Ten years ago from today.
On the day of Viscount Celsier’s funeral, it rained like a downpour.
Despite the bad weather, a large number of people dressed in black gathered.
They were busy whispering about the children who had been left behind, forgetting that the hem of their clothes were getting dirtied by the muddy water.
“I heard the couple got into an accident. How did such a mishap happen?”
“That’s what I’m saying. I believe that among the children they had left, the oldest is only ten years old.”
“Viscount Celsier was such a good person too… If things go wrong, the lineage of their family could get cut off.”
“God can be so heartless. How could these children be left all on their own?”
Libertisha clasped her hands tightly as she listened to the voices of the people around her.
Everyone may have been expressing their worry, but it was all fake. There was no one there who actually cared about them.
“Did you know? I heard that the girl isn’t even their real daughter.”
At those passing words, it felt like a dagger had been stabbed into her chest.
They were right. Libertisha Celsier was Viscount Celsier and his wife’s adopted child.
No matter how hard they tried, they could not have a child and so, they had adopted her. However, as if by some miracle, they ended up having a child not too long after that.
It was a story that was commonly talked about.
But if there was some point to the story that was different from what was being told…
“Libertisha, what do you mean by that?”
“I heard the maids talking about it when they were passing by. They said I’m not your real daughter. Mother, are you and father… going to abandon me?”
“We will never do that. Who dares to say such things? No matter what anyone says, you are our daughter.”
It would be that Viscount Celsier and his wife cherished her.
She was cherished as their precious child and invaluable daughter.
They never once discriminated against her or held any resentment towards her.
*note: we love seeing supportive adoptive parents
So, naturally, she had a good relationship with her younger brother, Rudel.
The Celsier family was that kind of place.
They were not extremely wealthy or powerful, but they were a warm-hearted and sincere family that always did their part.
The kind of family that would sit in front of the fireplace while they enjoyed warm tea and snacks together and would share words of encouragement and affection with each other…
‘I can’t afford to lose a precious family like that.’
The Celsier family must never fall to ruin. Ever.
As soon as the funeral ended, people came rushing in from all over, demanding the money they had lent to the viscount.
Libertisha desperately needed to learn about the viscount’s finances and how to manage the accounts. This included understanding the salaries of their mansion’s employees, the distribution of inheritance, available funds, and the ownership of land under the Celsier name.
In addition, there was also the family’s business affairs and the debt associated with it.
All of this presented an overwhelming crisis for a ten-year-old to handle.
She believed that those who visited the Celsier family were there because of the viscount and viscountess’s passing, but she saw that they only argued with each other in an attempt to claim whatever remained of their fortune. There was no one who was truly on their side.
In such a hopeless situation, there was only one person who reached out a hand.
“Don’t worry, Libertisha. I’ll take care of everything.”
“Uncle Wilfred…”
Libertisha felt as if a rope to salvation had finally been thrown to her.
Baron Wilfred laughed and patted her on the shoulder. He had repaid all of the Celsier family’s debt and assigned teachers for Rudel’s education so that he could inherit the family.
“Thank you. Thank you so much, uncle.”
“There’s no need to be like that. Aren’t we a family? We should help each other in times of need.”
Not only that, but he saw Libertisha’s talent for swordsmanship and earnestly gave her the chance to learn.
As her uncle had predicted, she was skilled in swordsmanship. She had quite a bit, no, quite a lot of talent for it.
It was to the extent that after half a year of learning the sword, she was able to fight seriously with the mansion’s knights.
By the time a year passed, no one among the family’s knights could rival her.
Within two years or so, she had already claimed 1st place in all the swordsmanship competitions held in the empire.
Her inherent talent soared like wings, bringing her to new heights.
And the one who had broken those wings was the person who had saved her. It was her Uncle Wilfred who she had believed in without ever suspecting.
“What is the meaning of this, uncle?”
Libertisha slammed the desk with her fist and spoke.
“After all this time, you suddenly ask that we repay you for having taken care of us?”
“Don’t you think you’re old enough now? How long do you want me to feed you and put you to sleep? Tch.”
Her uncle replied as if he was annoyed while flipping through the ledger in his hand. His usual benevolent smile had long since disappeared.
Wilfred held out the ledger towards her, his expression filled with cold anger.
“I paid off the viscount’s debts and was in charge of managing the business and finances on behalf of you young ones. On top of that, the cost I paid for your education… it amounts to about one billion larcs.”
*note: larcs is the empire’s currency
“ … That’s ridiculous.”
How could it amount to one billion larcs?
The amount mentioned by her uncle exceeded ten times, no, twenty times the amount of their current total assets.
It was an incredibly high amount, even beyond what most nobles could afford to handle.
“Don’t lie! There’s no way it could ever total up to that amount! Uncle, even if you add up the debts that you had paid off, this amount is too absurd. Don’t you know I can read the books now?”
“Hm, what should we do then? I have a contract here that we can’t just simply ignore.”
