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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 4
Chapter Title: The Only Family Left
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Late at night.
Having safely finished her chores for the day, Lumina went up to the attic. In this vast mansion, the attic was the only space that was truly hers.
It was unreasonable for her to be living in the attic, especially since she wasn't an illegitimate child.
But the Count and his wife had disposed of everything related to her, as if trying to erase every trace of the previous countess.
And Lumina, who couldn't be thrown away like an object, was pushed into a corner.
Lumina's once spacious room grew smaller and smaller with each passing day, until she was finally moved to the attic.
‘This place is practically a trash can for me.’
Of course, there was a pretext.
Lumina was a difficult child who needed discipline.
With just a few words like that, everything was justified.
‘Paper… where did I put the paper and pen? It’s dark, so I should light a candle too.’
Even sweeping and dusting were Lumina’s responsibilities, not the servants’.
Because of that, within the otherwise perfect mansion, this room was the only one that was messy.
Rummaging around, Lumina finally found some paper and a pen.
And on the paper, she organized her plans for the future.
The first name she wrote down was Duke Heart.
His full name was Lucius von Heart.
The most powerful Legion in existence, a man whose authority surpassed even that of a duke.
And…
‘The man once responsible for a great massacre.’
He was someone an ordinary person would never want to meet, and should never meet.
Meeting him, who was trailed by all sorts of grim rumors, was her top priority.
“It said I could save his son.”
A butterfly made of light had settled on the back of Lumina's hand.
Perhaps because there was no wound, nothing happened, but the cluster of light moved according to Lumina's will.
‘When I was young, I thought I was just an incompetent who could only imitate a Legion.’
Her birth mother had thought so, too, and hadn't even told Count Lanshuss that his daughter was an ‘incompetent Legion.’
She might have kept silent, fearing her husband would hate her for giving birth to a flawed daughter.
‘Whatever the truth may be, it's now a secret that only I know.’
She had summoned the butterfly a few times as a child, but that was all.
‘Perhaps…’
She guessed it was because she had never truly wanted to save anyone before.
It was an incredibly useful ability that even she hadn't known about.
If she offered to stop the Young Duke Heart's rampage, the Heart family would do anything for Lumina.
‘I could inform the imperial family that I'm a Legion, but that’s not a very good method.’
When one awakened as a Legion, it was common to report it to the imperial family.
Then, one would act as a state-affiliated Legion and receive the nation's protection.
Moreover, one would be granted a title as a Legion and could also receive a pension.
But after that, things would become quite troublesome.
‘Because I'd have to dedicate my life to the country and wander from battlefield to battlefield.’
If one needed money or honor, it was better to run to the imperial palace as soon as one awakened as a Legion.
The number of Legions was a measure of a nation's military power, so they would receive lavish treatment.
But Lumina needed neither money nor honor.
‘No, I do need money. A little. A tiiiny little bit.’
She didn't want to become a bad older sister who still relied on her younger brother even as an adult.
To become independent safely, she needed to steadily accumulate her own funds.
‘It's a relief that I know the future, at least vaguely.’
Because solid information about the future was worth money.
As Lumina was writing down and organizing her various plans, she noticed something strange.
‘Come to think of it…’
Endymion must have heard from the relatives and followed her, so it wasn't that strange that he had come to her rescue.
But why was Duke Heart at that place? She couldn't understand it at all.
‘You couldn't even say he was just passing by. It was a deserted forest path.’
“Do you want to live? If so…”
Suddenly, she recalled the words he had spoken when she was at the brink of death.
“Give me your heart.”
“The heart of a Legion…”
Lumina muttered without realizing it.
The thought occurred to her that her return to the past might have been thanks to Duke Heart.
She didn't know for sure, but Legions were special, so he might have taken her heart and done something with it.
The possibility that Duke Heart had turned back time? The possibility that he also remembered the future?
She scribbled down the various complicated assumptions swirling in her head, then drew thick lines through them.
No matter what variables there were, what she had to do was clear.
Lumina soon held the paper, densely filled with text, to the candle flame.
*Fwoosh-.*
The paper burned away, leaving no trace behind.
***
Late in the afternoon, Lumina knocked on Endymion's door.
“Endymion, may I come in?”
She had called for Endymion. But for some reason, a sharp female voice from beyond the door exclaimed, “Lumina?!”
‘Our aunt was already here.’
She could roughly guess what the two had been discussing.
After hearing permission to enter, Lumina opened the door.
“Alright. Don't take my words lightly, and think it over while you recover.”
“Yes, I understand.”
With Lumina's appearance, the aunt hastily concluded her conversation with Endymion.
*Glare.*
The aunt, after glaring at Lumina, quickly brushed past her as if she didn't want to see her face any longer.
Leaving the woman who walked away without giving her a chance to say hello, Lumina entered with a bright smile.
“Did I interrupt?”
“Not at all. The conversation was just ending, so please do not concern yourself.”
Excessively stiff and formal honorifics. Not the way a ten-year-old boy would speak.
One might believe it was Endymion, not Lumina, who had died and come back to life.
