16. Dia Grilite - [Tragedy]
After the head of the ducal family and his wife, the pillars that had held the Grilite Ducal House together, vanished in an instant, the remaining family members began their vicious power struggle to claim the empty ducal seat.
Fortunately, Dia herself had been too young to care about power, so she had not been dragged into those fights...
But watching them viciously tear each other apart, her heart had long since turned completely cold.
"Miss, your meal..."
"Just leave it in my room. Finish this first... I'll eat it later."
To her, there was no longer any warmth left in family bonds. All that remained was this worn-out sword she had swung in a desperate attempt to earn her parents' attention.
"..."
So Dia simply swung her sword wildly, without any purpose at all.
**
"Miss, have you heard the news? The Franz Count Family has produced a once-in-a-generation genius."
"..."
"Franz Count Family?"
While she continued her usual training, the maid who served her began to speak slowly, sharing the rumors that had spread.
And when Dia heard them, she dismissed the maid from the training grounds and murmured to herself.
"At the same age... she defeated an adult knight in single combat?"
It was a story so absurd that it was impossible for her not to be interested, no matter how little she cared about others.
Even though she was the same age as the ten-year-old boy who had defeated a fully grown knight and even claimed a knight's title.
How impossible it was, she herself knew, having spent two years sharpening and polishing her sword since her parents' death.
"Dullahan Franz..."
In a corner of her heart that had been cut off from the world for two years, the name of that boy had slowly been carved in.
**
At first, she had simply remembered it out of curiosity.
The boy's actions, which seemed as if he belonged to a different race entirely, were something she could be curious about, even though she was the same age.
"So, what happened?"
"Of course he won the tournament... and even said he defeated his opponents in one strike during the finals. He's truly amazing!"
"He defeated him in just one match...? How is that even possible?"
They even said he defeated his opponent not by directly striking the body but merely by clashing swords... This must be exaggerated, right?
Their relationship, which had begun with mere curiosity, had rapidly grown until she paid attention to every single thing he did.
Of course, she had never faced him directly.
"Hee... he's amazing."
It was a kind of awe she had felt while watching his every move for two years.
Her thoughts had been built on the premise that he was so overwhelmingly superior that he was no longer just a rival in swordsmanship to someone of the same age as her.
"By the way... Miss, are you alright?"
"..."
"What? The people around you... keep bringing up that person in front of you... to belittle you."
As she said, the more Dullahan shone, the more she was compared to him as the descendant of a prestigious family that had produced excellent knights of the same age as him.
"..."
"Yeah, I'm fine."
The maids and attendants who had heard those words from around them had worried about her, who had been compared since childhood, but she had not cared at all.
"That... is only natural, right? Unlike Dullahan, who has won various tournaments since the beginning... I haven't accomplished anything..."
Truly, she had not cared. Even she herself could see that compared to Dullahan, she was an utterly pathetic existence, considering their differences in status.
"Being compared to Dullahan... is only possible because I'm the daughter of a duke. If we had switched places... there wouldn't have been any story at all from the start."
Their difference in skill was so overwhelming that it was almost embarrassing to be compared to him... so she was fine.
...She was fine.
Without realizing that a seed of misfortune had been planted somewhere deep in her heart, she was about to pass another ordinary day.
...If I poured all my effort into it, could I defeat him?
A series of questions suddenly rose in her mind, which had been repeating to itself that she was fine.
She had been about to answer those doubts with a firm "no," but at that moment, memories of her parents suddenly resurfaced.
"Our daughter will surely become a great knight like me. Won't she?"
"You... you're already putting pressure on her?"
"Haha, even if you say that... our daughter, who inherited the blood of the two of us, the strongest knights, will naturally become a sword saint, right?"
Her father, who had said that, soon hugged her from her childhood days and murmured slowly.
"I will protect you until our Dia becomes a better knight than anyone else."
"..."
In the suddenly resurfaced memories, she recalled her father's dying wish and, for some reason, swung her sword for even longer than usual without answering the question from just now.
It was the moment when the mindset that it was only natural for her to lose to him had completely reversed.
**
Several years passed, and finally, Dia was about to enter the Empire's highest academy, Palette Academy.
"Finally... we can meet."
As time passed, her feelings toward Dullahan had grown increasingly complicated.
She respected him more than anyone as a swordsman, yet she was also more jealous of him than anyone else as a swordsman. She wanted to defeat him more than anyone else.
To her, if she could defeat the Dullahan who was supposed to be the strongest with her own strength... she believed she would finally obtain the conviction that she could become the true greatest swordsman.
"Now... only one step, one foot left."
