Translator: Nox

54 - Marquis Maron

Episode 54

Cyril paused, curling his fingertips.

He had expected questions about Demon subjugation, or whether his recent achievements would ensure a smooth succession in the Nieve family, or even his feelings for Asta.

But the first question was about his past with Hayley.

Cyril quickly suppressed his confusion and feigned composure.

"We met at the academy. As you know, she was a Wizard hailed as a genius… so I was interested."

"That's not what I'm asking."

Maris stared into Cyril's red eyes, as if to see through him.

"Why Sorceress Hayley risked such danger for you. Leaving aside the fact that she became an enemy of the three kingdoms after the incident, I can't understand her motive for doing it. I've heard that the wars between families in Nieve are incredibly brutal and desperate, so I'm asking why Sorceress Hayley had to risk her life and enter such a battlefield for someone else's sake."

"That's…"

Cyril forced his tongue, which seemed frozen, to move.

"I don't know either. She was a woman whose thoughts I couldn't understand at all. She only said she would help me with my affairs… I never thought she would start a war like that."

"You knew nothing?"

"It's all my fault for being inadequate. People may think I was happy to become the heir of Vandision because of that incident, but it's actually the opposite."

"Is that so?"

"I still haven't shaken off the guilt from that time."

"I see."

Maris nodded.

But that didn't mean he agreed with Cyril's explanation. Maris pointed out a truly unexpected part, as if stabbing with a knife.

"To be honest, I still don't understand why the head of your family recognized you as the heir."

"Excuse me?"

"For someone who 'knew nothing' to become the heir simply by accidentally benefiting from that tragedy. It's impossible in my common sense. I would rather make someone who 'planned all of that behind the scenes' the heir."

That's the perspective of those who stand on power, Maris added.

"Your Highness Maris."

"You don't think I'm as ignorant as you, do you?"

Cyril looked up sharply. Maris was staring at him coldly.

"I knew from the beginning that you and Michelan used and abandoned that Wizard."

"What…! Kasnatura also agreed to designate Hayley as an enemy of the three kingdoms!"

"Of course. If she's that dangerous, it's right to eliminate her so she doesn't become a variable. To prevent her from siding with anyone, she must become everyone's enemy."

Maris spoke again.

"Do you know that Asta has recently shown interest in that Wizard?"

"I know."

"I will, of course, tell Asta only the truth if she asks."

The letter Asta left behind said, 'I will go find Sorceress Hayley.' Maris knew that, yet he asked Cyril as if testing him.

"Will you tell the truth?"

Recently, King of Holt, Michelan Holt, formally sent a marriage proposal to Kasnatura. It also said that he would visit in person soon.

The King of Kasnatura laughed, saying that it was too early for Asta to marry, but Maris, with his thorough personality, couldn't help but think ahead.

Michelan Holt and Cyril Vandision had a history of using a woman to the fullest and then discarding her.

The higher one stands at the pinnacle of power, the stranger it would be if they didn't have at least one dirty past, but as a brother who loved Asta, he wanted to at least give them a chance to reveal the truth themselves.

After all, the decision was Asta's to make.

"You may leave. I will receive a separate report regarding Demon subjugation."

Maris dismissed Cyril.

Asta returned to Enif at dawn the next day. It was the result of Ventus, enraged, dragging her around the Contaminated Zone on patrol.

As soon as she got off Ventus's back, collapsing from the aftereffects of the long flight, she could see Cyril, who had appeared and was offering his hand.

"Cyril?"

"I've been waiting all night."

"For me?"

"I have something to confess."

The rising red sun and Cyril's red eyes were a perfect match, like a painting. Asta took his outstretched hand and stood up.

"What confession?"

"About Sorceress Hayley… no, about Hayley, who was my precious friend."

Cyril's voice trembled slightly. Asta, startled, stared at him blankly.

"Please give me a chance to explain why I had no choice but to abandon Hayley, Asta."

"Cyril…"

Cyril looked distressed.

"I was afraid of her."

From the moment they first met, until now.

Cyril confessed that he was terrified of Hayley.

A poor orphanage child entered the academy and immediately became the top student, able to memorize anything she saw once.

She learned magic by using her extraordinary mind to find and delve into the most difficult and complex things. She solved problems that even professors and scholars didn't know, and violently retaliated against those who attacked her with their status as a weapon.

Politics, war, deception. Hayley was a genius even in those areas.

She uncovered the long-standing tragedy of the Winter family that even Cyril didn't know, and was the first to realize that the King of Holt was trying to oust Michelan and put forward another heir.

After realizing the limits of magic, she became obsessed with forbidden Demonology, obtaining and reading forbidden books by any means necessary.

She did so knowing that it was wrong and would be criticized by many people. She broke magic with magic, and suppressed power with power.

Perhaps Hayley was a girl without guilt. Either she was born that way, or she had changed that way due to her environment.

Cyril's voice sounded muffled.

"There was no such thing as conformity for Hayley. There were no limits either. She tried to break and overcome anything that blocked her path."

Whether it was prejudice, rules, laws, morality, customs, or even power.

"If the target was someone of high status, she would break their status, if it was someone powerful, she would break their power, and if it was a principled person, she would break their principles."

She was trying to create her own world.

"I was scared."

"Of her?"

"Of her magic."

"Magic?"

"In the end, she was trying to become something beyond magic."

That could have been power given by a Demon, or a new power created by breaking magic with magic.

"I know that Hayley loved me and started a war to make me the heir."

"Cyril…"

"I only reached out to her because I felt sorry for her being bullied, but I didn't know she would take it so seriously. I thought we were friends, but I was wrong."

Everything was a misunderstanding, Cyril said.

"Many people died in the war that Hayley started. I was the one who beheaded my brother, who was the heir, but even that was announced as Hayley's misdeed."

"What? It was you? No way…"

"I didn't deny it."

"Cyril!"

"Hayley said that if I didn't kill my brother, I would die. I know it's an excuse. But at that time, I felt like if I didn't do as she said, all those tragedies would continue forever."

Cyril's eyes were red. His pupils were a much darker shade of red than usual. He swallowed his pain and barely managed to utter the last word.

"So… I joined hands with the Order and, as Michelan suggested, lured Hayley… and took away her magic. I abandoned her in the Contaminated Zone to disappear from this world forever. I thought that if I did that, someday, with time, everything would be alright… but."

Asta appeared.

"You asked."

She wanted to know the truth.

"What kind of relationship I had with Hayley."

At that moment, Hayley, who had disappeared from Cyril's world, returned with a greater presence.

"That's right. I am a cowardly traitor and a terrible egoist."

"……."

"I couldn't bear it any longer without confessing to you. Asta, I sincerely."

Then Asta gently interrupted him and asked.

"If Hayley is still alive. Will you apologize to her? Can you apologize and beg for forgiveness?"

If she's alive?

That's impossible.

"Of course. If only I could, I would pay any price."

Cyril nodded, feigning guilt.