Chapter 18

Not only Father but also the Duke saw me like this.

Duke Hardland and Duke Bonart felt sorry, but the other two Dukes looked at me horribly. They didn’t even hesitate to claim that they should abolish me.

Even my mother, the Empress, did not stop them. Rather, she agreed.

– That’s not my child!

I can still hear the sharp voice hitting my ears.

I am powerless. I don’t even have the strength to protect one precious person.

So I decided to become Emperor.

“I’ll pick you up.”

Never again, never again will anyone treat you badly.

“I will give my all to protect you, Euseniel.”

* * *

“Urrah!”

“Left is empty!”

“Hng!”

“Oh, did you stop it? Here goes the next attack!”

Kwang!

The sound of metal clashing echoed across the wide snowfield.

“Wow, is the attack just now really serious? You almost cut my body in two!”

“I thought you were good at stopping it.”

“Because I’m half-elf, while that’s the level of power that a normal person would never have been able to stop.”

“So, that’s why, this level can only be applied to you.”

Varen, a city where snow does not disappear all year round.

The nickname is the city abandoned by the imperial family.

It’s been 12 years since I’ve lived in this barren area where it snows all year and no grain grows. I think I survived well without getting buried in the snow.

“Are you not tired yet? Would you like some more?”

“Great!”

In this area, where I have to walk an entire hour to see if the existence called the neighbor is alive, the man I am talking to right now is my only friend.

Sparks flew between the blades of the clashing swords.

I, a mixed-race elf who boasts a strong body, and a man who is clearly not human, Ber.

Seeing his green hair in the white snow, he looks like a well-grown tree.

Bang! Bang bang!

Surprisingly, he was not a tree, but a creature that could move very quickly. Footprints scattered across the pure white snowfield.

“Avoid this too!”

The blade that comes in to stab the middle of my body flashes white.

“How to avoid this!”

My hand felt numb when I raised my sword to block it. Ber was pushing me at a higher speed than usual and with great force.

Although I grumbled, this is refreshing and cool.

If you wield the sword with all your might, you can forget the past.

At the end of the year, upon arrival in Varen, Mother gave birth. My younger sister’s name is Ganiel, she has Mother’s white blonde hair and Father’s blue eyes.

My only sister doesn’t know the rights and wealth he deserved. She’ll just grow up like this little town is everything.

Why did the Emperor exile our family even if it’s weakening his power? My parents didn’t tell me what happened to that boy, so that question is still unanswered.

“Don’t look away!”

It was almost impossible to study a way to go to another world in this place where even books are hard to find, and all I could do was swing the sword as hard as I could.

Thanks to this man I happened to meet in the center of Varen.

* * *

Was it about 10 years ago?

“Grandma, be careful.”

I caught a grandmother who slipped after stepping on the less melted ice, and then I heard a young man’s voice behind my back.

“What is this, kid? You’re pretty quick?”

I didn’t like the way he looked at me so I tried to pretend I didn’t hear him, but he was persistent.

“Why don’t you learn to sword?”

Let’s pretend I didn’t hear, pretend I didn’t hear.

From my experience, it gets annoying when you get involved with someone like this.

“Euel, where have you been?”

As I heard Mother’s voice looking for me, I quickened my steps.

Alright, I don’t feel any movement.

“Euel.”

“Mother.”

“What, Ciel?”

I was startled by the man’s voice coming from behind me again. How can a person walk around like this?

“Who are you?”

Before Mother could answer, Father, who was holding Gael, looked at the man with a very wary look. Maybe it’s because a man calls his beloved wife’s name whatever he wants.

“Me? Bernaldi.”

… What is this vapid answer?

“Ciel, didn’t you say you went to a human village? Why are you here?”

“This is also a human village.”

“No, not here, a huge human village.”

Mother responded with a calm face.

“It is because the humans have chased me out here. This is my husband, Millen Hardland. Honey, this is Bernaldi, an old acquaintance of mine.”

Father looked very displeased, but when he saw Mother smiling, he reluctantly greeted the man.

“I am Millen Hardland. Ciel’s husband.”

“I am Bernaldi. To chase you away, that man is also quite fearless. Is he the king of humans?”

He knows it well. To be exact, the Emperor of humans, stranger.

The man who looked to be in his mid-20s introduced himself very simply and looked around at Gael, who Father was holding, and me. Then he asked Mother again.

“Both your children?”

“Yes.”

“The itty bitty one and a nimble fellow, two?”

“It’s two, but why is Euel ‘nimble’? And apologize for calling someone’s precious daughter a fellow.”

Mother said with a frown, but the man named Bernaldi listened with one ear and let it out through the other, looking only at me. Like the gaze of seeing something rare?

“Is this what the prophecy points to?”

“Bernaldi!”

Mother’s tearful cry and Father’s face turned white. And the gaze of the man named Bernaldi came towards me.

“Oh, pardon me.”

The green-haired man apologized, but his face didn’t show any sense of being rude at all, and then he said it to me again.

“By the way, kid. How about you learn the sword from me?”

“More than that, what’s the prophecy?”

“-Uwaaah!”

Gael, who was quiet in Father’s arms, burst into tears and we were all busy trying to comfort the baby. After that, at Mother’s suggestion, I began to learn swords from Ber.

* * *

“Gasp, gasp.”

In the end, holding my breath, I lay down in the snow. Ber smiled, looking down at me.

“As expected, my eyes weren’t wrong.”

“My eyes weren’t wrong either. The fact that you are not human.”

In 10 years, Ber’s appearance hasn’t changed at all. I thought he was an elf, but that thought was rejected because he didn’t have any characteristic of the elf’s pointed ears.

I thought he was a fairy, but I don’t want to believe that a fairy makes such a grumpy face. The fairy inside of me is somehow cute and small or as beautiful as Mother!

Of course, in terms of appearance, Ber is very handsome. He’s a good looking man.

If we go downtown together, we get everyone’s attention.

“Aren’t you going to tell me what race you are?”

“You guess.”

Ber smiled and grabbed his sword. The blade gleamed in the light reflected in the white snow.

“Ber, how good will my skills be?”

“Even if five human knights come, you won’t lose.”

Ber’s words made me feel better.

Although I was a little sad that I had no place to wield this sword, nor that I had anyone to compete with, except for Ber.

“Hey, you go quickly. If you’re too late, your mother will worry.”

Ber even nagged me, and I jumped up with my clothes wet from rolling around in the snow.

When I got home, Father and Mother were fussy as I would catch a cold, May tried to change me into new clothes before I went to my room, and Gael stomped his feet.

“Don’t worry, I won’t get sick with this much. I’ll wash up and come down to eat.”

After reassuring my worried family, I quickly headed to my room on the second floor.

*) some corrections were made from the earlier version (Gael is Euel’s younger sister, not a brother), apologies!

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