Please Leave The Sickly Villainess Alone

“Tharo didn’t come with you today?”

To Hewt, who asked dejectedly, I tried to respond in a way that wouldn’t hurt him too much.

“Well, Tharo seems to find the Captain bothersome.”

Though I had toned down Tharo’s words, a sad atmosphere quickly enveloped Hewt.

“But! I think it’s nice to see him occasionally. I’ll make sure to bring him next time.”

“Would you really do that for me?”

This guy recovers quickly.

“Actually, I just replaced the flag above the mansion with a new portrait of Tharo and really wanted to show him.”

“Ah, Tharo would really like that.”

I just hope he doesn’t transform into something as big as a house and rip out that flag.

I headed to the training ground, leaving behind the expectant Hewt.

Five laps around the training ground were now effortless for me.

At first, it felt like I would die from exhaustion, but now I could run them casually as a warm-up, just like Miller.

After finishing the physical training, I had a light sparring match with a practice sword and won against Ion.

“That makes it exactly 20 matches with 10 wins, 9 losses, and 1 draw.”

At Hewt’s words, Ion, who was catching his breath, said:

“Next time, I’ll… definitely tie the score again.”

I too was hanging my head and trying to steady my rough breathing.

Just then, I heard the resonance of the Crimson Blade in my ear again.

Woong- Woong-

Though I couldn’t understand what it was saying, it seemed to be complaining about why I was practicing swordsmanship with a wooden sword when I had such an expensive blade.

Sensing the aura of the Crimson Blade standing at one side of the training ground, Hewt approached the sword.

“This… is resonating with you, Miss.”

“You noticed it too, Captain?”

Puzzled by our conversation, Ion asked:

“Resonance, Captain?”

“Yes, when a sword that has gained wisdom through the ages chooses its swordsman, they achieve resonance like this. My sword does too, right now.”

The longsword at his waist was relatively quiet… why?

Woo-woong-

Why was only that one so noisy?

“If you match well with a resonating sword, your abilities will improve sharply. It would be good to spar as if in a real battle.”

“But we can’t spar with real swords.”

I was planning to go to the log forest that Ion goes to every day on Hewt’s orders after finishing today’s training to test the Crimson Blade.

That place was a mock training ground where logs flew at you from all directions, attached to ropes.

“Though it’s still a bit early for you to wield a real sword, Miss.”

Hewt called a knight and told him to bring ‘that’ from the underground prison.

“That?”

Along with my question, Ion hastily said:

“Captain! If the young miss gets hurt, we’re all dead! If I wasn’t here I wouldn’t know, but having seen and heard everything, I’ve become an accomplice!”

Seeing him grip his cheeks in fear, my anxiety about the unknown ‘that’ grew.

“I had a really hard time dealing with that thing last time too!”

“You were going to face it eventually. The timing has just been moved up.”

The knight was sent to the underground prison.

How could I, who hadn’t even been near the basement, let alone the prison, know what was in there?

My hand holding the Crimson Blade trembled with inexplicable anxiety.

After some time passed, I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw what the knight brought.

“A monster…?”

Though it looked much weaker than the one I encountered at the restaurant last time, still.

“C-Captain, you want me to fight a monster? No, more importantly, why is there a monster in the basement…!”

To think such a thing was living in the basement of the peaceful Duchy. My eyes trembled finely.

It had a shocking appearance.

“This is an already dead monster. It’s called an ‘undead.’ It’s a monster whose body continues to move even after death, with the instinctive will to kill people. Since it’s already dead, it’s relatively not that strong. Because it can’t be destroyed by any method, keeping it confined like this is the only option.”

Hearing that and looking at the monster again, I saw that its eyes weren’t glowing bright red like the ones I had seen before, but were sunken and black as if already dead.

“It was discovered in the forest around the Rayes territory a few years ago… Unfortunately, the young maid who first spotted it was attacked and lost her life.”

