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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 4
Chapter Title: The Reason the Villainess Took Up the Sword
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Under Ferdin’s gaze, Derek spoke with a serious expression.
“You could die if you’re not careful. Duke Ashili is the Empire’s strongest Sword Master. While Karon’s talent is exceptional, what we need right now is a knight who can provide immediate strength.”
At Derek’s words, Ferdin turned his gaze away, as if uninterested.
Then, seeing Erin, his face subtly hardened. He began to stare intently at her.
Reacting to Ferdin’s expression, Derek also turned his gaze and spotted Erin.
Derek spoke, as if dumbfounded.
“She actually came?”
He had thought Erin’s talk of transferring to the Swordsmanship Department was just a childish prank.
After all, normal people can’t understand the way abnormal people think.
It felt a bit too extreme for a prank, but given her reputation as a madwoman, he figured it was entirely possible.
Still, he hadn’t expected her to actually set foot in the Swordsmanship Department.
Derek’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Erin.
‘She really is insane.’
Since Erin was engaged to Ferdin, her actions could potentially tarnish his reputation.
As that thought crossed his mind, anger surged, and he gritted his teeth, glaring at Erin.
One peculiar thing was that while she must have felt everyone’s hostile gazes on her, she acted as if she wasn’t afraid at all.
For a lady who had grown up cherished in the Marquisate, her reaction was unsettlingly odd.
A typical lady would surely have burst into tears under such an overwhelming wave of killing intent.
‘Well, I guess she’s more thick-skinned than I thought.’
Otherwise, she surely wouldn’t have dared to step foot in this training ground.
Earning the infamous title of the Resus Marquisate’s villainess wouldn’t have been easy without a strong constitution.
Derek scoffed, thinking that. The situation that would unfold shortly was obvious.
‘She’ll definitely cry and wail that she can’t do it.’
And then she’ll give up on her own.
* * *
Contrary to Derek’s expectations, Erin felt no tension about what was to come.
No, in a way, she was in a similar state. She was feeling a pleasant thrill at seeing a sword again after so long.
She loved the pounding in her chest she felt every time she faced a sword.
In her previous life, she had wielded a sword every single day. It was as natural as breathing.
‘If I had learned the sword in the past, I would have lived a life similar to my previous one.’
The Resus family had produced strong knights for generations. The Resus style of swordsmanship was as famous in the Empire as its history.
The current Marquis Resus, though not a Master, was also an excellent advanced knight. Furthermore, the Resus family had a peculiar tradition.
If no Sword Master emerged within one generation, a child with the qualities of a Master was always born in the next.
In other words, either Karon or Erin possessed the talent of a Master.
“Which of the young master or the young lady will inherit the Marquisate’s swordsmanship?”
“I wonder. They say it’s still unknown who has more talent.”
That’s why Marquis Resus wanted to teach both children the sword.
Every noble family desired many knights, and possessing high-level knights directly translated to the family’s power.
Even if they couldn’t become Sword Masters, members of the Resus Marquisate had a high probability of becoming advanced knights.
Advanced knights could imbue their swords with mana and could contend with at least a hundred low-level monsters.
Therefore, there was no reason for the Marquis not to teach Erin the sword.
There were many female knights in the Marquisate’s history, so Erin also wanted to become a knight.
She harbored such dreams until Corelia appeared.
She disapproved of Erin learning the sword and even went as far as to lie to the Marquis.
“Erin seems to dislike swords. It looks like she just wants to live as a lady.”
The Marquis was grateful to his wife for looking after the children in his stead, as he was busy guarding the border.
Because of this, he often took his wife’s words at face value.
So, as Erin grew up, she was never able to touch a sword, only gaze at them from afar.
What she had told Sir Rekken on the way to the Academy was also true to some extent.
Although she had never formally learned the Resus sword style, she always watched Karon practice.
She had even mimicked his swordsmanship with a twig in her room.
