Chapter 06
“Are you a spy?”
“…?”
“Why are you staring at me like that?”
The Supreme Commander lifted his head and was looking straight at Dylan. Instantly, everyone turned to look at Dylan too.
Startled, Dylan quickly lowered his head.
“I apologize, Commander. My younger brother admires you so much—I thought I’d tell him I saw you, so I stared without meaning to be rude.”
A few knights smiled lightly at Dylan’s excuse. But the twenty-year-old Supreme Commander didn’t.
His blue eyes didn’t show the slightest bit of humor.
After quickly reading through the papers, the Commander signed them and handed them back.
“Take it.”
“Yes, Commander.”
One of the knights took the signed documents and politely returned them to Dylan and the others. After a perfectly formal goodbye, Dylan left the military building with the rest of the aides. Only after stepping out did they start to breathe easier and chat casually.
“The Commander really is like ice, isn’t he?”
“Totally. He’s nothing like Young Master Enrico. I heard they’re the same age.”
“Still… he’s ridiculously handsome. Reminds me of my younger days.”
“You’re out of your mind. Try again after you’re reborn.”
“Let him dream. He clearly wants to be reborn in hell.”
But Dylan was thinking something entirely different.
His personality’s changed a lot.
His face was incredibly handsome, like it had been carved from pure silver—but that was it. He had a cold aura, dark shadows on his face. Ten years ago, the boy wasn’t very smiley either, but at least he smiled more than Blandea. Back then, she was the cold one.
At that time, Schloitz Procyon had still been a normal boy. But now…
Dylan squinted through his silver-rimmed monocle.
With a personality like that, you’d expect him to chase after Blandea. But he hasn’t even made a move. Why’s he staying quiet?
****
“Blan? What are you doing here?”
I flinched and turned around at the sudden voice. Mother was walking toward me. I had nearly jumped off the terrace in surprise. I was gripping the railing tightly and sighed with relief.
“I was just… breathing.”
“Why are you hiding to breathe?”
I couldn’t tell her it was because Sir Balock might suddenly show up and say, “Now that you’ve rested, let’s go help in the training field!”
A maid followed Mother, holding a glass jug of water and a cup.
“Here, drink this.”
The cool water with lemon juice felt refreshing. After I finished it, Mother took the empty cup and handed it to the maid herself.
“You seem happy today.”
“Something nice happened.”
I smiled. Dylan had returned and said that Schloitz looked very healthy. Even his eyes seemed perfectly fine.
Even though I didn’t say much, Mother didn’t ask more. She always looked like she already knew everything, which was a little embarrassing.
“Blan,” she said.
“Enri is coming home.”
“Huh? Already?”
“Noble houses like the Tower always have a lot of duties. And with that recent major defense at the Chevrone territory… They say a lot of sword wielders had to pull out.”
“Oh… you mean Enrico has to join the military now?”
“That’s right, Blan.”
I tilted my head.
I knew that time would come eventually… but wasn’t it a little early?
I found out why Enrico had come home early a few days later.
****
Enrico tilted his chin slightly.
The reason he returned to the capital house earlier than expected was simple.
“The military wants a demonstration of the Opats right away?”
“That’s what they said, young master.”
Enrico was surprised. Opats was a project he had been working on for the family—he didn’t expect the military to show this much interest.
“They’re basically always in a state of emergency.”
“Well, yeah. They’re the ones fighting the monsters.”
The military was constantly on edge, and they were especially sensitive to any new weapons or armor. The sacred swords had been the only official weapons to fight monsters for centuries. And all the other weapons and armor created by noble families, despite all the money and effort, had been scrapped after a few trials.
“Enricor, you don’t even have hair left to cut.”
At that moment, a voice spoke up, and Enrico looked over.
“Hector.”
He was Enrico’s roommate from the academy and a brilliant student who always ranked either first or second in the entire class.
“You can’t cut your hair any shorter.”
“True.”
