TL/N: some names have changed, will try to update the previous chapters
***
In that place where knights of the ducal house trained every dawn, Dale drew a sword. It was a stiletto, a weapon favored as a secondary armament by knights.
He spun the hilt lightly and tested the grip.
'Just right.'
It was a real sword, its blade gleaming sharply.
Likewise, the girl facing Dale—Charlotte Orhart—held a cold, blue rapier in her hand
A duel with real swords. But by Dale's standards, it was not much different from indulging a child's whim. He wasn't using magic, nor his true weapon—the "Shadow Cloak."
'Fight me.'
The moment the girl spoke that man's name, Dale instinctively understood. He was no stranger to the Holy Swordsman's twisted tastes.
What had happened to the two women of the Orhart family? Why had they come all the way to the Duchy of Saxen? And why was this girl so stubbornly insistent?
She wanted to defeat the genius of the ducal house and prove she could protect the Orhart family with her own strength.
Though Dale didn't say it aloud, it was ultimately the naive idea of a child unaware of reality.
"Come at me with everything you've got."
"I was going to, even if you didn't say it!"
And so, he had a duty to show her. Just how harsh and cold the reality surrounding this blonde girl, Charlotte, truly was. As the one who had brought endless winter into her life.
Taaat!
Charlotte kicked off the ground and charged. She excluded all emotion, channeling her killing intent into the tip of her blade.
'...!'
She was fast. Unbelievably fast for a child.
'She's using aura, albeit faintly.'
Dale, who had honed his combat instincts from birth, could easily tell.
Just as mages generate magic through the circle in their heart and overlay the laws of the world with that power, knights who accumulate aura within their bodies can transcend their physical limits.
──The title "Daughter of the Divine Sword" was no empty boast.
Kaang!
Even the way she charged with her sword was extraordinary.
As Dale deflected the thrust of her rapier, Charlotte twisted the trajectory with a snap of her wrist.
The blades clashed, bounced apart, and clashed again—she was precisely reading the entire "flow."Like a fish understanding the currents of water.
Her movements were possible only because she fully grasped the rapier's characteristics. Her combat sense could only be described as innate.
'I'm overwhelming him!'
She deflected Dale's defenses and relentlessly pierced through with her rapier, twisting her wrist each time.
A confident smile of victory briefly appeared on Charlotte's lips.
"..."
Yet Dale, too, was a man gifted by the heavens.
And his greatest strength wasn't something given—it was earned.
A lifetime of experience and wisdom forged on the battlefield. A mere child couldn't hope to reach that level overnight.
The flurry of sword strikes from Charlotte's rapier never reached Dale.
At first, she thought he was barely managing to block her attacks. But she was wrong.
Dale's expression remained perfectly composed. And she began to realize something.
'He's not counterattacking...?'
He was only defending against her attacks, making no further moves.
He had room to spare. The composure of a swordsman who was overwhelming her from start to finish.
'Why can't I land a hit?!'
Her killing intent began to fade. Her calmness, which should have been cold and steady, started to waver.
'Your father was the greatest knight on this continent.'
When Charlotte was born, her father was already gone. But every night before bed, her mother would tell her stories about him.
Tales of Sir Vardel Orhart, the Divine Sword and greatest swordsman of the continent.
When she heard gossip about the eldest son of the Saxen ducal house, Charlotte scoffed.
A genius prodigy unmatched in sword and magic?
'I'm the daughter of the Divine Sword.'
So she believed she could never lose in swordsmanship. She had to believe that.
Yet now, she was being overwhelmed by swordplay—by someone who didn't even use aura, and who was a mage with a circle engraved in his heart.
After the fall of the Knight Kingdom, the "Imperial Nobles" who abandoned their homeland looked down on the Orhart family.
Even young Charlotte could see how quickly their fortunes declined. Servants disappeared, and the family's wealth vanished day by day.
Each time, Charlotte recalled the stories her mother told of her father. A man whose face she didn't even know.
The Divine Sword, Vardel Orhart.
She believed she had to protect the Orhart family in his stead. As his proud and noble daughter.
Her composure crumbled rapidly.
Kaang!
Before she knew it, her rapier spun through the air. It twirled and then landed vertically at her feet.
"Ah..."
A thin line of blood had appeared on the hand gripping the hilt.
Dale's stiletto had landed its first strike.
"Why...?"
That one strike decided the outcome.
"Why can't I win...?"
Staring at her rapier embedded in the ground, she collapsed to her knees.
"Long ago, Sir Vardel Orhart,"
Dale spoke quietly, recalling the pale, dark winter night.
"Fought a duel with the Hero from Another World, and they both perished, unable to determine a victor."
It was a lie. In his past life, Dale—the Hero from Another World—had defeated Sir Vardel with his own hands. The rest of the story had been twisted to suit the Empire's narrative.
"That monster of a man couldn't defeat him, so he must have truly been the greatest knight of the continent."
