Volume 1 - CH 4

I never understood the appeal of a rainy day.

I looked away from my open book to stare out the window, at the grey skies.

It felt different to look at cloudy weather from behind the glass panes of a window compared to seeing it upfront outside.

Mercenaries spent most of their time outdoors; while on the job, whether its escorting a client or subjugating bandits, a merc will be walking somewhere outside, comfort and conveniences be damned. At times like that, rain was always either unlucky or annoying — sometimes both.

But that didn’t mean mercenaries were always outdoors. A mercenary indoors was a mercenary with money, money that would pay for drinks in a bar or a bed in an inn room. Both of those cases were opportunities to ignore the weather, rather than to pay attention to it.

When was the last time I saw the weather from the inside of a building? How many years has it been?

I traced a line down the glass; I could feel the condensation wetting my finger. It wasn’t an unpleasant feeling, and I pressed my whole hand against the window, feeling the pleasant chill against my skin.

If someone were to look through this window and see me inside, would they think me a sheltered princess? I smiled wryly at the amusing thought and dried my hand with a handkerchief before returning to my book.

The rain isn’t always bad; I would never take a break from training unless something like this happened. In the first place, it was a luxury to be able to take a break because of the weather, a luxury my position afforded me, so I suppose part of the appeal of a rainy day is that comfort from resting.

Also, Albert didn’t come over during rainy weather either, making the day especially quiet. It was a truly rare moment of peace on this rainy day, and it all just felt more special than usual.

…With all that being said, what sort of book is the battle-hardened mercenary Envil reading on this day? If my old merc friends were to see me now, they’d laugh — I, myself, felt it was strange to be reading this book in particular… Well, it wasn’t a book I picked up at random, and I wasn’t doing this just to take advantage of the quiet time or the servants attending to my needs.

In fact, the book I was reading was titled “The Hair of Sulberia”.

It wasn’t as though I suddenly gained an interest in religion; it was important that I learned more about the ‘current’ me. And so here I was, holding back the occasional ridiculing snort as I read about Iltania (the god, not the country) and the stories surrounding the Hair of Sulberia… I needed to learn the legends and the epithets I would eventually become associated with.

Thankfully, Balzac had gathered a lot of different books and various texts on the matter, after discovering Mylene was born with the Hair of Sulberia.

As a result, there was no shortage of material on the subject at the Petyul estate.

What I’d read corroborated with the basic knowledge I had; that is, the Hair of Sulberia got its name from the color it shared with the petals of the Sulberia, a flower often called ‘Iltania’s favorite’. Between that connotation and the fact that those with the hair became talented individuals with extraordinary magical power, it was said that the bearers of the Hair of Sulberia were loved by Iltania, and the people began referring to them as “God’s Blessed”, important symbols of faith to the Kingdom of Iltania.

Really though, something about that origin story reeked, and I found myself snorting in contempt.

That being said, at least the correlations made some sense; I could see why people would call another person ‘God’s chosen one’ if the person in question not only had hair the same color as ‘God’s favorite flower’ but also incomparable magical power.

Still, knowing that in spite of everything, Iltania had abandoned their ‘chosen one’ at the very end… I refused to believe such a negligent God existed.

…The more I think about it, the more it seemed that I actually had the idea in reverse. And If that were the case, then it was merely a coincidence that this red-white color pattern was also found on a certain flower, and a further coincidence that that certain flower happened to be ‘God’s favorite’. In short, rather than receiving great magical power for having this red-white hair, a person received this red-white hair for having great magical power — that was my guess, anyway.

Well, it’s not like I could prove it nor did I know what had happened with past bearers of the Hair of Sulberia; I was a merc, not a scholar. There wasn’t anyone that could answer this question of mine, but I didn’t think my theory was entirely wrong anyway.

Though, being a bearer myself, I couldn’t exactly treat the topic so flippantly. In the first place, this theory of mine, considering its complete disregard for the religion of this kingdom, was blasphemy in all but name.

…Learning all of this was more interesting than I thought. Maybe it was because I was just an uneducated merc in my previous life, but studying, reading literature and theorizing the truth, was a novel, refreshing experience to me, and I began to feel doing things like this might actually suit me better than I originally thought.

