Facing Ferdin’s gaze, Derek spoke with a serious expression.

“You could die if you’re not careful. Count Asili is the Empire’s strongest Sword Master. While Karon’s talent is excellent, what we need is a knight who can help us right now.”

At Derek’s words, Ferdin turned his gaze away, looking disinterested.

Then, upon seeing Erin, his face subtly hardened. He began staring at her intently.

Noticing Ferdin’s reaction, Derek also turned his gaze and spotted Erin.

Derek spoke with disbelief.

“She really came?”

He had thought Erin’s declaration to transfer to the Swordsmanship Department was just a childish prank.

Normal people typically can’t understand the thought process of abnormal ones.

It seemed too extreme to be a joke, but since she was already notorious for being crazy, he considered it entirely possible.

Still, he never thought she would actually set foot in the Swordsmanship Department.

Derek’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Erin.

‘She really is insane.’

Since Erin was engaged to Ferdin, her actions could damage his reputation.

Reaching that conclusion, he gritted his teeth and glared at Erin with rising anger.

One strange thing was that despite clearly feeling everyone’s hostile gazes on her, she didn’t seem intimidated at all.

For someone supposedly raised as a pampered lady in a duke’s household, her reaction was somehow suspicious.

A typical lady would have burst into tears under such concentrated hostility.

‘Well, I guess she has thicker skin than I thought.’

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have even considered stepping into this training ground.

It must have taken unusually thick nerves to earn the reputation of being the villainess of House Liserth.

Derek snorted at that thought. He could clearly foresee what would happen soon.

‘She’ll definitely cry and wail that she can’t do it.’

And then she would drop out on her own.

* * *

Contrary to Derek’s expectations, Erin felt no tension about what lay ahead.

Well, in a way, her state was similar. She was feeling a pleasant thrill at facing a sword after so long.

She loved that excitement she felt whenever she faced a sword.

In her previous life, she had wielded a sword every day without fail. It was like breathing to her.

‘If I had learned swordsmanship in the past, I might have lived a life similar to my previous one.’

House Liserth had produced strong knights for generations. Their swordsmanship was famous throughout the Empire, with a history to match.

The current Duke Liserth, though not a Master, was an excellent high-ranking knight. Moreover, House Liserth had a peculiar tradition.

If no Sword Master emerged in one generation, a child with Master potential would always be born in the next.

In other words, either Karon or Erin possessed the talent of a Master.

“Which one will inherit the family’s swordsmanship—the young master or the young lady?”

“Who knows. They say it’s still unclear which one has more talent.”

That’s why Duke Liserth wanted to teach swordsmanship to both children.

Every family wanted many knights, and having high-level knights represented the family’s power.

Even if they didn’t become Sword Masters, people from House Liserth had a high probability of becoming high-ranking knights.

A high-ranking knight could infuse mana into their sword and face at least a hundred low-level monsters.

So the Duke had no reason not to teach swordsmanship to Erin.

There had been many female knights in the family’s history, and Erin also wanted to become a knight.

She had dreamed of this until Corelia appeared.

Corelia disliked Erin learning swordsmanship and eventually told lies to the Duke.

“Erin seems to dislike swords. I think she just wants to live as a lady.”

The Duke felt grateful to his wife for taking care of the children while he was busy guarding the border.

So he tended to believe whatever the Duchess told him.

As a result, Erin grew up never touching a sword, only able to watch from afar. What she had told Sir Reken on the way to the academy was somewhat true.

Though she had never formally learned House Liserth’s swordsmanship, she had always watched Karon practice.

She had even imitated his swordsmanship with tree branches in her room. Even on days when she had embroidery or music lessons, her gaze never left Karon.

More precisely, she couldn’t take her eyes off the swordsmanship he practiced.

“Why don’t you practice swordsmanship, Sister?”

When Karon approached and asked her this one day, Erin couldn’t say anything. Karon’s innocent question made her feel even more miserable.

I wanted to learn too. I could have been good at it.

But the words that lingered in her mouth never made it out, disappearing instead. Erin wanted to wield a sword rather than learn needlework or musical instruments. She often easily succeeded at movements that Karon found difficult.

But whenever Erin asked the Duchess to learn swordsmanship, the answer was always the same.

“What would a lady do learning something like swordsmanship?”

The punishment that followed would continue until Karon’s practice ended and the Duke returned from the frontlines.

More than physical pain, her thirst for learning continued to torment her.

So when she was transferred to the Swordsmanship Department through the Duchess’s scheme, she was truly happy.

Even knowing what it meant to the knights, even knowing what she would go through because of it.

‘Even knowing I didn’t belong there…’

She wasn’t looking down on them. She wanted to honestly say that she wanted to be like them.

But to others, her actions only looked like she was disrespecting the knights.

Therefore, within the Swordsmanship Department, where knights were respected, no one looked favorably upon Erin.

And as if to prove she didn’t deserve to be there, her skills were always terrible.

Erin recalled those times as she lifted the sword.

‘It’s heavy.’

Her arm holding the sword trembled.

It was just a cheap iron sword. A crude weapon that couldn’t compare to the one she had used in her previous life.

But Erin’s untrained body struggled even to lift it.

This was natural.

No matter how she had reached the pinnacle in her previous life, the current Erin had a body lacking even basic physical strength.

But that didn’t mean there was no solution.

‘I can do this.’

Composing herself, Erin turned her gaze and met Ferdin’s eyes as he watched her.

He had been here in the past too. But back then, she had fled in tears before his eyes.

‘You must despise me too.’

But he had never shown such emotions.

Even if what Ferdin had offered her in the past was merely pity… no, even if it was just the same compassion he showed to others, it didn’t matter.

When she was in front of him, she could be just Erin Liserth, not the ugly villainess.

Did Ferdin know what that meant to her?

Erin closed her eyes and opened them again. Then she looked down at her palm. She saw her small, thin hand wrapped in bandages, holding the cheap iron sword.

Looking at that sword, she made a promise.

For his sake too.

In this life, everything would be different.

* * *

Edward Plon, the swordsmanship instructor at Atenz Academy, was currently in a very troublesome situation.

‘Did Erin Liserth really come?’

It was problematic whether she came or not.

What was Duke Liserth thinking when he transferred his daughter to the Swordsmanship Department?

It was well known that he doted excessively on his daughter.

Edward soon remembered the rumor that Erin Liserth had gone on a hunger strike to enter the Swordsmanship Department.

Perhaps Duke Liserth, unable to bear seeing his daughter starve, couldn’t break her stubbornness.

Moreover, the Duke’s household was even spreading false rumors that Erin Liserth had defeated a horde of monsters.

They probably wanted to establish legitimacy for her entering the Swordsmanship Department.

Edward was exasperated by such a ridiculous lie.

While he could overlook other things given the young lady’s notorious eccentricity, claiming she defeated a monster horde seemed too extreme.

‘And who would believe that anyway?’

Edward sighed as he walked toward the training ground.

However, he respected Duke Liserth, who was defending the country at the frontlines.

He didn’t want the Duke to face difficulties.

‘I hope she just stays quietly for a few days and then gives up. Today might even be her last day. She’ll be humiliated during the swordsmanship evaluation…’

With these thoughts, Edward stepped into the training ground.