Chapter 48
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 48
Chapter Title: Back Alley Meeting -2-
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Eclair had awakened her aura at the ridiculously young age of twelve.
Her talent hadn't shone in just aura alone.
Not long after picking up the sword, she grasped the principles of wielding a blade and could hold her own in spars against the family's knights. She was a genius unprecedented in the Dreitna family.
For the young girl whose world consisted of a single territory—no matter how much her talent could shake the empire—family meant everything.
To protect the 'everything' that had been given to her.
Watching her parents toil to support their angelic little sister and the household, aware that her own body harbored a power unlike others', she made a vow.
She would become the grand cogwheel at the center, the one responsible for everyone and everything, setting it all in motion.
If anyone had overheard, they would've called it arrogant, banking on a single talent.
A privilege and childish resolve that only a child ignorant of the world's cruelties could hold...
But her venom and ability were anything but ordinary.
Slash.
Thrust.
Cut.
Pierce.
Long before enrolling in Lofty Academy, Eclair had plunged into real combat alongside the family's knights.
If you stacked the bandits and brigands she felled back then, you'd have a small hill of corpses.
Her parents, who had fretted at first, now beamed with joy, voicing how great their expectations for her had become.
'Yes, just like this... If I keep going exactly like this.'
Effort was everything.
She prided herself on never slacking, not even for a moment.
The sword came first, but she couldn't neglect her studies either.
She shaved off sleep and burned every facet of her life toward the future.
She believed, without a shred of doubt, that this would let her achieve her desires.
One day, she faced a truly formidable opponent but emerged victorious in the end.
Buzzing with elation from the feat and sense of accomplishment, she rushed to the garden without even doffing her armor to report to her parents.
"You need to keep paying attention to your grip on the hilt."
The outdoor training ground adjoining the garden.
Her parents weren't there, but she spotted Chloe learning swordsmanship before the knights.
'She's working so hard...'
The pursed lips and resolute expression made it clear she was taking it seriously.
Her little sister had an innate gentle, kind nature—just looking at her melted away any fatigue.
She realized it had been ages since she'd played with Chloe or even chatted, what with her constant outings lately.
'I'll just give a quick report and head back!'
After a brief talk with her parents and straightening her posture on the way out, Chloe was still training. Not wanting to interrupt, Eclair slipped between the lush ornamental shrubs to watch her sister unobserved.
"...?"
As she watched the lesson, Eclair began harboring doubts.
'Was that knight always so short-tempered?'
'She's doing so well—why no praise?'
Chloe's skill and talent stood out even among the Dreitna family.
Her movements were flawless—overflowing, if anything.
But since she couldn't interfere with the instruction, Eclair swallowed her rising anger and kept watching.
The knight in charge of her education sighed and spoke to Chloe.
"Lady Eclair at that age was already..."
"If only Lady Chloe were like Lady Eclair..."
"The family head's expectations..."
The moment she heard those words, Eclair doubted her own ears.
Chloe had heard every one, yet she forced an unnatural smile, her lips trembling.
'...'
She could only watch powerlessly, waiting for it to end.
"Sob... Sis..."
Class over, her sister lingered alone, wiping at her puffy eyes before trudging back to her room. Eclair stood frozen like a statue for what felt like ages.
How many such days had her sister endured, unbeknownst to her?
Until then, she'd never suffered a major wound on the battlefield. But that day, she truly felt what it meant to have her body torn asunder.
From that day on, talking to Chloe terrified her.
Even if her sister scolded or resented her, she had no defense.
When she scampered to their parents to boast of her exploits like some trophy, what agonies had Chloe endured? What thoughts raced through her mind?
As she began dodging encounters, Chloe—sensing the mood—gradually stopped approaching her too.
...She alone had eyes only for the future.
Others wanted to stroll slowly, savoring the present without racing ahead.
Even upon her early graduation from the academy, even becoming the squire to Asen Premiller, the empire's greatest knight—joy took a backseat to worry.
Thinking of Chloe made her want to hide those facts altogether.
And yet.
'What if I drop my sword here...?'
Eclair had to make a choice.
To safeguard her precious family, she needed a power no one could rival—not her stopping.
It signified personal might, but also authority... and on another level, wealth.
Her path was set.
Shut out the world. Eyes forward until she arrived.
Don't look back... never look back.
Eclair chose not to halt, but to sprint so fast no one could catch up.
So her retainers wouldn't dare even mention her as a benchmark.
No lifelong friends to speak of. Nowhere far unless it was business.
She simply stared at the road ahead and walked it.
If she truly sought to atone for her ignorance, let her pile mountains of sinful corpses.
Endless hours slashing flesh and blood with her sword, all for a world even a fraction better for her family.