Even on days when she was embroidering or taking music lessons, her gaze never left Karon.
More precisely, she couldn’t take her eyes off the swordsmanship he performed.
“Why don’t you practice swordsmanship, big sister?”
One day, when Karon approached her and asked, Erin couldn’t say anything.
Karon’s innocent question only made her feel more miserable.
I wanted to do it too. I could have done it well.
But the words swirling in her mouth never made it out and vanished.
Erin also wanted to swing a sword more than she wanted to learn sewing or musical instruments.
Even movements Karon found difficult, she would often succeed at with ease.
But every time Erin told the Marquis’s wife that she wanted to learn the sword, the same words always came back.
“What would a lady do learning something like a sword?”
The punishments that followed continued until Karon’s swordsmanship practice ended and the Marquis returned from the front lines.
More than the physical pain, it was the yearning for knowledge that tormented her.
That’s why, when she was transferred to the Swordsmanship Department through the Marquis’s wife’s machinations, she was truly happy.
Even knowing what it meant to the knights, and knowing what she would suffer because of it, she was happy.
‘Even knowing I didn’t belong here…’
It wasn’t that she looked down on them. She honestly wanted to say that she wanted to be like them too.
However, to others, her actions simply appeared to be disdain for the knights.
Therefore, within the Swordsmanship Department, where knights were respected, no one looked upon Erin favorably.
And as if to prove that she was unqualified to be there, her skill was always terrible.
Recalling that time, Erin lifted the sword.
‘It’s heavy.’
Her arm trembled, holding the sword.
It was just a cheap iron sword. A crude sword that couldn’t compare to the one she used in her previous life.
But Erin’s untrained body struggled even to lift that sword.
It was only natural.
No matter that she had reached the pinnacle in her previous life, the current Erin’s body lacked even basic physical strength.
But that didn’t mean there was no way.
‘I can do it.’
Composing herself, Erin turned her gaze and met Ferdin’s eyes, who was watching her.
He had been here in the past as well. But back then, she had cried and fled from Ferdin’s sight.
‘You must be despising me too.’
But he had never once shown such an emotion.
Even if what Ferdin had offered her in the past was pity… no, even if it was the impartial benevolence he showed to others, it didn’t matter.
When she was in front of him, she could be the ordinary Erin Resus, not the hideous villainess.
Did Ferdin know what that meant to her?
Erin closed her eyes, then opened them. And she looked down at her palm.
She saw her small, thin hand wrapped in bandages, and the cheap iron sword held within it.
Looking at that sword, she made a vow.
Even for his sake.
Everything would change in this life.
* * *
Edward Flon, the Atenz Academy’s Swordsmanship Instructor. He was currently in a very difficult situation.
‘Did Erin Resus actually come?’
Her coming was a problem, and her not coming was also a problem.
What on earth was Marquis Resus thinking, transferring his daughter to the Swordsmanship Department?
It was a widely known fact that he doted on his daughter to no end.
Edward then recalled the rumor that Erin Resus had gone on a hunger strike to come to the Swordsmanship Department.
Perhaps Marquis Resus, unable to bear seeing his daughter starve, couldn’t break her stubbornness, and so this happened.
Furthermore, the Marquisate was even spreading a baseless rumor that Erin Resus had defeated a horde of monsters.
It seemed they wanted to secure legitimacy for her entry into the Swordsmanship Department.
Edward was utterly exasperated by the ridiculous lie.
She was already famous for her eccentricities as the Marquisate’s young lady, so he could tolerate other things, but wasn’t the lie about defeating a monster horde a bit too much?
‘And who on earth would believe that?’
Walking the path to the training ground, Edward sighed.
However, he respected Marquis Resus, who was defending the nation on the front lines.
Edward didn’t want him to face any difficulties.
‘I hope she just quietly stays for a few days and then gives up. Perhaps today will be the last. She’ll be humiliated during the swordsmanship evaluation…’
Thinking that, Edward stepped into the training ground.
