Chapter 2
Chapter 2: Misunderstanding
For as long as she could remember, Amelia had been alone.
Born into a household that appeared harmonious on the surface, she was the child of a concubine—a seed of discord from the very start. There had been no place for Amelia in that home. Her noble bloodline was the only reason she hadn't been cast out from the family entirely, yet even that shelter was lost in a single moment of misfortune.
It was during her naive, foolish youth. At first, it had simply been a greeting.
To the knight who had come to deliver well-wishes on behalf of her ailing mother, Amelia had merely offered a handkerchief out of courtesy. She swore it was nothing more than a gesture of goodwill—she had no other intention whatsoever.
The people around her had always disliked her, but the members of the knight order had been kind to her. His armor had looked stifling in the heat, and the sweat soaking through his gloves had made her feel a little sorry for him. With her tender heart, she simply couldn't help but notice. That was all it was.
That evening, news arrived that the knight had been arrested. Apparently, a letter bearing the family seal had been leaked to the outside.
"Amelia, what did you hand to that knight in the garden today?"
"...Just a handkerchief."
"Is that so?"
"...."
"You were rather close with that knight, weren't you?"
The voice belonged to none other than Lorelia, the daughter of the legitimate wife. And the finger she pointed was aimed at no one other than Amelia.
"It might not be the case, but... you met with him often, didn't you?"
She pretended to be uncertain, but it was easy enough to see through the act. If she had been genuinely worried, or truly hoped it wasn't Amelia, she wouldn't have said anything—and there would have been no reason to air it in front of the entire family like this. Most tellingly of all, it had been Lorelia who had deliberately recommended that knight to their household in the first place. Looked at from any angle, this was unmistakably her doing.
"...So a filthy half-blood child has gone and let jealousy get the better of her."
"Good heavens, for a bastard to do something like this..."
One by one, those who had never liked Amelia began to pile on.
"Th-that was only because I was bringing word to my mother—"
Amelia tried to explain herself, but with so many eyes fixed on her, the words died in her throat. Her face had gone pale, and it was then that she happened to catch sight of the handkerchief in Lorelia's hand. Only in that moment did she finally understand that this had all been a carefully laid trap. It was a betrayal engineered by preying on the young Amelia's weakness, a scheme that had lured and deceived her in her innocence. She had simply been a naive child who had been fooled.
Before long, a cruel verdict was handed down.
"She has brought dishonor upon the family."
Alone, she bore the sharp-edged condemnation of those around her, unable to utter a single word in her own defense as she sank into despair. Amelia had placed one last, faint hope in her father. He shared her blood, after all—she had thought that if she explained herself, he might at least listen a little.
Smack!
...All that came back to her was the realization of how naive she had been. The moment she went to him and the door swung open, Amelia was struck across the face. Such force had been put behind it that her head snapped to the other side and she crumpled to the floor.
"Wasn't it your fault to begin with that your mother ended up the way she did!"
Her father no longer thought of her as his daughter—perhaps he never had. He struck her without mercy and unleashed his fury without restraint.
The next day, her name was struck from the family register. All that remained was a single line: expelled illegitimate daughter.
Amelia.
Illegitimate daughter of a count's family. Bastard. False noble. Half-blood. And now, the woman cast out of her own family—another label added to a life already full of them.
In other words, even among those at the very bottom, she sat at the lowest rung of all.
And yet her ill-fated life was far from over.
///
Come to think of it, whenever a small happiness found its way to her throughout her life, misfortune of equal measure had always followed close behind.
It was just around the time she had barely completed her coming-of-age ceremony that Amelia, now a knight, gripped her sword and thought as much.
Claaang!
2 iron swords collided and sent sparks flying. The violent reverberation traveled all the way up her arms, and the force packed into that single strike conveyed nothing but genuine intent to kill.
Aura.
