She really was in a palace. As she paced through the empty corridors, she could hear the rhythmic tapping of her slippers against the floor. Each step echoed through the high, vaulted arches of the ceiling. The silence of this place seeped into Yuki's soul, the stillness gnawing at her nerves. She walked to the very end of the long hallway, but there was still nothing—no sound, no movement, just more of the same. She passed paintings and vases along the walls, but the crushing feeling that she was trapped was beginning to overwhelm her.
Until that very moment.
What was that lying on the ground? "No way...!" Before her lay a human body, literally torn in two. The floor was soaked in blood. Despite her instincts, a morbid curiosity pulled her forward. With every step, her stomach churned harder. What she saw was beyond words; these people hadn't just been killed—they had been brutally tortured. How could someone be so heartless? What could these people have possibly done to deserve such a gruesome fate? Some faces were so badly mutilated that they were unrecognizable; you couldn't even tell they were human anymore.
She slowly picked her way through the carnage, careful not to touch the remains. But the trail of bodies was endless, stretching across nearly ten corridors. Finally, she reached a massive, imposing door—likely the main hall of the palace. The entrance was littered with the corpses of armored soldiers, and the metallic scent of blood was thicker than ever.
She didn't have the strength to push the door wide open, but she managed to pry it just enough to slip through. As she stepped through that narrow gap, she saw a living soul for the first time since she had arrived.
[She had silver hair and ice-blue eyes—likely the most beautiful girl in the world. She possessed such a captivating aura that even Yuki, a girl herself, was stunned; I can't even imagine how men would react, she thought. But the girl was chained to a throne in the center of the room.]
(She had been left there to die.) Yuki walked toward the girl, but even though she knew Yuki was unarmed, the girl was still hesitant. The events had wounded her deeply; those ice-blue eyes seemed to be losing their light. Must tears flow from the eyes for one to be considered crying? Could the heart not weep, or the body not shatter without tears? No matter how rude, egoistic, or spoiled she might be, she was still human, and the sorrow of her soul was visible from the outside. She had lost her mother to an assassination as a child; now, she had lost her father, her loved ones, everyone she knew, and her friends.
What was there left to grieve for? Her pure white room, where she had grown up in peace, was now stained with the crimson of blood. No one could clean it, and she couldn't live with that stain. As Yuki drew closer, Mariana was afraid, but she had accepted the bitter truths just as quickly. What was the point of living? What would change? She was all alone now—a grain of wheat tossed in the wind, but a withered one.
Yuki picked up her sword from the ground. She had to ease this girl's pain; leaving her like this would be a betrayal of her own character. As soon as she took the sword, she swung it toward Princess Mariana. In that instant, the chains shattered into pieces. It wasn't a shock for Mariana; she had become someone with no expectations left from life. What if she died? Everything was gone anyway.
Yuki reached out her hand and said:
— It's not over yet. I lost my family too. Even though my heart burns and shatters, I keep living. Isn't that the true meaning of life? The ability to show courage despite the struggles and the pain... Just as our days have a cycle of night and day, so does our life. After every darkness comes light, and after every cold winter comes summer.
Mariana snapped:
— Shut up, grandma! Instead of giving me advice, why don't you go knit something? I thought my grandmother was long dead, but it turns out she's standing right in front of me.
Mariana was truly sharp-tongued; she didn't know where to stop before breaking someone. She was trying to pass the ruins in her heart to Yuki; she was looking for a partner in her downfall. If she was sinking, someone had to sink with her—that was how she had been raised, always with someone behind her. But as kind-hearted and merciful as Yuki was (especially toward girls), a tiger lay within her if her patience was tested. And Mariana was rapidly approaching the limits of that patience.And finally, Yuki's patience wore thin. That fool, that pessimistic fool, was still acting like an arrogant bastard despite being helped. Yuki had only wanted to help; she really hadn't expected such a piece-of-trash personality to come out of such a beautiful girl. Anyway, the girl was finally free now. Yuki had done what she had to do, and the rest was up to her. She could do whatever the hell she wanted; Yuki didn't care anymore.
