“…..Who are you, Unnie?”
What was the problem?
Did I really do something wrong?
I thought I could finally see your face in reality, not just a dream.
The warm sensation from your arms made me feel reassured that this wasn’t a dream, and I felt so relieved.
“..Aris? My, name?”
Cold blood, a stopping heart.
The fruit borne from long trials was sweet.
But it contained deadly poison that could stop the heart.
“But, my name is Alice.”
Alice’s trembling hands were soaked with blood oozing from her wounds.
The clear fingerprints and the bluish swelling marks were evident.
What kind of deed must one commit to create such wounds? I didn’t even want to imagine.
Seeing her pitiful state, I carefully grabbed Alice’s arm as if touching a petal, pulling her towards me.
To the child being dragged in weakness, I tried to speak calmly.
“…Sia Unnie…”
“Are you okay, Alice? Besides your arm, is there anywhere else that hurts?”
“….Uh… no.”
Alice was crying.
Always smiling and trying not to worry others, Alice was crying like a child.
I, who understood better than anyone that it shouldn’t be this way, had pointed a sword at a living person.
They say a sword carries the wielder’s heart.
True to those words, the raised sword showed not a single shake.
“I told you to step back.”
“I said I can’t move.”
What have you done?
Knowing what you were capable of, get out of the way.
In my heart, as I muttered harsh words, any notions of her status, rank, or the punishment and disadvantages I might face had long flown away.
I just had to stand in front of Alice to keep her image from appearing in those yellow eyes.
The delicate body of the child was completely hidden behind me.
With the relentless interference, the gaze that had only followed Alice finally shifted its target to Remi Akaia’s eerie eyes, now aimed at me.
“…Ha, haha… really…?”
“……..”
Degu-rur. Although her body didn’t move, I felt something rolling.
Finally, when I met her bizarrely vacant eyes, I understood the source of the sound.
Her eyes moved towards me without turning her head, giving me the feeling of seeing a doll awkwardly mimicking human form.
A voice like a cracked dry field.
Pronunciation so slurred it was hard to comprehend.
The person here was no longer the talented Remi Akaia, once celebrated for her brightness and promising future.
Only a mad beast capable of no normal thought remained.
Her eyes, once praised to capture stars, now resembled those of a beast, and her once soft hair was now disarrayed.
While feeling a small disgust and pity at this sight, I gripped my sword tightly once again.
“Yeah…..”
A shiver ran down my spine.
If a devil crawled up from hell into the real world, would its voice sound like this?
Her voice echoed in the glass-walled space, truly sending chills through me.
ㅡSururung.
“That’s how it should be…..”
“………”
The creaking doll moved, drawing the sword.
That fearsome weapon drawn from its sheath seemed sharp enough to kill with just one swing.
The target of that weapon was none other than my chest.
Where my heart thumped so hard it could be felt through my clothes.
I swallowed the saliva in my mouth, ensuring no sound escaped.
What was about to happen was on a different level from the sparring or fights I had engaged in until now.
A single moment of error could bring me pain, and a single mistake could snatch away my life in this life-or-death duel.
The sword I held contained that much weight.
“I have a mountain of questions for you.”
Surely, in the past, I would have been begging for my life with my hands raised before it even started.
With skills and experience, clearly, she had the upper hand.
I wasn’t strong enough to boldly face the pain and fear that loomed ahead.
But, I held the sword.
“That’s good to hear.”
I could feel it.
The existence of Alice behind me.
The girl’s little hand clenching my clothing, loaded with concern for me.
As long as that exists.
I.
Even, this me.
I felt I wouldn’t lose at all.
“ㅡI was also thinking the same thing right now.”
In the greenhouse devoid of any breeze, no signal was needed for the fight to begin.
We both charged at each other with all our might, as if it were an unspoken promise.
Soon, that small space was filled with the sound of clashing swords, echoing coldness yet warmth.
Even if it was an action that sought the happiness of another, the essence of what I did was nothing but a lie.
Whether a benevolent lie or a malevolent one, the fact that I deceived someone remained unchanged.
That action, betraying trust, was rightfully called betrayal, and no justification could be given.
Likewise, the fact that I deceived her couldn’t be erased.
Thus, her anger towards me was valid.
Thus, my anger towards her was also valid.
“You… that swordsmanship…!! As expected, as expected, as expected!!! You!!!”
“Ugh… what strength…?!”
Bang, bang, bang!
A merciless slash weighted by gravity.
The follow-up attacks felt like a hammer striking the sword, sending uncomfortable shockwaves through it.
My numbing palms screamed to let go, and an indistinguishable liquid, sweat or blood, soaked the grip, but I countered with a bite of my lip.
If I let go, I die.
If I die here, I will never see Alice again.
With that conviction firmly imprinted in my mind, I focused on Remi Akaia’s movements, narrowly slipping away from that hellish onslaught.
For a moment, just a moment.
Unfortunately, the tide of battle remained completely one-sided.
Whether I should like or dislike that her intent and attention were solely on me, her gaze was directed only at me.
If that is the case, it meant that as I had just barely risen from a fall, there was no chance for me to catch my breath before the sword attacks came relentlessly.
I was merely extending my life, focusing solely on defense.
Or should I even be glad that I could at least defend?
The weight on the sword differed.
The speed of her swings was different.
Above all, the mindset behind the sword differed.
I could not kill her.
She wanted to kill me.
This was on a different level than the duel we had where we agreed not to target each other’s vital spots.
The gap created from this difference was something that couldn’t simply be bridged with fighting spirit.
Of course, I managed a few effective blows by seizing small openings.
But seeing her charge without stopping, as if to say that injuries meant nothing, I became consumed with fear.
With the sound of metal vibrating, the grip finally slipped from my hand.
The sword, approaching with a fierce intent to behead me.
That obvious difference was a given.
“…Uaa?!”
“ㅡHaaaaa!!!!”
A life-or-death situation.
Having confidently charged in, and to meet such a pathetic end in less than ten minutes.
Forgetting that Alice was watching from afar, I could only let out a pitiful scream.
I didn’t want such a miserable death.
I wanted to remain a cool older sister to Alice.
Even if I wished for such an unattainable desire, the trajectory of the sword flying towards my neck wouldn’t change.
But in the end, the sword did not cut my neck.
“ㅡUnnie, no!!”
“…..!!!”
The childish scream blocked my path.
“Sia… Sia Unnie… don’t kill her….”
“………..”
“Please…. I beg you….”
There stood Alice.
With arms still bleeding, dripping with fresh blood from unhealed wounds, she spread her small arms wide, trying to protect me with her tiny body.
Tears streaming down her face.
Clutching at my pant leg.
She slowly knelt down.
With the real older sister right in front of her, how did Remi Akaia perceive the sight of her sister begging for the life of someone she had never met before?
That was—
Clang!
“…….Ah… Ah…”
The answer manifested as she helplessly dropped her sword, staring at the nothingness above.
Her head bowed as if she were about to cry at any moment, I couldn’t easily predict her feelings.
And I didn’t want to know either.
“….Why… why are you fighting Sia Unnie…”
“………….”
“Don’t fight… okay?”
The fight ended rather absurdly.
There was no triumphant winner basking in victory with a bright face.
Only the losers, heads bowed, shedding tears mixed with sadness and anger, remained.
