Ard was identified as a demon when he was only two years old.
From that moment onward, rumors began spreading throughout the Ventias mansion. Even though the Duke and Duchess had forbidden such gossip under threats of imprisonment and dismissal, fear was still fear. People could silence their mouths in front of their masters, but they could never completely erase the thoughts inside their heads.
Since childhood, Ard had experienced subtle discrimination from maids, cooks, knights, even the head butler himself.
Fortunately, his older sister often played with him.
To be precise, Ard himself never really cared about playing. Even if no one approached him, it would not bother him much. But his sister probably believed children were supposed to laugh and play around, so Ard simply responded to her efforts.
Inside the mansion, only the Duke, the Duchess, and his older sister genuinely cared about him.
Ard knew he was the center of rumors.
He simply chose not to care.
There were times when his older sister cried because of those rumors, yet Ard—despite still being considered a toddler at the time—calmly reassured her that he was fine.
When Ard turned seven, the Duke announced that he needed a personal maid to take care of him.
Out of all the maids in the mansion, not a single one volunteered.
Everyone was afraid.
Ard did not expect anything different. On this continent, demons were once regarded as terrifying enemies of humanity.
That day, Ard was alone in the mansion garden, picking flowers beneath the warm afternoon sunlight.
No maid accompanied him.
Only a few knights were stationed nearby, though the distance between them was rather far.
As Ard reached toward a flower, the sound of footsteps echoed behind him.
Tok. Tok. Tok.
Firm footsteps.
"Not a knight… and not a maid either."
Ard had already memorized the sound of footsteps inside the mansion.
Knights usually walked lightly yet steadily because of their training, while maids would never walk with such firm and direct steps.
"Halo, Young Master Ard."
Ard turned around.
There, kneeling before him, was a young woman with black hair tied in a ponytail. She wore glasses, and beneath her lips was a distinctive mole.
She introduced herself as his personal maid.
And her name was—
"Lutra."
---
"..."
"You know…" Ard smiled brightly while looking at Lutra. "I already consider you family."
Lutra stared back at him with narrowed eyes and a frozen expression.
"I'm truly grateful that you became my personal maid."
That night, Lutra remained silent for quite a while.
Moonlight poured gently through the bedroom window while the cool night breeze swayed Ard and Lutra's hair.
"Young Master…"
"Yes?"
"Do you perhaps… have any interest in romantic relationships with your maid?"
Lutra asked that question with a disgusted expression.
"What kind of nonsense are you thinking about?!"
"I thought you might have that kind of interest. Like the nobles in novels."
"Don't compare me to characters from novels!"
"If you are interested, then I shall offer my body completely to you."
Lutra slowly began unbuttoning her clothes in an unnecessarily dramatic manner.
"STOOOPP!"
Ard shouted in panic before immediately turning his face away.
"I was being completely sincere and honest too. Ugh… I never want to have this kind of conversation again."
Ard crossed his arms and looked toward the moon outside the window with an annoyed expression.
"Young Master."
"What now?"
"Thank you."
Ard did not turn around.
But he knew Lutra was smiling behind him.
"You'll have to work harder from now on."
Ard smiled faintly while continuing to stare at the night sky.
---
Heavy breathing echoed across the training grounds.
Sweat dripped onto the grass beneath the pale moonlight, creating small dark spots on the ground.
The cold night air perfectly matched Claire's current condition.
She was training alone.
Again.
Her sword sliced vertically.
Horizontally.
Then thrust forward.
Inside her mind, she had long decided something.
Rather than learning dozens of techniques, she would rather perfect these three basic movements first.
Claire already looked highly skilled with those fundamentals.
But she still remembered her older brother's words from years ago.
"If your foundation is strong, you can carry much more on top of it. But if your foundation is weak, everything will collapse eventually. You should already understand the difference, Claire."
For a brief moment, Claire remembered the image of her brother smiling gently while she held a wooden sword.
There was longing inside her eyes.
But also hatred hidden within them.
