land peacefully over the course of a thousand years.

The Roberstein lands were located at the northernmost reaches of the kingdom. The Lotso Mountains, which draped over the territory’s border like a curtain, provided the people with the bountiful gifts of nature and became as the basis of their lives.

The mountains in the territory, which were said to be offshoots of the Lotso Mountains where dangerous monsters were as common as was grains of sand on a beach, had nothing in them except for trees, rocks, crude wildflowers, and small wild animals that scuttled about in between the aforementioned.

The prevailing and widely-accepted theory that answered the question, ‘Why aren’t there any traces of monsters in the Roberstein territory even though the mountains are a part of the Lotso Mountains?’ had been hypothesized by a wise and noble scholar from long ago.

The theory held that powerful monsters, which lived in the heart of the Lotso mountains, had no interest in the smaller hills found in the Roberstein territory. And, other monsters could not reach the hills on the Roberstein lands because they could not invade the powerful monsters’ territories.

This theory was now accepted as a proven fact.

In addition, the Roberstein lands were also safe from the Bahamut Empire, which avoided going through the heart of the Lotso Mountains where there were large monsters when they invaded the Kingdom, since the Roberstein lands were situated far up north from the center of the Kingdom of Roanne.

The Roberstein estate was located directly south of the smaller mountains that broke off sharply from the heart of the Lotso Mountains like a bird’s beak. To make things worse, the mountain that Ianna frequented was one of these mountains.

The mountain was named after the house that owned it. However, it was normal for the common folk to simply refer to it as ‘the mountain’, if they spoke of it at all. They considered it to be a part of the Roberstein estate, since it could only be reached through the manor’s north gate and, unlike the other mountains which were open to everyone, was used exclusively by those who lived in the estate.

At some point, the mountain had been all but abandoned. People had used to take walks in the mountain in the past, but it had become unattractive for a stroll after skilled gardeners had started working at the estate.

So, why did Ianna roam around the mountain all day like it was where she lived?

Sarachè nodded as she wondered—if Ianna, whom she knew disliked being in places where there were a lot of people since she had been a child, had designated the mountain as her place of refuge and had made it a place where she could take her walks alone. If so, Sarachè wanted to respect Ianna’s decisions.

“In any case, keep watching over Ianna carefully whenever she’s not in the mountain.”

The blood drained from Pezilla’s face when she heard her mistress’ words. She hesitated for a moment before she carefully chose her words and said,

“Could you not assign another maid to that task, Milady? I’m willing to be responsible for all of her cleaning and laundry instead.”

“No. I told you that this task is something that I’m specifically assigning to you.”

“Please, Milady. You wouldn’t believe how ghoulishly skilled that little wench is —she senses me even when I’ve only been following her a little…….”

“Pezilla, how dare you call the Count’s daughter a wench! Must I spank you like a child to fix those manners of yours? Must I whip your calves raw again like I did back when you poured hot tea on her? If I didn’t love you like my own daughter, I would have punished you severely and kicked you out of the household.”

Sarachè’s tone had been kind, but Pezilla flinched at the cold contents of her words and lowered her head. Still, she did not look like she had reflected on her actions at all.

“I’m sorry. But Milady, I just don’t understand why you treat that we—, I mean, Lady Ianna so well. You’re much too kind for your own good, Milady. Lady Ianna may not be a bad person, but I still hate her for being Lebony’s daughter.”

“Pezilla.”

Pezilla was being sincere.

She was ranked highly among the maids because she was close to Sarachè. She was also deeply loyal to House Roberstein —or more specifically, to Sarachè, the Lady of House Roberstein.

Pezilla had been a war orphan on the brink of starving to death when Sarachè had taken her in about ten years ago. Sarachè had cared warmly for Pezilla, and Pezilla had grown up under her care to be a maid who did nothing but attend to Sarachè. Pezilla loved and respected Sarachè for raising her, an orphaned girl, with love and care.

It had been Pezilla who had sensed that the maid whom Lebony had bribed had been acting strangely, and it had also been Pezilla who had taken prompt measures when she realized that Sarachè’s tea had been poisoned.

The maid who had poisoned the tea had immediately bitten her tongue and killed herself, but they had found an unbelievable amount of gold in her drawers when they had searched her room later. There was no definite proof, but it was obvious as to who had given her that much money.

Pezilla was outraged and wanted to go after Lebony and cause a scene, but she had no choice but to reign in her mind-shattering fury because Sarachè had told her not to jump to conclusions and cast blame without definite proof.

But then she had come across Ianna, who looked exactly like Lebony, while she was bringing Sarachè some tea that was good for the body. She had thought that she might as well take her anger out on that cheeky little wench, who never reacted whenever she was tormented like she was a doll or something. That was why Pezilla had spilled tea on Ianna while pretending that it was an accident.

It had pricked at her consciousness a little when the child’s skin had swollen up and reddened, but she also felt refreshed after imagining that it had been Lebony whom she had poured tea on instead. But that feeling had only lasted for a moment before Ianna had rebuked her severely.

Pezilla could not forget the fright and terror she had felt upon meeting Ianna’s gaze even now after several years had passed. It had made her wonder if a person could really change so abruptly. That hadn’t been the problem, though, as her legs had almost given out from beneath her in her terror.

She had only been a young child, a despicable little wench who always just stood there stiffly like a wax doll, so why? Pezilla had been so afraid that she felt like Ianna was ripping her to shreds when Ianna’s darkened eyes had regained their crimson light. And she had thought that the punishment that Ianna had given her had only been for the best. Pezilla was so afraid that she was determined to avoid Ianna forever if she could.

Ianna had forgiven her just once with only a strong warning and had effectively stopped all of the direct bullying that she had been suffering.

But Pezilla had gotten into a lot of trouble with Sarachè, who had heard about the entire incident from Harchen. Her beloved mistress had whipped her calves raw and ordered her to watch over what Ianna did whenever she left the annex.

“Yes? But Lady Sarachè, I really don’t want to follow Lady Ianna around. Can’t you assign someone else to the task, please? I can’t find it in myself to like her, and I don’t want to, either.”

Pezilla clung to Sarachè and looked like she was about to cry. Sarachè furrowed her brows because she could tell that Pezilla was being sincere.

“That child is faultless, is that not so, Pezilla? Why do you think I ordered you to do this?”

“Isn’t it to monitor her?”

Pezilla hadn’t understood at all. Sarachè let out a deep sigh.

“Why would I do that? I ordered you to watch over her because I wanted you to change your mind about that innocent child naturally.”

Sarachè rested her chin on her folded hands. She looked down and recalled the way that Ianna always looked like she was dead to the world.

Ianna’s heart had frozen cold ever since she was young. Sarachè was stunned every time she thought about her. The child was so pitiful that it made her heart hurt.

Sarachè, too, disliked Lebony. But she also thought that there was no reason for Ianna to be the object of people’s contempt. From what she could tell, Ianna was more similar to Cherno than she was to Lebony and was a calm and composed girl who was incredibly kind to those who loved her.

That was why she made efforts to change everyone’s perception of Ianna. She had only instructed the others repeatedly to watch over Ianna and never lay a hand against her because she was afraid that it would only serve to increase their admiration to herself for being merciful toward the wicked mistress’ daughter while only worsening their repulsion for Ianna if she ordered them to be nice to the child.

She had been able to fix her husband’s, Cherno’s, and her son’s, Harchen’s, stiff attitude toward Ianna to some extent. But she hadn’t been able to change the unjust perceptions of the servants who had served House Roberstein for generations. Nothing had changed even when she had punished them periodically. Pezilla, who was still pouting, was a prime example of that.

Sarachè had ordered Pezilla to watch over Ianna so that the maid would realize that Ianna had done nothing to deserve her hatred, but Pezilla’s attitude hadn’t changed at all. The same was true for the others as well. They even objected to the very fact that they had to pay attention to her. They treated her like a splinter that had caught in their throat.

‘I pity Ianna so much, but I don’t know how to make things right.’

Should she have taken better care of Ianna when she was younger? But if she had, then Lebony would have made such a fuss about Sarachè taking care of someone else’s daughter that she would have coughed up blood.

Lebony’s obsession over Cherno and Ianna was on a whole other level. She glared at Sarachè so furiously whenever she was with Cherno or fetching for Ianna that Sarachè was worried that Lebony would come running at her with a knife one day.

And, Lebony’s feelings aside, Ianna herself did not seem to want for attention.

Sarachè smiled bitterly.

“Pezilla, I am so filled with regret whenever I see that child. Was it because she never received proper love from her parents when she was young and needed it most? She’s grown up to be so cold.”

“But Lady Ianna takes exactly after Lebony. I couldn’t like her even if I tried.”

“I don’t like Lebony much either. Love in and of itself isn’t a sin, but I dislike the woman for digging her claws in my husband, who was already married. But you mustn’t hate Ianna, who’s innocent, just because she looks like Lebony. And, above all else, Ianna is a child who has inherited the Roberstein bloodline. She is family.”

“……”

“And that’s why I feel like I’ve committed a great sin whenever I see how tightly shut the doors to Ianna’s heart are.”

“Lady Sarachè…….”

“And there will always be a punishment equal to that of the sins we commit……. Who knows how we’ll be made to pay the price for the wrongs we’ve committed?”

“Jeez, Lady Sarachè. Aren’t you reading a little too far into this? It’s not like Lady Ianna’s all that great or anything……. Though she’s scary, of course.”

There was some truth in Pezilla’s grumbling. Ianna was simply a young and weak girl. But why was it? Sarachè could not erase her apprehensions.

Sarachè, who was a devout believer in the Faith of Laos, was inspired by each and every word in the Holy Book. And, there was a lot about children among the things that Laos had said, especially when it came to how important parents were to their children.

Love thy sons and daughters. A child is like the pure white snow before they grow and gain a light of their own. The desires of a snow-white child arise not from ambition, but from instinct —the instinct to survive as a living being and the instinct to receive thy love.

When a father had brought his child, who had committed a great wrong, before Laos and asked how the child should be punished, Laos had replied as thus.

What the child hath done was not a sin but rather an action born from ignorance. A child knows naught. Children cannot judge what is right from what is wrong. That is why thou cannot blame a child for doing wrong. If thy child hath done wrong in thy eyes, thou must only discipline the child warmly as to never act in that manner again. That is how a child will learn that they hath done wrong. It is not too late to punish a child only after they act in that manner a second time.

If a child hath done wrong, it is not the sin of the child but the sin of the world for neglecting the child and allowing the child to act in such a manner. Through the child runs thy blood, and it is thee whom the child takes after. Thy child’s happiness is thy happiness, and thy child’s sorrow thy sorrow. Thy child’s merits are thy merits, and thy child’s faults thy faults. Thou must reflect on thy own actions first.

When met with a woman who was about to abandon her child, Laos had said thus.

Hold onto thy child. Turn not away from thy child’s loneliness. Thy child is the greatest blessing the world hath given to thee. And those who cast away the greatest blessing are deserving not of even the smallest.

“…….”

Sarachè clenched her hands.

Just then, Pezilla cried out, “Oh!”, and slammed her fist into her palm to express that she had forgotten about something.

“Lady Ianna and Lebony caused a scene today?”

“A scene?”

“Well, I’m not too sure what it was about because I was too far away to hear them properly, but Lebony stopped Lady Ianna while she was on her way to the mountain and said something to her. She was too quiet for me to hear. Then, Ianna shook her off and said things like how she’d never considered Lebony to be her mother, to stop paying attention to her and go chase after the Count, and she called Lebony a dirty whore. And then Lebony sobbed her eyes out.”

“……Is that so?”

Sarachè opened her eyes wide in surprise when she heard about the unprecedented quarrel that had broken about between mother and daughter.

Lebony was a wench whom she could not understand. Most people thought that Lebony, who neglected Ianna and only ever chased after Cherno, had no right to call herself a mother, but Sarachè thought otherwise. The love and affection that Lebony had poured out on Ianna while she was pregnant with her……. The way that Lebony had tenderly caressed her stomach as she told her unborn child that she was to be called ‘Ianna’…….

But Lebony’s attitude had changed completely immediately after Ianna had been born. She was endlessly cold to the baby, and left the child to her nanny and never tried to even look at her.

But it wasn’t as if Lebony simply hated Ianna. An inexplicable fury alighted Lebony’s eyes whenever she looked at Ianna before her expression then changed for the warmer. She had always glared so spitefully, as if Sarachè was stealing her daughter from her, whenever Sarachè had invited Ianna over for tea. And, Lebony had always observed Ianna secretly from the shadows whenever the girl was nearby.

‘Just what on earth is Lebony thinking?’

Sarachè was lost in thought.

“Milady. The Lord is here to see you.”

The maid who had been standing guard at the entrance to the garden came running to announce the Count’s arrival. The person who entered the garden next was Sarachè’s beloved Cherno, as blue in color as ever.

“Cherno.”

Sarachè smiled like a delicate flower and opened her arms. Cherno walked up to her with large strides, held her close, and stole a quick kiss.

“How was your day, Sarachè? Are you well?”

“But of course. So well in fact that I can hardly sit still because I’m always itching to get up and do something. I was thinking of enjoying the flowers later in the afternoon.”

“Make sure you take it easy.”

Pezilla, who was watching over their amicable exchange, smiled in delight as she thought about how nice the couple looked together.

Sarachè kissed Cherno on the cheek and gestured toward the chairs. Cherno did as she wanted and took a seat. Sarachè leaned in a studied her husband’s face.

“You look tired. Would you like some tea? It’s an herbal tea that’ll help refresh your mind.”

“I’ll have a cup.”

Sarachè looked to Pezilla, who went off with the teapot to boil some water. Cherno tilted his head to the side as he studied the expression on Sarachè’s face.

“What were you two talking about that made you look so worried?”

“We were talking about Ianna.”

Cherno closed his mouth. Then, Sarachè earnestly asked,

“Cherno, what do you think of Ianna these days?”

Cherno began thinking about Ianna when Sarachè asked.

The Robersteins were coolly composed by nature. They carefully scrutinized over cause and effect, and made sure that there was a definite distinction between their public and private affairs. The entire household was ethical and dignified. They valued noblesse oblige and honor.

“She isn’t like her mother and I don’t think she’s a bad child. ……To the point that I actually think that she takes after me more whenever I see her. And, Viscount Hephlood tells me that she’s highly intelligent.”

“And?”

“I think that it was undoubtedly our household’s fault, no, my fault that she grew up the way she did. It’s also my fault that the others hate her because I did nothing to stop them. There is much that I need to apologize to Ianna for.”

Cherno closed his eyes.

“……But, because I feel like something is caught in my throat whenever I think about my position and about you, my love……. No, because I’ve acted and thought in ways that no father ever should for so long…… I have neither the courage to apologize to her nor the confidence to love her. I’m a coward.”

Most of the Roberstein lands were unsuitable for farming because it was located too far up north. This was why they had to procure valuable foodstuffs from the Central region of the kingdom, which they paid for by being the top producers of weapons manufacturing.

However, the demand for weapons had gone down after the war with Bahamut had ended and an era of peace had begun. But it wasn’t too bad that they couldn’t survive it. The Robersteins still had the wealth that they had built up over the generations, and it wasn’t as though the demand had vanished altogether.

But then, more and more merchants had stopped visiting the Roberstein territory. There had even been an outpour of merchants who stopped doing business with the Robersteins altogether. They had all given the same excuse. That doing business with the Robersteins wasn’t profitable.

They had always done business on amicable terms until then, and the situation at hand hadn’t changed. Their reasons had been illogical. It was obvious that the real reason lied elsewhere. And yet, they had only kept repeating the same excuse over and over again.

The count had begun to panic. His territory had quickly begun feeling the effects of a shortage of food.

Then, Horby, a merchant who had only begun living in the territory about a year prior to the incident, stepped up and offered the count his assistance. He had claimed that he wanted to help because he was a citizen of the territory.

Horby introduced Cherno to a merchant from a more troubled corner of the world who wanted to procure weapons, and the merchant ordered weapons from Cherno in bulk. Cherno was immensely grateful and had sent the order off under the care of enlisted soldiers. But then, the entire shipment had disappeared in the middle of the delivery.

