Valter's Younger Sister,
Ia von Tark's daily routine flowed with punctual regularity.
Preferring no gaps in the routine of her life, she fell asleep at the same time every day and woke at the same time.
After waking, she would solve one crossword puzzle left on her desk.
Then she would request a cup of coffee with five sugar cubes from an attendant, and being cooped up in the library until noon was her morning routine.
In doing so, she did not run into people.
Quietly—just quietly—she could spend half the day.
Of course, living like this every day meant there were scarcely any new books left to read in the study.
But occasionally finding ancient documents or suspicious grimoires of unknown origin, discovered deep within along with the dust, was the highlight of that routine life.
"Miss Ia, are you going to the study again?"
"Yes. Chief Butler."
"You truly enjoy the library, Miss Ia. I wonder why."
"Well, there are so many old books."
So whenever anyone asked Ia why she enjoyed going to the library so much,
not wanting to properly talk to people, she had always roughly answered that it was "to find old books not on the catalogue."
Well, there were actually many reasons why Ia avoided people and holed up like this.
Since she wasn't the heir anyway, Ia didn't want to reveal her true feelings, and especially hated saying them aloud.
But it wasn't as if those words were untrue,
so it was simply convenient for her to say so.
But.
Over the past three months, Ia had started to change a little.
Until now, she had gone to the study merely to maintain her routine.
But she began giving slightly different answers to that same question.
"Miss, are you going to find ancient documents again today?"
"...No."
"Then what business do you have?"
"I have a feeling my brother will be there."
And seeing her usually stiff expression soften slightly, those who knew Ia's nature would surely call it a revolutionary change.
She did not like mingling with people.
Thus, naturally, she was distant from her family as well.
Moreover, to think she was going to the library to find her older brother—the one she had kept the most distance from among her family.
That was truly a change of heart that couldn't be easily understood, but
actually, it made quite a lot of sense,
and everyone in the palace already knew it was understandable.
Valter von Tark, whom she had been visiting frequently these days.
Hadn't he suffered a carriage accident,
and been reborn as a charming figure who captured everyone's gaze?
Everyone in the palace still remembered his former appearance.
He had been weak, timid, and even sickly—in other words, like a typical boy, but
after rising from his sickbed a few months ago,
he displayed a manner as if he had become a different person.
"Young Master Valter, the gear you requested for training... Hic!"
Thud—
"...You brought all that with your small body, didn't you. To think you collapsed from exhaustion."
"Ugh... I'm sorry! I'll pick them up right away!"
"Forget it. It looks like it would take you half a day if you did it."
"Y-Young Master?"
"I'll handle the rest myself, so rest beside me for a bit and bring some water when it's time, I said."
"Y-yes..."
While suddenly exuding a pugnacious and masculine temperament completely contrasting his former disposition,
after taking up swordsmanship of his own accord, something he hadn't even tried before, he displayed overwhelming talent and proved his worth every day.
"He's cleaning all that up. The young master never used to do such things..."
"But it's surprisingly charming. Somehow reliable."
"Yeah, right?"
"If it were another man, he would have groaned about his hands hurting and called for more maids to clean up."
Watching that figure, the maids couldn't help but pursue a charm unimaginable in other men they had seen all their lives.
Naturally, they directed positive gazes at him.
Those gazes could be admiration, or lust.
Or perhaps both.
Well, no one knew why he had suddenly changed like this, but
since it had happened, what was good was good.
That the precious male heir of the house they served had become like this was a great blessing to them.
If asked which was better, it was truly obvious that Valter after the accident was superior as a male.
Rather than trying to uncover the secret of his body, everyone was currently striving to receive even a single glance from the changed Valter.
So if everyone in the palace was doing so,
then relatives who would one day inherit Valter's blood and produce "Pure Blue Blood" would certainly think so even more.
So the fact that Ia, who had been busy avoiding people, was changing too—
everyone merely assumed of their own accord that she was placed on that same trajectory.
But.
The reason Ia had come to follow her brother so was from a meaning entirely opposite to that.
A conversation they had once, after he rose from his sickbed and came to the library in a hurry.
That conversation planted a strange sense of security in Ia.
"The right to do as one pleases with another's body for the sake of breeding. If that right's sole purpose is the preservation of the species, I have no need for such a damned right."
"……."
"Do you want to do something like that with me? If it's for the preservation of the species, I mean."
Honestly, by the norms of society,
they could pin down and take her frail body at any time, and she wouldn't be able to say a word.
So when asked such a question, Ia had only given a vague answer that she didn't really know right now and moved on.
But the reaction her brother Valter showed afterward was truly good.
As if he truly didn't care at all.
Without giving her a single sexual glance from then on,
he simply treated Ia kindly.
"Brother is a bit different from other men."
Yes.
Every time she saw men walking around,
he was the only man who didn't make her feel the strange anxiety she felt.
"Really, you treat me like family, not like a woman. If I'd known this, I wouldn't have run away. I would have gotten close to you sooner."
His voice was gentle for a boy's.
The way he cared for her cowardly self was dependable.
If she were under this brother's protection,
she felt like she would be safe anywhere in the world.
So, purely, Ia came to respect and follow him not as a man, but as an older brother.