After finishing her final thrust, Claire lowered her sword and steadied her breathing.
Then she looked down at her palms.
Calluses.
Old scars.
Fresh wounds.
Some of them had even started bleeding again.
They were proof of how harshly she trained herself.
Claire stared quietly at her own hands before slightly frowning.
"Isn't that disgusting? A girl with hands like a servant."
The arrogant voice behind her was filled with mockery.
But Claire was already used to it.
She ignored the comment and resumed her stance.
"How rude. Though I suppose that's expected from the child of a servant. Your manners and brain are exactly like your mother's."
To Claire, those insults were old and boring.
The truth was simple:
She really was the daughter of a servant.
Not an heir.
Not the child of an important wife.
She had been born from the mistake of the family head, who once drunkenly slept with a maid.
Inside the mansion, Claire was constantly discriminated against because of her illegitimate status.
Her father barely acknowledged her existence because she was considered a "mistake."
Her mother had died under suspicious circumstances when Claire was still young.
She lived inside a massive mansion, yet nobody truly approached her.
Her siblings often treated her however they pleased.
Because of that, insults like "servant's child" no longer affected her.
"So the rumors about you secretly training at night were true. Are you trying to aim for the heir position?"
"Did you come here just to babble nonsense, Brother?"
Claire finally turned around.
"Rion Winterfail."
"Oh? You're bold enough to say my name directly now."
"Why should I fear the name of a boy who still clings to his mother's back?"
"How dare you say that to Lord Rion!"
One of the men standing beside Rion shouted furiously.
His body was much larger than both Claire and Rion.
He stepped forward aggressively, but Rion immediately raised one hand, stopping him.
"It seems you still need additional lessons from me."
"Sorry, but I've already learned something far more useful than what you taught me."
"…You're rejecting my teachings?"
"Rather than rejecting them, I simply don't need them anymore."
"You little—!"
The large man tried to interfere again, but Rion raised his hand once more.
Eventually, the man stepped back obediently.
"Well then," Rion said while smiling thinly, "if you no longer need your older brother's teachings… how about a duel?"
"I shall act as referee."
A woman stepped out from the darkness nearby.
Rena.
She calmly approached Claire and Rion with her usual mysterious smile.
Without wasting more time, both siblings took their stances.
Even though they were both Winterfails, there was still a clear difference between purebloods and illegitimate children when it came to learning the Winterfail techniques.
"Before we begin," Rena spoke calmly, "I will explain the rules."
"First. If someone's wooden sword breaks, or if one side can no longer move, they lose."
"Second. No killing intent. Only basic skills are allowed. Aura Weapon is prohibited."
"Third. If anyone cheats, they will be disqualified immediately."
Rena smiled lightly.
"I'll be using my 'Insight All.' If anyone attempts anything suspicious, I'll notice immediately. Fight fairly. This is supposed to be a healthy duel between siblings."
The sarcasm in her voice slipped past Rion entirely.
Once both sides agreed—
"BEGIN!"
"I'll show you that you still need your older brother's teachings!"
Rion dashed straight toward Claire.
Too straightforward.
Claire immediately read through the movement.
Easy to predict.
She sidestepped his first attack effortlessly.
"Don't you feel embarrassed attacking first?"
Claire immediately countered with a horizontal slash.
Because Rion's footing was unstable, he was forced to block awkwardly and got pushed backward from the impact.
"It seems I really don't need your teachings anymore."
Both of them returned to their stances.
"Don't get cocky yet."
Rion charged once more.
The moment their wooden swords collided, a burst of wind spread around them.
Claire pushed against his blade and instantly gained positional advantage. Both of Rion's arms had risen upward from the clash, leaving his lower body wide open.
Using that opening, Claire slammed the hilt of her sword directly beneath Rion's ribs.
"Ghk—!"
Rion coughed violently and staggered backward several steps.
"Not bad!"
Ignoring the pain, Rion rushed forward again with a barrage of slashes.
