Ch.80Amelia Windsor (5)

Amelia was a child without talent.

She was slow to learn, and she disliked learning.

After Ruide was born, it became even worse. Instead of boring lessons, she always wanted to play with Ruide.

However, Victoria always scolded her for this. Yet she had never seen Victoria scold Ruide even once.

Eventually, Amelia’s frustration erupted, and she talked back to Victoria.

-“I don’t want to study!”

-“Amelia.”

-“I want to play like Rui too!”

-“Ruide is only 4 years old. You’re 5 years older.”

-“That’s a lie! Mama didn’t play with Ria when she was 4 either!”

Amelia felt hurt by Victoria, who was endlessly harsh with her but always gentle with Ruide.

She was also upset with Irene, who would mercilessly use her fists if Amelia was even slightly annoying or talked back. She wanted to be pampered and loved just like Ruide.

Victoria always maintained a cold attitude in the name of succession, but Amelia had never been interested in succession to begin with.

As a result, Amelia’s arrows of resentment were directed at innocent Ruide. That’s why she bullied Ruide. She found him annoying, and when he reacted, it irritated her more, creating a vicious cycle of tormenting him.

Eventually, unable to endure it, Ruide scurried to Victoria and tattled, but Amelia remained confident.

Because when she had done the same thing, Victoria had become furious and even slapped her cheek.

She thought—surely Ruide would receive the same treatment. But that expectation was shattered.

-“Amelia! What are you doing to your brother!”

Amelia was deeply shocked in her young heart. Until then, she could excuse it with thoughts like “because he’s the youngest,” “because he’s my brother,” or “because he’s little.”

But when she felt the stark difference in consequences for the exact same behavior, Amelia couldn’t bear it. She locked herself in her room, buried her face in her pillow, and swallowed her tears.

-“Everyone hates only me. If someone like me disappeared right now, no one would care.”

It was while she was sunk in depression that Amelia sensed mana. Mana of the same type as her own.

When she went to the window, she saw Irene sparring with Victoria outside. Their movements were incredible. Amelia’s eyes couldn’t keep up. Soon, Irene’s sword fell.

She was shocked. She had never imagined Irene losing. But Amelia received an even greater shock from the next scene.

Despite being battered, Irene silently picked up her sword again, stood up, and took her stance.

-“Please, one more time.”

-“That’s enough for today.”

-“I refuse.”

“…!”

Irene swung her sword at Victoria’s back as she was turning to leave. And so, the sparring began again.

Amelia stumbled backward from the window and fell.

-“Sister… is working so hard.”

While she had been wasting time throwing tantrums, Irene had swung her sword one more time.

-“I need to work hard too. If I work hard, Mom, sister, and brother will pay attention to me.”

That’s when Amelia’s mindset changed.

She devoted herself to training every day.

However, she soon realized.

She and Irene were different.

Unlike Irene, whose skills steadily improved with the time she put in, Amelia’s skills didn’t improve.

-“Amelia. Your mana is excellent. So if you work hard, you will surely bear fruit.”

Victoria always said such things.

Indeed, she had good innate mana. However, her ability to handle it was terrible. Her ability to handle a sword was even worse.

No matter how hard she tried, she didn’t improve. She never put down her sword for a single day, but still.

But she wasn’t depressed. Because she had achieved her purpose.

-“Sister, let’s go see the fox.”

Her once-awkward relationship with Ruide had improved again.

-“Amelia. You must protect Ruide.”

-“Ria, don’t let even a drop of water touch Rui’s hand.”

And because of that, her family paid attention to her again. Amelia was satisfied with that. From the beginning, she didn’t have great ambitions.

But—

“…I couldn’t protect him.”

She couldn’t protect Ruide.

Rather, she was the one protected by Ruide.

That wretchedness was an indescribable feeling.

That’s why Amelia gritted her teeth and practiced.

Honestly, she knew it wouldn’t work.

She felt it immediately after crossing swords a few times.

The difference was on another level.

The Teuton were real knights, and she was a fake knight who had only faced monsters.

This wasn’t a gap that could be closed in a short time.

Drip, drip—

Having swung her sword for 10 hours straight, Amelia looked down at the floor and exhaled roughly. In her field of vision, she could see her blonde hair and the sweat drops flowing without pause.

“This isn’t enough. This… is insufficient.”

Amelia swung her sword as if to shake off her thoughts.

**

Rustle.

Ruide was hiding in the mansion’s bushes, watching Amelia’s training.

“……”

After swinging her sword a few times, Amelia slowly turned her head.

“Rui.”

“…!”

“I’m sorry, but please go. I told you I can’t concentrate when you’re here.”

Ruide rose from the bushes with a sour expression.

Amelia sighed, approached him, and removed a leaf stuck in his hair.

This was already the third day. He had been caught spying on Amelia’s training dozens of times.

“My great magic doesn’t work!”

Even when he wrapped himself in perception-hindering magic and invisibility magic, it was useless. Rather, he would get caught in one second.

Unfortunately, being from the same Windsor family, their mana sensitivity was identical, making it impossible to do anything secretly.

Moreover, Amelia’s talent for mana was genuine, making her a bad match for hide-and-seek.

In the end, it always ended with him getting caught.

“Sherry. Please take care of Ruide.”

Amelia put Ruide down. Then she returned to her training without looking back.

Ruide stared at Amelia’s back.

“This is troublesome.”

It wasn’t just that he kept getting kicked out for hovering around Amelia. From the beginning, he could see Amelia practicing from the window, so he had been able to gather some information.

There was about a month left until Karon recovered. Ruide mathematically calculated Amelia’s growth rate.

At the current rate of growth, he calculated that she couldn’t reach Karon’s level.