She had worked so hard to defeat him during that time. She had steeled her heart that her efforts would never be in vain, and she entered the Sword Department of the Academy.
Of course, Dia had not doubted that Dullahan had entered the Sword Department, and she went looking for him.
But strangely, even after checking every classroom and training ground used by the Sword Department during the freshman welcome ceremony, he was nowhere to be seen.
"It's strange... I heard he entered... but he isn't sick, is he...?"
As the time to find him continued to pass... she had grown more and more anxious.
"Where is he... I should check the entrance list..."
Despite having tried every possible way, she could not find Dullahan. With a serious expression, she swung her sword in the training grounds and was devising other methods to find him.
"I am Dullahan Franz."
"..."
Swept up in thoughts about Dullahan, she had not properly swung her sword. When she heard the voice at the entrance of the training ground, she was startled and slowly looked over there.
And there stood a male student dueling with someone, and when she confirmed his face, she was certain it was Dullahan Franz and approached him.
"This... is Dullahan. My idol... that I must surpass."
Thump-thump...
With her heart pounding, she slowly walked toward him, but soon she noticed something strange on Dullahan's uniform and murmured in a trembling voice.
"Magic... Department?"
Dullahan, who was supposed to be wearing the blue rose emblem of the Magic Department according to what she knew, was in the Sword Department.
"Why?"
Why had the Dullahan, who had possessed such outstanding swordsmanship, chosen the Magic Department?
Why... had he chosen a different path despite having such tremendous talent?
She had been certain that only by defeating Dullahan could she become a sword saint.
It was because she believed Dullahan would become the strongest swordsman of all, and by defeating such a swordsman, she could truly become the greatest.
...But what was this? Why... had he chosen something like magic?
Dullahan, who had been destined to become the greatest knight since childhood. And her, who had tried to surpass him.
She had swung her sword madly for years, only to defeat him.
But... what was this.
At that moment, seeing his clothes, she had impulsively challenged him to a duel, and as she fought him, she felt as if all the things she had thought about until now were crumbling.
"Why... why aren't you attacking? Why aren't you doing it properly."
In reality, the duel with him was nothing like she had expected and was utterly pathetic. He had not made even a single attack on her.
She had seized his opening and did not miss it, and soon Dullahan fell after taking her attack.
It was so utterly meaningless.
"Just..."
I went through all that hardship to defeat such a pathetic guy?
In her thoughts upon seeing Dullahan like that, there was no longer any consciousness of becoming the greatest swordsman.
To her, only Dullahan was the true greatest swordsman she had to surpass.
The consciousness of having to become the greatest had become confused with the consciousness of having to defeat the greatest Dullahan, and it was strongly engraved in her mind.
But... was defeating this man who had already abandoned the path of being a swordsman... and had not even thrown a single attack... really her goal?
Moreover, what made her even angrier was none other than Dullahan's attitude toward her, whom he was facing.
He had not attacked her even once... yet he was smiling at her as if he was enjoying himself.
The one who had actually defeated him was lost in emptiness and meaninglessness.
"What... what is there to be happy about laughing!!"
And that emptiness had turned into wild rage that she could not control herself when she saw his smile.
"Why... why... are you attacking me...?"
And when that rage turned into ruthless violence toward him, Dullahan answered her with a face of incomprehension, and she, unable to hold back, spat out words she should not have said to him.
...And from that day on, she never saw Dullahan's smile again.
**
"This is exactly how the trash that is Dia Grilite was made, isn't it? Then... now I have to tell you my opinion."
Pelican, who had read all of Dia's thoughts, finally said to the fallen Dia, who was clutching her head.
"I really understand. All the actions you took..."
Pelican, who had said that, soon wore a fierce expression, grabbed her head, pulled it up, and continued in a cold voice.
"Is that right, you bitch."
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."
"Exactly... even I, who is three years old, can clearly see that what your parents said was just 'become a great swordsman'... but the daughter... became like this. Your parents must be crying tears of blood in hell."
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."
Finally, Pelican, who had realized all the truth about Dullahan and was desperately screaming at Dia, slowly looked at her and murmured.
"In the end, everything you did was entirely your own doing. So stop worrying about your dead parents."
No matter what happened to you, everything that broke everything was something you caused yourself.
After saying that, Pelican lifted the fallen Dia with magic and soon glanced at the slowly crumbling world and murmured.
"[Regression]."
With that, Pelican took Dia and left the world she had created in the past.
"Hmm... I have to take her. It's troublesome... Huh?"
Pelican, who had glanced at the completely unconscious Dia lying on the ground, slowly picked her up and tried to leave the banquet hall.
Until she confirmed that something was looking at her from where she was.