She hurled her body into battlefronts swirling with murderous intent and infernos teeming with monsters.
Unaware of the day or the hour.
No recollection of her last meal. Her body moved on ingrained experience alone, thought be damned.
'...'
The silver hair her sister once envied turned gore-black with blood.
The day monster roars blended indistinguishably with allies' screams, her senses blurring like smoke lost to sleepless haze.
Eclair awakened her true aura and was appointed one of the Empire's Five Knights.
From the day she witnessed Chloe sobbing her way back to her room, she finally turned to face the back she'd long ignored.
"I even thought the knights teaching Chloe were at fault once... But when I saw my parents condone it—claiming it was for Chloe—I...!!"
Crunch!
The scabbard clenched in Eclair's grip let out a wail.
As her tale unfolded, Eclair purged her long-buried emotions like one enlightened.
"Ha... 'Grand cogwheel'... Pretty words. Do you know what happened when I took center stage and tried moving everything?"
"...?"
"The gears didn't mesh, but I forced them to turn anyway. Everything around me shattered."
Eclair covered her face with both hands, only her moist crimson eyes peeking through.
I tilted my gaze skyward and shared my thoughts.
"Kids do good deeds and crave a pat on the back sometimes. You busted your ass to save the family—what's so wrong that you heap all the blame on yourself?"
"...If this power had been Chloe's instead of mine, the family wouldn't have decayed like this. It would've prospered."
I couldn't fathom the source of her boundless faith in her unflinching sister.
"So in the end... you realized your old convictions couldn't deliver what you truly wanted?"
"...I felt like they wouldn't deliver."
She'd tried, in her own way.
Having Chloe reside in her own mansion must've been one avenue she could pursue.
Absurd to my eyes, but surely the fruit of her splitting headaches in deliberation.
If even one sister had pushed with some social savvy, this would've been resolved ages ago.
"So... what do you ultimately want to achieve?"
This was the crux.
Would she even broach it with me, little more than an occasional business contact?
Truth be told, it was hard to credit that she'd spilled her guts this much to someone she'd bumped into out of the blue.
Maybe possible precisely because I was a familiar face, but not close.
"...?"
"You don't have to say if—"
"I want to go back."
She bit off my words and lifted her head from her hands.
"To the past? Or to how things were?"
"Both... I know now how foolish I was to think wealth and honor would forge a harmonious home. But it's too late to turn back now... That's why I want to return. It's not just Chloe—my parents are precious too."
"...?"
"I...!! I poisoned the family with power and riches, sickening everyone... I thought my parents hadn't changed, that they were kinder than anyone. But they were just ordinary nobles. Even now, they're scheming and striving to sustain the family's glory. I... I... can't speak ill of them..."
Her words rang half-relatable, born of worries in excess.
Two arms alone, yet trying to shoulder the world.
"You don't see it all at once—you tackle it piece by piece. Start by properly looking after your sister, at least."
She shook her head at my pointed words, which she knew full well.
"At this point... If I start showing interest, favoritism even, nobles scheming to use me might turn on Chloe instead..."
I got the concern.
No shortage of such scum, and Chloe—who couldn't assert herself—must worry her sick.
She always assumed the worst. Feared sinking her bond with Chloe even lower. That kept her paralyzed.
...Still, hearing this dragged on...
"...This is frustrating."
"F-Frustrating?!"
After listening patiently, my heavy sigh startled her into raising her voice for the first time.
"She's a Knight Department cadet at the academy. You think nobles approaching means she'll fold like some worldly-naive kid? No clue how long you'll coddle her, but until you accept that little sister from childhood is a full-grown adult now, we'll get nowhere."
"...?"
Don't presume a soft exterior means a soft core.
"The 'effort' you tout—rounding up irredeemable trash, cleaving them in two, padding your fame—isn't effort. If it's not working, pivot directions. Harder to strike up one chat with your sister than slay monsters, yet you swing that sword endlessly—is that real effort?"
To outsiders, the sisters were exasperating enough to kill over. But they had circumstances, two sides of the same coin.
She genuinely believed her deeds were pure atonement.
Once she set a course and started walking, she had no spare glance for alternatives.
Eclair, lost on direction, would transform visibly with just a nudge onto the right path.
"...Frustrating as hell. Spit it out. Want my help?"
Recalling the Dreitna storyline—even in the game, it ended open-ended—my words spilled longer.
Eclair stared at me blankly, eyes wide in shock, mouth agape.
Curious as I was about the sisters' unseen fate, I wouldn't do it for free.
From imperial dealings, I knew she never forgot a debt.
"Clear a day off when I say."
If I asked her to guard Rike, she'd protect her to the death.