Trust her? He actually trusts her?

She had asked him to trust her, but Erin didn’t expect he would actually say he did.

Seeing Erin frozen stiff, he gave a faint smile.

“Let’s go, Lady Erin. I’ll help you.”

Ferdin said this while tightening his grip on the arm holding the child.

Erin suddenly became curious.

Would he still say he trusted her someday after learning everything…?

Ferdin had no idea how many secrets she was keeping.

So if he learned the truth, he clearly wouldn’t be able to say such things anymore.

Erin tried to reassure herself this way, but she couldn’t stop her heart from racing.

Ferdin trusted her.

From the moment she heard those words, she somehow wanted to live up to that trust.

‘To do that, I need to get us out of here safely.’

With that thought, Erin drew her sword.

* * *

Erin’s sword was merciless against the werewolves. Each time she swung it, another werewolf fell.

The werewolves attacked fiercely too, but their claws couldn’t even touch Erin’s fingertips.

She moved at a speed that even Ferdin found difficult to follow.

“Demon! A demon has appeared!”

“She’s not human. No human could be this strong.”

At some point, the werewolves began trembling with fear when they looked at Erin.

Her hands showed no mercy.

Ferdin, keeping the surrounding werewolves at bay, watched Erin with growing questions.

‘Were werewolves always this weak?’

Seeing how easily they fell to her sword, he couldn’t help thinking this.

The werewolves they faced had sharp claws and their ferocity matched that of mid-ranking knights.

Yet Erin wielded her sword with the ease of someone merely breathing.

If Ferdin hadn’t been fighting alongside her against the werewolves, he would have truly believed they were weak.

As far as he knew, only a Sword Master could face twenty beast-folk of mid-ranking knight level at once.

‘What if those ridiculous rumors were true…?’

Ferdin recalled what people had said about the Sword Master who appeared during the monster subjugation.

“I heard that Sword Master was actually Erin Liserth? They became close after she saved the Princess.”

“That villainess? Talk sense. From what I heard, that wasn’t the trace of a Sword Master but…”

Of course, those conversing had fled immediately upon seeing Ferdin’s fierce glare, but such rumors had circulated.

When the last of the prison guards fell, Ferdin looked at Erin with wonder.

For someone who had just done something extraordinary, her face showed no sign of it.

“Lord Ferdin, I’ll go in first.”

Saying this, Erin approached the underground prison door. She carefully opened it and entered, surveying her surroundings.

Ferdin also moved slowly, carrying the child in his arms.

The first thing that greeted them upon entering the prison was the cold air. Feeling the chill, the child burrowed deeper into Ferdin’s embrace.

Looking at the child, Ferdin realized he’d been so preoccupied that he hadn’t even asked for a name.

“What’s your name?”

The child squirmed in his arms at the question.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

“That’s not it.”

“…”

“I don’t have a name.”

“That’s…”

“I’m sorry…”

Ferdin frowned and hugged the child tightly.

From the glimpse of the past and their brief conversation, he could guess what kind of life the child had lived.

He said in a firm tone, “That’s not your fault.”

It was like saying it to himself as well.

“Vulgar boy.”

“Dirty blood never goes away. Tsk, tsk.”

The criticisms he often heard from the Emperor since childhood flashed through his mind.

Back then, he truly believed it was his fault.

This child also seemed to think that having no name and living unhappily were all their own fault.

But how could that be? They were innocent.

He adjusted his hold on the child and stared at Erin’s back as she walked ahead.

Her hastily braided hair for battle swayed gently. Her small shoulders somehow felt reassuring.

Just then, Ferdin clutched his hair with one hand as a sudden pain shot through his head.

He quickly realized his ability was activating. An indescribable pain enveloped him.

This wasn’t physical pain. It was the emotional pain from Erin’s memories.

“Erin, what happens to children who don’t listen?”

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry, Mother. Please forgive me just this once.”

In the memory, he saw the Duchess Liserth. Her face was contorted with irritation.

Ferdin had met the Duchess Liserth at the imperial palace several times.

She was kind and dignified, a social powerhouse admired by all ladies.

Because of this, the Duchess was sometimes summoned to the imperial palace under the pretext of educating the princes.

But the gentle-faced Duchess that Ferdin had seen then was nowhere to be found.

In Erin’s memory, she raised her hand with an angry face.

Before her, young Erin could only cry helplessly. Her face showed resignation.

His ability activated again.

The space before his eyes distorted, and Ferdin saw Erin lying alone on a bed, crying.

She curled up and mumbled in a small voice.

“No one can find out…”

Tear stains had dried on young Erin’s face.

“I miss you, Calips…”

With a pale face, Ferdin clutched the necklace at his chest and quickly set the child down.

Through his blurring vision, he saw Erin approaching him with surprise.

Soon he felt a slight trembling from worry in the arm that held him.

The boundary between reality and illusion became increasingly blurred. Erin shouted at him.

“Lord Ferdin!”

Ferdin’s ability didn’t end there. His vision distorted, and another space appeared.

The ability was emanating from the necklace.

It was a place he had never visited, a place he was seeing for the first time.

There, Ferdin witnessed himself collapsed. He was dying with knives embedded in his abdomen and shoulder.

His ability only showed the past. But… Ferdin had never experienced such a situation.

So what was this situation his ability was showing him…?

He saw his dying self’s lips moving. He was clutching the necklace and saying something.

Ferdin moved closer to him.

And hearing Erin’s name, Ferdin froze.

“Erin… unhappiness… please… her…”

What is he saying?

Unable to hear clearly, Ferdin kept trying to get closer to his collapsed alternate self.

But at that moment.

“Don’t forget.”

He spoke with the clearest tone possible.

Simultaneously, Ferdin’s eyes flew open from the strong impact reverberating in his head.

“Lord Ferdin!”

At Erin’s voice, he felt himself return to reality.

She was looking at him with a worried face. Ferdin’s mind was confused from the excessive use of his ability.

Erin supported the staggering Ferdin and looked up at him.

Her eyes were filled with bewilderment. Seeing her like this, Ferdin became even more certain.

Erin… didn’t kill Calips.

He wasn’t exactly sure why such false rumors had spread, but the suspicion he had harbored all along was confirmed by his recent vision.

From the glimpse of memories, Ferdin couldn’t even begin to imagine the life Erin had lived.

To be condemned as a villainess and criticized by people for something she didn’t do… Ferdin couldn’t bear the pity he felt for the small woman before him.

“Lady Erin…”

“Are you alright? Is your head hurting?”

Erin fretted over him anxiously.

Ferdin grabbed her shoulders. He saw her looking at him with startled eyes.

Looking into those clear eyes, Ferdin felt a momentary impulse. He wanted to ask her while holding her.

What did the Duchess do to you? You’re not the villainess people say you are, are you?

And Calips too, I know you didn’t kill him.

And… what did it mean that his unknown past self called her name? Had they perhaps met somewhere before…?