“Who else is it this time?”

No matter how you look at it, she’s the spitting image of Louise, so who on earth would see Eclas’s appearance in that child?

“My mother did!”

“…I guess it’s only your mother then.”

I wondered if there was anyone else who thought that way, but it turned out to be Louise after all.

Did she want to see Eclas in the child’s appearance that badly?

For a moment, irritation welled up inside him.

“I told you. Your mother is a liar.”

“You’re the liar, you evil mister!”

“It doesn’t work that way just because you insist on it, little one.”

“You’re insisting too! Eve is not little!”

“You are little indeed.”

As Sched lightly pressed down on Eve’s head, her cheeks puffed up and became sullen.

‘Ha, what am I doing here with this chestnut-sized thing….’

Sched suddenly realized his own pathetic state and shook his head.

He walked over to the table and picked up a matchbox.

Lightly tapping the small box on his palm, the matchbox opened and the matchsticks neatly arranged inside jumped out.

“You’ll need to practice hiding that ability of yours.”

He picked up a matchstick and struck it against the red friction surface coated with ignition material. A small flame rose from the tip of the matchstick.

“But I don’t know how to do it!”

Eve protested with a pouting face.

She seemed to be quite upset that she couldn’t do it herself.

Her mother had explained what it should feel like several times, but she couldn’t even get a sense of what that feeling was.

“If you practice, you’ll somehow manage.”

Sched lit a candle and picked up a small pin from one side of the desk.

As he blackened the silver-shining tip of the pin with the candle flame, the pin tip became red-hot.

“It would be best for you to practice with me.”

Sched brought the pin and took a seat next to Eve.

Sensing what Sched was about to do, Eve shuddered and buried herself deep into the armchair.

“No, I’m scared!”

No child likes being pricked with a needle.

No, not just children, but anyone would be unwilling.

Sched couldn’t feel at ease either, pricking a little one who looked like she had nowhere to be pricked.

But he was already a ‘villain’.

Therefore, Sched willingly decided to take on the role of the bad guy.

To prevent Eve’s power from being discovered. And to prevent Louise’s sin from being exposed.

“If you can’t hide that power, your mother will be captured by scary people.”

“Why…?”

“That power is….”

A sin in itself.

Sched’s gaze fell to the carpet.

It was too complicated a story to explain to a child.

“Listen carefully. If you can’t hide that power, you’ll be in danger too, and your mother might even die.”

At that, tears welled up in Eve’s eyes and a teardrop fell.

“Mom will die…?”

“Yes. She’ll die.”

Sched coldly informed the child of the reality.

He didn’t want to have this conversation with a clueless little one, but this issue needed to be addressed immediately.

He had fought countless wars until now.

He had witnessed numerous scenes while fighting on the front lines since the age of ten.

Fools standing there dumbfounded, cowards crying in fear, or those boasting with arrogance and bluster.

They all died.

Whether they were good or bad, they easily lost their lives.

War never shows mercy for being young.

And Eve, simply by possessing heretical powers, was already in the middle of a battlefield.

Complacency would only lead to greater disaster.

“So, make sure to master the skill of hiding your power.”

Sched patted Eve’s head as she sobbed.

Eve raised her eyes, wiping her tear-stained eyes with the back of her hand.

“For mom’s sake…?”

“…It’s for your sake too.”

As Sched spoke calmly in a low voice, a solemn worry unfit for her age settled on Eve’s face.

A determination soon formed on her tightly closed lips.

It was somewhat admirable how well she followed along with her tiny head.

“In return, if you become good at hiding your power, I’ll give you a reward.”

“A reward?”

At Eve’s query, Sched bent his knees to meet the child’s eyes.

“I’ll grant you one wish.”

“Really?”

A smile finally bloomed on Eve’s face, which had been quite serious until then.

“Yes.”

“You promise!”

Eve’s heart raced at the thought of someone who was like a ‘king’ fulfilling her wish.

What would be the best wish to ask a king?

Should she ask to wear a crown? Or should she ask to be taken to a library with a huge number of books together with her mother?

“However, this contract must be kept a secret from your mother.”

Sched proposed one more promise while calming down the excited child.

If Louise found out about this, she would surely try to stop it.

Even if she couldn’t stop it, she would certainly be more hurt than the child.

“Contract…? Secret?”

“To protect your mother.”

“It’s in the fairy tale! Secret knight!”

