NOVEL WEB chapter 39
38 – 038. Maria Theresia (1)
Crackle! Rustle!
A pitch-black night draped over the forest. A single, snow-white figure cut through the trees and undergrowth at a rapid pace.
‘…….’
Rustle! Snap!
The figure, leaving a long afterimage like a comet, didn’t stop.
The main character of the figure, Maria Theresia, found it nearly impossible to suppress her complex feelings.
‘Why?’
A single question filled her head.
No matter how much she thought.
She didn’t know why she had fled the Papal Palace as if running away.
Like a poor slum girl caught stealing, the moment she witnessed a man and a woman whispering, she’d swiftly withdrawn herself.
……Yes. As if running away.
Maria, her face a mix of uneasiness and surprise, slowly slowed her pace. Thanks to having found a small ‘mountain fortress’ on the mountainside.
“Ooh? What’s this. Miss, did you come to play with me? Hehehe!”
Maria’s sudden intrusion. A bandit, momentarily startled while warming himself by a bonfire, licked his lips with his tongue as he spoke.
The bandit was so starved for women he couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen such a beautiful one. The appearance of such a lovely woman before him was certainly a delightful event.
But.
Thud.
“Ugh, uhh…?”
A prickling sensation in his limbs pierced the bandit’s brain.
Slowly, the bandit lowered his gaze, and it was in the very next instant that he saw the gruesome sight.
“Kuaaah!”
Thump!
His torso, its supporting legs and arms gone, fell onto the mountain slope.
What the hell just happened?
This absurd and horrific sensation hadn’t caught up with reality yet. Naturally, the bandit’s mouth unleashed another scream.
Screech-!
“Damn it! John! You having a kid or something? What time is it…?”
Another bandit emerged from a small building inside the camp.
He was rubbing his eyes with a thoroughly distorted expression. He wasn’t properly dressed, it seemed he had been deep asleep until just now.
Thud.
“Huh?”
The bandit, still rubbing his eyes, felt an odd sensation. He’d just stepped into the center of the camp when he also experienced the prickling in his limbs.
Thump!
The bandit’s torso fell onto the dirt ground.
“Uh, uhhh! Uwaaah! Attack, it’s an attack!”
He reacted differently than the previous bandit. The instant he hit the ground, he let out a piercing shriek.
“A, an attack?!”
“Is it the subjugation force!”
A great commotion broke out in the once-quiet camp. They had no idea. That what was attacking the camp was merely a light flick of a single person’s hand.
Thud, thud!
It was a flash of a moment, so fast it was like blinking.
The bandits scrambled out, each with a crude weapon in hand. But the time it took for their limbs to part ways with their torsos was not long.
“Ugh, uwaaah!”
“Kuuuh! S, save me!”
“……”
A woman’s blue eyes fixed on the bandits. Her detached gaze held not a shred of pity.
Like removing mold from old fruit. She simply wore an indifferent expression.
Thwack!
A figure, having severed all limbs of the bandits, vanished into the darkness.
The bandit camp, once filled with screams, fell silent near dawn.
Approximately thirty deaths.
Cause of death: excessive bleeding due to lacerations.
* * *
Britzhardt Grand Ducal Residence.
Early dawn, now breaking. Someone opened the window of a tidy room, entering inside.
Thwack!
“……Haa.”
The person who closed the window was none other than the room’s owner, Maria.
Her face was heavy with an uncharacteristic deep worry. Anyone with even a small acquaintance with her would think something dangerous was about to erupt.
Knock knock!
“……”
As if aware of Maria’s worries, who had just returned to her room.
Just as she finished changing her clothes, a knock suddenly echoed on the room door.
“…Come in.”
Creeeak-!
Maria knew who the source of that knock was. Thanks to the footsteps and the rhythm of their gait detected by her keen senses, their identity was clear.
“My Lady? The night air is chilly. Where were you hurrying off to?”
“Nurse. What brings you here at this hour?”
“Hoho……”
The person who came to see Maria at this late hour was the Grand Duke’s nanny.
She had admirably raised the eldest daughter, Maria, and the second son, Tristan, after the Grand Duchess died in childbirth delivering the second son, and was a family member of the Grand Duke’s that everyone acknowledged.
“As one ages, one naturally becomes sleepless.”
A relaxed smile, full of wrinkles, was directed at Maria.
“……”
Faced with the sudden appearance of her nurse, Maria was at a loss for a reply.
It was always like this, since she was little. That’s how the nanny she knew was.
When young Mariana or her brother Tristan had troubles they couldn’t tell their father, she’d be the first to come and listen.
“Lately, Miss, your outings have become more frequent.”
“…That’s…”
“No, you don’t have to tell me. You are a grown woman, after all. It’s only natural you’d have secrets you can’t tell others.”
*Rustle*.
*Click-clack*, the nanny approached Mariana and gently smoothed her hair.
Her hair, which always reflected sunlight, was severely tangled.
There were even leaves caught in it, showing how quickly and urgently she had returned to the Grand Duchy.
