I Raised the Villain's Daughter Too Well-Chapter 25: Didn’t Know! -

There was, of course, no reason for us to stay together.

I’d already received plenty of help from her by dealing with that sorcerer.

Now, we were supposed to part ways and engage in a fair competition to claim victory...

"Hey."

"Yeah."

"You do know this is a test, right?"

"Yeah."

Arin didn’t seem to be thinking about that in the slightest.

"If I see a crystal, I’m breaking it first, okay?"

"Yeah."

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

She was a total yes-man. She kept glancing at me and following me around, so I let out a sigh and motioned for her to come closer.

The moment I did, she scurried over and stuck right by my side.

At first, I thought she was a cat. Somewhere along the way, she turned into a dog.

Why was she acting like this all of a sudden? As I was trying to figure it out—

Without a word, she came closer, rubbed her head against my arm once, and then stepped back.

"..."

When I stared at her with a bewildered expression, she blinked blankly, as if asking if something was wrong.

Forget it.

At least having someone to talk to while walking for another day wasn’t too bad.

While climbing the snowy mountain, I suddenly became curious and asked,

"By the way, that... weird ability of yours — it’s not magic. What the hell is it?"

"I don’t really know."

"If you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to."

"I really don’t know. I could just do it since I was a kid."

"...Since you were born?"

"Yeah. I can make my body hot, and I can make anything I hold hot too. And also—"

"Hold up, don’t go into too much detail."

"Why?"

"...You shouldn’t go around telling people what you can do. Someone could use it against you."

"Okay. Got it."

After walking for about five hours, the sun started to set.

Of course, with the blizzard raging, the difference between day and night wasn’t that significant, but rest was necessary.

I made a small snow cave and looked at Arin.

"Want me to make one for you too?"

"Wow."

Instead of answering, Arin just crawled into the cave I made, looking around as if she found it fascinating.

"How does it not collapse?"

"It’s not about digging. It’s about pressing. Packed snow is harder than most wood."

"Got it."

Since she didn’t seem to be coming out anytime soon, I made another snow cave next to hers and crawled inside.

Standing guard wasn’t a bad idea, but...

We probably killed every yeti nearby.

If they don’t give me a pass after all this, I’ll have Firnea chew them out.

Thinking such pointless thoughts, I closed my eyes.

Since it had been such a tiring day, sleep came almost instantly.

****

Arin didn’t sleep.

To be precise, she couldn’t sleep.

She had never once fallen asleep in her life.

That’s why she was always curious. What was a dream, that thing people experienced while sleeping?

Arin reached out her hand to the snow wall next to her.

Ssshh... The snow melted away under her touch, forming a small hole just big enough to see through without causing the wall to collapse.

"..."

Before long, she saw him.

A man with a slightly sharp impression — Virdem.

He was lying still with his eyes closed, breathing so shallowly that one could almost mistake him for a corpse.

What kind of dream was he having?

Arin reached out her hand toward his face but stopped.

She could feel it. If she extended her hand any further, Virdem would sense the threat and wake up.

Knowing the exact range of someone’s perception was also something she could do since birth.

"...?"

Arin, who had been feeling regretful, suddenly felt a sense of dissonance.

Why was she trying to touch his face?

And why did she feel disappointed that she couldn’t?

No matter how hard she thought about it, she couldn’t figure out the reason.

So, she stopped thinking about it.

She just kept staring at his face throughout the night.

And as dawn approached, she remembered to collect snow from the surroundings and cover up the hole, so he wouldn’t notice.

"What the hell...?"

The next morning, Virdem woke up and muttered to himself as if he found something odd. Then, he headed outside.

Arin, who noticed ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ him approaching her cave, quickly pretended to be asleep.

"Wake up. Today, we have to reach the crystal."

"...Okay."

Once again, Arin couldn’t understand her own feelings.

Why did she pretend to be asleep?

Why didn’t she want to get caught?

Not at all. She couldn’t understand it one bit.

So, as they walked, she asked,

"Virdem."

"...What is it, all of a sudden?"

When she called his name that she had overheard, he reacted, slightly surprised.

