Chapter 57: The Unveiling Truth
“Y-You misunderstand, Commander.”
Johnny, his legs trembling, forced himself to his feet and desperately waved his hands in denial. But Damian’s reaction was ice-cold.
“What exactly is the misunderstanding?”
“T-That is…”
“That you tried to kill this woman?”
Johnny, noticing that Damian’s question was phrased as if he hadn’t overheard their entire conversation, quickly nodded in agreement.
“She kept blackmailing me for money, and in a moment of anger, I lost control!”
“That’s a lie! I never asked for money!”
Sisle, still sobbing in Aracila’s arms, cried out in injustice.
“I only wanted Sir Pattinson to acknowledge his wrongdoing…!”
“Shut up, you wretched thing! Do you think people don’t know you falsely accused me for money? Your kind will do anything for a handful of coins!”
Johnny’s vicious words silenced Sisle like a dagger to the throat. He turned back to Damian, rubbing his hands together anxiously, his expression desperate.
“Commander, I was wrong to draw my sword. But I had no choice! That woman’s false accusations put me in the Mage Tower’s prison! As a knight, the shame was unbearable—”
“The only shameful thing here is the way you look right now, Johnny Pattinson.”
Damian cut off Johnny’s rambling with an icy retort.
The change in Damian’s gaze made Johnny freeze in place. Anxiety drenched his underarms and back with sweat.
“I will hear what the woman has to say and judge for myself. You, shut your mouth.”
“…!”
Johnny instinctively wanted to protest, but Damian’s piercing glare forced him into silence.
Damian then turned to Sisle.
Realizing that it was finally her turn to speak, Sisle swallowed hard. Aracila gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze.
Finally, her trembling lips parted.
“The truth is… Sir Pattinson was the lover of someone I cherished like an older sister.”
—
Sisle was an orphan. The only person she could call family was Rose, a girl she had met on the streets—another abandoned soul.
They did everything together, working the same job and living under the same roof. To Sisle, Rose was her entire world.
One day, the Red Falcon Knights arrived in their village near the border.
Their presence stirred both unease and excitement among the townspeople. Many local women were captivated by the sight of the young and vigorous knights—men they rarely got to see.
The knights occasionally visited the establishment where Sisle and Rose worked to drink, but unlike the other women, Sisle paid them no mind.
Most knights were nobles—men far beyond the reach of commoners. Especially women like her, who worked in taverns.
“Sisle, you’re surprisingly indifferent to the knights.”
“It’s pointless to admire something you’ll never have. You should stay out of it too, Rose.”
“Oh, come on, don’t treat me like a child.”
Rose laughed as if Sisle was stating the obvious. Her playful remark, suggesting she knew her place, reassured Sisle.
But at some point, Rose started to change.
She began laughing for no reason, often went out late at night, and frequently hid things whenever Sisle approached.
Sensing something was off, Sisle persistently pressed her until Rose finally confessed—she was in love with a knight.
“Are you insane?! A knight?! Do you really think they see us as people?”
“Don’t say that, Sisle! Joe is different! He truly loves me!”
Rose, seeing Sisle’s outrage, earnestly pleaded with her.
She explained that unlike other knights, Joe didn’t indulge in tavern entertainment and had never even stepped into their establishment.
They had met on a bridge over the river when Rose had nearly slipped and fallen. He had saved her, and from that moment, they had fallen in love, as if it were fate.
She insisted that he was a serious, kind-hearted, and sincere man.
After hearing this for several days, Sisle gradually softened. But she still wasn’t convinced, so she asked to meet him in person.
“Joe said it’s too soon to go public with our relationship…”
“I’m not asking you to announce it to the whole town. Just introduce him to me—just once.”
This time, Sisle was the one who persuaded Rose.
After some hesitation, Rose agreed.
She explained that they usually met in secluded places at dawn to avoid prying eyes.
Then, one night, when Joe secretly visited their backyard at Rose’s request, Sisle pretended to wake up and confronted them.
“Joe, this is my sister, Sisle. We may not be blood-related, but she’s my family.”
“Hello, I’m Sisle. It’s nice to meet you.”
Sisle greeted him politely.
The knight’s face turned visibly red, his expression flustered.
Seeing his distress, Rose quickly reassured him.
“You can trust Sisle. She knows how to keep a secret.”
After several minutes of coaxing, the knight finally opened his mouth.
“…My name is Johnny Pattinson.”
That was the first time Sisle met Johnny Pattinson.
At least Johnny didn’t speak crudely or behave as rough as the other knights, so Sisle had judged him to be not entirely terrible. Because of that, she truly stopped interfering in Rose’s relationship.
Rose was happy with Johnny. Although their love was a secret known only to Sisle, she had no complaints.
Because…
“Joe said he’ll take me to the capital, Sisle. Come with us! We’ll start a new life.”
“Sir Pattinson won’t like it if I tag along.”
“No, he wants a serious relationship with me. It’s a secret, but… he’s even thinking about marriage!”
Johnny always promised Rose a future, so Sisle couldn’t object.
At times, an unexplainable unease would creep up inside her when she looked at Rose. But she never voiced it.
If Johnny Pattinson truly loved Rose despite the difference in their status, Sisle didn’t want to spoil her happiness.
“Once we settle in the capital, I’ll definitely call for you. Sisle, you’re my sister. Let’s start a new life together.”
Rose smiled, her dreams and hopes overflowing. The sparkle in her eyes was as bright as the stars.
But in the end, she never made it to the capital.
“Kyaaa! Rose—!”
One day, she suddenly took her own life.
Sisle found her lifeless body and wailed, clutching her in despair. She sobbed over Rose’s cold form, screaming in agony.
