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Translator: penny
Chapter: 62
Chapter Title: Try Experiencing It Once
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In the heart of the bustling streets of the imperial capital. A tearoom that would normally buzz with noble ladies' social chatter.
But today was markedly different. In the vast empty space, only two people kept their seats.
"You rented out the entire place! I could have come to you myself."
Adelin spoke with admiration. The woman seated across from her lifted her teacup with slender fingers and took a short sip.
Red eyes pierced Adelin through the teacup. That rippling gaze felt chilling, as if laced with hostility.
"Well... I didn't want to see my daughter crying again."
"Pardon?"
Adelin's eyes widened in surprise. At the same time, a bitter pain surged in her chest—a feeling she'd often endured since Bella had left so dejectedly the day before.
"Why?"
Adelin asked, even though she knew the reason better than anyone.
Her deep blue eyes, always so confident, now couldn't properly meet Roselia's.
"I should be the one asking. What did you say to my daughter?"
Adelin's eyes trembled briefly at the sharp question. Countless words she'd let slip from her lips flashed through her mind.
Adelin quietly clenched her fists. Vitality returned to her shaken eyes, replacing hesitation with firm resolve.
"Actually, that's why I came to see you today."
Meeting Roselia's gaze with clear eyes, Adelin continued, her determination unyielding.
"I said things that hurt Lady Bella's feelings. I'm here to apologize for that."
"What did you say?"
"I criticized how poor her scrolls were."
Roselia raised one eyebrow at Adelin's unexpectedly frank attitude.
"I belittled the scrolls Lady Bella made and completely ignored her sincerity."
Adelin didn't stop. Even a moment of silence felt like it might seal shut the door to her heart again.
"I arbitrarily assumed that just because she was once an orphan, she'd be obsessed with money."
Roselia's gaze cooled sharply. That detail hadn't even been relayed by Sierra.
"I'm here to apologize for all those words and my attitude."
A heavy silence filled the tearoom as Adelin finished. If a third party were present, the tension between the two women would have made it hard to even breathe.
"Do you still think that way, Duchess?"
"..."
After a brief pause, Adelin lifted her eyes straight again. There was no more hesitation in them.
"Yes. I still think the scrolls are poor."
There wasn't a shred of falsehood or retreat in her words. Adelin's boldness even left Roselia feeling absurd.
"But I deeply regret saying that in front of Lady Bella."
Adelin pulled a single token from her bosom and placed it before Roselia. A blue lion emblazoned itself majestically on the jet-black token.
"It's small, but this is the Sylvaniar Duke family's token of apology."
No noble was unaware of the profound significance this token bearing the Sylvaniar crest held. But Roselia pushed it back toward Adelin with a short sigh.
A clear refusal. Adelin's eyes quivered faintly.
"Duchess, do you have any friends?"
At the unexpected question, Adelin tilted her head with a blank look.
"Well... I have many colleagues."
"...Yes, so it seems."
Roselia's words carried multiple layers of meaning, but Adelin showed no sign of wavering.
Roselia closed her eyes and pressed her temples with two fingers, exhaling softly as if soothing a throbbing pain.
Originally, she had planned to draw a firm line preventing Bella from ever approaching again. But Adelin's attitude, far beyond expectations, made her reconsider slightly.
She still seethed at the thought of Bella being hurt. Yet perhaps Bella's words weren't wrong.
"I can't accept that token, even for my daughter's sake."
"..."
Adelin had no words in response to Roselia's firm refusal.
"Don't misunderstand. It's not that I reject your sincerity, Duchess."
"Then..."
"Actually, saying my daughter cried was a lie."
Roselia lifted the teacup before her and took a sip.
"Bella said you're a truly good person. Someone she once sincerely admired."
Adelin's body stiffened.
"She said you're upright and just, and she'd believe your words without doubt."
Adelin's deep blue eyes slowly dropped. Her clenched fists tightened further.
"That's why I can't accept it. My daughter doesn't think you did anything wrong."
"..."
Adelin's steadfast gaze finally fell to the floor. More than the fact that Bella cried, the praise for herself stabbed deeper and more poignantly into her heart.
She hadn't known words saying no apology was needed could sound so cruel.
"No. I must apologize."
So Adelin didn't bend her stubbornness. The one most flustered by her unfamiliar attitude was herself.
"...Before that, there's one thing you're mistaken about, Duchess."
Adelin listened quietly to Roselia's words.
"You said the scrolls would be poor, right?"
At Roselia's question, Adelin tilted her head slightly.