All of the weapons and the soldiers guarding them had up and vanished as if into thin air. Cherno could not figure out what had happened. He had dispatched people to investigate the incident, but it had been to no avail. Not even a trace had been left behind. Horby refused to connect the count to any other merchants or offer any further assistance because his reputation had been damaged and he was disappointed in the count.

Cherno, the lord of the Roberstein lands who found himself falling deeper into this mire of a situation, had finally been able to use his personal connections to find himself another customer and was nearly driven insane when, once again, the entire shipment had disappeared, soldiers and all, in the middle of the delivery.

He had discovered an unbelievable truth when he had sent a report to the capital and requested the royal family to send skilled personnel to investigate the situation. The soldiers had thrown themselves off a cliff that looked over rough waters as if they had been possessed. And not just one, but every single one of them.

Cherno had begun to wonder if a great mage had schemed to cause House Roberstein to fall to ruin. There simply hadn’t been any other explanation. And yet, he hadn’t been able to find a culprit.

Eventually, he had reached out once again to Horby, who had given him the lame excuse that, as a citizen of the territory, he couldn’t bear to ignore the lord of the land’s plight. The situation had spiraled down into a vicious circle, and the Robersteins’ debt had snowballed into an astronomical sum.

Then, Horby had proposed something truly shocking. He had asked Cherno to take his daughter, Lebony, as his wife in exchange for forgiving half of Cherno’s debt.

Cherno, who loved his wife Sarachè, had refused. Then, Horby had asked Cherno to take Lebony as his mistress instead. At his wit’s end, Cherno had eventually compromised his values and taken Lebony as his mistress for the sake of House Roberstein.

Cherno had fallen in to a huge pit of shame afterward. He was furious with his own lack of ability for putting his territory through such a perilous situation and he felt guilty toward his beloved wife…… And, he also felt immoral for abandoning his values, honor, and everything he had once thought was right and proper. He had felt as though the foothold for his ego had collapsed and he was falling down a bottomless hole.

In particular, he felt so guilty toward Sarachè, as he had vowed on love her and only her forever when they wed, that he thought he would go insane. Sarachè had been understanding and had comforted him through the ordeal even as she herself shed tears. And so, with Sarachè’s understanding, Cherno had made up his mind. Lebony was his woman, now that he had accepted her as his mistress, and, though he wanted to turn Lebony away, he still treated her like a proper wife because of the debt he still owed Horby.

But then the merchants had started visiting the Roberstein lands again. Cherno thought that this was rather odd. Why had the merchants returned as soon as he had married Lebony? It was suspicious.

Cherno knew that his hunches were often on the mark. That was why he had started being kinder to Lebony. He actively sought her out and held her tenderly, and he had made her melt in pleasure when they were in bed at night.

“How long have you loved me?”

“Oh……. From the very moment we first met……. Teehee……”

“And when was that?”

Lebony gently opened her eyes. Her eyes were filled with her love for Cherno.

“I’ve loved you for a long, long time……. So long ago that you can’t remember……. And I’ve fallen in love with you again……right now.”

She was waxing poetic. She had spoken as if it had happened in the distant past, but it couldn’t have been more than a few years. And, what did she mean when she said she had fallen in love again right now?

Cherno gently turned her over. Then, right as she was in the throws of pleasure, he nonchalantly whispered,

“Hmm, but I wonder why the merchants started visiting again all of a sudden? I’m rather curious.”

“I…I……begged my father. To help you…….”

“Thank you.”

So he had whispered, but Cherno later summoned a small merchant who had cut business ties with him previously because he had found something odd about the fact that Lebony had loved him for a long time and that the merchants had started visiting the Roberstein lands again after one word from Horby.

The merchant’s eyes had swum around the room in apprehension as he tried to sidestep Cherno’s questions, but he had cried out that he didn’t know what had happened either after Cherno had informed him that he knew Horby had been involved and threatened to ruin the merchant using any means available if he didn’t talk. The merchant had been invited to Horby’s house one day after work, but he didn’t remember what had happened there, and he had carefully confessed that the thought, ‘I’ll be ruined if I continue to deal with House Roberstein,’ had overtaken his mind once he had left. The merchant had added that even he had no idea why he had thought that.

All of the other merchants who returned had said the same thing. There was nothing more hair-raising than an invisible magic that manipulated the mind, and it was normal for the victim of the brainwashing’s mind to collapse when the spell was lifted. Cherno considered that it was possible that brainwashing magic wasn’t at play because the merchants had all retained their sanity. Still, it was clear to him that Horby had set up a strange scheme.

It was possible that Horby had been behind the incident where the soldiers delivering the weapons had thrown themselves off a cliff too. Cherno’s doubts only grew once he began doubting.

He had no definitive proof, but Cherno decided to take more aggressive measures. He had sought Lebony out and yelled at her that he knew about how she had done something strange to the merchants and threatened to kick her out of the lands by any means possible and never see her again if she didn’t tell him the truth. He had said this because he knew that she was crazily in love with him. There was nothing he could say that would frighten her more. And, Lebony had grown so pale and so flustered that her next words had almost sounded comical.

“I-I did it because I love you……. Because I love you so much…….”

“……!”

“I wanted to stand by your side no matter what I had to do to make it happen. That’s why……but…but how did you learn of this? Did you feel something because you’re of that person’s bloodline? But, no one who lives in this world now is able to feel or even use that power anymore…….”

Cherno maintained his composure as Lebony uttered nonsense and, through clenched teeth, asked,

“Who’s ‘that person’?”

Lebony closed her mouth shut. Cherno dragged the corners of his lips up at her in a disjointed smile.

“No, I have never felt anything. I’ve never had any talent in magic to begin with —I’m just a normal civil official, so what do you possibly expect me to feel? I simply cornered you because I thought something was off.”

Cherno never sought Lebony out after that. He did not kick her out, either. All he could do was ignore her because he had nothing to prove that Horby had schemed against him and it was still an undeniable fact that he was in debt.

And, above all else, Lebony was pregnant. He wanted exercise his authority and banish Lebony from his territory, no, from the kingdom itself, or even have her killed, regardless of whether he had proof or not —but he couldn’t even banish her from the main manor for moral reasons because of the unborn child of the Roberstein bloodline that was in her belly. Lebony was allowed to stay in the manor only because of the child she was pregnant with.

Then, the situation being as it was, Cherno began to loathe his child whom Lebony was pregnant with because he subconsciously saw the child as the proof of his incompetence and his immorality, and also as the shackles that prevented him from kicking Lebony out of the household.

The servants, who had already disliked Lebony to begin with and regarded her as a vulgar woman who had entered the household because of a debt, started to grow open about their disdain for her now that even Cherno was acting frigidly toward her.

Moreover, rumors had begun to spread because of the merchants whom Cherno had interrogated. The rumors said that it was Horby’s fault that House Roberstein had fallen into such financial trouble. Even the civilians began hating Lebony after the rumors had spread.

Then, Ianna had been born a short while later.

Cherno had wanted to gag the newborn infant silent whenever she cried. Whenever Ianna had tottered around him as a toddler, he had wanted to remove her from his sight or, even worse, beat her cruelly.

But then, as Ianna had somehow managed to figure out her situation and kept docile and never did anything to bring draw his attention, as his beloved Sarachè, who always supported his thoughts and choices from his side, continued to scold him, and as he himself had grown older and more mature and began asking himself what on earth had he been thinking toward an innocent child……a sense of guilt, uneasiness, and shame began to grow from a corner of his heart.

He was the one who was at fault……. He was the one who had fallen for Horby’s schemes, who had accepted Lebony as a mistress for money, who had gotten Lebony pregnant…….

The cruelty in his heart eventually withered away and all that he felt whenever he saw Ianna now was guilt. He gave her all sorts of material things to ensure that she was able to live a comfortable life, but he still did not want to see her in person. He got goosebumps whenever he thought about the cruel things he had done and thought toward Ianna when he was younger, and he did not have the confidence to be able to confess his sins and apologize to her.

“Cherno, there’s no need for you to apologize to me. There was nothing else that you could have done at the time. But you know that’s not the case for Ianna, right?”

“……Yes.”

Sarachè took Cherno’s arm and shook him gently.

“Then apologize. You can start by apologizing. Nothing will come of you sitting on your feelings like that. Ianna won’t open her heart to you even though you give her gifts because you haven’t spoken with her properly.”

Cherno placed a hand on his forehead.

“I’ve asked you this before, but please give me time. What can I do about the fact that my heart, my actions, won’t change in the way I want them to? I’m a coward.”

“Cherno!”

“All right. I promise I’ll try, so…….”

Just then.

“Master, Milady. The Second Lady is here.”

“Out of my way!”

“Ahh! Please don’t be like this!”

Lebony pushed the maid aside and strode into the garden. The corners of Lebony’s eyes were red as she glared at Cherno. Cherno looked down at her in return.

“What is the meaning of this? Leave this place at once.”

“I had no choice but to seek out Lady Sarachè since you refuse to meet me, my darling.”

“Are you here to Sarachè, or are you here to see me?”

“I came here in search of Lady Sarachè because I meant to wait with her until you came, so I suppose I am here to see you.”

“I’ll be taking my leave now, Sarachè. Come, Lebony.”

Cherno did not want Sarachè to get hurt. And so, he quickly walked out of the garden. Lebony ran after him in great haste.

He stopped and turned around only after he had reached an empty lot far away from the garden and grit his teeth as he looked down at Lebony.

“I don’t have much to say to you. Return to your room. And don’t ever come looking for Sarachè ever again.”

Cherno spun right back around once he had said his frigid piece and made to leave.

“Stay right there, Cherno!”

Lebony shrieked as she ran up to him and grabbed him by the arm. Cherno cursed quietly to himself as he looked down at her again. He looked all the colder and scarier because his coloring was already blue to begin with. He looked down at the scarlet poison of House Roberstein. Lebony’s scarlet eyes were brimming with spite.

“I lost everything because I loved you!”

“Are you trying to tell me that you gave up on something?”

“I lost everything because I had that child, whom I had thought was the fruit of our love!”

Cherno’s lips twisted into a frown. The woman was even finding fault with Ianna now.

“Just what did you lose? What did you lose by giving birth to Ianna? The promiscuous life you used to live by having your fun with men? Your venomous pride? Or, perhaps the money that you poured into House Roberstein……?”

Lebony’s eyes grew bloodshot when he heard Cherno’s sarcastic reply. Tears began streaming down her face.

“Don’t say things like that when you don’t even know what you’re talking about!”

“Then tell me —what did you lose?”

Lebony’s lips quivered, but she could not speak. Cherno laughed coldly.

“I don’t know what it is that I supposedly don’t know, but let go of me —I find your touch unpleasant.”

Lebony’s hands fell lifelessly to her sides when Cherno shook her off. Tears continued to fall down her face. Cherno did not feel anything for her as he looked down at her. Lebony covered her face with her hands. Then, she said,

“I love you……. I truly, truly love you…….”

“…….”

“I can’t help it. You have the same aura as that person……gasp”

Lebony frantically stopped herself before she said any more. Then, the corners of her eyes twisted as she broke out into a sob.

“Sob, I can’t tell you anything. You’ll just think I’m sprouting nonsense even if I do! Sob, can’t you at least try to be a little more understanding? Ever since I first laid my eyes on you so many years ago, my heart grows numb whenever I see you even though you’re blue unlike that person was and I get so stunned I can’t bear it. I want to be with you, no matter what I must do to make it happen. I want to seek out what little of that person that I can in you. But my powers don’t work on you, perhaps because you’re a part of that person’s bloodline, and so, so, there’s nothing else I can do…….”

“Enough.”

Cherno stopped Lebony as she frantically uttered her nonsense.

“That person, that person. Who is this person you always speak of?”

Lebony closed her mouth tight again.

“I don’t want to hear your insane nonsense. Just let me ask you this. Who is this person you speak of? Are you trying to tell me that you need to sacrifice me, whom you claim to love, because of your love? Does it not matter if I get put through significant trouble as long as it’s for your love? Is it your disgusting love that compels you to try to take hold of me even if it means destroying everything that I hold dear —even if it means poisoning Sarachè to death? You selfish wench.”

“I……I!”

Lebony cried out with unfocused eyes.

“I lost everything after I gave birth to Ianna! You’re all I have left! No one else has ever even caught my eye —I’ve only loved you! I never tried to push Sarachè out of the picture until after you abandoned me. But you won’t even look at me……and I get so jealous whenever I see the two of you together……! I only ever wanted you to love me too, just like you did in the past!”

“That will never happen. And I have never loved you, either.”

Lebony looked like she was being strangled. Coldly, Cherno continued,

“You disgust me, Lebony. The only thing you could possibly do for my sake is for you and Horby to leave my lands for good. I will never love you. I don’t even want to be near you.”

Lebony’s legs gave out from beneath her.

“But……then……why were you so kind to me? Why did you make me fall in love with you?”

“You were the one who made the situation what it is today. I’ve never once said that I loved you. Don’t force your feeling on me.”

“……Are you saying that there is nothing I can do to make you love me?”

“No, never.”

With those words, Cherno left Lebony behind and left the empty lot.

“Cherno, Cherno! Sniff……sob!”

Lebony sobbed as she watched Cherno’s receding figure grow farther away.

“Sniff, sob, ahh……ah hahaha!”

Eventually, her sobs turned into laughter.

“Ohohoho! Your blade-like words remind me of that person too! Are there sharp blades buried in that person’s red blood? ……Goodness!”

She looked like she had completely lost her mind. She giggled for a while before she bowed her head low. Then, she mumbled,

“……All right, Cherno. If you’re going to reject me like this, then I don’t want to stay by your side either. I’m going to take back that person’s power. Neither you, nor that child, are that person. That person, at the very least, has always cherished me dearly.”

A strange light glistened in Lebony’s eyes.

~~*~~

Part 3

A few days passed. Ianna realized that her surroundings had grown dark again as she trained like she always did. It was unfortunately time to return to the manor.

“Oh.”

Ianna, who was about to leave her sword behind as was her habit, picked it up again. Up until just a few days ago, she had always left her sword on the tree trunk before climbing back down the mountain because she thought that something troublesome would happen if anyone found out that she was secretly training in the art of the sword. However, she had started bringing the sword back to the manor with her after she had remembered about the attack a few days ago.

The only thing she currently remembered was how she had picked up the sword that the man had dropped and stabbed him through the heart with it in her hazy memories. It sounded more like an absurd stroke of luck the more she thought about it. Ianna could not be certain that she would still be as lucky this time around. Even if she had been in the past.

Ianna slipped out of her training grounds with light steps and with her sword in her hands. Then, she quickly descended the mountain.

The north gate, which had been peaceful for hundreds of years, was often left unguarded. There were no guards guarding it today, perhaps because they were fooling around at the outpost. Ianna passed through the gates and returned to the annex, which was close by.

She quickly tossed the sword behind her bed when she got to her room and headed for the baths. She had asked Isphee a few years prior to always have the baths ready for her at this time, and bathing in the hot water was the one respite she could never go a day without.

She took off her dirt-covered clothes one after another. Her vest, shirt, pants……the curves of her body showed off their natural figure as the clothes that had been covering them fell to the floor. Her muscles weren’t readily apparent because she was a woman, but her body was so perfectly tempered that a skilled warrior would have voiced their wonder and admiration if they had seen her. Moreover, her body had developed differently than that of her peers, perhaps because she trained hard and was out in the sun often.

Ianna, who was now fifteen, was not as small and frail as other noble girls her age were, but was tall and slender instead. Her womanly curves were so pronounced that any man who saw her would gulp without being aware of what they were doing.

Ianna stepped into the hot water once she had finished undressing. She intoned her satisfaction with the temperature of the water she felt against her feet before submerging the rest of her body in the bathtub. She stretched out and rested her weary body in the steaming bathwater. Her crimson hair billowed in the hot water.

“Sigh…….”

Ianna slowly closed her eyes. Her fatigue unraveled like thread in the warmth that enveloped her whole being and any complicated threads of thought vanished from her mind as she relaxed.

She opened her eyes again to wash up once she had felt sufficiently rested from soaking her body in the hot water. She picked off the cumbersome strands of her hair that had stuck to her face and gathered back the rest of it that had scattered abundantly in the water.

