Late evening.
The carriage carrying Aslan and his companions arrived at the mansion.
Aslan, who had been silent the entire way, glanced over at Sylvia and spoke.
“Since it’s late, let’s eat first and then— Ack!?”
“Excuse me, my Lord. If I get hungry, I’ll rummage through the leftovers myself, so you don’t need to worry about it.”
“…”
Sylvia interrupted Aslan’s words by drawing a sword from her mouth.
The sword was nearly as tall as she was.
She stumbled for a moment under its immense weight, then, without a word, trudged toward the backyard garden of the mansion.
Soon, the sound of a sword cutting through the air—Shiiing, Swoosh!—could be heard.
“Haah…”
I closed my eyes tightly and let out a deep sigh.
Sylvia was completely absorbed, her focus unshakable. No matter what anyone said, she wouldn’t listen now.
Even a suggestion to take a short break would fall on deaf ears.
For now, all we could do was let her be.
Eventually, she would either collapse from exhaustion or come crawling to the dining hall out of hunger.
It might seem irresponsible, but there was really no other choice.
“Let’s go eat.”
“Okay…”
The children glanced worriedly in the direction Sylvia had gone, their reluctance clear in their eyes. I gently nudged them toward the dining hall.
After all, there wasn’t much we could do to help Sylvia on her path to becoming a Sword Master.
“Mister, Mister! Can I go help that knight lady just a little? I can use Aura, so maybe I can be of some assistance…”
“…”
Charlotte tugged persistently at my sleeve, but I shook my head silently in response.
Even though Charlotte could wield Aura and was practically at the level of a Sword Master herself, the Empress’s words came to mind. Advice from another Sword Master would be useless to Sylvia.
In fact, if Sylvia were on the verge of awakening her own Aura and then heard Charlotte’s advice, it might only confuse her and make her lose her way.
So I decided to hold Charlotte back from interfering.
‘If it’s Sylvia, she’ll manage it on her own.’
Though I couldn’t help but worry, I trusted that Sylvia would prevail.
She was someone who had once ripped out her own engravings, fully prepared to accept the consequences of a shortened lifespan.
With determination like that, there was nothing she couldn’t achieve.
That’s what I chose to believe.
***
“Yaaawn…”
Julia stretched with a wide yawn as the warm sunlight bathed her face.
She was just about to start her day with a lap around the training field when—Shiiing, Swoosh!
“Huh!? Could it be that Lady Sylvia is still…?”
Startled by the sound she’d been hearing since the previous evening, Julia froze.
Could Sylvia have been practicing nonstop, all night and into the morning?
Alarmed, Julia made her way to the backyard garden.
“Shh…!”
“Ah!”
There was someone else already there.
Crouching behind some bushes was Charlotte, who quickly pulled Julia down beside her.
“How long have you been here?”
“Since sunrise. I ran ten laps around the field, but that knight lady is still training, so I’ve been watching from a distance.”
“What? She’s been at it since then…?”
Julia peeked cautiously past the bushes.
Sylvia’s movements were visibly slower now.
Her eyes were half-closed, and her body wavered precariously.
She looked as though she might collapse at any moment.
“Ah…!”
Finally, Sylvia’s movements faltered. Her sword slipped from her hands, dissolving into a shimmering light.
As she began to fall backward, Charlotte darted forward like an arrow, catching Sylvia’s head just in time.
“She looked like she was about to topple any second.”
“Good job, Charlotte!”
Julia clapped silently, her admiration clear.
Charlotte gave a thumbs-up before hoisting Sylvia effortlessly and carrying her to her room.
Sylvia didn’t stir at all, apparently unconscious from sheer exhaustion.
As soon as Charlotte laid Sylvia on the bed, Julia quickly pulled up the covers. Sylvia, who had been groaning softly in discomfort, finally relaxed, her expression easing.
“She must’ve been so tired.”
“Of course. Swinging a sword as big as her body all night without resting…”
Charlotte and Julia sat side by side next to Sylvia’s bed, gazing at her sleeping face.
Even in sleep, Sylvia’s breathing was ragged, her chest rising and falling rapidly.
How someone so small could endure such intense effort was a marvel in itself.
“I’m worried. I’m worried that she’ll get hurt badly someday. I think she should restrain herself a little…”
Julia clenched her fists tightly, her voice rising in frustration.
Leaving someone to the point of collapsing from overexertion seemed reckless and irresponsible.