"..."
Charlotte quietly caught her breath at those words.
In this world, opinions about Dale's past life—the Hero from Another World—varied.
Empire's hero, hunting dog, patriot, butcher.
But they all agreed on one thing: he was monstrously strong.
Sir Vardel Orhart was the strongest among those who had faced that monster.
He was so powerful, proud, and noble that even the Holy Swordsman couldn't compare. That's why Dale spoke "half the truth."
"Your pride as the daughter of the Divine Sword isn't wrong."
He affirmed her calmly.
"But as you are now, you'll never be able to protect the Orhart family from 'that man.'"
After affirming her, he told her of the cruel winter he had brought.
"You're not the Divine Sword, and the Holy Swordsman's blade is dozens of times stronger than mine."
"Dozens of times...?"
It wasn't a lie. At least, that man was undeniably stronger than Dale at this moment.
"Ah, ah..."
That man's beast-like, grotesque smile flashed in her mind. Charlotte couldn't even think of picking up her sword—she could only tremble in fear.
What had protected her was nothing but her mother's pitiful pleading.
She couldn't protect anything. That was the fate of a powerless, fallen noble.
"Then what am I supposed to do...?"
Charlotte sobbed, her slender shoulders shaking.
"I know I can't protect the family like this..."
A girl overwhelmed by sorrow, unable to hold back her tears.
"Because I'm just a girl, weak and not strong..."
The cold composure of a swordswoman was nowhere to be found—only vulnerability remained.
"What am I supposed to do...?"
Dale quietly bit his lip.
"One day, Lady Charlotte's sword,"
He said after biting his lip,
"Will become far stronger than you can imagine."
It wasn't a lie. Even with the Shadow Cloak, Dale had a clear limit as a swordsman without aura.
But this girl was different.
"You want revenge, don't you?"
"...!"
"Then take my hand."
So Dale extended his hand.
It wasn't out of some shallow sense of debt toward Sir Vardel.
──He simply remembered the Holy Swordsman's mocking smile as he stabbed Dale in the back that day.
He remembered the darkness of the Empire that man served.
"Why...?"
"Because it's worth it."
At his unexpected answer, Charlotte blinked in confusion.
"Let's make a promise."
"A promise...?"
"I, Dale of Saxen, swear on the name of the ducal house to become the protector of the Orhart family."
Charlotte had talent with the sword. Even if today's duel ended in Dale's overwhelming victory.
"Until the day you become strong enough to defeat that man."
Dale said,
"I and the Saxen family will be your shield with all our strength."
"...In exchange for what?"
But Charlotte asked coldly. In this world, there is no goodwill without price. So Dale answered.
"The sword in your hand."
"...!"
When she blooms into her full potential and truly becomes the daughter of the Divine Sword—
"Swear here and now that your sword will one day be wielded for me and the Saxen ducal house."
Through a vow of fealty, her sword would be wielded for Dale.
"This is our promise."
An investment in the future. At those words, Charlotte remained silent.
But the silence didn't last long.
"...I swear on a knight's honor."
Dale reached out, and Charlotte took his hand in response. Even if it was just a promise between children.
They quietly clasped hands, solidifying their resolve.
Swordmaiden Charlotte.
The girl who would follow in her father's footsteps and become another greatest swordsman of the continent, bearing the title of Divine Sword.
The girl who would one day stand beside the new Duke of Saxen, as his most loyal knight.
After the duel, Dale brought Charlotte back to the ducal castle hall. To speak to his father and persuade him of his resolve.
By then, the matter involving Charlotte's mother, Dale's father, and Lord Helmut had been mostly settled.
"Charlotte."
Vanessa Orhart, the young widow of the Divine Sword, spoke. As her mother, she had made the best decision she could for her daughter.
'Lady Charlotte Orhart will be protected under the name of House Saxen.'
The Duke of Saxen nodded in agreement to her request. Now it was time to tell her daughter.
Her naive daughter would surely cry and protest, saying she couldn't stay here.
But there was no other choice. Dressed in mourning black, veiled, Vanessa began to speak to Charlotte.
Charlotte quietly listened to her mother's words.
"I understand, Mother."
After hearing it, she nodded calmly.
"Charlotte...?"
The daughter who was expected to cry and scream, refusing to be separated from her mother—
The daughter who was expected to stubbornly reject protection from some imperial noble—
"I'll become strong."
She simply nodded with a smile, as if she understood everything.
What had happened in that brief moment?
Not only the Duke of Saxen and Lord Helmut, but even Vanessa turned her head in surprise—toward Dale, who was watching her resolve.
"Until my sword can protect you and the Orhart family in Father's place."
But Dale said nothing, simply watching Charlotte's resolve in silence.
"Because I'm the proud daughter of the Divine Sword."
Vanessa couldn't hold back anymore and embraced her daughter, sobbing.