“Should I cut it……?”

She thought about it for a bit before shaking her head no. It was obvious to her that Isphee would faint while frothing at the mouth if she did. Ianna did not mind something as trivial as growing her hair out to keep Isphee happy.

Ianna touched her cheeks. It was thanks to Isphee that her skin was flawless.

Her skin had gotten rough from fatigue when she had first started training with a sword because her body hadn’t been used to the strenuous exercise yet. Isphee had been in tears because she didn’t know why Ianna’s skin had worsened so much, as Ianna never told her about her secret sword training, and she had brought back herbs that were good for the skin, facemasks, and even some of Sarachè’s tonics.

Her skin was healthy, if not radiant, now that Isphee’s efforts were compounded with the fact that Ianna had grown used to her sword training and her mana training had increased to the point where she could remove any impurities from her body, but the wrinkles were stubbornly refusing to leave Isphee’s face as of late. Isphee had been worried about Ianna’s health and had dragged her over to a doctor’s multiple times previously. Though, Ianna had grown angry and fed up each and every time.

She was simply tired from her sword training, but she also knew that Isphee would only worry more if she told her about it. And so, Ianna had decided not to. Not only would she only get more tired because of the fuss that Isphee was sure to stir up, but, more importantly, Isphee had once been Sarachè’s maid.

It wasn’t that Ianna didn’t trust Isphee. But, even if Isphee always worked so hard for her, even if Isphee considered her, not Sarachè, as her mistress now, and even if it was true that Isphee had not told Sarachè about her actions ever since the cold warning Ianna had given her when she was nine……Isphee still loved and respected Sarachè. Ianna was not certain that Isphee could keep such a significant fact, like her sword training, a secret from Sarachè.

Ianna dried herself off with a towel that had been prepared for her beforehand once she had washed herself clean with fragrant bath soap and washed her hair. Normally, noble would have servants assist them in everything from bathing all the way to drying off and putting on clothes, but Ianna had refused such services.

It wasn’t because the people of House Roberstein disliked her or because she was too embarrassed to be naked before the maids. It was simply that she didn’t like being passively handled by other people and that she hated being defenseless in front of others. The only thing she truly owned was her own precious body, so she was reluctant to let other people touch it. Even Isphee was not allowed to touch her without permission.

Ianna headed for the dining hall once she had finished drying her hair and had changed into comfortable clothes. Isphee was waiting for her there.

“You’re here, Miss?”

“Yes.”

“Please wait a moment. I’ll have dinner ready for you soon.”

Ianna did as she habitually did once she had taken her bath. She watched Isphee prepare her diner from behind.

Ianna watched Isphee move about busily for a while before saying,

“Thank you for always taking such good care of me.”

Once she had heard the gratitude that Ianna never failed to offer her every single day, Isphee put down the warm dish of soup, the soft bread she had prepared in advance, the fragrant fried vegetables, and the fruit salad on the table before turning to the girl with a firm look on her face.

“Miss. Didn’t I tell you not to say things like that? My life is already inextricably bound to yours. So, instead of telling me thank you, please be responsible for me for the rest of my life.”

“Haha…….”

Ianna simply laughed without replying as she always did.

Isphee cheered up as she saw Ianna laughing directly in front of her. Her Miss grew more beautiful by the day. Back when Sarachè had been an active member of high society in the capital, Isphee had always attended tea parties with her to wait on her. And yet, she thought that Ianna shone more radiantly than any lady she had ever seen back then.

Ianna was like the sea glistening under the sun.

Ianna’s each and every word and action were as deep and heavy as the sea. The waves, which rejected everything, were terrifying. It was normal for people to assume that Ianna was cold-hearted.

But Isphee knew better. The waves were warm, almost like you could melt into them, so long as you allowed yourself to submerge into them. The sea was so captivating that you wanted to throw yourself into it, if only you allowed yourself to feel its warmth without holding any prejudice against it.

The sea’s warmth was hidden by the cold northern winds, but Ianna was objectively pretty even at a first glance. Her smile was particularly enchanting, though she did not show it often. When she smiled and the ice began to melt, her eyelashes would lower ever so slightly, her eyes would curve gently into crescents, and her lips would curl up round…….

She truly was lovelier than any other. Isphee could never tire of seeing her, even if she saw her every day. Isphee smiled back in delight.

“Goodness, you grow more radiant by the day, Miss.”

“I don’t like being praised for my appearance.”

But Isphee did not listen to her.

“At this rate, it won’t be hard to find you an excellent man. After all, anyone would fall for you at first sight. He has to be at least a count. I won’t tolerate anyone lesser. Hmm, even a prince would do.”

Ianna stared as Isphee’s daydreams took flight for a while before resting her chin on her crossed hands and quietly saying,

“Why don’t you think about your own potential marriage, instead of going on about mine? Do you have no intention to remarry?”

Isphee closed her mouth and smiled sheepishly.

“Goodness, Miss. Have many times have I told you now that I would bury my bones by your side?”

Isphee had lost her beloved husband to an accident when she was twenty, around the time that Ianna had been born. She had also miscarried the baby she was pregnant with at the time because of the stress the loss of her husband had caused. She was asked to be Ianna’s nursemaid because Lebony had abandoned the baby soon after she had been born.

It was a story that Isphee, who was ever at Ianna’s side, had recited bitterly when Ianna had asked her about her family.

Ianna had never mentioned it again because Isphee had grown sad. But, it was almost time for her to enter the Institution. It was the norm for students to stay in the Institution’s dorms, and, unlike at the Royal Academy, and Ianna would not need an attendant while she attended.

Moreover, Ianna planned to become independent from House Roberstein the very day she graduated from the Institution and follow Arhad, whom she would meet at the Swordsmanship Tournament, to Bahamut and help him ascend to the throne. She could not make Isphee follow her on that dangerous path. And she had no intention to bring Isphee along, either.

Ianna gazed at Isphee as she knit her fingers together.

“I’m being serious. You have your own life to live, and you won’t be able to stay with me and take care of me forever. I’ll make sure you have an ample dowry before marrying, so think about it. I’m sure that you’ll be able to find a good man for yourself, so you don’t need to waste your life and stick around me forever…….”

“Miss, do you not like it when I’m with you?”

“What?”

“You’re always like this. You always speak as if you’re about to send me away. Am I useless to you?”

Isphee’s shoulders drooped down. Ianna raised an eyebrow in amazement.

“I’ll really get mad if you keep saying nonsense like that. You’re very dear to me. Didn’t you say so yourself a while back? That you can’t leave me because you’re one of the few people whom I’m comfortable with? You were right.”

“……Miss…”

“I understand how you feel, but I want you to be happy with your real family. I want you to be able to live in a warm and cozy home with a reliable husband who loves you dearly.”

Isphee blushed, deeply moved, as Ianna’s words settled in. Her lips moved as if she was about to say something. However, Ianna failed to see that and continued,

“You would make a wonderful mother, judging by what I’ve seen about you until now. I don’t want to hold you back from becoming one. You have the right to be happy.”

“…….”

“If your dowry’s the problem, then I’ll give you as much money as you need. I can even give you all the money I’ve saved up, if you need it. That’s how dear you are to me.”

“You know, Miss…”

Isphee finally opened her mouth.

“I’m only telling you this now, but……. I want to tell you something that I’ve tried to tell you many times before but didn’t because I thought I was being disrespectful. I think of you as my own daughter, Miss.”

Ianna stiffened up. Isphee continued,

“Back then, when I lost both my husband and my child……I was twenty then. I nearly lost my mind. I was sitting alone on a cold bench like I was crazy and stared at anyone who crossed by me with a child. I couldn’t stand the fact that I did not have a baby in my arms when my breasts were growing larger and heavier with milk. Then, Lady Sarachè, whom I’d stopped serving after I’d gotten married, asked me to be your nanny.”

“…….”

“I will never forget the moment how you were crying your eyes out and I first held you in my arms. I cried too. It felt like you were my own child, Miss, who had come back to life.”

Isphee stepped behind Ianna, picked up the towel that was wrapped around her neck, and began gently drying off her hair.

“But that was then. I’ve long since accepted the fact that my child is gone. You’re you, after all, Miss. But I can’t help the fact that I’ve thought of you as my own daughter these past fifteen years.”

“…….”

“I don’t need a family. After all, I have a daughter like you, Miss Ianna, right here by my side. It’s more than enough for me to watch over your happiness. And that’s why. I want to follow after you and take care of you even after you get married and leave House Roberstein. Just like now. It’d be nice to be the head of all the maids who’ll take care of you in the future too. Hoho.”

Ianna closed her eyes as she heard Isphee laugh warmly. How would her life had been if Isphee had been her real mother? Would she have received a mother’s warm love, laughed joyfully, and grown up in peace and comfort?

Ianna felt terrible about the fact that she was keeping something as important as her sword training a secret from Isphee just because Isphee had once worked for Sarachè. She felt as though she would have to tell Isphee soon.

Ianna returned to her room and flopped down on her bed once she had finished her simple meal. She tossed and turned for a while before she dug out the Holy Book. She hadn’t wanted to, but she had to read it because Gerard had told her to. He would be disappointed in her if she couldn’t answer questions about it when they met again.

She had read it so often as a child before her rebirth that she had nearly memorized its contents, but she hardly remembered any of it now because she had never read it again after she had started distrusting God. She began skimming through chapter 1 verse 3.

There was nothing left in the End.

Only one mission was given to Laos, who stood alone —the mission to recreate the fallen world.

The first thing he did was to erect a large mountain range across the Demon’s heart with Phaemdra at its center and steady the unbalanced world.

The mountain range the Holy Book was referring to was the Lotso Mountains. This was because the Lotso Mountains divided the continent vertically in two. The tall and wide mountains had not been fully explored yet even though it had been two thousand years since the Age of Magic had begun.

No one knew what Phaemdra, which was mentioned in both chapter 1 verse 1 and verse 3, was. Scholars claimed that Phaemdra was a relic from the Holy Age that Laos used to begin the Age of Magic and was located at the heart of the Lotso Mountains, which was teeming with monsters. A relic that had ties with the ancient demon.

A group of powerful mages and skilled adventurers had tried to explore the heart of the Lotso Mountains once before in the distant past. Their group had been annihilated.

According to the sole surviving magician, who had escaped by teleporting, they had met a great, lizard-like monster at the very core of the mountains.

“All ye who seek the gods’ secrets will die in the fires of hell.”

That was what the monster had apparently said before breathing down fire on them. Its breath was said to have been like a storm of mana. And, it was also said that the surviving mage had eventually gone mad with fear as time passed.

And, tens, hundreds, and thousands of times since……mages, who were curious about the relic from the Holy Age and the monster, and prominent swordsmen had forced their way up the mountains, but none had ever returned.

The Lotso Mountains were considered a forbidden land that no man could conquer because of the countless sacrifices it had taken. People began calling the monster a dragon and deified it as the dragon that guarded the secrets of the gods.

Ianna closed the book as she recalled all of this. Even if Laos and the past Holy Age really existed —it was the Age of Magic now. She did not want to have to think about the useless past.

Whoosh—

The kerosene lamp went out just then.

Ianna sharply looked up. The door and windows —the only places that wind could have come from— were shut tight. One of them had to have been opened for the lamp to blow out.

Her keen senses felt something strange. Ianna grabbed her sword and slowly turned toward the door.

‘Was it today?’

Ianna scoffed. The past was repeating itself. The intruder was a man dressed in all-black, just as in the past. He was bold, considering that he had come in directly through the door.

Unlike in the past, however, Ianna was fully conscious. She studied the approaching man with cold eyes. Her eyes opened wide in surprise the moment she saw his. His eyes were red.

‘No way?’

Ianna was in disbelief as the image of a certain man flashed across her mind before she furiously shook her head. The image, however, did not leave her. Ianna looked up as a wave of nausea hit her and stared down at the man. His red eyes seemed to burn like volcanic lava.

“Who are you?”

The man did not reply. He simply brandished his sword above his head like he had in the past.

Swish!

Ianna watched him without another word before instantaneously drawing her own sword and flinging her body off the bed.

Clatter! Baaam!

She hit the sword out of his hands before he could react and kicked him hard across the stomach. Her kick, which she had incorporated mana into, hit him squarely and he flew across the room and slammed against the wall. He tried to get back up even as he trembled.

Pow! Pow!

Ianna quickly elbowed him twice at the tendons in his arms. This was to prevent him from trying anything funny, like committing suicide or spraying poison at her. Once his arms were bleeding and laying limp at his sides, she kicked him hard in the chin, crushing it, so that he couldn’t commit suicide by swallowing poison.

The man did not resist even though Ianna was using force against him. For someone who had come all the way here to assassinate her, he was far too amateurish in both skill and attitude. Ianna strode up to the man, who could no longer get back up, and lifted his chin using the tip of her sword. She forced his head up. She pricked him with the sharp tip of her sword to indicate that she had no qualms about stabbing him if he tried anything funny.

Ianna looked down at the man with a frigid look in her eyes.

“I’m curious now. Who’s trying to kill me?”

Ianna kept her sword where it was and reached out to remove the man’s mask. She stiffened up as she saw the man’s face before her lips twisted into a laugh.

“What’s this now……haha.”

The man was her maternal grandfather, Horby.

“You came here to kill me personally without hiring anyone else to do it? Actually, before that, why?”

The reddish hue to his eyes wasn’t normal, but he was undoubtedly her grandfather.

There was no reason for Horby to kill her. Ianna had never harmed Lebony, and neither had she negatively influenced Horby’s business in any way. All she had done was to yell at Lebony a few days earlier. But was that really reason enough for Horby to personally come to kill her?

No, it wasn’t. He had come after her in the past as well, when she hadn’t done anything and had always been submissive toward her mother.

Pow!

Ianna thrust her sword back in its sheath and kicked Horby hard in the face. She sat down slowly as she saw how his head had twisted to the side because of the impact of the blow. She held him up by the collar.

“Tell me, Grandfather. Why are you trying to kill me?”

Was it because she had kicked too hard? Horby’s red eyes were unfocused as they reflected off the moonlight. He also didn’t speak. Ianna was boiling up inside. She barely managed to get her next words out as she held back the urge to scream at him.

“Why? Tell me —just what on earth did I ever do to you?”

Horby said nothing even as Ianna interrogated him with bloodlust in every word. Ianna’s face stiffen up frigidly.

“You won’t say anything? Well, fine. I’ve already killed you once, so what’s stopping me from killing you a second time?”

Shhh.

Ianna stood up and drew her sword again. A strange flash of light glistened in the dark room. Ianna muttered,

“Remember this. I never show my enemies any mercy. Especially if we share the same blood.”

A frightening light settled in Ianna’s eyes.

“That being said, to think that the first person I ever murdered was someone of my own blood. Truly, my fate……is as sickening as it is unfortunate.”

“…….”

“Why aren’t you doing anything? I just said that I’d kill you. Is the fact that I’m your granddaughter weighing on your mind even though you already came all the way here to kill me? Shouldn’t you at least try to resist?”

Just then, Horby began to emit a mysterious crimson aura. Ianna flinched and stepped back a little in surprise.

‘Mana?’

No. It was similar to mana, but it clearly felt different —to be precise, Ianna felt an overwhelming sense of vitality from it. It felt like the vitality of all those who moved their bodies hard and did their best to live their lives.

Whooooosh……

And, the mana around her that typically lingered in the air like a ghost was sucked into the crimson aura with the intensity of a fired arrow and began pulsating vigorously. It was like the mana wanted to mix into the crimson aura, but the aura was pushing it away.

‘What in the world…?’

Horby’s body trembled as the aura began bursting out of him for real. Ianna, who was staring down at Horby with narrowed eyes, did not move to escape even when the crimson aura reached her. She was confident that she could repel it once she had understood what it was. But then, just as the aura made contact with her skin…

Ianna was overcome with a sudden urge to stab Horby in the heart. She had been planning to kill him anyway, but her hand twitched against her will, wanting to stab him, as she held her sword.

The aura left Horby like a homesick traveler and wrapped around her like it had finally come home. Then, it gradually permeated into her.

“……!”

