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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: The Villainess Who Held a Sword 33
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You'll believe me? Me?
She had asked him to believe her, but she hadn't expected him to actually say he would.
Seeing Erin frozen stiff, he offered a faint smile.
"Let's go, Sir Erin. I'll help you."
Ferdin said, tightening his grip on the child he held.
Suddenly, Erin wondered.
Would he still say he believed her, even after he knew everything someday...?
Ferdin didn't know how many secrets she carried.
So, if he ever learned the truth, he surely wouldn't be able to say the same things.
Erin tried to reassure herself, but she couldn't stop her heart from pounding.
Ferdin believed her.
From the moment she heard those words, she felt an inexplicable desire to repay that trust.
'To do that, I'll have to get out of here safely first.'
Thinking that, Erin drew her sword.
* * *
Erin's sword, wielded against the Werewolf Tribe, was utterly ruthless. With every swing, a member of the Werewolf Tribe fell.
The Werewolf Tribe attacked fiercely, but their claws couldn't even graze Erin's fingertips.
She was moving at a speed even Ferdin found difficult to discern.
"A demon! A demon has appeared!"
"She's not human. No human could be that strong."
From a certain point, the Werewolf Tribe began to tremble in fear at the sight of Erin.
Such was the ruthlessness of her hand.
Ferdin, keeping the surrounding Werewolf Tribe at bay while standing beside Erin, felt a question arise.
'Were the Werewolf Tribe always this weak?'
Seeing the Werewolf Tribe fall so easily to her sword, he couldn't help but think that.
The claws of the Werewolf Tribe they were fighting were sharp, and their ferocity was comparable to that of intermediate knights.
Yet, Erin was performing her swordsmanship with an ease as if she were simply breathing.
If Ferdin hadn't fought the Werewolf Tribe alongside Erin, he truly would have thought they were weak.
Someone who could face twenty beastmen of intermediate knight level at once... as far as Ferdin knew, only a Sword Master could.
'What if those absurd rumors were true...?'
Ferdin recalled what people had been saying about the Sword Master who appeared during the monster extermination.
"They say that Sword Master's true identity is Erin Resus? That she saved the Princess and they became close."
"That villainess? Don't be ridiculous. From what I heard, that wasn't the trace of a Sword Master, but..."
Of course, those conversing had immediately fled at Ferdin's fierce gaze upon hearing those words, but such rumors had circulated.
When all the Werewolf Tribe members guarding the prison finally fell, Ferdin looked at Erin with awe.
For someone who had just accomplished something incredible, her face showed no sign of it.
"Sir Ferdin, I'll go in first."
Erin said, approaching the underground prison door. She carefully opened the door and entered the underground prison, surveying her surroundings.
Ferdin, still holding the child, slowly followed.
The first thing that greeted them upon entering the prison was the cold air. Feeling the chill, the child burrowed deeper into Ferdin's embrace.
Seeing the child, Ferdin realized that he had been so preoccupied he hadn't even asked for their name until now.
"What's your name?"
At his words, the child fidgeted in his arms.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
"That's not it."
"..."
"I don't have a name."
"That's..."
"I'm sorry..."
Ferdin frowned and hugged the child tightly.
With just a glimpse of the past and a brief conversation, he could guess what kind of life the child had lived until now.
He said in a firm tone.
"That's not your fault."
It was no different from what he would say to himself.
"Vulgar wretch."
"Dirty blood doesn't change, does it? Tsk, tsk."
In his mind, the criticisms he had often heard from the Emperor since childhood surfaced.
At the time, he truly believed it was his fault.
This child, too, seemed to think that not having a name and living a miserable life were entirely their own fault.
But how could that be? They were innocent.
He readjusted the child in his arms and gazed at Erin's back as she walked ahead.
Her hair, loosely braided for combat, swayed gently. Her small shoulders felt, in some inexplicable way, reassuring.
Just then, a sudden sharp pain pierced his head, and Ferdin clutched his hair with one hand.
He soon realized his ability was being used. An indescribable pain enveloped him.
This wasn't physical pain. It was the emotional pain Erin had felt... within her memories.
"Erin, what happens to children who don't listen?"
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry, Mother. Please forgive me just this once."
In the memory, the Marchioness Resus appeared. Her face was contorted in irritation.
Ferdin had occasionally met the Marchioness Resus at the Imperial Palace.
She was a kind and graceful woman, a socialite whom all ladies admired.
That was why the Marchioness was sometimes summoned to the Imperial Palace under the pretext of educating the Imperial Princes.
But the gentle-faced Marchioness Ferdin had seen back then... was nowhere to be found.
In Erin's memory, she raised her hand, her face filled with anger.
Before her, young Erin wept endlessly. Resignation clouded her face.
His ability activated again.
The space before his eyes twisted, and Ferdin saw Erin lying alone on a bed, weeping.
She curled up, muttering in a small voice.
"I can't let anyone find out..."
Tear streaks had dried on young Erin's face.
"I miss you, Calips..."
Ferdin, his face pale, clutched the necklace near his heart. Then, he quickly set the child down on the ground.
Through his flickering vision, he saw Erin approaching him, looking startled.
Soon, he felt a faint tremor of worry in the arm she held.
The line between reality and illusion blurred increasingly. Erin cried out to him.
"Sir Ferdin!"
Ferdin's ability didn't end there. His vision warped, and another space appeared.
His ability had activated from the necklace.
It was a place he had never been to, a place he was seeing for the first time.
Ferdin witnessed himself lying collapsed there. He was dying, with knives embedded in his abdomen and shoulder.
His ability had only ever shown him the past. But... Ferdin had never encountered such a situation before.
So what exactly was this situation his ability was showing him...?
He saw his dying self's lips move. He was clutching the necklace, saying something.
Ferdin moved closer to him.
And at the sound of Erin's name, Ferdin froze.
"Erin... misfortune... please... her..."
What on earth is he saying?
The words were unclear, so Ferdin kept trying to get closer to his collapsed self.
But at that moment.
"Don't forget."
He uttered the words in a tone clearer than anything.
Simultaneously, with a powerful shock reverberating in his head, Ferdin's eyes snapped open.
"Sir Ferdin!"
At Erin's voice, he felt himself return to reality.
She was looking at him with a worried expression. Ferdin's mind was a mess due to the excessive use of his ability.
Erin supported the swaying Ferdin, looking up at him.
Her eyes were filled with bewilderment. Seeing Erin like that, Ferdin became even more certain.
Erin... hadn't killed Calips.
He didn't know exactly why such false rumors had spread.
However, the truth he had doubted all along was now confirmed by his recent ability use.
From just a glimpse of her memories, Ferdin couldn't even begin to imagine the life Erin had lived.
To be condemned as a villainess and criticized by people for something she didn't do... Ferdin couldn't bear the pity he felt for the small woman before him.
"Sir Erin..."
"Are you alright? Is your head hurting?"
Erin fussed over him, visibly anxious.
Ferdin gripped her shoulder. He saw Erin look at him with startled eyes.
In those clear eyes, Ferdin felt a sudden impulse. He wanted to hold Erin and ask her.
What on earth did the Marchioness do to you? That you aren't the villainess people claim you are.
And that Calips, too, wasn't killed by you.
And... that his unknown past self had called her name. Had they, perhaps, met before...?