Driven by fury, she stormed toward the exit of the room and slammed the heavy door—which she had struggled to open earlier—shut with a single, angry push.
Now, do you think the princess realized her mistake? Jokes on you! Do you think this is some cliché isekai? Of course, that stupid princess didn't realize a thing. Due to her ego, arrogance, selfishness, hatred, and brainlessness, Yuki still saw her as an utterly unbearable person. Yuki didn't feel a single ounce of responsibility for leaving her alone in that room... Of course, she didn't feel a single ounce of responsibility... Of course, she shouldn't feel responsible... She wasn't responsible at all!
Fine, damn it... She was going back to the throne room.When she arrived in front of the throne room door, a lingering doubt still gripped her. Should she really deal with this girl? She was even more annoying than her brother. Anyway, there was nothing to be done. No matter how much she tried to deny it, she actually had a soft heart; she felt truly awful when she didn't help someone.
With a sudden burst of inner strength, she managed to fling the massive door of the throne room open once again. This time, she questioned the girl in a harsh, unyielding voice:
— Hey, brat! Are you just going to sit there and wait for death? If that's what you want, I'd rather kill you myself than leave you here!
Yuki picked her sword up from the ground and pointed its sharp tip directly at Princess Mariana. Mariana, unaware of what this crazy girl was truly capable of, merely watched Yuki from where she sat. Seeing that Mariana still hadn't moved an inch, Yuki lunged forward. She swung her blade fiercely, aiming straight for Mariana's head!
Despite looking fragile, quiet, and incapable of swift movement, Mariana's reflexes were far faster than Yuki's. Mariana managed to escape Yuki's deadly slash at the very last second by rolling away.
Mariana was finally starting to take her seriously.Without wasting any time, Mariana snatched a sword from the ground. She raised it, taking a ready stance against Yuki. Things were getting serious. Yuki had no intention of stopping; she immediately made her next move. She feinted an attack from the right, and after throwing the fake, she swiftly swung her sword horizontally from the left. However, the princess parried this clever move with ease, as if she had predicted it all along.
Before Yuki could even recover, the princess delivered a swift, hard kick straight to her stomach. Yuki went rolling across the floor. Now, the tables had turned, and it was Princess Mariana's turn to attack. She lunged directly at Yuki.
But Yuki was a magic expert; she had studied at the magic academy for so long and was currently among the elites of the Capital Magic Academy. Finally, in the heat of battle, she remembered that she could actually use magic! Just centimeters before Mariana's blade could pierce her throat, Yuki cast her whirlwind spell, instantly blasting the princess backward.
Yet, the princess escaped even this without a single scratch. Despite the heavy palace gown she wore, she managed a perfectly controlled landing. It was unbelievable... She fought with incredible speed and possessed immense experience. It was as if... as if she were a soldier who had been going to war since childhood. No, she was ten times better than them.Mariana had landed about five meters away from Yuki. For a brief moment, ignoring the dead bodies scattered across the floor, they circled each other. Both were waiting for the other to make the first move, and time was ticking away. Finally, Yuki decided to close the distance and move in.
Right at that moment, Princess Mariana lunged forward like a tiger! She intended to deliver a piercing blade strike straight toward Yuki's chest to take her down right then and there; she was going to rid herself of her this way. But Yuki had absolutely no intention of letting herself be killed. As Mariana thrust her sword forward, aiming directly for Yuki's heart, Yuki managed to dodge to the side.
Then, as if that weren't enough, Princess Mariana instantly transitioned her thrusting motion into a swift, horizontal slash. This time, Yuki was forced to abandon her sword entirely, throwing herself into a desperate backward flip. If she hadn't flipped away, she would have been snapped in two like a KitKat bar, meeting the exact same fate as the corpses in the room. But somehow, Mariana instantly unleashed yet another deadly slash toward the exact spot where Yuki was falling!
Oh no... Was she really finished? Was this the end of her life?