Chapter 8
The Flower That Bears a Sword - Chapter 8
Translation: godsn
As long as that sword existed, the "happy life" she desired was impossible. But if she discarded Valdergiosa, she would lose her memories—and even if they were memories she wished to forget, losing them would render her regression meaningless. Therefore, she had to rid herself of the demon sword while retaining her memories.
A place where the demon sword could be properly sealed so it wouldn't fall into another's hands, and where she could obtain a different Giosa. As far as she knew, there was only one place on the continent where both were possible.
The city of Agenka. The Azure Sky Knights.
In the end, she would have to return there. The land she had once slaughtered. The land Yurien protected. The land where she had killed Yurien. As she exhaled a sigh, weighed down by the distant past, Echinacea suddenly realized something.
"Val."
[Ah, come on, don't call me that. It's undignified, undignified!]
"You said I retained my memories because I was a Giosa Owner when I turned back time, right?"
[Yeah. Why?]
"......Then, does that mean the other Giosa Owners also remember everything from before?"
She had killed four Giosa Owners. Vice Commander Baron, whose neck she had severed as he tried to save the citizens of Agenka. Teresa, who had died holding onto her ankle to let Dietrich escape. Dietrich himself, who had desperately fled all night before finally being slain. And Yurien, who hadn't even been able to close his eyes.
They all remembered? The mere thought made her throat tighten. Her hands and feet turned ice-cold.
[Well, I don't know.]
"Answer me properly!"
[I said I don't know! Only those who've awakened their Giosa's ego retain their memories. How would I know if those guys awakened theirs or not?]
"......If they did?"
[Then they'd remember everything, obviously.]
The demon sword answered indifferently. Echinacea stared blankly into the air, her face as pale as wax. Her limp hands clenched the bedsheet, crumpling it.
"Is there no way to confirm it?"
[Ugh, I told you, I don't know! The conditions for a Giosa's ego to awaken are different for each one!]
"Shut up and figure it out. Now."
Echinacea's eyes darkened. Valdergiosa trembled violently. It knew all too well how relentless she could be. Desperately, it protested.
[No, I seriously don't know! It's not like we Giosas hold reunions or anything! The awakening conditions are all different, and even after awakening, some just pretend to be ordinary swords without saying a word—how the hell am I supposed to know?!]
If the demon sword was protesting this much, it truly didn't know. The strength drained from Echinacea's grip on the sheet. She collapsed onto the bed as if her body had given out.
'So there's no way to know whether the Giosa Owners remember or not. Then... I'll have to assume they do and act accordingly.'
A groan escaped her lips. The Giosa Owners wouldn't know what happened after their deaths, of course, but the memories leading up to them were more than enough reason to want her dead.
If she stayed in the Roaz County, she would rarely have to face them. Their worlds were simply too different. The problem was that to obtain another Giosa in place of this damned demon sword, she would have to go to the Azure Sky Knights—where all four Giosa Owners were gathered.
Even if she were discovered as the demon sword's wielder and forced to fight, she wouldn't be the one to get hurt. But she now had a family she had barely managed to reclaim. If she fought, neither the Azure Sky Knights nor the Empire would leave the Roaz County alone.
So she absolutely could not let them find out she was the demon sword's wielder. Those who had spared her once only to be slaughtered would never trust her again.
'......Would Yurien believe me?'
The thought crossed her mind before she could stop it, and Echinacea quickly shook her head. She recalled the look in his eyes just before their swords clashed in that final moment. His sky-blue irises, fractured like broken glass. A dull ache throbbed in her chest.
"You're insane, Echinacea. After betraying him like that, you still think he'd trust you again? He'd have every right to swing his sword the moment he recognizes you—you wouldn't even have a word to say in your defense."
Echinacea let out a hollow laugh. Something viscous seemed to crawl up her ankles. She bit her lower lip, shaking off the gloom. She'd grown accustomed to setting goals and focusing entirely on them—overcoming the magic sword, gathering Giosas.
Her top priority was obtaining another Giosa to replace the magic sword. Then she'd deal with Valdergiosa itself. To do that, she needed to enter the "Giosa Hall," the deepest and most heavily guarded chamber within the Azure Sky Knights' headquarters. This vault, where ownerless Giosas were sealed and stored, only opened under three circumstances:
First, when a missing Giosa was recovered and needed storage.
Second, when an existing Giosa Owner died or retired, returning their Giosa.
Third, when an official knight of the Azure Sky Knights was granted the opportunity to choose a Giosa.
The third case was one reason master-level knights from every nation coveted affiliation with the Azure Sky Knights. Becoming an Azure Sky Knight granted a chance to obtain a Giosa. Though only a handful ever ascended to Giosa Owners, the opportunity itself was impartially available.
'Realistically, only the first or third options are possible. And the first is obviously out of the question.'
She did possess a missing Giosa—Valdergiosa. But the magic sword could never be revealed. Even assuming the Giosa Owners retained no memories of the previous timeline, announcing she held a magic sword was too dangerous. Merely possessing an ownerless magic sword might be one thing, but she was its owner.
Concealing that ownership was impossible. The moment she relinquished the sword, she'd forget all memories from before her regression.
