“A duel format, you say?”
“…Yes, please.”
“Hmm…”
I was briefly taken aback by Runiel’s sudden request, but seeing the seriousness in her eyes, I quietly nodded.
“I don’t know what your true intention is… but at least I know you’re not someone who would make a careless request like this.”
“……”
“I’ll allow it. Shall we change the format of the second interview to a duel?”
It might seem a bit haphazard for an interview, but I was the one in charge, so who cared?
“Is it really okay to change it so easily?”
“…It’s fine, isn’t it? Lady Meredia seemed to be getting a little bored anyway.”
“Well, it’s true that I was getting a bit bored.”
And as Lady Meredia said, it did seem like the right time to break the sluggish mood of the interviews.
After all, there hadn’t been any additional successful candidates since the first group consisting of Johan and Ferris.
‘Was the power I supposedly have, the power of domination, really that strong?’
Honestly, I hadn’t done much.
I just brought out my gray magic power like in the old days and released it as strongly as I could.
Most of the candidates who had passed the first round and proven their skills got caught up in that power and lost consciousness completely.
What would have happened if the siblings from the Count Mistilane family, now standing before me, had been caught in my power?
Still, since they endured the intimidation of Lady Meredia, maybe they could have withstood my power too?
“Then, please excuse me.”
While I was scratching my head and lost in thought, Runiel, who had received my permission, quietly stood up and started walking forward.
Her younger siblings, the children of the Count of Mistilane, continued to glare at Runiel with eyes full of hostility.
“Parsha.”
“Yes?”
“Do you have any idea what’s going on?”
Unable to suppress my growing curiosity as I watched them, I asked Parsha, who was next to me.
“If you’ve figured out anything about this situation, I’d like you to share it without holding back.”
“…Haha. I’ve been waiting for you to say that.”
At that, Parsha’s eyes seemed to sparkle, and in the blink of an eye, she pulled her chair right next to mine.
“…Tsk.”
I must have imagined it, but it sounded like Lady Meredia clicked her tongue.
Surely not.
Even though we’ve already exchanged proposals, surely she wouldn’t feel jealous of someone Parsha or Cecil’s age.
“First of all, based on my analysis, those two siblings are emitting more blue waves than red ones.”
“Red waves? Blue waves? Could you explain that in simpler terms?”
I was trying to listen carefully to her explanation when an unfamiliar concept popped up, so I interrupted her briefly.
“Ah, it’s nothing complicated. When you think of red, what comes to mind? And for blue?”
“Red makes me think of hot fire, and blue reminds me of cold water. Something like that.”
“Yes, exactly!”
Although my answer was embarrassingly simple, Parsha smiled brightly as if that was exactly what she was hoping for and continued her explanation.
“I can interpret people’s emotions through their waves. From experience, I know that red waves symbolize anger, like hot fire.”
“Then blue would be…”
“Yes, sadness, depression, longing, regret, coldness. Emotions like those.”
Then, she glanced back and forth between me and Lady Meredia and whispered in a low voice.
“By the way, between you two, there’s a constant flow of pink waves. It’s so sweet it’s almost nauseating. Haha.”
At those words, a chilling aura emanated from Lady Meredia’s direction, and I almost missed Parsha’s muttered words that followed.
“…It’s strange. Normally pink is made by mixing red and white.”
“…?”
“So how did it turn pink from colors that are supposed to be opposites?”
Maybe it was because of the unusually meaningful look on Parsha’s face, but for some reason, her words stuck in my mind more than usual.
‘If the opposite of red and white is blue and black…’
In Lady Meredia’s case, according to Parsha’s theory, she could be mistaken for red but is actually closer to blue.
Then does that mean I’m closer to black?
But what kind of emotion does black represent?
“Hey, Parsha, about black…”
“Ah, it looks like they’re about to start!”
Just as I was about to satisfy my growing curiosity by asking Parsha, something started happening on Runiel’s side.
“Oh.”
And then I could only stare blankly, completely forgetting the question I was about to ask Parsha.
– Gooooo…
A terrifying aura of sword energy filled the impromptu interview grounds set up in the garden.
Some of the failed candidates could also emit sword energy, but none had it so strong that it made the hairs on my arms stand up.
So then, is this Runiel’s sword energy?
No, it feels a little…
“…It’s slightly imperfect, but it’s still impressive. As expected of a famous swordsmanship family, even on the verge of collapse.”
As I stared blankly at the scene unfolding in the garden, Lady Meredia’s words from beside me made me realize the true owners of the sword energy.
Runiel’s two siblings were raising visible, shimmering sword energy from their swords and pointing their blades forward.
Of course, the tip of the flickering energy was aimed straight at Runiel.
“It’s certainly not easy for people that young to wield sword energy…”
“That’s true, but there are exceptions.”
“Ah, that’s right.”
I was murmuring to myself while watching the scene intently, and at Lady Meredia’s words, I gave a bright smile and agreed.
“My younger sibling awakened sword energy at an even younger age.”
