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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 43
Chapter Title: The Villainess's Reason for Wielding a Sword Chapter 43
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‘This must be a dream. Otherwise, Ferdin wouldn’t be holding me like this and kissing my forehead.’
Erin’s lips tightened as she thought this. Such a happy event could never truly happen to her.
But even knowing that… she didn't need a tomorrow, so she wished this fleeting moment would last forever.
Erin slowly reached out to Ferdin. Just before her hand could touch him, Ferdin whispered to her.
“Erin… wake up.”
Erin opened her eyes.
She curled up, feeling an emptiness. Ferdin’s warmth, which had embraced her so tenderly in the dream, was nothing more than an illusion.
Erin was alone in her dormitory room at the Academy.
No, judging by the presence she felt outside, she wasn’t completely alone.
‘Typical Ditrion. His actions are utterly despicable.’
Suddenly, she remembered herself crying in the dream and touched her face. She felt her face, drenched in tears.
Erin quickly wiped her face without much care.
The mana of the person outside belonged to Roham, Ditrion’s knight whom she had met earlier today.
Ditrion didn’t know her true abilities.
At most, he probably suspected she possessed remarkable talent because she had been chosen by the sword.
But he would never imagine she had reached the level of a Sword Master. That’s why he sent Roham, an advanced knight.
Erin’s eyes gleamed dangerously in the darkness.
* * *
Roham’s movements were extremely stealthy. He quietly opened the door.
Entering the room, Roham looked at Erin’s bed, where the blanket was plumply raised.
‘Don’t blame me.’
He swallowed hard, a knot of tension in his throat. A slight pang of guilt pricked him.
It was because he knew what he was about to do would be a terrible thing for Erin.
Roham recalled Ditrion’s words to him.
“Cut off Erin Resus’s hair. Or, well, just put a big scar on her face, it doesn’t matter. The more disfigured, the better.”
Erin was clearly going to attend the banquet that would be held soon. To disfigure her face and cut her hair?
‘Damn it, but it’s better than dying, isn’t it?’
Thinking this, he approached Erin’s bed.
Such humiliation, couldn't she just endure it for a little while? After all, hadn’t she lived her life enduring only insults from others?
Being humiliated at a party once more wouldn’t be such a big deal.
But for him, it was a matter of life and death.
Even as he thought this, Roham’s chest felt heavy.
No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t understand why he had fallen so far.
Roham carefully pulled back Erin’s blanket. But there was nothing there.
He frantically looked around, bewildered.
Why wasn’t Erin there?
He felt cold sweat trickling down his back.
“Damn it! Where did she go?”
“Why did you come here?”
At the sound of the voice, Roham turned around. And the person he saw left him speechless.
‘Erin Resus…?’
Where on earth did she pop out from? No, more importantly, how long had she been behind him?
He hadn’t noticed Erin was behind him at all.
It was strange. How could he, an advanced knight, not detect the presence of a beginner class student at all? Was that even possible?
But the person who had appeared behind him was indeed Erin.
Roham’s face hardened.
Erin Resus didn’t seem flustered by seeing him. She merely stared at him.
But that was all. Her entire body seemed full of openings. That put Roham at ease.
“Sir Erin… His Royal Highness Ditrion sent me, saying he had something to tell you.”
Roham said this, slowly approaching Erin.
* * *
Ditrion greeted the morning with a sense of tranquility.
He was currently drinking tea on a terrace with a good view of the entrance to the Swordplay Department’s training ground.
And in front of him sat Ferdin.
He had purposely called Ferdin early to show him this amusing situation.
Ferdin was looking at Ditrion with eyes full of distrust.
Ditrion casually sipped his tea, but it was certainly puzzling that Roham, who he expected to arrive promptly in the morning, hadn’t appeared yet.
However, Roham could never disobey his orders anyway. If he didn’t follow his master’s will, he wouldn’t receive the inhibitor.
Regardless of Roham’s arrival, Erin Resus would surely be a mess.
‘This time, I’ll definitely see despair in her eyes.’
As Ditrion thought this, the hand raising his teacup froze. For some reason, he felt a strange, unsettling sensation.
He looked at Ferdin, who sat across from him. Ferdin seemed uninterested in him, as if searching for something else.
Ferdin probably had no idea what was about to happen.
That thought made the unpleasant feeling he had been experiencing subside a little.
“What exactly are you trying to do?”
“Well, it’s not bad to see each other’s faces sometimes. Besides, when I’m with you, I might even get to see your fiancée.”
“You haven’t done anything to her, have you?”
Unnecessarily sharp fellow. But today, his sharpness was almost welcome.
“Of course not. Who would dare lay a hand on the Young Lady of the Resus Marquisate?”
Ditrion deliberately bluffed, shrugging his shoulders.
It was then.
Ferdin let out a sigh of relief. At the same time, astonishment filled Ditrion’s eyes.
With an incredulous expression, he looked at a person heading towards the training ground.
Erin Resus.
She stopped in front of them, completely unharmed, without a single scratch.
Erin turned her gaze to Ditrion. She saw him staring at her with a shocked expression.
Ignoring him, she bowed to Ferdin. Ferdin, receiving her greeting, bowed his head in return.
Erin saw Ditrion’s face harden at their interaction, but she ignored him as if he weren’t there.
‘By now, he must be anxious and curious as to why nothing happened.’
Erin glanced down at her hand. With an expressionless face, she clenched her fist tightly.
Had she gripped too hard? Blood trickled, and she felt a chilling sensation that made her hair stand on end.
Erin had to use all her patience to suppress the surging killing intent.
Last night, the uninvited guest who had snuck into her dormitory died by her hand.
Thanks to that, Erin learned one crucial fact.
Who was behind everything that had happened to her until now.
* * *
When Roham entered her room, Erin had no intention of killing him.
It would be more efficient to use him to pressure Ditrion than to kill him.
Erin only intended to subdue him. Even if Roham attacked her, she was confident she could easily overpower him.
If she struck him on the neck to knock him out, he would collapse without even knowing why he lost consciousness.
“For someone who has something to tell me, you’ve chosen a rather clandestine hour of the night to visit. It would have been better if you had come after dawn.”
“That’s…”
Roham’s face hardened. He had no explanation for it.
‘If I fail, I die.’
Only that thought filled Roham’s mind. Ditrion would not forgive his failure.
If he didn’t bring Erin’s hair, he might be discarded like trash.
That made his thoughts short-sighted. Roham, as if possessed, drew his sword and blindly charged at Erin.
If he was going to be punished anyway, he’d rather complete Ditrion’s task and die like a human.
His sword had cut cleanly forward, so originally, a lock of Erin’s hair should have been in Roham’s hand.
But what met him was a powerful impact felt at the back of his head.
Whether by misfortune or luck, he didn’t fall, but he felt his consciousness blurring.
Roham soon realized what was happening to him. His mana was running wild.
Today, Ditrion had not given him the necessary amount of inhibitor, using the excuse of punishing him.
But that would only torment him, not cause his mana to run wild to this extent.
However, what Roham had overlooked was none other than the condition of his own body.
The continuous intake of the inhibitor had steadily deteriorated Roham’s body. That’s why the mana surge occurred much faster than he had anticipated.
But no matter how much he thought about what the problem was, the mana surge had already begun.
“D-damn it…”
Roham turned his head to look at Erin.
He had no idea how or when Erin Resus had moved behind him again.
But one thing was certain. She was about to be torn to shreds and killed by him.
After killing a powerless prospective knight, he would go out of the room and kill many other aspiring knights within the Academy.