'Sneaking into the Giosa Hall... isn't easy, and even if I succeeded, I'd make the Azure Sky Knights my eternal enemies. That leaves only one path.'
Becoming an Azure Sky Knight would let her obtain a Giosa legitimately. After securing another, she could discard Valdergiosa and report it as an ownerless magic sword discovered somewhere. The Azure Sky Knights would seal it away more thoroughly than anyone.
'Right. Hide that I'm the magic sword's owner, join the Azure Sky Hawks, and enter the Giosa Hall. There's no other way. Since I've collected Giosas before, I can just pick any one inside.'
Joining the Azure Sky Hawks wasn't the concern. The problem was whether the Giosa Owners might remember. Echinacea glared at Valdergiosa beside her before rising. She stood before a full-length mirror, drilling her reflection with a stare.
While corrupted by the magic sword, her hair and eyes had been pitch black. Unlike natural black-haired, black-eyed individuals, hers had shimmered grotesquely, the original color utterly obscured. Black stains mottled her skin; blood, dust, and sweat caked her. Her practical attire was nearly rags, hair hacked or tangled as if ripped out in clumps.
Even family would've struggled to recognize her. Careful scrutiny might have revealed her, but she left no opportunity—she spared no one she encountered. Thus, no one ever identified her. With almost no survivors, her appearance was never properly documented.
As a result, none knew that Echinacea Roaz of the Kyrie Empire's Roaz County was the Demon of the Magic Sword. The Giosa Owners didn't even know her name. Officially, the demon's identity remained unknown.
In contrast, her current self—uncommon pink hair, unmistakably noble—was unforgettable at a glance.
'It's possible. I can hide.'
She only needed to appear as Lady Echinacea Roaz. No connection existed between her and the Demon of the Magic Sword. Even in the worst-case scenario—if all Giosa Owners retained their memories—she simply had to avoid anything reminiscent of her time wielding the sword.
"Keep your appearance neat and clean, never go bare-faced, and always wear makeup—that should make it even harder to recognize me. I'm just too different from how I was back then."
Her swordsmanship, of course, would also have to differ from that time. Now that she had overcome the demonic influence, she was even stronger than she had been as the demon, so it was possible.
But it wouldn't be easy for a knight to always dress up like a noble lady or wear makeup. If she stubbornly clung to things that were obviously inconvenient, people would find it strange.
She didn't want to risk going bare-faced, either. Wearing a mask all the time was out of the question.
And staying completely unnoticed was impossible from the start. During her time as an officer cadet, she might have managed to blend in, but once she set the record for the fastest knighthood promotion, everyone's attention would inevitably turn to her—just as Yurien had become the talk of every tea party.
Still, she had no intention of wasting over three years just to avoid standing out. Even three years was far too long.
Disguising herself as a man? She had no interest in creating a fake identity when she already had a legitimate one. Besides, passing as a man would be difficult. Her figure, her face—everything about her was undeniably feminine, and her bust was too large to be bound down with compression bandages.
No matter how she thought about it, the best option was to dress extravagantly. As long as she had a plausible reason.
After some deliberation, an unexpectedly simple solution came to mind—one that would allow her to maintain her adorned appearance without raising suspicion.
"I'll just say it's my personality. A fastidious young lady. One who despises getting dirty, loathes sweating, refuses to appear before others without proper adornment, and absolutely won't wear anything as shabby as training clothes."
It wouldn't be hard. Given the circumstances, she had dressed carelessly in her past life, but Echinacea had always enjoyed dressing up. Besides, before becoming entangled with the Magic Sword, Echinacea Roaz had been the very picture of a fussy noble lady. All she had to do was temporarily abandon the common sense of dressing appropriately for the occasion. It might be inconvenient when wielding a sword, but she could live with that.
"I'll have to wear gloves all the time because of the Magic Sword's markings... I can just say I never take them off because I hate damaging my hands."
Most knightly orders wouldn't tolerate such behavior, but the Azure Sky Knights would. As long as she upheld the basic tenets of knighthood and fulfilled her duties to the Azure Sky, they wouldn't nitpick the details. Given that each member was a Master-level powerhouse from diverse nationalities, their discipline was relatively lax. Something as trivial as attire wouldn't hinder her from becoming a knight—especially when her skills were so overwhelming that she'd have to deliberately hold back.
She was confident she could take on at least one Giosa Owner even while wearing a puffy petticoat and high heels. Of course, that was without using her own Giosa, Valdergiosa. If the opponent was Yurien or if she had to face more than one, she'd have to draw Valdergiosa—but that was only because her body wasn't as conditioned as it had been in her past life. Her demonic talent had been honed through years drenched in blood and exhaustion.
As for her exceptional swordsmanship as a noble lady who should have been ordinary? She could brush it off by saying she had secretly trained alone. If someone doubted that self-study could achieve such a level, she could just insist it was because she was a genius. It wasn't even a lie.
So, the plan was to become an eccentric genius knight who wore dresses, makeup, and high heels.
It was such an absurd, laughable setup that even a romance novel wouldn't dare use it. And that was precisely why she liked it. No one would connect such a ridiculous figure to the Demon of the Magic Sword.
"Perfect. I'll get plenty of insults, but at least no suspicion. And honestly, compared to the hate-filled words I endured back then, a few insults are downright cute."