When My Enemies Began to Regret

The marchioness’s fierce spear blade swept the green plants that sprouted in the field at once. If they hadn’t kept their distance, what was cut off wouldn’t have been the grass but the legs or necks of those two.

“!”

But shortly after this, a thud rang out in the wide field. Upon hearing the sound, Carl and Fanora distanced themselves from the marchioness, then froze in place.

Marchioness, who fell with the horse, got one of her legs crushed by the horse’s body. A horse of this size would weigh at least several hundred kilograms, so if it fell, your leg bones wouldn’t have been able to withstand its weight. She eventually broke her leg and lost her mobility.

Marchioness seemed to intend to continue fighting even in this disgrace, but the fight was over soon. It was because Carl and Fanora took advantage of the moment she fell and rushed at her in unison to suppress her actions. The red-haired man pointed his sword at his sister’s neck, who was trying to crawl out from under the horse. Fanora snatched the spear from her hand and shattered it into pieces with Io’s power.

“Don’t say that is cheating just because it’s two against one, Matriarch. It’s better to live cowardly than die in a fair fight.”

Marchioness glared at her brother, who looked down at her and talked. However, even when faced with those intimidating red eyes, Carl didn’t blink an eye.

“In the past… you belittled your older brother, saying how someone could fall off a horse. But what is this now, Matriarch?”

His sharp words, reminiscent of the voice of the deceased eldest son, were a great shame for Kimen. She shut her mouth and clenched her fist. Looking at her like that, Carl smiled bitterly.

“…Still, we were family.”

Although he said it out of genuine regret, marchioness reacted hysterically to the word ‘family’.

“After you’ve destroyed everything with your hands, you dare to speak of regrets? Both Andras and Kasius, you ruined them all, Carl!”

“Matriarch.”

“If I had known this, I should have killed the useless eldest son with my own hands. If it weren’t for him, you would still be perfect!”

Despite being in a perilous situation, with her neck exposed, she wasn’t fearful of death but rather furiously angry. The marchioness seemed to regret that her youngest brother, on whom she had pinned her hopes, had come to resemble the eldest son.

Carl spoke with mixed feelings in his eyes. “Lady Fanora, should we just deal with it and run away?”

“The Marchioness?”

“She heard too many things. To eliminate any aftermath…”

He suggested it would be better to eliminate anyone who found out who owned Io and Ganimede. However, contrary to his cool judgment, Carl found it difficult to kill someone who had been family his whole life and hesitated for a long time with his sword in hand.  

Seeing this, Fanora intervened. “

“No.”

“What?”

“That’s enough.”

She pulled the stiffened Carl’s arm, looking down at the fallen marchioness, and spoke coldly, “Marchioness Andras, you said that it was regrettable that your youngest brother resembled the deceased eldest son.”

Fanora was someone who lacked familial affection. At one point, she had even planned to wreak havoc on the Celsius family. However, Fanora made an unusual choice this time.

“However, you should be happy that he has shown kindness at this moment.”

“…”

“Had he been a cold-hearted person like you, treating the family as tools, you wouldn’t have survived now.”

Fanora eventually decided to spare Marchioness Andras. Given the situation, Carl was surprised by her decision, expecting her to be the first to suggest eliminating the marchioness.

“Let’s go now.”

But the two had no more time to hesitate. They needed to leave the scene before the villagers woke up due to the commotion caused by the fight.

Fanora and Carl quickly mounted a lone horse left behind. Having his hand hurt in the fight with the marchioness, Carl let the woman with the black hair hold the horse’s reins.

“I’m not sure if the horse can handle the weight of two!”

The woman, sitting straight on the horse, signaled it to run. Then, the young horse started galloping vigorously, emitting a high cry.

“

.”

Although trapped under the heavy horse, Andras’s eldest daughter managed to crawl out on her own. But she no longer had the time or strength to pursue her brother.

“…”

Thus, Marchioness Andras attempted to use her last resort. She could gather the subordinates nearby if she blew the military whistle hidden in her sleeve.

But at that moment, Kimen Andras made eye contact with her brother, who was sitting on the back of the galloping horse. His eyes, unlike hers, had a kind look that had taken root from the eldest son and grew perfectly by being watered from Fanora Celsius.

“…”

She bit the whistle, keeping her jaw shut. For a long time, the marchioness couldn’t blow the whistle. The reason was unclear even to herself. Only a few sentences from Fanora kept echoing in her head.

“Carl, keep a good watch from behind. Is she coming after us?”

“How could she? Her leg is broken, and her horse is dead.”

