At midnight, explosions and thunderous booms rang out continuously from beyond the Pedrol estate. Evina, leaning against a corner wall, seemed not to hear them. The leather ropes severed by sharp wooden spikes lay scattered beside her, while her slender pale fingers trembled slightly as they turned the yellowed diary in her hands.
[Holy Calendar 708, November. Pedrol has gained a new member. She looks so small and fair. Her name is... Evina? Am I an older brother now?]
[Another day of training. As Pedrol's eldest son, I have to work even harder. Are you watching me practice swordsmanship, Evina? Then I need to perform even better...]
[A sparring match... How nostalgic. Back when I first picked up a sword... This time, I am the one acting as the teacher...]
[Ten moves. I'll let you save some face... But there is no need to cry just because you lost, right? You're so cute, Evina...]
[Thirty-seven moves. It has only been four months. No, I definitely wasn't using my full strength. I should take it more seriously next time...]
[I lost. I actually lost. How could that be possible? It is so embarrassing in front of you. As your older brother, I have to work hard and win next time...]
[Evina, why can you always so easily learn the techniques I cannot master? Am I still not working hard enough?]
[Holy Calendar 722, July. The first Knight Assessment... If I pass, I can become a Priest, right? The Pedrol Family will be able to rise again as well...]
[Failure... Failure... Failure!]
[The second Knight Selection, third round. Is this my limit?]
[From morning to night, nothing but training. It is meaningless. I am afraid I will never pass the Knight Assessment...]
[Father, why do you look at me with such expectation? Why are you unwilling to give up on me?]
[That look again. Do you hate me, Evina? I understand how you feel. A Useless Person stole the opportunity that should have belonged to you... If it were you, you could definitely do it, my little sister...]
[Perhaps everything would get better without me... Evina, I will give you everything you want. This is the only way...]
The brown-haired girl turned the diary's pages one after another. Through those cold words, she came to understand the older brother she had envied so deeply, the one who had borne their father's expectations yet could do nothing right...
She had once hated such unfairness. All her efforts and the swordsmanship she took pride in had been nothing more than tools in her father's eyes, meant to draw the attention of Duke Nordland's son.
If she had been given the chance, she would surely have passed the Knight Assessment, restored the Pedrol Family, and made her father truly see her...
That was why she had detested, even hated, her older brother, who possessed all the family's resources, could receive formal Knight instruction whenever he wished, yet failed again and again...
[You're so cute, Evina...]
Her fingers brushed across the crumpled page. As she looked at the lines of writing, the girl's body trembled involuntarily. Crystal tears streamed down her cheeks and fell endlessly onto the paper...
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." Evina murmured. Her mind was utterly blank, yet the tears in her eyes would not stop flowing. Her heart was filled with intense regret... Evina had never hated herself so much.
She had thought she had forgotten how to cry. That had clearly been a privilege reserved for those who received attention...
Outside the estate, flames surged one after another, yet the room had fallen into deathly silence. Only the suppressed, intermittent sound of sobbing echoed without end.
It was not until the room's door was violently thrown open that the girl turned her head blankly.
Baron Pedrol, who rushed in, swept his gaze over the chaotic room. When he saw Evina, "frightened and only daring to hide in the corner and cry," fury immediately rose in him, and he snapped in irritation.
"Do you have any idea how much trouble there is outside, Evina? Why are you still sitting here like an idiot? Where is Lott? Where is he now?"
As he spoke, another explosion sounded from outside the estate.
"Did something happen outside?" Evina hugged the diary, dampened by her tears, to her chest and asked with her head lowered.
"Those damned witches are wreaking havoc in Harbor Town. They used some terrifying witchcraft to blow up the entire docks. Priest Adrian is dead, Priest Danny is dead, and so is Sir Sick. Even Archbishop Antioch could not escape..." Baron Pedrol said, his voice full of terror and uncertainty.
Earlier, hoping to embellish his record, he had even proposed joining this Witch Hunt Operation before the Archbishop of Nordland Territory. Thinking back on it now, if Antioch had agreed, he would have died at Harbor Town's docks by now.
As she listened to one lofty name after another being declared dead, the brown-haired girl's heart shook. She could not help recalling Lott's words, which had lingered in her ears before he left.
"How utterly insignificant you are, Evina..."
Becoming a witch... was that your choice, Brother?
Rumor had it that anyone who sacrificed their soul to the devil could become a witch possessing forbidden power. But in exchange, that person would often undergo a drastic change in temperament, and their soul would gradually fall into the abyss...
And all of this was for her.
"Where is your brother? You still have not answered me. Where is Lott? We have to leave immediately!" Baron Pedrol gripped the girl's wrist tightly and demanded loudly.
"Dead!" Evina said softly. She knew very well that if word got out that her older brother had become a witch, the entire Pedrol Family would be destroyed at once.
Baron Pedrol paused, and an extremely frightening expression appeared on his face.
"You had better not play tricks on me, Evina!"
"I am telling you, even if your brother is truly dead, the baron's position will never be yours! Do not ever dream of something you cannot have!"
Baron Pedrol spoke in extreme fury. No matter what happened, he would never allow an outsider to take over the Pedrol Family, no matter how outstanding she was!
"In that case, I am leaving..." Evina broke free from his restraining hand, tucked the diary into her clothes, and turned without hesitation toward the door.
"Stop! Explain yourself!" Baron Pedrol had never expected Evina, who had never dared defy him before, to disobey him so boldly. Rage instantly surged through him. He drew the longsword at his waist, still in its scabbard, and viciously swung it at Evina.
Clang~
The sheathed longsword flew from his grasp, spinning through the air before landing on the ground with a dull thud.
Baron Pedrol froze in place. A three-finger-long, incomparably sharp wooden spike was already held against his throat.
"How long has it been since you last fought, Father?" Evina asked, looking at Pedrol with a complicated expression.
Cold sweat covered Baron Pedrol's forehead as he collapsed onto the floor. Only then did he realize that Evina's swordsmanship was far more brilliant than he had understood, and had even completely surpassed his own.
Evina threw away the wooden spike in her hand and stepped out through the door without looking back.
"Where are you going, Evina? Where is Lott? Tell me where he is!" Only then did Baron Pedrol come back to his senses and roar angrily.
"My older brother is dead. Just assume I killed him... Father," Evina said softly. "And I am leaving Harbor Town to see this world..."
(PS: The first volume ends here. There was quite a lot of setup, so I hope everyone can understand. Next comes the plot of the second volume. Also, please support the new book in every way!)
Thanks to reader Obsessed with Chemistry for the 1,500 Qidian Coin donation, and to Crimson Oath, Hundred-Eyed Demon Daoist, Silly Fool Mo, This Old Monk Believes in Jesus, and A One-Carat Dream for their 100 Qidian Coin donations, as well as reader 20200111141048351 for the 2 Qidian Coin donation.