The sun was bright, warming one’s bones until they felt soft.
Allen leaned against the grand pillar of the academy gate, squinting his eyes as he enjoyed this rare moment of peace.
In his mind, he could already picture Hugo’s miserable state.
The guy was likely staring at a prompt about the “Loyalty and Wisdom” essay right now, probably biting the barrel of his quill pen so hard it was about to snap.
As for Marianne, she should be able to handle it.
Just as he was planning to take Marianne and Hugo to the Continental Hotel for a nice celebratory meal after the exam, he caught sight of someone standing nearby out of the corner of his eye.
It was a blonde youth. His clothes were of exquisite material and tailoring; one look was enough to tell he came from a prominent background.
‘Did he finish the exam already too?’
A hint of suspicion rose in Allen’s mind.
‘Is this a joke? Someone actually turned in their paper earlier than me?’
He sized the boy up. The youth had “I’m looking for someone” written all over his face.
He didn’t look like an overachiever who could sit still and grind through the Seven Liberal Arts.
While Allen was observing him, the blonde youth noticed him as well. A flash of urgency crossed his face, and he hurried over.
“Hello, excuse me.” The youth’s voice was clear but tinged with anxiety. “May I ask, did you see my sister inside the examination hall?”
Allen raised an eyebrow.
Sister? This was a bit of an old-fashioned way to strike up a conversation.
He was about to brush the boy off with a few casual words, but the youth’s next sentence made his entire body stiffen.
“Her name is Livia. Livia von Stern.”
Buzz—
Allen felt a dull ache in his molars.
The moment he heard the name of this overpowered protagonist, his stomach—which had only recently settled down—began to twitch rebelliously again, as if protesting her very existence.
He forcibly suppressed the turmoil in his heart, maintaining a polite, distant expression. “I don’t recall. Does she have any distinguishing features?”
Allen’s mind raced.
The person in front of him should be the eldest son of the Frontier Count and Livia’s younger half-brother—Conrad von Stern.
The blurred background character from the depths of his memory now overlapped with this anxious, youthful face.
Yes, it was him.
A tool character who existed in the original story solely to highlight his sister’s radiant brilliance.
If Livia hadn’t torn up the marriage contract, this kid would have almost become his brother-in-law.
Thinking of this, a sense of absurdity welled up in Allen, but it soon transformed into a much greater confusion.
Conrad was looking for Livia, which meant—
Livia didn’t show up for the exam?
Why?
According to the “script” he knew so well, it was impossible for Livia to miss this entrance exam.
It was of monumental significance to her; it was the first step on her path to rising above her circumstances.
“Wait, Livia, you’re the female lead of a school dating game!”
“How can the female lead miss the placement exam? Is something wrong with the plot?”
“You aren’t at St. Nora Sigil Academy at all… where are you hiding?”
Allen sighed inwardly.
“That girl Livia… she really is a free spirit.”
She was so free that she didn’t even want to be the destined female protagonist anymore, choosing instead to flip the table and walk away.
He carefully recalled the settings of the original work. At this point in time, Livia’s life at the Stern manor was indeed quite miserable.
As a natural-born daughter with an awkward status, she faced the stinging mockery of a wicked step-mother and the cold isolation of her half-siblings every day.
It was only because of her resilient personality and strong sense of responsibility that she endured.
If Allen were Livia, he would have set that hypocritical Frontier Count’s Manor on fire long ago and wandered the world.
“She isn’t even your birth mother; why give her any respect?”
Wait.
A flash of inspiration struck Allen’s mind, and he keenly sensed something unusual.
“Could Livia’s heart have completely shattered? Is she just throwing everything away now?”
Combined with the strong self-destructive tendencies she displayed, this was highly probable.
If the memories of the cycles of reincarnation had finally crushed her, then her initiative to challenge him to a duel might have had a very simple purpose—
Either kill him to completely sever some kind of connection or fate, or be killed by him to seek liberation.
So, with Livia’s sense of justice being so excessive it bordered on obsessive, what would be the most likely thing for her to do before completely destroying her own life?
The answer was obvious.
She would go hunt down members of the Crimson Oath.
Since she likely knew about certain future tragedies, she would definitely use the method she was best at—martial force—to stop them as much as possible and eliminate potential threats.
However, to push an overpowered lead to this point… what exactly did the Stern family do to her?
Allen’s brow furrowed tightly. A cold light flashed in his pale gold eyes as they fixed directly onto Conrad.
“Did your sister run away from home?”
That gaze was incredibly oppressive. Conrad, who lacked the confidence usually brought by a strong Bloodline of the Sigil, felt a sudden chill.
He instinctively took a half-step back.
But he quickly realized that since this person could ask such a question, he might actually know his sister.
