༺ Her Conclusion ༻
“……..”
A few minutes after the brief incident in the training ground.
Frey found himself lying on the bed in Isolet’s room.
“Um, Sister…”
“Don’t call me Sister.”
Of course, this wasn’t something Frey wanted to do.
“I’m okay though…”
“Rest is essential after training.”
Despite silent protests from Irina and Lulu, Isolet was insistent.
“Especially for someone frail like you. You need this much rest or you could strain your body.”
“Um, maybe I shouldn’t train…”
“If you don’t train, you won’t get stronger. How long do you plan on staying weak?”
“Huu.”
Upon hearing Isolet’s words, Frey closed his mouth and took a deep breath, pulling the blanket up.
“Hmm.”
Pulling a chair up to the bedside, Isolet, who was watching him, unconsciously reached out to touch him.
“Kwoo~!”
“Chirp! Chirp!”
“Meow…”
At that moment, the animals around the room cried out all at once.
“Heh… Heh…”
“Ugh..”
The next moment, the red dog that Irina introduced as her pet hopped onto the bed and burrowed under Frey’s blanket.
“”………””
A brief silence followed.
“Animals seem to love you.”
Isolet, who witnessed such a peculiar scene, received cold gazes from around her.
“That, that’s true… wait, you didn’t bring a dog with you, why…”
“Heh heh…”
She scowled as the red dog wriggled further beneath Frey’s blanket.
“Has that dog been neutered yet?”
“I wanted to, but Irina told me not to.”
“…I see.”
As she said this, Isolet unintentionally shot a cold look at the dog, causing it to droop its ears and appear frightened.
“…What was I even thinking just now.”
After a while, Isolet shook her head, lightly smacked her cheek, and then rose from her seat to walk over to a corner of the room.
“Hmm.”
She then opened a cooling magical device in the corner.
“Pfft.”
When he saw that it was filled with beer, Frey covered his mouth with his hand, bursting into laughter.
“What? You’re really like an old virgin. Do you drink alone at night because you have no one to share a drink with, Sister?”
“……”
“You’re really pitiful. Should I drink with you…”
He spoke, mixing in laughter, but soon trailed off.
“Ah, um…”
This was because he noticed Isolet’s eyes darkening once more, reminiscent of when she had bested him earlier.
And he was reminded that his tactic had failed.
“So, sorry…”
Frey shyly averted his gaze and offered an apology. Upon seeing this, Isolet unconsciously swallowed hard.
Even though he had been acting arrogantly just moments before, seeing him vulnerable while lying on his bed somehow stirred something within her.
She hadn’t thought about it when she turned her eyes earlier, but regardless, she knew she shouldn’t harbor such feelings towards her first disciple.
For some reason, over the past few days, every time she thought of Frey, her body became unbearably hot. Isolet felt that she had to draw a clear psychological boundary,otherwise she wasn’t sure what she might do.
In other words, the implication that he was her first disciple was the last line of defense for Isolet.
“Calm down…”
Isolet closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. She reached into her magical device, which emitted cold air, and retrieved something.
“Uh…”
Frey’s eyes widened upon seeing it.
“That… It’s been a while since I’ve seen that.”
What Isolet pulled out was ice cream, a treat they used to share after training when they were young.
“But why…?”
As Frey asked this, looking at the rather large container of ice cream that isolet had brought, she replied in a soft voice.
“It’s a…. a reward.”
“A reward?”
“From now on, if you successfully complete your training… I’ll give you a reward.”
Although she said that, Isolet had another intention.
Feeling that if she saw Frey in front of her as a man, she might lose control, she wanted to firmly see him as her first disciple.
To control her emotions, she wanted to reenact the behavior they had when Frey used to be her disciple in the past.
“…Chomp.”
However, her resolve began to waver when Frey scooped the ice cream with a spoon.
The sight of him enjoying the ice cream reminded her of the past, when they used to sit side by side on a bench in the mansion after training.
In the Empire filled with darkness and evil, only the pure-hearted Frey radiated a brilliant light, and their shared memories from the past started to overlap.
“Uh…”
And that innocent-looking image of Frey began to transform into various scenarios in Isolet’s mind.
Him being beaten on the ground, the humiliation in his eyes after losing a sword fight to her, him calling out her name with tears in his voice.
And her, forcefully subduing him, imprinting her own mark on his once pristine innocence…
“…Snap!”
“What?”
Isolet slapped herself hard on the cheek.
“…Must’ve been a mosquito.”
“But it’s winter right now…”
“……”
After making a feeble excuse and blushing, she put her spoon into the ice cream container that Frey was holding.
“…Chomp.”
For a while, the only sounds in her room were those of scooping ice cream and savoring its taste.
“Hmm.”
The ice cream tasted as sweet and delicious as it did in the past.
However, Isolet could no longer feel the same sentiment she once did.
When they were younger, she would think about the progress of that day’s training and had found Frey adorable as he enjoyed his ice cream.
But now, all she noticed was that the ice cream was made sticky by Frey’s spoon and saliva.
‘Was I…’
Isolet, who had been scooping the ice cream without realizing it, blushed and tightly shut her eyes, then she lowered her head.
‘…Was I always this lewd?’
She began to reflect deeply on herself.
Even at this moment, she felt her body heat up as she gazed at Frey’s puzzled expression.
The way she had ‘educated’ Frey so strictly.
When she defeated him when they were younger, she would always pin him down, smirk, and ‘declare her victory’.
Could it have been a subtle boundary she hadn’t been aware of?
“…Um, Sister.”
“Don’t call me Sister…”
Now, just hearing the word Sister from him made her shiver.
