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Chapter 3
When they were young, Caron used to follow her everywhere.
But after the Marchioness remarried the Marquis, their relationship deteriorated beyond repair.
Erin became the “ill-mannered daughter” who wouldn’t listen to the Marchioness, while Caron became her precious son.
Well, it didn’t matter anymore.
“Lord Caron! That’s not what happened—”
Sara tried to defend Erin, speaking out to Caron in a way that was far too bold for a maid.
Caron’s expression hardened—but not because of Sara.
He had just noticed that the bandage wrapped around Erin’s hand was turning red. His reckless grip had reopened her wound.
With a face gone pale, Caron abruptly released her hand. He hadn’t meant to do it.
His gaze, complicated and conflicted, lingered on her. Erin sighed at the sight.
“You… why didn’t you tell me you were hurt—” he began, sounding unsettled.
“If you have nothing else to say, can I leave?”
“…What?”
“I just arrived, and I’m tired.”
Caron couldn’t respond.
It was strange. The Erin he knew would have snapped “No!” to anything he said, raising her voice in protest. This wasn’t like her at all.
She walked past him in silence, leaving him frozen in place. Her behavior was completely different from before.
Mysterious green eyes. A nose neither too high nor too low. Lips tinted red, as though they had bitten into flower petals.
Her hair was a plain brown, but even that suited her features well.
Erin gazed at her reflection, a tide of emotions washing over her. Her face was delicate to the point of fragility.
Her thin arms and legs looked like they barely had the strength to walk.
And in truth, Erin had never been able to run or walk freely of her own will under the shadow of the Marchioness.
When she was young, she thought it was natural. She believed her fate was to live like a doll on display in the Marquis’ household.
When she grew older, she tried desperately to escape that life, but every attempt only made her situation worse.
Back then, she didn’t know how to clear people’s misunderstandings.
She had shouted “It’s not true!” until her voice cracked, even cried, but no one believed her.
Instead, they said she was acting like a villainess, and avoided her all the more.
But she would no longer stand alone at the edge of a cliff, screaming into the void.
Erin straightened the clothes she wore in the mirror.
Unlike the uniforms of the other departments, the swordsmanship department’s attire was made for easy movement.
“My lady, can’t you… not go today?”
Sara’s voice trembled with fear from behind her.
Today was Erin’s first day in the swordsmanship department—and also the day of the swordsmanship evaluation. In her previous life, it had been the day she was humiliated.
The swordsmanship department held an evaluation at the start of every term. It was meant to be a showcase of each family’s sword techniques, more than a test.
All you had to do was display your family’s sword style or something you had learned at the academy.
For any ordinary swordsmanship student, it was the easiest of tasks. But Erin was anything but ordinary.
In her past life, she hadn’t even been able to properly hold a sword and had made a fool of herself.
Worse still, she had been so terrified by the malicious whispers aimed at her that she had run back to her dormitory and shaken for hours.
She remembered that Sara had tried to stop her back then, too.
Perhaps unlike Erin—who had known nothing—Sara had already suspected what might happen in today’s class.
“I’ll be fine, Sara. Don’t worry about me—just go back to the Marquis’ estate, all right?”
Sara only looked more uneasy at her words.
Dear, kind Sara.
Erin thought so as she looked at her gently.
Sara didn’t know the Marchioness’ true nature.
When Erin, unable to endure any longer, had begged for help and confessed the truth, Sara had tried to protect her—only to be killed by a knight sent by the Marchioness.
“Run, my lady. Please… you poor thing…”
Even after two reincarnations, Erin could not forget the shock of that moment.
Which was why, in this life, she would never tell Sara the truth.
It was something she would bear alone.
Erin began to walk. There was no hesitation in her steps.
The swordsmanship department of Athens Academy was the Empire’s final stronghold—a place that trained knights to guard the front lines against the ever-increasing monsters.
The students here took great pride in belonging to the department.
Not a day passed without their rigorous training.
