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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: The Villainess Who Took Up the Sword
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The place she was born into was somewhere she had never seen before. It was a world where magic and mana didn't exist. It was modern times.
Life in modern times wasn't much different from her life as Erin.
Her parents found children bothersome and practically abandoned her.
Once, seeing the Marquis, who was clueless but kind, she had thought all fathers were like him.
But only after experiencing a new life did she realize there were far more indifferent parents in the world than he.
‘I want to be strong. Strong enough to protect myself.’
Perhaps it was due to that fervent desire, but fortunately, her third life was as the daughter of a knightly family.
Even she didn't know why she kept being given opportunities for new lives.
However, she decided to live. She wanted a life where, unlike her previous one, no one could look down on her.
So, she took up the sword.
Becoming a knight, learning the sword.
It was a dream she had always wanted to pursue since her first life, but it was repeatedly thwarted by the Marquis's Wife.
Surprisingly, she had a talent for the sword. And it wasn't just an ordinary talent.
She was born with a genius that might appear once in hundreds, perhaps even thousands of years.
Having become the knight she had always dreamed of, she could confidently say she had lived that third life without regret.
She even thought that if the reason for her reincarnation was the injustice of her past life, she wouldn't open her eyes again.
But life repeated itself. This time, it wasn't reincarnation.
She had returned to her first, most unfortunate life.
Erin Resus.
Back to the time when she was called the foolish and pathetic Young Lady of the Marquisate.
When she first opened her eyes, screams echoed all around her.
To her, who rolled through battlefields daily, it was an all too familiar sound. Because of it, she naturally moved her body and cleared out the monsters outside the carriage.
Only then did she realize she had become Erin Resus again.
‘Sir Rekken was supposed to lose an arm here.’
It had been so in the past. Sir Rekken lost his arm protecting her, and his brilliant future was also twisted into a mess.
It wasn't Erin's fault, but all the arrows of blame flew at her.
It was because they had lost a talent who could lead the Empire, all to protect her, a useless person.
But as she helped Sir Rekken, everything changed.
‘Perhaps he could be saved too.’
Even in her dazed state, Erin thought of a man.
A person she hadn't forgotten, even after two reincarnations.
‘The man who lost everything by getting engaged to me.’
Ferdin Lexia.
* * *
Atenz Academy, which Erin attended, was the Empire's only academy.
Within the academy, not only talented commoners and nobles but also royalty from other nations and even the Imperial Family of the Empire attended.
The academy, almost the size of a small territory, was always bustling with people.
Erin felt the commotion and closed her eyes.
‘I really came back.’
As soon as Sara and Erin entered the academy, Sir Rekken said he had an urgent matter and returned to the Resus territory.
As she moved forward without hesitation, Sara spoke in a worried tone.
“Young Lady, are you alright?”
At her sudden words, Erin frowned.
‘What does she mean, 'alright'?’
Erin couldn't precisely recall what she was like at this time.
However, there must have been a reason why Sara asked this question upon arriving at the academy.
“I’m worried about you transferring to the Swordsmanship Department this time.”
Ah, so this is that time.
As if her words had opened a floodgate, memories of the past began to resurface.
Around this time, she had become engaged to the Empire's Second Prince, Ferdin. Although it wasn't by her will, people believed it was an engagement forced by Erin.
And that wasn't all. She had changed her major to the Swordsmanship Department just to be with Ferdin Lexia, even for a little while.
Even though she couldn't properly wield a sword.
Of course, this wasn't Erin's will either.
Recalling the numerous unseen scars, she spoke.
“Yes. I was a truly wicked villainess, throwing tantrums because I wanted to marry the Second Prince and manipulating my parents. I even transferred to the Swordsmanship Department, insulting the knights' honor... Even I think it's quite something.”
At her self-deprecating words, Sara was startled and shook her head.
Erin had no intention of troubling her. Her recent words were merely a scoff at the current situation.