The act of studying itself was a luxury. Most commoners can’t afford to spare the time they would otherwise use for working; even if they did, they wouldn’t necessarily be able to make sense or use of what they learned. In the first place, specialized education was seen as a privilege of the nobility.

…That being said, if I really wanted to, I could also attend school.

There was a time in my previous life when I wanted to study and to learn, and since I was able to do all the things now that I couldn’t do then, it probably wouldn’t be bad to try this, either.

While actually going to school sounded troublesome, getting an education out of it meant adding a useful card to play, and it was my motto as Envil the mercenary to have as many cards in hand as possible…

I remembered hearing about a certain academy for children born into nobility, where they would go off to live in dormitories, away from home. That didn’t sound like a terrible option, if I could get out of this noisy household.

“Haa…”

Or so I thought, but…

I closed my book and turned again to stare out the window.

I let out a large sigh as I thought it all over; it was out-of-character and unladylike for Mylene, but thankfully there was no one around to see it.

The main issue right now was how a certain someone was trying to stop me from attending the academy.

…The person in question? Balzac.

Most children my age, though not all, usually attended the Zelfoir Academy of Magic; of course, it went without saying that attendance was exclusively for nobles.

Zelfoir was a neutral nation located at the very center of this land. Although it didn’t have any specialties to boast of, being at the center amongst other countries made it a prime location for trade to flourish and for goods to flow.

Even as Iltania fell in my previous life, Zelfoir remained a sanctuary, at peace and undisturbed by the war. It was obvious why: no country could recklessly threatened Zelfoir when the trade hub city could simply stop the flow of goods going into and out of its neighboring countries.

In short, a rich, peace-loving nation established an academy for aristocrats that contributed to world peace… That was Zelfoir.

Well, wars broke out anyway, and Iltania came to ruin at the end of one of them, but this was beside the point.

Anyway, I naturally believed I would be attending the Academy when I came of age, but…

The academy? Oh, you must mean the Zelfoir Academy of Magic. There is no need for you to attend, Mylene, after all, I imagine it would be a terribly uncomfortable for you to have to live all alone in such a remote place.

…That crappy old man had been so smug about it too.

I had thought Balzac would give in to whatever the Hair of Sulberia demanded, but it seemed he didn’t want me going so far out-of-sight.

But the truth of the matter was that he didn’t want let go of his one precious claim to fame.

He talked as though he cared about ‘Mylene’, but he was really just a crappy parent that didn’t even notice his own child had become a completely different person overnight. From just that, I knew exactly what he was thinking.

That being said, I was grateful for how he distanced himself, but now his way of handling Mylene was getting in the way.

Well, me being me, my useless pride was also stopping me from being more willful in asking Balzac.

While it seemed like a normal thing to do, it was extremely humiliating if I, an old man on the inside, were to beg my parents to allow me to attend the Academy.

And so here I was now in the study, acting like a lady in seclusion and gazing wistfully out the window.

At the moment, I was the only one in here; I didn’t have to keep up any pretense of proper manners, so there was a rather unladylike atmosphere about the room.

Anyway, if I couldn’t attend the Academy, then I would just have to do what I can here — which was why I was studying here in the first place. And on a rainy day like this, since I couldn’t just go out and train as usual, I could at least read up on this hair of mine and learn something useful about it…or so I told myself.

In the history I remembered, Mylene always seemed to be showing off the Hair of Sulberia in some way; having learned more about the Hair of Sulberia now myself, I suspected she had also read up on it herself. While I could see it as a good thing that Mylene knew to polish a weapon at her disposal so to speak, the fact that she did so at the expense of neglecting and destroying the country meant it was something I should learn from, at the very least.

After all, my goal in this life was to live freely, without having to depend only on just that.

Well, in the end it was just another card I’d be able to play. For now, I should move on and start reading up on Iltania…

“L-lady Mylene… A-are you in here?!”

But as I decided that, a maid barged into this study without knocking.

