Episode 3
When I couldn’t say anything back, Blier’s eyes curved mischievously above her fan.
“Being covered in blood suits you well. You look almost too good to kill.”
“Please. What doesn’t suit me?”
“And yet you’re wearing that pitiful rag of a robe.”
Damn it.
Once again, I was left speechless. Blier burst into loud laughter, and the vermin around her jeered at me as well.
“……”
Trying to act calm, I brushed the dust off the same filthy, wrinkled robe Hayden had given me—the one I’d been wearing since that day, never even washed.
But no matter how much dust I shook off, that ragged robe wasn’t going to turn into a dress.
So humiliating.
If Hayden was going to make me something, couldn’t he at least have made it stylish?
She seemed satisfied with my reaction, her eyes glinting as she smiled.
“Always so arrogant, and yet here you are—dying alone. Any last words you want me to deliver?”
“No.”
Even if I left a will, it wasn’t like she’d pass it on.
I narrowed my eyes at her. Through the puffy layers of her dress, I could see dark priests in tunics bearing Cairo’s symbol, holding unfamiliar weapons.
Guns…?
And the numbers had grown while I was distracted. At least fifty now surrounded me.
So many, and I didn’t even notice them moving in?
Seeing my tension, Blier spoke sweetly.
“Ren. Wouldn’t it be better to beg for mercy than cling to pride? If you kneel and apologize, I might spare your life.”
“……”
Hah. Me, beg for my life from Cairo’s servants?
I scoffed and pulled back the hood of my robe.
When my uncovered face met her eyes, Blier’s gaze flickered slightly.
“You really think so little of me, Blier? You, who betrayed us?”
“What?”
“Begging for forgiveness—shouldn’t you be the one doing that? Back when you were still a noble, your rank was below mine. Without my permission, you couldn’t even speak in my presence. Now you’re just a commoner.”
Blier’s face turned red with anger, but I didn’t blink.
“And yet you barge in here uninvited? Becoming a commoner made you forget all manners, I see.”
“You… how dare you…!”
Clearly, she hadn’t expected me to insult her so openly. She glanced nervously at her followers.
“What’s wrong? Does it hurt your pride to be treated like a commoner? I told you countless times—you should have kept Hayden as nothing more than a lover.”
I had always pretended not to notice, but of course I knew.
After her formal engagement with Hayden, the nobles who once fawned over her behind our backs must have started to scorn her.
The men who worshipped her as a goddess probably treated her like a hidden mistress. Even the friends whose houses she visited freely must have barred her without a butler’s permission.
Marriage would mean Hayden surrendering his noble title.
From a flawless noble life to being dragged down into common status—it wasn’t surprising that this became her deepest insecurity.
“You know nothing! I’m not a commoner. I’ll be a countess!”
Hearing her desperate shout, I couldn’t stop the laugh curling at my lips.
“Pft.”
Even looking like a beggar, I laughed gracefully. Blier’s face froze.
“Why… why are you laughing?”
“Foolish Blier. How could you become a countess? Hayden already gave up his title and received a new surname from His Majesty.”
I frowned slightly, remembering.
“What was it again? More… Hayden More, wasn’t it? Honestly, His Majesty should have chosen a better name if he knew it’d be yours someday.”
“……”
“Anyway, Miss Blier More. No matter how the world changes, a commoner shouldn’t try to match a noble. From now on, address me properly as ‘Lady’ and show due respect. I won’t forgive you twice.”
“You bitch!”
Her eyes turned red with rage at my warning.
From the ground below came a foul stench, and shrill cries tore through the air.
“Shut up! Aaah! Damn you!”
Blier collapsed, pounding the earth with her fists.
“He wasn’t stripped of his title! He promised to return it! He promised everything would be restored!”
“What…?”
I looked around cautiously, but her followers seemed unfazed—they were used to this.
A seizure, then.
The black magic of Cairo’s cult was powerful, but it often drove priests insane.
“Give it to me!”
Screaming, she hurled her fan aside and snatched a staff from a nearby dark priest.
“I’ll never forgive you. I’ll kill you!”
Her bloodshot eyes locked on me, her teeth grinding loud enough for me to hear.
“No matter how high your noble birth, you can’t look down on me. Your life, spoiled by your family’s power—it ends here!”
“……”
Her word “ends” rang strangely loud in my ears.
But that was fine. If she was about to use magic, that was the moment I’d been waiting for.
I hadn’t lost so much just to give up now.
Blier raised the black staff high, and immense power gathered above her, forming a massive magic circle in the air.
Wooong.
I quickly overlaid my own magic circle onto hers, using her power as fuel for mine.
It was forbidden sorcery, but who cared at this point?
As our powers rose, the magic stone embedded in her staff glowed red.
“O Goddess!”
She began chanting in her dark tongue. I, too, recited Hayden’s unfinished spell as fast as I could.
Even incomplete, anything he made couldn’t completely fail.
“O Goddess of Death, hear my voice!”
“O Gods of Light, grant your knight a bow of light to pierce the darkness!”
Our incantations overlapped.
Boom!
Her staff roared with flames, while mine only sputtered with a pathetic crackle.
Szzzt… crackle… szzzt.
And then the flicker of fire at my staff’s tip died out.
“…Damn it.”
Hayden’s spell, even with my improvements, had failed.
Blier saw my divine power shatter and trembled with exhilaration.
“O Goddess of Death, bring endless night to my enemy! O Goddess of Death, bring endless night—!”
Her power surged at me in an instant.
I swallowed a curse and poured my last holy strength into the staff.
“Spirit of wind, return their power with your fury!”
The words ignited the elemental spell I had memorized.
Boom!
Her dark power slammed into mine, blasting stones and branches into a storm.
Yes. It worked perfectly this time!
Through the swirling dust, I saw Blier drop to her knees, shielding her face.
As expected. Someone like her could never beat me.
But my triumph didn’t last.
“Urgh!”
The protective barrier around me dissolved like melting snow.
No way… The spirit… disintegrated?
Looking up, I saw Blier—rumpled, but completely unharmed.
Behind her stood a shadowed figure in a black cloak. On the inside of the cloak shimmered a familiar emblem—the Light-bearing Dragon. The symbol of the Imperial Palace.
Ah. Damn. I’d been tricked.
No wonder my brother never replied about sending reinforcements.
I let out a hollow laugh.
“Now! Fire!”
Dozens of magic-charged bullets rained down on me.
With my spirit gone and my barrier broken, I had no defense.
“Aaah!”
The world spun. When I blinked again, I was sprawled on the ground.
Above me, deafening cheers erupted.
“Ahahaha! Goddess! Goddess!”
Now. Attack them while they’re distracted.
But in my trembling hand, there was no staff—only a scrap of blood-soaked fabric.
I had grabbed the edge of Hayden’s ragged old robe.
“Haa… haah…”
My lips only let out an empty whistle of air.
Even as I bled out, anger boiled in me at the sight of that wretched robe, drenched in my blood.
With my fading breath, I muttered Hayden’s name.
“Ugh… Hayden… this…”
This robe—ugly, useless, no armor at all—
“…really is trash.”
As I gasped for what little breath I had left, Blier’s laughter grew distant.