A young maid…

-My second younger sister worked with me at the Duchy, but unfortunately she encountered a monster when she went into the forest to fetch water and was attacked.

“Could it be… Garnett’s younger sister?”

Hewt nodded. At that moment, strength filled my hand gripping the sword.

Even though it was already dead, as if killing Garnett’s sister wasn’t enough, it was now threatening the knights around with its poisoned horns.

“It’s restrained with monster-specific bindings so it absolutely can’t harm anyone. And probably… if it’s you holding that sword, Miss, you’ll be fine.”

I raised my head and looked up at the huge monster before me.

The massive monster, which looked like a rhinoceros at first glance, seemed like it would charge at me at any moment.

“Before anything happens to you, Miss, I’ll step in first, so don’t worry and try swinging that sword freely.”

Hewt seemed to have expectations for me and the Crimson Blade.

It’s restrained with monster-specific bindings, and Hewt, who can handle sword energy, is watching.

It’s not like I’m facing a person, and it’s even Garnett’s enemy. Though there was no need to hesitate in swinging the sword… I think I didn’t quite trust the Crimson Blade.

Still, I stood in front of the monster holding the Crimson Blade, deciding to go along with it for now.

In that brief moment, my hand holding the sword took a stance on its own.

It wasn’t my intention, but it moved naturally that way.

It was as if someone was saying ‘This is how you hold it’ and correcting my hand.

Finally released from the knight’s grasp, the monster charged at me at full speed.

Although its horn, a lethal weapon, would be ineffective due to the monster-specific restraints, it seemed like I would be seriously injured if I collided with that huge body.

It was overflowing with killing intent despite being dead.

I took a deep breath and whispered.

“I believe in the power of 100 gold coins.”

I ran towards the monster holding the Crimson Blade.

My body felt strangely light. It was a state where I felt like I could accomplish anything.

I felt power surging from my hand holding the sword and my legs running and striking the ground.

The Crimson Blade felt like a part of my body.

-If you match well with a resonating sword, your abilities will improve sharply.

‘So that’s what he meant.’

I jumped towards the monster several times larger than my body and swung the sword.

The angle and speed were both perfect.

There had been limits to the swordsmanship I could use with this frail body, but using the Crimson Blade, I felt like I was surpassing my body’s limitations.

For an instant, it seemed like a sharp red light flowed through the Crimson Blade.

Swoosh-

With a clean sound, the ferocious monster fell beside me.

“What is this…”

I looked down at the Crimson Blade in my hand with surprised eyes.

That sharp light that flashed before my eyes for an instant was clearly…

Silence fell over the training ground. The ‘undead’ was indeed wriggling and regenerating its wound, but even that seemed like it would take considerable time.

Amidst those with their mouths agape, a satisfied clapping sound was heard.

“Congratulations, you’ve manifested the form of sword energy. Though still weak, you’ve created a sword aura.”

Hewt approached from behind me, bringing the stone-like Ion with him.

“Sword aura…?”

I couldn’t believe it. As far as I knew, there were only 20 swordsmen in the Empire who had reached the level of being able to cast sword aura.

Among them were Luka, Dad, Miller, Sir Heild, and Hewt in front of me.

For me to be in the same position as knight commander-level figures…! Well, probably not.

I quickly grasped the situation.

No matter how I looked at it, my small and precious sword energy couldn’t be on the same level as Luka’s, which I had witnessed with my own eyes.

“If you dedicate yourself to training and refine it, you’ll surely improve further.”

Beside Hewt, who spoke as if pleased, Ion, still petrified like a stone, said:

“I-I just said I’d tie the score a moment ago… Does this mean I can never beat the young miss now?!”

Watching the teary-eyed Ion, Hewt lightly flicked his forehead.

“I took you in because I saw potential for sword energy in you too. Don’t keep saying the same thing forever and don’t waste your talent. Work harder.”

At those words, Ion answered in an angry voice and ran off into the training forest.

“The lord and young masters will be pleased too.”

