The encounter with the boy was destined.
Or at least, that's what young Ria thought.
The girl's mories were askew from the start.
One day, she opened her eyes to find herself in an unfamiliar manor.
All her previous mories were completely erased. As if soone deliberately wiped them clean.
Yet the knowledge remained.
She already knew things like language, arithtic and social norms. However, she couldn't recall how she had acquired this knowledge.
Ria was terribly afraid of that fact.
She was surrounded by an unfamiliar environnt and unfamiliar people.
She understood her own na and status.
But those labels felt hollow, and she couldn't even grasp who she truly was.
'Ria Percus,' huh.
The na was just a packaging. Without filling it with substance, it ant nothing. She even found it hard to understand what ‘family’ ant.
Her parents had a distressed look whenever they saw her.
Or they would just simply embrace her with pity and compassion.
They were good people and Ria also respected them.
But that was all.
They weren't soone she could truly open up to and have a heartfelt conversation with.
There was, however,one peculiar person.
"Ria, have you eaten?"
The boy would always pop up suddenly and ask her that in a friendly manner.
Timid Ria couldn't even dare to et her 'Orabeoni's' eyes.
"That, ye-yes..."
"Good, well done. You're still not used to the manor, right? I'll show you around the territory for a while."
Her first impression of the boy was the faint sll of sweat.
He wielded his sword from morning till night. Swordmasters who ca from distant territories personally trained him.
He'd get covered in dirt, develop calluses on his hands.
And there were several tis when he'd get hit during sparring. His childhood friend, Celine, was also quite a tomboy so it was normal for him to get hurt while playing with her.
Ria would have burst into tears many tis already if it were her..
But the boy never shed a single tear.
He would instead just give a wry smile seeing Ria grow increasingly restless.
The boy always comforted her.
"...It's okay, Ria."
And that continued for many years.
He never showed any signs of hating or disliking Ria.
Nor did he ever look at her strangely.
Rather, he even took on embarrassing roles to ease Ria's anxiety.
'A knight' and 'a princess.'
Ria sotis wondered if he was treating her too much like a child.
But she liked it.
She liked everything about it.
The way her heart fluttered whenever she t the boy felt wonderful.
Even the daily routine of having her head patted, receiving complints and sotis playfully squabbling with him made her happy.
Ria genuinely thought she was fortunate.
To be the boy's younger sister and to have him as her Older Brother.
She felt that no amount of prayers to the Heavenly God could express her gratitude enough.
But when did it start?
Ria realised that the thumping of her heart, the exhilarating joy and the deep happiness she felt in his arms were wrong.
The reason was simple.
It was because she understood that his feelings, while similar, were fundantally different from hers.
At so point, he began to push her away.
"Ria, no matter what, this isn't appropriate between siblings..."
That day, a strong doubt lodged itself in Ria's mind.
Why?
The boy loved Ria, and Ria loved the boy. So, shouldn't their desires also align?
Ria wanted to close the distance with the boy.
She always wanted to be with him and bask in the happiness of his embrace.
But that was not allowed.
Because Ria was the boy's younger sister.
Her life, which had seed like a sweet dream, ca crashing down in an instant.
That’s right. The feelings Ria had weren’t those of fraternal love.
Upon realising this, she was tornted by maddening anguish.
Why, how and for what reason?
It was cruel and unfair.
If he was going to push her away, he should have done so from the beginning.
He should have prevented the love-starved little girl from misunderstanding and dreaming on her own.
After spending several sleepless nights biting her nails and trembling.
Ria tried to give up her feelings for the boy, but the first love she nurtured for years didn’t easily fade.
It was a love that could never be fulfilled anyway.
The boy’s feelings were clearly different from hers, and using that as an excuse to trouble him would be wrong.
Ria still loved the boy, so she wished for his happiness instead.
But she couldn’t do it.
It was driving her insane.
She wished she could carve out her heart and discard the affection she felt for the boy.
How much of her heart would she have to discard then?
Seventy percent? No, eighty percent?
Or perhaps even ninety percent.
The boy was the only family and love she harboured in her heart.
Those two incompatible roles continuously tornted Ria.
Yet ti heals many things.
Although her heart still ached with unrequited love, Ria gradually began to overco that pain.
More precisely, it was better to say she grew up.
She learned how to compromise with reality.
Yes, even if they couldn’t be together romantically, they could still live together.
