There cos a ti in life when you must accept your current reality as your fate.
Siern thought it was so obvious that she had never questioned it.
Living and dying with blood on her hands in this vast snowy land seed miserable at first glance, but if you accept it, sohow you can endure it.
Living in a warm and fertile land like the territories of Duplain or Beltus, walking among fields of flowers, was a life allowed only for people like Aiselin.
She envied it, but she didn’t covet it.
Sotis, when she looked down from the top of the tower at the northern territory, with snow falling upon her, she had no choice but to accept that this land was her ho.
In the cold and lonely snowfield, the trees with bare branches jutted out like thorns.
That was Siern’s ho—the Duchy of Rochester.
*
“Why… why are you alive?”
“Sorry for being alive… You must have been very scared…?”
“No, I didn’t an it that way… Surely… because of that guy’s sword…”
When Siern asked with a confused expression, Aiselin slowly explained what had happened to her.
Dereck had planned to make it seem like Siern had killed. He had deceived Aiselin and attacked Siern.
He pretended to stab Aiselin with a knife, used dye and confusion magic to create an illusion.
From the beginning, Dereck had no intention of killing Siern, and everything had been done to guide her in controlling her murderous instinct.
Easier said than done, since he had to be willing to face Siern’s attacks, fueled by genuine rage.
No other teacher had gone that far to try to control Siern’s instincts.
After experiencing that murderous instinct just once, nine out of ten would flee in terror.
“Why… why go so far…?”
“Because that’s how it is.”
Though she had been promised a noble title, Aiselin didn’t bother to ntion it.
Even without that reward, Dereck would have done everything he could to correct Siern.
The fact that, upon seeing her true nature, he imdiately thought about how to guide her proved it.
Whether he was aware or not, Dereck was already developing a genuine sense of professionalism as a magic teacher.
There are no young girls in the world, only those who have yet to receive proper teaching.
If soone was lost, he would try to guide them to a better path. Just the act of constantly thinking that way already made him a respectable teacher.
“Anyway… I ca to apologize. No matter how good the intentions, the result was that Lady Siern was scared, and even if it wasn’t intentional, I ended up getting involved…”
“…”
“And… as I said, I thought maybe you were very frustrated or sad… I wanted to tell you that you don’t need to be. I’m alive and well, and Dereck had no intention of killing Lady Siern… that’s all.”
Aiselin sighed as if releasing a heavy burden, then smiled to show that everything was fine.
“We ca to the north for Lady Siern. I just want you to know that.”
Upon seeing that, Siern lowered her head for a mont, as if looking at the sun shining warmly over a adow.
The anger she had felt toward Dereck had now lost its direction and wavered.
Only a faint feeling of betrayal remained. If he had truly taken on all those harsh roles solely for Siern’s sake, where should she direct her anger?
Perhaps she should direct it at herself. That’s when she thought of it.
“Anyway, Lady Siern didn’t kill anyone. Even while giving in to instinct and anger, you managed to regain your reason. If you did it once, you can do it two or three tis.”
“Do you really… think I can do it?”
“I’ll help you. Like I said, you don’t have to trust
completely. You can just use
and throw
away. So…”
“…No.”
Siern spoke in a barely audible voice, like the hum of a mosquito, hugging her knees tightly.
She buried her head as if she were ashad, and looked very shy.
“I’ll try to trust you.”
Aiselin clasped her hands and smiled, stars sparkling in her eyes. She seed very happy that the cold and distant Siern was finally beginning to open her heart.
Quickly approaching, she sat beside her on the bed and spoke in a gentle voice.
“Thank you, Lady Siern. That makes
very happy.”
“You… don’t have to be that happy. It’s not like it’s that important for soone like , a monster, to trust the flower of the Duplain family.”
“What are you talking about, Lady Siern? It’s a great honor.”
Placing her delicate hand over one of Siern’s, she spoke with a warm smile.
“I actually have a younger sister your age, Lady Siern. She also went through a period of confusion, but she t good people and now leads many, aiming to beco a ruler. I’m sure you two could be good friends.”
“R-really…?”
“Yes. I rember she always followed , calling
sister, and now she’s beco so reliable I can’t help but feel proud every ti I see her. Lady Siern, even if you seem lost now, you’ll be able to control that blood and beco a great mage.”
Offering words of encouragent to Siern and embracing her was the role Dereck had wanted Aiselin to play.
In fact, even before talking about “roles,” Aiselin was simply that kind of person by nature.
“Hey…”
Siern, still hugging her knees and with her head down, spoke hesitantly.
Her voice was so low you had to strain to hear it.
“Can I… can I call you sister too…?”
Aiselin’s face lit up with joy upon hearing those words, and an uncontrollable emotion overwheld her.
