The sky was turning pale, and the sun rose as usual.
Liya yawned as she returned home, and the family knight at the door opened it for her.
After dealing with matters all night, she was exhausted, but she still couldn't sleep yet.
Dragging her tired body, she walked to Viktor's room and pushed the door open without hesitation.
"Viktor, I have something to tell you."
However, the room was empty.
Not even Viktor's shadow could be seen.
Liya frowned in confusion.
'What's going on?'
'Did Viktor leave me behind and go back by himself?'
Closing the door, still puzzled, Liya suddenly thought of a possibility.
———
She hurried to the training grounds, only to see Viktor standing there, endlessly swinging his sword in the same motion.
"…"
She remembered, just a while ago, he had been the type who preferred reading books.
"When did you even start practicing swordsmanship? Who are you learning from?"
Liya looked at Viktor suspiciously, then, half in disbelief, added, "It can't be Gwen, right?"
Viktor didn't even glance at her. He didn't respond, just sheathed the sword and hung it back on the wall.
At that moment, Viga flew down and perched neatly on his shoulder.
Liya mistook his silence for confirmation and looked dumbfounded.
'Since when were those two close enough to train together?'
'And isn't Viktor a mage? Is he actually planning to change classes?'
"How did it go?"
Viktor's voice broke the silence, and Liya snapped back to the topic, spreading her hands helplessly and shaking her head.
"Sigh... he confessed everything."
How should she put it, kind of boring, actually.
Maybe Viktor had traumatized him too deeply; the interrogation methods Liya had prepared never even got used.
Chur had taken one look at the red potion used for recovery and spilled everything he knew.
"In short, the kingdom got scared."
Liya began recounting Chur's testimony.
The truth was, the kingdom had been watching Viktor for a long time.
Back when Viktor became a third-tier mage at twenty, the kingdom had already debated whether to secretly eliminate this potential future threat.
But Viktor was… strange. He was so strange that he never communicated with nobles, always did whatever he pleased, and looked down on every noble equally.
Because of this, his reputation was terrible, so bad that everyone despised him.
So the kingdom decided he wasn't a threat. If anything, maybe they could even recruit him someday.
Then, earlier this year, the kingdom found an opportunity. They sent Chur to secretly infiltrate the Clavenna household under the guise of a grain merchant.
Their goal was to create an opening, ideally, to make Viktor and the Empire's upper echelons fall out with each other.
"As a result, you suddenly fell ill and confessed to the duke's daughter during her banquet."
At this, Liya shot Viktor a disdainful look and mocked, "You didn't even know you had a fiancée."
Viktor stayed silent. He knew that if he said a word, Liya would drown him in a sea of more words.
Soon, Liya went on.
That incident had given the kingdom their opportunity.
They decided to exploit it, to sow enmity between the duke and Viktor, forcing the Clavenna family to break away from the Empire.
Unfortunately for them, they didn't account for the fact that the duke was a complete daughter-con.
Ever since that volcano trip, Erica's admiration for Viktor had skyrocketed.
Even if the duke wanted to, for his daughter's sake, he couldn't bring himself to turn against Viktor.
And just when the kingdom was still waiting for a chance to approach Viktor, the demon appeared.
Viktor displayed his strength as a fourth-tier mage and thrashed the demon.
The royal family found out, and the Empire began courting Viktor's favor.
The youngest fourth-tier mage had officially become the kingdom's enemy.
"The kingdom never expected you to have been hiding your strength for nine years, only to suddenly reveal yourself as a fourth-tier mage. It completely threw off their plans."
Liya shook her head and sighed.
Even she hadn't expected Viktor to be hiding his power.
"The radicals in the kingdom believe your very existence is a threat. You're too young, if they don't eliminate you now, you'll become the Empire's greatest weapon against them someday."
"So they gave Chur an anti-magic stone and created financial loopholes in our territory to lure you and me in, so they could wipe us out."
"Even if the mission failed, Chur was to commit suicide by poison, allowing the kingdom to wash its hands clean."
At that, Liya let out a small laugh.
Who could've expected Viktor to have that miraculous little potion bottle?
Poison? Even poison couldn't kill him.
"I bet Chur thought he had it all figured out. Who could've imagined..."
Liya looked at Viktor, covering her mouth as she giggled.
"...that you're actually a mage who fights in close combat."
Even magi who strengthen their bodies with magic tools wouldn't dare fight hand-to-hand with warriors.
But Viktor, a traditional mage, did it. And he won.
It was honestly surreal.
Viktor didn't respond, because he could tell Liya wasn't done yet.
After laughing, she raised her charming eyes to him.
"In fact, Chur being able to infiltrate our lands has something to do with you."
Viktor frowned slightly, puzzled.
Had something to do with him?
"Do you remember that grain merchant before? His name was Parson."
Liya glanced at Viktor's face, it was just as she expected, completely indifferent.
Like he had no recollection whatsoever.
"I knew it. Our great mage would never bother remembering such small fry."
She clicked her tongue twice and spread her hands.
"Parson had a wife. They lived in Lambado, but he was away from home for about half the year."
Lambado, one of the villages under the Clavenna domain.
