The first ti Siern killed soone was when she was around ten years old.
One day, she suddenly killed a maid who had brought her a snack.
At that young age, she stood still, covered in blood, silently staring at the young servant lying lifeless in a corner of the room.
Bang!
When Lord lverot burst into the room, Siern was simply there, drenched in blood.
She showed no signs of fear or trembling over what she had done, nor any concern about how to deal with the consequences.
Her pale eyes, visible through her blood-splattered cheeks, looked at him silently. The stains on her white pajamas looked like part of the decorative lace.
Even when the servants who arrived afterward covered their mouths in horror, and the squires rushed to clean the scene… Siern remained calm and indifferent.
The servants were terrified by the scene, but her father, Lord lverot, didn’t even frown.
The butler Layton watched him and thought.
Even upon witnessing the murder committed by his daughter, he didn’t show a trace of distress… as if he had expected it from the start.
Siern’s indiscriminate murderous impulse had begun without warning.
And yet, despite the series of shocking events, lverot never once showed a sign of panic.
*
“Mr. Dereck!! That’s enough!! If you try to control Lady Siern with violence!! I, I…!! In the na of Duplain!! I won’t stand by and do nothing!!”
Dereck thought he couldn’t allow Aiselin to continue that performance.
Her terrible sense for dialogue, the awkward tone that popped up here and there, and those sudden outbursts of rage were completely off.
It was probably because she had almost no experience raising her voice at soone.
Maybe it was too much to demand such emotions from a girl who had always lived as an elegant and refined lady.
Dereck raised his staff and spoke.
“Lady Aiselin. I’m soone who doesn’t worry about consequences. Lord lverot ordered
to reform Lady Siern by any ans necessary, and I will use every tool at my disposal to achieve results. If Lady Aiselin interferes, I’ll have no choice but to remove her by force.”
“I am the lady of the Duplain duchy. Don’t you dare… don’t you dare…! No! Don’t you dare speak of using force in front of !! How dare you!!”
“…”
Dereck felt great confusion trying to follow the emotional track.
Aiselin’s acting was a black hole that swallowed all emotion around it. If that continued, a real disaster would occur, so Dereck raised his magical power and increased his pressure.
Whooosh.
Dereck’s mana swirled around him, and the accumulated snowflakes began to form a mist.
Siern, lying down, held her breath and nervously swallowed, but Aiselin stepped forward again, spreading her arms to block Dereck.
“If you’re going to shoot… then shoot! I won’t move from here!!”
Dereck’s magical power concentrated at the tip of his staff.
And the two-star combat magic, Fireball, began to take shape. Just from manifesting it, the snow around began to lt, exposing the ground.
Siern trembled and swallowed hard. A direct hit from a fireball like that would be fatal.
If she tried to escape, Dereck would predict her movents and stop her. If she stayed still, he’d beat her to death.
Despite Dereck’s cruel teaching policy, Siern tried to stand up as best she could. But her legs were too weak to move.
While Siern trembled in fear, Aiselin stood with arms outstretched, facing Dereck.
Despite the overwhelming magical pressure, with her fingertips trembling, she expressed her determination not to yield.
The cold-blooded mage before her, as if the lady of the Duplain family ant nothing, amassed even more magical power and generated a fireball larger than a human body. That level of fla was near the peak of two-star magic.
“This is your last warning. Move aside.”
“If you hurt … Mr. Dereck, you won’t get away with it…!”
“I told you I wouldn’t stop at anything. If you ignore my final warning, I’ll have no choice.”
As exaggerated as it sounded, it was hard to believe he’d cast a spell of that magnitude at the young lady of the Duplain duchy.
But he was a scoundrel who had even tried to beat the lady of the Rochester family, Siern. The fear that he might actually do it began to grip Siern’s heart.
Whoosh!
And indeed, Dereck fired the fireball. It was a scene hard to believe even with one’s own eyes.
Aiselin, arms open in front of Siern, trembled from head to toe with her eyes closed. Even faced with the oncoming fireball, she didn’t move an inch.
Soon, the fireball exploded.
Boom!!
A massive explosion echoed, and flas filled the entire field of vision.
The intense heat lted all the surrounding snow. Smoke rose, and the image of the fire lingered like a burn in the eyes.
“…”
The fireball missed its mark.
When Siern opened her eyes wide, the spell had only grazed Aiselin and struck the ground.
Aiselin, still in a protective stance in front of Siern, remained with arms outstretched. The trembling of her fingers revealed the fear she felt.
And still, Aiselin didn’t move an inch.
Biting her lower lip, she stared at Dereck with resolve, but her body shook uncontrollably.
Dereck watched her silently, then finally slung his staff over his back.
“I’ll let it go this ti. But if you interfere again…”
Amid the swirling snow, his chilling red eyes locked onto both of them.
“You’ll pay for it.”
With that, Dereck turned his cloak and walked toward the mansion’s main building.
His retreating silhouette looked like that of a reaper who had postponed a death sentence.