It was like seeing a wounded stray cat finally co close.
*
Head maid Serena swallowed hard as she bandaged Dereck’s wounds.
Although she kept a composed expression, the scratches and cuts all over Dereck’s body were severe enough to be quite painful.
But for rcenaries who had road battlefields, were these kinds of injuries routine, or did Dereck simply possess an extraordinary ntal fortitude?
Sitting on the edge of the private room’s sofa, arm extended, Dereck’s face showed not the slightest reaction.
“I’ve treated all the cuts and scratches on your right arm. Just need to tend to the ankle and lower back.”
“Yes, you’ve worked hard. Thank you.”
“No, Sir Dereck, you’ve worked much harder than I.”
Serena had also been struck by Siern several tis, but it had never been this serious.
Among the servants of the Rochester mansion, an atmosphere of recognition toward Dereck had begun to form. Everyone had seen him face the rampaging Siern within the mansion.
Seeing him sohow manage what was practically a living disaster sparked a glimr of hope that perhaps he could take charge of Siern.
In any case, the only thing Serena could do was heal his wounds.
Just as she began to unwrap a new roll of bandages…
Creak.
Thud, thud.
Without even knocking, the door to Dereck’s private room opened.
Turning his head, he saw lverot enter, dressed in the fur-laden attire of a northern noble.
Serena flinched and trembled, set the bandages aside, and tried to stand up.
“Remain seated. Continue the treatnt.”
Dereck, who had also been about to rise, sat back down on the sofa at lverot’s order.
lverot walked with firm steps into the room, passed by the seated Dereck, and settled by the window table.
He silently gazed at the snowy landscape through the glass, crossed his arms, and spoke in a low voice.
“I saw you causing a ruckus in the garden.”
“I damaged part of the property. I apologize.”
“That’s a trivial matter. But it seems Siern regained her senses.”
Being montarily led by instinct and then regaining reason was not extraordinary.
However, Siern had truly managed to regain her reason in the midst of unleashed rage and murderous impulse.
Though it was thanks to Dereck’s perseverance, it was a significant breakthrough.
Compared to the tis when there was no hope and they rely kept her contained, it was a major change.
Yet lverot showed no signs of joy. He rely acknowledged Dereck’s effort.
“What are the plans from here on?”
“Now that she’s managed to control her instinct once, I plan to try again. We must repeat the process based on that successful experience. Before the murderous instinct resurfaces, I also plan to teach her so relaxation magic…”
“Do you think Siern will follow you?”
“It may take ti for her to follow , but with Lady Aiselin, there’s nothing to worry about.”
Aiselin had the ability to open people’s hearts. lverot seed to agree with that view, as he offered no objection.
Dereck extended his other arm toward the maid. She quickly applied the ointnt and began to bandage it.
“I’ll admit it. You’re better than those desk scholars who ca boasting they could teach Siern. I’m glad to see that Siern is changing.”
“Thank you. But… you don’t seem very happy.”
“Didn’t I say it from the beginning? Siern is nothing more than a subject for my magical research. How could I love the detestable blood of Noir? She’s a monster who caused the great disaster of the Dawn War.”
“…”
Dereck silently watched the bandage being wrapped around his arm, then looked at the maid’s expression.
She seed tense, watching Dereck speak so naturally with lverot, the ruler of the North.
In fact, the difference in status between them was as vast as heaven and earth.
However, Dereck felt he had to say one more thing.
“This ti, while teaching Lady Siern, I had certain thoughts. Indeed, it’s not sothing just anyone can do. There aren’t many people capable of withstanding such overwhelming magic, ensuring Lady Siern doesn’t get hurt, protecting their own life, and still keeping calm in a real fight.”
“Are you trying to highlight your achievents?”
“Well. At least within this Rochester mansion, there’s no one else. Except Lord lverot, of course.”
Dereck spoke softly as he looked at his bandaged arm.
lverot was still gazing out the window, where snowflakes continued to fall.
“But… it seems even you didn’t go that far. I wondered if there might be a reason why the great mage Lord lverot, a six-star mage, couldn’t intervene personally… that thought crossed my mind.”
“…”
“In truth, to go that far, one must push Lady Siern to the limit. Moreover, one must be willing to carry her hatred and resentnt. Pushing soone off a cliff to teach them… that’s what it takes.”
Dereck had played that role without hesitation. To Siern, Dereck was the embodint of evil, a monster that deserved to be erased from the world.
Receiving such a gaze ant nothing. When you do great things, that sort of thing is natural.
Soone like lverot would know that better than anyone.
Dereck remained silent for a mont. In the quiet private room, the only sound was the maid wrapping the bandage, while he watched the snow falling on the window glass.