I guess it was rude of her to just come in like that, but it wasn’t a big deal to me.

“Lisa? You seem quite panicked. You should take a moment to calm down.”

“O-o-of course!!”

The maid that had rushed into the room was a woman named Lisa. She was merely one of the maids that watched me as I trained; my personal attendant was Rhea, so the fact that Lisa had come to find me meant something urgent was going on.

Hearing me tell her to calm down, Lisa stopped to take a deep breath. From how tired she looked, she must have been panickedly running around in search of me.

And so I quietly waited for her to speak.

After she settled down, Lisa looked me right in the eyes and spoke:

“Th-the master is calling for you, Lady Mylene. He seemed to be in a great hurry, and he urgently requested for your presence, as fast as possible..!”

“The old man did…? Ugh, fine. I’ll go see him. Where is he now?”

“The master is currently in his office.”

I made a slight frown at Lisa’s answer.

It wasn’t as though I hated him or anything, and as far as I was concerned, the old man did let me do whatever I wanted.

He hadn’t said a word when I was scolding Albert during training, after the prince had said he was fine with it… He probably hadn’t paid much attention to Mylene in the first place, even before I had taken her place.

And that was what confused me now: that same negligent Balzac was suddenly in a rush to find me.

He occasionally acted like some sort of big shot, but on the inside he was just another coward. I was sure he wouldn’t actually do anything that would upset me.

Well, I should save that speculation for later. If I take any longer to get going and arrive late, it would be Lisa who gets scolded for it.

And so I closed my book, placing it on the desk as I rise from my seat and leave the room. I knew Lisa was following, so I walked at a moderate pace so as not to leave her behind.

Though the mansion was quite large, we were moving around indoors, and we found ourselves at Balzac’s office before long.

“There you are, Mylene! I apologize for calling you over so suddenly. Good work bringing her over, servant. You may leave us now.”

I stepped through the most ornate doors in the mansion to find Balzac sitting at his desk. As he acknowledged my entrance, he quickly dismissed Lisa from the room.

I thought it was a little harsh that he couldn’t even be bothered to remember the names of the maids working here, but well, whatever, I guess.

“So what’d you even call me here for?”

“Hm, right, so we… received a letter from a certain person…”

I had been wondering what could have caused Balzac to call me over, and it turned out to be just another letter.

I can’t think of how a single letter coule have possibly stirred him up this much. He handed the letter over to me, and… there, on the envelope, was Colette’s name, marked as the sender.

Oh, I see now. This certainly would be something that could get him all riled up.

I didn’t see why it was such a big deal to be receiving a personal letter from the princess of another country, but I guess the old man felt differently.

He was looking pretty smug about this though, now that I looked more carefully at him, so he was probably thinking about how he had a new card to play.

And I would bet that in his thoughts, he was rubbing his hands together in glee having formed a connection with the princess of a powerful empire.

I haphazardly tore off the envelope’s seal and took the letter out. On first glance, the neat and tidy penmanship wasn’t something I would have expected from someone like Colette.

But as I read the letter… I could feel a lump forming in my throat.

“I-is there something wrong, Mylene? Would it not be fine to tell me even a little bit of what was written?”

I could tell he was desperately trying to stay calm from how his nostrils were flaring. I didn’t dislike people who were so clearly loyal to their own desires, but at the same time, I don’t think Balzac would ever become anyone important…

I snorted disdainfully before handing the letter back to him; Balzac took it, holding it timidly as though it were some sort of dangerous item.

What Colette had written in the letter was…

” ‘I-I am looking forward to seeing you at the Academy’..?!”

That she was. Colette and I were the same age, which meant she would also be attending the Academy soon.

The letter from Colette was a message of affection… and a wish for us to meet again when we began attending the Academy in some months’ time.

Of course, Colette naturally assumed I would be attending the Academy; there was no way she could know that Balzac had not given me permission, let alone that it was because he wanted to keep me under his supervision.

Now then, how was Balzac going to react, having read this letter…

Trembling slightly, Balzac raised his head, and…

“Why, isn’t this quite wonderful, Mylene? I never knew you had become so close with the imperial princess of Colhoun that she would consider you a personal friend! I expected no less from you, my daughter!”

