0% The atmosphere rapidly lost its warmth. With an expression as cold as ice, Senior Elsie rely stared at the princess without a word.
The princess couldn’t even manage a proper apology. She simply kept glancing at , trembling uncontrollably.
It was the look of soone reliving a nightmare. It seed this wasn’t the first ti Senior Elsie had cornered her like this. I didn’t know the full story, but it was clear that the princess was paralyzed with fear.
For now, I thought it best to step in and try to calm Senior Elsie first.
“Senior Elsie, please calm down. Her Highness surely ant no harm—”
“Are you suggesting my uncle is so pawn of the Dark Order?”
She spat out the words, grinding her teeth audibly.
A sigh escaped before I knew it. In truth, I could understand where Senior Elsie was coming from.
Senior Elsie was from a high-ranking noble family. Her pride in her family ran deep, and as much as she feared her powerful uncle, she respected him greatly. Besides, wasn’t Mr. Reynold one of the two Archmages that the Rinella family took pride in?
Few nobles could tolerate insults toward their family.
Even then, nobles usually bowed if the imperial family was involved—but in this case, her opponent was only the Fifth Princess, Cien. Among us, her status wasn’t particularly high.
Perhaps the situation was dood from the very first misstep.
Even now, the princess stood shaking in shock. Normally, the positions should’ve been reversed. If a noble insulted a mber of the imperial family, naturally, it was the noble who had to beg for forgiveness.
And Senior Elsie was not soone unaware of that.
Senior Elsie, who had been biting down on her lip, soon dropped her head. Perhaps realizing she had crossed the line, she said nothing further. Instead, she quietly turned her back and walked away alone.
I quickly reached out and grabbed Senior Elsie by the shoulder.
“Senior Elsie, we have a duty.”
I didn’t plan to launch into a lengthy explanation. I only hoped she would understand what I ant.
To save the world, many things must be sacrificed.
The ‘’ from the future had said as much. While I had struggled desperately to hold on to everything I could—among the bloodstains on my hands, so had belonged to those who once fought beside .
I hadn’t intended to suggest that we had to turn our backs on our families.
But if a family mber turned out to be a traitor, then we had no choice. This wasn’t a matter of affection or resentnt—it was a matter of humanity’s survival.
After a brief hesitation, Senior Elsie finally spoke in a somber tone.
“......I know.”
Those words weighed heavily on my mind. Just as I considered going after her, a voice suddenly brushed past my ear.
“I-I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry... I didn’t an for it to happen. I didn’t know Sir Ian would end up hurt and collapse like that. I’m sorry for being so arrogant...”
The princess was repeating apologies like a broken doll. Ultimately, I decided to tilt my attention toward the princess.
At the very least, Senior Elsie still had her composure. The princess, on the other hand, was clearly reliving so old trauma. So, I decided to stay behind and comfort the princess for a while.
After Senior Elsie left, I gently asked the princess, who was still shaken with fear,
“Your Highness, are you all right?”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. It was my fault.... hic... hhhuuh...”
Now even tears were forming in the princess’s eyes. To make a mber of the imperial bloodline cry—there could be no greater disloyalty for a noble. I wondered how best to console her.
Maybe I should try telling her sothing funny?
Just then a thought suddenly crossed my mind. It was one of the most ridiculous things I’d heard in recent tis.
“Your Highness, co to think of it—have you heard? Apparently, so rchandise modeled after has beco rather popular at the Academy these days.......”
I was about to joke that it was absurd, that I had no idea who would create sothing so ridiculous.
But at my words, the princess stopped trembling abruptly. As I gave her a puzzled look, she spoke again, her voice bright and cheerful, her tears entirely gone.
“Oh, I made them.”
It was you?
All I could do was let out a wry chuckle.
It’s always darkest beneath the lamp.
The culprit is always close by—the masked assailant was no exception.
**
Senior Elsie hadn’t gone far. After all, there weren’t many secluded spots in the orphanage to begin with.
Inside the playground, now empty as the children were having their als, Senior Elise sat in a corner, looking thoroughly dejected. Even her pointed hat seed limp, drooping weakly atop her head.
Clearly, she’d been wrestling deeply with her thoughts.
Whether or not the princess’s suspicions were correct, she’d likely tried her best to disprove them.
And yet, Senior Elsie’s mood remained just as gloomy.
I didn’t have to ask to know what conclusion she’d reached. No matter how much she tried to reason her way through it, there was likely nothing she could refute. At the very least, she was probably convinced that it needed to be verified.
