Chapter 14: Coincidence, Are You Here to Jump into the Sea Too?
“The Master’s half? The key?”
“Lord Norton, I don’t understand what you mean.”
Shaya timely posed his question, exhibiting the demeanor of one completely ignorant.
“Heh.”
“The vast majority of the ignorant civilians in the duchy only believe my niece is the culprit behind the calamity sixteen years ago, the incarnation of disaster.”
“But how would they know that if not for her, they wouldn’t be living such peaceful lives today.”
As expected, Elder Norton also let slip a few pieces of information.
Although the information he revealed was still cryptic.
“The water runs deep here, you don’t need to know too much. Just do as I say.”
“A great change is about to befall the Azure Court Duchy. When you need to know, you will know everything naturally.”
*’When will this cryptic person hurry up and die already,’* Shaya thought to himself, but he didn’t show any of it on the surface. Instead, he responded respectfully and took his leave.
Inquiring for information was not something to be rushed.
In Norton’s eyes, he, an orphan with no parents, and with backup plans in place, was already considered one of them.
When the plan unfolded later, he would eventually learn of its secrets.
Shaya walked on, observing his surroundings.
It wasn’t until he left the Grand Duke’s Mansion and arrived at the bustling streets of the Royal Capital that he silently summoned Silver and Sparkle.
“Silvia Brunnhildr.”
It was time to meet his mission target, the future Azure Silver Witch.
“Get out, you’re not welcome here.”
“His Excellency the Grand Duke lived an illustrious life, but the name of the Brunnhildr Family has been completely tarnished by you.”
“If it weren’t for you, my brother and father wouldn’t have died! Countless citizens of the Azure Court Duchy wouldn’t have been displaced!”
“Your mother died because of you! A daughter of calamity like you should never have appeared in this world from the beginning!”
Silvia walked along a steep cliff face, with a cliff tens of meters high to her side and the roar of crashing waves resounding in her ears.
The cold wind blew across her cheeks, sharp and piercing.
Even though she had tried her best to force herself not to think about it, those grating words still lingered in her ears whenever she woke up in the middle of the night.
If it were only like this, then it would be fine.
If she were merely scolded or cursed, it would at least mean her existence had meaning.
At least, someone was willing to pay attention to her.
Even if that attention was merely pure hatred and annoyance.
But what was even more unbearable was being ignored.
During originally bustling and lively family gatherings, the atmosphere would change as soon as she arrived, becoming distant and unfamiliar, leaving only countless strange glances directed at her.
Peers who were laughing and playing in the garden would stop their smiles and silently leave upon discovering her arrival.
Even if she made friends while hiding her identity, as soon as their elders discovered it, she would only receive a cold letter of severance.
After all, she was the Grand Duke’s only daughter, and not everyone dared to disrespect her face to face, ignoring her status.
In fact, quite the opposite. At least the vast majority of people in the Duke’s mansion were polite and courteous when facing her.
But beneath that respectful exterior—
That unexpressed coldness and distance were the most hurtful.
“Why is it like this?”
“Could it be that I truly am, as they say…”
“The incarnation of disaster, who should not exist in this world?”
On countless sleepless nights without stars, Silvia had asked herself this question.
Perhaps it was because of the thing that resided deep within her heart…
It was a twisted shadow nailed to a giant Bronze Cross, existing deep within her heart since Silvia could remember.
Normally, it seemed calm, only occasionally emitting some unintelligible babbling that Silvia couldn’t understand.
But—
Whenever Silvia fell into extreme emotional turmoil, or her willpower began to waver.
That twisted darkness would silently erode a little, engulfing her consciousness.
And then, when Silvia’s consciousness would once again awaken.
What greeted her was the crimson liquid filled with the taste of rust.
And the even colder, complex gazes of her older family members, a mixture of hatred and fear.
Those gazes were so piercingly painful that, from the first time onwards, every night for Silvia was accompanied by nightmares and dread.
She was afraid that when she woke up, all she would see were cold corpses lying on the ground.
“But, I don’t want this either…”
The maiden’s murmuring dissipated in the evening wind, unheard.
It was already evening, and the giant sun touched the surface of the sea.
Tens of millions of tons of seawater churned beneath the cliff, waves shattering into white spray against the black rocks.
Silvia stared blankly at the pitch-black tide, falling into a silent trance.
After a long while, as if finally making up her mind.
Silvia lightly bit her lips, which were turning purple from the cold wind, and gently took a step forward, extending half her body over the cliff face.
With just one step, she would fall into the icy Grant Sea.
The Grant Sea was located several miles away from the Royal Capital of the Azure Court and was rarely frequented by people.
Not to mention at sunset, most residents of the Royal Capital had already returned home, gathered around the warmth of fireplaces and magic lamps, enjoying dinner with their families.
If she fell into the water now, forget about being rescued; even being discovered would be a luxury.
However, this was precisely Silvia’s intention.
She harbored a death wish.
Since she could remember, she had walked on thin ice, unable to relax mentally for even a moment.
Yet, despite this, under the babbling of the blurry figure on the Bronze Cross, Silvia had nearly lost herself several times, implicating many innocent civilians.
The most severe loss of control had directly razed a small part of the street.
She was tired of this pitch-black life without light.
She was even more tired of herself, who occasionally harmed innocent people.
And so, on such a winter evening, she had sneaked out of the Grand Duke’s Mansion and come here.
Perhaps, what those people said was not wrong.
A daughter of calamity like herself should never have appeared in this world from the very beginning.
The cold evening wind was bone-chilling, making Silvia’s limbs numb, and even her consciousness became somewhat hazy.
“Lord God…”
Silvia’s cracked lips parted slightly, emitting a silent self-mockery.
When she was young, Silvia had also prayed to God in secret.
She had also imagined that someone would come, just like in the Bard’s stories, bathed in light, to rescue her from this dark swamp where light could not be seen.
But she knew in her heart that it was just a fantasy.
There might indeed be so-called gods in this world.
The Holy See in the Holy Divine Kingdom in the west of the continent even claimed to be the divine will’s representatives on earth.
However, if the thing residing deep within her heart were discovered by them, she would only become a target of the Holy See’s crusade, an eradicated heretic, without a doubt.
She waited for no one.
No one would come.
Silvia closed her eyes, her delicate body trembling slightly.
The moment before she fell off the cliff, Silvia heard a voice ring out in her ear.
“Coincidence, are you here to jump into the sea too?”
The voice did not carry the reverence, wariness, or hatred that Silvia was accustomed to.
It merely carried a hint of curiosity.
She turned her head towards the source of the sound and saw a slender figure appear not far from her.
The light of the light-golden sunset fell on the person’s side profile, his features sharp and deep.
