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Chapter 2″:
She was born in a place she had never seen before—a world where magic and mana did not exist.
It was the modern era.
Life in the modern world was not so different from her life as Erinn.
Her parents there treated their child as a nuisance, practically leaving her to fend for herself.
Once, she had thought that all fathers must be like the kind but oblivious marquis she had known.
But after living this new life, she realized there were far more neglectful parents in the world than him.
I want to be strong. Strong enough to protect myself.
Perhaps because of that desire, in her third life she was born as the daughter of a knightly family.
She didn’t know why she kept being given new chances at life.
But she decided to live them. She wanted to live a life where no one could look down on her—unlike in her previous lives.
So she took up the sword.
To become a knight, to learn the way of the blade.
It was a dream she had wanted to pursue ever since her first life, but one that had always been crushed by the marquise.
Amazingly, she had talent. And not just ordinary talent—
She was a once-in-centuries, perhaps once-in-millennia genius.
As the knight she had always dreamed of becoming, she could proudly say she lived her third life without regrets.
If the reason for her reincarnation was to avenge the injustice of her first life, she thought she would never open her eyes again after that.
But life repeated once more. This time, it wasn’t reincarnation.
She had returned to her most miserable first life.
Erinn Rysus.
Back to being called the foolish, pathetic daughter of a marquis.
When she first opened her eyes, screams rang out from all around.
For someone who had lived every day on the battlefield, it was a familiar sound. Without thinking, she moved her body and cleared the monsters attacking outside the carriage.
Only then did she realize she was Erinn Rysus once more.
In the past, Lekken was supposed to lose an arm here.
Back then, Lekken had lost his arm protecting her, and his brilliant future had been ruined.
It hadn’t been her fault, but all the blame fell on her.
They accused her of costing the Empire a valuable talent because they had to protect someone so useless.
But now, because she had helped Lekken, everything had changed.
Maybe… I can save him too.
Even amidst the chaos, one man came to her mind.
A man she hadn’t forgotten, even after two reincarnations—
The man who lost everything because he was engaged to me.
Ferdin Rexia.
The Atenze Academy, where Erinn studied, was the Empire’s only academy.
Within its walls were not just talented commoners and nobles, but also foreign royalty and even imperial princes.
The academy, nearly the size of a small territory, was always bustling.
Erinn closed her eyes, feeling the noise.
I really did come back.
The moment she and Sarah entered the academy, Lekken had returned to the Rysus estate, saying something urgent had come up.
As she walked without hesitation, Sarah spoke with concern.
“My lady, will you be all right?”
At the sudden question, Erinn frowned.
What exactly is she asking about?
She didn’t remember precisely what she had been like at this point in time.
But there had to be a reason Sarah was asking her this right after arriving at the academy.
“I’m just worried… about your transfer to the Swordsmanship Department.”
Ah, so it was now.
At her words, memories of the past began to resurface.
Around this time, she had been engaged to the Empire’s second prince, Ferdin. Not by choice—yet everyone believed it had been arranged because she had insisted.
And it didn’t stop there. She had switched her major to swordsmanship just to be closer to Ferdin Rexia.
Despite not even knowing how to properly wield a sword.
Of course, that hadn’t been her will either.
Thinking of the countless unseen wounds on her body, she said,
“Yes, I was such a wicked woman that I threw a tantrum to marry the second prince, used my parents, and even switched to the Swordsmanship Department to insult the honor of knights… Truly, I amaze even myself.”
At her self-deprecating remark, Sarah flinched and shook her head.
Erinn had no intention of upsetting her. What she had just said was simply a bitter joke about the present situation.
“I didn’t mean for you to take it to heart. But… thank you for worrying about me.”
She tucked Sarah’s hair behind her ear with a gentle smile, making the latter blush without realizing it.
When Erinn stepped into the academy, all eyes turned toward her.
The sharp stares reminded her what her reputation had been at this time.
The villainess who mocked the honor of knights. And Ferdin… he had an unspoken romance with Lady Asilly. Because of my engagement to him, they broke up, so I have nothing to say in my defense.
It was like she had become the villainess from one of the romance-fantasy novels she had read in her modern life.
Thinking about what was to come made her sigh involuntarily.
The truth was, everything she was accused of had been orchestrated by the marquise.
But with everyone believing the false rumors, there was nothing she could do.
All she could do was endure the gazes.
At this point, everyone had good reason to dislike me.
Erinn looked around with a cold expression as thoughts flickered through her mind.
In the past, the academy had been her refuge from the marquise.
Not that she had liked it—
The place had been filled with hostile stares toward her as well.
She could have caused a scene, shouting that it was all the marquise’s schemes.
But she knew she wouldn’t say a word.
Because first, she needed to find out who was backing the marquise.
Before she died, the Rysus family had been on the verge of annihilation.
Back then, she hadn’t known why, but now she had her suspicions—
All because of the marquise’s last words before her death:
“Don’t worry, your family will be joining you soon enough.”
The marquise could never have destroyed House Rysus alone. There had to be someone else behind all the misfortunes.
But her train of thought was interrupted when someone grabbed her hand firmly.
“You…!”
When she turned, she saw a face much like her own.
“Damn it. I heard you ran into monsters on the way—are you okay?”
Karon Rysus. Her younger brother. It had been so long.
Erinn studied his face. He looked much younger than when she had last seen him—
Not marked by despair, nor worn down by hardship.
The only thing that hadn’t changed was that he still disliked her.
Looking at his intact right arm, Erinn felt certain.
She could change things. The horrible past she had endured was still an unfulfilled future.
Suddenly, pain flared in the hand he was gripping.
She realized Karon’s grip was stronger than she had thought. To think such a small thing could hurt this much.
At the same time, she found it almost impressive that her current body couldn’t even withstand this much pain.
Yet she didn’t pull away.
It would be unnatural for someone who supposedly knew nothing of swordsmanship to sense his approach.
Maybe, deep down, she just wanted to look into her brother’s face as he held onto her.
Karon scanned her from head to toe, then sighed.
His expression eased for a moment—before he started glaring at her. It was nothing new.
Karon was ashamed of her.
The Rysus marquisate was a proud house of the sword.
No one liked Erinn, who flaunted her family’s name while acting arrogantly.
And for Karon, who valued the family’s honor more than anyone, she was especially intolerable.
“By the way… what the hell have you done?”
“What do you mean?”
“I heard you transferred to the Swordsmanship Department? Do you even realize how foolish that is?”
“…”
“Everyone already hates you—do you have to make things even worse?”
She hadn’t had a choice… but Erinn didn’t say that aloud.
She knew why he was angry.
As a student of the Swordsmanship Department himself, Karon must have felt insulted by her actions.
“I’m ashamed of you.”
She remembered how, in the past, those same words had stung. She had argued with him, returned to her dorm, and cried for a long time—
While thinking alone about their childhood.