“I thought the marchioness might still pursue us even in that state…”

Carl also looked at his sister for a while, then turned to Fanora, who was holding the horse’s reins and spoke. “By the way, are you really okay with this?”

“With what?”

“Letting the marchioness alive. If it’s for my sake, you don’t have to. We’ve never really lived as a family anyway.” He thought Fanora had made this choice out of guilt.

Fanora, adjusting the direction of the horse’s head, answered confidently, “It’s not for you. It’s for me.”

A faint breeze brushed past her ears as the horse picked up speed. She spoke louder to make her sentence clear. “Didn’t she tell us earlier? She had people following me. If we kill the marchioness there, it would be obvious who the culprit is. How would that help us escape?”

“

!”

“Naturally, it’s better to keep the marchioness alive.”

“Because life is precious?”

“Don’t say weird things when we’re busy. I thought it better to be pursued only by the marchioness’s family rather than being a national fugitive for killing a war hero.”

Fanora said so. The horse leaped over the pile of rocks approaching ahead. Her horsemanship had improved since the last kidnapping incident.

“I must have misunderstood. I didn’t know you had so many reasons.”

Carl, who had expected that she had worried about him, pouted his lips upon hearing her explanation.

Fanora, unable to look back at Carl’s expression, kept her eyes forward and said, “…Carl, about that talent you inherited.”

“The one about detecting lies?”

“Yes, does the accuracy drop if you can’t see the other person’s eyes?”

Even at this moment, Carl was still pressing the cut on her hand using his torn shirt. He suddenly looked up in surprise. “How did you know… I mean, it wasn’t that my eyes not looking at Lady Fanora’s direction at all.”

As Carl naively spilled his secret, she smiled lightly. Fanora pulled the horse’s reins hard, slowing down and turning to look back at Carl. Then she looked straight into Carl’s eyes and said, “I just told you a lie. When I said it wasn’t for you.”

“!”

“Actually… It seemed like you didn’t want to kill your family, and that was the big reason.”

Finally, the horse stopped in the middle of the road. She stroked the breathless horse’s neck and smiled awkwardly.

“Maybe it’s because I brought the jewels. The horse can’t bear the weight and gets tired too quickly…”

“Lady Fanora.”

“Anyway, I haven’t changed my resolve to live wickedly in this life, but this time I couldn’t help it.”

She looked straight ahead again. Carl could no longer look her in the eye, but he could see that what Fanora was saying was not false.

“I don’t want to ruin your kind eyes.”

Fanora said this with a relieved smile and once again signaled the horse to gallop. The man sitting behind her responded to her clear intentions with a small smile. And so, their first escape began.

In the distance, the dawn that was filling the hill receded. The vacancy began to be filled by the quiet morning sun, and soon, the chirping of small birds could be heard beyond the forest. It was the sound heralding the end of the dawn.

* * *

Since that day, a long time has passed. The two kept moving eastward to avoid the coming war, eventually escaping the capital.  The Andras family sent pursuers too late, and due to the king’s command to prioritize the war with Kingdom Gamiel, it was difficult to dispatch people. The few pursuers couldn’t even catch the tail of the two and eventually returned to the capital.

And as time went by, the two reached the rural estate of Kasius. They heard a distant rumor from the capital. The Kingdom Kasius had launched a surprise attack on the Kingdom Gamiel. To avoid the disgrace of starting a war without a declaration, Kasius also announced legitimate reasons for their actions. Allegations such as the prince of Gamiel, who had been allied through marriage, was actually a spy, and evidence that Gamiel had been preparing to strike first…

In this regression, Kasius struck Gamiel first, but the war eventually followed a similar course.

“W-what are you talking about? Sending my son to the battlefield?!”

“Count Celsius himself in a state that he can hardly move, so…”

“Are all the imperial knights dead? If there’s a shortage of troops, then hire mercenaries. I absolutely cannot give up my son!”

“

How can a noble of Kasius say such things without any sense of dignity.”

By the time Fanora and Carl reached the easternmost edge of Kasius, again, a mountain of corpses piled up on the battlefield. The strong knights of Kasius, proud of their strength, were killed without being able to fight back due to Gamiel’s weapons. Due to the wide-range attacks that caused death simply by inhalation, the surprise attack of Kasius ultimately failed. Eventually, King Balmong, having experienced defeat, urgently sought a way to counter Gamiel’s chemical weapons and subsequently issued a massive mobilization order.

“Please, not my son! Compared to Count Celsius, he’s still an immature child. Besides, if he dies, our lineage will end. How can this be!”

Even a long-standing family like Count Celsius wasn’t an exception. The situation was slightly different in this regression period that Fanora had returned to.