"One day, our dear mage suddenly felt like inspecting the territory."
"And he got offended by Parson's wife."
"All because when you were getting off your carriage, she accidentally bumped into you."
Liya's voice turned cold.
The rest was easy to guess.
The terrified woman apologized again and again, but Viktor didn't care.
With one casual order, he sent that pregnant woman to work in the mines.
The intense labor was too much for her.
"She miscarried on the job and nearly died."
"Though she was eventually found and rescued, she was left with lasting injuries and could never bear children again."
As Liya recounted the past, Viktor listened quietly.
Though it had been something the old Viktor did.
When the grain merchant returned home and saw that his once-lovely wife no longer smiled, he quit the job that could've supported him for life, consumed by hatred.
That hatred led him to the kingdom's soldiers, and to Chur.
"Parson used his connections in the territory to forge Chur's identity and introduce him here."
What happened next didn't need to be said again.
Viktor listened in silence.
In short, it was all Viktor's own doing.
To put it bluntly, the old Viktor was genuinely detestable.
He disregarded the lives of both commoners and nobles. To him, only he mattered.
No one could enter his heart; he looked down on everyone equally.
To him, all others were but dust and ants in the world.
Among nobles, his reputation was terrible.
When others became third-tier mages, people envied them, but still offered genuine congratulations.
But Viktor? You'd be lucky if nobles didn't spit when they saw him.
Even among players, his reputation, beyond his good looks and power, was utterly rotten.
He had no friends. Even his only family eventually turned against him.
Later, in the game's storyline, there was once such an event, recorded and shared among players.
A fallen noble, wandering the streets with no one to help him.
Viktor approached him and said, "If you trade me your most precious possession, I'll restore everything you once had."
The noble believed him and handed over his family heirloom.
Viktor accepted it, then said, "You've broken our deal. Your most precious possession was never an object."
He took the noble's wife and children, forced them into servitude in his manor, and told them their husband and father had sold them, had left the Empire to live a rich and happy life elsewhere.
That poor noble was exiled by Viktor. After that, players never saw him again.
To this day, they still remembered Viktor's infamous line, "Why wasn't your most precious possession your family?"
Many players tried to find deep meaning in those words, but the developers never wrote any backstory for those NPCs.
Still, Viktor's vile deeds left a lasting impression.
Liya continued.
"There's something I never told you. On the day our item shop opened, someone smashed it."
"And I just remembered, you gave me this right before that happened."
Liya lifted her hand; the gem on her glove sparkled in the sunlight.
Viktor silently listened as she went on.
"I was puzzled back then. The only person you'd offended around that time was the duke."
"But when I captured and interrogated the vandals, I realized it wasn't that simple."
"Now that I think about it, that grain merchant had already made his move."
Her tone turned cold.
Viktor had given her the Hand of the Mage, and she'd only used it once, when their trade caravan was attacked.
Only those in the caravan had seen her use magic.
And yet, when they captured Chur today, he used an anti-magic stone against her.
He even thought she was a second-tier mage.
That meant that from the very beginning, when the caravan was attacked, the kingdom had already targeted Viktor, using Parson to keep watch.
Everything connected now.
She'd always known her brother had a bad reputation, but she hadn't expected even the kingdom to have its eyes on him.
His talent alone made them feel threatened.
Just then, Viktor suddenly said, "Send some compensation money to the grain merchant's wife."
Liya froze, looking up at him, confused.
Compensation money could mean two things, either for injury… or for death.
"And then," Viktor continued flatly, "find the grain merchant, and bury him."
His tone didn't change, but beneath that calmness was a chilling cruelty.
Liya paused. For a moment, she felt as though the old, hateful Viktor had returned.
But then she realized, he wasn't entirely the same. He hadn't gone all the way to destroy them.
That small difference told her this was still the current Viktor, the one she didn't entirely dislike.
Still, she asked, "Why do this? You were the one in the wrong."
Viktor squinted, the rising sun making his eyes narrow slightly.
But his voice, cold and detached, came out as calm as ever.
"When he decided to kill you, his only sentence could be death."
Liya flinched, taking two small steps back.
She lowered her head, not wanting him to see her expression.
Her voice, though steady, sounded strangely soft.
"You think I don't hold grudges?"
"Don't worry. I already sent people to take care of it."
Viktor nodded. He didn't notice her expression, only spoke indifferently.
"Then, are you heading back?"
"…You go first. I still have some matters to handle, and I need to find a new grain merchant. Ugh, so much is piling up on me."
"I'll head back to the capital in a few days. Make sure the servants keep my room clean."
Viktor nodded again, left a quiet "Good work," and then, the teleportation array beneath him activated.
As the air currents surged, his body turned into a streak of blue light and vanished.
When the last trace of azure glow faded, Liya still stood there motionless, head bowed, as if struggling to hold something in.
Viktor was gone. No one could see her expression now.
She no longer had to restrain herself. The floodgates of her emotions opened.
A single tear slid down her cheek, cutting through the dry air, landing on the ground, and scattering into dust.
After a long silence, only one voice echoed softly, like a whisper to herself, "Liya."
"You really are useless."
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