Johnny never attended her funeral. Even though Sisle had sent a letter informing him of Rose’s death, he heartlessly returned it without a word.
After struggling through the funeral alone, Sisle returned home only to find it had been ransacked by thieves—leaving almost nothing of Rose’s belongings behind.
Drowning in grief and despair over losing her only family, she barely made it through each day. She couldn’t even work properly.
Then, when she was evicted from the home she had shared with Rose due to unpaid rent, she found something.
While cleaning up before moving out, Sisle accidentally discovered a diary and a pendant necklace hidden beneath a wooden plank under her bed.
‘Why is this here…?’
At first, she was simply relieved to have found something of Rose’s.
But when she opened the diary—she learned the shocking truth.
—
March 20th.
Joe had a fiancée. Even though he said he loved me… it turns out he was just playing with me.
When I confronted him, unable to hold back my anger and betrayal, he was shameless.
He laughed and mocked me, saying, ‘Who would truly love someone like you?’
It felt like my heart was being ripped apart.
I was a fool—so stupid to believe in you, your words, and your love.
March 25th.
Joe broke up with me today.
He also threatened me, saying that if I told anyone about our relationship, he wouldn’t let me off.
How can someone be so cold after betraying another’s heart?
I told him I couldn’t just accept this.
Maybe to him, I was nothing more than a toy—but I am a person, with feelings and emotions.
I can’t let him be the only one to walk away unscathed.
April 2nd.
Joe gave me a pendant necklace today.
But tragically, he handed it to me while telling me to die.
He said not to tarnish his honor as a knight, not to ruin his future.
I was so devastated I could hardly breathe. The man I once loved now wants me dead…
What should I do?
—
And then, in the early hours of April 3rd, Rose took her own life.
Only then did Sisle finally understand why Rose had killed herself.
Her grief turned to fury.
Johnny Pattinson had toyed with the one person she cherished most—driving her to death.
Sisle wanted revenge.
But as a commoner, there was no easy way to strike back against a noble like Johnny.
Her resentment and rage festered inside her, until one day, she read an article announcing the marriage of Aracila and Damian.
—
“A knight marrying a mage? Does Damian Vandemir have no pride as a knight?”
—
The article criticized Damian for tarnishing his status by marrying a mage.
From this, Sisle learned that associating with magic was considered disgraceful for knights.
That’s when she had an idea.
‘Not just any magic—if I link him to black magic, it’ll ruin him completely.’
Sisle carefully researched black magic and devised a plan to frame Johnny for its use.
She deliberately filed the accusation on the last day Johnny had met Rose—ensuring there would be gaps in his alibi.
‘The honor and future he so desperately wanted to protect, the very things he told my sister to die for—I’ll destroy them all.’
As she left the accusation at the Mage Tower, Sisle made a vow.
Even if it meant suffering divine punishment herself, she would make Johnny Pattinson pay for his crimes.
She would make sure everyone knew what he had done.
—
After finishing her long story, Sisle trembled, lowering her head.
Memories of her desperate struggle to reach the capital, driven solely by vengeance, surged through her, overwhelming her emotions.
Johnny, his fists clenched so tightly his knuckles turned white, darted his eyes around anxiously. He had no way out now.
“Fine. Yes, I had a secret affair with Rose. Yes, my fiancée found out, so I broke up with her. But is that really such a terrible crime?”
“Sir Pattinson! Rose died because of your lies! You practically told her to kill herself!”
Sisle, her eyes burning red with anger, screamed.
How could Johnny be so shameless—even in this situation?
He had ordered Rose to die just to protect his future as a knight.
“I didn’t think she’d actually do it! Suicide is a personal choice, isn’t it? She chose to die on her own, so why am I being blamed for it?”
Johnny shouted back, veins bulging in his neck.
Sisle was stunned.
She had expected—even hoped—that he would at least show some remorse.
She had come here clinging to a useless hope—that the happiness Rose once had with him wasn’t a lie.
That maybe—just maybe—Johnny Pattinson would finally regret what he had done.
But he wasn’t that kind of man.
He never had been.
Even now, all he cared about was his own future, his own life as a knight.
“Commander, how is this my fault? Even if I said something that pushed her toward it, I didn’t personally kill her! How is that a crime?”
Johnny turned to Damian, pleading.
What he feared most was being expelled from the Red Falcon Knights because of this revelation.
“Punish me however you see fit according to the knights’ rules! But don’t throw me away. After all, it’s just the death of some lowly woman—there’s no way something like that should ruin the future of a knight like me—”
“Sisle, let me see that pendant necklace.”
Johnny’s words cut off abruptly.
His head snapped around.
Sisle had taken the pendant out of her pocket and was handing it to Aracila.
“No!”
Johnny lunged forward to snatch it, but Damian swiftly blocked him.
With the sheath of his sword pressed against Johnny’s chest, Damian issued a firm warning.
“Move, and I’ll cut you down. I don’t warn twice.”
“…!”
Johnny knew Damian’s nature well.
He would do it.
Aracila, now holding the pendant, narrowed her eyes and examined it closely.
Under the moonlight, its surface gleamed pale.
But only the front side. The back didn’t reflect any light.
“From the first time I saw this pendant, I had a bad feeling.”
Aracila casually pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the back of the pendant.
Johnny’s face turned deathly pale.
As the layer of paint rubbed away, a small, dark magical symbol was revealed.
Aracila smirked.
“Sir Pattinson. You did use black magic, didn’t you?”
─── ･ ｡ﾟ✧: *. ꕥ .* :✧ﾟ. ───
Follow and support me here ❤️❤️❤️ :
