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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 9
Chapter Title: The Reason the Villainess Took Up the Sword Chapter 9
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“Ferdin… is that really okay?”
“I’m keeping an eye on it.”
A little distance away, Lilia watched the two siblings with a subtle smile.
It was impossible to tell what she was thinking, but one thing was certain: that smile wasn't genuine.
Derek felt a shiver run down his spine.
He knew from several missions that this was exactly the expression Lilia made when she was truly angry.
“Erin Resus and Lilia can’t be together. I don’t know what you’re thinking, but you’ll have to choose after this extermination is over.”
“……”
“No matter what the present holds, past actions don't just disappear. Especially when it comes to public opinion regarding her.”
At Derek’s words, Ferdin slowly closed and opened his eyes.
“If that past was a lie… who would compensate for that?”
“What?”
“Have you ever personally witnessed Erin acting outrageously?”
Derek couldn’t understand what Ferdin was talking about.
“They say there’s a little villainess in the Resus Marquisate.”
“I heard that due to her, the Marquisate’s servants change every day.”
Wasn't that what they had always heard since they were children?
Even without interest, by listening to maids or their parents, they learned how low a child their age could fall.
But what if, as Ferdin suggested, it wasn't true?
Derek’s hand trembled slightly.
If he were falsely accused of something he didn’t do, and then subjected to scorn from an unspecified multitude, could he bear it?
No, that was an overreaction.
Derek thought so and composed himself. He had not only heard about Erin’s actions but had also met the victim directly.
The person most deeply wounded by Erin’s greatest sin was right there before him.
Derek’s face hardened menacingly.
“The biggest victim is right here. She… killed someone.”
“……”
“You shouldn’t say that in front of Lilia.”
However, Ferdin didn't reply.
* * *
The first and second days passed without incident.
Monsters appeared occasionally, but they were only small ones like goblins.
They were easy enough to subdue with just the cadet knights, without the need for the knights to step forward.
Karon felt a sense of incongruity about Erin during this process.
She hadn't done anything specific. The monsters were so weak that Erin didn't even need to do anything.
What bothered Karon was that she showed no fear of the monsters at all.
He had somewhat prepared himself mentally.
He was prepared to handle it if Erin screamed, cried, or insisted on returning to the academy.
But she didn't take any such action. Instead, she found things she could do, like a seasoned knight.
When monsters appeared, Erin would retreat to a place where she wouldn't be in the way, and in the evenings, when they camped, she would help other students prepare meals.
But that was even stranger.
‘She’s cooking?’
Karon was astonished by Erin's skilled actions.
‘And the way she can ride a horse too.’
Erin had never done anything other than cultivate the qualities of a lady in her entire life.
Her stepmother was someone who emphasized being ladylike, and even Erin, who often rebelled, quietly followed that particular instruction.
“A lady doesn’t do such things. Erin, you are a lady.”
Because every time she tried to do something, her stepmother would appear and say that.
Karon took a spoonful of the stew Erin had made. And then he was surprised again.
‘It’s even delicious!’
It was certainly a good thing for Erin to try various things with her own hands.
But was it possible to be good at something she had never done before…?
Karon stared intently at Erin, who was enjoying the stew.
“How’s life in the Swordsmanship Department…?”
“It’s manageable.”
“Isn’t it hard to keep up with classes?”
“Hmm, not really.”
The Swordsmanship Department’s training was famously tough.
Especially Edward was known as an instructor who pushed students like dogs.
So, there was no way Erin wouldn't find it difficult.
Karon was now at a loss as to who the person in front of him even was.
Was she truly the Erin he knew?
Had someone else entered his sister’s body?
“Seems like the food is going down well, doesn’t it?”
Karon stopped his thoughts because of the sudden, insolent voice.
It was always his thought, but his sister had too many enemies.
Karon let out a deep sigh.
Turning his gaze to where the voice came from, he saw Amon glaring at Erin with contempt.
It was Karon who answered. He tilted his head slightly and retorted to Amon’s words.
“So, we’re not allowed to eat either?”
“No, I’d say you have a strong stomach… or rather, you’re brazen. To be able to wolf down food with Lilia right in front of you.”
“Don’t pick a fight, Sir Amon.”
Amon scoffed at Karon’s words.
“Honestly, isn’t it true? It’s one thing for a murderer to be living well, but seeing her eating so deliciously right in front of me just makes me want to say something.”
“They say even a dog shouldn’t be bothered while eating… Sir Amon seems worse than a dog.”
Amon’s expression hardened at Karon’s scathing remark.
With a tense silence, the extermination party instantly fell quiet.
The clinking of cutlery and the chatter of people vanished as if washed away.
Normally, Karon would have ignored this situation.
It was true that Erin had done wrong. If she had done something deserving of blame, it was her responsibility to bear it.
‘I can somewhat understand why Amon is acting this way.’
Ferdin’s cadet knights, excluding Karon, had trained together for several years at Atenz Academy.
Lilia and Amon were comrades who had undertaken many extermination and escort missions together and endured several life-threatening situations.
It was, in a way, natural for him to lash out at Erin, considering Lilia’s feelings.
The atmosphere of the extermination party grew hostile. A few of the watching knights were seen whistling.
The amused expressions on their faces made Karon even more displeased.
If the Marquis’s wife had been here, she would have stopped him, telling him not to confront Amon.
“Because Erin was wrong. You have to understand people’s reactions.”
But Karon didn’t want to.
In fact, it had been like that since he was very young. No matter how wrong Erin was, he didn’t want to criticize her.
If anyone was to curse her, he would do it himself; he didn’t want others to.
Karon placed his hand on his sword. Amon did the same.
A tense atmosphere hung in the air. Just as Amon was about to draw his sword.
“Amon, stop it.”
Ferdin blocked Amon’s hand, which was reaching for his sword.
Amon looked at Ferdin as if he couldn’t believe it. His eyes trembled slightly with shock.
“Ferdin, are you actually taking that villainess’s side right now?”
* * *
Erin had always resisted others’ accusations. She merely quietly submitted to her fate.
What she had realized living Erin Resus’s life and her modern life was that no matter how much she cried out, people wouldn’t listen to her.
Erin looked at Amon and recalled the past.
“I, I didn’t kill him.”
There was one fact that had changed since then.
The person who accused her wasn’t just Amon, but unnamed students from the Swordsmanship Department.
They had dragged her, trembling with fear, out of the carriage.
“I didn’t kill Calips… I’m not the one who killed him.”
“Murderer! There’s a limit to how much you can lie.”
“Don’t you know how much Sir Lilia is suffering because of you?”
“She’s a fake knight, what else would you expect?”
Erin recalled the words they had spat out and looked at Ferdin.
In the past, he had also stood in front of her.
And then, Karon, who had belatedly understood the situation, had rushed out and dispersed them.
Erin knew what the result of that had been.
The more Ferdin took her side, the more his reputation plummeted day by day. It was always like that, as if someone had orchestrated it.
This extermination served as an opportunity for Ferdin to lose the knights’ trust.
Even now, the betrayal was evident on Amon’s face as he looked at Ferdin.
Erin looked at the two men blocking Amon.
But there was one thing they didn’t know. Now, she was not someone who would hide behind another.
In this life, she intended to lead the way and overcome hardships more than anyone else.
“Sir Amon.”
At the low call, everyone’s gaze converged on one spot.
Erin’s footsteps, which had started slowly, gradually quickened.
Before long, she was standing in front of Amon.
She felt Ferdin, standing beside him, gazing at her with an unreadable expression.
