TLed by NolepGuy
Chapter 67
A fortuitous encounter tastes the best when it’s meticulously hidden somewhere.
Just like how the Spirit Beast’s Core hidden in a gloomy cave in martial arts novels significantly contributes to one’s internal energy.
The fortuitous encounter in the storage of Histanaa, where the Knight Commander resides, had the best flavor.
Especially, stealing the fortuitous encounter of someone who will later become an enemy is the least problematic and most satisfying.
The Demonic Sword Tirbing.
The weapon used by the Archbishop of Greed, who would cause a massacre in the capital city.
In the middle of the novel, there was an episode where Malik transported the Demonic Sword, but it ended in failure due to a Heretic’s Spy.
As a result, Malik lost the Demonic Sword, and it became a brutal weapon that contributed to the Archbishop of Greed killing the Master of the Magic Tower.
The Tirbing’s effects were nothing extraordinary.
It could cut through magic.
Sharper than any other sword.
And it only improved the efficiency of sword energy.
Although it was problematic because it was too sharp, it didn’t have any particularly impressive effects aside from that.
Unlike a Holy Sword possessing Ego’s Self that babbles with unsolicited advice or grants ancient skills, it was an ordinary sword, but its cutting ability was unparalleled.
It merely carried a penalty of driving the User insane through Dark Magic’s Energy, but it was a perfect sword for Heretics who enjoyed madness.
At the same time, it was a highly suitable sword for me, who had resistance to Dark Magic.
Though it was an unsettling sword that I initially tried to ignore….
-Ricardo… this sword is trash.
-Young Lady, it’s the sword you bought for 100,000 gold to gift to Mikhail…?
-When?
-When you were attending the Academy.
-Then why does Ricardo have it?
-It looked nice, so I stole it.
-Oh… such dexterous hands! But… it’s trash.
Thanks to the Young Lady’s provocation, I resolved to steal it.
It was unsettling since it was a sword meant for Mikhail, but it had to look at least a little impressive so the Young Lady could boast that her Butler wielded a Demonic Sword.
Carrying around a feeble sword made by a Dwarf would surely embarrass the Young Lady, so I decided to steal the fortuitous encounter.
It was absolutely not out of petty revenge for Rowen’s strange request. It was just because I needed compensation for the mental damage… that’s all.
[Poison Resistance neutralizes the lethal toxicity of the Potion of Concealment.]
A potion solely focused on enhancing stealth efficiency.
It was a potion I had crafted.
It was so toxic that even a sip could kill Yuria, who specialized in Divine Power, but thanks to the Poison Resistance I had built up since childhood, I was the only one who could consume it.
It was a unique potion that only I could make.
And only I could drink.
Although it had the critical drawback of losing its effect when Aura was used, the potion made stealing the Tirbing much easier.
With its black blade.
Its sleek and refined form.
Perhaps because it was a Demonic Sword, it had an aura of elegance.
If an ordinary person saw it, they would find it so beautiful that they’d instinctively reach out to touch it. Smiling with satisfaction at the sight of such a powerful blade, I prepared to leave the estate.
It would be troublesome if the Master of the House found out.
Climbing onto the roof, I was about to flee without paying.
-What about apologizing to Hanna?
An intriguing melodrama echoed from beneath the roof.
*
Hanna was crying.
“Why are you doing this to me…?”
Clenching her fists tightly, Hanna, who had been holding back her emotions for so long, looked at Rowen with eyes full of grudge.
Hanna had been deep in thought after reading the letter.
Why won’t you leave me alone?
The Father who had ignored her all this time was now seeking her out, and Hanna questioned him bitterly.
“You said you didn’t need a daughter like me… When you treated me like dust, and now this… Why!”
“I never treated you like dust.”
Hanna let out an empty laugh and spoke.
“You never did? Then why did you always ignore my duels?”
“…Because your Older Brother had the talent to lead Histania…”
“That Guy’s talent. I’m sick of hearing about it.”
Rowen, flustered, cautiously tried to speak, but Hanna, full of resentment, could hear nothing.
She hated everything.
Standing in this suffocating estate.
Her Father, who couldn’t communicate.
Even the name Histania, which she had always taken pride in, now felt shameful because of her Father.
A grinding sound came from Hanna, her teeth clenched.
“I thought maybe… just maybe, so I opened the letter.”
A drop. Hanna’s tears fell onto the letter discarded on the floor.
Rowen’s letter, soaked with flowing tears. The words written with the stubbornness of a rigid Father were becoming blurry.
“I opened it, hoping for even a small change. Not expecting words like ‘proud’ or ‘congratulations,’ but at least an apology.”
“But what is this… What is this!”
Hanna’s shout echoed through the silent estate.
Her heavy, long-suppressed words reached Rowen’s ears. Hanna poured out her resentment, saying she felt foolish for expecting anything, for thinking her Father might change if she showed her growth.
Rowen silently listened to Hanna’s grievances.
‘It was the best choice.’
This was the conclusion Rowen had reached.
‘You didn’t see that vision.’
An excuse he couldn’t share with Hanna. A justification for his own mistakes that served as his only refuge.