“…The current method has its limits. She needs a teacher to guide her.”

There was only one way to improve Amelia’s skills.

Because currently, Amelia was crudely practicing alone.

“Sherry.”

“Yes, young master.”

Ruide looked up at Sherry.

“Teach me swordsmanship.”

“I cannot.”

“Why?”

“Windsor swordsmanship can only be taught by a Windsor, as I’ve said. This is the 12th time I’m telling you this today.”

Sherry bowed her head respectfully.

Ruide’s gaze turned sour.

In fact, Ruide had already reached this conclusion two days ago. So he had made plans like begging the Emperor for a teacher, or learning swordsmanship himself to point out Amelia’s problems.

…But that was, as you can see, impossible.

Even when they were at home, Victoria taught her every day, yet Amelia’s swordsmanship skills remained at their current level.

Of course, even at that level, she could handle most knights, but with ordinary talent, it was unreasonable to compare with the Teuton, the empire’s best knights.

“It’s questionable whether I can find a better swordsmanship instructor in the capital than Victoria or Irene. In the end, there’s only that option.”

He didn’t want to use this method, but there was no choice.

“Give me a practice sword. You have one, right?”

“As I said, Windsor can only be taught by Windsor…”

“I’m going to train alone.”

Ruide held out his hand.

“Hand it over.”

**

Ruide headed to the practice area with the practice sword.

It was a sword without a blade that perfectly matched his build.

He had thought they were wasting money creatively by making one every year, but he never expected to use it like this.

Amelia, who was meditating, opened her mouth.

“Rui.”

“Sister, you practice.”

Amelia opened her eyes.

“…?”

She stared at the sword in Ruide’s right hand.

The composure that Amelia had been maintaining with her expressionless face cracked slightly.

And soon she made an extremely frightened expression.

“I’m going to practice by myself.”

Ruide stood at a suitable distance from Amelia with a stubborn expression.

The short-limbed Ruide held the sword in a stiff posture and raised it high.

He swung it down boldly. And then fell to the ground in that position.

Thud.

“……”

Ruide had hopelessly no talent for swordsmanship!

“R-Rui.”

Amelia hurriedly approached and helped Ruide up.

“…Why are you suddenly swinging a sword?”

“It’s my choice.”

Ruide stood up again. He swung the sword horizontally, but immediately staggered and fell, only to be caught by Amelia.

Ruide stared at Amelia’s face while being held by her.

“Rui.”

Amelia spoke seriously.

“Sister needs to practice.”

“I’m going to practice too.”

“…But Rui doesn’t need to practice swordsmanship.”

“Why? I’m a Windsor too.”

“Well…”

Amelia broke into a cold sweat at her innocent brother’s expression.

“If I don’t have talent, should I not practice?”

“…!”

Ruide tumbled out of Amelia’s arms. He slowly got up from the floor and put his hands in his pockets.

“You’re right. Me learning swordsmanship is a waste of time.”

It sounded like he was talking to himself, and Amelia’s expression hardened.

Ruide looked directly at Amelia and channeled his mana.

“But I can pretend to handle a sword well.”

Ruide’s practice sword floated into the air.

It stopped in midair as if held by an invisible person. He spoke to the blank-faced Amelia.

“From now on, I will perfectly recreate Karon Maximus’s swordsmanship.”

If you don’t have talent for studying, make someone cheat for you.

That was Ruide’s method.

**

Emperor Lucius looked at Irene, who was smiling with a tense expression.

Lucius wanted to close his eyes.

“So it has come to this.”

The Teuton had attacked Ruide.

Upon receiving the report of the incident, the Emperor felt darkness before his eyes and couldn’t say anything for a while.

The survival of the imperial family and the Windsor family had been possible because they didn’t harm each other.

He never imagined that an act of goodwill would return so distorted.

He wanted to go to Ruide immediately and apologize, but—

Lucius was the Emperor. As Emperor, he had to prioritize practical benefits over personal feelings.

The Teuton Knights were, before being the empire’s last bastion, his own powerful royal guard.

That represented a significant portion of the power the Emperor possessed.

If another knight had caused this incident, he would have hanged them without a second thought, but he couldn’t do that with the Teuton.

The only choice for Emperor Lucius was to minimize the repercussions of this incident.

“Irene. This incident…”

“I came here to give you a gift.”

Irene interrupted the Emperor. She was still wearing that enigmatic smile.

She slowly took something out from her bosom. A spatial pocket. From it, she pulled something out.

It was a large bundle wrapped in cloth.

“I’ve disposed of the trash existing in the capital. There were this many hiding.”

Drip, drip—

From the bundle held by the smiling Irene, crimson blood was dripping down. She placed it on the table.

“…!”

The Emperor’s eyes trembled. He looked at Irene with an expression of disbelief.

“Did you kill them?”

“Yes. I couldn’t let them live, could I?”

With slightly trembling hands, the Emperor reached for the bundle. When he untied the knot, dozens of heads were revealed.

“Hup-“

Despite his suspicions, the Emperor couldn’t suppress the urge to retch. But he barely bit his tongue. With bloodshot eyes, he examined the faces of the heads carefully.

They weren’t there.

The heads of the Teuton Knights were not among them. The Emperor slowly raised his head to look at Irene.

“I’ve brought the heads of black mages hiding in the capital. As a gift for my visit to the capital, are you satisfied?”

Irene was still smiling. Lucius barely suppressed his pounding heart and spoke.

“…You’ve done a commendable deed, Irene Windsor. I should reward you.”

“I don’t need a reward.”

Irene stopped smiling and spoke with an expressionless face.

“However, Your Majesty, please grant me permission for the disrespect I am about to commit.”