Ianna grew dizzy as the aura continued to engulf her. She knew that she ought to have felt unpleasant that some mysterious aura was invading into her body, but she felt only sweet pleasure and satisfaction instead. She imagined that this must be how it felt to drink a life-prolonging elixir at the brink of death.

Ianna smirked. She didn’t know what it was, but she could tell that it at least wasn’t harmful. In fact, the aura even cheered her up because she felt like she was being filled up with something.

Ianna gave up on resisting her urge to kill Horby once the aura had filled her completely. She wondered why she had even bothered resisting when she was planning to kill him anyway.

She slowly raised her sword and whispered,

“Farewell.”

The sword cut through the air.

Swish!

Twak!

“Ugh!”

Ianna pierced Horby through the heart like it was nothing, just as she had done in the past that day. She let out a short gasp as a mixture of crimson blood and the crimson aura exploded out of Horby the moment she had pierced his heart.

Whoooosh……

The crimson aura poured out of Horby like turbulent wind. Various objects in the room fell over and were lifted into the air.

Clatter!

Ianna returned to her senses when she heard the vase fall off the table and shatter on the floor. She furrowed her brows and tried to move back to avoid the aura, but couldn’t. The crimson aura drew closer to her with the intensity of a tempest.

“What in the world……?!”

Just then, Ianna locked eyes with someone who had called out in a very familiar voice. Her heart settled down with a throb.

‘Lebony!’

Ianna bit down at her lip as Lebony stared at her with her eyes wide open in shock. Was Lebony the person who had told Horby to kill her? But why?

The raging aura continued to fill Ianna up despite her confusion.

Thump.

Horby collapsed to the floor like a broken puppet once Ianna had taken all of the aura that had been inside him. She could not feel any more life from him.

Lebony, who had stepped into the room, only stood there in a daze even though her father had collapsed. Ianna drew a deep breath and lowered her head. Her crimson hair scattered into the air behind her.

“…….”

She brushed her disheveled hair back and looked up again before and, with her lips nearly bleeding because she had bit down so hard, asked,

“What is this?”

A glint of light shone in Ianna’s eyes.

“What’s the meaning of this? Why are you here, Lebony? Tell me.”

“It’s you, my dearest…….”

Lebony muttered with a vague look on her face. Ianna screamed at her as she continued to babble nonsense.

“Tell me!”

“Ahh!”

Lebony shrieked in ecstatic wonder as she ran toward Ianna. Ianna grasped her sword tightly, wondering if Lebony was trying to kill her.

“……!”

But Lebony embraced her tightly instead. Ianna tried to push her away with a look of intimidation on her face, but she refused to let her go. She held Ianna tight as sorrowful tears fell from her eyes.

“Ahh! I missed you so much, my dearest!”

“Let me go!”

“My great master! My God……!”

Ianna wondered if Lebony had finally lost her mind when she began mumbling incoherently. She tried to push her away, but Lebony only held her tighter.

Ianna, who had not been hugged so tightly ever since she was a baby, found it hard to breathe. Not to mention that the person who was hugging her was her mother. She wondered if this was all some kind of nightmare.

Lebony savored the aura surging in the air around them as she held on to Ianna tightly with an ecstatic look on her face, completely ignorant of what Ianna was feeling.

“Yes, this aura! I wanted to feel this wonderful aura again just one more time. Not the half of your power you gave me or haziness that Cherno gives off, but your complete aura……!”

Ianna stiffened as she felt her shoulder, which the ecstatic Lebony had buried her face in, began feeling moist. Lebony was sobbing uncontrollably into her shoulder.

“You are always so high and lofty, my dearest Lady Ro. You are always so kind, and always so cold. And yet, you are also always so warm……. Yes, I wanted so dearly so see your crimson figure again! Blue does not suit you. Indeed, perhaps I, as stupid as I am, had lost myself in a long dream. You are someone who rises up and shines so brilliantly when you hold a sword. You must always be crimson like this…….”

Lebony hugged Ianna tighter as she sobbed.

“Why did you leave after sealing only me away? What did you mean when you said that you were entrusting everything to me? Lady Ro, I was happy just to stand beside you, happy just to die at your side, so why did you keep me alive? I started looking for you desperately as soon as I woke up! But the months kept passing and there was no one who remembered who I was, nor anyone who remembered you. Everything was treated as a myth, as if it was all a lie!”

“…….”

“I was lonely —so lonely that I thought I was going to die. The fact that I was the only survivor made me so lonely I wanted to die! But I forced myself to keep living because I had your aura inside of me!”

“……Get off!”

Ianna shoved Lebony hard. Lebony crumbled weakly to the floor.

“I can’t stand to listen to any more of your nonsense.”

“Ahh……ugh…….”

Ianna bit her lip. She had wondered why Lebony had suddenly hugged her of her own accord, but it was evidently because she had mistaken Ianna for someone else. Ianna pitied herself for freezing up like a fool.

Ianna glared at Lebony as she gaped foolishly at the floor and frigidly spat out,

“What are you even talking about? Did you really lose your mind? Who did you mistake me for?”

“……Ianna?”

Lebony stared blankly up at Ianna and blinked her teary eyes. Ianna glared down at her with darkened eyes.

“Yes, I’m Ianna, just as you’ve said. I’m not the person you were looking for.”

“…….”

“Are you ignoring me now? Why did you come to my room?”

“……Ah, haha, ahaha!”

Lebony burst out in laughter upon hearing Ianna’s steadily rapped out questions. She continued,

“Yes, you’re right! You’re my daughter! It’s ridiculous of me to see that great person in my damned daughter! I don’t have anyone at my side anymore! You may look like that person, but there’s no way that you could be her! Indeed……!”

Tears flowed from Lebony’s eyes. They poured out of her eyes like a broken dam as she clutched at her skirt and gasped.

“My God…… Why did you leave me such an arduous trial? No one remembers your dear being anymore. All of you are only remembered as a myth, and only I am left in this lonely world……I’m lonely, so lonely. I’m so, so lonely and cold that I think I’ll go insane…….”

So, that’s why I hate you now.

I still love you as much as ever, but I hate you for making it so I can neither live nor die, for making me so lonely…….

Lebony muttered to herself like she had lost her mind as she lowered her head and curled into herself. Ianna simply stared down at her, unable to say a thing.

“How did my seal break? It would have been so much better if I had stayed asleep for the rest of eternity……. And what became of the Golden Demon? Did it die with that person? Ha, ahahaha. Hilarious. Absolutely hilarious. Out of all the gods, only Laos remained as one……. Damn you, you filthy rat…….”

‘The Golden Demon? Laos?’

Ianna frowned. Everything that Lebony had mentioned in her insane mutterings were beings from myth. Then, Lebony abruptly looked up from her muttering.

“Ianna, my damn daughter. I hate you so much I want to kill you. You wanted to know why I’m in your room?”

The resent in her tear-stained red eyes was so potent that even Ianna could not help but step back. Lebony continued,

“I’m here because I was trying to kill you!”

Her words were so direct that they became as blades that dug into Ianna’s scars. Ianna bit her lip hard. Her heart was beating furiously. She was so shaken that she thought she might cry.

She had decided not to hold any affection for this woman in this life, so she shouldn’t have any lingering attachments for her, so why, why was she becoming so unseemly……?

Drip.

A tear that Ianna did not wish to shed fell into the darkness. Slowly, she opened her mouth.

“Why?”

Just what had she done? Was it a sin for a child, who only wanted to be loved, to want to be loved because she was so lonely? Or, had she committed a sin just by being born?

Then why did you even give birth to me?

Her heart settled down in a cold place as the thought entered her mind. There was no need for her to think such things. This woman did not have the right to be so cruel to her just because of the single fact that she had given birth to her.

Bloodlust seeped into Ianna’s eyes. The woman before her eyes only looked abhorrent to her now. Ianna wanted to cram her sword into her mouth and rip out her tongue and throat. She wanted to erase this viciously cruel woman from the world.

Swoosh—

Ianna pulled the sword from Horby’s dead heart without another word. She adjusted her grip on the bloody sword and, in a hair-raising voice, said,

“You have no right to hate me. You were the one who got yourself pregnant with me. You should have just gotten an abortion if you didn’t want to give birth to me. You thoroughly disgust me for treating me this way when you were the one who brought me out into the world.”

Lebony cackled when she heard what Ianna had to say.

“Yes. I’m sure you have no idea why I’m like this. No, I’m sure that no one in this world could ever possibly know! After all, they’d all think I’m just a crazy bitch if I ever tried to tell them! Hah, ahahaha! I’m sure I’m just a damned bitch in their eyes. The bitch who broke apart their peaceful household, the bitch who abandoned her own daughter to chase after a man! Sure, I’m just a damn bitch. But I had no choice but to be one. I was so lonely I couldn’t stand it! Are you going to kill me? Sure, go right ahead. But I have to tell you this before you do. I demand your understanding, your pity, since you were the one who took everything from me —you stole my only reason for living from me!”

Lebony yelled and lowered her head as she quivered. She lowered her eyes, which looked so similar to Ianna’s. The white moon peered in from the window like it was sneaking a peek as it shined its light on their ghastly figures.

“I…….”

Lebony’s mouth moved slightly before stopping again as she knelt before Ianna, who stood with her back toward the moon. Ianna planned to kill Lebony when the time came, but first she wanted to know why she had been caused so much hurt in the past. Lebony’s actions were too irrational for someone who had simply been obsessed in other people, so Ianna wanted to know what supposedly great secret reasons Lebony had for causing her so much pain and listened with twisted curiosity, as if she was listening to the last confessions of the condemned before they were put to death.

Lebony slowly looked up a little while later and looked Ianna directly in the eyes.

“I am Lebony, someone who was captivated by Roberstein’s power and became that person’s follower…….”

Ianna wondered if Lebony was referring to Cherno when she mentioned the name Roberstein. But then, what was this power that she was referring to? What power did Cherno, who was a mere civil official to his very bones, possible have? Lebony continued,

“I am someone of the likes of which you can no longer find amongst the people of this current era that they call the Age of Magic —a person……no, a god from the Holy Age.”

Ianna’s frozen expression fell apart because she had not expected Lebony’s words, much less understood them. Why was Lebony suddenly talking about the Holy Age and the gods? Was the woman playing around with her, or sprouting nonsense to prolong her life, or had she simply truly gone mad?

Lebony burst out into laugher.

“I’m sure you don’t believe me.”

“Isn’t that obvious? I can only assume you’ve gone insane if you say something as absurd as that. You really must have lost your mind.”

“Hahaha, but the truth won’t change just because you don’t understand it. I don’t understand it either. I don’t understand why I, and only I, was left alive after the End when all the other gods went to sleep!”

“…….”

“The Holy Age!”

A dim light shone in Lebony’s eyes and she spread out her arms as Ianna too confused to speak. Lebony continued,

“Everyone who lived in the Holy Age, an unfathomably long time ago, was a god who carried their own special power. Our powers were handled though divine power, which was created by our fragments of chaos, and we could maintain our lives forever —the world of the gods was beautiful!”

The Holy Age? Fragments of chaos? Divine power? Living forever? Gods?

Ianna grew dizzy as the terms that Lebony had mentioned petrified her mind. She felt like she would faint. And that was why she asked,

“Have you truly lost your mind?”

“Perhaps I have.”

Lebony did not deny it. She laughed in loneliness because she understood the incomprehension that appeared across Ianna’s entire visage. It had already been long since she herself wondered if she had finally gone mad. Lebony continued,

“But I have always been truthful with you. It might be difficult for you, a human, to understand this, but the fragments of chaos that I spoke of are actually the gods’ hearts.”

Lebony placed a hand on her own chest.

“My heart produces divine power, even if only a little……. And I can feel it. But now, I’ve begun to wonder if even that is something that I’m hallucinating because I’ve lost my mind.”

Desperately, Lebony continued,

“But still, listen to my story. This is the reason why I had no choice but to live as I have been!”

She looked as if she was desperate to confess her life’s story to anyone who would listen. Ianna, who was an atheist to the extreme, was in a state of panic because she could not deny that, though she viewed Lebony as a lunatic, the woman looked more sincere now than she had ever seen her before.

And yet, she braced herself. Indeed, even if Lebony had lost her mind, her story was still worth listening to if it was the reason why the woman had been so cruel to her all her life. Ianna stubbornly decided to listen.

Lebony began mumbling out her story as Ianna crossed her arms and quietly looked down at her.

“Our chaos fragments maintain our lives and allow us to use our powers……it produces the divine power that we need to live, and gods are classified in accordance to how much of it our chaos fragments produce.”

Lebony explained that the amount of divine power one possessed was used as a measure of rank among the gods because a god would expire if they used up all of their divine power. The only way to obtain more divine power was to kill another god and absorb theirs or to have another god share their divine power with you, but lower-classed gods could only bow their heads and beg higher ranked gods for divine power because it was officially forbidden for a god to kill another god.

Lebony lowered her eyes in sorrow for a moment as she found herself unable to speak. Then, she continued,

“I was the lowliest god even among the lower ranks of gods. I was a god whose fragment could hardly produce any divine power at all.”

The world that the lower-ranked gods, whom the higher-ranked gods didn’t even bother looking at, lived in was fierce. There were only three ways for lower ranked gods to survive: to beg higher-ranked gods to share their divine power, to serve under them, or to secretly murder another lower-ranked god and steal their divine power.

“My power is brainwashing.”

A god’s power was something that they were given absolute authority over. Brainwashing didn’t work if the victim’s ego was stronger than that of the caster’s, but most fell under the effects of Lebony’s brainwashing when she used it. Even as useless as she was, there were no higher-ranked gods who had refused to accept her.

And so, Lebony had tenaciously survived by stealing divine power from other gods by using her brainwashing or by seducing other male lower-ranked gods and having them share their divine power with her. Rumors of her deeds had spread wide and far, and everyone saw her as a dirty whore who sold her body for divine power. All despite the fact that she had no choice if she wanted to live.

“But then, Lady Roberstein took me under her wing.”

Lebony could not help but cry when she thought about that person. She wiped away her endlessly falling tears with the back of her hand and continued her story as she cried.

“That person was the most beautiful goddess in the world who was loved and respected by all.”

Lebony had been captivated by her the moment their eyes had met as she chanced upon her on the road.

“Roberstein was a brilliant, blazing crimson, unlike my vulgar and seductive red……Lady Ro’s strong crimson made me thirst for her.”

Lebony had loved the strong spirit she sensed from Roberstein and the strong sword that symbolized her so much that she had chased after her frantically. Roberstein’s followers had tried to kill her upon learning about her, but Roberstein had brushed them aside and reached out for Lebony anyway.

Lebony had frantically taken hold of her hand. She shared her power with Lebony through their interlaced fingers. Lebony had writhed in ecstasy —more so than when she had rolled around with men in pleasure or any other time— when Roberstein shared her noble power, on a completely different level than Lebony’s, with her and she felt the warmth of Roberstein’s aura for the first time. And so, Lebony had become Roberstein’s follower.

“After becoming that person’s follower, I learned that she was very composed and determined, but she was also the kindest person I knew. I loved and respected that person, my master, above all else. I couldn’t help it, not when it came to her. I thought that I could offer up my everything, if only it was for that person.”

Lebony’s eyes became moist again as she recalled those tender memories. A gloom settled down in them quickly after. She continued,

“But then, right before the End, she passed all of her divine power unto me and left me with the strange words that she was entrusting everything to me before she sealed me away.”

Lebony wrapped her arms around herself.

“Countless months and years passed and passed, and then about twenty years ago……. That person’s seal was undone for reasons I can’t fathom. I climbed down from a mountain as I desperately searched for her as soon as I woke up. But then I found that the entire era had changed.”

She began to tremble.

“No one knew about the Holy Age. No one knew about those who lived in it. I couldn’t even figure out where Laos, whom the humans followed, was. I was all alone. I was left all alone in this place. I was the only one who had leapt across that long stretch of time…….”

Lebony burst out in tears.

“The great power that person gave me was the only thing from my era that I had inherited and it was my only proof that my era had even existed at all. And, since I didn’t know what she had meant when she said she was entrusting everything to me, I had to stay alive until I figured it out. I realized that my fate was such that I had to steal divine power from others again.”