“L-Livia… Sister Livia… she hasn’t been home for several days.” Conrad’s voice grew smaller and smaller until it was almost a whisper. “Um… do you know my sister?”
“More than just ‘know’ her.” Allen let out a cold smile. “I am Allen Delaval, the man who almost became your brother-in-law.”
Conrad’s eyes widened instantly. He scrutinized Allen from head to toe, the expression on his face becoming extremely vivid.
“Eh? B-But… everyone outside says you’re a… crooked-faced, bastard scoundrel… You don’t… really look like that?”
This kid probably lacked a “social beatdown” in his life; whatever he thought simply tumbled out of his mouth.
Allen retorted, “I’m just mentally unstable, not suffering from facial paralysis. How am I crooked-faced?”
Conrad realized his slip of the tongue. His handsome face turned bright red as he hurriedly tried to salvage the situation.
“I-I’m sorry! I am Conrad von Stern, son of the Frontier Count of Wallonia. I am very sorry to have bothered you!”
“Cut the nonsense.” Allen waved his hand, having no interest in bickering over words.
He was more concerned about Livia’s whereabouts.
“My mischievous fiancée sent me a letter of challenge without a word, and I haven’t even settled the score with the Stern family yet. What, did you people actually manage to drive her away?”
Allen’s words were clearly accusatory. Conrad’s momentum shrank even further, and guilt and unease appeared on his face.
He stammered as he described Livia’s treatment at home.
As Allen listened, his expression shifted from cold indifference to shock.
“No way… Is that for real?”
He knew Livia’s family relations weren’t harmonious, but to be treated like a ghost by the entire family—where everyone was even too stingy to give her a decent look—was a level of extreme domestic cold-shouldering that felt suffocating just to hear about.
“My god… this is too tragic.”
“How could Livia even stand this? If I had her skills, I would have beaten every single one of those so-called “family members” one by one, then clapped my hands and flown far away.”
“Since… since she returned from your manor, she often locked herself in her room. Later, she began to disappear frequently, even staying out all night. My mother said she had probably found some wild man outside, which was why she was so desperate to tear up the marriage contract,” Conrad said, his voice dropping low.
“Sister heard Mother’s words and said nothing. The next day, she never appeared again. My father seemed to send people to look for her, but he soon acted as if nothing had happened. I asked him, but he ignored me.”
“She’s been gone for three days. Today is the entrance exam for St. Nora Academy. I remember when I chatted with her before, she said she was looking forward to studying here… She’s always been very serious about her studies. So, I wanted to come here and try my luck, to see if she would show up.”
After hearing Conrad’s narrative, the anger in Allen’s heart didn’t dissipate; instead, it surged higher. His tone became even more glacial.
“Now of all times, you finally remember she’s your sister? Where were you before? Weren’t you also one of those bystanders, looking down on her as a lowly illegitimate daughter? What, have you only just realized that the reason the Stern family can stand firm in the Capital isn’t because of your Frontier Count father, but because of your sister’s extraordinary talent for crestology? Don’t you think it’s a bit too late to try and mend the relationship now?”
Having been exposed so mercilessly by Allen, Conrad bowed his head in shame.
“No… it’s not like that… I actually always thought of her as my sister… it’s just…”
“Just what? Just that you were a coward, afraid to resist your mother and go against the invisible rules of the family?” Allen interrupted him without mercy.
“Since you chose to participate in that cold-shouldering, you have no right to call her ‘sister’ anymore.”
“Livia was supposed to be very gentle with her family, wasn’t she? Her personality was originally quite warm and bright, right? And yet you people forced her to become this frost-cold person who won’t let anyone near. This is entirely the fault of the Stern family.”
“Stop trying to find her. From now on, just act as if you never had a sister named Livia. Isn’t this the outcome the Stern family wanted?”
Allen was ruthless with his words, but his mind was analyzing things at high speed.
When describing Livia’s ordeal, the youth’s tone carried a strange objectivity and detachment, as if he were telling the story of a stranger.
This innate coldness made Allen particularly annoyed.
“To be able to handle family relationships in such a way… nobles really are a bunch of thorough bastards.”
Thinking about it carefully, this kid Conrad probably had a twisted sister complex.
He was jealous of Livia’s talent and the fatherly love she might steal, yet he also harbored some indescribable feelings for this beautiful and powerful sister who had suddenly burst into his life.
Like a childish little boy who uses bullying to get the attention of a girl he likes, he probably thought that maintaining this cold, bystander attitude could hide and help him escape his complex emotions toward his half-sister.
The result was that after living under the same roof for years, these two were still mental strangers.
Allen could almost imagine the process of Livia’s blue eyes gradually losing their light as she tried time and again to care for her brothers, only to be ignored and pushed away every single time.
Thinking of it this way, Livia’s current self-destructive tendencies and her resolute departure from home made perfect sense.