"I don’t actually sleep."

She confessed bluntly.

"...Really? Then why did you pretend to be asleep?"

Virdem’s expression changed to one of mild curiosity — like, "So what?"

Arin continued,

"I don’t get hurt even if I’m hit. I don’t get tired. I don’t really understand what it means to be sad. When my grandmother died, I didn’t shed a single tear. I don’t get a lot of other things either..."

"And what’s your point?"

He actually said it out loud.

Arin was about to say something but felt the words stuck in her throat.

She recognized the feeling. It was the only emotion she was sure she had.

Fear.

The primal emotion that a beast’s instincts created to keep its master in check was now preventing her from speaking.

It was strange. The feeling she only experienced when facing death was now surfacing just because she was about to speak.

She wanted to know what she was afraid of.

So, she forced the words out.

"Do you still think I’m human?"

"Hmm. Not really."

Arin thought to herself.

Ah, so that’s what I was afraid of hearing.

But then, Virdem let out a chuckle and added,

"But that’s not enough."

"...?"

Not enough?

Arin couldn’t understand what Virdem meant.

"To truly not be human, you’d have to be able to bend steel using no-chant telekinesis. You’re still a long way off."

"Who is that?"

"The one I revere the most — my Lady."

"You serve someone who isn’t human?"

"...Watch your words. My Lady is human."

Arin tilted her head.

"But you said she wasn’t."

"Obviously, it was a metaphor. Just because you’re a bit different from others, are you going to treat everyone like a monster?"

"...No."

"Whether you sleep or not, whether you breathe through gills or skin, or even if you don’t breathe at all, it doesn’t matter. What makes someone human? If you think you’re human, then you are."

"Even me?"

"Of course."

Arin understood.

"Whatever it is you want to hear, I have no idea. But yeah, you’re human."

That was exactly what she had wanted to hear.

"..."

"What? What is it?"

Arin moved a little closer to Virdem.

He looked at her with an unreadable gaze.

And Arin came to another realization.

She liked it when he looked at her.

And this time, she thought she knew why.

****

"Is that it?"

"Yeah, looks like it."

"Hmm..."

The crystal was much larger than expected.

It was transparent enough to see through and about the size of an adult man, making it look far from easy to break.

Virdem examined the crystal for a moment, deep in thought, then suddenly grabbed Arin’s hand. freewёbnoνel.com

Arin felt her heart drop for a split second.

"Uh, uh?"

"Let’s break it together."

"...Why?"

"From what I can see, it’ll take a while for it to regenerate. It should be able to transmit up to two people. And we don’t want to stay out here in this blizzard, right?"

"First place... don’t you need it?"

"It’d be nice, but honestly, as long as I pass, it’s fine."

"Got it."

Arin agreed, but she couldn’t shake the strange feeling inside her.

"Haah!"

Crunch!

When Virdem swung his sword, the crystal, despite its appearance, shattered effortlessly into dust.

Almost simultaneously, the snowy landscape around them transformed into an opulent waiting room.

"Phew, finally out of that blizzard."

Naturally, there was no one else in the room besides Virdem and Arin.

"Can we go to the academy now?"

"Huh? Yeah. They said they’d select up to three people, and we’re the first two to make it, so..."

"Together?"

"...? Yeah. Together."

That was good.

Arin quietly walked over to where Virdem had flopped onto a couch and started brushing the snow off himself.

She sat down next to him, closed her eyes, and tried to imagine the future.

It felt... pretty good.

"Haa, maybe I’ll rest a bit..."

Virdem lay back on the couch, closing his eyes—

And then his eyes snapped open.

"What, what the—?!"

"...?"

Arin stared at him blankly.

Virdem got up as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing and turned his ear to the door.

Arin followed suit, leaning in.

Very faintly, the sound of heels clicking echoed through the corridor.

"Those heels... No way, why—?"

Muttering to himself in disbelief, Virdem’s demeanor changed.

It was as if a switch had been flipped. He tidied his clothes impeccably, straightened up, and stood facing the door.