Being forced to doubt your own family—
No one would welco that. Especially when the person in question was a hero they’d admired since childhood.
Without saying a word, I quietly sat down beside Senior Elsie.
“A little while ago, I went on a rchant escort mission with Sir Reynold.”
There was no point in beating around the bush. Senior Elsie wasn’t one for pretenses—direct words worked best with her.
Still, I didn’t intend to start trash-talking Sir Reynold out of nowhere.
Because I knew it too—Sir Reynold was a good person.
Even if it had all been a re facade, he was still a comrade who’d fought beside —if only for a brief while. He wasn’t soone I could speak ill of so freely, especially not in front of his niece.
Besides, the idea that Sir Reynold might be the ‘masked assailant’ was still only a speculation.
“He fought incredibly. I an, he single-handedly turned the tide of the battle.”
“......Well, he is an ‘Archmage,’ after all.”
Even in the midst of her gloom, Senior Elsie responded willingly to my attempt at conversation.
I quietly accepted her choice of words, maintaining our careful dialogue.
“That’s what being an Archmage ans. It’s a realm attainable only by those who have transcended logic and formulas. Instead of seeing the world through language and numbers, they perceive it through intuition, and wholly establish themselves within it.”
“Do you want to beco one too, Senior Elsie?”
It was a rhetorical question. What mage wouldn’t aspire to beco an Archmage?
Senior Elsie was no exception.
“Aren’t they cool? No matter what anyone else says, they find their own path and stand tall. It ans they’re strong enough on their own, without needing help from anyone.”
“That’s a unique way of putting it.”
“Because I’ve admired them since I was a child.”
A faint light gradually returned to Senior Elsie’s previously dimd eyes. Her pent-up emotions suddenly overflowed into words.
“And now she’s telling my uncle made a deal with the Dark Order?! Even though he’s already reached the level of an Archmage...!”
“Back in his rcenary days... I heard he lost all his comrades.”
Now, it was Senior Elsie’s turn to fall silent.
So stories are too painful to share with family. Even scars carefully hidden an nothing on the battlefield.
Sir Reynold himself had admitted it without hesitation. Thus, I also did my best to relay it just as calmly.
“Sir Reynold isn’t invincible either. Even Archmages have their limits.”
Senior Elsie offered no rebuttal.
She simply lowered her head without a word. As we grow older, there are truths we co to understand—whether we want to or not.
No one can survive on their own.
Everyone needs soone to rely on. And sotis, people make the wrong choices.
Sir Reynold was no exception.
Senior Elsie struggled to bit down on the urge to scream. Then eventually, with her eyes blazing, she spat out her next words.
“Then let’s put it to the test.”
Her voice was a blend of hatred, anger, determination, and trust. Then grinding her teeth hard, she continued.
“Whether my uncle is a traitor or not... we can test it ourselves, can’t we?”
She had a point. But I still had one lingering question.
“How?”
Her answer to that was simple. As if she’d been waiting, Senior Elsie flashed a aningful smile.
“Master, you love , don’t you?”
Even adding a touch of playful charm.
I hated myself for being unable to deny it. Her confident wink, trembling with hidden anxiety, gnawed at my heart.
So I just silently pulled Senior Elsie into my arms.
Perhaps not expecting to respond that way, her body stiffened. But that only made her small fra fit even tighter in my arms.
Her resistance soon ceased.
With the sound of her muffled sobs as my backdrop, I declared firmly,
“I’ll figure sothing out.”
Though I had no real plan, I still said it. Because seeing Senior Elsie sobbing helplessly in my arms wiped my mind blank.
And so ti passed—and night fell.
The moon and stars shimred in the distant sky. A path stretched toward a low hill, and a middle-aged man was walking along its faint outline.
He had brown hair and blue eyes.
His expression was clouded with fatigue and confusion—though only for a mont.
The man furrowed his brows slightly. As an unknown figure had abruptly appeared before him.
A pure white mask reflected the moonlight. But what stood out to him the most was the masked man’s physique.
It was oddly familiar.
“......What are you playing at?”
Hah, Reynold gave an incredulous scoff, as he faced the masked man.
This man had a build eerily similar to his niece’s fiancé.
Even his skills were exceptional. The pressure he kept in check jabbed at Reynold like an awl.
Yet the masked figure hesitated montarily, as though he had sothing to say but couldn’t bring himself to say it.
After a long silence, the masked figure finally spat out in a raspy voice,
“Gotta say, your niece was pretty ‘incredible’.”
“This son of a bitch—!!!”
Reynold snapped and lunged at him in an instant.
Exactly as Elsie had planned.
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