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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: The Reason the Villainess Wields a Sword, Chapter 45
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The scene of Ferdin, the Princess, and the child together was strangely harmonious.
Erin gave them a small bow. It was a greeting similar to the one that morning.
Ferdin carefully took her by the shoulder, meeting her eyes with a worried expression.
“Are you alright, Sir Erin?”
“Yes…?”
Erin was flustered by Ferdin’s sudden words.
Did he know about what had happened to her the night before last? No, that couldn’t be it.
“Recently… your expression hasn’t seemed well.”
Seeing Ferdin worry about her, Erin recalled the dream she had that day.
Their close posture felt similar to that time. The memory of him kissing her forehead in the dream also flashed through her mind.
Erin Resus, you’re insane.
If Ferdin knew what she was thinking, he would surely have been disgusted.
She wondered how her current state was any different from the rumors. The villainess who was obsessed with Ferdin and dragged him into ruin.
Erin took a step back from Ferdin. At that, his expression clouded over.
Ferdin stared blankly at her.
The Princess pushed Ferdin aside and stood in front of Erin.
Perhaps it was Erin’s imagination, but one corner of the Princess’s mouth was subtly turned up.
“Sir Ferdin, please step aside for a moment. It seems Sir Erin is uncomfortable!”
“Un… comfortable…?”
“Yes, yes, wouldn’t anyone feel uncomfortable if you stood that close? Oh, come to think of it, I have a favor to ask of Sir Erin.”
As soon as the Princess finished speaking, the child clinging to her leg blushed and spoke.
“Please… please give me a name!”
“A name?”
“The child said they don’t have a name. They really wanted to ask Sir Erin to name them… because you’re the one who gave them a new life.”
The child’s eyes, looking at her, sparkled and shone. Erin bent her knees and met the child’s gaze.
Give them a name? Was she allowed to do such a thing?
What Erin had done was nothing special. Anyone else in her position would have made the same choice.
Even as she thought that, Erin felt her heart swell. She had changed someone’s life.
The child’s expression was full of life.
Their eyes were so clear that it was hard to believe this was the child who had been lost and hopeless in the Werewolf Tribe’s territory.
‘Did they say they had no family?’
Unlike the refugees who had found their respective places, the child had nowhere to go.
So the Princess was temporarily protecting the child while they searched for a place to go.
Erin looked at the child and recalled her own childhood. She had a home, the Marquis’s castle, but she had never once felt it was a place she wanted to return to.
As if sensing Erin’s hesitation, the child clung to her leg.
“I… I really hope Sir Erin, who saved everyone, will give me a name.”
“I see.”
Erin smiled as she looked at the child. But soon after, her expression hardened again.
It was because the Princess and Ferdin were looking at her with somewhat surprised expressions.
For a moment, Corelia’s voice seemed to echo in her ears.
“Erin, a lady doesn’t smile carelessly. Cheap laughter offends others. Besides, your smile isn’t very pleasant to look at, is it?”
Her smile probably didn’t look very good to Ferdin and the Princess either.
However, at the child’s next words, Erin unconsciously wore a surprised expression.
“You’re pretty, Knight!”
“Pretty…?”
“Yes, you’re so beautiful! Please smile often.”
It was the first time she had ever been asked to smile often.
“Don’t laugh, Erin.”
“No one likes your smile!”
“You’re utterly vulgar.”
Because every time Erin tried to smile even a little, Corelia would whisper such things.
She looked at the child and smiled brightly.
“Bahan, how about Bahan?”
“I love it!”
* * *
Ferdin felt a strange illusion, as if time had stopped.
The child, now named Bahan, ran around happily beside Erin.
And next to them, he saw her, smiling with her eyes crinkling.
At Erin’s warm smile, Ferdin felt his heart beat faster.
She was simply smiling brightly. But he wished those eyes, which looked at something so lovely, would turn towards him.
“Ferdin, have you fallen in love?”
Ferdin frowned. Why was Ditrion’s remark coming to mind now?
However, he, too, had a suspicion.
Even if he couldn't be sure it was love… Ferdin had been overly concerned about Erin lately.
To the point where he felt uneasy if she wasn’t in his sight.
Whenever someone precious came into his life, Ditrion would snatch them away or crush them. And that was very easy for Ditrion, the First Prince of the Empire.
He would replace Ferdin’s beloved wet nurse with his own, or take away his long-time sword instructor.
Anyone in the Imperial Palace whom Ferdin took even a slight liking to would always become Ditrion’s person.
He hated Ferdin having even one thing entirely to himself.
Of course, there were still people who remained by Ferdin’s side. But misfortune always befell them.
Even his own mother disappeared that way. From then on, Ferdin decided he would rather not love.
Even if he loved, he wouldn't say he loved. Only then could he protect his people.
That’s why he deliberately tried not to show that he cared about Erin.
But for Ditrion to say such a thing to him… had he been looking at Erin that often?
He saw Ashili Princess healing Erin. The Princess’s divine power was truly astonishing.
As she placed her hand on Erin’s stomach, Erin’s face became noticeably more relaxed.
The Princess, having healed Erin, approached Ferdin with a tired look and whispered softly.
“Take Sir Erin back.”
“What?”
“Don’t just stare at her with that face that says you want to be alone with her.”
The Princess said that and pushed Ferdin’s back. It happened before he could even properly respond to her words.
Ferdin found himself standing next to Erin in a daze.
“Sir Ferdin?”
Erin looked at him, puzzled. Ferdin blushed as he looked at her.
‘No, Ferdin. You know this isn’t right.’
But… the Princess had a point. Erin, exhausted from fatigue, might encounter Ditrion on the way.
For some reason, Ditrion seemed very interested in Erin. So, to handle such an awkward situation well, it was only natural for him to see her off in this situation.
Ferdin repeated to himself that he was absolutely not doing this out of personal feelings, and said to Erin,
“Sir Erin, may I accompany you to the front of the dormitory?”
What if she thought it was strange? Ferdin looked at Erin, thinking that.
But contrary to his apprehension, Erin gave a small nod.
As she lowered her head, the tips of her ears were red.
* * *
Erin and Ferdin walked together. He hadn't intended to, but a pleasant scent wafted from her.
Ferdin had to restrain himself from constantly wanting to get closer to Erin.
“Please… her…”
“Don’t forget…”
The Princess had said that Erin was the one who changed her fate.
And that memory he saw with his special ability… he had known Erin, who was in some unknown space.
“It was my first oracle too, so I don’t know much. But Sir Erin might be hiding more than we think.”
The Princess’s expression as she said that looked sad.
Ferdin followed Erin, gazing at her small but firm shoulders.
He found it hard to imagine how many burdens Erin carried on those shoulders.
Ferdin, who had been walking silently, suddenly stopped. It was because she, who was walking ahead, had abruptly halted.
As he approached Erin’s side, she gripped his arm with trembling hands.
‘Erin is trembling?’
Ferdin slowly turned his gaze to where Erin was looking.
A beautiful woman with long hair and striking features was walking with Karon Resus. She was someone he had seen in the Imperial Palace and in Erin’s memories.
Corelia Resus.
She was smiling and chatting affectionately with Karon.
‘They truly look like mother and son.’
However, Erin’s reaction to seeing Corelia was still strange. Ferdin’s face hardened.
He carefully extended his arm and embraced Erin’s trembling body.
He felt Corelia turn her gaze towards them.
The wound on Erin’s back flashed into Ferdin’s mind.
A mark that looked like it had been scratched by something thin and long. That wound, which he had vaguely guessed was inflicted by someone from the Resus Marquisate.
