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I overdid my role as an adopted daughter, Chapter 141. It seemed that all the affection that was originally meant for Medea was poured onto Viola.

Viola was momentarily speechless.

“…Right.”

Having a cute little sister isn’t such a bad thing. Yes, it’s a good thing.

Viola decided to think positively.

No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t understand.

‘Seriously, she came alone.’

Still, Brandia was relatively a more reasonable family compared to Bellatu. There was no way they would send their youngest daughter out unguarded, yet they sent her alone strangely.

“You know what monster I’m going to hunt, right?”

“Ah! The Black Troll!”

Selbin seemed excited. “The two-headed one!”

“…Right.”

The Black Temple had three floors. “The Black Troll appears on the first or second floor.”

Stronger monsters inhabit the second floor rather than the first. Moreover, the Black Troll was more prevalent on the second floor. Selbin said it as if it were obvious.

“Then, of course, we’re going to the second floor?”

“No.”

“Then?”

“First floor.”

“Why?”

“Because the Black Ogre sometimes appears on the second floor.”

“Just smash it!”

Viola chuckled. “You can’t do that with you around.”

Selbin’s eyes widened. If someone else had said that, he would have gotten angry, but he made an exception for Viola.

“If you protect me, it’ll be easy.”

“Your body must protect itself.”

Honestly, I’m scared just looking after my own body, sob. Selbin cheerfully replied, “Yes!” completely unaware of Viola’s true feelings.

“Sister is truly amazing.”

The two stood together in front of the Black Temple. As expected of a temple that swore oaths, quite a few people were gathered at the entrance.

Two men’s conversation reached their ears.

“I feel a bit off today.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean.”

“Let’s just swear the oath tomorrow.”

It was a rather common conversation. They seemed a bit puzzled by the presence of young children (Viola and Selbin) here but didn’t pay much attention.

At that moment, a boy with curly brown hair and freckled white skin approached them.

He had a friendly impression, and his smile was cute.

“Young Noblewomen, would you like a guide?”

* Tundra was struggling alone in the Place Where the Eye Shines.

It was said that somewhere in the Place Where the Eye Shines, the Sacred Ground of the Ancient Warriors sleeps, and Tundra had managed to find that location.

It was a place without a sense of time.

He couldn’t tell how long it had been.

‘This is tough.’

Tundra retrieved his sword, dripping with blood.

He couldn’t tell how many monsters he had hunted.

He swung his sword day after day, forgetting the passage of time.

The ‘Sacred Ground of the Ancient Warriors’ was a mysterious place. In this place, one could survive without eating or sleeping.

Illusions were constantly being created here, and within those illusions, Tundra had to fight monsters every single day.

He recalled Hixson’s words.

‘At some point, you’ll forget that it’s an illusion.’

The Sacred Ground of the Ancient Warriors was a place that trained a person to their limit. It warped the flow of time and made one forget their own existence.

‘Don’t forget yourself. The moment you do, you’ll never be able to escape.’

However, it was said that if you could escape from there, you could achieve tremendous growth. Both the Sword Saint and the Duke of Thousand Kills trained here, or so they said.

Thud!

An ogre in the illusion fell.

Tundra had taken down the ogre by himself.

“Huff…! Huff…!”

He had forgotten this place was an illusion and even why he was swinging his sword. Like many who had come to this place, he gradually began to forget himself.

‘No!’

Tundra bit his lip. ‘I have a reason to grow.’

The reason was solely Viola.

Now, she was all that remained for him.

The master who had reached out when he was the most miserable and lonely.

He had intended to become a loyal dog for her.

He didn’t want to be forgotten in this place.

Then one day, he saw another Tundra within the illusion. ‘Huh?’

That Tundra’s name was Kang Han-jun. Everything about him, from his name to his background, was unfamiliar.

Amidst that, there was one thing that was certain. ‘My Lord?’

In the illusion, Tundra did not call Viola “My Lord.” He called her Ah-rin.

Viola referred to Tundra as “Brother.”

‘My head hurts…

Is this my past?

Am I watching my past right now? Tundra struggled for many days in the illusion.

“No.”

Tundra ultimately raised his sword. “You are not me.”

He cut down the illusionary Kang Han-jun. While his past life as Han-jun might have been real, it didn’t matter to him.

“I’m just Tundra.”

Kang Han-jun was cleaved in half. No blood flowed, and Tundra and the world surrounding him tore apart like paper.

‘Right. I am Tundra.

He almost forgot his identity, but Tundra found himself once again.

To rise high, alongside my master…

Serving at the side of Viola, standing at the peak was his grand dream.

‘…Is that right?’

Tundra learned many things in the illusion. Things that were previously invisible began to reveal themselves.

‘Does My Lord really desire a supreme being?’

From the first meeting, everything began to be reinterpreted and newly visible. From when she shoved a sword in her mouth to now.

‘What exactly does My Lord truly want?’

Thinking back, it seemed like she hadn’t been fond of the title “My Lord.” ‘That title was something I had to accept as Bellatu.’

