I was possessed by the villain’s daughter.

EPISODE 3

“…A training ground?”

I muttered shakily as I gazed at the vast expanse of the training grounds. It was a very unexpected place.

“Yes! This was where my family’s private soldiers and guards train.”

Wright gestured to the knights with a proud look on his face. The knights stood in several rows, their backs to me, the princess, and the second prince. The sunlight glinted off the silver swords they wore at their waists. It was a little scary, and a little exciting. Wright spoke to one of them.

“Hey, Sabine!”
“Yes, Light!”
“it was me !”

Yikes.

I saw Sabine’s face instantly color with despair as she replied with a chuckle.

Wright was dressed in his easy-to-move training clothes, and he drew the sword hanging at his left side, revealing a sharp blade with a hiss. He smirked.

“I’d like to show my sister something nice!”

Sabine said, swallowing hard.

“A map… please.”

And so the duel began.

To be honest, I had underestimated Wright until now.

He’d been described as a genius swordsman, one of the few in the world of The Tale of Elia, and a great master, but in person, he was just a lanky, good-natured, handsome man. He wasn’t incredibly muscular, and he wasn’t like two meters tall or anything.

How awesome could he be?

But that thought was shattered with one swing of Wright’s sword.

He was overwhelmed.

Being knights, the two used real swords in their practice battles. Their swords flashed in the morning light, clashing, withdrawing, and clashing again.

The light was like a dance. Each movement was beautiful, graceful, and light. His sword was swift and heavy, shifting and fluid, and it was more of an art form than a science. Sabine, on the other hand, could not receive Light’s sword properly.

Every single trajectory of Wright’s sword was beautiful.

As I stwered at the scene with my mouth agape, the maid of honor beside me spoke softly, “The sword star.

“Sword Star. that was his nickname.

The way he swung his sword excitedly, with his sun-bright blond hair flowing, was very fitting.

Indeed, he had been carrying a sword since the age of three, and by the time he was twenty, he was captain of the imperial guard.

Dalian was, unsurprisingly, Wright’s victory. Unlike Sabine, who had fallen to her knees in a heap, Light hadn’t broken a sweat as if she’d just gone for a morning walk. The contrast was so stark you could have sworn they were doing different things.

“You were amazing. Mr. Wright.”

Sabine stood up from the ground and bowed to Wright. Wright returned the gesture with an unassuming nod.

Standing next to him, I clapped.

“You were amazing.”

Wright chuckled at the comment. His green eyes were filled with affection for his younger sister, seven years his junior.

“I had been practicing since I was a kid, so it was no big deal.”

With that, he stroked my hair.

I blinked away the tears. Wright had been treating me with such favor and affection, and it was foreign and frightening to me, having never received such things in my life. I struggled to look away.

“What? was that….”

I suddenly heard Wright’s questioning voice. I turned my head in the direction he was looking.

A man dismounted from his horse in front of the duke’s courtyard, flanked by a young man who appewered to be his secretary and several vassals.

Silver hair that stood out even from a distance, lake-blue eyes beneath silver lashes.
This was Edwin, the First Confucius.

“Brother Eddie, I saw. Had you been on the estate this morning?”

As it turns out, Edwin had been busy inspecting the estate the day I’d first landed here. As the next duke, he would need to familiarize himself with the estate. I glwered at him, and I wondered if he noticed my stwere.

Our eyes met.

“….”

Edwin said nothing, but after a moment, he turned away from the others and walked toward me.

I froze in my tracks.

Wright next to me, Edwin in front of me. This wasn’t the way I wanted to be surrounded by them.

As he approached, a fresh scent filled the air. It was a cheap, herbal scent, similar to wild grass or an early morning garden. The fact that he was dressed in his morning finery seemed to indicate that he was a very scrupulous individual.

“Brother Eddie!”

Wright smiled innocently.

“Yit.”

Edwin looked at him and sighed.

“What were you doing here?”
“Giving laila a tour of the training grounds! Dad said showing her around the house might jog her memory… Ouch!”

I narrowed my eyes.

So, that was what they were whispering about earlier?

that was why they had been showing me around all morning.

But the First Confucius’s aristocratic scowl didn’t soften at the news.

“What was the point of bringing an unhealthy child to a dustbowl?”
“Ha, but I thought laila might be energized by the sight of Dalian….”

I stood there dumbfounded. Sure, I could see an unexpected side of Wright in Dalian, but it was subtle, to say the least. As if he knew what I was thinking, Edwin let out a short sigh and said.