The fear that had overtaken Siern’s body climbed up her spine.
Crunch, crunch.
Thud.
When Dereck disappeared from sight, Aiselin’s legs gave out and she fell onto the snow. She took several deep breaths.
After a mont to calm herself, Aiselin quickly turned her head toward Siern.
Siern, unable to move due to her weakened legs, trembled. Aiselin looked at her and managed to force a smile.
“Lady Siern. You were very scared, weren’t you? That insolent rcenary Dereck is always like that. He thinks everything can be solved with violence…”
“I-I… I… then…”
“It’s okay. It’s understandable that you’re confused. Are you hurt? Let
see your wounds.”
With great effort, Aiselin managed to stand up and, dragging her tired body, crouched in front of Siern.
Even in her confusion, Siern felt a certain warmth in seeing her.
Aiselin had a kind heart that knew how to welco others, and her appearance held sothing noble and sacred.
Seeing her protect and comfort with sincerity was sothing that could move anyone. That’s why Dereck had insisted on bringing Aiselin. If he played the role of the whip, soone had to play the role of comfort.
In fact, even as Siern backed away, she felt a strange relief watching Aiselin approach with long strides.
“Co on, show
your wounds. If we treat them quickly, they won’t leave a scar.”
“N-no, I don’t want to…”
When Aiselin extended her hand, Siern pushed it away with a dry sound.
However, even as she looked at the hand she had rejected, Siern’s gaze trembled with confusion.
“…It’s okay. You don’t have to be so tense.”
Flash!
As Aiselin spoke again in a gentle tone, Siern quickly ran toward the tower and vanished.
The confusion on her face was understandable. Too many things had happened in too little ti.
Still, it was noteworthy that she didn’t hurt Aiselin.
Tap, tap.
Watching Siern escape quickly by stepping on the building’s ledges, Aiselin sighed.
Due to the northern cold air, a puff of breath escaped her small lips. It was hard to judge whether Siern had opened her heart or not, just based on her reaction.
“Ambiguous…”
Murmured Aiselin with a discouraged expression.
*
Knock, knock, knock.
“Co in.”
Dereck had just finished bathing in the guest room and was drying his hair. Naturally, he was lightly dressed.
As he shook out his hair in the robe handed to him by the servants, the door opened and Aiselin entered.
“Mr. Derek, about Lady Siern…”
Bang!
And then she shut the door again.
In reality, although the amount of exposed skin on Dereck was minimal, even that slight glimpse of his torso was excessively stimulating for Aiselin.
The speed with which she backed into the hallway without finishing her sentence was comparable to that of a veteran rcenary.
“D-D-Dereck, I didn’t know you weren’t dressed. I-I’m really sorry.”
“It’s fine. I thought you were a servant since you knocked. If you had spoken first, I would’ve co out.”
“I-I was just going to be brief since you must be tired…”
“What noble lady goes to a commoner’s room? Even if your family is in hardship, you should act according to your status.”
“I-I told you.”
Hearing a deep breath on the other side of the door, Dereck quickly put on a tunic and leather pants.
“I’ve decided to accept that I’m a fallen noble. I must stand firm and with confidence.”
The image of a fallen noble that Aiselin had seed more like a woman full of vitality overcoming adversity than soone wandering dark alleys.
If she saw it that way herself, there was no reason to correct her.
After checking his appearance, Dereck opened the door.
He saw Aiselin sitting against the hallway wall, her face buried in her knees.
It was sothing he would never have imagined while they discussed philosophy or history in the Rose Hall.
Since she got involved in her family’s affairs, this truth had beco evident: Aiselin was much more na??ve than he had thought.
It seed she had been quite skilled at playing the noble lady role until now. After all, in aristocratic circles, one didn’t get involved in such trivial incidents.
“Are you dressed?”
“Yes.”
“Are you really dressed?”
“Yes.”
Dereck responded without changing tone.
Aiselin lifted her head sharply, quickly entered the room, and sat at a table in the corner.
She cleared her throat, regained her polite expression, and spoke in an archaic manner.
“Pardon the spectacle.”
“It’s no problem. You ca to talk about Lady Siern, right?”
“Yes… We just parted ways after a scandal…”
“How did Lady Siern react?”
“She seed bewildered… but I don’t think she completely closed her heart.”
From the start, Aiselin and Dereck had already anticipated it.
Aiselin would be the one to embrace, understand, listen, empathize, and console.
Dereck would be the one to scold, get angry, punish, suppress, and instill fear.
It was expected that if both fulfilled their roles well, Siern would eventually open up to Aiselin.
Aiselin had expressed from the beginning her doubts about making Dereck take the role of the villain.
But Dereck wasn’t soone who cared about that.
Gaining affection or hostility was just a matter of correcting ntalities. He was a man focused on results, not human relationships.
Still, Aiselin would glance at him or ask if he was okay, as if feeling guilty. Each ti, Dereck would simply say it was fine.