‘As I mentioned before… I’m not qualified as a knight, nor a teacher, nor a master, nor a noble lady.’
And so, with Frey continuing to address her as Sister and her not being able to stop him, Isolet looked down gloomily, biting her lip.
‘If this continues, I’m… just a lewd woman who can’t control her desires. In other words, nothing but a fallen woman.’
After concluding that, she fell silent.
“Sister? What’s wrong?”
“……..”
Time passed like that for a while.
.
.
.
.
.
“…Chomp.”
After lowering her head for a long time, Isolet lifted her head to scoop a spoonful of the now melted ice cream, and suddenly her eyes shone.
“Frey.”
Then, she began to speak in a soft voice to Frey, who was lying on the bed.
“Why don’t you live here, Frey?”
“Huh?”
At her words, Frey tilted his head and Isolet quickly turned her gaze away and continued.
“I mean, become my family.”
As soon as she finished speaking, Frey started to have a bewildered look on his face.
“What… are you talking about?”
Staring at Frey intently, Isolet took his hand and spoke with a composed expression.
“I can’t explain in detail, but the Imperial Family and the Church are plotting something. If things continue this way, you’ll be ruined in a few months, and even your life will be in danger.”
“I already know that… Hmm. I, I see.”
“I’m not joking. If things stay as they are, no matter how much I train you, you won’t last long. You will certainly meet ruin or death.”
Her words were based on facts.
Lately, both the Imperial Family and the Church had urged her to join the ‘Hero Party.’ Given her exceptional skills and high standing, she had access to a wealth of information related to the ‘Hero Party.’
Among the facts she uncovered was that the person the Hero Party warily considered as the ‘Demon King’ was none other than Frey.
Moreover, the Imperial Family and the Church continuously requested sensitive information about Frey from her.
“Hmm…”
“But if you become my family… I can protect you.”
Considering these facts, Isolet’s eyes brimmed with an unusual enthusiasm as she made her proposition to Frey.
“You foolishly used the covenant already, but there’s still an opportunity left to use a covenant for family members if you become a Bywalker.”
Isolet, saying this with a triumphant smile as if she’d found a way out, gently patted Frey’s head, who was wearing a blank expression.
“You probably know it already. The attacks against you have already begun. The empire’s media outlets have united in their assault. It won’t be long before your mansion is raided or investigators summon you.”
She leaned in closer to Frey, who laid on the bed, and whispered with a menacing expression.
“What do you think, Frey?”
She gazed at him for a moment, and upon seeing his fearful expression, she couldn’t help but smile.
‘Yeah… this is to protect my first disciple, and at the same time, it’s a punishment for myself for failing in his education.’
She quietly mumbled to herself.
‘…So, I have no choice. I have no ulterior motives.’
After a long deliberation, she decided to make Frey a part of her family.
It was her fault as his teacher that her first disciple had fallen this far. While she had tried to sincerely end his life multiple times, she somehow couldn’t bring herself to do so.
Furthermore, since she couldn’t even bring herself to attack him, let alone kill him, her simple reasoning led her to the conclusion that if she couldn’t punish and rehabilitate him, she had to take responsibility.
“Frey? Answer me.”
Isolet’s last line of defense, the idea that she couldn’t harbor inappropriate thoughts toward her ‘first disciple,’ crumbled pathetically in the face of her self-rationalizations.
“What do you think?”
She swallowed hard.
“I’ll take responsibility.”
She persistently implored Frey, who wore a vulnerable expression, for an answer.
‘Now that I think about it, the reason Frey initially approached me… also revolved around the subject of marriage.’
She closed her eyes for a while, reminiscing about their first encounter.
A child, who was only as tall as her waist, tilted his head asking, “Are we getting married?”
Of course, the marriage proposal fell through for various reasons.
Perhaps, this was meant to be.
From the beginning, she was destined to be with Frey…
“…So, you’re saying you’ll adopt me?”
“Huh?”
Isolet, whose daydream had quickly escalated to a scene where Frey was entrusting himself to her with a blushing face, snapped back to reality at Frey’s words.
“Are you saying you’re going to adopt me, right now?”
For some reason, upon hearing Frey’s words as he broke out in a cold sweat, Isolet felt as if she had been struck on the head with a hammer.
‘…Why didn’t I think of that?’
One way to become family was indeed through adoption.
Yet she, for some reason, just assumed…
“That’s not happening.”
Lost in thought, Isolet was brought back to the present by Frey’s resolute statement.
“I don’t want to be your son.”
Having said that, Frey quickly rose from the bed and headed for the door, accompanied by the animals.
“I had fun today, Sister.”
– Click…!
Just like that, Frey swiftly exited the room.
“………”
After that, silence enveloped the room for a moment.
“Now that it’s come to this… what can I do?”
Isolet’s gaze wandered during the silence.
“Should I just lock him up in the mansion? If he stays out there… he’ll undoubtedly become everyone’s target…”
She muttered softly.
“I, I’m his mentor, so I must take responsibility. I have to educate him from time to time. Feed him… That’s better than him going to prison or dying…”
Isolet bit her lips.
“…Heuk.”
Suddenly, she reached for the drawer beside her, feeling an eerie sensation.
– Sssk…
A moment later, she took out a picture of a frail-looking boy from the drawer. Isolet then silently crawled onto the bed where Frey had been lying just moments ago.
“Ah, no. First… I need to calm down…”
Feeling the warmth and scent left behind by Frey on the bed, she felt lightheaded and squeezed her eyes shut tightly.
“Heung…”
Shortly after, heavy breathing echoed from her room.
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