His world was starting to be reestablished. It felt like the fog that had been thick was lifting.

‘All my actions were, in fact, burdensome to My Lord.

While reading the “Half-and-Half Book,” I believed that was correct.

A dog should act like a dog.

So, I approached honestly and behaved like a dog. ‘But she doesn’t want that.’

I started to seriously ponder what the princess truly desired. In his illusion, monsters no longer appeared. Only deep darkness remained.

Within that darkness, someone was extending a small, delicate hand. ‘I’ll be by your side.’

A faint light began to be visible in the darkness. ‘Being by your side.

I realized it was okay not to become a dog.

I started to understand what kind of person Viola needed.

‘That person is…

He recalled Viola amidst the dark universe.

What emotions Viola might be feeling.

What thoughts she might be holding.

He also recalled Zeno’s words.

‘I’ve heard that on the first day of her adoption, the Young Noblewoman wished to be loved and thought of having a family always.

The darkness that engulfed Tundra began to lift even more.

What Viola needed wasn’t a loyal dog.

It was someone to be by her side.

Someone who could be alongside her like family.

‘That noblewoman…’

Tundra, seated in meditation at the Sacred Ground of the Ancient Warriors, felt tears welling in his eyes. It seemed as though Viola’s solitude and loneliness hit him like arrows piercing his chest.

‘She feels lonely.’

Pretending to be perfect as Bellatu, she always had to maintain that composure. There was no realness in Viola’s life.

The bright smile that Ah-rin had shown in the illusion was absent in Winter Castle.

The cracks in the darkness surrounding him began to grow.

It soon splintered with a crackling sound.

He could feel the desperation of a person living on thin ice while playing the role of Bellatu.

‘It hurts too much.

So, he had to escape from this place. Clink!

The darkness fully shattered. The monsters that tormented him, the image of Kang Han-jun, the darkness that devoured his self—everything disappeared.

The ‘Sacred Ground of the Ancient Warriors’ was certainly in the ‘Place Where the Eye Shines,’ but it wasn’t snowing here now. Tundra’s gaze deepened.

“I’ll be by your side.”

I won’t let you fight alone. I’ll be your help.

Before he knew it, the ‘mana tails’ that had been wavering with emotion disappeared.

Tundra instinctively spread that mana throughout his body.

The unseen thin barrier of mana seemed to saturate his body, then concentrated on his sword.

Golden mana formed around Tundra’s sword.

He concentrated the mana and coated it over the sword.

It was known as a mana sword, which only high-level knights could manifest.

‘Hmm?’

However, the mana sword disappeared. Tundra’s sword couldn’t withstand the mana and shattered.

Whoooosh~!

With a great wind, a snowstorm swept in.

The entire ‘Sacred Ground of the Ancient Warriors’ shook with a rumble. ‘Mana is… forming into a sword.’ The mana started to take the shape of the sword.

Making shapes with mana was something he was already used to.

In other words, it had become a ‘mana sword’ instead of ‘mana tails.’ In “The Shadows of Bellatu,” this was referred to as an ‘Aura Sword.’

It was a realm that the first-class knights were said to achieve even in the Empire.

Tundra wasn’t feeling particularly joyful.

‘I have to go back.’

He decided to be by Viola’s side. He would listen to her honest feelings and voice.

That must be what Viola truly wanted.

Before long, the snowstorm subsided.

Tundra began to walk south.

“Don’t get in my way.”

As he swung his sword, a golden afterimage was left behind. A giant spider with a human face was obliterated, turning to dust and disappearing.

Tundra didn’t realize it, but the monster he had hunted was a dangerous great monster known as ‘Demon-Spider.’

*

Meanwhile, Viola, who had met the boy who offered to be a guide in front of the temple, smiled and asked, “A guide, you say?”

“That’s right. A four-year veteran.”

As soon as Viola heard that, she drew her dagger. “You should have been a bit more precise to manifest an illusion.”

Without hesitation, Viola pierced the boy’s neck. Her gifted physique cleanly severed the boy’s artery. However, no blood flowed. The boy’s figure dissipated like mirage until he completely vanished.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Applause echoed.

“Wow. How did you notice?”

Someone cloaked in robes approached. A mage holding a staff.

Viola sensed it.

‘Strong.’

And the two skull patterns engraved on the robes. He was a black magician belonging to the ‘Death’ organization.

Someone capable of boldly casting illusion magic and barriers at the entrance of the relatively crowded Black Temple.

He removed his robe. His eyelids were pitch black.

‘No eyes?’

Disheveled white hair caught her attention. He had unusually long hair for a man.

‘No eyes and white hair? If he’s a black magician from Death…’

Viola swallowed hard. ‘Dexial?’

The villain who had been on par with the witch Hela had shown himself. Viola grasped her trembling heart and slowly opened her mouth.

“But you know? I haven’t entered the temple yet.”

Zeno had decided to accompany her to the entrance of the temple. They had been together until just recently.

“Right, Zeno?”

In an instant, a cold chill began to envelop the surroundings. Everything around them froze.