Lebony had learned more about this new era as she wandered across the world. The information she gleaned had surprised her. The people who lived in this era did not possess fragments of chaos, but they carried divine power, however weak, within them, and yet they didn’t know what divine power was. And, through trial and error, she had learned that she could make them transfer their divine power to her by brainwashing them to ‘Give my powers to Lebony.’ Humans were very similar to the gods.

Lebony the pointed to Horby, who was dead on the floor.

“I brainwashed this man, who was already infamous as a big-time merchant and as a loan shark when I met him, and I controlled him as I pleased. Then, I buried all of the divine power I had received from that person inside his heart. So that I wouldn’t be tempted to use her power even if I was exhausted…….”

After securing a reliable background for herself, Lebony had wandered around the area and seduced men as they came so she could take their divine power. Her brainwashing was the most successful when their heads were filled with nothing but sexual pleasure.

None of the commoners had a stronger will than Lebony’s, who put her survival first and foremost. Her brainwashing succeeded every time and she was able to receive some of man’s divine power.

And, when she had so little divine power that she couldn’t even spare any to use her brainwashing powers, she simply killed them and stole their divine power that way. She had done all of this only so that she would not use up all of her own divine power.

Humans only had a little divine power within them, and Lebony consumed divine power at least dozens of times at the rate that humans did, perhaps because she was a god. Lebony had had no choice but to sleep with any man whom she had come across.

Or, perhaps……she had used her body as such because she was just so lonely she couldn’t stand it.

“If you ask around about any man who’s slept with me, you’ll probably find that they’ve either died a violent death or went missing. That’s because I stole their divine power, or their life force, as you call it. So sure, I’m just a damned bitch!”

Lebony began laughing as though she had lost her mind. She laughed for a while before she lowered her head again.

“And that’s how I lived……. It was so exhausting……until I chanced upon Cherno, who felt very strongly of that person.”

Her tears had begun flowing again. She collapsed to the floor and cried as her body heaved.

“I knew the very moment I laid my eyes on him. That her strong spirit was flowing through his blood! I wouldn’t have burst out in tears the moment I saw him otherwise. And then……I found out that Cherno’s surname was Roberstein! That person was alive. Her soul was living and breathing in House Roberstein’s bloodline! How could you possibly understand how I felt when I first met Cherno, who shares that person’s aroma, when I first found a trace of that person after such a long stretch of time!”

Lebony’s story could have spanned across an entire novel by itself, and it was too detailed to simply write off as a mere fabrication. Ianna had no choice but to stand there and listen to Lebony complain as she sat there and cried.

“I thought I’d go crazy because I wanted to stay near Cherno, who gave off the same fragrance as that person, so badly. It felt like he was carrying proof of all the things that disappeared from my era and of her warmth inside of him……. But Cherno is blue in appearance. Neither does he carry a sword. Just where did that person’s strong and beautiful crimson colors and sword go that the bloodline that inherited her soul was blue in color and only held a skinny pen……?!”

Lebony thought she would burst into tears because she could not find even a trace of Roberstein’s crimson in Cherno’s blues. She had wondered if it was because Roberstein had given her all of her power. If the task that Roberstein had entrusted to her was to cross beyond the End and return Roberstein’s power to Cherno.

And so, she had taken the power back from Horby and made great efforts to give it to Cherno, but for whatever the reason, Cherno’s, who felt so much like Roberstein, blood rejected the divine power. Lebony had chased Cherno down to the lands that bore Roberstein’s name and had reached out to him in an effort to give him her power every time they met, but it had proved to be impossible.

“It was difficult to see him because our respective ranks were so different, so I tried to brainwash him secretly to give him the divine power in any way I could. But, and I don’t know if it’s because he carries her strong spirit with him, I failed to brainwash him and eventually resigned myself to fate.”

Along with the resignation in her heart was also the terrible loneliness from being the last god left in the world, her obsession for Cherno, who felt like Roberstein, and her longing for Roberstein. That was why she used her brainwashing powers to force Cherno to marry her for money. She had simply wanted to be near him. She had simply wanted his attention.

“But……but then, Cherno, who felt like that person, was just so kind?”

Lebony smiled happily even as the tears continued falling from her eyes. She clasped her hands over her chest.

“Who could possibly know how happy I was when I laid with him? I was so thoroughly exhausted, but I felt like I would melt in warmth whenever Cherno, who carried that person’s soul with him, whispered kind words in my ear.”

Lebony’s love for Roberstein was like that of an inferior being’s admiration for an absolute one, like a faithful servant’s loyalty for their master, or like a child’s love for their mother. She knew that Roberstein was like the sun —someone should could never have no matter how much she loved her. But her love for Cherno was different. She could touch him if she reached out for him.

“I realized that I had fallen in love with Cherno. And so, while I knew that I was being selfish and would have to apologize to Lady Ro, who had entrusted all of her divine power to me, I began to think that I wouldn’t mind staying by Cherno’s, who felt so much like Lady Ro, side and live in this era while only looking to him and dying, even if it risked consuming all of the divine power Lady Ro had left me.”

Lebony had used Roberstein’s power little by little and lived while looking only at Cherno ever since. And then, she had become pregnant with Ianna.

“I loved you more than any other, and you were more precious to me than anything in the world while I carried you because I thought of you as the fruit of our love, because you were the fruit of that person’s soul and my blood. I gave you the name Ianna and whispered my love to you every single day. Now that I think back on it, I treasured you more than I treasured Cherno during those days…….”

Ianna looked like she had choked on something for a moment as Lebony said something she would have never expected. Lebony, however, did not see and sorrowful tears continued to drip down her face.

“And then, Cherno learned about all the things I had done behind his back because I said something I shouldn’t have. It was only natural for him to start hating me. But I couldn’t breathe when he looked at me with such a sharp look in his eyes. Still, I consoled myself by saying it was okay, it was still okay, and I endured it all by thinking about you, who inherited that person’s soul……. I thought that it would be okay if I didn’t have Cherno as long as I had you. As long as I had you, I would never be alone. I would still be able to be with that person’s bloodline.”

Lebony, who had been spinning together her hazy words until then, suddenly opened her eyes wide.

“But you stole every last drop of Lady Roberstein’s divine power that I had from me the moment you were born! All of it, save for what little I had given to Horby!”

Ianna clenched her jaws without a word at the violent hatred Lebony harbored for her.

‘I stole this unbelievable power called divine power from her, she says?’

Ianna had never want such power, and neither had she ever forced Lebony to give anything up for her. She had always been the one whom Lebony had one-sidedly beaten. Just how important was this divine power, which she had always believed to be fictional until now?

“At first, I watched over you with bated breath because I wondered if something would happen since Lady Roberstein’s soul and Lady Roberstein’s divine power had merged together. But you were just a human child. I didn’t even feel the vague presence that I felt from Cherno from you. Instead……I couldn’t even feel that person’s presence from Cherno anymore ever since you were born!”

“…….”

“I fainted when I first learned about that. You stole from me the power that I had struggled for so many years so I could survive and protect it, that I did everything I could to keep myself from using so I could give it to Cherno, that I knew I would definitely need if I wanted to keep living quietly by Cherno’s side, but then you didn’t even take after any of Cherno’s blues —your hair and eyes are crimson as if you’re rubbing the fact that you stole that person’s power from me in my face! And you don’t even feel like Lady Ro!”

Lebony had felt so robbed and hated Ianna so much for it that she couldn’t bear it. She had wondered hundreds of times every day if she could take back Roberstein’s divine power if she killed Ianna. She had no choice but to avoid Ianna because she wanted to murder her daughter every time she looked at her.

She had held back because Ianna was still Cherno’s child. Lebony still loved Cherno and obsessed over him. She only had her beloved Cherno now, since she had lost everything that had to do with the gods. She only had a little bit of divine power left. It would only last her around twenty years if she didn’t steal any more.

But Lebony chose to spend her time chasing after Cherno instead of stealing divine power from other people. And she abandoned Ianna in so doing.

“I planned to brainwash you into sharing the divine power with me once you were older, but my brainwashing didn’t work on you, perhaps because you share Cherno’s blood, and you only ever stared at me with pity in your eyes…….”

Lebony’s eyes were empty as she neared the conclusion of her story, and she stared off into empty space. Everything felt so empty to her now.

“Cherno never loved me back even though I threw away everything I had in my love for him. You despise me even though you’re the one who stole all of that person’s power from me —she was my everything. I grew exhausted and found myself searching for my God, my willful Lady Roberstein, more often. But as time passed……no, over these last few years, you started to feel more like Lady Ro, and you started to look like her too. I wonder what that means…….”

Lebony slowly lowered her gaze and stared fixedly at the sword in Ianna’s hand.

“It looks like you’ve taken up the sword without anyone knowing. Lady Roberstein’s soul, Lady Roberstein’s divine power, and…….”

Her trembling gaze was locked on Ianna’s sword.

“…A sword.”

Lebony snorted.

“Does that mean that the key to awakening Lady Roberstein’s soul was a sword?”

Lebony, who had been staring off into space with empty eyes, suddenly stood up, ran toward Ianna, and grabbed the girl by her shoulders.

“I thought that everything was over. You despised me and Cherno said that he would never love me, so Lady Ro was all I had left!”

It was clear to Lebony that Ianna, a mere human, would only gnaw away at Roberstein’s power. And so, she had spent the past several days cleaning up after all traces of herself in the Roberstein lands and setting aside Horby’s wealth, and she had put Horby in action to kill Ianna and take back the divine power. However, she had changed her mind upon seeing Ianna wielding a sword.

“You’re right —just like you said, you aren’t her. You can’t ever be her, even if you carry her soul. You won’t ever be able to use her power properly so long as you are a human, and not a god, and I believe that even every trace of her power will vanish someday.”

“…….”

“But now, after seeing you with a sword, after seeing you take back that person’s power from Horby as if it was originally yours all along, I can’t help but wonder if you were supposed to have Lady Roberstein’s power. Did I leap past the End and survive all this time just to give birth to you?”

“Shut your mouth.”

A cold light entered Ianna’s eyes when Lebony finished her last question. The blackish feelings that flared in her heart clouded her vision as she heard Lebony speak. Ianna violently shook Lebony off. She continued,

“You did things I never asked of you as you pleased, you hated me as you pleased, and now you’ve gone and convinced yourself as you pleased? You’re just selfish to the core, aren’t you?”

Ianna didn’t understand it well, but if she took Lebony’s story as the truth, then it meant that Lebony’s life had been the epitome of pity and misfortune. But, even if she had sympathy for Lebony, she could never forgive her.

Ianna had been as the assailant in this life because she had learned not to expect anything from Lebony after she had been reborn, but she had the victim in the past.

Ianna’s wishes had no part in the way things had played out, and they were the ones who had driven the situation into what it was, but Ianna had endured becoming like a doll for them to vent their stress on —be it through words or actions— solely because she had longed to be loved.

And now she was fed up with it.

‘Why are you shifting all of the responsibility for the things you’ve done to me?’

Ianna pitied her past self.

“I don’t care about what happened to you before I was born. I don’t care about this precious Lady Roberstein of yours either! I carry her soul inside of me? Hell if I care!”

The blood vessels in Ianna’s throat began popping out.

“I am me!”

she cried out in fury.

“I am Ianna, and no one else. The things you spoke about have no control over me. I will be the one to decide my feelings, my thoughts, my life —no one else! No one can shake me!”

Ianna’s lips twisted and she laughed like she was touched in the head. There was no joy nor warmth in her laughter. There was no trace of her usual cold composure either. It was simply desperate and gruesome.

“I hate you. I still hate you, even after hearing your story. You will never lessen my hatred for you no matter what you do or say.”

She had essentially declared that she still denounced the entire Roberstein household and that her hatred for Lebony hadn’t changed, but Lebony, whose eyes were red and swollen, smiled at her sweetly.

“Yes, you’re right. You’re Ianna.”

‘You may look like her, but you are not her.’

Ianna could never be that person. But the presence she gave off felt so similar to hers. Lebony could not figure out why that was. It was likely that only Roberstein could know.

‘Lady Ro, were you referring to Ianna when you told me that you were entrusting everything to me?’

But it’s far too late now. I cannot turn back time. I’ve been wicked to Ianna as no mother should, and I was always thinking wicked thoughts about her. Ianna hated me for it, and everything was over the moment I came here to kill her.

Lebony did not wish to live any longer.

She even wanted to let go of the god whom she so loved.

Ianna stared at the smiling Lebony with her hands clenched into fists.

“Why did you tell me your story? What am I supposed to do in this situation? You said you hated me and wanted to kill me, and you actually came here to do just that —so just what is it that you want me to do?!”

“I simply wanted to tell someone about my circumstances before I died……. And I have no more regrets now that you’ve listened to my story. So…”

Anxiously, Lebony opened her mouth and quietly said,

“Won’t you please kill me by your hands?”

Her eyes, which had been wavering like a flickering candle, stopped moving. She continued,

“I don’t wish to live any longer. I’m so, so tired. I’m going to commit suicide right here if you don’t kill me yourself.”

Lebony felt like she could die in peace if she could die by that person’s sword, if she could die by Ianna’s, who felt so much like her, side. It might be cruel to Ianna, but Lebony was desperate.

Ianna stared and stared at Lebony, who was smiling like a fool, until she finally raised her blade.

“Fine.”

Ianna was fed up. She was so, so fed up with everything. The woman before her was so truly selfish. She was a crazy bitch. Ianna grew annoyed just by looking at her. She refused to be tied down to this woman any longer now that she had started a new life.

She would rather kill Lebony with her own hands and sever their ties once and for all, especially if Lebony was going to kill herself anyway. If she had to become the assailant no matter what, then she resolved to become as independent as possible so she could earn a better future for herself. Bloodlust filled Ianna’s eyes.

“I hate you, but I also pity you.”

“Thank you. And…….”

Lebony hesitated and couldn’t get her next words out properly, but Ianna had already understood the gist of what she was about to say.

“……I’d rather you don’t feel any guilt over me. Because I still ha…….”

“I won’t. So stop talking.”

It looked like Lebony still knew how to feel sorry. But, it didn’t matter if Lebony apologized or not at this point. Ianna had decided not to care about her any longer after her first life had ended. She could not have cared any less about Lebony in this life, and neither did she want to. She only wanted to end things as quickly as possible.

“Do you have any last wishes?”

Lebony stared fixedly at Ianna’s eyes, shining bright with bloodlust, and said,

“Nope. You can live your own life. My only wish is that you hurry up and kill me, I suppose.”

Lebony did wish for something, if she was to be honest. She wished that Ianna would continue wielding a sword and live out a wonderful life. One look at Ianna’s face, however, told her that Ianna would continue living together with the sword whether she wished for it or not.

All she wanted now was death —for everything to be over. A blissful End.

‘I’m so exhausted, Lady Ro. Can I finally die now?’

Lebony opened her arms and closed her eyes.

“I’m exhausted and long for eternal rest. I’ve lived long enough, and it’s well past time for me to rest in death’s sweet embrace. My daughter. Will you please kill me?”

“I’ll kill you. I bid you rest well, my damned mother!”

Swiiiish!

Ianna stabbed Lebony through the heart as soon as the words had left her mouth. Piercing through a god’s heart felt no different than stabbing a human through their chest, breaking the bones, and ripping apart the innards.

Lebony smiled with a peaceful look on her face.

Shhhhhh.

Lebony’s physical body began sublimating into a reddish aura. Ianna stared expressionlessly as Lebony’s aura dispersed like a bloodstain.

Lebony vanished completely into the air like dust a few moments later. It was like she had never existed at all.

“…….”

Ianna stared vacantly at the place Lebony had been standing even long after she had vanished. She stood there, wordlessly, for a while.

Drip.

A single tear fell from her eyes. Ianna wiped it away with the back of her hand as if it had only been a crocodile tear. It was hard for her to breathe, and she felt like her heart was suffocating. She had thought that she would feel refreshed, but her heart only felt stunned.

Still, Ianna turned away from her feelings. Her tears stopped when she did. She was the flooded by fatigue.

And so, Ianna watched the passing of one of the two gods who still remained in this world.

Then, she ardently prayed that she could be freed of her sickening past even just a day faster, that she could finally meet the emperor of Bahamut and walk the new path that she had once passed over in the past.