“Anyway, I don’t think we should rush too much. We could say our brilliant teamwork is bearing fruit.”
“…”
“I know… I’m not good at acting. Even after taking lessons from the best actors in the Levelton company, it didn’t work…”
Aiselin finally confessed it. And it was true that a crisis had almost broken out because of how bad her acting was.
“It’s strange, isn’t it? I can hide my emotions in a salon chat, but… when I try to act for real, I stutter…”
“Not just you, Lady Aiselin. Acting is hard and stressful by nature.”
“And here I am, being comforted again by Mr. Dereck… I didn’t co north for this…”
Aiselin sighed deeply, then shook her head and clenched her fist.
“This isn’t the ti to be discouraged. In the end, I’m getting paid, so I have to do my part…”
“It doesn’t matter whether you act or not. You’re doing quite well.”
“Don’t praise
so much, Mr. Dereck. I told you I’ve accepted my status as a fallen noble.”
“What’s the point of pointing out what you already know?”
“Ugh…”
“And even though there were so clumsy parts at first, you did well after that.”
“R-really?”
When Aiselin glanced at him, Dereck was direct.
“Yes. The trembling of your fingers, your unsure voice just before taking the fireball… it was realistic. Extraordinary. Lady Siern must’ve been completely fooled.”
“That… wasn’t acting…”
“…”
“I-I was really scared… How could you not tremble when a fireball the size of a house is flying at you… I barely held back tears, but… showing fear seed undignified…”
Dereck decided it was better not to say anything else. Praising or criticizing wouldn’t help.
“Anyway… it’s a relief that Lady Siern opened her heart even a little. I’ve been investigating and found so concerning things.”
“Really?”
When Aiselin lifted her head, she saw several docunts and books on the table that Dereck had gone through.
There were service records, Siern’s routines compiled by servants…
And curiously, there were also historical records of the ‘Dawn War’ that took place in the north.
‘Why is he reading history books…?’
While Aiselin frowned in doubt, Dereck finished drying his hair and sat in front of her.
“In short, it seems Lady Siern has really killed many people. The rumors about her weren’t baseless.”
“…”
“Lord lverot told us to swallow any doubts while educating Siern. But how could we fulfill our mission with just surface-level information? We have to find out everything.”
Seeing Dereck’s serious expression, Aiselin felt a chill.
When that man committed to sothing, he achieved it at any cost. She had seen him complete tasks that seed impossible.
“…I also… felt that Lord lverot was hiding sothing.”
“That’s the key. We don’t know what it is, but it’s clearly sothing Lord lverot doesn’t want revealed.”
“…Mr. Dereck. Lord lverot is a hero of the north, one of the few six-star mages on the continent… Is it really wise to uncover sothing he wants hidden…?”
“If we manage to beco confidants who share secrets, even better.”
Aiselin swallowed hard.
Dereck usually showed his human side, but when it ca to assessing his position and interests, he could be colder than anyone.
If he managed to discover the secret of the six-star mage lverot, he would gain a weapon of imasurable value.
And if he ended up on the sa side as lverot, there would be no better ally for Dereck’s path as a mage.
Of course, one can’t negotiate with a transcendent being. They can crush you simply with their power.
That’s why he had brought Aiselin.
No matter how far her family had fallen, a minimum courtesy still had to be shown toward the daughter of a ducal family.
Realizing this, cold sweat ran down Aiselin’s back. Dereck planned to use Lady Siern to sohow control Lord lverot.
And to beco a higher-level mage, he wouldn’t stop at anything. That was the kind of man Dereck was.
“Mr. Dereck…”
“…”
“Do you have any… suspicion?”
Dereck only spoke when he was certain.
He didn’t make irresponsible comnts based on half-baked assumptions. If he hadn’t said anything until now, it was because he didn’t yet have clear proof to support his judgnt.
But, since Aiselin had been direct, he couldn’t just ignore her, as they were in the sa boat. Dereck hesitated a mont, cracking his knuckles, and finally responded.
“Lady Aiselin, what kind of person do you think Lady Siern is?”
“Eh? Eh? Well… although she has so rough edges… she’s actually very pretty… if properly educated, she seems like soone who could beco a good lady… like a diamond in the rough, don’t you think?”
“A person like a diamond in the rough?”
“Yes, yes… that kind of person.”
“Hmm, are you sure?”
“…What do you an?”
Aiselin swallowed instantly. She had to rethink what Dereck had just said.
However, even after reorganizing her thoughts, Dereck’s intent beca more or less clear.
Dereck’s gaze, sitting calmly and making eye contact, was penetrating.
His pale red eyes peeked out through his fallen white hair. It was exactly the sa gaze that stirred a strange fear in Siern.
This man had spent his whole life wandering through labyrinths, researching, and killing countless monsters.
If you piled up the corpses he’d left behind, they would form a mountain, and the blood of those creatures soaked his body and soul in a way that could never be washed away.
That known fact… seed to carry aning.
Aiselin’s fingertips began to tremble, and she held her breath.
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