Corelia tilted her head curiously. Karon was staring at her from across the table.

Why is he acting so strange today? For Corelia, this was utterly perplexing. When they met in front of the café, Karon hadn’t approached her with his usual smile.

‘He came alone without bringing Erin like I asked. How annoying.’

She had planned to educate Erin in a nice place after their long separation, but everything had gone wrong.

“Sister said she was busy today, so I couldn’t bring her,” Karon said, looking at Corelia with eyes that seemed more confused than usual.

‘He broke his promise to me after hearing just that? Has something suddenly changed his mind?’

“Erin is busy? Well, that can’t be helped. She’s… always been busy whenever I visit. I understand. She probably doesn’t want to see me.”

Corelia smiled benevolently and placed her hand on top of Karon’s. Karon brushed her hand away. Corelia’s brow gradually furrowed. She stared at Karon with wide eyes.

“Karon?”

“Ah… I’m sorry.”

How dare… Karon Liserth brush off her hand? Had he eaten something bad? Something was clearly wrong with him.

Normally, he should have been anxiously trying to please her after disappointing her by not bringing Erin.

“Karon, you seem to be in a bad mood today. You’re not even smiling at me.”

The Liserth children were changing in strange ways. Corelia’s eyes gleamed oddly as she observed Karon.

She couldn’t understand why he had suddenly changed after meeting with Erin. But something was clearly happening that she knew nothing about.

“You look especially tired today.”

Charlotte approached Corelia’s side. She positioned herself between Karon and Corelia, seemingly mediating between them.

At Corelia’s comment about looking tired, Karon awkwardly pulled up one corner of his mouth into a smile.

“Don’t worry, Mother. Nothing happened. I’m sorry for causing you concern.”

As he spoke, both his hands were trembling.

* * *

For a while, Karon found it difficult even to eat. Mentally, he had already reached a conclusion about what was right.

But the fact that he had to cut out all his past feelings toward one of these two people was incredibly painful.

“Would you believe me if I told you that the person you call Mother has been sending me to hell all this time?”

The mother he knew was so delicate she could barely hold a knife. Karon couldn’t even imagine that Corelia could do something cruel to Erin. But at the same time, he kept recalling the faint marks that still remained on Erin’s arms.

“Mother, I’m sorry. You must be very upset because of Sister.”

“Why does Sister treat you like this, Mother?”

“Sister, why are you like this? Why have you become so twisted?”

The words he had thoughtlessly thrown at both of them came back to pierce him like thorns.

When his self-loathing became truly unbearable, Erin came to find him.

* * *

Karon’s face was colored with shock. He stared at the dress laid out in front of Erin.

“What… what is this?”

“A dress Corelia sent. She told me to wear it to the party.”

“So all this time, Sister wasn’t the one choosing the dresses?”

In front of Erin was a dress sent by Corelia.

[Erin, I’ve sent you a dress that I think will suit you well.]

The dress she sent was a highly saturated pink color. And it was adorned with large, dangling jewels.

In a word… it was tacky.

Karon recalled the gossip he used to hear whenever Erin attended parties.

“Miss Erin doesn’t seem to have good taste.”

“How can she like such flashy, tacky dresses…”

“The Marchioness must select dresses with her refined taste… but she probably wears what she likes instead.”

They were all wrong. All the dresses Erin had worn were personally selected by Corelia.

And… Karon had known nothing about this until now. He felt like he might vomit again, even though he hadn’t eaten anything.

Erin quietly observed him. Karon looked pitiful, like a drenched puppy. In her first life, she had resented him at times. There were many moments when she found it unbearable that Karon never noticed her pain, that even he misunderstood and condemned her.

But Erin couldn’t forget the expression Karon had made when she cried in front of him once. Those trembling eyes, like his world was crumbling.

At that moment, Erin forgave him. Wasn’t it too sad for victims to blame each other?

Even without Karon, there were plenty of people deserving of her anger. Even now, when her younger brother didn’t fully trust her, Erin understood him. She pushed aside the tacky dress Corelia had sent and spoke to Karon.

“About Ditrion’s knight, Roham.”

A puzzled look crossed his face at Erin’s words. Roham’s disappearance was famous throughout Atenz Academy. Ditrion had turned the academy upside down looking for him.

Since it happened after an argument with Erin, rumors even circulated that House Liserth might be involved in his disappearance.

“The day we argued… late at night, Sir Roham came to my room.”

“What? What are you saying?”

Karon’s face instantly flushed with anger. What business would Ditrion’s knight have visiting her late at night?

Could he have tried to insult my sister?

“So… what happened?”

Karon grabbed Erin’s shoulders.

If something had happened to Erin, he would hunt Roham down to the ends of the earth to make him pay.

Karon gritted his teeth at the thought.

“What did he do to you, Sister?”

“No, he couldn’t do anything.”

“What?”

“I subdued him.”

Karon couldn’t immediately comprehend what Erin had said.

Erin subdued Roham?

“That’s not the important part. What matters is what kind of person Sir Roham was.”

Erin recalled what Roham had told her that night, using his last strength.

“The reason I didn’t tell you the truth was because of the person behind Corelia.”

“…”

“Karon, as a knight yourself, you know what knights despise most.”

“…?”

“Sir Roham was a knight strengthened by black magic.”

“What?”

Black magic. The moment he heard those words, Karon’s face twisted with contempt.

Using black magic to become stronger was what knights hated most. In ancient times, when monsters were more powerful than now, black magic was used to enhance physical abilities.

It was done to increase the number of strong knights, even slightly. But as the fatal side effects became known, the method was abandoned.

The Holy Order always warned about the dangers of black magic and tried to eliminate those who used it. It was prohibited not just in the Empire but throughout the continent.

And now to hear that Roham, the First Prince’s knight, had become stronger through black magic…?

Karon understood the weight of these words.

His palms grew damp with sweat. Karon realized something strange. If Roham was someone who had become stronger through black magic, how had Erin… managed to subdue him?

“How could Sister handle someone like that…”

As he spoke those words, Karon could understand. Ever since he had started learning swordsmanship in earnest, he had always felt a doubt.

He loved swords and knew he had talent, but he never thought he could become a Sword Master.

He recalled a conversation he once had with his father.

“Those chosen by the sword… they say they gain certainty the moment they hold a sword. Certainty that they will become Sword Masters.”

But he had never once been certain that he would become a Sword Master.

Karon muttered dejectedly, “The one chosen by the sword… was you, Sister.”

“That’s right. I didn’t make Roham’s visit public because I didn’t want that fact known. Besides, he left me with some interesting information.”

As she spoke, Erin recalled what Roham had told her just before his death.

“The one who pushed your life into the gutter is… Sergia Lexia. He’s behind the Marchioness.”

“Why should I believe you?”

“Look at my condition. The Emperor used black magic to cultivate his own knights. He didn’t want more Sword Masters to emerge. He believed he could use both monsters and knights like puppets anyway.”

“…”

“That’s why he made you like this. Corelia too… she’s a knight sent by the Emperor.”

With those final words, Roham’s body shattered into pieces.