I Tried To Be Her Loyal Sword

---

53 Chapter

‘But this spring is…… sure to be tough.’

I pressed my lips together firmly.

Having dedicated the entire winter to honing my swordsmanship, I gave my aching shoulders a couple of taps.

Busy

Realm

Chronic

For no reason

This was my first spring in Kashmir Crisis, and daunting plans were lined up as the northern wind approached.

‘I hope I can protect what I love.’

I bitterly smiled and got up from the window, leaving the room. I was thinking of going to practice swordsmanship again.

I was preparing for winter in the bright spring.

If you want peace, you must prepare for war.

“Lady Lewellin Deckardo invited me and Aria to a tea party?”

“Yes. Here’s the invitation.”

One sunny day as I was enjoying tea time with Aria in the garden, Maria handed us the invitation.

‘Aria’s been active in the social circle, so I guess she often runs into Lewellin… but since my debutante, I’ve been so focused on swordsmanship that I hardly did any social activities. Why did she send one to me?’

It made sense that Aria, who stood at the pinnacle of social activities, received an invitation. However, it was surprising that she sent one to me, who was rejecting all the invitations coming my way.

While I turned the intricately engraved envelope with golden roses around in my hands, I opened it with a letter opener.

Inside lay an ordinary invitation.

“Hah! Lady Deckardo sent invitations to both me and my sister? It’s so transparent, it’s laughable!”

Aria scoffed as she looked disdainfully at the invitation. I was puzzled as to why she reacted that way.

“Why? Is there a problem?”

“That guy wouldn’t send me an invitation. Would he invite my sister, his arch-nemesis, for a casual tea party? If he was going to send something, it would be a duel challenge!”

Ah.

I let out a small sigh. I had momentarily forgotten that the relationship between Lewellin and Aria was not good.

Currently, Lewellin and Aria were fated rivals vying for the title of the emperor of the social circle. If Aria was being bullied like in the original story, I would have intervened to mediate, but since they were both tearing each other apart in a somewhat healthy competition, I was leaving it alone for now.

‘……Does she really dislike him that much?’

Seeing Aria glare at Lewellin’s invitation like it was a pile of dead flies, I made a sour face.

I had never seen them together, so I had no idea how bad their relationship really was.

“Lewellin must really want to send an invitation to my sister. Since he has no excuse, he’s pretending that inviting both of us serves his purpose! Clearly, my sister is the true objective!”

“……What?”

With a face like a demon, Aria screamed in a shrill voice. I blinked in surprise.

“……Why would Lady Deckardo send me an invitation? Isn’t that a bit of an overinterpretation?”

“Look! The date of the tea party! It’s the same day as the business presentation for the harness and body chain export!”

I glanced at the invitation again. The tea party was three days from today. It was the day Aria had an important meeting with merchants from the Atara Kingdom. That meeting was crucial, so she couldn’t possibly skip it.

‘Lewellin wouldn’t be unaware of this. If he sent an invitation anyway, it’s a bit odd.’

What kind of family is Deckardo? They were the highest-ranking family, praised as the gateway to all gold coins within the empire. Crisis would even bow down to Deckardo when it came to pure wealth; it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that there were no financial transactions in the empire that Deckardo didn’t know about.

“That cunning Deckardo couldn’t possibly not know I can’t go! He deliberately chose a day I can’t attend to keep me from going and ensnare my sister!”

“Ensnare…?”

“That guy, every time he sees me, asks about my sister! He’s just now revealing his true colors!”

I tried to calm down Aria, who was about to burst with rage, but she was too deep into slandering Lewellin as the empire’s ultimate villain and a rare traitor. It seemed there was no reasoning with her.

I just stared blankly at Aria, who was ready to burst into an impromptu eulogy titled “That Lewellin Bastard” on the tea table.

‘Sis, have you ever dated Lewellin Deckardo?’

‘What, huh?’

‘I just talked with Lady Deckardo alone for the first time yesterday… He kept asking about you. Annoyingly… Hurry up and tell me, does Lady Deckardo like you? Or am I just imagining things?’

I frowned at the memory of Aria, who had once frightened me by questioning me about Lewellin after he and I had met for the first time since entering the social scene.

I hadn’t seen Lewellin since my debutante ball, being busy with training, while Aria, active in the circle, frequently ran into him and then vented her frustrations to me.

“You know nothing about my sister having a freckle on her butt! As if you know her! Constantly asking about her! Just wait, I’m going to hire an assassin soon!”

“Aria, calm down…”

“Just be still, sister! I’ll handle everything!”

Though Aria was furious, I realized that Lewellin wouldn’t be ignorant of the fact that she was scared of him. The fact that he still sent her an invitation was indeed strange.

‘Then could his true objective be me…?’