An upward slash.
Blocked.
A straight thrust.
Claire avoided it with minimal movement, merely twisting her body slightly.
A horizontal slash immediately followed—
Clang!
Claire blocked it cleanly in the center.
"Isn't it cruel refusing to accept my attacks with your body?"
"That's normal."
Rion stepped backward before slowly lowering his stance.
"So your nightly training really paid off. Those callused hands weren't for nothing."
His eyes sharpened.
"But that alone won't be enough."
Once again, Rion charged straight toward her.
Claire calmly twisted her body aside, letting the attack miss entirely.
And the moment Rion passed directly beside her—
"Frost Veil Kick."
Claire's knee slammed directly into Rion's stomach.
The technique itself was simple.
A low, explosive kick launched without a large preparatory motion.
Claire intentionally targeted his stomach to reduce the damage.
Immediately after that, she struck his back with her fist.
Rion coughed violently before crashing onto the ground.
He struggled to breathe.
The kick had knocked the air completely out of his lungs.
"Your attacks are too easy to read," Claire said coldly. "Is this really all you can do? You're wasting the resources of the main house."
"You cheated! Kicks weren't part of the duel!"
"Was there ever such a rule? As long as it's not meant to kill, any basic technique is allowed. Besides…" Claire narrowed her eyes slightly, "your attacks are recklessly straightforward. Didn't that bastard father teach you anything?"
"You bitch—!"
The large man beside Rion immediately tried to step in again.
But the moment he saw Rena smiling at him—
He stopped moving.
"Can you still continue, Rion?" Rena asked.
"He looks like he's having trouble breathing. Maybe someone should carry him back to his room."
Claire's sarcasm finally pushed Rion past his limit.
"DON'T LOOK DOWN ON ME! YOU'RE JUST A SERVANT'S CHILD! HOW DARE YOU LOOK DOWN ON PUREBLOOD!"
Claire remained expressionless.
Inside, however—
This was exactly what she wanted.
"Then stop talking and come."
Claire stood casually on one leg while raising her left hand and motioning with her finger for Rion to approach.
Rion's face twisted with rage.
Completely blinded by anger, he raised his hand toward Claire.
"Condense and pierce! Ice Spear!"
A spear of ice formed above him before shooting toward Claire.
Claire was slightly surprised, but she reacted quickly and leaped aside.
The instant Claire was airborne, Rion rushed forward and slashed at her.
The attack landed directly.
Claire crashed heavily onto the ground.
Dust exploded around her body.
As the dust slowly cleared, Claire emerged from the center with several wounds across her body—
Yet her expression remained unchanged.
Rion clicked his tongue before preparing another spell.
"I'll show you the difference between us!"
A massive magic circle appeared behind him, glowing pale blue.
Sharp ice projectiles began forming around the circle.
Claire immediately responded.
A magic circle expanded beneath her feet as multiple ice bullets floated around her body.
Both spells finished casting simultaneously.
"Stop! This is already excessive!" Rena shouted. "These aren't basic techniques anymore!"
But one of Rion's followers blocked her path.
"Don't interfere. Interrupting now could injure them… or even you."
"But this level of casting is already around Third-Class!"
"Take this! Ice Missile!"
The moment Rion shouted the spell's name, countless sharp ice shards shot forward like bullets.
"Cold Orbit."
Claire launched her own attack simultaneously.
Ice collided against ice.
Some shattered instantly.
Others slipped through and struck their targets directly.
Yet neither Claire nor Rion stopped.
Even while injured, they continued attacking relentlessly.
The collision of freezing magic created thick white vapor across the battlefield.
Cold mist swallowed both fighters whole.
"Damn it… are they alright?!" Rena shouted anxiously while trying to see through the fog.
"My Insight All can't penetrate this mana-infused cold air!"
Several seconds passed.
Then—
The fog slowly began to fade.
Three silhouettes appeared inside the freezing mist.
Two of them were obviously Claire and Rion.
But there was someone else standing between them.