[Chapter 72] Salvation

Valentine glanced around. It would be at least another five minutes before her true guests arrived.

The servants were all busy with the final preparations for the party, and Nelusion was still in the student council room, expected to arrive later. 

If there was anything she wanted to say, now was the perfect opportunity. After confirming no one was listening to her conversation with Nerys, Valentine hissed quietly.

"You'd better stay in your place while I'm being lenient. Don't overstep."

Nerys smiled gently.

"Oh, Valentine, when have you ever been lenient with me?"

Nerys, at thirty years old, had once begged to be forgotten when she was deemed useless, hoping only to escape. Those cruel people, who couldn't bear to let her live even with nothing left, had insisted on confirming her death.

When Nerys returned to her twelve-year-old self and began this new life, she realized something important: there was no need to ask for leniency. In front of these people, who would take everything at the slightest opening, it was foolish to give any ground.

After all, she had done countless bad things to others. Nerys knew she would use any means necessary to destroy anyone who tried to ruin her again, even if they were unaware of the harm they had done.

In a way, this was truly her return. 

Her stage.

She had already driven a wedge between Valentine and Megara, ensuring they couldn't join forces. She had also influenced Nelusion so that Valentine couldn't act recklessly.

Everything was proceeding according to Nerys' plans.

Valentine, unable to understand the meaningful smile on Nerys' face, only interpreted it as mockery. Grinding her teeth, she was about to snap something at her, but realizing that nothing she said would shake Nerys' calm expression, she simply turned her head in frustration.

A few moments later, a footman approached and bowed to Valentine.

"Lady, the guests from the Grunhals family have arrived."

"I see. Escort them in," Valentine replied, sulkily.

She then headed toward the drawing room, with Nerys following closely behind. Before Valentine could offer her a seat, Nerys chose the most luxurious chair positioned deep within the room.

In Vistan tradition, invited guests usually sat on a larger settee that could accommodate two or more people, while the host sat in a smaller single chair. The seat Nerys selected was the best of the single chairs, typically reserved for the host.

"Is she seriously sitting in the seat of honor? Does she not know her place?" Valentine fumed inwardly.

Valentine, visibly displeased, growled quickly.

"That's my seat. You probably don't know, since you've never hosted esteemed guests before."

Nerys responded calmly, though she mirrored Valentine's words.

"Oh, Valen, you're still just a first-year, so you don't know yet, do you?"

Although Nerys used the same phrasing as Valentine, her tone was far more composed, which only deepened Valentine's sense of insult.

In her intense anger, Valentine's pretty silver eyebrows shot up high.

"What did you say?"

"Hosting guests together means you're acknowledging me as part of the family, doesn't it? And since I'm older than you, it's proper that I sit in the seat of honor."

Nerys' statement wasn't incorrect in terms of etiquette. The person helping to welcome guests at a party was expected to be someone close to the host's family. Within such close relationships, age dictated the treatment one received.

However... that etiquette only applied in more "normal" circumstances.

If a high-ranking noble decided to host a party and have someone join them in welcoming guests, that "someone" was usually a legal family member—at least a future wife, daughter-in-law, or son-in-law.

What noble family in the world would seat a distant relative, barely distinguishable from a commoner, in the seat of honor as if they were of the closest kin?

Valentine was seething and on the verge of bursting with embarrassment. But before she could rise and hurl insults at Nerys, the first guests had already entered the drawing room.

"Valentine."

Natasha Grunhals, who had come to the mansion in her capacity as a noblewoman rather than as a secretary of the student council, greeted Valentine warmly. Valentine quickly composed herself and flashed a charming smile.

"Welcome, Natasha, and Yustas."

Natasha's younger brother Yustas, though not as dazzlingly beautiful as his sister, was a reasonably handsome young man. He gracefully accompanied his sister and bowed to Valentine.

"Lady Valentine."

"And who is that?" Natasha asked with a curious smile, glancing toward Nerys seated in the best chair of the room. Nerys smiled back as if it were nothing.

"Thank you for coming, Senior."

With her fluent speech and composed demeanor, Nerys seemed more like the true host of the party than Valentine.

Natasha quickly grasped the situation. It seems Nelusion had a hand in this. He did favor that blonde child after all.

Well, such spectacles were always amusing. Since it had nothing to do with her, Natasha decided she would simply enjoy the show.

"It's nice to see you here."

Valentine, feeling her insides churn with frustration, secretly shot glances at Nerys throughout the party, making sure Natasha and Yustas didn't notice.

***

The quiet library felt like a different world from the outside.

The time when a new school year always begins was usually noisy. Students who were still untouched by assignments and exams in the beautiful early autumn, like paradise.

Children occupied every corner of the school, celebrating the joy of the past vacation. However, even their renewed laughter sounded distant, like the sound of waves in the far-off sea, surrounded by books in the library.

"Sea."

Cladwin thought it was amusing that he came up with such a metaphor.

The vast Maindland faced the cold sea to the north. However, Cladwin, who would become the master of that place, saw the sea for the first time about a month ago when he went to catch the damn rebels.

