ISTV 40

The recording contained the man’s full confession.

The woman’s face had turned pale.

Just being in the same room with the man seemed to terrify her.

Though pitiful, it wasn’t just sympathy that arose.

‘Because she’s both a victim and a perpetrator.’

Pitiful, yes—but from Condis’ perspective, she was also a kind of offender.

Ordinarily, this incident would have completely eliminated Condis from the race to become the successor of the Queibec family.

‘Even if the man confessed everything… that alone isn’t enough.’

He could always say he confessed under coercion, or out of fear.

In the end, they needed the woman’s testimony.

“I understand your silence,” said Sayla gently.

Forcing a victim to testify could be another form of violence.

So Sayla took a slightly different approach.

“But I ask you to be brave.”

“…I, I…”

“All you have to do is answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the questions I ask. But I will ask them at the temple.”

“…”

“In front of the priests who discern truth.”

In other words, it didn’t matter whether the woman told the truth or lied.

“You may lie or speak the truth. You just need to accompany us to the temple. No—”

Sayla changed her tone.

“I command you to come to the temple. I must protect the honor of Condis, whom I cherish. I’ll bear all the costs.”

She glanced at the man.

He was trembling from head to toe.

“N-No! It was all m-my fault!”

Unable to endure the pressure, the man raised his hand again and confessed once more.

“You may feel wronged. That is why I demand the judgment of the temple.”

“I-I understand! It was my fault! I confess, so please be lenient!”

The man collapsed on the floor, sobbing.

In the end, Condis received only a relatively light punishment—three days of probation.

As soon as his probation ended, Condis came to see Sayla.

“Sayla. Why did you go that far?”

“Well…”

Sayla searched for the right words.

Because it seemed more advantageous to me? Because it helps me survive?

But she shook her head.

After thinking deeply, she realized it wasn’t just that.

Sayla liked righteous fools.

“I already said this at the trial. I believe in your sense of justice.”

Condis’s face flushed slightly at those words.

Sayla hadn’t just dressed up her motivations in pretty words.

To be honest, she had also calculated that she could use Condis.

“I wanted to believe that my judgment wasn’t wrong. So this wasn’t just for you—it was for me.”

“…”

“So please don’t read too much into it.”

“W-Wait. When you said you liked me, was that real?”

“Of course. I like your… righteousness.”

From that day on, Condis completely opened his heart to Sayla.

So did his twin brother, Andis.

“Sayla is always so elegant.”

“She has what we don’t.”

Sayla had something they lacked.

From then on, Sayla became the benchmark for their actions.

“What would Sayla do?”

“How would Sayla handle this?”

Just as Sayla had a big impact on Hamune, she had the same effect on the Dis twins.

They began to shower her with more affection and attention.

“She had a paternity test done when she was little.”

“Against her will?”

“Yeah. At age seven.”

The more they learned about Sayla, the more their hearts ached.

“They say she never once saw a doctor in ten years.”

“No way. Sayla gets sick at least once a month.”

They came to understand the kind of treatment Sayla had received in her family.

And what kind of childhood she’d endured.

“Children should just be loved.”

“That’s right. Children deserve love.”

But Sayla had to prove her worth to be loved.

That’s why she left her home and trained at Queibec.

Pushing her body to the extreme.

The Dis twins, now emotionally attached to her, always wanted to take care of her.

One day, they asked:

“How can we act like Sayla?”

“How can we become like Sayla?”

“What do you mean?”

Sayla had grown comfortable around them.

Without hiding anything, she had opened her heart to them, who looked after her even more carefully than her real brother.

“You’re always so humble and graceful, Sayla.”

“And we get scolded for not being like that.”

Sayla hesitated.

‘I want to help… but how do I explain it?’

It’s just my innate ‘graceful’ trait doing the work.

And the brothers behave the way they do because of their ‘righteous fool’ trait.

But she couldn’t say that.

“I don’t think you need to imitate me. You have your own way of doing things—your own ‘Condis and Andis’ way.”

“The Condis-and-Andis way…!”

“The Condis-and-Andis way…!”

“I think you both deserve respect just as you are.”

The Dis twins were deeply moved.

They had always felt like the troublemakers of the Queibec family.

Their parents had never once said, “You’re not good enough, try harder,” but that only made the silence more frightening and burdensome.

“Have confidence. You’re better people than anyone I’ve met.”

Those words were a great comfort.

“So we are good people!”

“No—we’re good brothers.”

They truly resolved to become Sayla’s good people, her good older brothers.

The Dis twins were excellent sparring partners for me.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t even graze them—so I could go all out without hesitation.

They accepted my attacks with ease and guided me during the sparring matches.

“Sayla, your sword has gotten really sharp.”

“Sayla, your sword’s really improved.”

They spoke in unison, true twins that they were.

They often talked like that when speaking with me.

Both wanted to talk to me, but since there was only one Sayla, this was their way of doing it.

“You don’t even need to train anymore.”

“You don’t need sword training anymore.”

I smiled gently.

“But I’m still far from perfect.”

The Dis twins immediately jumped in.

“No way! You’re strong, Sayla. Strong and beautiful.”

“You’re progressing at such an elegant pace.”

I wasn’t sure if they meant I was strong or just graceful—or both.

Either way, I was dripping with sweat and gasping for air.

Meanwhile, the twins were as relaxed as if they were out for a walk.

If they were going to say I was strong, the least they could do was pretend to be out of breath too.

Such unnecessarily honest brothers.

“But you always scold Hamune for being weak.”

“Hamune is weak.”

“Hamune is delicate.”

“But I’ve never beaten him.”

“Huh?”

It was strange that they always called Hamune weak while insisting I was strong.

“Isn’t that kind of a double standard?”

The two of them folded their arms in perfect sync and fell silent—clearly flustered.

“Just because you close your mouths firmly doesn’t mean you don’t look embarrassed, guys.”

“…!”

“…!”

Their obviously flustered expressions made me burst into laughter.

They were so strict with Hamune but so generous with me.

It was funny how Hamune, the one supposedly being discriminated against, didn’t seem to care at all.

“Don’t overdo it. Go get some rest—you had a fever last time too.”

“Yeah. Time to rest now.”

These brothers were more sensitive to my health than I was.

I often overworked myself without realizing it, but such incidents had decreased.

Because these brothers would stop me before I reached my limit.

Their “righteous fool” trait gave them sharper instincts than most. They could detect signs of strain in my body with uncanny precision.

Thanks to them, I’d become a little safer from the constant threat of sudden death.

“Okay. Thanks, guys.”

“No need to thank us.”

“This is nothing.”

Also, they were very weak to compliments.

Whenever I thanked them, their faces turned red and they looked away.

Extremely shy—but still always said what they wanted to say.

“Sayla, you’re a treasure of a little sister.”

“Sayla, you’re our treasure.”

To be honest, I didn’t know exactly when they started caring for me so much.

Probably after the trial—but I couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment.

Either way, their feelings were genuine, and I didn’t dislike it at all.

Lee Juhwan, you should take notes!

As much as I hate to admit it… I kind of miss Dad and his son.

I hope they’re doing okay.

…They haven’t forgotten me, right?