“W-wait!”

“It’ll be over soon, so wait.”

His face was so stern that I had no choice but to let go. The enraged Hermann swung his sword wrapped up in flames and slammed it down.

Dietrich responded as if he could not lose, but even though I half-darkened it, its essence was still that of a holy sword.

Even though his hand holding the hilt of the sword turned black, still, he didn’t show any signs of pain even as he parred Hermann’s sword raging with fire in front of his indifferent face.

‘He’s always like that ever since we were young.’

My temper rose up and I ground my teeth. He could have asked for help if it felt too heavy, but he never did so. Even though he knew I didn’t mind working hard, he’s always like that.

“Please, get out of the way!”

The tree I raised up to block Hermann’s sword, swinging against Dietrich burned helplessly.

‘He probably wouldn’t be able to kill me anyway.’

Whether it be because of Hermann Euclid’s heroic nature or the righteous cause that’s stopping him, he wouldn’t be able to harm his younger sister whom he got separated as a child.

“I told you to get out of the way!”

However, Eredia’s ability was powerless against the flames of the sun god so there was no way I could stop him.

He couldn’t come at me right away, so I glared at Hermann and stood tall, stretching my arms on both sides.

“What are you doing?”

“Let go!”

As I recklessly tried to take the holy sword, Dietrich forcefully grabbed me by the shoulders. I glared at his bewildered face.

“I said let go!”

“Why are you angry?”

“Why? Do you think I don’t know how to be annoyed or angry?”

Even though I said this, it was hardly justifiable since I’ve already been annoyed and angry at him several times. I glared at him and raised my voice.

“I also don’t like to see you get hurt. How many times do I have to tell you so you can stick it inside your head? Did you leave your smart brain when you left the house?”

“….What?”

“And now your ears are also clogged? Do you think I find it comfortable just seeing you get hurt?!”

Dietrich only stared at me with sharp eyes like a piece of frozen glass as I rained down on him the words I had been holding back.

‘I don’t know why the hell he’s so surprised.’

What? So did he think I’ve been running around looking for the holy relics for nothing while thinking I liked seeing him get hurt, go to the battlefield and return only as a corpse with his head severed?

“I know you’re good, incomparably so. But still, I’m annoyed.”

There was no reply. His indifferent face remained the same, but it was as if he was so surprised that he was mesmerized for a moment. I quickly snatched the sword from Dietrich’s hand.

Before Dietrich and Hermann returned to their senses, since they were surprised by my loud and angry shouting, I had to darken the holy sword all at once with fervor.

‘I’ve done it so many times so I’m getting used to it.’

The way to use this ability was a matter of trick as well. Even as I fell forward, with my energy drained, I didn’t forget to look Hermann in the eyes.

“I…am not your sister.”

“………….”

“I have never once in my life thought of it—”

Darkness.

The light flickered.

────── 〔✿〕──────

As soon as the holy sword was darkened, I lost consciousness, so I didn’t know how I came to return to Lagrange.

“Hic, ugh! Hu! Gugh!”

When I opened my eyes, I found myself in a familiar bedroom and Veronica was crying loudly beside me.

Seeing that my body was feeling heavy, I must have been still tired yet I was woken up by the loud noise.

‘I thought she was a ghost.’

I wasn’t able to properly turn my head to check her appearance as I couldn’t seem to have the strength, I would have been scared to know that a lot of ghosts had been attached to me.

I narrowed my eyes and found Veronica’s thick blonde hair with her forehead on the floor, wailing.

“……Veronica?”

“Huk! Kugh! When the hell are you going to wake up?!”

“Veronica.”

“Ah, kugh! Can’t you see I’m crying! Ugh! Why do you keep making me talk! Why!”

As she spoke, she raised her head as if noticing something strange. Her oval face was still pretty, but her eyes looked blank and tired.

“Oh? Oh, Ohhh!!!”

I reached out my hand toward her red eyes. She looked like a surprised rabbit, it was quite cute.

“Why are you crying like that?”

“Anissa!”

Veronica shouted my name loudly and someone entered the door without knocking.

“Anissa!!!”

The triplets cried as they ran toward me.

“Are you finally awake?!”

“I thought our Anissa is going to, ugh! Die!”

“Uh, kuhh, uuu.”

I held Rose in my arms, who couldn’t even speak properly and just cried, and comforted her.

“Don’t cry. I’m fine.”