~~*~~

Part 4

Five months had passed since that day and it was now the December of the year 1512 on the Roanne calendar. It was winter now, and it was colder than the Ice Queen’s breath.

Ianna, who only had to wait another month until her life turned around, was walking across a frozen pathway.

“Whew.”

Her breath escaped her like a white mist. A cold so fierce that it froze her breath had covered the land, perhaps because it was the northernmost region of the kingdom.

The Kingdom of Roanne had established schools that taught people for free until they were fifteen. Anyone who wanted to continue their studies as an adult, after they had turned sixteen, had to find their own teachers and pay for higher education. The only higher education that the kingdom supported was carried out in the capital in either the Royal Theodore Academy or the Valgenta Institution.

The Theodore Academy was built exclusively for nobles, but the Valgenta Institution was a place of learning that was open to anyone between the ages of sixteen to twenty-five.

Most nobles never received free education and were instead taught privately at home before going to the Theodore Academy once they were old enough. The nobles, who lived a life of leisure and pointless luxury, still supported the Valgenta Institution, which made no distinction between its student’s social standings.

Crunch, crunch.

Ianna’s footsteps made their mark one after another on top of the layer of white snow on the ground. Her footsteps trailed all the way from the post office so far away.

She was on her way back from sending her application to take the entrance exam to enter the Valgenta Institution. The exams took place over the course of two months —January and February. She did not need to bring anything except herself. Anyone who didn’t have a letter of recommendation had to apply with only the skills they demonstrated during the exams.

The application fee was expensive, though tuition was rather cheap, and many commoners took out loans to apply because you were almost guaranteed success in life if you passed.

And, any student who made it in would have to work tremendously hard, so much so that the words, “It’s all over if you drop out,” were written on the front gates. This was because grades were assigned based on a curve, and any student who consistently did poorly was expelled.

Still, successfully graduating from the Institution essentially meant that your skills were verified. Of course, the verification of one’s skills depended on one’s grades, and nobles generally took in the students who graduated with the highest grades. Thus, the Institution served as a gateway for commoners to enter high society.

For example, he was a viscount now, but Ianna’s teacher, Gerard Hephlood, had been the top student of the History Department when he graduated from the Institution and had received a peerage from the king himself immediately after his graduation for his amazing thesis. He had made a tremendous leap up the social ladder.

Cases like Gerard’s were few and far between, but there were many people who had made their way up to the rank of baronet after working for an upper-ranked noble who could award peerages for a while. Most nobles who had started out as commoners were knights.

Roanne was still a militant nation, even if it had been in a state of truce with Bahamut for quite some time now, and it was even said that military might was the measure of how much power a noble truly had. It was also very common for other nations to pay Roanne nobles to fight their wars for them in exchange for a hefty sum.

This was why the Institution’s School of Military Arts, and the Swordsmanship Department in particular, was reputed to be as difficult to get into as it was to bring down a star from the heavens. And Ianna had sent her application to the Swordsmanship Department, which was male-dominated and fiercely competitive. It would be completely different from when she had entered the Royal Academy in the past…….

“Eek!”

“Ahh!”

Ianna was able to traverse the frozen pathway without any problem because she had an amazing sense of balance and was able to use mana to melt the ice in her way, but other people frequently slipped on the ice and cried out in pain after falling down.

“Kyah……ahh……!”

Just then, Ianna saw a familiar girl on the brink of falling over backwards. She ran up to her and caught her before she fell.

“T-thank…….”

The pretty little girl, who would have fallen smack on her behind if Ianna hadn’t caught her, turned around to express her gratitude and opened her eyes wide in surprise.

“Oh, Lady Ianna!”

“Hello there, Lily.”

“Kyah!”

The young girl named Lily beamed and jumped into Ianna’s arms. She was so young that she couldn’t even reach Ianna’s chest, so she opted to rub her pink head against Ianna’s stomach instead.

“I missed you so much, Lady Ianna!”

“Did you now?”

“I really, really, really did!”

Ianna smiled gently as the cute little girl hugged her tight. The girl’s name was Lily. She was the daughter of the owner of the bookstore that Ianna had had been frequenting until five months ago.

Children who were too young to know the ins and outs of adult society held no prejudice against Ianna. And, more importantly, Ianna had always had a soft spot for small and innocent children. Lily was of no exception.

Lily laughed for a while when Ianna pat her on her petit head before making a long face and grabbing hold of Ianna’s hand, which was rough from training.

“Why don’t you ever come visit anymore? Lily’s so sad…”

“I’m sorry, I’ve been busy. Has Lito been well?”

“No. I was sad because I could see you, Lady Ianna, but Lito’s been sadder that I was.”

Lito was Lily’s younger twin brother. The two of them had grown up reading a lot of books because they were the bookstore owner’s children. This was why they knew more and had more consideration than did other children their age, and they also loved to learn.

Ianna, who had been a regular patron at the bookstore even before the twins were born, was a good conversation partner for them. Ianna had two lifetimes worth of things she had learned and the depth of her thoughts was a cut deeper for it, and she was a good friend and a cool older sister figure for the twins —particularly for Lito, who did not have many friends his age because he preferred to bury himself in books rather than go outside and play and whose hobby was learning.

“Hey! What are you doing over there, Lily?! Come back!”

A lone woman came running up to them in a hurry just then. Lily turned around in surprise and immediately deflated when she met the woman’s eyes.

“Mommy.”

“Come here, Lily.”

“Okay……sniff”

Lily hesitantly walked up to her mother with her head hanging down.

“How many times have I told you not to get too close to her?!”

“But Mommy…….”

“Lily, can you please just listen to your mother?!”

Lily’s mother had once been kind to Ianna, a valued customer at the bookstore who also got along well with her children, but there was only a bitter look in her eyes when she looked at Ianna now.

It was true that Ianna had busy reading the Holy Book of Laos as of late because she was curious about what Lebony had said, but the real reason she had stopped visiting the bookstore was because she knew that Lily and Lito’s parents were afraid of her. Lily’s mother took Lily by the hand and quickly walked out of view.

Ianna watched the pair grow farther away and she sneered as she remembered what had happened five months ago.

She had used an artefact to summon Isphee to her room after murdering Horby, who wasn’t her grandfather but a mere puppet, and Lebony.

“Miss!”

Isphee had come running down the hallway, completely out of breath. Ianna rarely ever called for her. And so, she had known that something big had happened since Ianna had summoned her in the dead of night. Isphee had quickly rushed into Ianna’s room.

“Kyaaah!”

Isphee had screamed when she saw Ianna holding a bloody sword with Horby’s corpse sprawled beneath her. Ianna had sheathed the sword without wiping off the blood because Isphee had looked like she would faint at any moment and, with an exhausted look on her face, had slowly said,

“There’s nothing to be afraid of, Isphee. Stop standing there screaming and go tell the Count that Horby is dead.”

“M-Miss. I-is this really……Horby?”

“Yes.”

“Why is he here……dead?”

“He came here to kill me, so I killed him first.”

“Miss…….”

Isphee’s wheat-colored eyes trembled without focus upon hearing Ianna say her piece as if nothing was wrong. Her face twisted like she would start crying at any moment under the moonlight.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You’re hurting a lot, aren’t you, Miss?”

“I’m not injured, though?”

“Sob…….”

Isphee finally burst into tears and held Ianna, who had been looking back at her blankly, close to her.

“Miss……. Why must your circumstances always be so cruel to you? Why did the man who called himself your grandfather try to kill you? You never even did anything wrong, so why……?”

Ianna made a bitter expression when she finally understood why Isphee was crying. Then, she pat Isphee on the back and she tried to console her to stop her tears.

“I’m all right, Isphee. I don’t feel anything. He never loved me anyway.”

“You’re wrong! There’s no way you would be alright! You’re always so curt, and that’s why I’m crying for you!”

“You say such strange things.”

“Sob, sob…….”

Ianna silently buried her face in Isphee’s warm embrace and blinked her weary eyes. She truly didn’t feel anything, but she was tired. All of her mental fatigue came crashing down on her at once as she was held in Isphee’s arms and she only wanted to stop thinking about everything else and go to sleep. But she still had to finish what was started.

“I know it’s late, but we’ll still have to inform the Count about this and dispose of the corpse.”

“Were you the one who killed him, Miss?”

There was fear on Isphee’s face as she looked down at Horby’s corpse on the floor.

“Yes. Who else could have killed him but me? Oh, and Lebony was here too before she left for good.”

“Pardon?”

“She gave up on everything and left this damned manor. I think she was planning to have me killed before leaving with him.”

Ianna had told Isphee the truth while still keeping the important information a secret.

Isphee had closed her mouth after Ianna had spoken. Her face had contorted as she had quietly left Ianna’s room.

Things had been hectic after that. Ianna had wanted to wrap things up quietly, but Sarachè had learned of the situation too and had rushed to Ianna’s room and pulled the girl into a hug with tears in her eyes.

While Ianna didn’t dislike Sarachè, she was still uncomfortable around her and tried to push the latter away, but Sarachè was stubborn. Ianna was too tired to push her away with any real effort, so she simply let Sarachè do as she pleased.

It was so annoying; she really didn’t feel anything, so why were there so many people hugging her today? —Ianna wondered as she blankly watched as the maids carry Horby’s corpse away.

The next day, Horby’s fortune had been granted to her, his only next of kin, all at once in accordance to her wishes.

Ianna had paid the Count back for the damages that Horby had caused House Roberstein in the past, though the Count had told her she didn’t need to worry about it, and she donated the remainder of her inheritance to the Great Temple of Laos without telling anyone a word about it. Moreover, she erased all of the bonds that had been made under Horby’s name, including the debts that the Count owed him.

The insatiable people wondered what was going on. They wanted to know the details surrounding Horby’s sudden death.

The Count had ordered the servants to keep silent about the incident, but they still secretly told the truth to their close friends and acquaintances —possibly because it had to do with Ianna, the ugly duckling in their beloved Count’s family—, who in turn spread the rumors freely because they were not bound by the Count’s gag order. Soon enough, word that Horby had died while trying to assassinate Ianna and that Lebony had gone missing had spread throughout the entire territory.

The circumstances behind the whole affair were conveyed clearly in the rumors. Lebony, who had finally given up on the Count, had tried to kill their daughter, Ianna, in revenge and slip away with Horby.

This caused the people to develop some sympathy for Ianna.

At the same time, however, they were also uncomfortable about the fact that she had murdered someone —her own grandfather, no less. And, soon enough, a rumor that questioned whether Ianna had killed Horby on purpose to get her hands on his fortune began to circulate.

“…….”

Ianna, who had returned to the manor and was sitting uncomfortably across from Sarachè at the latter’s insistence, understood that today was the day she would have to settle things with her.

She looked down at the warm steam coming up from her teacup and slowly opened her mouth.

“My Lady, I wish to be able to live quietly in the annex. Why is it that you always invite me over for tea? To be honest, this is a bit much and I can hardly taste anything.”

Ianna was making no attempt to hide how uncomfortable she was, but Sarachè smiled at her so brightly it was almost fragrant.

“Goodness, Ianna. What’s there to be excessive about having tea with your mother?”

“……My mother? Huh……?”

I no longer have a mother tying me down—Ianna thought as she began muttering to herself in an incredibly awkward tone before she quickly realized what she was doing and promptly shut her mouth.

Sarachè had heard every word that Ianna had said but pretended that she hadn’t.

“It’s winter now…… Your birthday’s at the end of January, right? You’ll be turning sixteen in a few weeks. You’re still young, but you’ll be old enough to get married soon. Congratulations.”

“Thank you.”

“You’ve endured everything and grown up well —though it almost felt as though you weren’t really ever a child at all.”

“I have.”

Ianna agreed to what Sarachè had said without speaking a word about everything that had happened to her. Despite her attitude, however, Sarachè wasn’t one to be disheartened and affably asked,

“Would you like me to buy you perfume to celebrate the fact that you’ll be an adult soon? Or, how about a pretty dress? Let me know if there’s anything you’d like as a present.”

Ianna closed her eyes for a moment at the mention of a present and looked Sarachè in the eyes when she next opened them.

Sarachè had only ever seen Ianna’s blood-red eyes look dark and gloomy, so she put down her teacup in surprise because it was the first time she had ever seen the light of clarity in them. Then, she smiled brightly and leaned in with her eyes sparkling.

“Is there something you want? Ask me for anything.”

“Anything?”

“Yes.”

“In that case, please let me be independent.”

Sarachè opened her eyes wide in surprise when Ianna dropped a bombshell without hesitation.

“Do you mean you wish to leave the household and live by yourself?”

“Yes. But not only that, but I would like you to erase my name from the Roberstein family registry as well.”

Sarachè was so bewildered by Ianna’s shocking statement that she was at a loss for words. Ianna continued,

“To be honest, I don’t understand why you are trying to tie me down to this household, my Lady. If I were you, I would have chased Lebony’s daughter out the very moment Lebony left. No one in the household is comfortable around me, and I am essentially a foreign existence who broke the household peace. My Lady, you are the only person in this household who wants me to stay here.”

“Ianna! Don’t say things like that. You never broke the household peace. That wasn’t something you did.”

Ianna wordlessly closed her eyes upon hearing the pity in Sarachè’s sharp voice. Sarachè continued,

“Don’t even think about leaving the household for good. Oh, yes. Now that I remember, sixteen is the age where lovely young noblewomen can begin debuting in society. You do know that you’ll have to debut before you’re twenty, yes?”

“I don’t wish to.”

Sarachè had gone out of her way to change the topic, but, contrary to her efforts, Ianna’s response had only grown colder. Stiffly, Sarachè asked,

“What do you mean you don’t wish to?”

“I mean that I don’t wish to debut.”

“Ianna, refusing to debut means that you’ll be considered as good as dead to noble society.”

“Good. I do not intend to join such a useless group of people anyway.”

The blood drained from Sarachè’s face.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that I refuse to join the Roanne nobility. I will become a commoner.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I’ve been sincere to you and told you so many times already, and still you don’t understand what I’m trying to say. My Lady, you always say that I’m not hated by all of House Roberstein, but it seems like you despise me enough to think it’s all right to ignore everything I say to you even when I’m being sincere. But I understand. This is just what my situation is.”

“You’re wrong!”

Sarachè immediately denied Ianna’s sarcastic remarks.

“If I’m wrong, then please let me be independent.”

Sarachè bit down at her lip when Ianna firmly replied back.

“Do you really wish to be independent no matter what?”

“Yes.”

“You’ll lose all the support you receive from House Roberstein and have your ties with us cut the very moment you become independent. And you’ll immediately become a commoner because you won’t be allowed to carry the Roberstein name.”

“Those are the gladdest words I’ve heard today.”

“……Sigh. What could a young, sixteen-year-old former noble possibly do that you’re so confident about becoming a commoner?”

Sarachè pointed out the reality of the situation. In her eyes, Ianna was just a young girl who didn’t understand how the real world worked. She only saw Ianna as a young girl who was rebelling because she had been so hurt by the household and was trying to leave it without really thinking about her future.

Sometimes, Ianna seemed like a bird of prey who enjoyed her solitude. How was it that a child as clever as her failed to realize that she was only able to be as cold and arrogant as she was because she was the daughter of a noble house?

“You’re still just a frog in a well. Do you know how hard life is for a commoner? They can barely manage to feed themselves every day. And who knows what kinds of humiliation a girl as beautiful as you will be forced to suffer if you don’t have anyone to protect you or if you don’t have the power to protect yourself?”

“Who could say? But that’s my problem for after I become independent, and not anything you need to concern yourself with, my Lady. In any case, will you let me be independent?”

“You need to take more care with your words, Ianna. You can’t take them back once you’ve spoken.”

Sarachè looked at Ianna with cold eyes. She continued,

“What will you, a girl, do after leaving this household? Swordplay? Are you asking to be made independent because of your confidence in the swordplay you’ve been practicing in secret?”

Ianna hadn’t cared enough to make excuses after she had killed Horby and the Count had asked her where she had gotten her obviously well-maintained sword, so she had simply told him the truth and said that she had been training in secret.

Ianna looked down at her now-cooled tea. The state of her mind had changed ever so slightly after she had killed Lebony.

‘Why does everyone try to stop me whenever I want to do anything?’

