TRWVPS 22

Chapter 22

Erin suddenly came to her senses and looked around.

The other swordsmanship students were also staring at her with vacant, dazed expressions.

“Philip, what did we just see?”

“Did Erin just defeat Sir Amon…?”

Maybe she had gone too far. The moment Erin saw their reactions, a flicker of regret struck her.

I got too caught up in the spar.

But it had been such an enjoyable duel.

Turning her head back toward the front, she saw Amon’s flushed face.

“That was a fine match, Sir Erin.”

Amon’s tone had returned to normal.

At that, Erin finally felt at ease. Formal speech never truly suited Amon Hedor.

After shaking his hand, Erin turned her gaze toward the burning stare she had been feeling for a while.

The Duke of Asili. He was looking at her as though his eyes could set her ablaze.

Following her gaze, the other students also noticed him and gasped in shock.

They had been so focused on Erin and Amon’s duel that they hadn’t even realized the duke had arrived.

“Duke Asili!”

“When did you get here?”

The students hurriedly placed fists over their chests and bent forward in a bow.

Amon did the same, his eyes brimming with admiration as he lowered his head.

Erin alone did not bow. She looked straight at the duke.

The duke’s eyes glimmered with intrigue as he met her gaze.

In her past life, she had carried a heavy sense of guilt toward him. Each time she saw him, she would tremble, unable to endure the weight.

At a party once, she had even fainted under the pressure of his stare.

But in this life, the duke’s daughter had survived. And with her survival, Erin had been freed from that burden.

So instead of bowing deeply, Erin simply offered him a light nod of respect.

She knew the other knights’ reverence toward the Duke of Asili.

If she were just an ordinary knight, she too would have bowed deeply here.

But as a fellow Sword Master, she had no desire to show excessive deference.

Rather, she felt a competitive spark as one standing at the same peak.

The duke looked at her as though amused, but Erin deliberately ignored him.

As a Sword Master himself, he might have sensed something in her.

But Sword Masters could not truly measure one another’s strength. To him, she was probably just a gifted student with unusual talent.

All the more reason for him to be intrigued. Perhaps he was even pleased with her boldness.

After all, the duke believed geniuses deserved a measure of arrogance.

His sudden appearance here was unexpected, but it had nothing to do with her.

There was something else that bothered her more.

Erin turned her gaze away from the duke, toward one side of the training ground.

She saw Raymond standing there, watching her from afar.

Short black hair, a friendly face, and an indistinct presence.

She knew now that his faint presence was deliberate.

Raymond was calling something out to her. Erin read his lips.

“Erin! It’s been a while.”

He was smiling brightly, as if truly glad to see her.

The moment Erin saw him, it felt like being yanked out of a strange, blissful dream and back into reality.

Today really has been so strange, hasn’t it?

Caron had worried over her. The duke’s daughter had smiled warmly at her. Amon had acted as though he acknowledged her.

But all of that was like a dream. Erin’s reality was here.

With that thought, she waved lightly back at Raymond’s smile.

Happiness doesn’t suit me.

She recalled the words the marchioness had always spat at her during her upbringing:

“You will never be happy, Erin.”

She was used to seeing Raymond’s smiling face.

He always smiled at her like that. She had once liked that smile.

If he hadn’t been smiling like that the moment he killed her in her past life… she wouldn’t feel like vomiting just from seeing it now.

The phantom pain of her throat being pierced in her last life felt so cold it hurt.

Raymond quietly observed Erin’s lesson.

The First Knight Division had long since left, so as not to disturb the students.

But for some reason, the Duke of Asili remained, looming large and watching Erin Ressus with unwavering intensity.

If Raymond were in her place, he would have felt suffocated under such a relentless stare.

What the… she’s good? No wonder Corelia’s worried. So this is the Ressus family’s talent? How on earth did she fool us and hone her swordsmanship in secret? Creepy…

Yet even so, he smiled without concern.

No matter how fine a sapling looked, it was simple to crush it before it bore fruit. And that was precisely what Corelia excelled at.

As long as he carried out the mission she had entrusted to him, everything would be resolved.

No matter how well a student performed in a swordsmanship faculty, without real battle, they were still just green fledglings dreaming of knighthood.

Raymond thought back to his conversation with Corelia.

Her plans were always flawless, immune to failure. Sometimes reckless, yes, but her cunning mind was second to none.

After sending off her messenger, she had laid out the next stage of her scheme:

“Soon, the emperor will order Ferdinand Ressus to march to the land of the Wolfkin, to subjugate them and rescue the hostages. Those useless refugees. After his blunder during the monster subjugation, he has no choice but to comply.”

The Wolfkin? Raymond had realized then that the emperor was truly determined this time.

Did he really mean to be rid of his troublesome second son once and for all?

“Ferdinand Rexia and his provisional knight order will inevitably depart. Count Leon may accompany them, but there will be no real support.”

“Many will die, then.”

“Exactly. But with more people supporting Ferdinand than the First Prince Dietrion, it’s only natural that he irks the emperor. Whatever he does, the emperor will want him dead.”

“…”

“And I can’t wait for it. When the Second Prince dies, Erin will surely blame herself. She’ll think everything went wrong because she got engaged to him. Both of them are doomed anyway.”

Then she had added, almost gleefully:

“When her fiancé dies, what will Erin think? She’s gotten quite arrogant since joining the swordsmanship faculty… maybe it’ll be fun to crush her so completely that she can never wield a sword again.”

She’s a devil in human skin. Raymond had only shaken his head at Corelia’s words.

“This time she won’t escape. A passing Sword Master? There’s no way that miracle happens twice.”

Yes, there would be no such miracle again.

Raymond calmly reviewed what he had to do.

He planned to shadow Ferdinand Rexia’s mission, and before they even reached the Wolfkin lands, engineer a situation where he and Erin would be left alone.

When that moment came… he would ensure she could never wield a sword again.

How best to do it? Out of sentiment, he supposed he’d try to make it hurt as little as possible.

If I could stage it as an accident, that would be perfect… Then foolish Erin would only cling to me even more.

If it worked, it would even give her an excuse to withdraw from the mission.

Raymond thought this over as he watched her.

Sweat beading, she swung her sword, no different from the students around her.

That’s boring.

He had expected her to flounder and despair in the swordsmanship faculty, but she was adapting far too well.

A frown tugged at his lips.

Erin being surrounded by others was nothing like the isolated girl she had been at the marquis’ estate.

Despair suited her best.

And her face, when she would cling to the faint warmth he gave her in those moments, had been the most amusing of all.

When class ended, the students sheathed their swords and packed their belongings.

At the same time, the Duke of Asili, who had been standing beside Raymond, finally turned and left as though his business here was finished.

His gaze lingered on Erin until the very last step.