It could shatter bones clean through armor with ease, and when wrapped around a fist alone, it delivered destructive force rivaling that of an iron bludgeon. Layering that onto an iron sword—already a deadly weapon in its own right—meant that even a non-vital strike could slice a limb clean off.
But for all that effort.
"Ugh...!"
A blow that came crashing down from behind without warning sent a mouthful of blood surging up through her throat like her neck had been split open. A blade nearly 170cm long with a razor-honed edge biting into leather—the wet, dragging sound of flesh tearing open along with the blood told her plainly that no small amount had been cut away. Had that struck her neck or a vital point, it would have killed her instantly.
"Word has it you were an illegitimate daughter expelled from your family. And one who sold out information at that."
"..."
But the pain that pierced her chest like a jolt of electricity hurt far worse than any physical agony, and without meaning to, she fixed them with eyes that had already begun to fill with tears.
Knight orders serving under nobles were typically made up mostly of wealthy individuals or commoners with powerful backing. Amelia, however, was the illegitimate daughter of an expelled noble. She had earned her place in the order through sheer effort alone. In the end, all she had to her name was a sturdy body, tenacity, and her looks—which, to them, made her exactly the kind of prey they were looking for.
Even after joining the knight order, the harassment had simply become her daily life.
She had nothing but talent in her body. In the eyes of the nobles, she was just some woman trying to get cozy with them through cheap ploys. And her middling sort of notoriety only invited their envy and spite.
"And to think someone like that found her way here."
At that mocking jab, Amelia forced herself upright on legs that could barely hold her. Both arms were already riddled with cuts and dripping with blood, bruised a blue-black as though mold had taken root in her skin. These were the marks of relentless cruelty and abuse that had long since crossed any line.
Blood, sawdust, and bruises were all tangled together—her arms were a grim, ugly mess. If left like this, would she ever be able to grip a sword again? They had probably aimed for exactly that, striking her so viciously on purpose to make sure she never could.
This was the result of every one of her former comrades at the cliff's edge turning on her all at once.
"...."
"Pfft, hey. What's with that look on your face?"
"...So, Fia."
"What? Does it sting? Are you furious?"
It stung. Being cast out simply because she was born the child of a concubine into what looked like a harmonious household. Being made an illegitimate daughter just because she couldn't manage a few words of explanation. Being pushed out of the place she had devoted half her life to with blood and tears—that wasn't even the worst of it.
The cold reality that even those she had trusted had all been wearing masks in a performance she never knew she was part of—that was something Amelia simply could not accept, no matter how hard she tried. So much so that tears, which rarely came to her even on ordinary days, welled up of their own accord.
'...Why.'
Gripping her sword by the barest margin, she stood at the cliff's edge and blinked blankly, her eyes unfocused.
This hadn't been a matter of a day or 2—it had been 5 full years. With the resolve to become a proper noble by her own hand, she had driven herself relentlessly forward. Just because she had become a knight candidate didn't mean the effort had been any less grueling. It had only been possible thanks to a superhuman tenacity that pushed through the pain.
She had sworn to herself—absolutely, without fail—that she would join the royal court knight order and clear her name. That she would reclaim her identity.
But even that iron will was beginning to show its limits.
If she lost this chance too, she would be branded with a mark she could never erase for the rest of her life. Becoming a court knight was a path of honor—but the fate of those who failed was wretched. And if the label of traitor was tacked on top of that, Amelia would have no place to belong anywhere, condemned to a life of wandering and running.
She had needed to become a noble. She had wanted to become a court knight and shed the false accusation.
But now—it was all over.
"..."
She had already been expelled once, and if it happened again here... there was nowhere left that would take her in. That was precisely why she had poured everything she had into this one place, this court knight order.
A knight expelled from the order? What would that even amount to? She was branded a traitor, expelled, and left to die. Even if she were lucky enough to survive and escape, she would be a public enemy wherever she went, and she had no connections capable of treating wounds this severe. In other words, even in the miraculous scenario of walking out of here alive, she would spend the rest of her life carrying the lasting damage from today. Living as a cripple, in other words.