“A contract? What do you mean…”
No way.
Libertisha hurriedly snatched the ledger from her uncle’s hands.
On the back page of the ledger, there was a contract written out along with a crookedly drawn signature underneath it. It was the signature of her younger brother, Rudel.
“…”
Libertisha felt her vision go black for a moment.
The contract was filled with difficult words and complex clauses that were hard for even her to understand, so it wasn’t possible that her younger brother Rudel would’ve been able to comprehend them either and just sign it.
It was clear that her uncle had tricked Rudel into signing it.
He must’ve gone through great lengths to bribe several officials in order to notarize Rudel’s signature.
With a sinister smile, her uncle looked at her.
“What are you going to do, Libertisha? If you don’t pay off your debt, the Celsier Viscounty is going to collapse like this.”
“…”
“Do you not have anything to say? You and your younger brother will lose your titles of nobility and end up on the streets. You could end up being sold somewhere in order to make money. You’re skilled in swordsmanship so you could even make a living off of it, but your brother just might–”
“No!”
Libertisha eventually collapsed.
Her family and younger brother.
To that young girl, losing everything she wanted to protect was like the world collapsing.
That’s how she fell for Baron Wilfred’s tricks and started fighting on the battlefield from a young age.
She almost died multiple times, getting hurt and battered down.
Eventually, only one thing remained in her mind.
‘I’ll save Rudel and take back my precious Celsier family.’
Whenever she closed her eyes, the memories of her family sitting together and chatting would come to mind, making it impossible for her to give up on it.
“She’s so spiteful.”
“I knew she’d become a great and noble knight. I never thought she would become such a money-crazed murderer though.”
“His Majesty said he would directly grant her a title, but she refused and only asked for money. She’s absolutely crazy.”
She didn’t listen to what others had to say.
What she wanted was not a new family name nor honor.
It was money and only money.
However, no matter how much she sacrificed and overworked her body to repay the debt, it never seemed to be fully paid off. It was like trying to fill a broken bowl with water.
It wasn’t only the bowl that was breaking though.
With each step she took, her fragile life began to crumble like ice.
It wasn’t just their debt that her uncle was holding onto.
It was her life itself.
***
The sunlight pierced through the loosely hung curtains, causing Libertisha’s eyes to sting.
After fidgeting a few times, she opened her eyes.
‘ … Oh. I’m at our quarters.’
The familiar ceiling and the comforting sensation of the bedding welcomed her.
The last thing she could remember from yesterday was that after she had a private meeting with the emperor, she had wearily walked around with a tired body.
“But how did I get back to our quarters?”
“That’s because I brought you back.”
Looking in the direction of where the voice was coming from, she saw her lieutenant, Barton, leaning against the door.
Barton’s expression was filled with discontent.
“Please, don’t just sleep anywhere. Do you have narcolepsy or something? How do you think the subordinates feel when they see their commander suddenly laying down wherever on the way back from training at the palace?”
“So, how’d it go?”
“It was embarrassing.”
“You…”
Libertisha slowly blinked her eyes as if it were none of her business.
With how strong she was, she seemed almost inhuman whenever she was in combat, but when she wasn’t in combat, she was someone who always needed to conserve her energy.
Eat, sleep, eat, sleep.
The other knights called this state of Libertisha’s, “hibernation.”
After Barton let out a sigh, he went down to the 1st floor to get her meal.
Three whole loaves of bread, five omelets, eight roasted potatoes, one roast chicken, three plates of stew with various ingredients, and several other dishes.
As Barton was walking back with the meal, the knights of the “White Silver” asked about Libertisha’s well-being.
*note: White Silver is the name of the unit she leads
As if they knew the meal was hers, of course.
“Please eat.”
“Thanks. I was actually hungry.”
Libertisha ate up the food as soon as she picked up the fork.
How could so much food fit in such a small body?
Barton couldn’t help but be amazed when seeing Libertisha consume so much food, even after seeing it dozens of times.
Of course, it made sense to accumulate so much energy in advance since she would exert it all… However, she would only eat as much as birds do when on the battlefield.
She had a very strange body structure.
Libertisha effortlessly broke off the chicken legs from its body with just three pricks of her fork. With one chicken leg stuffed into her mouth, she glared at Barton, who was observing her.
“Why… do you… ulways watch ower e whenevwr I eay? Ah you noy foing to eat?”
*note: “Why… do you… always watch over me whenever I eat? Are you not going to eat?” (I can’t read gibberish Korean so this is the closest thing I could translate it to lol)
“I have no idea what you’re saying. Please finish eating before you speak.”
“Ohay.”
*note: “Okay.”
She vigorously chewed the chicken and other foods in her mouth to swallow them.
Meanwhile, Barton spoke up first and asked her.
“Are you really going to get married?”
Cough.
She managed to swallow almost everything in a hurry. It was a close call though as she could have ended up in a messy state.
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