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.CHAPTER 06.
One afternoon, in Dephelto’s office, Seila and Dephelto met.
“Father. I was told you summoned me.”
Dephelto was seated behind a desk piled high with paperwork, signing documents with a quill.
He set the quill down and spoke in a calm voice laced with restrained anger.
“Seila. Why did you cause such a disturbance?”
The moment I saw my father’s face, a complicated mix of emotions welled up inside me.
“I wasn’t expecting kind words.”
Maybe the real Seila, the original owner of this body, had felt differently—but I didn’t have much affection for Dephelto.
To me, he was little more than a stranger.
…Or so I had thought.
Yet seeing him in person made me realize it wasn’t quite that simple.
Seila’s memories are real too… and now they’re my memories.
Even I was confused.
Somewhere deep inside, it seemed I had been hoping to hear just one warm word from him.
“What?”
“If your daughter, who had always been gentle and obedient, suddenly caused such a commotion… couldn’t you have at least asked why?”
“I merely asked why you stirred up trouble for this family.”
He might as well have said, I have no interest in the excuses of a child who can’t even fulfill her role.
There wasn’t the slightest trace of affection in the way he looked at me.
God, this is so irritating. Why do I keep wanting this man to love me?
I supposed it couldn’t be helped now that I had inherited this body.
“You once called me an ill-omened child who devoured her own mother. You even forced a paternity test because you wished I wasn’t your biological daughter.”
“Answer the question I asked.”
Without realizing it, I swallowed hard.
The mages of this world possessed something called mana, and I could feel his surging violently.
An invisible pressure weighed heavily upon me.
It felt as though I should drop to my knees and beg for forgiveness at any moment.
Hmph. Like I’m going to lose!
“The day Mother died… my birthday. While she was dying, you were enjoying wine with Count Hampton.”
“Seila! Mind your tongue!”
Bang!
Dephelto slammed his fist onto the desk.
Part of the desk crumbled into dust and scattered into the air.
Seeing that, I couldn’t help but flinch again.
Th-that’s actually terrifying.
“My mother, even as she lay dying, asked everyone to take good care of her newborn daughter. She begged that I not be hated… that I be loved. Surely you heard those final words.”
Dephelto pressed two fingers against his temple.
It was obvious he was desperately suppressing the rage directed at me.
“It seems you ate something strange last night. I’ll summon a physician. Stay in your room and reflect on your actions.”
“What exactly am I supposed to reflect on when I’ve done nothing wrong?”
“Look at yourself. Do you think that expression and tone are appropriate when speaking to your father?”
Father?
“Have you ever truly acknowledged me as your daughter?”
“What are you waiting for? Take this insolent girl out of my office immediately.”
At those words, Mary flinched.
Her face had gone pale as she cautiously approached me and whispered,
“M-Miss… I think we should leave.”
“I tried my hardest to earn Father’s acknowledgment. Perhaps… I simply wanted to be loved.”
“M-Miss…”
“But I won’t hope for that anymore.”
Mary shifted anxiously from foot to foot.
I continued.
“Instead… I’ll become an asset to this family, Lord Dephelto.”
I deliberately called him Lord, not Father.
The Seila who served as a mid-story villain in She, Him, and Him could never become a beloved daughter.
But she could become a valuable asset.
“…What?”
“I have a proposal.”
If the Dephelto I knew from the novel was anything like the real one, then alongside his anger, his curiosity had certainly been piqued.
Because Dephelto preferred someone useful to the family—even if their personality was rotten—over someone kind but weak.
“Allow me to learn swordsmanship.”
I possessed the developer-assigned trait [Swordsmanship Genius].
As the story progressed, Seila became an increasingly powerful villain.
The foundation of that strength was her extraordinary swordsmanship.
Even Leon, the devastatingly handsome—and openly insane—Crown Prince, had once said:
“Had you taken up the sword just three years earlier… the world itself might have changed.”
The pressure of his mana became even stronger.
I could barely breathe.
Seriously… am I going to die here?
“A child of Devernon wishes to wield such a barbaric weapon?”
