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Chapter 5
Violet’s Words
The capital of the kingdom, Istraget, was divided into nine districts, from the 1st district to the 9th district.
Among them, the 1st to 3rd districts were areas where many nobles and wealthy people lived.
The place Violet arrived at was the 7th district, where mostly middle-class citizens resided.
“Vicolin Street, 12th Avenue.”
She found it more easily than she expected.
In front of Cyril’s house was a nameplate that read “Cyril Cole Everdeen.”
‘Is this uncle’s house?’
Violet cautiously knocked on the door.
‘Is no one home?’
At that moment, the door suddenly swung open.
Violet almost fell forward.
Fortunately, she managed to regain her balance and immediately recognized Cyril.
With navy-blue hair and the same blue-black eyes, Cyril was much younger and more handsome than she had imagined.
He wore a long leather coat that emphasized his waist and riding boots. It was difficult to tell whether his outfit was stylish or if he had simply thrown it on without much thought.
When he noticed Violet, his brows furrowed, and a crooked smile appeared on his lips.
“You don’t look like you’re lost. So why is the child of my disowned older brother here?”
“It has been a long time. I’m sorry for suddenly coming here. There’s something I wanted to ask you.”
Cyril silently turned around and began walking down the hallway.
Taking that as permission to enter, Violet quickly followed him.
‘I thought he would be staying somewhere like a boarding house… But this entire building belongs to my uncle?’
Violet’s father, Gifreid, always spat out insults whenever he talked about Cyril, saying that he was a poor nobody.
When Cyril reached the living room, he sat heavily on the sofa with his legs resting on the table.
“Say what you came to say. I’m busy, so keep it as short as possible.”
“I wanted to ask about my mother’s ring. When I was ten years old, you came to the mansion and gave me my mother’s ring. I was wondering how you had it.”
“Where is that ring now?”
Violet’s cheeks faintly turned red.
“……I gave it to an old woman who was begging in front of the temple.”
“Why would you throw away such a precious ring? How disrespectful.”
Cyril’s voice lowered.
“My father found out about the ring.”
“……And?”
“He said he wouldn’t let me off if I didn’t throw it away immediately. I couldn’t disobey him. Giving it away as a donation was the best thing I could do instead of simply throwing it away.”
Cyril frowned. Violet became slightly nervous.
“What does that bastard do when he says he won’t let you off?”
Violet stared blankly at Cyril.
She had been slapped by Gifreid that day. But it wasn’t the first time, nor was it something she considered particularly serious.
“When my father gets angry, he shouts. But he has never beaten me severely or anything like that. I have never had to go to the hospital because of him.”
Violet answered honestly.
Cyril’s frown deepened. Violet quickly added:
“At least if I donated it, it would be used for poor people’s clothes or food. Then it could also become a way to pray for my birth mother’s peace, and also…”
“Enough with the unnecessary explanations. Did you keep your promise?”
“Promise……?”
Cyril only stared at her without saying anything.
‘That’s right. He told me to carry the ring with me every day!’
Violet suddenly remembered.
“To be honest, I couldn’t carry it every day. But whenever I went to the academy, I always wore it around my neck on a chain.”
When she went to the academy, she usually wore shirts with high collars. Thanks to that, she could hide the necklace.
“Good. How far have you developed your magic circles?”
At Cyril’s words, Violet felt like she was about to faint.
A talent that no one had noticed until now—something only one person among ten thousand possessed.
How did Cyril know about it?
“How did you know that?”
“How else would I know? I heard it from your birth mother.”
“……What else did she say? Do you know her name?”
“The talent that only one person among ten thousand possesses.”
Violet almost stopped breathing.
“If there had been a genius born with such a talent at the beginning, do you think that genius would have lived alone and died? They would have had a spouse and children. And the lucky descendants would have inherited that talent.”
“……”
“I heard that sometimes people are born in your mother’s family with a special constitution. They cannot store magic inside their bodies, but instead can surround themselves with magic circles. That person was you. Your mother said she knew the moment you were born.”