“I didn't say that for you to hear it intentionally. Thank you for your concern.”
Erin tucked Sara's hair behind her ear and offered a gentle smile. At that, Sara unconsciously blushed.
As Erin took a step and entered the academy, all eyes focused on her.
Under the stinging gazes that pricked at her face, she recalled what her reputation was like around this time.
‘Was I the villainess who made light of a knight's honor? And Ferdin and Ashili Princess were implicitly lovers. They broke up because of my engagement to him, so there's nothing I can say.’
It felt as if she had become the villainess from a romance fantasy novel she had read in modern times.
Knowing what was to come, a sigh escaped her automatically.
What was known to the public as her actions were, in fact, all fabricated by the Marquis's Wife.
However, with everyone believing those false rumors, there was nothing Erin could do.
She could only endure and swallow the people's gazes.
* * *
‘At this time, it's understandable that everyone would hate me.’
Erin scanned her surroundings with a calm expression. Various thoughts surfaced in her mind, then vanished.
In the past, the academy had been a kind of refuge for her, a place to escape the Marquis's Wife.
That didn't mean she liked the place.
Because even within the academy, only hostile gazes were directed at her.
In truth, she felt confident enough to cause a scene right then and there, shouting that everything was the Marquis's Wife's scheme.
But Erin knew she wouldn't say anything.
Because for now, finding out who was behind the Marquis's Wife was the priority.
Before she died, the Marquisate had been on the verge of ruin.
She hadn't known the reason then, but now she had some idea.
“Don't worry, your family will soon follow.”
It was because of what the Marquis's Wife had said in her last moments before death.
It was impossible for the Marquis's Wife to ruin the Resus family by herself. There was clearly someone behind the many misfortunes that had occurred so far.
However, Erin's thoughts couldn't continue for long, interrupted by someone strongly grasping her hand.
“You…!”
She turned around to see a face that resembled hers.
“Damn it. They said you ran into a pack of monsters on the way, are you alright?”
Karon Resus. Her younger brother was there. It had been a truly long time.
Erin thought so as she examined his face. Karon looked much younger than when she had last seen him.
His face wasn't stained with despair, nor did he look troubled.
The only thing that was the same as the past was the fact that he disliked her.
Erin felt even more certain seeing Karon's perfectly fine right arm.
She could change it. The terrible pasts she had experienced were futures that had not yet come to pass.
Suddenly, she felt pain in the hand Karon was gripping.
Erin realized Karon's grip was stronger than she thought. To feel such pain just from having her hand held.
At the same time, she thought it was truly remarkable that her body couldn't even endure such minor pain.
However, Erin knew Karon would snatch her hand, yet she deliberately didn't stop him.
It would have been very unnatural for her, who didn't even know the first thing about swordsmanship, to sense his presence.
Perhaps, deep down, she had wanted to see her brother's face as he grabbed her.
Karon meticulously checked her body, then let out a sigh.
He looked relieved, then began to glare at her. It was nothing new.
Karon was ashamed of Erin.
Their family, the Resus Marquisate, was a proud and renowned family of swordsmen.
No one would like Erin, who acted arrogantly, riding on the reputation of such a family.
Karon, who valued the family's pride more than anyone, especially disliked her for that.
“Anyway, you… what in the world did you do?”
“Do?”
“You finally transferred to the Swordsmanship Department, didn't you? What on earth are you thinking? Don't you know how foolish that is?”
“...”
“Everyone already dislikes you, do you really have to make the situation even worse?”
She couldn't help it... But Erin didn't voice that thought.
Because she knew why he was angry with her right now.
As Karon was also a student in the Swordsmanship Department, dreaming of becoming a knight, he must have felt insulted by her actions.
“I’m truly ashamed of you.”
Erin recalled the words he had spoken at this very moment in the past. Back then, she had argued with him, returned to her dormitory, and cried for a long time.
And then, she remembered their childhood, all alone.