Miller hadn’t participated in training since running around the training ground with me earlier.

I heard he was away with Drehan again due to another title issue with a branch family member.

“I hope so.”

Thinking of the faces of my family members who would celebrate what happened to me together made me feel good.

Above all, the Crimson Blade in my hand no longer felt uncomfortable.

“Look at this, Miss.”

Hewt made the longsword in his hand disappear in an instant.

“Wow, how did you do that?”

“Famous swords that can achieve resonance have summoning magic cast on them. Your sword should be capable of it too.”

At his words, I placed the Crimson Blade on my palm and thought inwardly.

‘Disappear!’

Then the Crimson Blade mocked my solemn words with a Woong-.

‘This thing…’

Just as I was thinking about throwing it away, the Crimson Blade quickly vanished from my palm.

“Wow, it really disappeared!”

And when I inwardly shouted for it to appear again, the sword suddenly materialized.

As I kept marveling, the Crimson Blade resonated as if to say it was finally recognized for its true worth.

“It seems you and the sword match well, Miss.”

“Haha, I don’t think so… It has a nasty temper. Ouch, hot!”

* * *

Only when evening came did Dad, Drehan, and Miller return to the mansion. After hearing the news about me, they stared at my frail arm in disbelief for a while before praising me, saying how impressive it was.

“Congratulations, Laveria.”

“You’ve been working hard, and you finally did it!”

And Miller gritted his teeth at Hewt for making me face a monster, no matter what.

Still, he instinctively patted my head, finding it admirable.

“The fourth swordsman to manifest sword energy in the Rayes family has been born.”

Drehan’s low voice was heard.

Come to think of it, there really were many excellent swordsmen in the Rayes family. There were three legendary swordsmen.

Now I was even added to the end of that list.

Though it’s embarrassing to have my name listed with theirs.

Even so, it wasn’t comparable to the Claire Duchy, famous for swordsmanship.

The Claire Duchy had seven swordsmen who could manifest sword aura, including the Duke and his eldest son.

Even Sir Heild was a branch family member of the Claire Duchy.

The Captain of the First Knight Order Chensel, the Captain of the Second Knight Essil, and the Captain of the Fourth Knight Order Sir Heild were all from the same family.

But the one who undoubtedly ascended to the throne of the Sword Emperor was Luka, the protagonist of this world.

He becomes a Sword Master during the war, which has only been recorded twice in history.

It meant he would reach a completely different level.

‘I should spar with Luka before that.’

Following the roulette game, I wondered if there was anything in which I could beat him, including swordsmanship.

I put a shrimp salad in my mouth while recalling that smug face.

Right now, Luka was officially away from the capital on Crown Prince duties, but in reality, he was looking for a way to cure the Empress’s incurable disease.

-Luka, let’s not give up. I’ll find a way on my end, so don’t you sit idle either. An incurable disease is just something whose cure hasn’t been discovered yet.

I said we should do our best so that even if death really comes, we won’t have any regrets.

-Ria… do you know?

Luka lightly placed his hand on my cheek and said softly, looking into my eyes:

-These kind words from your lips…

Then his hand touched my lips.

-They save me over and over again… As you said, I won’t just sit idle.

Suddenly, the memory of that moment vividly came back, and I jumped up from my seat, covering my burning cheeks.

* * *

After finishing the cozy dinner and returning to my room, Garnett, whom I had sent on an errand, soon returned to the mansion.

“I’m back, Miss. Here’s the reply to the letter you sent.”

“Thank you, you’ve worked hard.”

Garnett handed me a silver tray with a letter stamped with an apple-shaped mark engraved with a key, along with a beautifully packaged box of chiffon cake.

I thought it was just a pattern used in advertisements, but it seems to have been Troisen’s symbol.

I lightly opened the letter and checked its contents.

[We await your visit.]

Below the brief reply, as concise as the letter I had sent, were the time and place written.

I’m finally going to meet him.

The Empire’s premier information guild, a man shrouded in mystery.