“However.”
*Halt*.
The hand that was caressing Mariana’s hair stopped.
The nanny’s face, as she spoke briefly, was colder than ever. Cold enough that even Mariana, who had grown up under her hand, had never seen before… The nanny spoke softly with a frigid expression.
“Anyone who hurts you, Miss… I will not forgive. Although this old woman has nothing, I will pray for their ruin.”
“…….”
She was really, too perceptive.
Mariana took a deep breath and trudged along.
*Creak*.
And then, she sat on the chair in the center of her room. The nanny, watching her quietly, seemed to have had a good idea, and gently settled her bottom on the chair opposite her.
“Nanny.”
“Yes, Miss?”
“……What kind of person am I?”
It was Mariana’s question, as emotionless and monotone as always.
The nanny didn’t readily answer her question.
Mariana Theresa von Britzhart…
Her moniker, ＜The Sword-Light Assassin＞, was what kind of person she was. An unparalleled sword master, but inwardly, perhaps… a somewhat unfinished person.
“Miss is.”
Mariana waited patiently for the nanny to speak.
“A truly good person.”
“A good… person?”
“And she is a unique person.”
The nanny’s wrinkles spread wide in a gentle smile. Maria waited for her to continue, her mind struggling to fully grasp the words she was hearing.
“My lady, you understood your own problem from a young age. A heart different from ordinary people… or to put it simply, an absolute lack of ‘empathy’. But you solved that problem on your own. Truly commendable.”
*Swoosh.*
The nanny’s wrinkled hand covered the back of Maria’s own.
Maria couldn’t know, couldn’t understand… was this how a mother’s love felt?
The wise grand-aunt of the ducal family seemed to have already noticed Maria’s worries.
“If you’re comfortable, please tell me. Why my lady has such a sad face, and why you’ve been going out so much lately. I’m curious.”
“…Recently.”
After a long deliberation, Maria began to reveal her worries in a small voice.
The end of the war.
The day she met someone at the victory parade immediately after.
And watching him from afar.
When he was in trouble, secretly helping him within the bounds of her ability.
Finally…
The day she saw him and his friend whispering in hushed tones in the darkened flower garden.
“…Ho.”
The nanny’s eyes widened as she listened to her voice in silence.
“Ho, ho ho!”
Following that, the nanny broke into a laugh that seemed to stem from a deep shock. It was obvious that she could hardly believe the situation.
“Ah…! How moving is this!”
“…?”
Maria stared intently at the nanny’s exaggerated gestures.
She couldn’t understand why the nanny was reacting like that. She had only shown the attitude of a senior, so what was so touching about it?
“My lady.”
*Click*, The nanny’s smile vanished, her gaze shifting towards Maria. The unfamiliar, eerie glint in her eyes made Maria’s lips press together in a tight line.
“Do you know what people in the world call that feeling?”
“……”
Maria found it difficult to speak.
Maria Theresa was strong.
Maria Theresa is sharp.
Maria Theresa’s blade knows no mercy.
And.
Maria Theresa has zero empathy.
She doesn’t feel pity watching a hurting animal, or a sick person.
That was the demon in Maria.
As a child, she knew she was strange.
When her sick mother passed, she didn’t shed a single tear. She knew she should be sad. She knew that was normal.
But… her frozen heart wouldn’t allow it. Even Maria’s moniker, ＜Light-Sword Slaughtering Star＞, was a reflection of her ruthlessly cruel nature towards enemies.
“Affection. That’s what the world calls it.”
“……!!!”
Her nanny’s low voice echoed in Maria’s ears like thunder.
‘Affection?’
Could she be someone who felt such an emotion?
She couldn’t understand it. It was a foreign, awkward sound to her emotionally barren soul.
Affection, affection? That she was in a one-sided love? No matter how she considered it, it seemed like nonsense.
“Ask yourself, my lady.”
“……?”
Her nanny’s next words were aimed at Maria.
Her expressionless gaze turned back to her nanny.
“The gifts you gave him, were they truly out of care for a junior? Did you, Lady Maria, have such experience? Perhaps… wasn’t there even a hint of a desire to gain favor with the gifts?”
Her nanny’s gentle voice echoed in Maria’s ears like thunder.
‘Really, was it…?’
Maria’s mind grew complicated.
And into that confused mind, the nanny poured a full bucket of oil.
“Considering your nature, my lady, you must want to confirm it right now, wouldn’t you? To confirm if your feelings are real, wouldn’t you?”
“…….”
“This old woman knows a very good way to confirm.”
“…what, is that?”
With a soft smile, the nanny offered a helpful tip.
“Try physical contact with him. Even simply holding hands is fine. And if…”
*gulp*
The sound of someone swallowing hard echoed in the room.
“If you feel a tingling, like your heart is vibrating… that means what I’m saying is true.”
*THOOM—!*
Thunder and lightning crashed through Maria’s mind.
“Tingling….”
Right now, she had to go see him. No, she *must* go see him.
Nothing else crossed her mind.