Despite the worry reflected in her clear blue eyes, Claude spoke with a somewhat forceful voice.

“Put aside such concerns and pick up the sword now.”

“……”

“If you won’t pick it up, I’ll attack you as you are.”

Flora’s head snapped up. Claude’s voice, quite angry now, lowered.

“Give it your all. I will too.”

And before Flora could answer, his sword came flying.

* * *

“Haa…… ha……”

Her heart pounded as if it would fall out. Flora took a deep breath and tightened her grip on the sword handle.

The moment the duke’s blade rushed toward her, Flora rolled to grab the sword from the ground and barely blocked his attack. After that, her master wielded his sword with a cold face that knew no mercy.

He was strong.

This was something she naturally realized the moment their swords met, without needing several exchanges. She had never faced such a strong opponent, neither among comrades in training nor in actual combat.

Even to her keen eyes, it was difficult to find even the smallest opening in his swordsmanship. His body, trained with a sword from an extremely young age, was nearly perfect, never once breaking his form.

He deflected her sword lightly without much effort. The overwhelming difference in strength made her palm sting with each clash, and the constant blocking of attacks severely drained her stamina.

In that moment, he quickly approached her feet and struck her hand, knocking the sword away. The sword flew off and embedded itself at the edge of the training ground.

Flora blinked in astonishment, looking down at her empty hands. To allow not just an opening but to lose her sword by the handle rather than the blade.

It was truly a humiliating defeat. Having never lost to anyone since she first held a sword, she showed a somewhat shocked expression.

In contrast, Claude casually sheathed his sword.

“Don’t be arrogant. If you’ve been overestimating your skills, come to your senses now.”

Claude’s face was coldly merciless, suggesting her skills were far from sufficient.

‘No matter how strong you are, you should be content just taking care of yourself.’

Flora recalled having heard these words somewhere before as she looked at her hand. The hand that had lost the sword trembled uncontrollably.

“There are plenty of people stronger than you. If you don’t want to die like a dog, stop needlessly stepping forward from now on.”

Claude, with his back to Flora, slowly released the breath he had been calmly maintaining. After crossing swords, he finally felt he had properly assessed her skills.

No one could match her abilities.

Nevertheless, he had no intention of acknowledging this fact. If she let her guard down even slightly, she would eventually become a sacrificial lamb in a place crawling with hungry wolves.

Perhaps it was because he had just come from interrogating guild members? The image of Flora’s empty eyes in that rainy alley flashed before him like an afterimage.

‘I’m glad I killed them.’

Unlike her murmur of gladness, her expression then had looked as if she were crying alone in a collapsed world.

Value for use.

Suddenly, Baren’s voice completely blacked out the lingering afterimage.

He unconsciously clenched his fist tightly. He couldn’t shake the filthy feeling of having become one of those wolves.

* * *

The duke left the mansion immediately, as if he had only stopped by for that brief purpose.

The staff gathered in the dining room for dinner asked the chef, who was bringing out various dishes, with excited voices.

“Why do we have meat today?”

On the table was well-roasted lamb that made one’s mouth water.

“I showed off my skills so you’d eat well and work diligently.”

“Tsk……”

The maids made faces suggesting Michael always spoke unpleasantly even when saying something nice.

It was a dinner setting no different from usual. Amidst the lively conversation, Flora just stared blankly at the meat on her plate.

Strangely, she had no appetite. Her dazed gaze shifted to the silver knife.

Flora felt desperate about the need to become stronger, if only to protect herself. So much so that she had asked boys her age to help when adults wouldn’t train with her.

Through sword training sessions about seven times a week, she built up her skills.

Surprisingly, becoming stronger with a sword gave her great fulfillment. While she enjoyed her daily improvement in swordsmanship, conversely, she wasn’t particularly fond of killing people.

She had never once fought out of a desire to demonstrate her skills. In a place where her life was at stake every day, she had wielded her sword only to survive.

That’s why she felt somewhat wronged. After all, her duel at the palace wasn’t for her own safety but for everyone at the duke’s mansion, and by extension, for the duke himself.

Yet the duke coldly turned away from her because of it. Meaning she shouldn’t needlessly step forward in the future.

A thin sigh scattered between her lips. She still had no appetite.

In the end, for the first time since coming here, she skipped a meal.

* * *

After dinner, for some reason, Deverik suggested they have a cup of tea. The setting was the first-floor balcony filled with the fresh grassy scent of the garden.

Flora sat across from the butler at a round table.

On the table were two fragrant cups of tea and cookies that she particularly liked. Normally, she would have quickly taken one and brought it to her mouth, but now she didn’t feel like it.

Deverik, who had been quietly offering only tea, asked with a serious face.

“It seems you were scolded by the master.”

He quietly brought the steaming teacup to his mouth, as if he had guessed the situation without seeing it.

Flora, who had kept her mouth shut for a while, carefully parted her lips.

“……Did I really do something so wrong?”

“That’s…… because the master cares about you.”

“Is that really it?”

Flora asked with a somewhat gloomy face. The cool summer night breeze gently fluttered her side hair.

“The master lost many subordinates on the battlefield. I don’t know the details, but it seems that incident greatly influenced his insomnia.”

His eyes deepened as if recalling something.

“Since childhood, he’s been someone who particularly couldn’t bear losing his people. He was forced into terrible situations every day where the lives of knights training with him were senselessly lost, all for the reason that he needed to become stronger.”

Deverik continued, recalling the boy who had grown up under terrible pressure since childhood.

“Even on the battlefield he entered before coming of age, he returned having lost a considerable number of subordinates, so how must he have felt? He probably doesn’t want to lose you for any reason.”

“I don’t understand…… It’s natural for people to die on the battlefield.”

That was the common sense she knew. That’s what battlefields were like.

It’s a desperate place where I must kill someone to survive, so I must move without even a moment’s hesitation. And this wasn’t a battlefield where lives were at stake.

As if reading her thoughts, Deverik gently pushed up his monocle.

“That’s not obvious to everyone. Only those who haven’t experienced the sorrow of waiting for someone who never returns wouldn’t understand.”

Flora felt that Deverik’s voice seemed slightly choked with emotion.

“So…… even if you feel hurt, try to understand the master.”

The wrinkled-eyed butler smiled and took another sip of tea.

After finishing their conversation, Flora returned to her room for bed. About to climb into bed, she suddenly looked around the room.

Flora had come to her room to sleep.

The room with just one bed and a few simple pieces of furniture was clean but somewhat bleak. Thinking about sleeping in her own room after a long time made Flora feel strangely unfamiliar.

She had spent so many nights in the duke’s room under the pretext of watching over his sleep that the number of times she slept in her own room had significantly decreased.

‘He won’t be returning today. No need to go to the master’s room, just rest well.’

That’s what the butler had told her just now.

Flora pulled back the cool blanket and lay down on the bed. The rush of events flooded her mind, making her dizzy.

Even she had only heard today that the duke, renowned as the commander of the southern front, had once lost many subordinates.

While she had sparred with the mansion’s knights a few times before, this was her first time directly crossing swords with the duke. As a result, she discovered he was an incredibly strong man, enough to shock her anew.

And to think that such a man had lost so many subordinates that it deeply grieved him. What battle could it have been?

She had never heard of such a desperate battle in the news that occasionally reached the western front from the east or south……

She clutched the blanket as if seeking warmth and buried her cheek deeply in it. The face of the duke, who had left in anger, flickered behind her closed eyes.

Somehow, she felt a little lonely.