After all, only those with rare talent from across the continent could enter.
And as proud as they were of their skills, they were fiercely territorial toward outsiders.
Several students in the training hall turned their eyes toward one spot.
“Erin Rithers.”
At those words, everyone’s gaze shifted in the same direction.
A figure was entering through the gate, someone completely out of place in this setting.
There wasn’t a single swordsman who didn’t know Erin Rithers—not because she was the young lady of the famed Rithers family, but because she was the lunatic who had applied to transfer into the swordsmanship department despite having neither a knight’s pride nor any skill.
Most students had opposed her transfer.
But her father was the Marquis Rithers, head of one of the five families guarding the front line against monsters.
Even the Academy’s headmaster could not easily refuse the Marquis’ repeated requests.
And so, for the first time since Athens Academy’s founding, a student who could not wield a sword—Erin Rithers—had been transferred into the swordsmanship department.
“She really came?”
“That’s impressive… in a lot of ways.”
“Can she even lift a sword with those arms?”
The swordsmanship students’ gazes were sharp as they looked at her.
It was only natural. As someone who had been a knight in a past life, Erin understood their reaction well.
Now that she was part of the swordsmanship department, she was no longer the lady they were obliged to protect—she was simply another knight.
And with her skills likely the worst in the department, she had no grounds to protest their contempt.
Erin turned her gaze away from their hostile stares.
She was long accustomed to eyes filled with scorn, and they hardly bothered her anymore.
Instead, her attention was drawn to someone else.
Her eyes moved to one corner of the training hall.
There sat a man with hair like molten gold and eyes as blue as a lake.
Erin pressed her lips together, emotions rising in her chest.
He’s alive.
Breathing, moving, speaking—right before her eyes.
Her heart began to race faster and faster. It was as if color were flooding back into a once colorless world.
She fought to hold back tears.
That man was none other than the Empire’s second prince—and Erin’s fiancé—Ferdinand Lexia.
Ferdinand was speaking with his closest aide, Derek Athern, seated beside him.
She still didn’t know why she had returned to the past.
But the reason no longer mattered. All that mattered was that she could change the future.
Ferdinand’s eyes met hers.
Unlike everyone else, he looked at her without the slightest trace of hostility.
Wherever he went, Ferdinand drew attention. And not simply because he was a prince.
He had not only a handsome face and exceptional swordsmanship, but also an innate charisma that pulled people in.
The First Prince, Dietrion, was also known to be an outstanding royal, but Ferdinand was no less.
Even so, rumors said Dietrion’s claim to the throne was stronger—because the Emperor favored him, whereas Ferdinand was… not favored at all.
I don’t expect favoritism… but the way the Emperor treats me, it’s closer to outright hatred.
That was why Ferdinand needed the cooperation of Duke Asili all the more.
Derek was still fuming.
To be forced to break off with Lady Asili in such a situation! Everything had gone wrong because of Erin Rithers.
But Ferdinand didn’t seem to care much about the situation.
“The Marquis’ demand is ridiculous. You getting engaged to Erin Rithers is absurd!”
“…”
“And did you hear what the Marchioness said while crying? That she threatened to kill herself if you didn’t agree to the engagement. Even as a bystander, I got chills hearing it—how can you be so indifferent?”
Ferdinand gave a noncommittal look.
“I don’t believe anything I haven’t seen with my own eyes.”
Derek thumped his own chest in frustration. His friend could be so cold, yet sometimes acted irrationally.
He claimed he could always see through people’s true nature, but Derek found that hard to believe.
The worse a person was, the better they would hide it—so how could he be so sure?
“It doesn’t matter. Erin Rithers is nothing but an obstacle in your path.”
“It’s not like there’s a good solution.”
“Why not? Just make her so disgusted with you that she won’t want to marry you.”
Ferdinand frowned, looking at Derek as if he were pathetic.
Derek’s expression grew serious as he warned:
“You could die if you’re not careful.”