His appearance hadn’t changed, but his atmosphere was entirely different. Arin watched in confusion, unable to keep up with the sudden shift.

And then—the door opened.

A white-haired, elderly butler walked in.

"Maclaine?"

"Virdem..."

Maclaine gave Virdem a look that was both sympathetic and warning.

It said, "You’re screwed, kid."

While Virdem swallowed the unspoken message, Maclaine opened the remaining door.

"My Lady Firnea."

"It’s been a while, Virdem."

Upon seeing the woman who entered, Arin felt a chill run down her spine.

First, there was her appearance.

Hair so silver it was almost ethereal and skin so pale it seemed almost transparent.

Clad in a black dress that contrasted starkly against her skin, she was breathtakingly beautiful — the kind of beauty that would suffocate anyone in her presence.

Even Arin, who hadn’t seen many beautiful people, felt it.

...She looked like a princess straight out of a fairytale.

Firnea smiled softly at Virdem, her gaze warm, but she quickly scanned the waiting room as if searching for someone.

Her eyes met Arin’s.

"...Hmph."

There was no particular hostility in Firnea’s gaze.

Instead — there was a hint of derision.

Arin felt herself shrinking under that gaze, a sensation of profound insignificance washing over her.

Firnea quickly wiped the expression away and spoke to Virdem with a smile.

"Looks like you did well in the Special Talent Exam."

"Ah, yes. But what brings you here, My Lady?"

"I used a scroll."

"What?? No, why would you use something so valuable...?"

"Well, I wasn’t going to use it for anything else. I thought I’d buy a gift to celebrate my butler’s successful entry to the academy."

"And what if I had failed?"

"You wouldn’t. You’re my butler."

"Haa..."

Even Arin, who was not adept at reading social cues, could sense it.

In their familiar exchange, there was a bond of trust built over years — a connection that no one could break overnight.

For some reason, a feeling of loneliness crept over her, and she instinctively tried to move closer to Virdem.

"...?"

But her feet wouldn’t move.

A physical force restrained her.

An invisible, overwhelming weight pinned her feet to the floor, refusing to let her step forward. She tried with all her might, but she couldn’t move an inch.

Arin looked again at Firnea.

She wasn’t even looking in Arin’s direction.

"..."

Arin felt something boiling up inside her.

Another emotion she had never experienced before. She poured that feeling into her body and forced her foot to move.

That’s when Firnea finally glanced at her.

She gave Arin a blank, indifferent look, and then...

She mouthed a few silent words.

"Know your place."

Crack—!

The invisible force crushed Arin’s resistance entirely.

It felt as though dozens of orcs were hanging onto her arms, dragging her down.

Slowly, step by step, Arin was forced to step back.

—Until she was completely put in her place.

"Oh, right. My Lady, this is Arin. She..."

"..."

Arin couldn’t respond.

A tremendous, invisible force held her down, pinning her to the chair with her head bowed.

Virdem tilted his head and called out to her.

"Arin?"

"..."

Even opening her mouth was impossible.

Firnea glanced at Arin and muttered casually, as if she didn’t know a thing.

"Looks like she’s asleep. Maybe she’s exhausted?"

"Huh? But she was just—"

"Shh. Let her sleep. She must be very tired after the exam."

"...Ah, yes. Understood."

Virdem cast a puzzled look at Arin before leaving the waiting room.

The pressure holding her down didn’t disappear for another three minutes.

"......."

The moment the restraint was lifted, Arin slumped to the floor.

Firnea’s monstrous strength.

The fact that she had almost died just now—

All of it was overshadowed by one thought.

"...I was robbed."

She had never felt lacking in strength before.

If she wanted, she could escape from anyone.

That was enough for her. If there was no reason, she didn’t want to fight anyone.

The stronger the opponent, the more so.

"..."

Arin’s vacant eyes remained fixed on the closed door.

Gradually, her irises began to glow a deep, ominous red.

A reason to fight...

She had just found one.

****

[VARIABLE DETECTED]

"AGAIN WITH THIS BULLSHIIIIIIIIIT!!!!!!"

"Sis, please... We're in public..."