"Doesn't it just suit you, a woman of your station, stabbing people in the back? Doesn't it?"
That reality shredded Amelia's last remaining hope without mercy.
Even so, with a body that could barely stay upright, Amelia reached down and pitifully picked up her fallen sword again.
She had wanted to clear her name. She had wanted to shake off the label of traitor. She had wanted to live as someone who could simply be happy. And so, against the wall of status and the discrimination it brought, when all those who had been expelled as she had were the objects of everyone's laughter and mockery—she had swung her sword. That was why she had always believed a miracle had found her.
Chasing that single dream alone, she had given away every last bit of the bloom of her youth—what should have been the most beautiful years of her life.
But everything she had built was effortlessly made into sport for the amusement of nobles.
The opportunity she had finally clawed her way to at the finish line, after tears of blood and patience that had scraped her to the bone—the woman standing before her had demolished it without so much as a second thought.
Because all the criticism and mockery she had endured, all the fruits of her perseverance, had ultimately been trampled underfoot and left to wither.
Yes. The princess standing before her right now had shattered it without a care. Over something as petty and worthless as not being able to stand the sight of an illegitimate daughter and a traitor.
The fury that had been festering inside her finally burst out through her lips.
"....Rotten creature."
"Only figuring that out now?"
She shrugged as if she had just heard the most absurd thing imaginable.
"..."
The moment Amelia squeezed her eyes shut—
!!!!!!!!!!!—
Without warning, a deafening roar rang out as the carriage lurched violently.
"Wh-what is this, what's going on...!"
"There's some strange figure on top of the carriage...!"
"The carriage is unstable because of the rain!"
///
Summoning the very last of her strength, Amelia threw herself off the edge of the cliff.
Her hands groped through empty air. Nothing caught. Only the wind grazed past her.
The problem was that the place she had leaped from was a sheer, steep cliff—and she had fallen from it essentially bare, without so much as a single piece of protective gear.
"Ugh, ah! Kgh...—"
Her vision twisted over and over again, and her entire body was blanketed in dark bruises from the impact.
How many times had she fallen and struck the ground? When Amelia finally landed in a muddy pool, she lay on her back, staring up at the sky, and raised a trembling hand into the air.
She had no way of knowing what state her body was in. Not a single rib had been left unbroken, and the rest of her bones were no different. Blood came gushing from her mouth without her even needing to say it. Her organs felt twisted and wrung out, and from every muscle in her body came what sounded like screaming.
That she had rolled down a cliff bare, without even mana reinforcement, and ended up in only this condition—it was close enough to a miracle, she supposed.
With that thought, Amelia let out a short, helpless laugh at her own situation.
"Pfft, hahaha... haha, this. This is supposed to be a... miracle?"
Shhhhhhhh—
The sound of rain soaking into the ground and falling on her face left her ears ringing. Dark clouds were slowly rolling in and beginning to weep, as though mocking the sorry state she was in.
Feeling the now-empty scabbard at her hip, amid the high-pitched ringing in her ears, she tried to force herself onto her stomach and push herself up—but
Splat.
Her body, reduced to ruins, wouldn't even allow her that.
Blood pooled and clung to the ground beneath her, and the thick smell of it flooded her nose.
"...Ugh."
She had no feeling in her arms or legs.
Her mana circuits had all burned out, leaving her without even the strength to stand properly.
At this rate, she'd either be eaten by a wild animal or simply die—one of the 2.
Her heart pounded. Her whole body felt like a burning ember.
Yet even as the heat blazed hotter and hotter around her, the blood continued to drain away—proven by the fact that a pool had already formed around her abdomen and arms, deep enough to gather.
"..."
Her hands were trembling.
Since the day she had first taken up a sword, she had lived having forgotten what fear felt like—but in this moment alone, she could not escape the terror that pierced every inch of her body like needles.