Using every ounce of strength I had, I answered,
“I will graduate at the top of the Swordsmanship Class at Somarfi Academy. If I fail, I will leave this family of my own accord, abandon the Devernon name, and live quietly beyond the Black Sea… somewhere no one knows.”
* * *
The world of She, Him, and Him was fundamentally based on medieval Europe.
There was an empire.
There were kingdoms.
There were the familiar ranks of duke, marquis, count, viscount, and so on.
The story mainly took place on the Central Continent.
But beyond that existed three unique powers known collectively as the Three Great Powers.
The Queiback Family, rulers of the Eastern Continent and hailed as the cradle of swordsmanship.
The Devernon Family, rulers of the Northern Continent and regarded as the originators of magic.
And the Secret Palace, the mysterious western power where every wonder in the world was said to reside.
Though regarded as noble houses on the level of at least marquises, they existed outside the ordinary aristocratic hierarchy.
For thousands of years, these three powers had maintained unrivaled dominance within their respective territories.
At present, the strongest was the cradle of swordsmanship—the Queiback Family.
Next came the Secret Palace.
Last was the Devernon Family.
“Think about it. If a young lady born and raised in Devernon—someone who has never properly studied swordsmanship—were to defeat the descendants of Queiback, the very cradle of swordsmanship…”
What should I say?
The overwhelming mana crushing me made my head spin.
It was hard to come up with elegant words.
So I decided to trust my natural sense of style.
Wouldn’t that be insanely awesome?
“Would there be anything more glorious than that?”
The instant I finished speaking, the oppressive pressure vanished.
Dephelto suddenly burst into laughter.
He laughed at me—or perhaps mocked me—for quite some time.
Then he wiped away his smile and looked at me with contempt.
“What utter nonsense.”
“But it isn’t a proposal that would cost you anything, is it?”
From Dephelto’s perspective, there was nothing to lose.
A daughter incapable of properly using magic was offering to leave on her own if she failed.
Why would he refuse?
“If you sign a written pledge… I’ll consider it.”
Dephelto snapped his fingers.
A sheet of paper and a quill floated into the air.
Golden dust drifted from the quill as it began writing on its own.
“The condition is graduating at the top of Somarfi Academy’s Swordsmanship Class. Should you fail, you will abandon the Devernon name, relinquish everything you’ve received from this family, and depart for an unknown land beyond the Black Sea.”
“Very well.”
Then I added,
“On one condition.”
This was the most important part.
“You will pay for all expenses related to my swordsmanship education.”
“Agreed.”
Thank goodness. Tuition is solved.
Somarfi Academy was the greatest educational institution in the Romados Empire.
Its annual tuition alone cost an astonishing 300 million dia.
Unless admitted through a special sponsorship program, commoners couldn’t even dream of attending.
(For reference, one dia was roughly equivalent to one Korean won.)
Smiling lightly, I said,
“Thank you for smiling at me for the first time, Father.”
The first smile Dephelto had ever shown me came only after I declared I would leave the family of my own accord.
Gathering the hem of my dress, I bowed politely.
I’m fine.
At least, I should have been.
But my chest ached terribly.
No.
I wasn’t fine at all.
That afternoon…
A contract was forged between Dephelto, head of the Devernon Family…
and me, the useless third daughter of House Devernon.
* * *
Only after leaving Dephelto’s office did Mary finally manage to breathe.
“Haaah!”
She had thought she was going to suffocate.
Even now her head was spinning.
It felt as though she had just walked out of a tiger’s den.
Cold sweat soaked her palms and back.
W-Was that really the Lord I know?
The way Seila had spoken to Dephelto felt utterly unfamiliar.
Mary already knew Seila had changed…
but she had never imagined she would behave like that in front of the family head.
As Mary hurried after her, she finally spoke.
“Miss… can I ask you for one favor?”
“What is it?”
“Could… could I pinch your cheek just once?”
“Wouldn’t most people ask if they could pinch it, instead of asking me to let them?”
Without realizing it, Seila burst into laughter.
Who in the world would ask permission to pinch the cheek of a noble young lady?
Huh?
Come to think of it…
There actually had been someone who pinched her cheeks whenever they pleased.