Although Maindland was nominally part of the Empire Vista, in reality, it was no different from a completely different country.

Due to its geographical conditions, it was almost untouched by external influences, and by the time it was annexed to the empire, its internal system was already strong.

Swearing allegiance to the Maindland Ducal House, some vassal families who governed parts of the duchy were as historically long as the Ducal House when they rose through the ranks.

"They are such prideful individuals."

When the heir, who they thought could wield power as he pleased, tried to take control, there was resistance.

By the end of the rule of Cladwin's father, the former Duke, the situation was out of control. The elders of the Ducal House, who had been running amok, were accustomed to absolute power without an authority figure.

It is unknown when it happened. Two of them, including Tifian Hujak, Cladwin's step-uncle, decided to divide Maindland between them.

Whether the decision was late or early, it was the same that they could not let the traitors go.

And because the two elders who actually incited the rebellion this summer were quite dangerous in terms of power, Cladwin suppressed the riot with only a few subordinates who were least likely to betray him.

One of the places where he faced one of the rebels for over a week was a port in the northeastern border of Maindland.

There, locked in combat with the enemy within the fortress, Cladwin heard the sound of waves all day long.

Relentless like a beating heart.

Intense like a breath.

The sea, which used to be tiresome, took on a different feeling, like a painting in the landscape, surrounded by the golden dusty atmosphere of this library.

And Cladwin knew very well who gave him such a strange and 'fun' sensation.

Behind the pillar on the 5th floor of the pharmacy library. A small space that you have to search for a while to find, deliberately not catching anyone's eye.

The moment the girl sitting there came into view, suddenly everything in the world looked different.

Although well aware that it was his domain, the presence of Neris Trude seemed strangely natural.

As if she had been sitting there looking up at the sky or reading a book comfortably for a long time.

So comfortable that one could fall asleep while sitting.

Her lightly closed eyelids were smooth ivory. Below them, golden eyelashes cast long, transparent shadows on her smooth cheeks, hinting at a sturdy nose that was small and pointed, clearly foretelling that its owner would grow into a beauty.

Bright platinum blonde, like the early morning sunlight that faintly enters, draped over the girl's face like a curtain.

She was truly quietly asleep. Judging by the book spread out on her knees, it seemed like she had unknowingly dozed off while reading.

Since he didn't have a hobby of waking up sleeping people, Cladwin would have just left the spot as usual. However, for some reason, from her face.

His gaze didn't waver.

...Salvation.

A place where he could find himself thrown into a life devoid of any sense of fun.

Perhaps it was because Cladwin's breathing unknowingly softened as he gazed at her face. Or maybe it was because he felt the shadow cast by blocking the sunlight.

Neris slowly opened her eyes.

Her face, like downy feathers bathed in sunlight, was instantly filled with a serene light. If any of Cladwin's subordinates who were good at flattery had seen her, they would have exclaimed and said she was extraordinary, not just a little girl.

But what if she wasn't ordinary?

Cladwin wanted something extraordinary. In this boring and relentless life, the only thing he could reach for was something strange.

"When did you arrive?"

The look in her eyes was clear, but Neris's first words came out slightly locked. Cladwin smiled.

"Just now."

"It doesn't seem like just now."

Neris glanced at him delicately. But what could she do if he said he just arrived? Cladwin sat down on the floor and looked up at Neris.

Thinking that this pattern had become familiar, Neris brought up the reason she had waited for him here today.

After pondering which tone would be appropriate several times but ultimately unable to decide, she blurted out.

"Please protect our mother."

Cladwin fell silent.

Neris was aware that she might be speaking prematurely. No one could be trusted. No one should be trusted.

How could those she trusted so much, how could they betray her so miserably...

But despite the experience of betrayal, she learned.

Somewhere, there were people she didn't have to despise.

In the past and even now, someone noble who trusted others and, despite feeling a deadly threat as a result, remained faithful.

Diane, who was willing to risk her life for her family and show affection to her friends without hesitation.

Cladwin, who almost died for his family and yet was willing to give everything to a subordinate who had done nothing for him.

Perhaps they were a bit different.

Neris now thought it had been almost a year since she had known Cladwin.

In her previous life, she may have known him, and he may have known her, but it was no different from saying a human knows the sun.

Because they had no idea why each other lived their lives.

Over the past year, they had occasionally made silly jokes, sometimes helped each other, and sometimes received help from her, all while never breaking their principles.

He was different from the cruel monster Abelus described, as well as from the superficial impressions easily received by those who barely knew him.

So she wanted to make this statement... she wanted to judge if it was okay to say.

"You will be betrayed again."

Suddenly, Neris froze at the voice that came out of nowhere. Despite being the only two in the secret place, a clear voice pierced her ears.

A voice shouting as if cursed by evil. Thinking about whose voice it was, she realized after a moment.

"You will be torn apart. You, who paid such a heavy price and yet trusted others again! You will pay for your foolish actions!"

She realized that the voice contained not a curse but pure despair.

It was the voice of thirty-year-old Neris, existing only in Neris's mind.