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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: An Unexpected Apology
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“Urgh…”
“Ugh…”
Daphne hummed a tune as she watched the groaning knights. *Ah, seeing this feels like a ten-year-old weight has been lifted off my chest.*
“My Lady.”
Just then, Lloyd approached. He then spoke in a tiny, whisper-like voice.
“Well done. The best.”
Watching him leave after giving a thumbs-up, Daphne let out another dry laugh. *Well, he looked like he was holding back earlier, so he must be feeling refreshed now.*
*Humans, I swear.*
I don't understand why they discriminate so much over status. Before my eyes, they are all insignificant beings anyway.
Daphne glanced at the clock tower. About thirty minutes had passed since the knights had been forced into their headstands. The sight of them trembling was quite amusing. But she wasn't going to tell them to stop here. She planned to push them until they felt like they were truly about to die.
*I will not stand by and watch anyone torment the weak in my presence.*
Daphne's eyes flashed.
Just then.
“Daphne!”
Arius, who had disappeared as soon as the knights began their punishment, came running over. But in his arms…
“Flowers?”
There was an armful of flowers.
“What’s this. That crazy kid.”
Daphne picked at her ear as she looked up at Arius, who had come right up to her feet.
After catching his breath several times, Arius smiled brightly and held out the bouquet he was carrying.
“Here, take this.”
They were lilies, looking so fragile they seemed on the verge of snapping their necks.
*What is this.*
*A new kind of death threat?*
“Uh, um. I heard you were up and about, so I picked these. It's definitely not because you stood up for me. You know what I mean, right? Anyway, I didn't know what flowers you liked, so I just brought my favorites. Here, take them.”
*Ah.*
*His head must be full of flowers, bringing lilies without even knowing what they signify.*
*In more ways than one, he’s a flower.*
Daphne chuckled and accepted the bouquet from Arius.
“Hehe.”
As soon as Daphne took the flowers, Arius grinned and plopped down beside her.
He then glanced at the knights, who were still in their headstands, before cautiously leaning his head toward Daphne.
“Daphne.”
Fidgeting with his clasped hands, he seemed to have something to say. Daphne waited patiently for him to speak.
“Ugh… um. So.”
*Haa.* Taking a deep breath, Arius lowered his head and spoke.
“Thank you.”
He wasn't ashamed of being an adopted son.
Hadn't his mother told him that he was her son too?
That was why Arius held the name ‘Arius Akion’ in his heart.
But when people ignored him like they did today, declared that he would one day be abandoned, and tormented those around him because of it… his heart wavered.
*Am I really ‘Arius Akion’? Or am I just ‘Arius’? No, am I just a ‘commoner child’ with no name to begin with?*
*Does Father… think so too?*
That was why he couldn't easily step in, even when the count's knights were insulting him.
He was afraid that if he stepped in and caused some kind of trouble, his father would come to dislike him.
But,
-“Arius is Arius Akion.”
Daphne had said so.
As if it were an obvious fact.
As if no one could deny it.
That fact made him truly happy, and he was endlessly grateful.
*And all this time, I've done nothing but torment Daphne…*
He had mocked her for dying and coming back to life, said it was fine if she died, and even requested a duel when she was unwell, causing her to collapse. Yet, Daphne had acknowledged him as a son of House Akion. In other words, she accepted him as her older brother.
*…*
Arius could feel a piercing, deep shame.
“And, um. Um. You know.”
So Arius took another deep breath.
“I’m s…”
“S…?”
“…eems like you can stop with the crazy act now.”
“…”
*What kind of nonsense is this.*
Daphne stared at Arius with a look of disbelief, and Arius's face turned bright red.
*What should I say? I feel like it's half my fault that she collapsed from wielding a sword just to indulge my stubbornness while she was unwell. So, should I say… I'm sorry?*
No, he couldn't bring himself to say such embarrassing words. That was a separate issue from feeling sorry for Daphne!
“Th-ah, it's nothing! Just! Thank you!”
“Hmm.”
Daphne crossed her arms and tapped her finger.
*I can read the thoughts of this lowly human.*
*He came to apologize, feeling partly responsible for my collapse, but his pathetic pride won't let him open his mouth.*
If Daphne thought Arius was a lost cause, she would have let it go.
However, Daphne held onto the hope that Arius might grow up well, just like the righteous humans she had seen before.
So she decided to give him a lesson, something she rarely did.
“If you have done something wrong, you must apologize immediately, no matter who the other person is. Only then will you cultivate pride in yourself.”
“…Huh?”
“The satisfaction of admitting your own fault, the worthiness of overcoming shame to apologize, and the remorse that vows never to repeat such a mistake. The combination of all these things is what constitutes pride.”
“…”
“Pride is the very foundation of the ‘self’.”
Daphne stood on her tiptoes and placed a hand on Arius's forehead.
“Will you cast aside the foundation of your being for the sake of petty ego?”
“That… uh…”
Arius found himself opening and closing his mouth repeatedly. Was he ashamed to be lectured by Daphne, who was so much younger than him? No, that wasn't it. It was more than that…
“You're right, but for some reason, hearing it from you makes my insides boil. What is this?”
He was bizarrely infuriated. It was a feeling like goosebumps prickling all over his body.
Daphne narrowed her eyes at him.
Seluseu, who was called the ‘Calamity’ in her past life.
A literal calamity, Seluseu provoked antipathy in every being she encountered. It was instinct. An instinctive hatred and rejection of the calamity.
That was why in the past, even when Seluseu spoke the truth, she was condemned as being wrong, and even when she acted righteously, she was persecuted for it.
*I see it's the same even in this body.*
Daphne clicked her tongue, once again feeling the cruelty of fate.
“That means you're just small-minded.”
“Aha. So I'm narrow-minded… That's not it!”
Arius, who had been shouting, soon took a deep breath and dropped his head.
Whether his insides were boiling, whether he was annoyed or infuriated, none of that mattered. What mattered was that he had wronged Daphne.
“I'm sorry.”
So he continued, speaking haltingly.
“For making you overexert yourself because of me. From now on, I'll try to read the room before I ask.”
Daphne's eyes widened slightly.
*This never happened before.*
In the past, she was lucky if she wasn't met with a sword, let alone an apology.
*Does this mean something is different this time?*
*Well, we'll have to see.*
Daphne let out a small laugh.
“You're not saying you won't ask at all. How admirable.”
“What! I said I'll read the room!”
“Alright. Let's see you try and muster up some of that awareness you’re talking about.”
“Argh, seriously!”
Arius, who had been shouting and stamping his feet, quickly darted to Daphne's side when he saw her plop down and sit cross-legged.
“What? What are you doing today?”
“I'm going to train my mana.”
“I'll do it next to you.”
As he sat down beside her, Arius seemed to realize something, let out a small cough, and quickly turned his head away.
“Ahem. It's definitely not because it's fun being with you.”
He repeated, as if for emphasis.
“Definitely not. You get me?”
They say a strong denial is a strong affirmation.
Daphne found this transparent human quite amusing and let out a dry laugh.
“I get it, so shut up and sit. I have to train now.”
“Okay.”
They sat side by side and trained their mana, and people were surprised to see Daphne and Arius looking strangely close.
After that, it was only natural that the words ‘Daphne has changed’ spread throughout the mansion as an established fact.
