Golden hair, crimson eyes, and pure white skin.
She was a captivating woman with a sharp nose and intense pupils that radiated vibrant colors. Her beauty was striking, more suited to the term ‘sculpture’ than a mere product of heredity and chance.
Like a Northern beauty drawn straight from a painting.
Her name was ‘Delphine Yuridina.’
With a slender jawline and proud eyes, she seemed to embody a fierce temperament. Her noble appearance was always haughty and self-assured.
However, at this moment, the demeanor she always maintained as the heir of a prestigious family had completely vanished.
Rather, it would be more appropriate to describe her as being devoid of energy. With her lips slightly parted and her gaze hazy, this was the condition of Senior Delphine facing me.
For several seconds, she stared at me with eyes that had lost their light, gradually regaining her emotions only after some time.
The first emotion that brushed past her crimson eyes was surprise.
Then came shame, fear, and despair, coalescing into a murky sediment. Her eyes, once flowing with lethargy like honey, were now left with only pain.
As if she could no longer endure, Senior Delphine abruptly turned her head away.
I could hear the sound of her teeth nervously grinding. In a voice that was barely moist, she asked me.
“……Why are you here?”
I paused for a moment in silence. To be honest, I had no suitable answer to return.
I couldn’t think of a convincing reason. There was only one thing I wanted to ask.
I merely wanted to know what kind of matter had transpired between Senior Delphine and me.
Yet, no matter how I thought about it, now was not the time to raise such a question. It was impossible to ask directly, and it seemed better to guide the conversation naturally.
Considering the attitude with which Senior Delphine treated me, I wondered if that was even possible. The emotions she displayed towards me were entirely negative.
It was troubling. It would have been nice if we were in a position to share light-hearted chatter, but it seemed we had already walked too far down a distant road.
I responded with a voice tinged with a sigh.
“Was I not allowed to visit you in the hospital?”
“……Yes.”
Her voice trembled slightly. Senior Delphine’s shoulders quivered faintly. And when that crimson gaze turned to me again, I was left with no choice but to keep silent.
Soon enough, tears welled up in Senior Delphine’s eyes. That was her way of expressing how much she felt angry and ashamed.
The Senior Delphine I knew was someone who did not show tears in front of others. She venerated strength and despised looking weak, embodying the essence of an iron woman.
In other words, those tears were undeniable evidence.
Evidence that Senior Delphine had shattered into pieces.
Only someone who had their pride, identity, or anything else trampled on could wear such a woeful expression.
Her voice, pleading to me, almost sounded like a desperate cry.
“Did you come to mock me? Do you want to see the state of the person you trampled on?”
“No, it seems there’s some misunderstanding…”
“Or why? Are you afraid I might try to retaliate without knowing my place again?”
With a sigh, Delphine let out a bitter laugh. Yet that laugh was painfully sorrowful. A single tear flowed down from her misty eyes.
Clenching the blanket with her fist, she trembled for some time. When she tried to glare at me, she flinched and lowered her gaze instead, clearly startled.
Seeing her like that seemed to make her even more miserable, and Senior Delphine quickly wiped away the tears with her sleeve.
Her struggle to hold back sobs made her resemble a frail maiden. She began to murmur almost incoherently.
“……Don’t worry, I have no intention of doing that anymore.”
As she spoke, Senior Delphine turned her gaze away. It seemed she did not want to admit that she could not bear to face me.
“You broke everything, didn’t you? My pride, my self-esteem, all of it… now, I don’t even have the pride I want to reclaim.”
Had it been that terrible an ordeal?
Though I couldn’t recall that part of the story, seeing the anguish in her eyes allowed me to understand her feelings, albeit slightly.
Until not long ago, she was a woman who never bowed her head before anyone. Yet now, she couldn’t even meet my gaze, cowering with her shoulders trembling.
It seemed her tears flowing freely were also a source of anger for Senior Delphine, as she bit her lip and repeatedly wiped her eyes. Still, the tears continued to flow.
For someone who had lived her life in victory, the shock of defeat must have been overwhelming.
I took a moment to ponder with my arms crossed.
What should I do? Tapping my fingers thoughtfully, I asked her.
“Is it really that painful?”
“Of course…! A-ah, it’s painful.”
Senior Delphine, who had been about to glare at me in anger, found herself cowering like a frightened puppy upon meeting my gaze. She could only avoid my eyes and mutter quietly.
Yet, perhaps due to her strong inner character, it seemed she hadn’t completely broken like Senior Elsi. There was still the courage to shoot me an angry look from time to time.
However, that courage wouldn’t last, and the ruby-like color of Senior Delphine’s eyes was trembling with fear.
It was then that my eyes caught a glimpse of Senior Delphine’s arms.
Upon closer inspection, her arms were completely wrapped in bandages. Her neck was the same. While her lower body was covered by the blanket and I couldn’t tell, it was very likely that she had sustained injuries all over.