“I, how did—”
“Wait. I’ll answer everything slowly.”
Violet forced herself to be patient. She sat quietly and waited for Cyril’s next words.
“First. Once you hear the answer you want, leave immediately without delay. That’s the promise.”
“Yes, I will.”
“Good. First, I don’t know how your mother recognized your constitution, so don’t ask me about that. I’ve only seen her a few times myself. Her name was Deborah.”
Deborah.
It was a more noble-sounding name than Violet expected. But it was also a very beautiful and lovely name……
Violet repeated that name several times silently in her mouth.
“My father said my birth mother had no family, no job, and was a lowly woman who lived by clinging to others.”
“What kind of nonsense is that? The one who came from a worthless beggar family despite only having a noble-sounding name was your father, Gifreid. Your mother was a member of the prestigious Reinhart family from the borderlands.”
“She was a descendant of a noble family? But my father said……”
“Don’t believe anything that lying bastard Gifreid says. There’s nothing that son of a bitch won’t say, even after abandoning his own bride and running away.”
“……What?!”
The deepest inferiority and guilt Violet had carried throughout her life was the fact that she was an illegitimate child.
Her father truly loved his stepmother.
But because her birth mother became pregnant with Violet, that marriage almost fell apart……
‘That’s why I was told every day that my very existence was a sin.’
Cyril casually said:
“How are you an illegitimate child? If anything, your younger sister Marigold is the illegitimate one.”
Violet’s world began to crack slightly.
“We were poor nobles who only had a title left in the countryside. Then Gifreid, who went away to study, brought back the daughter of an impressive family with a huge dowry. I heard that because the bride’s family opposed the marriage, he stole her inheritance and ran away with her.”
“……”
An elopement for love.
That was the story between her birth mother and Gifreid.
“And what happened after that, Uncle?”
“After that, Gifreid lived in their newlywed home for several months, then stole all of your mother’s fortune and ran away again. This time with a tavern waitress. By then, your mother was already carrying you.”
She no longer had the energy to be shocked.
“Then that waitress was…”
“That’s right. Your stepmother, Paula.”
“But he lied and said that I was the illegitimate child instead?”
“That’s why I call him a liar. He committed fraud several times even in his hometown. He claimed he would invest people’s money for them in the capital.”
Violet turned pale.
Cyril calmly continued explaining.
Because of Gifreid’s escape, his elderly mother became bedridden. She did not live much longer.
Cyril had been young at the time and was already planning to leave home.
After his mother died, he gathered what little money he had and planned to leave for the capital.
But on that very day, Deborah gave birth to a child.
Cyril and Deborah were practically strangers.
Even then, Cyril and Gifreid had a terrible relationship. Despite being brothers with a considerable age difference, they were worse than strangers.
At that time, the villagers came looking for Cyril in a panic.
They said Deborah had given birth and seemed like she was about to die. For some reason, she desperately wanted to see Cyril.
Deborah was already dying. She looked at Cyril, who had come to see her, and smiled weakly.
[“Cyril, I heard you’re leaving for the city. Gifreid is probably in the capital. I won’t survive tonight. Please send this child to Gifreid.”]
[“Are you insane? Do you think the man who abandoned you will accept this child?”]
[“My father is the head of the Reinhart family, a family with the strongest martial bloodline. The people of the Reinhart family are born with a special constitution called magic circles. If Gifreid learns that this power has appeared in my daughter as well, he will probably take her and raise her……”]
[“Why not send her to your own family instead?”]
[“My father is a very strict man. He might kill the child in a moment of anger.”]
[“……”]
[“I’m sorry. There is nowhere else I can ask. At least he is her biological father, so he will keep her alive. I am such a useless mother. This is the only thing I can do for her.”]
[“I’ll find that bastard and leave the child in front of his gate, or do whatever else is necessary. But that’s as far as I’ll go. I won’t help any further.”]
Cyril’s story ended.
Violet clenched her fists tightly on top of her knees.
“So that’s why you had my mother’s keepsake. You received it on the day she died.”
