From childhood until now, Aixi had never looked at herself from this perspective.
Saintess Selis’s words were like a beam of light, piercing through the thick, frozen armor around her heart, allowing a gentle current of warmth to quietly flow through the coldest depths inside her.
Selis’s gaze grew ever deeper, as if she could pierce through the veil of time and look straight at those unknown, hidden pasts.
“And do you really think that a Grand Magus, who has hated swordsmanship all his life and reached nearly demigod strength, wouldn’t notice his daughter practicing, day after day, the very thing he despises most?”
Aixi jerked her head up, pupils trembling, the whole of her stunned.
This possibility—she had never dared to imagine it.
“He saw. He definitely knew. But he didn’t stop you.”
Saintess Selis’s voice carried an irrefutable certainty.
“In the final moments of his life, as he looked back on his brilliant yet lonely existence, could it be that he finally realized— that the daughter he’d never truly faced, her figure gripping a longsword, stumbling yet never giving up, was a kind of ‘strength’ he could never reach?”
Saintess Selis’s warm hand covered Aixi’s still-cold one, passing along her warmth and strength without reservation.
“So, Aixi, don’t stay trapped in the maze of ‘Does he love me.’ The answer to that question isn’t in anyone else’s mouth—it’s in only one place.”
She raised her hand, pointing clearly out the window.
Out there—was Aixi’s cherished homeland.
“Go back there. Go back to the place full of memories the two of you share.”
“Don’t go as a failure—go back as Aixi, the Rose Knight. When you use these resolute hands to open that door, perhaps you’ll find the answer he truly left for you.”
A faint light rekindled in Aixi’s eyes, yet it was still shrouded in a mist of worry.
“But…the villa is going to be sold, and I skipped class. Lady Isavel will punish me. Maybe she won’t even let me go home…”
“Precisely because the villa is going to be sold, that’s why you must hurry back.” Selis’s tone was calm and reassuring.
“And don’t worry, you still have time. The process of putting it up for sale is rather troublesome.”
“As for Isavel’s punishment…you’ve already fallen and gotten back up so many times. What does her punishment even matter to you now?”
After a long silence, Aixi rested her head on Selis’s shoulder, just like a child finding refuge in her mother’s embrace.
“…I want to go home.”
She wiped away her tears. Her voice was very soft, but carried a resolve that burned all bridges behind her.
……
After that, inside the Rose Knights’ Classroom, the air felt almost frozen.
The moment Isavel’s figure appeared at the door, an invisible pressure swept instantly through the entire room.
Mentor Anderi, who’d heard the news, followed right behind, arms crossed, chin slightly raised, with a hint of smug anticipation on his face.
He was sure this famously strict Saintess was here to straighten out classroom discipline on his behalf.
And as expected, Isavel’s gaze swept leisurely across the hall before she smiled and asked:
“Everyone looks so lively. But can anyone tell me, why are there only thirty-nine people in the Order of Knights when there should be forty? Is someone missing?”
Her voice was especially sweet, but her smile never reached her eyes. The Rose Knight Girls were long used to her false smile, so they all kept their heads down, not daring to speak.
But Mentor Anderi was different.
Upon hearing Isavel’s question, he seemed to gain some backing, snorting through his nose, “Heh, if someone can’t learn Magic, naturally she wouldn’t keep staying here.”
Yet before he finished, Isavel’s gaze landed directly on him, making him feel as if he’d fallen into an icy cellar.
“Did I ask you, Mentor Anderi?” Her voice lost all warmth, leaving only pure chill. “Interrupting is not a good habit.”
Anderi was suddenly stunned, an expression of embarrassment and surprise flashing across his face.
Weren’t they supposed to be on the same side?
Why was she turning on him?
After two seconds of stalemate, though he didn’t understand, Anderi, out of respect for the Saintess Isavel, forced down his pride and gave a reluctant, low apology.
Only then did Isavel slowly withdraw her gaze and look back at the crowd, her eyes settling at last on Leanna.
“Leanna, as Captain, you should know who is missing, shouldn’t you?”
Leanna stood up, taking a deep breath.
She could feel the worries of her companions, and that gaze that seemed smiling but was truly full of oppression.
She knew that hiding the truth was useless; Isavel would always find out who’d skipped class.
So she might as well just say it—perhaps she could plead for Aixi.
“It’s Aixi,” she said, her voice a bit hoarse. “But it wasn’t intentional—she just has family problems, and besides, she doesn’t have much talent for Magic…”
“Enough.”
With those two words, Isavel cut off all her further explanations.
“You don’t have to make excuses for her. Whatever the reason, skipping class is a fact.”
“And skipping class—must be punished.”
She leaned forward slightly, her eyes sweeping across the hall. At this moment, all the girls held their breath, not daring to make a sound.
Isavel’s punishments had always been a sword hanging over everyone’s head.
They never forgot the girls who’d been punished before—when they crawled out alive from the Hecate Monster Dungeon, their eyes were always dull, their bodies stained with monster blood.
They never knew what those girls experienced in the Monster Catacomb, but none of them were curious, and none ever wanted to try it for themselves.
Seeing the girls frozen in fear, Isavel suddenly laughed.
“But you know, I’m not really a bad person. Aixi doesn’t have much Magic talent; her time here is just wasted. I understand that.”
“So, her punishment won’t be that severe.”
Hearing this, the girls breathed a sigh of relief.
But at that moment, Isavel’s lips curled, and she announced the punishment.
“She must challenge Kaelan, a student from Mills Academy. The duel will be held in one month. If she wins, not only will I let bygones be bygones, I’ll even let her return home for a while.”
“But if she loses, she must survive for three days on the third floor of the Hecate Monster Dungeon.”
The third floor of the Monster Catacomb—for three days?
The sigh of relief the girls had just breathed was sucked right back in. At the same time, their hands and feet went cold, and cold sweat soaked their backs.
That condition meant, for Aixi to survive, she had to win.
But in a month’s time, defeating a Magic genius who’d already studied for several terms at Mills Academy?
How could that be possible?