However.
Looking at his crying daughter’s face, he began to feel something was amiss.
The thought that his self-centered pursuit of the best choice might have driven Hanna to the edge started to stir in Rowen’s mind.
If only he had trusted Hanna.
If only he had been a slightly warmer Father, perhaps he could have avoided what the Blue Window had shown. A chilling thought unsettled Rowen’s mind.
Rowen furrowed his brows as he thought.
He was always right.
Hanna was too young to understand his decisions, Rowen convinced himself.
‘I am always right… Just as all my choices have been right.’
From his firm conviction, he wanted to tell Hanna to give up the sword immediately, but a faint hesitation kept his lips sealed.
Rowen struggled to speak.
“It’s all for your sake. You won’t understand now, but eventually….”
Hanna glared at Rowen.
“What exactly is for my sake?”
“…”
“What is for my sake? Is ignoring me because I lack talent for my sake? Is crushing a growing daughter for my sake?”
Hanna couldn’t understand Rowen.
As a child, she tried to hold back her tears and understand, thinking it was because her Older Brother had more talent. But now, having achieved more than her Older Brother, she couldn’t comprehend her Father who still held her back.
She didn’t even want to understand.
Nor did she want to follow him.
Having endured a lifetime of Father’s neglect, years spent choking down meals while watching her family’s expressions at the dining table.
Why… Why had he never asked her opinion even once?
At the sight of her unchanging Father, Hanna spoke in a dejected voice.
“A certain Butler living on the outskirts once said.”
“…”
“That I have talent.”
I heard words from The Man at our First Meeting that I had never once heard from my family.
At the time, I thought it was nonsense.
I looked at The Man like a Crazy Bastard.
But thinking back now, he was like a Prince from a Fairy Tale who helped me endure.
To someone trapped in a dark place, only knowing how to blame herself, he gifted a ray of light, and that presence made Hanna’s chest ache.
Should I call this feeling love? No, at this moment, Hanna just desperately wanted to see The Man.
She wanted to tell him how unfair everything was.
She wanted to ask if she was doing well.
Hanna, holding back tears, spoke to Rowen, grinding her teeth as she said there was someone a hundred times better than him.
“He told me I had talent… He said that if I defeated someone I thought I could never beat my entire life, I would believe him… That’s what he said.”
“At first, I thought he was a Crazy Bastard… I thought he was just saying pleasant things because he only cared about money. But do you know what’s even more infuriating?”
Staring directly at Rowen, Hanna said.
“I was smiling at an obvious Lie… like a Crazy Woman.”
Clang.
Hanna dropped the Sword Engraved with Histania Insignia onto the floor as she spoke.
“Do you think this is right, Father…?”
Hanna’s shoulders were trembling. Rubbing her eyes with her hands, she sobbed, unable to say anything due to the overwhelming emotions.
The things he did “for her sake.”
Had suffocated her to the point of death.
Hanna felt an unbearable suffocation in her chest.
“Do you know…?”
Hanna recalled a memory that surfaced in her mind.
“A stranger once told me this.”
Clenching her fists tightly, Hanna struggled to suppress her ragged breathing as she finally spoke.
“That if I kept swinging the sword, I would die. That I was so starved for Praise that, one day, I’d go to my death just to get a tiny bit of attention…”
She had thought she wouldn’t be like that. But when she looked deep inside herself, Hanna had no choice but to admit it.
“I thought it was a Lie… But back then, I really… I really think I would have done it.”
Hanna spoke while gazing into Empty Space with Eyes Filled with Conviction.
[Would you like to view it?]
Hanna felt as though she would never see her Father again.
“I don’t know what it is that you want, Father. But… if.”
Hanna exhaled a Deep Sigh.
“If I were to die.”
And then uttered Words Like a Dagger to Rowen.
“It would be because you killed me, Father.”
Rowen’s face turned cold.
Only after seeing Hanna’s tear-soaked face did Rowen realize that something was terribly wrong.
But the water had already spilled.
Rowen spoke to Hanna in a trembling voice.
“Even so… I… for you…”
“Stop it!”
Malik clenched his fists and shouted at Rowen. He didn’t want to display such disgrace any further.
Aware of his own fault in having overlooked everything, Malik couldn’t bear to see Hanna get hurt any longer.
Preparing to face his Father’s wrath, Malik took a deep breath.
-Crash…!
Thud, thud, thud!
The Man, a familiar face, fell from the Ceiling. Malik stared at The Man in front of him with startled eyes.
The Red-Haired Man sat there with a shocked expression, as if he hadn’t expected this to happen, looking at Malik.
Even as he looked at Malik with a bewildered expression, Malik responded with an equally stunned face.
The Man, who had fallen from the Ceiling, muttered.
“What kind of Ceiling is this fragile…”
After voicing his irritation, he slowly looked at everyone in the Office.
He glared at Rowen.
He smiled at Malik.
And he winked at Hanna.
Scratching his head once, The Man looked at Rowen’s face and smiled brightly.
“Father, would you like to be buried in a Sunny Place?”
Hanna’s heart pounded loudly.