The child’s eyes shone so easily and so brightly.

“…Yes, it’s like a secret knight.”

Sched didn’t know what fairy tale she had read, but he decided to agree with her.

Thanks to Sched’s permission to roam freely, Louise was able to access the warehouse where old newspapers and newsletters were stored.

Louise selected articles from the period when her eyes and ears were closed and returned to her room.

Although there was a considerable amount accumulated over several years, it wasn’t difficult to find content related to Sched Lester among them.

His name was typically featured on the front page, in the largest headlines.

The first thing that caught her eye was the bold text on a special edition:

— The engagement of the century cancelled! The Grand Temple turns its back on the Lester family

It was the news of the broken engagement between Sched Lester and Giselle Marlhein.

As Carlyle had said, the two decided to break off their engagement around the time Sched left for the Blancas battlefield.

The one who first requested the dissolution was Giselle Marlhein.

As the Grand Priestess, Giselle did not directly criticize the other party, but she subtly implied that the cause of the broken engagement lay entirely with Sched.

Accordingly, the arrows of criticism were directed at Sched.

— The beast that arrogantly ran wild, not knowing its place

— The reason Grand Priestess Giselle Marlhein made this decision is because Duke Sched Lester is unable to produce an heir. It is absurd for such a person to hold the ducal position.

— A dog without a prick!

— The astronomical losses the Lester family will have to bear due to the broken engagement….

Amidst all sorts of rumors, Sched did not say a single word.

He left for the battlefield without any response.

Louise stopped reading the various criticisms directed at Sched.

It was because she thought she was partly responsible for them.

Giselle’s decision to break the engagement was likely because of her.

Louise pushed aside all the publications from that time.

And she sneered.

Sched Lester and Louise Ideana had stubbornly ruined each other’s lives.

Persistently unable to let go of each other, only adding to the ill-fated relationship and misfortune.

Somehow, she felt she knew the reason Sched had come looking for her.

To once again ruin her, who had been happy for a brief moment with Eve.

Louise skimmed through articles from around the time of the Blancas War, skipping a few documents.

After flipping through several months’ worth of materials, Sched’s name once again adorned the front page.

— Duke Lester missing, Imperial Army retreats from Tur Front

Louise quickly read through the daily newspaper, learning about news she hadn’t even heard from Carlyle.

‘During the war… he had gone missing?’

Articles poured out indicating that Sched had become isolated alone during the battle and disappeared, and the tide of the war quickly turned, foreshadowing the Empire’s defeat.

When Sched did not return for a week, the Lester ducal family prepared to select a new head.

There was a movement to treat Sched as killed in action, and in the absence of a successor, to install his uncle and Grand Priest, Dietrich Lester, as the head of the family.

By law, a Grand Priest cannot become the head of a family, so articles emerged speculating whether Dietrich would take off his priestly robes…

— The invincible hero miraculously returns, with the head of the enemy commander!

Sched returned after achieving merit.

Nevertheless, he could not avoid criticism once again.

Because the fact that he could not use aura was publicly revealed.

Once more, finger-pointing and anger were directed at him.

On the grounds that he should be held accountable for the loss of military strength.

Even with his overwhelming power as a Lupus and Swordmaster, he fell from grace just as easily.

Jeers were aimed at him, who had become a ‘has-been’ unable to use aura.

There were even assertions that he should be stripped of his title and rights, claiming that he was able to hold a noble rank only because he was a Swordmaster.

It was astonishing.

He had brought the Lester family unprecedented prestige, brought countless victories and glory to the Empire, and saved the Empire from crisis.

Yet he so easily became a target of hatred.

Because he was from Lupus.

He was prey to be torn apart, an object of envy, and to some, still an unwelcome impurity.

Only then did Louise face the other side of the glory that ‘Sched Lester’ possessed.

She had only thought he was living well.

Because Eclas had always conveyed it as if Sched was basking only in the pure light of glory.

Moreover, what he had achieved was sufficiently deserving of such treatment.

But why…?

‘Why did Eclas portray these facts in such a way?’

Louise ran her fingertips over the old newspaper that still smelled of ink.

Did Eclas not convey this truth for my sake?

Did he really… do it only for my sake?

Louise’s fingertips stopped at a corner of the newspaper.

Next to the article about Sched’s disappearance, there was an article about the Bitel family, who had made a fortune by supplying military goods to overcome the Empire’s crisis.