“Even during the selection match, it seemed she realized something alone, and now her sword energy rivals that of seasoned masters….”
“…Why are you making that face?”
However, Lady Meredia’s expression suddenly turned cold, making me pause and tilt my head.
“…I have been handling sword energy since I was five.”
“Pardon?”
“And it was in a perfected form, too.”
Lady Meredia’s following words left me momentarily speechless, but I quickly understood her intention.
“That’s amazing. As expected, Lady Meredia is the best.”
“My younger sibling is no match for you, of course. Haha.”
Seeing Lady Meredia’s lips twitch slightly after I finished speaking, it seemed that was indeed the correct answer.
– Goooooo…
The moment I turned my head away, pretending not to notice, a tremendous force suddenly swept over me.
‘No need to check—this must be Runiel’s sword energy.’
Even though it was merely the stirring of her sword’s energy, it felt like being crushed and overwhelmed by a giant.
The oppressive feeling from Meredia’s jewel-like eyes was born from an indescribable terror, while Runiel’s pressure came purely from overwhelming physical force.
“Ugh…”
“…Haa.”
Even the two siblings, who had been confidently emitting their own sword energy, began to tremble slightly once they faced their elder sister’s full force.
In Runiel’s gaze toward them, there was no trace of mercy.
No, it was beyond that—there was not even a hint of emotion.
Just a few minutes ago, beside me, she had looked troubled, but now that feeling had completely vanished.
‘Did she deliberately suppress her emotions…?’
Her loyalty was touching, but something about it still weighed heavily on my mind.
That was the path Runiel originally walked in the story.
A hound who followed only the emperor’s orders, an emotionless knight of slaughter who wouldn’t even bleed if stabbed.
Because of my intervention, her fate should have changed, but was it just my imagination that I still saw traces of that old path in her now?
‘I hope it’s just my paranoia…’
At least, back then she had been stripped of her emotions by force for the emperor’s ambitions, while now her free will was involved—surely it would be different.
“…Lady, if it looks like things are about to go wrong, please stop her.”
Unable to suppress my unease, I quietly made this request to Lady Meredia sitting next to me.
Fortunately, this time, Lady Meredia seemed to understand my heart, and instead of teasing me as usual, she simply nodded silently.
‘I really hope nothing bad happens…’
I should have been reassured by that, but the unease still lingered, pricking at my heart.
*****
“I won’t say it twice.”
Standing against her former kin, Runiel declared with an emotionless voice as she faced her siblings.
“If you intend to fight, do it with all your strength.”
“Come at me with your lives on the line.”
At those words, the expressions of the two siblings turned even colder.
“Sister, what exactly are you doing here?”
It was Evangelene Mistilane, the younger sister, who first broke the silence hanging between the two sides.
“Is this really what you’re doing after bringing ruin to the family and losing our noble title?”
“Thanks to you, we’re about to be thrown out onto the streets, you know?”
Her words sounded filled with anger at first glance, but the slight tremble between her words hinted that it wasn’t just simple rage.
“Well, our sister has always been selfish.”
“Be honest. Have you ever cared about anything other than the sword? Do you even remember our names?”
Thanks to the documents earlier, even if Runiel had really forgotten their names, she could have answered somehow.
However, Runiel merely pointed her sword at them, her face completely devoid of any expression.
“Nothing’s changed, huh.”
“Yeah. Last time we met, that expression was really something to behold.”
Enraged by her coldness, the siblings’ words grew harsher.
“The day you lost the noble title, you came to kneel before our house.”
“Trying to cling back to the family you ruined, how pathetic.”
Such remarks would have made anyone grind their teeth in humiliation, but even at this level of insult, Runiel’s expression remained unchanged.
“Ha, it’s like talking to a rock.”
“…Right. As if she’s become nothing but someone’s tool.”
At that moment, their eyes shifted to the man sitting behind Runiel.
“Honestly, that guy behind you feels even creepier than you, Sister.”
“Whatever, but how did he manage to fix your mana circuits?”
Runiel, who had lost the strength to hold a sword and was doomed to live as a fallen noble, was rescued and restored by none other than Whitney Lingard.
The Mistilane family had poured everything they had into trying to find a solution, but had failed.
How did that man manage to do what they could not?
And why, of all people, had he chosen to rescue their sister?
Those questions certainly lingered in their minds, but the siblings were curious about something even more pressing.
“…She seems weaker than before.”
“Yeah, definitely.”
They wanted to know just how much strength Runiel had regained.
“She’s still strong… but we’ve gotten stronger too. It’s not impossible.”
“…Yeah, that’s right.”
Since their main purpose in meeting Runiel again was to test their strength against her, the siblings quietly took deep breaths and began preparing for the duel.
“Wait a moment.”
But just before the long-awaited family reunion could devolve into a bloody duel, a soft voice called out from behind Runiel.
“I’d like to add a new rule to the duel.”
Whitney, speaking with a strangely chilling smile, was now staring directly at the two siblings.
Cliche Novel 