The subjugation team returned to the academy.

Erin lay on her bed in her room, recalling everything that had happened.

She told Lilia everything except for the fact that she had experienced three lifetimes.

After hearing Erin’s story, Lilia remained silent for a long time. She sat there with a blank face before tears began to flow.

“Sorry, I’m so sorry…”

She kept repeating that she was sorry without explaining what for.

“Do you believe what I said?”

At Erin’s question, Lilia told her about what happened after Calips died.

She spoke of Charlotte, the maid who came to her after his death, and the mana stone she had offered, claiming it was difficult to obtain.

Charlotte had proposed giving Lilia the mana stone if she avenged her friend.

Charlotte constantly urged Lilia that she should avenge Calips and made an offer that no ordinary mage could resist.

Typically, mana stones were managed by the imperial family and could only be possessed with the Emperor’s permission.

This was partly why imperial authority remained intact in a world dominated by Sword Masters and mages.

But a mere Marquis’s maid having a mana stone? Lilia couldn’t understand why she had accepted this fact so easily, but said she naturally believed it at the time.

“It was like… being under some spell, even though I knew it made no sense…”

Lilia’s words were disjointed. Erin realized she was experiencing strong confusion.

What Raymon had done to Erin, Charlotte had done exactly the same to Lilia.

‘Charlotte was the Marchioness’s most treasured maid.’

Erin vaguely remembered the maid who used to look down on her while standing beside the Marchioness.

Even at the moment of her death, Charlotte had been attached to the Marchioness like a shadow.

She had thought it strange before, but back then, Erin lacked the strength to investigate such oddities.

She also didn’t think a maid could obtain a mana stone on her own.

Moreover, according to Lilia, the mana stone she saw wasn’t an ordinary one.

It was a mana stone created using black magic—forbidden throughout the continent.

Using the crumbling of the werewolf chieftain’s body as a clue, Lilia had searched through various materials at the academy and became convinced it was due to black magic.

Erin stared at the ceiling with calm, sunken eyes.

‘Why did they go to such lengths?’

Why? What did I do wrong?

It was something she had always wondered about. Erin had done nothing wrong to the Marchioness.

So why had Corelia pushed her into the abyss? Erin couldn’t understand her at all.

‘Things might get busy soon.’

As she thought this, Erin frowned at the presence she felt outside.

Someone was rapidly approaching her dormitory room.

Two people. One was a skilled knight, and the other seemed to be the dormitory supervisor.

The supervisor’s anxious demeanor was evident even in their footsteps as they followed.

“Miss Erin Liserth!”

Erin got up at the sound of rough knocking on her door.

The subjugation team had arrived at the academy less than a day ago. Everyone was leaving them alone so they could rest comfortably.

So the very act of knocking on her door was remarkably rude.

Erin thought the voice from outside sounded familiar.

“Please open the door, Miss Erin! Urgent news!”

“Sir Roham, Lady Erin has only just returned from the subjugation.”

“How dare a mere maid contradict me?”

“I am not a maid!”

She could hear the two people bickering.

When she opened the door, as expected, there stood a knight and Eloua, the head supervisor of the dormitory.

The knight with his massive build smiled coldly at Erin.

She could tell at a glance that this knight possessed extraordinary skills.

‘Ah, I remember this person.’

The man standing at the door was First Prince Ditrion’s knight. His name was Roham, wasn’t it?

She remembered him looking at her with contempt while standing beside Ditrion.

“Miss Erin, it’s been a while since I’ve seen you.”

At Roham’s words, Eloua beside him looked surprised.

Erin was a knight. Since coming to the Swordsmanship Department at Atenz Academy, she was no longer a Marquis’s daughter.

Addressing her as “Miss Erin” was nothing short of an insult.

“What brings you here?”

“By order of His Highness Ditrion, I’ve brought urgent news sent by Lady Corelia.”

Saying this, Roham handed Erin the letter he was holding.

She could see her name written in Corelia’s handwriting.

Erin took the Marchioness’s letter from Roham’s hand.

[Erin, it’s been a while. I received word that Raymon was heading to the Marquis’s mansion, but he hasn’t arrived. Since it doesn’t make sense that Raymon would leave the subjugation team on his own, something must have happened. I’m planning to visit soon, partly to look into his situation and partly because I’m worried about you at Atenz Academy.

I’ll likely arrive in time for Prince Ferdin’s victory banquet. Prince Ditrion said he would depart earlier, so he might arrive shortly after you receive this letter. See you soon.

From Corelia, who loves you.]

Erin leaned against the doorframe reading the letter, then spent a long time mulling over the sentences Corelia had written.

From Corelia, who loves you.

Corelia often told Erin she loved her when others were around.

“I love you, Erin.”

Despite the pain Corelia inflicted, Erin believed those words were true. She thought everything was done out of love for her.

So she had worked tirelessly to hear the Marchioness say she loved her.

Until her death, before she realized the whole truth, that’s how it was.

‘If she really loved me, she wouldn’t have treated me that way. I was such a fool.’

The purpose behind Corelia sending this letter now was obvious. There was absolutely no need to send such trivial content as urgent news.

This was just one of Corelia’s malicious pranks that she occasionally played on Erin.

Rather than informing her of her visit to Atenz Academy, she probably wanted to laugh imagining Erin trembling in fear upon receiving urgent news.

In her first life, Corelia often sent letters to her.

Usually when she had “done something wrong.”

Corelia knew too well how Erin would tremble upon receiving urgent news.

‘Come to think of it, the Marchioness frequently visited the imperial palace to see Ditrion.’

Corelia dominated the social circles of the Lexia Empire and wielded considerable power simply by being related to the Emperor.

She even educated the princes who would become the next Emperor, so it wasn’t strange that Ditrion and Corelia had a close relationship.

Erin sneered and carelessly crumpled the letter Corelia had sent.

Roham, who stood before her, stepped back with a surprised face. Her action was too unexpected.

He had often visited the Marquis’s mansion with Ditrion and had somewhat noticed that, contrary to the terrible rumors, Erin had a timid personality.

For such an Erin Liserth to crumple Corelia’s letter? Didn’t she worship Corelia like a god?

“Sir Roham.”

“Miss Erin?”

At Roham’s response, Erin smiled. Though her internal injuries were severe, they weren’t bad enough to prevent her from dealing with this fool.

Her fist moved rapidly toward Roham’s face.

It moved with such speed that even a high-ranking knight like him couldn’t react immediately. Her fist brushed past his ear.

If Erin hadn’t changed direction, he would have been hit squarely by her punch.

“What… what insolence is this!”

Roham exclaimed in shock.

He thought Erin Liserth had gone mad. Throwing a punch at someone without warning!

“For a knight, you can’t even dodge a punch from a mere lady. You seem unqualified to be Prince Ditrion’s guard.”

Roham’s face reddened with anger.

“You… you insolent! A Marquis’s daughter with no manners!”

Erin laughed incredulously at his outburst.

“The insolent one is you, sir. Before being a daughter of House Liserth, I was a knight. Yet you, a knight yourself, make such a basic mistake in addressing me… I’m speechless.”

Pfft!

At Erin’s words, Eloua beside them couldn’t hold back her laughter.

Angered by this, Roham turned to glare at her.

“How dare a lowly person laugh?”

He looked ready to draw his sword. Startled, Eloua stepped back but soon froze in place.

Pressuring Eloua with an intensity difficult for an ordinary person to withstand, Roham smirked. However, his complexion soon began to turn pale.