“Liar! You just kept on sleeping!”

‘They must have been worried because I fainted and couldn’t get up.’

Even so, I would have just been sick for a few days so there was no need to worry. I shrugged my shoulders and watched the triplets cry like baby birds.

‘Hm?’

But Maslow and Riesling’s faces were quite unfamiliar.

‘Did they … grow a bit?’

Rose didn’t change except for her long hair, but the boys were taller as if they grew by a span and their jaws were sharper.

“Maslow and Riesling, why did you get so big?”

Even though it was said that boys grow up differently day by day, they couldn’t have grown up like this in a few days.

“…..How long was I asleep?”

Veronica hesitated at my question. I swallowed, afraid of the answer that I would hear.

“Did I sleep for a long time?”

“It’s been a year since Dietrich carried you from the sanctuary in Mount Limeria.”

“What?!”

“In that time, you’ve opened your eyes a few times, but this is the first time you finally became conscious.”

I was surprised by Veronica’s words as if thunder had struck from nowhere, and I wanted to faint again.

‘I wasted one year just to darken the holy sword?’

In the meanwhile, Euclid might have already obtained the remaining relics!

“Anissa!”

I raised my body up in a hurry but fell back on the bed once again because my legs didn’t have any strength.

“Lay down. The kids are calling for a doctor now.”

“No, I’m fine. I roughly know why I was asleep.”

I was just punished for using the power of a benevolent god, which should be used to help others, to darken the holy relics.

“Even so, no. For now, don’t move.”

Veronica shook her head resolutely and laid me down on the bed. She placed the blanket up until my neck, but the sun shining through the open window was warm.

“Is it summer now?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m already sixteen years old?”

“That’s right. You turned sixteen without making a debut.”

A swear word that I’ve never uttered before rose up to my throat.

“This is ridiculous.”

Lying in bed for a long while wasn’t what I expected and all my hard-earned plans were shattered.

“You’re right. It’s ridiculous that you’ve just laid in bed for a long time.”

“What about Lagrange? How did the negotiations with Countess Devonshire go?”

“As soon as you opened your eyes that’s what you’re worried about?”

Veronica let out a small sigh as if scolding me. Still, I couldn’t stop asking her about the situation in the North.

‘I was just about to start a connection with Countess Devonshire!’

As my ties with her grew stronger, I could have handled the Northern high society as if it were in the palm of my hand.

If you’re not reading this at blogspot, you’re probably reading from an aggregator site. Read this translation at /.

Only by using the society and persuading them well would we be able to quell the Northen noble’s complaints that we only cared about the common people.

“Since you seemed to want to get close to her, I did it in your stead. All you need to do is melt the hearts of the ladies, right?”

Veronica laughed as she flipped her short bob-cut hair to show her neckline.

“Even to Derek Lagrange, I acted coyly as if I only knew how to flatter for my own safety, so it’s not hard to please ladies who don’t know how scary my shadow is.”

I breathed a sigh of relief which I didn’t even know I was holding at her answer.

‘It’s not yet too late to win.’

“What about the nursery school? Did the charity work go according to plans?”

“That’s right. Dietrich even took a piece of my land to buy the favor of the ladies.”

Veronica smirked as she held her chin with her arms on the bed. My eyes widened at her refreshing smile.

‘I thought he wouldn’t follow my plan since I was the one who pushed for it myself.’

“Dietrich did? Didn’t we have no money?”

“Even if we didn’t have money, I guess we have land. What would he even do if I just picked it up and carried it?”

Even as I eyed her as she said those cunning words, I greeted the doctor that came along with the children.

“Hey! They said you opened your eyes!”

“My lady!”

Behind them, Yuric, who was sweating from whatever he was doing, came together with Marilyn.

As the years I spent in Lagrange seemed to be growing in significance, unknowingly, there seemed to be many connections that piled up.

When the servants heard that I had woken up, they came in one by one and pushed their faces.

“My lady, do you know how much you worried me?”

I giggled as I watched Lancel, who had just gotten a little bit older and had a little gray hair, cry until his nose turned red.

“Were you really worried? Are you sure you didn’t plan to run away with my emergency fund when I die?”

“What are you saying! Do you see me as a beast!!”

I stared at the wide-open door over Lancel, who was about to die of injustice.

Dietrich wasn’t coming.

Even the stableman’s son, whom I’ve never even spoken with came to see me, but Dietrich didn’t look for me.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep