The Precious Sister of The Villainous Grand Duke

"Haa."

I calmed my breath, focusing on the sharp blade cutting through the air.

It may look like a child's prank in Dietrich's eyes, but if I didn't hold on to it, he would soon forget about it.

I moved according to the steps I had learned from Liatris, slicing up the air with the wooden sword I borrowed – stole – from the wooden warehouse.

'Uhm?'

It was midnight because I couldn't sleep and kept tossing around, but I felt a presence behind me. I loosened my strength, pretending not to be vigilant.

"Ack!"

Waiting for him to come close, I grabbed his hand and twisted it, then kicked him on his knee, and the tall man fell down.

".....Damon?"

The blue and silver hair shining in the moonlight was familiar. I looked down at him with a bewildered gaze, as he sat down with a cry of pain, covering his most important parts with his two hands.

"What brings you here this late at night, Marquis?"

"Ugh, ughh."

I felt sorry looking at his face which looked like it would cry any time soon. My eyes widened seeing Damon, who was always either cynical or blunt, be in so much pain that tears welled up.

"Did it hurt that much? Even though I kicked you gently?"

In the first place, my motive was to check who it was and to be wary, so I hadn't kicked with all my might.

'I didn't know that the self-defense techniques that Liatris taught me would be so effective.'

It's a technique that even made the magician who owned a tower froth in the mouth, so if I put all my strength into it, would I be able to make Dietrich cry?

"Do you have, ugh, some kind of, urk, grudge against me or something?"

Damon glared at me who was smirking with scary thoughts.

"I'm sorry. I thought you were an assassin coming late at night. You should have contacted me beforehand."

"Can't you tell that it's me just by aura?!"

"I'm tired so I don't always use my abilities. I really didn't know."

I supported Damon who was sitting on the floor. Embarrassed about making a fit due to pain, he covered his red face with one hand.

"....I'm sorry for not informing you of my visit beforehand. I just had to meet with you secretly for a matter."

"What matter is that?"

"My other student said that he really wanted to meet you."

Damon's other student must be no other than Hermann.

'The aura that I feel over there must be Hermann, then.'

I hummed and turned my head towards the bushes which were swaying on their own without the wind.

'Did Damon use warp?'

Should I say that the security in Lagrange castle was lax, or was it because Hermann was the protagonist who was outstanding at martial arts that he didn't get caught?

I narrowed my eyes at the dark pink hair that bloomed like a cockscomb petal.

"I think you took the wrong way."

Not expecting that I would find him first, he scratched his chin with a sullen face.

I looked alternately between Hermann and Damon, knitting my eyebrows in displeasure.

"Marquis, what is the meaning of this? You brought the Duke of Euclid to Lagrange?"

Didn't magic tower and Faber have no intentions to interfere with the rose war between the South and the North?

"My student, whom I had known since he was a child, cried and begged me, and I couldn't help it because it's my duty as a teacher. If the Princess doesn't like it, I will take responsibility and take him back."

"When d-did I! I cried?"

"Your back was wet with sweat while your chest was wet with tears, if I remember, Duke."

"That's not true! It's a misunderstanding, Princess! I didn't cry like a child!"

Hermann squawked in astonishment at Damon's serious request.

'I don't really care whether he cried or not so what's wrong with him.'

As I shrugged my shoulders with a sour face, Hermann's fingers flinched.

"Have you been…well?"

He trailed at his words as if deciding whether to use formal speech or not with me.

"Yes. As you can see, I am leading a very comfortable life."

"I'm glad."

"Why have you come? You had already proceeded with marriage talks without asking the consent of the person involved, and now are you thinking of dragging her out by force this time?"

'Should I scream and call for security?'

But since Damon was here, he probably won't do anything to me. At my fierce response, Herman quickly waved his hands.

"I won't do such an absurd thing. I have no intention of forcing you. I have no idea of it since the imperial family did it on their own."

I nodded my head with an expressionless face at his excuse.

"I know it's rude, but I have something to say to you so I had no choice but to pester my teacher about it."

"Speak."

I doubted what he wanted to say was important enough to risk sneaking into a Duke's castle, but I answered by extending my hand at Hermann to stop him from coming close to me.

"Do it from there."

"I mean no harm to you, I mean, Princess. Why won't you believe me?"

Hermann bit his lips as if he was being wrongly accused. His aura was blue with sadness.

"I believe you. Even so, don't come close."

I knew he had no hostile intentions, but I also knew very well that he wanted to 'get his sister back' from the villains, so I couldn't help but feel hurt.

'Well, he doesn't have the temperament to drag me back.'

"I'm here to ask you to come back to Euclid."

"I won't go back. Why don't you take my corpse back when I'm dead?"

The more I take after Dietrich, the rougher I spoke. Damon raised his eyebrow as if he wanted to teach me a lady's virtue right away.

"....Mother regretted that she wasn't able to persuade you. It must be heartbreaking for a mother to lose her child."

I snorted at Hermann's words. I wasn't sneering, but his naive faith was comical that it made me laugh out loud.

"You said you believe my words, so why are you laughing?"

Misunderstanding my laughter, his polite face distorted.

"Although I don't have the power of the sun god, she must be regretting because she realized too late that I have the power of Eredia."

Words that were colder than the cool night air that touched my cheek came out. A white breath spread through the air.

"Ah, why did I throw her away? If I had known she had such an ability, I wouldn't have done that. What a waste. She must be feeling that way."

I didn't particularly resent Dona, but I was annoyed that there was not a single parent who was proper in this country.

'It isn't much different from my previous life, but at least I wasn't thrown away.'

Hermann raised his almond eyes as if that wasn't true.

"Does it matter between a parent and a child whether the child has an ability or not?"

"Of course, it matters. At least in Euclid and Lagrange."

"Euclid is different from Lagrange. There has never been a history in Euclid where weak people were thrown to be a demon's prey!"

Hermann's voice grew louder at the injustice. I shrugged as if not knowing why he was agitated.

"Is that so? In your eyes, Duke, are your parents kind enough to help children who wouldn't be of service to your family?"

"............."

"Are you really the only son of the former Grand Duke?"

Hermann couldn't quickly answer my calm question. Because he was someone who wasn't good at lying.

Dona Euclid wasn't the first wife of the former Grand Duke and there was no way that Hermann, who was now the Duke, wouldn't know the inside story.

"What about your half-sibling, who couldn't inherit the brilliant name of Euclid and instead received the name of a subsidiary family, for the reason that they had weak abilities?"

His lips twitched and he did his best to make excuses.

"Th-that's because my father's cousin was childless for a long time and they were worried about the family's successor so it couldn't be helped."

Making use of the beauty of his sons and daughters who didn't have any abilities, Euclid either married them to other families as if he was selling them or sent them to a subsidiary family.

For the reason that there should be no weak person born into the Euclid family who was loved by the sun god.

In this way, they firmly held and maintained their position as the center of the South.

He wasn't in a position to criticize Lagrange for selling their children to the demons in exchange for maintaining their power.

"I'm not saying there's no problem with my family. It's definitely peculiar. I think that morality has lost its meaning because the entirety of the aristocratic society relies on the powers of the gods."

I lowered the corners of my mouth that sneered at Hermann's calm attitude of acknowledgment of the problems of the South.

"There are times when I think that my power is a curse and not a blessing from the sun god."

"Why is that?"

"I couldn't even protect my one and only sister. It's ridiculous how incompetent I am for being a God's representative."

I was momentarily speechless at his skepticism.

Read this translation at /.

'He's already thinking like that?'

It was only after Dietrich was sealed that Hermann realized that the empire was deformed and started to correct society.

'Was this when he started to be disgusted with the empire?'

Then I thought, maybe it wasn't impossible to convince him so I approached Hermann who stood still. When I placed my hand on his broad shoulder, his eyes opened wide.

"You don't have to blame yourself. Just as Euclid is not as flawless as it appears, Lagrange is also a different place than you think."

"Even so, I have no thoughts of giving you up."

I had meant to change his mind about Lagrange through gentle coercion, but Hermann cut off my words adamantly.

"You don't seem to know about the power of the demons, Princess."

"I know more than you."

I even destroyed the evil god Asmodeus myself, so how could I not know? But Hermann continued with a hard look on his face.

"If you know, you wouldn't insist on staying in Lagrange. Do you want to die at the hands of those whom you call family?"

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