Towering pillars. Walls covered in obsidian impervious even to high-grade magic. Swords of various types displayed on one side.
A space that felt like stepping onto a battlefield. Not quite on the level of the Sylvaniars', but a training hall bearing traces of sweat and time.
There, she faced a single girl. A girl whose baby fat hadn't fully faded. Her eyes shone transparently and purely like a clear sky.
"Pardon...?"
The girl before her murmured with dazed eyes. She stared in disbelief.
"The Duchess is requesting a spar."
The countess soothed the girl with her glowing red eyes. Then, she tapped the scroll pouch on the girl's left side and gave a meaningful smile.
"You'll use these."
"But... these are..."
A cautious conversation passed between the two. In the meantime, she silently kept quiet, gazing only at the wooden sword in her hand.
The proposal from the Rahel Tani Countess. With no other choice, she accepted the spar.
On one hand, she was afraid. Afraid this duel might lead to the same conclusion again.
Her belief that the scrolls were poor hadn't changed. Relying solely on such tools would ultimately achieve nothing.
In the end, the one who needed to grow stronger was herself. That's why she believed scrolls were poison to growth.
What she feared most now was that her belief might be wrong. That the girl's scrolls might deviate not one inch from her expectations.
That the girl would despair upon learning that truth. And that she herself would be the one to deliver it.
Look at her even now. The girl before her had too many openings. Exploiting just one to snatch the scroll pouch would end the fight.
The girl would become a powerless child. A frail body incapable of defense or counterattack.
She'd despair. She might crumble against the wall of reality that her path so far was wrong.
"No... There's no way I could be a match for Lady Adelin..."
The girl took a trembling step back.
She didn't avoid those eyes. She simply raised her wooden sword silently and pointed it at the girl.
"Please, show me Lady Bella's abilities."
Yes, please.
She gazed at the girl with earnest hope.
Please show me even the tiniest spark—so she wouldn't despair. A fragment of potential, however faint.
"But..."
"I'll go easy on you, so don't be afraid. Come at me."
Surprisingly, provocation worked on her personality.
The faint fighting spirit seeped into the girl's sky-blue eyes, which had held no thought of fighting moments ago.
"Are you... sure, Duchess? As you said, controlling the scrolls' power is tricky..."
Knowing it went against etiquette, she couldn't help but let out a chuckle at the girl's words.
Honestly, it was cute bravado.
"Don't worry. Lady Bella won't even touch a hair on my head."
She held her wooden sword straight up toward the sky.
Concentrating on the firmly gripped hilt, blue flames soon flickered and enveloped the sword. Like a scabbard, burning yet serene.
The blue flames wrapped around her body like armor, emanating a subtle warmth.
The power passed down only in the Sylvaniar family. Called Azure Flame. Even the clan name derived from this power.
"Please, use your scrolls freely."
Under her and the countess's firm persuasion, the girl finally accepted the spar reluctantly.
"...Just don't hit me too hard, please."
With a cute grumble, the girl cautiously placed her hand on the scroll pouch.
The countess standing nearby nodded briefly toward her, then silently stepped back.
"You're really... okay with this, Lady Adelin?"
"Haha! Honestly, I'm not even tense!"
Even as she answered, a corner of her heart ached. She worried if her words might hurt the girl again.
"...I guess I don't know anymore."
The girl drew one scroll and held it toward her.
Such a sloppy stance. The action telegraphed an attack so clearly that her instincts nearly relaxed.
But for the girl's sake, she had to face her seriously.
She quickly adjusted her posture. Planting her feet deeply into the ground, ready to leap at any moment.
'Just enough to snatch the scrolls.'
Blue flames surged along the wooden sword in her hand. The Sylvaniar Azure Flame dominated the battlefield with its mere presence.
Even a wooden sword. If imbued with sword aura, nothing could withstand it.
Crackle—!
With a short, sharp friction sound, the girl's scroll flickered. At the same moment, she kicked off the ground and charged straight ahead.
'Whatever magic it is, I'll cut it down. End it before she can draw a second scroll.'
With that resolve, she thrust her sword at the red spear extending toward her.
Kwachik—!
Her sword cleaved through the spear without the slightest resistance.
As expected. The scroll's magic was helplessly devoured before the Azure Flame's might.
"...Huh?"
No.
It was just an illusion.
Something was off.
At the hollow sensation somewhere, she dropped her gaze downward.
The sword enveloped in unquenchable Azure Flame.
She had swung it exactly as imagined.
But now, only the hilt remained in her hand.
The wooden sword's remnants, shattered beyond recognition, were clutched there.
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