They might never beco lovers or spouses.
But perhaps soday, they could spend their lives together, just the two of them.
Every step Ria took bore traces of the boy's influence.
Her dream of establishing a trading company and achieving independence.
Paying for his academy's tuition with the profits earned from the trading company.
All of it was only for Ian.
She planned to use her accumulated wealth to secure his future soday.
But that ambitious plan soon fell apart.
Hearing the news of the boy's unbelievable successive achievents, left Ria dumbfounded.
“…Unbelievable.”
However, the truly unbelievable event happened not long after.
Pukk, ca the sensation of a blade piercing through flesh.
Ria dumbly looked down at her hand.
It was stained with blood.
Her beloved brother’s blood.
"No..."
It's a lie.
There is no way this could be reality.
As she shook her head, trying to deny the truth before her eyes.
Pukkk, the sickening sound echoed once more.
Tears stread down Ria's cheeks.
The sensation of stabbing soone was painfully vivid.
"No, no, no... This can't be happening..."
Pukkkk, and finally, the sound echoed one last ti.
Ria's bewildered eyes turned towards the boy.
The boy seed to want to say sothing, but only blood spilled out of his mouth.
Before his trembling hand could reach the girl.
He collapsed and lost consciousness.
Like a corpse.
The girl scread.
"Li-Lie... It's a lie. H-How much I....I to Oppa, huh? How much I love my Oppa, why? Why would I? No... No, no, no! Nooooo!"
It was only shortly after that Ria opened her eyes.
Her body was drenched in cold sweat from the terrible nightmare. Trembling, she curled up, her eyes filled with fear.
It had to be a dream.
Such a cruel reality couldn't exist.
How could she ever stab her beloved brother with her own hands?
It was a horrific sin, and amidst the clinging guilt, a certain pair of eyes surfaced in her mind.
Golden eyes, staring at her as if she were a monster.
It felt as if those eyes were denying the only bond between her and Ian.
They felt like proof that she truly was a monster.
How could a monster stand by a knight’s side?
The place next to a knight was ant for a princess.
A monster was a being that needed to be slain by the knight.
"S-Sorry. Sorry. I'm sorry... N-No! I, I was wrong... Hic, I, I was wrong... P-Please don't hate . Don't abandon ..."
And so, Ria stood huddled in a corner sowhere, crying for a long ti.
She ca to her senses when a sudden thought crossed her mind.
What happened to Oppa?
Only then did her tear-blurred vision cleared.
The unique musty sll of old wood filled her nostrils. Though there were no windows, Ria recognized the place.
She was a rchant, after all.
This was the inside of a carriage.
Her hands and feet were bound.
As if she were being treated like a monster.
But Ria couldn't afford to care about that now.
She frantically crawled across the floor and, with a thud, threw herself against the carriage door.
"Open the door! Open it now! Wh-What happened to Oppa? Is he alive?"
Her mouth felt parched.
Even if she did et him, Ria might just avoid him and hide.
But she still wanted to know if he was safe.
No response ca from outside.
Growing more desperate, Ria repeatedly hurled herself at the door.
Even until her desperation reached its peak, she endlessly continued.
Suddenly, the latch on the carriage broke, and Ria breathed in the fresh air outside.
Ria normally couldn’t have shown such strength, but she didn’t even realise it.
She just panted and looked around.
No one paid her any attention, despite her escape.
They were all blankly staring at sothing.
Staggering to her feet, Ria followed their gazes.
And she then had to hold her breath.
The sight before her showed the answers she desperately sought.
Thunder and lightning crashed down.
With each flash of lightning accompanying the thunder, a massive figure made of countless corpses bellowed. A vast army was engaged in a fierce battle against the corpses.
The sheer impact of the battle was enough to clear the surrounding blizzard.
A few individuals with their swords enveloped with aura were confronting the giant.
And among them, one man stood out the most.
"…Oppa."
Everyti the sword and fist clashed, the giant's arm burst apart.
The giant staggered and stumbled back.
WOOOOOOOOOOOO-!
The deafening roar echoed in her ears, making her head throb.
Ria had no choice but to realise it as she watched.
The boy who once shared simple, intimate monts of happiness with her was no more.
He had grown far too much.
That realisation chillingly cut through Ria's heart.
Silently, she clenched her fists.
She didn't even notice the blood dripping from her palms.
The battle was now nearing its end.
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