This was a level of serious injury that would render her unable to leave the intensive care room for several days. Considering the precedent of my own arm healing in just one day, it was reasonable to deduce that her limbs had been severely damaged.
It was shocking. Such a devastating defeat must have been hard to endure.
It was rare for the heir of one of the Empire’s five noble families to experience such a loss. Especially now, just before graduating at the top of her class in her final year, to be brought down by a junior at the academy.
She must have wanted to die; after all, she had lived with her self-esteem soaring to the heavens. Naturally, the greater the fall, the harder it would be to endure.
I understood it rationally.
Yet, for some strange reason, I didn’t like the current Senior Delphine.
Why did it bother me so much to see her, tearful and acting like a tragic heroine?
The answer came to me soon enough.
I asked Senior Delphine, filled with irritation.
“Then why did you do it?”
“……?”
Senior Delphine’s eyes went blank as she faced me again.
While I hadn’t expected her to seek comfort or sympathy, it seemed she hadn’t thought I would rebuke her to her face. That was the world she had lived in.
In the Yuridina Clan and the academy, she must have held a status akin to a queen. A hint of discontent would likely send those around her scrambling to soothe her.
But I was not one of them. My relationship with Senior Delphine had already diverged irreparably; there was no need for superficial niceties.
The sincerity behind my next words was evident.
“You didn’t have any qualms about tormenting Ceria, did you? Do you know? Ceria cries whenever someone mentions her mother. And yet, her half-sister arbitrarily orchestrates bullying just to win?”
“Th-that’s…”
Senior Delphine seemed to want to argue back, but she quickly averted her gaze as if she had no words left. My head was beginning to feel hot with rising anger.
“Ceria’s tears meant nothing to you, and just because you got beaten a few times, don’t act like the victim. And about the hunting festival, wasn’t it you who betrayed the overworked juniors after the monster hunt?”
“It’s not just that…”
Senior Delphine murmured in what sounded like genuine indignation, but her timid whisper didn’t provoke any reaction from me.
Instead, I could only scowl further and ask again.
“……If it’s not just that, then what is it?”
In the face of my cold question, Senior Delphine shrank even further and desperately lowered her gaze.
It seemed she still had many things she wanted to say. However, every time she met my fiercely burning gaze, she would panic and evade my eyes.
Seeing her like that made me stifle a laugh.
How much could Senior Delphine even have suffered?
Perhaps she could’ve endured a few stabs to her limbs, but that certainly wasn’t enough to warrant this level of turmoil.
Unless she had been tortured to the point of being ground into meat. But even the cruelest of people, like Senior Elsi, wouldn’t go that far.
In other words, it was very unlikely that Senior Delphine had experienced such treatment.
Confident in this, I unleashed a flurry of verbal arrows.
“It was only twice. Just two times! Do you think you’re the only one who’s stayed in the intensive care unit? I’ve faced defeat countless times. There were many times I struggled and still couldn’t win. So are you really going to play the victim after losing just twice?”
“A, no… it’s not about losing, it’s what happened afterwards…”
“Enough!”
I shook my head assertively, cutting off Senior Delphine’s words. Seeing me so resolute, she stammered and could not continue. At least her compliant side was a relief.
“I don’t want to hear excuses. It seems you might be in need of some mental reshaping, Senior Delphine.”
With that, I stepped closer to her. As my hand reached into my pocket, Senior Delphine’s face turned pale.
She quickly pulled the blanket over herself. A trembling shout escaped her lips.
“D-Don’t do that… I-I said I wouldn’t act out again! I even kneeled!”
However, I did not stop my advance. I walked closer, shortening the distance between us.
Senior Delphine could feel that presence more acutely than anyone else. Her screams continued.
“Are you being cocky again? I-I’m sorry… I-I won’t do it again, please… just not to the point of being ground into meat…!”
My hand rummaging through my pocket struck the bedside table with a loud bang.
It seemed like a signal to her, as she let out a piercing scream.
“KYAAAAHH! S-Save me! Please don’t take away my sword… ah…?”
However, no matter how loudly she screamed, no violence would come to her. After trembling under the covers for a while, Senior Delphine gradually pulled the blanket down with a bewildered look.
Her ruby-like crimson eyes peeked out. Her gaze slowly drifted towards the bedside table where my palm had struck.
There lay a piece of paper.
It was a list of orphanages I had received from the Lady Virgin Saint.
In confusion, Senior Delphine’s eyes slowly turned to me. I looked back at her and asked.
“Is it scheduled for the next practical dispatch, right?”
“Yes, four… um, but…?”
Perhaps due to her fright, she was speaking with formalities, which irritated me. However, pointing it out would only worsen her condition, so I calmly moved on to the main topic.
“Then let’s go together.”
Seeing her expression grow even more perplexed, I emphatically proposed once more.
“Let’s spend two weeks together.”
Upon hearing that, Senior Delphine’s expression resembled that of a graduate student in the magic department who had just been told that months of hard work had been shredded in a paper shredder.