“Are you feeling any better?”
“Yes, I am fine. More importantly…”
“Don't mind me, just relax.”
Endymion sat awkwardly on the bed. For some reason, he seemed even more uncomfortable than when he was with his aunt.
‘Endymion was still recovering from the carriage accident.’
He had somehow regained consciousness before the funeral, but his movements were still restricted.
So unlike Lumina, who could nimbly avoid the pestering relatives with her sturdy legs, Endymion had to accept each and every one of their visits.
“…”
“…”
In the awkward silence, Lumina scanned her surroundings.
There was a large pile of mismatched items, as if so many relatives had come and gone that one might worry the doorknob would wear out.
There were several vases with fresh flowers, as well as toys and snacks that an ordinary ten-year-old would like.
Then she spotted a tin of cookies.
“May I have one?”
Her uncle, Joseph, was constantly looking for a chance to talk to Lumina.
She was hungry from avoiding him and skipping her meals.
‘Of course, there were other reasons too.’
He had received so many gifts that she figured one or two wouldn't be missed, so she asked.
Endymion nodded.
Lumina took a bite of a cookie studded with chocolate chips.
‘Ugh.’
It was so sweet it made her tongue tingle.
She could see why Endymion had just let them pile up without eating them.
“It seems our aunt and the other relatives are very concerned about you.”
“Yes, they visit often.”
Endymion answered cleanly, without hiding anything.
Endymion was that kind of child.
Even when they first met, he had been blunt and mature, like someone devoid of emotion.
Not that he was a real adult, of course.
Lumina stared intently at Endymion.
She had many questions she wanted to ask.
Why couldn't you turn your back on me?
I never considered you family, so why did you uphold your duty to the point of risking death?
Countless questions that the ten-year-old Endymion couldn't possibly answer flashed through her mind.
But when she finally opened her mouth, a completely different question came out.
“Do you want to become the head of the family?”
“…I'm not sure.”
As she jumped straight to the point without beating around the bush, Endymion couldn't hide his surprise.
The boy answered in a bewildered tone.
“Right, the situation hasn't settled yet, so it must be hard to answer right away.”
Lumina nodded as if she completely understood.
Endymion wore the expression of someone seeing something strange. It was the same expression he'd had at the funeral.
“But the relatives must have encouraged you to become the family head. Did you really not have any thoughts about it?”
Lumina and Endymion.
No matter which of the two became the family head, they couldn't be completely independent from their relatives.
‘If only I were fifteen, I could have ignored the relatives completely.’
But twelve and ten.
Ages at which one could only be seen as needing a guardian.
“How did you…”
“Because the offer you received from our aunt, I received from our uncle.”
“…”
“The relatives are busy calculating who to set up as their puppet. They probably think kids like us are easy prey because we're easy to handle.”
It was a dark conversation for a couple of kids who were, on average, eleven years old.
But Lumina believed that Endymion wouldn't avoid the topic or just gape stupidly.
After all, he was a smart child, praised by everyone as a prodigy.
“Oh, and I'm going to refuse our uncle's offer. The same goes for any similar offers from other relatives.”
Endymion's expression was subtle.
He seemed to have taken it as unspoken pressure to refuse his aunt's offer as well.
“That's what I'm going to do, anyway. You can do as you please.”
“Does that mean I should accept our aunt's offer?”
“That's up to you, too.”
Lumina gave an unreadable smile.
To say it was fine for him to side with their aunt, who already disliked Lumina so much.
Endymion seemed completely unable to read Lumina's intentions.
“Why are you telling me this? Don't you hate me, sister?”
Since Lumina was being so direct, it seemed Endymion felt no need to beat around the bush either.
For a moment, a lump formed in Lumina's throat, and she blinked slowly.
“If I were your birth mother, would you still say that?”
Whenever she tried to say something, her stepmother would always shut her down like that.
“I can't just say anything to you, can I? You twist everything I say.”
The voice of her stepmother, who had always berated her, echoed in her mind.
Before she died the first time, that voice had come to mind, and she had unconsciously muttered, “Good riddance,” at the funeral.
“I did hate you.”
She didn't trust family.
Because she had no good memories.
It wasn't just her stepmother; her birth mother was the same.
“Lumina, even when I was carrying you, your father was never by my side. Instead, he crawled back to that filthy house.”
“…”
“He married me! So how could he do that!”
“M-Mom.”
“Those brats always came before you and me! Does that make any sense? I gave birth to you first!”
When she was alive, her birth mother would grab Lumina's shoulders hard enough to crush them and yell at her.
Then, overcome with emotion, she would sob, “Why couldn't you be more like him?”
Memories like that were layered one on top of the other.
Besides, she was destined to be betrayed by her uncle and relatives.
She couldn't help but become a person filled with mistrust for family.
“But…”
When the blindfold was removed.
She would never forget that moment when light seeped into the darkness.
Even if it was something that no longer existed.
“Because we're the only real family each other has left in this world. I've decided not to hate you anymore.”
Lumina decided to trust in family just one more time.
