“Sirha?”

Ir called out the name of the person she saw before her in surprise.

Sirha sat in a chair with her head deeply bowed. It was easy to recognize where this place was. It was clearly Shulat’s house that she remembered.

But how could she be seeing a place that was hours away even by carriage right in front of her? Ir immediately suspected she might have consumed something wrong. Perhaps she was seeing visions of the person she’d been worried about.

However, what she saw was too clear to be just imagination. This wasn’t like the hallucinations they experienced when deliberately taking poison or hallucinogens to build immunity during knight training.

Ir took a deep breath and observed Sirha’s appearance. Her expression was much darker than when she had seen her two days ago. She kept nervously glancing to the side, like someone who knew something frightening would soon appear.

Then Sirha’s image vanished. The hallway returned to its original state, with no trace of the vision Ir had seen.

Ir immediately looked out the window. In the vision, she had seen the early evening moon through the window behind Sirha. And now, the same shaped moon hung outside the window. This meant the vision must have shown her the present.

After briefly staring outside, Ir quickly turned around.

Nergal had told her to wait. But she had a strong intuition that she would regret it if she didn’t go to Sirha right now.

‘I can’t do that.’

Revenge was more important than anything. That feeling hadn’t changed even now. But…

“My siblings are my pride and everything.”

Shulat would often say this like a habit when drunk, his face flushing with embarrassment. Every time, while the entire 9th Knight Order would tease him saying “here he goes again,” they would pat his shoulder proudly. The youngest member whom the 9th Knight Order cherished. And his young siblings who were everything to him.

Gripping the dagger she had found, Ir was certain.

Shulat and the members of the 9th Knight Order would want her to save Sirha more than seeking revenge for them right now.

***

Whoosh.

The wind outside the window sounded more chilling than usual. After briefly looking outside, Sirha turned back to look at the fireplace where the embers were dying. Next to the ashes made by the firewood, she could see pieces of cloth that still had some siblings remaining. She knew well what it originally was.

A piece of rag that she didn’t even want to call clothing, filled with the vulgar taste of the person who had given it as a gift.

“Here, I thought this would suit you well. Why don’t you try it on?”

How hard she had tried to hold back her nausea when Kilim handed it to her with a smirk. But she couldn’t bring herself to throw it away. Kilim, who had come after a week, brought food and toys that her siblings liked, and even stationed his house’s servants in front of their home. Just with that alone, people stayed away from the house.

How happy her siblings had been in that moment of peace when no stones or rotten food were thrown at them.

So that day, she had no choice but to wear it and get into his carriage.

“Let’s go buy something in Vativira. I want to show you to my friends too. They’re all from prestigious families, so it’ll be quite an honor for you.”

Kilim smirked even more as he said this. She had seen those knights of the 3rd Knight Order he mentioned once before. Those men who had followed Kilim into the house, looked at her saying “Is this the traitor’s sister?” and deliberately licked their lips while staring at her.

Kilim had been very satisfied watching the stares directed at Sirha from the moment they got out of the carriage.

‘Taking me to Vativira wasn’t with good intentions either.’

Buying things for her? He probably would have bought something. Something moderately expensive. And then he would have certainly forced himself on her afterward. But even if Sirha had been forced, Kilim would insist they had a good relationship while presenting the items he bought as evidence. And perhaps the security forces wouldn’t have listened to Sirha’s words even without such items.

‘Luckily, I was able to return early that day…’

The woman she had bumped into when she wanted to collapse from shame. If that person hadn’t said she came with Prince Nergal, she would have surely been dragged somewhere else and suffered horrible things. Not just from Kilim alone, but from multiple people. And they would have snickered while throwing her worthless items, saying it was all consensual.

‘But such luck won’t come twice.’

Kilim’s eyes had glinted as he practically threw her into the carriage.

“I’ll come to your house soon, so wait.”

It was obvious what he was coming for. He would surely come to satisfy his base desires.

So since the day she returned, Sirha had her siblings drink tea separately after dinner. Her innocent young siblings sipped the warm tea and soon rubbed their sleepy eyes. Sirha carried her drowsy siblings and deliberately put them to bed in the room furthest in the corner of the second floor, then locked the door firmly.

If Kilim came and took her, she didn’t want the children to hear those sounds, even by accident.

‘To think studying pharmacy would be helpful at a time like this.’

When her brother Shulat joined the Imperial Knights, their household finances did improve. But it was only slightly better than when he worked as a mercenary, and Shulat still often came home injured.

“Can’t be helped. The other knight orders dump all their rough and troublesome work on us. We at least get to rest after missions, but the captain has to go protest to other orders, and the vice-captain gets beaten up while making reports…”

Watching her brother grumbling while applying medicine to his wounds, Sirha decided to major in medicine. Besides money, she wanted to be of some help to her brother who kept coming home injured. While occasionally buying herbs and making various things, to think that the first time she would use it on family would be this sleeping medicine.

Kilim said he would come soon. But two days had already passed. She had a fearful certainty that he would come today.

‘Should I die?’

She thought suddenly while blankly staring at the cold teacup. Sirha immediately shook her head. No, she couldn’t. What would happen to her siblings then? But still, the thought of being taken by Kilim was worse than death.

Just as Sirha unconsciously began thinking about which of the remaining herbs at home had the strongest poison…

Knock knock.

“…!”

Sirha jumped at the sudden knocking sound.

‘Who could it be?’

The night was deep. And today was particularly cold. On days like this, even the villagers who threw stones at their house usually went home early. Sometimes people with more sinister looks would lurk around the house, but lately they hadn’t been seen because of Kilim’s visits.

‘Still, I can’t let my guard down.’

Even the security forces had disappeared early, probably not wanting to stand guard in this cold. No doubt they had gone somewhere using patrol as an excuse.

‘If I stay quiet, they might leave.’

But the knocking sound came again.

“Sirha, are you in there?”

Sirha was puzzled by the female voice.

‘Who?’

Though the voice was calling her name, it wasn’t familiar. While Sirha was straining her ears by the door, unsure what to do, the person outside knocked again and called for her.

They didn’t seem hostile toward her. But she couldn’t open the door to someone she didn’t know. As Sirha hesitated, the voice came from outside again.

“Oh dear, should I break down the door…”

“No, don’t!”

Startled by the threat to break down the door, Sirha flung it open. A woman stood under the dark sky. Sirha was surprised the moment she saw her.

“Oh…?”

Outside stood Ishtar, who had coincidentally saved her in Vativira.

“You’re…”

She had thought she was an incredibly beautiful person when she saw her in Vativira that day. The person who shone the brightest even in that glamorous space. Wasn’t that why even Kilim had stared at her with a blank face and open mouth?

But why was that woman in front of our house now?

The woman entered the house with elegant steps. Sirha thought it was like watching the noble night walking in. The beauty who had entered the house asked with flashing eyes.

“Sirha, are you alright? What about that bastard Kilim?”

At the rough words that didn’t match her appearance, Sirha burst into tears. Even though she didn’t know who this person was, she could tell they were genuinely worried about her.

She felt reassured, as if her brother had returned.

It was the first time she had felt such relief since her brother went missing.