Now, it wasn't to do trivial things like finding ancient documents; she went to the study every day looking forward to her brother being there.
So.
Therefore.
When she watched from the side as her brother said he had impregnated her and her sisters, sending back the royal messenger.
"Brother, me?"
On one hand, Ia instinctively trembled, thinking that he was indeed a man and thus capable of such thoughts.
'...But he didn't do anything to me, did he? Then that must be a scheme he cleverly devised to get out of the Count's territory.'
She honestly laughed, pleased.
Because it was as if the thought she had always held—that "Brother is a bit different"—had been proven.
It might seem strange at a glance, but
this meant that even though Brother knew he was capable of such acts, he still hadn't laid a hand on her, didn't it?
She didn't know what had happened to her other sisters,
but judging from his character, it was only natural that nothing had happened.
His intention was merely to wield this fact as a weapon.
Seeing him like that, Ia was rather relieved.
'Someone who would go this far... he won't take me recklessly in the future either.'
So Ia quietly thought of her brother in her room.
Wishing to learn more about the person called "Valter," whom she found increasingly fascinating as the days passed.
Having watched him from afar, afraid he might bite if she got too close, she resolved to approach him a little more familiarly.
Seeing him busily going about some activity every day,
it seemed there was something he wished to do these days.
Like a young girl hoping she could help him with it and be praised.
***
Valeria von Tark.
Head of the current Count Tark's family,
and my birth mother.
With a rather benevolent countenance,
she always maintained a dignified attitude befitting her status.
She was widely reputed in society as a true noble of upright and kind character who respected all people.
Even I, who didn't trust people much, had been thinking for these three months that this mother figure, whom I had gained after a long time, might not be so bad...
Well, that says it all, doesn't it?
But that didn't mean I fully trusted her.
That was simply because of my intuition.
I really do have good intuition.
Since I'm her son, she obviously wouldn't abandon or kill me, but
the more we talked, the more I somehow felt that deep in her heart, there was a reverse side to her good character.
And in my experience, every single person who gave off this kind of vibe had some kind of scheme.
So.
I felt it would be difficult to show complete trust in this person until her true intentions were revealed.
So far, I had only treated her formally as a mother.
But today, when I dodged the appointment letter from the Royal Knights with an appropriate evasive maneuver.
'Aah, Valter—.'
Her eyes lit up with something,
and she eventually slipped into my bedroom.
Since this was her castle, I wanted to leave her to it, but
she wore fluttering silk pajamas instead of the formal attire of the Count's family she usually wore.
When I sensed something daring and spirited in her eyes,
I couldn't help but step back slightly, sensing that this was no ordinary matter no matter how I looked at it.
"It is late, Mother. What brings you to your son's room?"
"……."
"...Mother?"
"You."
And, as my uneasy premonitions were never wrong.
She instantly lowered the corners of her eyes,
and spoke hesitantly.
"You are not the Valter I know."
"Why do you say that?"
"Isn't the act of asking itself unnecessary? Everything that changed after your carriage accident are things my son Valter could never do even if he died and came back to life."
"……."
"I felt it from the moment you woke up from 'that accident' and could wield a sword freely. But today, watching you show no intimidation before the Royal Knights and evade in ways I couldn't even think of, I became certain."
"That was merely a momentary tactic, Mother."
"No. Valter. That's not it. If you were the Valter I knew, that weak and impatient child... he would have looked at me tearfully and asked for help. This is something only his mother would know."
.......
Right.
So that's how it is.
Since I had already given her a chance to back out, and there was no longer room for negotiation, I naturally brought my left hand to the sword at my waist.
Well, it seemed I was already caught.
It couldn't be helped now.
I was, so to speak, a spiritual parasite that had snatched away Valeria's son's soul and taken root in his flesh.
If I were in the mother's position,
the moment I learned that fact, I would have screamed for my son back and driven me out, without a doubt.
So though I felt slightly uneasy,
if she were truly coming at me with an interrogating posture, I thought I'd have no choice but to cut her down and silence her right here.
But.
But...
At those unbelievable two words I heard soon after.
My mind grew slightly hazy.
"Sword Ghost."
"...Mother?"
"You... must be the Sword Ghost. Right...?"
"───."
Though I was so taken aback that no words came out for a moment.
She continued unbothered.
"Please don't say you aren't the Sword Ghost. I know everything... everything...."
If it had come to this, there was no room for excuses anyway.
So I spoke with a softened voice.
Chewing on killing intent filling my mouth, I said.
"Do not rush your fate, Valeria."
"...Aah!"
Then.
As if her strength had left her, she trembled and sank down.
No.
Did she merely sink down?
Soon, she truly seemed panicked, placing both hands together on the ground.
Trembling with maternal devotion, she bowed her head deeply before me and said.
"We... have been waiting. All the successive heads of House Tark... solely, solely... for you...!"
"Hah...?!"
"Whether it is my body, my mind, my power, or my wealth—take them all. Please take them all! Everything of this house, to you...!"
So basically.
To summarize.
My birth mother
was kneeling before me like this?
"Don't remain in such a base posture, get up...!"
"Yes, Sword Ghost! Sword Ghooost!"
"What the fuck...!!"
My mind grows faint.