Enrico ran his hand through his thick blond hair.
As a noble heir, he always kept his hair at a certain length to maintain dignity. After all, he was the direct heir of the Lefevre family, and appearances mattered.
But the Oparts project required Lefevre bloodline hair. He had no choice since it was based on his own body from the start.
Hector asked,
“You hate the idea of asking Blandea for some hair that much?”
“I’d rather die.”
Of course, Enrico had thought about whether he could beg a few strands from his father… but Blandea didn’t even cross his mind.
She was kind of like a sacred figure to him.
When they were little, her hair started losing color, turning grayish-white, and it barely grew. It was because of harsh medicine. Their parents used to cry while stroking her dry, short hair after she fell asleep.
Even Enrico, just a toddler then, would touch her dusty-looking hair and get all teary without knowing why. He’d realize it only when his baby cheeks were wet with tears.
That’s probably why, even now, he didn’t want to touch her hair. Even knowing she was pushing herself hard with that monster-like Balloch’s training…
He still remembered her as the fragile little girl.
So Enrico used up every bit of his available resources, staying up night after night to continue his research on Oparts. He had no idea that Hector, who was pretending to be all chummy with Blandea, had been sneaking hair from her for weeks.
Hector ended up getting punched and kicked out, sleeping in the detached library that night.
****
“My lady, they say the entire 1st Division returned alive thanks to young master’s Oparts.”
I blinked in surprise at Venus’s words.
“Really?”
“Yes, truly.”
It had been a few weeks since Hector had shown up like a shady dealer and begged on his knees. I’d secretly given him some hair.
Only a few weeks, and already Opats made that much difference? That’s amazing.
Still, I didn’t have time to visit the lab or talk to Enrico.
These days, I was doing 17 hours of special training daily with Sir Balloch. Run, swing the sword, collapse, sleep—that was my life.
“Look, it’s changed a lot too.”
Like she was showing off a pocket watch, Venus dropped the Opats. It dangled by a string, swaying like a simple necklace.
It looks really different from the one I sent to Titania.
Back then, you could clearly see Enrico’s blond hair inside it—like a bug trapped in amber. Now, it looked like a hardened jewel made of translucent liquid. Just a few bubbles inside.
But actually, all of that is made with my hair…
That thought made me feel kind of weird—part gross, part funny. It also made me realize how amazing the Lefebvre purification power really was.
It was only briefly mentioned in the original story, though.
Still, fans loved it in the comments:
“Wow, it really suits Enri.”
“If someone had this power in the modern world, they’d be forced to have five kids minimum.”
“Okay, thanks for the human rights violation.”
“Enri’s too clean. I want to ruin him.”
Honestly, in this world, it’s not a particularly important power. In a place full of monsters, offensive or healing powers are way more valuable. Purification isn’t all that useful in actual combat.
So I think it was just a throwaway power to make the “Tower Family” setting feel more special. Living as Blandea now, my opinion hasn’t changed much. It raises the family’s prestige, but no one’s going crazy trying to steal the ability.
It’s just the right level of special.
Still, it was strange to think that a power like this created something as real and powerful as Oparts. The original story never even hinted at something like this.
****
A few days later.
Hector, who had been quiet for a while, crawled back to my room. I snipped off some hair for him again. I had told him he could just pick up what fell on my pillow, but he insisted that freshly cut hair was better for some reason.
I kind of feel like… an herb patch now.
“Hurry back. What if Enri catches you?”
“Research always comes with risk, my lady.”
“Mmm.”
Just like the title “The Mad Beauty’s End,” Hector was also quite handsome—despite being a background character I’d never seen before. His sky-blue hair gave him a bright and breezy look. It was funny how he casually bossed Enricor around but used very polite speech with me.
“My lady,” Hector said.
“Would you consider marrying me in the future?”
“Marriage? Out of nowhere? Why? You want to climb the social ladder…? Oh.”
Hector just smiled brightly.
