Alan led me to the training hall. Today, Clemend’s knights said they were training outside in the forest, but Louise said she was left alone and training in the training ground. I entered the deserted gym alone with no one around.
“Uh?”
After taking a few steps, I stopped. Louise was standing alone in the far corner of the training ground, wielding a real sword. Louise was so focused on training that she was staring at the wall, her blonde hair drenched in sweat. I stood there for a moment as if mesmerized by his sword. His sword was cutting through the air, but it was heavy, as if it was defeating countless enemies around it. However, since the movement was not slow, my eyes were busy following the tip of the sword. He seemed to be trying to create sword energy on his sword. He didn’t even seem to notice that I was there because he was staring at the tip of his sword. How focused was he? Finally, the tip of the sword formed as much as a fist and burned. Without missing that moment, Louise created a spectacular trajectory in the air. The traces floating in the air glowed and remained floating even after the sword passed by. In an instant, the sky turned red with Louise at the center. When the traces were so crowded that Louise’s figure could not be seen, the red traces disappeared like smoke. Louise frowned and shook her head as if she was regretting that moment, but even that looked cool to my eyes.
‘I can’t believe I actually saw that kind of swordsmanship! Cool, Sword Expert!’
I looked at Louise with sparkling eyes. Louise’s upper body was already drenched in sweat. The loose-fitting shirt stuck to his strong muscles, clearly exposing his muscular body. At that moment, his mind came to his senses.
‘This is your chance!’
I came out of the training hall again and grabbed any maid passing by.
“Just one cold drink! “Your thirst will be quenched in one go!”
Haha. Likeability didn’t necessarily increase with love alone, right? Sometimes small acts of kindness can move people! After a while, I received a red drink with ice on an old-fashioned tray. The maid explained to me that it was a drink made from ground pomegranates. I entered the training hall with a solemn look on my face. Even while crossing the wide open space, Louise could not get out of her training. The sound of her sword cutting through the wind did not stop. I slowly approached him, keeping my eyes on him as he moved easily.
“Brother Louise.”
That was when I called him softly from a little distance away. In the blink of an eye, the tip of his knife was right up to my throat.
‘…uh?’
A stinging sensation came to me later. Only then did I realize that a sharp sword was flashing before my eyes. I raised my head and stared at Louise. He was staring straight at me, unable to retract his sword or retract it, with a puzzled face I had never seen before.
“Ro, Roella…?”
My hand holding the tray was shaking.
“You’re sweating a lot… I’d like to get you a drink…”
The tingling sensation started to become more and more throbbing. The area where the tip of the knife touched became hot as if it were burning. The sticky liquid slowly flowed down as if licking the back of my neck.
“I didn’t mean to disturb you…”
He muttered in a low voice that could only be heard if you listened. Louise’s face was blurred as she was unable to say anything with her mouth slightly open. I don’t know, but looking at that expression on his face that looked like he was going to cry at any moment, it seemed like he didn’t point the knife at me intentionally.
‘Ah. I should have called from further away. Maybe it’s because he’s a sword expert, but his speed…’
The moment I looked down at my hand that had wiped away the red blood, my vision whirled around.
“Roella!”
Clink!
* * *
It had been several days since she woke up, and the expressions on the faces of those gathered at Roella’s bedside were once again dark. Louise, in particular, was fidgeting with her head down like a criminal who had committed a mortal sin. Roella, her complexion pale, had a bandage wrapped around her neck. Chase, who was looking down at Roella, who was lying beautifully as if she was asleep, soon shouted loudly.
“The prosecutor! I thrust the knife first without even knowing who was around me!”
“At the training ground… I had warned her not to let anyone in, so she thought it was an intruder…”
“Noisy! It was also a mistake to realize the popularity too late! Didn’t I always tell you to sense mana?”
Roella’s mana was so small that she barely felt it, but Louise kept her mouth shut. She didn’t know that if she made any more excuses, she would be severely punished at that time. Evan, who was next to her, looked down at Roella with a cold face the whole time. Although he had a cold face, he seemed to be worried about Loella, as she turned pale and ran towards her as soon as she heard that Roella had collapsed.
Then Evan opened his mouth.
“Roella, who suddenly went to the training ground, is also at fault.”
“What?”
Louise’s eyes widened at Evan’s unexpected words. She belatedly poked Evan’s side to stop him, but he didn’t respond.
“Isn’t it Roella who went in against the order not to let anyone in?”
Chase’s face distorted at Evan’s words. Chase, who looked angry for a moment, sighed deeply and placed his hand on his head. The priority was to treat Roella right away, and there was no point in considering the causal relationship of her case.
“Is there any news from the Twilly family yet?”
It was then.
“Duke. The Duke of Kai Twilly asks to see the Duke.”
“Did the Little Duke come in person?”
As soon as Chase’s secretary, Angel, spoke, the atmosphere in Loella’s room became tense. Evan openly frowned, and Louise, who had always had a guilty look on her face, also narrowed her eyes.
“Please stop by.”
As soon as Chase’s order was given, tension rose in the room. The relationship between brothers Kai and Clement was not very good. They began to be hostile to each other without any significant incident. Of course, neither of them were aware that Roella was at the center of it all. Kai hated Evan and Louise for treating Roella coldly. Evan and Louise found it annoying that Kai was the only one who opened his heart to Roella. The three people maintained that feeling ever since they were children and thought of each other as ‘unlucky.’
As soon as Kai stepped into the room, Evan and Louise expressed their displeasure. Chase knew that the atmosphere had changed in an instant, but pretended not to notice and welcomed Kai.
“Little duke. Thank you for walking this far.”
“Thank you for giving me the opportunity to look after my best friend.”
Kai bowed his head politely, but the worry did not go away on Chase’s face. Chase had a doctor sent from the Twilley family who was highly skilled in medicine. However, in this case, because of the scars on the body of an unmarried noblewoman, the Duke of Twilly, who is capable of using healing magic, asked her to come personally. But it was Kai who came running as soon as he heard the news. Although he was a minor duke who would lead the Twilly family in the future, Chase did not trust Kai, who had not yet graduated from the academy. Chase, who had a troubled look on his face, carefully opened his mouth towards Kai.
“But, Duke. I feel sorry for the Little Duke who rushed over to me, but this time I requested it directly from the Duke of Twilly. My father thought it was rude to me, but he said this as soon as he came, so please understand.”
“Yes, Duke. I know.”
Kai’s mouth drew a soft parabola as if to reassure Chase. Then, in an instant, Kai’s cool eyes touched Louise.
“I only heard about the situation. “If the sword energy has penetrated the skin even slightly, healing magic may not be able to treat the scar.”
“What?”
The air around her froze at Kai’s diagnosis. In particular, Louise’s expression turned pale. She didn’t emit aura at that moment, but she unleashed as much aura as she could, and even Louise couldn’t be sure whether there was sword energy on the tip of her sword or not. Chase gulped as he noticed Louise’s expression on her face. Then, as if to change her mood, Kai spoke.
“That’s why I came.”
“…?!”
“Duke. I ask you to leave people for a while for healing.”
In response to Kai’s heavy request, Chase immediately nodded as if giving a command.
* * *
The employees dispersed, and Louise, who left the room as if she had been kicked out, lingered in front of her door. Evan, who had been walking slowly, turned around behind her.
“Why aren’t you coming?”
In response to Evan’s question, Louise quickly rushed towards Evan.
“You’ll be okay, right? I guess he came because he was confident, right?”
As Louise clung to her Evan, Evan mercilessly slapped her hand away.
“What are you worried about? “There was no crazy family that would take a princess like that even when she didn’t have a single flaw on her body.”
When Evan spoke calmly as if it was no big deal, Louise lowered her head.
“Day before yesterday. The night Roella woke up, she asked me various things about me.”
“What?”
“If you try… I asked if you would like me to sleep with you.”
“…?!”
Evan’s expression, which had been insensitive to Louise’s words, suddenly turned fierce.
“He said that while being cut by a sword and shaking? I was sweating a lot, so they wanted to bring me a drink…”
At that moment, Louise thought of Roel Ra’s face turning pale and clenched her empty fist.
“But do you know what I was thinking in that short period of time before she said that?”
“…”
“I thought you pitied me. “I was left practicing alone in the training hall until now.”
She made a long mistake. Because she was so focused on outputting the mana in her body as an aura, she could not feel Loella’s mana at all, which was small enough for her ants to crawl. But did she really not know at the moment when she pointed the knife at her throat?
─Brother Louise.
There was only one person in this mansion who could be called brother?
“Roella will not be the subject of sympathy for you. Why did you think that?”
After hearing Evan’s cold question, Louise muttered.
“Shaman… because.”
“What?”
“…”
Evan, who couldn’t hear the small sound, asked back, but Louise didn’t answer. Shaman was the formal name of the Clementine Knights. Evan is receiving training at the imperial court before joining the Emperor’s Guard Knights, so he is not in charge of training as a shaman. He said that today was a special day off and he offered to teach the shaman. Because Evan had a high reputation as a sword expert at a young age, the morale of the knights rose instantly, and Louise, who was guiding them, was quickly pushed back. The highest and advanced level of Sword Expert. Just one grade difference made Louise smaller. He was used to it. It always happened when Evan stepped forward. Louise didn’t want to be intimidated by going to outside training, so she just volunteered to train at the gym alone.
‘I was nervous.’
Because she had a strong sense of inferiority, her anger may have been heightened as soon as she saw Roella approaching me. The fact that her body came out before her head may have been because she mistakenly thought she was an intruder, which she was not. The possibility that she might have hurt the innocent Loella because of her poor feelings aroused Louise’s guilt.
─Anyway, both are great, right? I’m ranked 2nd in the whole school! Isn’t it amazing that twins are ranked first and second side by side? I felt bad for my brother’s friends who attended the academy at the same time.
‘He even said that.’
The deeper she thought, the more distressed she became, but Louise hid her honest feelings and corrected herself.
“…no. It’s just that I made a huge mistake. I guess you’re thinking about all sorts of things.”
“It’s bland.”
It was not a feeling Evan could understand. Louise gave up on explaining her feelings to Evan.
Evan, who was about to turn around after her, looked back at Louise again without taking a few steps.
“If it were me, I might have done that. Even though she knew it was Roel Ra, she might not have stopped.”
“Evan!”
“But not you.”
Although his tone was as cold as ice, it was Evan’s style of comfort. Louise stared at him with her eyes filled with her complicated feelings.
“Seeing as Kai Twilly dared to come after us, it seems like she has a plan, so don’t think about it.”
“…Evan.”
“I’m going.”
Louise watched Evan’s back for a long time as he walked without any regrets. In the distance, as soon as Evan turned the corner, Louise lowered her head. A sense of inferiority and a sense of respect for him at the same time. Every time something like this happened, Louise felt a sense of self-destruction that she could never escape.
“…shit. How on earth can I beat you?”
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Translator Note:
Hello there! This is RJR. I hope you liked it <3
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