What if Sylvia got seriously injured?
Julia simply couldn’t understand why Aslan would let Sylvia push herself so far without intervening.
She had always thought Aslan, despite his stern demeanor, cared deeply for Sylvia.
Was it possible he didn’t actually care what happened to her?
With these troubling thoughts in mind, Julia stood abruptly, ready to confront Aslan.
“It’s pointless. People who practice martial arts get so absorbed that food and sleep stop mattering. You can’t force them to eat or rest—it won’t work. You just have to wait until they manage themselves. I know because I’ve been through it.”
“Ah…”
Charlotte chuckled awkwardly, recalling her own experience.
When she first acquired the Super Super Strong Sword and awakened her Aura, she had been so thrilled that she skipped meals and trained obsessively.
Come to think of it, back then, Aslan had only given her a brief warning but hadn’t tried to stop her training by force.
So he must have known it was futile to interfere.
But how did Aslan, who wasn’t even a swordsman, understand that so well?
‘He must have been watching us closely…’
Despite his usual aloof and indifferent attitude, Aslan had clearly been paying attention to all of them, including Sylvia.
Julia unclenched her fists, acknowledging her own shortsightedness.
Now that she thought about it, Aslan always seemed to know her preferences and habits uncannily well. Yet, she realized she didn’t know much about what Aslan liked.
Maybe she could casually bring it up later—purely for research, of course.
After all, she would need to choose a birthday gift for him someday. It was only fair to prepare as a gesture of gratitude for everything he had done for them.
She convinced herself with this reasoning, nodding inwardly.
“By the way, isn’t Knight Sister just adorable?”
“Yeah… I was surprised too. Who would have thought Lady Sylvia’s childhood self would be so cute?”
Charlotte and Julia turned their gazes back to Sylvia.
Unable to resist, Charlotte poked Sylvia’s cheek.
The soft, plump skin indented under her finger and then bounced back. It was so irresistibly elastic that she felt the urge to keep poking.
To think that the fearsome knight with her commanding presence and elegant figure had once looked so youthful and innocent…
Charlotte found it fascinating.
At the same time, she couldn’t help but feel a glimmer of hope—if Sylvia had looked like this as a child, perhaps Charlotte herself still had a chance to grow into something more.
“I hope the knight lady becomes a Sword Master soon. Don’t you?”
“Yeah. I hope she can end this struggle quickly…”
Holding Sylvia’s small hands in their own, Charlotte and Julia silently wished for one thing: for Sylvia to awaken her Aura and return to her true self.
They longed for the knight they knew—Lady Sylvia, their reliable and admirable guardian—to come back to them.
Closing their eyes, they prayed earnestly.
Meanwhile, outside the room.
“Ugh…”
Yuri leaned against the wall, biting her lip in frustration as she listened to Charlotte and Julia’s voices from inside the room.
‘What do I do? I don’t even know how I feel…!’
She missed her instructor—the strong, confident, and always reliable mentor she could look up to.
She longed to see that version of Sylvia again, to have her back as soon as possible.
That yearning had remained unchanged since the moment Sylvia transformed.
But at the same time, a completely opposing feeling battled within her.
‘Young Sylvia… she’s just too cute!’
Perhaps it was because Sylvia had always been so mature and composed.
Now, seeing her in the form of her younger self, Yuri found it impossible not to be charmed.
She was already struggling to keep her composure around the adorably lively Charlotte and Julia in their daily lives.
And now, with Sylvia’s childlike appearance added to the mix, it felt like her heart was on the verge of bursting.
Part of her selfishly wished this delightful situation could last forever—that Sylvia would remain just as she was now.
Yet, another part of her still deeply desired for Sylvia to return to the strong and dependable instructor she had admired for so long.
‘What even is this contradictory feeling?’
As Yuri wrestled with her conflicting emotions, she turned her head—and froze.
“Ugh…”
“Ugh…”
“…?”
Right beside her, she found Aslan, leaning against the wall with an expression of equal torment.
Their eyes met, and for a long moment, they blinked at each other in silence.
“…”
“…”
Then, both awkwardly averted their gazes at the same time.
There was an inexplicable sense of camaraderie between them.
Though no words were exchanged, the two silently acknowledged a mutual understanding of their shared dilemma.
Somehow, in that moment, Yuri and Aslan felt a little closer, having caught a glimpse of each other’s inner struggles.