Her mother, who had tied her down to the household, had passed away. There was no one left to shamelessly tie her down even if they knew of her godly abilities.

If possible, she wanted to follow Arhad and disappear without killing anyone like she had in the past. She had even trained in secret just in case anyone tried to hold her back after learning how talented she was.

But what point was there in hiding her abilities now? She had already killed her mother.

‘If they get in my way, I can always just kill them like I did in the past and like I killed my own mother.’

A frightening light danced in Ianna’s eyes. Sarachè, however, failed to see the cruelty in Ianna’s eyes and continued to try to persuade Ianna by emphasizing her point.

“How much help could self-taught swordplay possibly be? Do you think you can solve any problem with the crude results of the reckless training that you undertook without the guidance of a teacher? And, there is no way a woman can best a man in swordplay. There will always be a physical limit working against you, no matter how good you are. And that is why there are things that only women do and things that only men do! Were you always so lacking in your understanding of reality? There is no way for you to succeed with the sword!”

Sarachè had said this because she did not know about Ianna’s past life and because she was firmly entrenched in the biases that were present in the world.

Ianna, however, had already broken through the prejudice once before and had reached the highest peak of swordsmanship. She had been the strongest swordswoman, who had learned every form of swordplay and could wield the sword like it was her own body and could also control a vast amount of mana as easily as breathing.

She had never emerged victorious against Arhad Roygen, the emperor who had dyed the continent in blood and was portrayed as a demon, but she had never once lost to anyone else. She had cut down anyone in her path without hesitation as she rushed toward Arhad, and she had stood above all the other swordsmen that Sarachè was referring to.

And, since she had started training earlier in this life, she was confident that she would be able to best even Arhad this time around.

“Don’t look down on me, my Lady.”

“You! No, all right. It looks like I’ve put you in a sour mood, so I’ll stop talking about that for now. But more importantly, Ianna, you’ve lived as a noble for fifteen years. Do you really think you’ll be able to endure living as a commoner? I know how prideful you are. It’s probably why you loathe to live in the manor. You probably think that only good things and happiness can come once you leave the household. But Ianna, your pride can’t feed you. It can’t protect you, either.”

“…….”

“Do you think I’m being too harsh? I’m saying this because I’m worried for you.”

Ianna didn’t reply. Sarachè continued in her efforts to persuade her.

“I know we’ve been horrible to you. I’ll apologize to you on everyone’s behalf. It was hard, wasn’t it? But can’t you reconsider asking for your independence? The people in our household will change now, I promise.”

“My Lady.”

Ianna quietly opened her mouth.

“Why are you being so good to me? You’ve been like this ever since I was young. You had the most reason out of everyone to hate me. And yet, you’ve always been the kindest to me. Why is that?”

As though she had been waiting for the question, Sarachè answered,

“We’re family. You have Roberstein blood running through your veins, and that makes you family. And I worry for you.”

Ianna lowered her eyes. Sarachè was a good woman. And that was why her kindness tightened the noose around Ianna’s throat. She felt like she was wearing a wet leather rope around her neck under the scorching hot sun. The leather rope, which tightened around her neck as it dried, was suffocating.

And so, she would cut the rope away. Before she ended up killing the person who had tied it there.

“Pardon me.”

Ianna clasped her fingers together and smiled cynically. She continued,

“But according to what you just said, you have absolutely no reason to worry for me. When you split hairs, you and I are strangers who don’t share a single drop of blood.”

Ianna was revolted by the way Sarachè continued to tie her down as family.

Sarachè paused for a moment at the cold words Ianna had casually uttered before smiling gently.

“So what of it? I am practically your mother, even if we aren’t related by blood. How can you say that I have no reason to worry for you?”

“I have no mother.”

The sharp thorns in Ianna’s words almost made Sarachè tear up. Ianna continued,

“Nor do I have a family.”

There were people with whom Ianna was related to by blood, but they were not a warm family. The saying that blood was thicker than water did not hold true for her. After all, Ianna would never come to love anyone who was related to her by blood.

Ianna lowered her eyes and brought up her teacup to her lips.

“But I accept your feelings with gratitude.”

Sarachè could not reply to Ianna’s unhesitant statement. She finally understood that the walls around Ianna’s heart had been built from countless sacrifices and were now an impregnable fortress that she could never breach.

The fortress was firm and incredibly reliable for those on the inside, but was endlessly closed off and distant for anyone on the outside. The only way in was to use the front gates, but Ianna had already decided that she would never allow anyone with the name Roberstein inside. And so, Ianna would never listen no matter how much Sarachè tried to stop her.

Sarachè was despondent. She had wanted to break down the walls around Ianna’s heart. Family was family, but she also wanted to get to know Ianna better as a person.

It had already been a long time since her once faithful maid, Isphee, had started serving only Ianna. It had already been a long time since Karnitz, who had initially come to House Roberstein to get ahead in life, began following Ianna sincerely. It had already been a long time since Gerard Hephlood, who had first come to the lands for his research and had only begun teaching Ianna at Sarachè’s request, had put his research aside to devote his time and attention to teaching.

“Do you not love me less for saying what I have? The last and only act of goodwill I ask of you, my Lady, is that you keep the promise you made me over tea today. My happiness is something I will seek for myself once I’ve left this household. It is not something for you to concern yourself with, my Lady.”

Just what was it that the others saw in Ianna? All that Sarachè could see was how cold the girl was.

Sarachè still remembered what Gerard Hephlood had told her once about Ianna.

“About Ianna, my Lady. She has the willpower to accomplish anything that she has set out to do and an extraordinary amount of control over herself when she acts toward her goals. I know very well about how people with a disposition like hers ends up. They succeed no matter what it is that they choose to do. And, Ianna is a child with amazing discernment. I enjoy the fact that she considers me her ally. It makes me feel as though someone special has decided that I am important to her.”

Sarachè sighed.

“Do you really hate the Robersteins that much?”

“Yes.”

The light in Sarachè’s eyes began to dull. Did she have to give up and grant Ianna the independence that she wanted? She was worried, yes, but she could not help but wonder if Ianna was so calm and firm in her request for independence because she already had plans for her life. The Ianna whom Gerard spoke so highly of was a child who would.

But Sarachè did not wish to give in. She did not want to give up on Ianna —both as family and as a person. She knew that any ties between them that she cut now would never be brought together again.

While that was one thing, Sarachè also had the strange feeling that something about House Roberstein would collapse in the distant future if she allowed Ianna to leave.

It would obvious that Ianna would never forgive House Roberstein for as long as she lived. Thus, the members of the household would have to live as sinners for the rest of their lives. There was only one ending for those who sinned but failed to earn forgiveness.

Sarachè knew that her fears were likely unfounded, but she was anxious nevertheless. And so, she decided to make the most of the card that she currently held in her hand —Ianna’s independence. She thought that—if she delayed it and made every effort, then maybe she could get Ianna to open up to her at least a little.

Sarachè sighed and instructed a maid to bring her two sheets of paper and two pens.

“I will give your sixteenth birthday present.”

“Thank you, my Lady.”

Ianna was in a good mood. It looked like Sarachè intended to let her be independent.

“I can’t be stubborn and keep you here when you’re willing to go so far. But I have five conditions. I will not let you be independent no matter what if you cannot meet all five. I can be just as stubborn as you are, you know? Your opinions are important. But, I am absolutely against you leaving the household blindly without any plans for the future.”

Sarachè gave Ianna one of the sheets of paper and one of the pens that the maid had brought. Ianna took hold of the pen and furrowed her brows. Sarachè continued,

“So, we’re going to make a contract. If you fulfill all of my conditions, then I promise to take the Roberstein name from you as you wished.”

“Conditions……such as?”

“First, you will only be independent after you turn nineteen. You’re much too young to be independent without having gotten married.”

“…….”

“Your answer?”

Ianna considered it for a moment and nodded. She would be living in the Institution in a few months anyway, so it didn’t really make much of a difference to her. She didn’t intend to make the Robersteins pay for her tuition, either. After all, she planned to attend on a scholarship. It was essentially the same as being independent.

“Understood.”

Both Sarachè and Ianna wrote the first condition down on their respective sheets of paper.

“Second, you can skip this year since something big happened to you, but you will debut in society next year. And you will attend any important parties that are held in the kingdom for the next two years after that. I will accompany you to each party. This is the part that is most important to me.”

“…….”

“Are you not going to answer?”

“I’m fine with debuting.”

Ianna shrugged. It was already obvious to her that she would be scorned and would not be treated as a proper noble when she attended. So, she really couldn’t have cared less about debuting. Ianna continued,

“But please restrict the number of parties to three times a year. Considering the number of people in our kingdom’s royal family, that’s already ten birthday parties and the thought of having to attend them all already appalls me.”

“Then, which three?”

“The king’s birthday, the Thanksgiving of Laos, and Foundation Day. I will not attend any other parties save for these three.”

“……All right.”

Then, as she wrote down the second condition on her sheet of paper, Sarachè said,

“Third, you will develop a means to support yourself with —I don’t mind if you can only come up with one.”

“Understood.”

Sarachè silently moved her hand across her paper upon hearing Ianna’s prompt reply, and Ianna did the same.

“Fourth, you will provide me with a detailed plan for your future.”

Sarachè wrote down her fourth condition even though Ianna hadn’t replied yet. Ianna looked uncomfortable for the first time during their conversation. She did not like to lie. But, on the other hand, she did not wish to tell Sarachè about her plans, either.

“I do not think that my future plans are something you should concern yourself with, my Lady.”

“It’s impossible for me not to be concerned. This condition is absolutely necessary for me to stop concerning myself over your future. That’s something you want too, isn’t it?”

“You’re quite uncompromising. In that case, I would like to add a provision to this condition.”

“Being?”

“I will not entertain any questions regarding my plans for the future. And please don’t add any additional conditions to this provision. I conceded you a point, so it’s only fair that you concede me this as well.”

Ianna, too, wrote down her provision before Sarachè could respond. Sarachè stiffened up.

“Even if I don’t think your plans really aren’t good enough?”

“My Lady, the condition that you wrote down was that I will ‘provide’ you with a detailed plan for my future, not that I will let you ‘review’ it, no?”

“And what if I refuse to accept this provision?”

“My Lady, I am negotiating with you right now as you wished because I want to avoid any unnecessary complications when I gain my independence. If your conditions are absurd, then it will only cause needless trouble between us.”

Sarachè didn’t know what the needless trouble that Ianna was referring to meant, but she felt a chill and shivered as soon as she heard her words.

Ianna paid her no heed and waved her sheet of paper in front of Sarachè as she continued,

“I do not wish for you to appraise my future plans. I have a detailed plan and my plans are realistic, so you will not need to worry. Still, I am grateful for your consideration.”

Sarachè let out a deep sigh because her head was staring to hurt.

“Then I’ll hold you to that and trust that your plans are not absurd.”

“Thank you.”

“And last. You will maintain a B average or higher while you attend the Royal Theodore Academy.”

This time, Sarachè did not write down her condition without waiting for a response and simply turned her eyes to Ianna. Ianna shook her head a little.

“I would like to change it slightly.”

“The grade requirement?”

“No. I will attend the Valgenta Institution.”

Sarachè looked up sharply and stared at her in disbelief.

“Are you serious? The Institution isn’t a school that just anyone can attend.”

“I am more than capable of getting in.”

Ianna’s composed answer made Sarachè waver.

“But even if you can get in…….”

“The Academy may have nicer facilities, but I am told that the Institution is not inferior to it in any way when it comes to the quality of its education. And the Institution’s grading system is fairer because it does not distinguish between commoners and the nobility. If you’re making this condition because you want me to prove my abilities, then the Institution will provide for a better measure.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about. I’m worried about how you’ll adjust…….”

“I’ve already told you countless times before, but I will say this again.”

For the first time ever, Ianna cut Sarachè off before the latter finished speaking, as though she was cutting Sarachè across the stomach with a sword, and looked at her with an expression that seemed colder than the northern winds from the Lotso Mountains and sharper than any blade. Sarachè grew nervous and tensed up.

Ianna opened her crimson lips and her crimson eyes burned bright like crimson flowers. The flames that Sarachè saw in Ianna’s eyes were brighter than any other flame she had ever seen, but they were also colder than the ice crystals that formed in lands that had been covered in everlasting snow.

“I will make the final call. You have no right to argue with me about how I chose to live my life, my Lady.”

Ianna wanted to avoid letting anything keep her from living life the way she pleased. She also absolutely wanted to avoid letting anything influence her and have control over her life. The very thought of it nauseated her. She continued,

“No matter what happens in my life, I will not regret the consequences of anything that I myself chose.”

Even if her path was difficult, even if she completely wrong, even if everything about her being were to get warped, or even if she ultimately failed at everything she set forth to accomplish —every consequence would be a result of her own choices. She would not regret the process no matter what the results were. It was still better than any results she would achieve by being controlled by others.

And more importantly, she found no point in being pessimistic and worrying over a future that had yet to come. She would simply do everything she could for her chosen path and achieve the best results she possibly could.

“So, please don’t meddle……I mean, worry about my future.”

There were blades hidden in Ianna’s words, and Sarachè feared that they would cut her if she answered recklessly. Sarachè closed her mouth. Then, Ianna slowly and deliberately continued,

“My Lady, you are kind —and all of House Roberstein loves you for your kindness. However, please know that I denounce the fact that I am a Roberstein.”

Does she mean that she finds my kindness uncomfortable? Sarachè scribbled down the last condition on her sheet of paper with a gloomy look on her face. Then, though reluctantly, she wrote down one last sentence at the bottom of the sheet. Ianna followed suit and wrote down the same sentence on the bottom of hers with elegant penmanship.

Ianna Roberstein will be disowned from House Roberstein once all five conditions above are met.

Ianna left the gloomy Sarachè behind and returned to her room once she had finished her tea.

She flung herself on her bed, lifted up the contract she had received from Sarachè in front of her, and read through it once more.

First, Ianna Roberstein will not gain her independence until she turns nineteen.

Second, Ianna Roberstein will debut in society when she turns seventeen. During the two years after Ianna Roberstein turns seventeen and before she gains her independence at nineteen, she will accompany Sarachè Roberstein and attend three royal parties every year: the king’s birthday party, the Thanksgiving of Laos, and Foundation Day.

Third, Ianna Roberstein will develop at least one skill by which she can support herself with after gaining her independence.

Fourth, Ianna Roberstein will provide Sarachè Roberstein with a detailed plan for her future before she gains her independence. However, she will not entertain any questions regarding those plans.

Fifth, Ianna Roberstein will maintain an average grade of B or higher during her time at the Valgenta Institution.

Ianna Roberstein will be disowned from House Roberstein once all five conditions above are met.

1512.12.3

Ianna Roberstein

Sarachè Roberstein

The conditions were rather favorable. For the first condition, she didn’t need to gain her independence immediately anyway because was planning to stay holed up in the Institution, and she figured it wasn’t too bad to retain the name Roberstein until she met Arhad again.

The second condition was a tad annoying, but she wasn’t so vehemently against it that she couldn’t stomach it. The main star of the show was always decided in advance with all parties, and everyone else was essentially just a side character. And, no noble would ever think that she was worth their time of day. It wouldn’t be a problem even if she slipped out of the party part-way through so long as she attended it with Sarachè.

She had already essentially satisfied the third and fourth conditions —no need think twice about them—, and, while she would need to make an effort to satisfy the last condition, working hard was her specialty. Ianna was someone who would work like a dog to accomplish a task that she had set her mind to so long as she didn’t change her mind.

Ianna got up from bed once she had finished skimming over the contract. She folded it up carefully and put it in the box where she kept her valuables.

She had agreed to this contract because she did not want to make things needlessly more difficult for herself. As long as she fulfilled the conditions of the contract, she could officially be freed of the Roberstein name without having to wipe out the entire household. She could free herself from her restraints through legal means.

Once she had closed the lid to the box, Ianna inadvertently looked to the beautiful flowers on her tea table before she was aware of what she was doing. She slowly walked up to them and looked down at the delicate flowers before plucking one and holding it up to her nose.

Harchen. The beloved young master of House Roberstein.

It normally took at least six years before anyone could graduate from either the Royal Academy or the Institution. It was possible to graduate earlier with great effort, but the amount of work that went into it was so dreadfully great that most students graduated in six years as per the norm.