…showed off a great smile, the grin of a greedy adult.

It was a bit of an unexpected response but amusing nonetheless.

…Well, I guess he was the kind of person that openly showed his own greed, so I guess this reaction was actually predictable.

“…So? How do you think I should respond, ‘father dearest’?”

But that wasn’t anything new to me anyway.

I gave a sarcastic snort, implicitly asking about my attending the Academy.

Considering my old man’s stance on the matter. I will probably have to answer Colette’s letter with “Actually, I shall not be attending the Academy.”

Then again, if I did that, he would have to consider the possibility of losing a connection to the royal family of Colhoun.

“You must respond with, ‘Of course, I feel the same as well’, Mylene! We cannot afford to show any rudeness or disrespect to Princess Colette!”

That was a very Balzac-like way of avoiding a clear answer.

His priority was to butter up the other side, even if it meant having to take back something he had said before.

I wasn’t even annoyed anymore seeing how fixated he was on his own interests; I was even beginning to feel sorry for Mylene — though that quickly changed to irritation.

“Oh, that sounds good. So does that mean I shall be attending the Academy?”

“Hm, well, I suppose it may have been narrow-minded of me to forbid you from going. It is, after all, my duty as a parent to watch my daughter grow up well, and it would do naught but hold you back if I were to be a parent that would not let you walk on your own.”

Quite the smooth-talker as usual. I could probably learn a thing or two from how shamelessly he could change his mind.

But unfortunately, I was never really any good at being a bootlicker.

“I should have expected as much, I guess… Was that all you needed me for?”

“You say that, Mylene, but this was a letter from the imperial princess of Colhoun herself! Nothing else could be more important or urgent than this.”

It was a little disappointing that there wasn’t anything else, but now I get to attend the Academy. It wasn’t too bad to have come here just to hear that.

Now I get to look forward to living in the dormitory, away from ‘home’. There were probably strict rules since it was a place for the sons and daughters of nobles, but at the very least it should be more peaceful there than it was here at the Petyul mansion.

“Well, whatever. If we’re done here, then I’ll excuse myself. I need to reply to that letter and all.”

“Of course, but please do not be rude when you write back!”

“We’re just two kids exchanging letters, you know… But I guess since she is the princess of another country, I’ll be a little more careful with my reply.”

I took the letter back, out of Balzac’s hands, and wave it about for emphasis.

I’m not very good at writing back a reply, but I am grateful to have received this letter; I could just thank Colette in person when I see her at the Academy.

I left the office and began walking back to the study. My feet felt lighter than ever.

As I thought about it, I couldn’t help but find it funny that Colette, the one responsible for sending me and Mylene off to our deaths in my previous life, was now the one responsible for sending me — that is, Mylene — off to the Academy. What a strange fate I’ve found myself following.

…Actually, if I’m close enough to be exchanging personal letters with Colette, wouldn’t that mean I no longer had to worry about Colhoun invading Iltania?

In fact, since I was Mylene, that meant none of the evil things she had done in my previous life would ever come to pass… So wouldn’t that mean the future of Iltania was actually looking quite bright now?

Even so, that didn’t change anything; the more cards I held, the better and more freely I’d be able to live my life in the future. With that in mind, I would do everything I could to learn from this exclusive education that only nobles can receive.

My yearning for more power surprised even myself, but at the same time, it wasn’t a new feeling. Ever since I became Mylene, discovered how easily this body gained power, I couldn’t help but feel that no matter how much stronger I became, it still wouldn’t be enough.

I had no evidence backing up my thoughts, but I suspected it may be the fate of the bearer of the Hair of Sulberia to greedily seek more power.

It probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to find out what the previous bearers were like… but that wasn’t a big deal. More importantly, I needed more power, and it would be more productive to instead gorge myself on strength and knowledge until I’m satisfied.

I looked out again; reflected in the window was a girl wearing a feral grin and baring her fangs.

Ahh, I can’t wait… I was full of eager anticipation as I made my way back to the study to write my reply to my dear friend…