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Chapter 81
“I already know… just how much of a piece of trash you are. And I also know that nothing will change just because I beg.”
Ditrion felt goosebumps creep up his skin. At that moment, the air in the prison shifted.
It was as if the heavy pressure was choking the breath out of him.
He turned around.
Erin was simply leaning her head against the prison wall, calmly watching him.
What is this?
It felt as if something chilling had clawed through his chest.
Was she using mana? But that was impossible.
It was nearly unthinkable for someone to project an aura through the mana control stones.
“You’re doing this because you want to toy with me.”
Her voice was low and emotionless.
At that instant, Ditrion felt an unknown heat rise from the pit of his stomach.
His eyes gleamed.
This is… really, really fun.
A smile spread across his face without him realizing it.
He found Erin far too entertaining to resist. Why hadn’t he noticed before how amusing she was?
Indeed, it was such a waste for Erin to simply die like this.
“You know me well, Erin Rysus.”
“……”
“Well, it doesn’t matter. What you think isn’t important.”
At those words, Erin laughed.
Ditrion felt a chill run down his spine at the sound.
Then she spoke.
“Ditrion, not everything will go your way.”
“……”
“I’ll be coming for you soon, so wait for me.”
Erin sat deep in thought.
Even after Ditrion left, she remained in the same position, her eyes closed.
Had no sound disturbed her, she would have stayed lost in her thoughts endlessly.
“Lady Erin.”
It was Ferdinand’s voice. Erin doubted her own ears.
Ferdinand? Here?
Just as Ditrion had mocked earlier, Ferdinand should have been avoiding her right now.
If the fiancée of someone suspected of using black magic—even worse, someone said to be on good terms with them—then suspicion and interrogation would surely follow.
Erin rubbed her eyes, unable to believe it. But no matter how she looked, it was indeed Ferdinand who had entered her cell.
He slowly approached her.
“Sir Ferdinand? How did you get in here…?”
“Ditrion didn’t stop me from coming.”
Erin glanced toward the door, worried for him.
Ferdinand reassured her in a calm tone.
“Amon is standing guard outside.”
Saying so, he sat down across from her, his face set in grim determination.
“Don’t worry too much, Lady Erin. I’ll help you get out of here soon.”
Erin didn’t know what to say.
She reached out and gently brushed his golden hair. The fine strands slipped through her fingers.
Ferdinand looked startled at the gesture.
“Sir Ferdinand, I told you I’d tell you everything, didn’t I?”
“……”
“I just didn’t expect it would be in a place like this.”
Ferdinand sensed that Erin’s presence had changed. Something about her felt different from before.
Perhaps it was simply the shock of her circumstances. He waited in silence for her to continue.
“Do you know who I really am?”
“What do you mean… who you are?”
“Yes…”
Erin hesitated, then began to speak quietly. Ferdinand immediately understood—she was about to answer the question she had once left hanging.
“Your guess was correct, Sir Ferdinand. I lived through the future… and then came back to the past.”
For a moment, Ferdinand thought the room had darkened. But it was only his imagination—the truth was that a wave of killing intent had swept through the air.
Shadows seemed to fall across Erin’s face.
Had anyone else been present besides Ferdinand, they would have screamed.
Such was the razor-sharp aura that burst from Erin.
And yet, not a trace of her killing intent touched Ferdinand.
She reached out and gripped the iron bars.
Normally, anyone with mana above the average should have felt agony just from touching the mana-control stones. But Erin seemed unaffected.
“Sir Ferdinand, I killed Raymond.”
Ferdinand showed no shock. He only listened with a calm face.
“And not just Raymond—there were others. In that moment… I wasn’t holding a sword to protect anyone. I held it for revenge.”
Her words were flat, matter-of-fact. And she didn’t stop there.
“They tormented me relentlessly. So I…”
“……”
“I won’t stop. If I keep moving forward like this, maybe I’ll even hurt the things precious to you.”
“……”
“I will never forgive Ditrion. And not just him… anyone who threatens the people I love—I won’t let them go. I’ll make them suffer terribly.”
Erin’s eyes were bloodshot red.
Ferdinand didn’t know what conversation she had with Ditrion, but clearly he had provoked her.
“Your Highness, you may think I’m kind. But the foolishly gentle woman you once knew in the past…”
Had already died in her first life. She deliberately cut herself off, then chose her words.
“I will have my revenge. And it will be merciless.”
After Ditrion left, she had made up her mind.
There was no longer any meaning in hiding her strength.
Her enemies were clear. Their schemes were now revealed.
She no longer needed to let her father remain in danger.
All that was left… was to exact her revenge.
Ferdinand listened to her every word in silence.
Erin braced herself, ready to accept it if he condemned her as wicked.
She had resolved not to hold back anymore.
“You’ve suffered, Lady Erin.”
He reached out and clasped her hand.
“It must have been so hard for you.”
Erin tightened her grip on the bars. Her face twisted in pain.
Quickly, she lowered her head, unwilling to let him see. She couldn’t bring herself to meet his eyes.
“Tell me I’m awful. Say you hate me. Call me a monster, say I’m disgusting…”
“……”
“If you don’t, you’ll regret it.”
But Ferdinand shook his head.
“I like you.”
“……”
“And it’s not just me. Many people care about you. The lady is shouting that we should pull you out immediately, Amon is deeply worried too.”
“……”
“Even Vahan and Lilia, who went to the Tower, must be concerned for you. So is Sir Caron.”
Erin stayed silent for a long while.
Ferdinand, watching her, removed the necklace from his neck.
He held it out to her. Erin’s eyes widened in shock.
She remembered this necklace well. Ferdinand always wore it.
Whenever something happened, she recalled him clutching it tightly.
“You may think it strange, but my mother gave this to me.”
“Your mother?”
“Yes. Do you know of the Holy Kingdom, Lady Erin?”
“I’ve heard it was the kingdom to which the Westerners once belonged.”
“The saint of that kingdom was my mother.”
The confession was calm. But it was something Erin had never heard in her previous life.
In a low voice, he began recounting his childhood.
“His Majesty the Emperor always called me half-blood.”
The Emperor, who had taken the saint as a concubine to spiritually break the Holy Kingdom, never wanted to acknowledge a child tainted with that kingdom’s blood.
He scorned Ferdinand, calling him of dirty blood.
Had Duke Asilie not helped his mother, Ferdinand might never have been recognized as a prince.
“This necklace was given to me by my mother before she passed.”
Erin looked down at the necklace in her hands.
“She said it was the treasure of the Holy Kingdom, and that if I ever found someone I wanted to be with for life, I should give it to them.”
“Your mother… said that?”
Ferdinand smiled faintly.
“It once had a beautiful blue gem. But just a few days before you came to the swordsmanship academy, it turned green.”
“……”
“Strange, isn’t it?”
Erin’s expression grew complex.
A few days before she arrived at the academy… that was when she had returned from the future.
Too coincidental to be mere chance.
“My mother told me this necklace grants a single wish in one’s lifetime.”
“This is too precious. I can’t accept it.”
“I want you to have it, Lady Erin. Somehow, I feel my mother would have wanted this as well.”