Harchen was four years older than Ianna. He had been attending the Royal Theodore Academy for the past four years. And still, he continued to send her flowers through Isphee.

Ianna always ignored and rejected Harchen, who made every attempt to get closer to her. He had more than enough reason to be offended by the hated wench for her haughtiness, but he continued to send her flowers all the same.

‘Just what point are these flowers even supposed to have?’

Ianna thought that Harchen was incredibly shrewd and obstinate. She had decided this because she knew he was sending her flowers through Isphee because he knew that Ianna could never be cold to her.

Ianna no longer threw Harchen’s flowers to the ground and trampled them like she had in the past. That being said, she had never once accepted the flowers either. Nor had she ever thanked him for them. She was simply letting them be because Isphee made such a fuss about them.

‘Why does he even send them in the first place?’

Ianna bore no grudge against Harchen. It was true that he had loathed and hated her in the past. But, while Ianna hadn’t been able to comprehend the tremendous weight of the mistake she had made when she was a child, she had understood him as an adult. Who could ever possibly come to like the person who had murdered their beloved mother? There was no way that he could have possibly loved her, even if the tragedy had only happened because of the foolish ignorance of a child who was starved for love.

Harchen had hated Ianna, but she had known that he had taken after Sarachè’s more moderate temperament because he still acknowledged that Ianna was a member of House Roberstein and never beat her in a fit of rage like their father had.

But that was also why Ianna was so awkward in dealing with him. She never regretted her past actions, but that didn’t mean that she lacked every sense of morality. She had once cut off his head with her own sword; and so, she did not like having to see him in person. Ianna had killed an uncountable number of people, but she was especially awkward around Harchen because she had been responsible for robbing him of everything that was precious to him.

This was why she went out of her way to ignore him, but Harchen secretly and quietly tried to grow closer to her through his flowers.

‘But why?’

Why did Ianna have to receive flowers from him? —she could not help but wonder. Why did she have to hear Sarachè apologize to her, and why did Cherno look at her with such pity in his eyes? —she also wondered this.

They were objectively not bad people, both in this life and in the last. It was only obvious that neither Harchen nor Sarachè, who had been poisoned to death in the past, were at any fault. She could not hold the Count’s, who had not only been tricked but had also lost his beloved wife to the daughter of the woman who had tricked him, faults against him either. It was true that he had occasionally lost himself and beat her mercilessly, but that, too, could only be seen as natural.

They were not bad people. They were good people who earned the genuine respect of their servants and the people of their lands.

The servants and the people weren’t bad either. It was only natural for them to despise the filth who suddenly murdered the kindhearted lady of the house, considering that they were proud of and loyal to House Roberstein.

It was also only natural that the nobles held her in contempt. They already thought that she was dirty for being of mixed blood, so what else would they think if a wench like her dared to murder a lofty noble?

Ianna had given up on everything prior to her rebirth. She understood that it was only natural that she was hated.

And so, she felt neither sorrow nor pain when people looked to her with displeasure after she was reborn. Her indignation had been pacified when she had killed them in the past, so there was nothing for her to get angry about either. More importantly, she no longer needed to feel such negative emotions because she no longer craved for their love and attention.

“…….”

Ianna flopped back down on her bed and covered her eyes with her hand. She understood all of them. Everyone had their own circumstances, and there was no need to pin the blame on any one of them. Even Lebony, the damned woman who had ruined her life, had had her own circumstances.

Indeed. The world revolved, and revolved, and revolved. No one who lived was without sin.

She turned her head and stared at the flowers arranged neatly in their vase. The others did not have a past life like she did. The flowers were proof of this.

The memories buried deep in the grave of her heart…….

Ianna smiled.

‘I’ll completely cut all ties with the Robersteins.’

She would not have any lingering regrets.

“Miss!”

“Come in,”

she replied to the knock at the door and the familiar voice that accompanied it. It belonged to Isphee.

“Miss. I asked Lady Mellang to teach me a new technique. I’ll have you melt completely in my hands today!”

“I told you it’s fine. I enjoy it, but it must be hard on you.”

“You needn’t worry about that. You’re so good at everything, Miss, but this is just about the only thing that I can do for you, is it not? And, the fact that you enjoy it makes everything worth it!”

Ianna smiled wordlessly. Isphee continued,

“Now, Miss. Please lay down and be prepared!”

Isphee had shown no signs of trying to stop Ianna after she had learned that the latter had been training with the sword. She had, characteristically, simply begun learning massage techniques from a masseuse named Mellang so that she could message Ianna’s stiff muscles because Isphee placed great importance on feminine beauty. Ianna had gotten angry with her because she knew that learning those techniques must have cost a fair sum of money, but Isphee was stubborn and refused to stop.

“I can compromise on everything else, but not on this. Why are you stopping me, Miss, when I am learning these techniques because I want to?”

Ianna closed her mouth.

If there was anything that Isphee had gotten rapidly better at over all the last several years, it was her ability to understand Ianna’s personality and her ability to make Ianna stop arguing.

Ianna never tried to force anyone to do anything against their will so long as it didn’t bring her harm. It was a value of hers that was born from the suffocating experiences she had suffered while being forced to act on someone else’s terms.

Therefore, she could not find it in herself to stop Isphee not only because Isphee’s actions were beneficial, instead of harmful, to her, but also because Isphee herself enjoyed it. And, more importantly, she did not want to turn down Isphee’s unconditional goodwill and warm kindness.

And so, Isphee massaged Ianna’s stiff muscles every day with her continuously increasing massaging skills.

“Does it feel good, Miss?”

“Mmm…….”

Ianna’s reply was as sluggish as a cat on the verge of falling asleep under the sun. Isphee beamed when she saw how good Ianna was feeling. The only thing she could do for Ianna was to help her look after her body.

She had absolutely no desire to stop Ianna from training with the sword. It was because of her swordsmanship that Ianna had managed to defend herself against Horby, and Isphee knew from the time they had spent together and from personal experience that Ianna was as stubborn as a mule and would never bend her will once she decided to do something.

This was why Isphee thought that the best way for her to help Ianna was to take care of her by massaging her and giving her good meals when she was tired from training. Once she was done learning massaging techniques from Lady Mellang, Isphee planned on learning skincare techniques from Lady Racheau, an aesthetician.

Another knock sounded against the door, this time accompanied by the sound of Karnitz clearing his throat, just as Ishpee was finishing her massage.

“My lady. It’s Karnitz.”

“That’s enough, Isphee. Thank you. Come in, Karnitz.”

Ianna sat up straight and fixed her clothes. Karnitz bowed to Ianna from his waist after he entered her room.

“Have you submitted your application to the Institution, my lady?”

“Yes.”

“When is the deadline to apply for your registration number?”

“January fifteenth, I believe.”

“Then, the exams will begin on the sixteenth. You have plenty of time left since it’s still only the beginning of December, but it would be wise to leave early. I don’t know if things are still the same as they were before, but the entrance exams for the Swordsmanship Department consisted of five separate exams, so it would be best to arrive early to ensure that your body is in its best state before you begin.”

Karnitz had once been a student at the Institution. However, he had dropped out after his second year. The tuition wasn’t very expensive, but he had dropped out to begin working because his mother had gotten severely ill and he needed to pay for her medications.

His mother had been apologetic and had told him not to worry about her and devote himself to his studies, but Karnitz had immediately dropped out and began working jobs that required manual labor.

He had eventually begun working as a gofer running errands in the Roberstein manor, had become a squire, which earned him more money, thanks to the Count’s goodwill, and ultimately became a knight through hard work and effort. And now, he was Ianna’s personal knight.

“I see, thank you for worrying about me. In any event, I was planning to clean up tomorrow and leave the day after.”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to accompany you, my lady? How could we allow you to go alone…….”

“Yes, Miss. Please take Sir Karnitz with you.”

“Enough.”

Isphee and Karnitz were worried about Ianna, who had declared that she would travel alone, but they had no choice but to yield. After all, Ianna was stubborn to a fault.

Ianna saw the worry on their faces and realized that it was now time to tell these two, who were dear to her, about her future plans. She could not remain attached to them forever.

Ianna was grateful to them. It was thanks to them that she, who had given up on being loved, could enjoy the fact that she was indeed loved. It was thanks to them that she could believe that this life would be different from her last, in which she had only ever been hated.

Thanks to them, her childhood in this life had been full of warmth. Unlike her last life, which she had lived like a cold-blooded creature, she had grown to be able to share warmth and affection with others in this one. Of course, she would never be the one to approach someone else first, but she now had the magnanimity to accept those who approached her. And so, Ianna said,

“Thank you.”

“Pardon?”

“For what?”

Both Karnitz and Isphee were perplexed.

“For everything.”

Ianna simply smiled.

But farewells were farewells. Ianna figured that now, two days before her departure and with the two people she cherished by her side and worrying over her, was the most appropriate time to say her goodbyes.

The light in Ianna’s eyes dimmed.

“Isphee, Karnitz—both of you listen well.”

“Yes.”

“I will erase Roberstein from my name when I turn nineteen.”

Isphee turned pale in shock, but Karnitz silently continued to listen. He had expected this. His mistress had never opened her heart up to anyone in House Roberstein save for Isphee and himself. What did that mean? She would not have been like that if she planned to stay with the Robersteins for the rest of her life.

“M-Miss. What are you…….”

“And I will go to the Bahamut Empire.”

Her next words had shocked even Karnitz nearly out of his wits. Isphee looked like she would faint any minute now. Karnitz held her steady and stammered,

“By B-Bahamut, you mean the empire to our north?”

“Indeed.”

“Bahamut is a longtime enemy of Roanne. I am told that it is a land where the starving cry out only to lie down on the frozen earth and die. And I also heard that the Empire is a place filled with blood-crazed warriors and that the emperor is so terrifying that his own people call him a demon. Why would you go to a place like that……?”

Ianna smiled wryly. Those rumors had been exaggerated by those who had once warred with the Bahamut Empire and were terrified of them.

The Bahamut Empire had amassed vast wealth from her vassal states around her and the natural resources of the North.

It was true that North had a rather poor climate, but there were still some areas that were warm. Ianna didn’t know how the citizens of the Empire faired, but from what she had observed in the past, she knew that their army, at least, looked healthier and were better equipped than the Roanne army.

Also, the Bahamut emperors had been highly gifted in both skill and governing ability for generations. The Empire had never once been thrown into turmoil due to matters concerning the imperial succession, it never persecuted any of the smaller, weaker countries around it, and the people of the empire worshiped the imperial family like they were gods.

There were many scholars who insisted that this was the very reason why the people of the Bahamut Empire didn’t worship the great God Laos.

“The Empire itself doesn’t matter to me. The person whom I wish to support simply happens to be there.”

Karnitz immediately lowered his head.

“I will follow you.”

“No.”

Karnitz stiffened up like stone at Ianna’s firm refusal.

“I have absolutely no intention of bringing either of you there with me. The two of you should forget about me and find your own paths in life.”

Ianna did not want to take them with her because she knew that her life would be fraught with danger.

A heavy silence fell upon the once gentle atmosphere of the room when the words left her mouth.

“No……. I, can’t I come with you too, Miss?”

Isphee broke the silence and tears spilled from her eyes. She wiped her eyes when Ianna looked back at her firmly and, still on the verge of crying, continued,

“I can’t just send you off all on your own, Miss. No, more importantly, I can’t imagine my life without you. I don’t care if you’re with the Robersteins or in Bahamut! And I don’t care whom you decide to dedicate yourself to —even if they’re some kind of demon or whatever. All I need is you, Miss, you know? I don’t plan on ever acting against your wishes. But please, don’t leave me behind in some lonely place where you won’t be there with me…….”

“I will go with you as well, my lady. I wish to follow you as your subordinate even when you’re in Bahamut.”

“Enough!”

There was a resolute look on Ianna’s face as she stopped Isphee and Karnitz from protesting any further by raising up her hand to stop them. She steeled herself before her heart could soften and shook her head no.

“That’s enough. Find your own paths in life from now on. You won’t be able to handle the path that I’ve chosen, Isphee. And Karnitz, don’t you have someone here whom you need to protect? That person is not me, but your mother and also later the woman who will one day become your wife.”

Karnitz pursed his lips as Ianna, who now reached his chest in terms of height, spoke while working out the knots in her shoulder. It didn’t matter if she was going to the cold empire to the north or what have you. Ianna was the Lady whom he was sworn to protect, but she was also an excellent mentor to him.

Even as a little girl, Ianna had pointed out the weaknesses in his swordsmanship that he needed to correct as they trained side by side and she had also helped him work to make up for anything that he had lacked. He had sensed that something was strange, but, being the pure kind of person that he was, he always admired her and considered her a genius just the same.

Karnitz’s swordsmanship had improved rapidly as he corrected the points that Ianna pointed out, which only led him to respect her more. And yet, Ianna was trying to cut the ties between them.

While Karnitz could not speak because of the wretched state of his heart, Isphee said,

“What kind of path will you walk, Miss?”

“A bloody one.”

Isphee closed her mouth as Ianna’s words made her remember Horby’s corpse. Then, Karnitz asked,

“Why are you trying to walk that path?”

“Because it is the path the person whom I will support will walk, and also because it seems fun. And I don’t intend on dragging either of you down that path with me. The day I return here after I finish taking my exams will be my last. I am not going to return to House Roberstein. So you two should take the time to organize your thoughts while I take my exams.”

Ianna was trying to send them away from her side. Karnitz’s hands quivered in dread as she made to cut the ties between them. Isphee’s quivered as well.

“Miss……it doesn’t matter what kind of path the path you choose. No matter what, anything you do is right by my eyes.”

“I still wish to follow you, my lady. If you intend to go to Bahamut, then I will bring my mother with me and devote myself to accompanying you.”

“No. Don’t throw away your lives for my sake. I don’t have the confidence to take responsibility for you.”

She didn’t have the confidence. They didn’t believe her because they knew her well. The Ianna they knew was always brimming with confidence. And yet, Ianna had meant what she said.

“I have the confidence to take responsibility for my own life, but not the confidence to be responsible for that of others.”

She had only lived for herself ever since she had given up on receiving love from people. Hadn’t she lived for the prince’s sake when she was his knight? No—she had only served him because he had promised to elevate her to the point where no one could throw insults at her anymore. She had never been loyal to him. Then, what about her subordinates who followed her? She had only looked after them because they were her means of winning the war.

But Isphee and Karnitz were different. If there was anyone whom she was grateful to and considered precious in this life, it was them. It was thanks to them that Ianna had grown up under so much love and care that she thought she might drown in it.

They were truly, truly precious to her. And it terrified her.

She didn’t want to see them face danger because of her. She had lived selfishly for an entire lifetime, so she was not confident that she could protect them completely. She would rather cut her ties with them.

“Don’t make me repeat myself again.”

Isphee and Karnitz stopped protesting, but they looked to Ianna like they were abandoned puppies. Ianna turned her back on the expressions on their faces because she found them difficult to bear and walked up to the window. And so, she cut away the people important to her out of her life.

However, Ianna, who had turned her back to them and was looking over the setting sun, failed to see the stubborn looks that began to form on their faces.

The next day, Ianna packed her bag with simple clothes and some money. She did not need to pack for long. Then, she took care of managing her assets by using a ledger that she had been using since she was young. She did not speak to anyone for the rest of the day after she had finished her work and devoted herself solely to her training.

Once it had gotten dark, she went looking for Cherno to get his approval to leave the Roberstein lands. She would not need to speak with him for long, as Sarachè had already informed him of the matter. All she needed to do was to tell him that she was leaving, and all he needed to do was nod in reply.

Cherno had tried, though hesitantly, to prolong the conversation, but his efforts were in vain because Ianna only replied absentmindedly with a “yes” or a “no”. Then, Ianna, who didn’t want to use any of the household’s property since she was leaving it anyway, had informed him that she would be travelling by foot and not by carriage.

“Whew.”

Ianna stretched and took in a deep gulp of the chilly morning air before she set off with a sparkle in her eyes. There was nothing holding her back now.

And her heart was as light as her feet as she ventured toward a new place that had no ties to her past.

—“Roberstein” End