“You said you glimpsed seven-star level in Lady Siern. However, when I explored the nearby high-level labyrinths, I found no traces of subjugation or research. No matter how much I searched, there were no signs.”
To investigate monster magic, exploring labyrinths wasn’t an option but a necessity.
Monsters like liches or reapers, who use various kinds of magic, only appear in high-level labyrinths.
In the low-level labyrinths near the mansion, there were several traces of subjugation efforts to maintain public order, but no signs of anyone delving deep into high-level ones.
He claims to be interested in Siern’s magical power, but shows no interest in monster magic. That was the kind of person lverot was.
“Is it true that Lord lverot is… trying to reach the seven-star level?”
“What are you trying to say?”
“It’s really just a pointless intrusion.”
Dereck spoke in a low voice, his head bowed.
“Lord lverot is renowned as a national hero. When Lady Siern discovered she had Noir’s blood, I can only imagine the trendous burden that noble honor must have placed on her… that’s what I thought.”
“…”
“That’s all I wanted to say.”
Dereck said nothing more and gently closed his eyes. After that, there was nothing left to explain.
The day Siern opened her eyes among the slaughtered wolves. The day her first murderous instinct was revealed to the world, what did lverot think when he first saw her?
Only lverot would know. If he didn’t speak, no one in the world could ever know.
However, it can be inferred.
The daughter left behind by his fallen comrade. During the years spent with the daughter of that deceased friend, what kind of feelings did lverot harbor?
Watching how Siern, raised in these snowy fields, slowly beca a young lady—what thoughts crossed his mind?
When he realized that the murderous instinct that had blood ca from Noir’s blood, what expression did he show?
lverot was the hero who killed Noir.
He knew better than anyone the scars Noir left on this land. An unimaginable number of people died, and even his dearest comrades were killed by Noir.
Unable to overco his personal feelings, the fact that he had left behind a trace of that Noir—a potential seed of disaster in the world—was sothing his heroic self could never accept.
That’s why he needed another reason.
He had to find a grander justification for keeping Siern alive, one that wasn’t personal or private.
Not to convince anyone else, but to convince himself. He needed to find a rationale.
Perhaps that reason was the fervor for the “seven-star magic” that would be recorded in magical history for a long ti.
A mage before a hero. A mage before a father. The legendary realm left behind by the great mage Adelbert, which would bring a new wind to this vast history of magic. That was reason enough.
However, there was one person he couldn’t deceive. Even if he deceived the world and himself, there was one person he couldn’t lie to.
“Lady Siern left a ssage. She asked
to deliver it.”
“A ssage?”
“Lady Siern believed she would die today.”
— Tell Father… that he tried very hard to embrace and take responsibility for a daughter like . At least I… didn’t resent him… for trying to love a monster like
until the end… thank him for that…
Those were the words left by the daughter who chose to accept death while crying in the middle of the snowy field.
As she asked, Dereck simply delivered them. Since it was just a ssage, he added no special emotion.
“…”
Lord lverot didn’t particularly look at Dereck upon hearing those words. Just as he had been doing all along, he continued silently watching the snow fall outside the window.
When he closed his eyes, he sotis thought about it.
The image of Siern standing among the corpses of the wolves.
Though his hand was on the hilt of the sword at his waist, in the end he had no choice but to grab that wrist and return to the mansion.
In any case, that daughter must have clung tightly to his arm as she followed him across the cold snowy field. On the path from the middle of the snowy field to the mansion, the footprints in the snow were of two people.
Since that day, it had always been that way.
“You… are a capable and intelligent person, but you talk too much.”
“My apologies.”
“It’s fine. If you wish to teach Siern, those qualities may be necessary.”
Lord lverot, who had been quietly watching the snowfall through the window for a long ti, finally spoke in a low voice.
Dereck properly apologized and accepted his words without protest. Thus, the two of them remained seated in silence for a long while, not saying much more.
“There’s a small vineyard area near Rodelen.”
After a while of silence, lverot spoke again.
“It’s a place famous for its wine. It’s right next to the Duke of Beltus’ territory and the Delua Plains, so its location is fairly good and the trade routes aren’t bad. But it’s too small and relatively remote, so nobles from the central regions almost consider it exile.”
“Ah, is that so?”
Dereck responded indifferently, raising his now fully treated arm and clenching his fist tightly.
“To so, it might be exile, but to others, it might not be. Even if it’s tiny, it’s still a territory, and you must govern its residents. So unless you hold a noble title, there’s no adequate justification to administer it. It’s a troubleso area that at least needs a baron to oversee it.”
lverot turned his head and asked,
“Do you like wine?”
“Even if I don’t, I suppose I should.”
“Good.”
He rose from his seat and let out a lofty laugh.
No matter what happened, his arrogant deanor never seed to fade.
Reviews
All reviews (0)