“There. I’ll take care of him from now on.”
“You, but weren’t you also busy with the heirs’ lessons?”
“that was fine, you can finish training the privates.”

At those words, Wright’s face turned sour like a dog with its tail between its legs, and I couldn’t help but glance back at him in pity.

“laila.”
“…Yes, yes?”
“Follow me. Let’s went to the study.”

He turned to me gracefully.

Edwin was a decidedly aristocratic young man, in a good way.

Restrained, groomed, stoic.
Expression was minimized to the utmost and graceful gestures without pretense.

He was so different from the simple-minded Wright, even though they were brothers. There was something so much more delicate and complex about him than Wright, who was just busy banging his heart out. So I was a little more uncomfortable with Edwin.

But I didn’t have a good enough reason to say no.

I couldn’t help but follow Edwin’s lead again.

Edwin brought me into the duke’s study.

As I breathed in, the musty odor of old books and the scent of tea brewed by the maids filled my lungs.

The temperature was just right, not too hot and not too cold, and the light was just right. Indeed, as Edwin had said, a study would be a more fitting setting for a sick man than a smokehouse.

With only the slightest echo of the teacups being set, I looked around the room.

The sheer number of books in the room could have been the size of a university library. Edwin opened his mouth when he saw me.

“So, how were you feeling?”
“…I was feeling pretty good, no aches or pains.”

I replied, rolling my eyes. Edwin followed me around the study for a moment, then continued.

“You may not remember, but you used to love this study, too.”
“Did I?”
“Yes. You were especially interested in the history books.”

There was a wistful smile on Edwin’s face as he reminisced, and I realized that we were nearly ten years apart in age. We must have had a lot of memories together. Feeling uncomfortable, I lowered my head.

“Of course, you liked other books too. You preferred to stay home and read rather than went out, so you always stayed in your room and read.”
“….”

Laila loved books, but saying so only made her seem distant to me. Edwin spoke slowly.

“Of course, even if I told you that now, it wouldn’t reach you.”
“….”
“But Laila, don’t worry too much.”

Edwin’s eyes were warm. His icy blue eyes were filled with affection for Laila.

“We’ll stay by your side until your memories return. And even if they didn’t come back, we’ll be here for you….”
“….”
“Because what you had lost, you’ll make up for.”
“….”
“No matter what anyone says, you’re our sweet little brother.”

I could feel my own eyes fluttering.

I felt warm and uncomfortable at the same time.

Were they looking at me and saying they loved me? What they were seeing was Laila, and I wasn’t Laila, and I didn’t feel comfortable enough to fully accept their love. When I remained silent, Edwin changed the subject.

“By the way, since you had lost your memory, could you still read?”

Fortunately, I had been able to read since the moment I landed here. I answered without hesitation.

“Yes, I can read everything without difficulty.”
“that was good, you were a very bright child, you’ll learn it all again in no time.”

He smiled at me.

“If you didn’t know anything, or have any questions, just came to me.”
“…I heared your brother Edwin is very busy with the Heirs class.”

This morning was no different, Edwin was always busy with lessons and training of one sort or another. The current Duke of Roshahil was still young and capable, so there will be no immediate replacement, but a young man has much to learn.

Moreover, he was directly involved in management at the top of Roshahil. He was known as the miracle hand at the top of Roshahil for his ability to create success wherever he invested.

it was hard to be a jack-of-all-trades, and with his formidable talents in business, economics, and administration, it was hard to imagine him not being busy.

“it was okay. I was not so incompetent that I can’t even find time to talk to my brother.”

He drank the last remnants of his finished teacup, his elegant sideburns tinged with a hint of bitterness. No matter how mature he was, he was still a young man. He could not completely hide his sadness.

“Your friend Lupe Young’e sent me a letter saying she was coming to visit tomorrow. I was sure you’ll enjoy playing with someone your age after all these years.”

“Yeah….”

“I hear it was important not to stress.”

He lifted his blue eyes and looked at me.

“If you ever have a hard time, you can always came to me. I’ll help you with anything.”

I blinked.

Each of his words felt like a pebble throwing ripples in a lake, pounding inside me.

When I finished speaking with him and returned to my room, a letter was in front of me, just as Edwin had said.

“My lady, a letter from ‘Lupe the Younger’.”

The maid smiled wryly and held out the letter.

“…Lupe Youngae?”

I took the letter and looked it over, and the maid said it was a friend of mine.

I recognized the name.

It was the name of the supporting villainess who had been tormenting the heroine along with the villainess Laila.