Sensation was dying away, slowly. Her vision was blurring, and the agony had already reached the point where she could barely feel it anymore.
"..."
She had lifted her hand in an attempt to survive—but in cruel mockery of every effort she had made up to now, even crawling was beyond her. She didn't have enough strength left to twitch a single finger.
"...Ugh,"
The moment that realization hit her, it drove a nail into her already broken heart. It felt as though her body was being torn apart into thousands, tens of thousands of pieces.
What a hard-won place it had been.
And the instant she finally reached what she had thought was an honorable position—
She had been betrayed, abandoned even by the comrades she had given everything for.
Just thinking about it was enough to leave a gaping hole punched straight through the center of her chest. The tip of her nose burned, and the tears that spilled mixed with the blood from her wounds.
The sensation of a great hole torn open inside her heart.
In the mud, beneath the pouring rain.
She had been abandoned.
Even refusing to let go of hope—
This was deep within a forest, a place rarely visited by people, a place where monsters roamed. Not even wild animals came here, let alone other humans. And even if an adventurer were to miraculously pass through, by that time, she would already have breathed her last.
The moment that realization struck her, a coldness crept into her chest. It was an implicit announcement that she would soon be dead.
Her heart began to crumble, piece by piece.
She had finally become the knight she had wanted so desperately to be. She had been so close to happiness—just a little further, and she would have reached it.
And yet here she was.
"..."
She couldn't—say anything.
Her vision was spinning.
'...It hurts so much.'
Her body. And her heart.
Because everything she had done up until now felt like it had all been denied.
'...I'm so tired.'
She lay collapsed on the ground, staring up at the sky, and thought.
No matter how hard she tried, it was never enough. She had kept turning away from it until now—but for her, the expelled, traitor-branded illegitimate daughter, that had been the plain and simple truth.
Because it was reality.
No—she had already known. That no matter how hard she tried, it would come to this in the end. Bearing the labels of traitor and illegitimate daughter, the wall standing between her and any chance at happiness had simply been too high to climb.
'...I suppose it was never a place that suited me to begin with.'
If even 1 of the things she lacked had been given to her—a remarkable stroke of fate, noble blood, talent—would anything have been different?
And then, in that moment.
Squelch.
A man emerged from the undergrowth.
He walked toward her slowly and spoke.
"...What is this? A body that's barely even alive...."
"Wha... kgh!"
The instant she heard it, Amelia reflexively tried to push herself up and raise her head—but at the same moment, blood came surging from her mouth and she collapsed again.
Even as her head spun wildly, Amelia was searching for any possible way to survive this. The man's eyes were red, and it was no easy thing to find someone abandoned in a monster-infested forest like this.
On top of that, this was deep within a forest where even adventurers dared not set foot. In other words, that man was not human.
And even in the slim chance that he was—if he was someone from inside that carriage, then she was as good as dead right now.
Every instinct in her mind rang out that she needed to run, and now—but her arms and legs had long since stopped obeying her.
...She couldn't escape.
She pressed her trembling fist into the mud and gathered a handful of dirt, lowering her gaze with eyes full of helpless despair.
"Don't... please... don't do this."
All that was left to her now was to beg.
She was terribly afraid. She had given up on her life only moments ago—but the thought of being dragged away by them, violated in every cruel manner imaginable, kept alive only to serve as a plaything—that was a terror far greater than death itself.
"..."
But when he finally drew close, what her eyes revealed to her made the candle in her chest flicker wildly.
"Are you, by any chance... Amelia?"
"..."
"Please, allow me."
Before the words had even finished leaving his mouth, he swept her into his arms.
"....?!"
Amelia's eyes trembled wide.
Without paying her reaction any mind, he lifted her onto the carriage.
"You are to bring her safely, without fail. On your honor. Drive without stopping—if anything goes wrong, you will know what to expect, so bear that in mind."
Leaving those words—strange and unexplained—with the coachman, he moved with urgency, as though she were something precious.