I made a serious face as I looked down at the invitation with my name written in bold letters. I was anxious about why Lewellin wanted to meet me.

“Sis! Don’t go! Next time, let’s go together to another lady’s tea party! You could host one at Crisis Mansion too! We don’t need to go to Lady Deckardo’s tea party!”

“Um… No. I think I need to go.”

“What?!”

Aria jumped up abruptly. Her intense sky-blue eyes demanded a reasonable explanation, shining with fierce light, but to me, it was merely cute, and I just smiled.

‘It had been on my mind since the debutante ball… and I had been bothered by how Lewellin kept asking about Aria, so I had thought I should meet him at least once. This is a good opportunity.’

Lewellin Deckardo was someone born into the greatest merchant family. He was skilled in distinguishing right from wrong and calculating profits and losses.

From what I had heard so far about Lewellin, he never helped anyone for no reason. At first glance, his behavior seemed emotional, but upon closer inspection, it was the result of thorough consideration of reasons and gains.

‘Of course, in “Fairy Night,” they made her a villain by focusing solely on her mischief and cruelty…

“The ‘Fairy Night’ was a sham of a novel where our genius Aria was only used as an angelic female protagonist. Having lived for months with the rich Crisis family, who possess a significantly different nature depicted in the original, I’ve decided to completely disregard the novel.’

‘If Deckardo supports me in the impending war, that would be immensely beneficial. It’s better to convert Lewellin into an ally if possible.’

During the debutante ball, Lewellin had helped me for no apparent reason and even asked if he had seen me somewhere before. It hinted that he might have had a notion that I had been the sword master who helped him back then.

‘If he seems to be observing how I act towards him and catches on, then perhaps I should just be straightforward. It’s better to get closer under the pretext of having helped him before.’

I was no longer afraid of destroying the original story. I was prepared to use anything as a tool to protect my valuable ones.

‘If necessary, I’ll even use Lewellin as a means.’

“I didn’t do any social activities at all after the debutante. I have to step into the social circle now. Besides, Lady Lewellin is very interested in me. I’m curious about why.”

But I couldn’t express my true feelings directly, so I gave a reasonable-sounding answer.

“I was planning to show my subservience in the social circle first and then present it as a gift to you…”

With a cold expression, Aria scooped up and roughly smashed the macarons that were on the tea table in front of her. After torturing the macarons for the fifth one, she sighed and spoke.

“……Alright. If you want to go, I can’t oppose it.”

Aria, having given up on discouraging me, looked pitifully downcast. It made me momentarily weak-hearted, wondering if she disliked me meeting Lewellin that much, but since I had to meet him at least once, I couldn’t back down.

“But if that guy bothers you, don’t hesitate to deal with him.”

Aria’s eyes became sharp again. I tried hard to ignore the goosebumps creeping up my body.

“I’ll go to prison if necessary.”

It seemed that Lewellin was indeed someone she despised.

And now, I was standing before the resplendent Deckardo Mansion.

‘Wow.’

My mouth dropped open at the sight of the unfamiliar Deckardo Mansion. While the Crisis Mansion was neat, the Temple sacred, and the Imperial Palace luxurious, the Deckardo Mansion exuded an atmosphere that was somehow mysterious and fairy-tale-like.

‘It’s beautifully decorated.’

I couldn’t help but admire the walls of the mansion, where rose vines were intricately carved. The building, resembling something that jumped out of a fairy tale world, captured the innocence of a person. I admired the taste of the one who built the mansion and followed the Deckardo servants toward the garden where the tea party was set to take place.

The Deckardo garden was known for its ‘Ever-blooming Flower Garden,’ where splendid flowers bloomed throughout the year. I marveled at the lush red roses adorning the garden as I walked. There were magic stones emitting magical power all around the garden to maintain the roses.

‘Seriously, what a waste of money.’

I gasped at the sight of the premium magic stones, each worth a fortune. Even the Duke of Crisis wouldn’t splurge this extravagantly.

‘What happened to the Deckardo Mansion during the war in the original story… was it destroyed?’

I couldn’t quite recall that part. Still, I felt a bit sad at the thought of this rose garden getting ruined as I approached the tea table in the garden, where colorful dresses stood out.

“Princess Crisis. You’ve arrived.”

A calm and melodious voice tingled in my ears.

Long hair ablaze like a mesmerizing flame. A face that exuded sophistication yet with the edge of someone carrying a sword within. Just sitting there emanating charisma that captivated everyone.

Brilliant emerald green eyes gleamed regally.

Those eyes were staring at me. I felt like I was being dissected, yet I didn’t shy away from the penetrating gaze and proudly smiled.

“Thank you for the invitation, Lady Deckardo.”

I finally faced Lewellin Deckardo.