The World Is Mine For The Taking

My wife passed away before she ever realized what was truly happening to our child.

She died without knowing that I had changed our child's gender—without understanding the truth that had been living under her nose the entire time.

For all she knew until her final breath, Johanne had always been a boy.

She never once knew—never even suspected—that she had been born a girl.

But deep down, I can't help but feel like my wife sensed something. That behind her soft gaze and quiet demeanor, she was waiting for me to speak up.

I could see it in the way she looked at me when Johanne was mentioned.

A patient, almost pleading kind of silence. She knew I was hiding something.

I could feel it every time her eyes lingered, every time her lips pressed together before she chose not to ask. She was waiting. Waiting for me to tell her the truth with my own lips.

But in the end…

I never said a word.

I failed her. In the worst way imaginable.

And yet, even in the devastating storm of losing her, there was a bitter comfort... an ugly, shameful relief.

The burden of revealing the secret? It vanished with her.

I no longer had to carry the weight of that looming confession.

The fear of her reaction, the dread of betrayal—it all died with her.

Over time, that guilt—something that had once gnawed at me day and night—started to fade.

It grew lighter. And eventually, I couldn't feel it anymore.

My daughter… she grew up never even realizing what she truly was.

And then I used her. Coldly. Calculatedly. I used her to forge connections.

I married her off into a family that had ties close to ours.

It was as if I was playing god with her fate—tugging at the strings of her life like she was a doll, not a person.

But again, I didn't feel guilt. Not even a whisper of it.

I brushed it all off like I always do, thinking to myself that this was for the best.

That women didn't have the means to protect themselves in this world.

That by doing this, I was shielding her and giving her a place to belong.

And then… everything changed.

My child turned against me.

Of course, I always knew this day would come. Secrets like that never stay buried forever.

But when the truth was finally laid bare, instead of owning up to it—facing her with honesty—I rejected her.

I turned my back on her and told her she was wrong.

I denied her identity with the same cold detachment I had honed over the years.

It escalated.

She challenged me.

She demanded a duel. A battle for the title of Sword Saint. My legacy. My pride.

And I accepted.

If she won, then maybe… maybe I would've been forced to finally admit that I was wrong. That I had failed her. That she had the right to take my place.

But I didn't lose.

I won.

Still… in the middle of that clash—amid the ringing steel and clashing wills—I saw something I hadn't noticed before.

Determination.

Not just a need to prove herself—but something deeper

Something fierce

. A fire that refused to die out.

A drive that screamed I deserve to exist.

It was that look in her eyes, that unyielding spirit, that shattered something inside me.

I realized I'd been wrong all this time.

That I'd been judging women unfairly—through the lens of my own fear and past grief.

Maybe it was because of all the pain I'd gone through—because I was afraid of losing the last person I had left in this world.

I thought that if I saw her as a woman, she'd be weak.

That I'd have to protect her, and that would make her vulnerable.

But I was wrong.

So painfully, embarrassingly wrong.

There's no gender when it comes to strength.

If a man stood still, he'd fall just as easily as anyone else.

If he trained, he'd grow.

And if a woman trained just as hard—pushed herself just as far—then she could rise even higher than most men.

I had been blind.

Stubborn to the bone.

But now, one thing was clear.

Johanne had grown strong.

Stronger than I ever imagined. And still, there was so much more in her. So much potential waiting to bloom.

With the right training… the right discipline… she could surpass even me.

She could become the most powerful Sword Saint in history.

The power she displayed during our duel? That was a level I only reached in my mid-twenties.

And she… she was still just in her early twenties.

Her development, her raw strength, her instinct... it was leagues above where I was at her age.

All she needed now was proper guidance.

With just the right push… in five years, maybe even less, she would surpass me. And then, she would take the title.

She would become the next Sword Saint.

And for the first time in a long while, I felt proud.

I was genuinely looking forward to seeing her rise.

***

Leon's POV

The whole drama surrounding the Sword Saint—the gender change of his daughter, I mean—it had all started to cool down. At least on the surface.

The storm was calming because the Sword Saint himself had finally come forward.

The article I had written—he said it was true.

He didn't try to twist it and didn't sugarcoat a single detail.

He had changed Johanne's gender. That was a fact.

And unsurprisingly, the church was absolutely losing their minds over it.

Right now, they were foaming at the mouth, screaming about how the title of Sword Saint should go to someone "more worthy," and someone who hadn't "toyed with fate." They were trying to force him to step down as well as to relinquish his legacy.

But the Sword Saint? He just ignored them.

He didn't give them an ounce of his attention.

Honestly, the church was the only group still seriously upset about all this.

Sure, there were others who thought this shouldn't be brushed under the rug. That he deserved some sort of punishment for what he did.

But at the same time, many people seemed to understand—at least partially—the complicated reasons behind his decision.

It looked like Johanne and her father had finally reconciled as well.

Which was honestly a relief.

And from what I could see, the Sword Saint had now dedicated himself to teaching her with the seriousness and respect she deserved.

He seemed to have even come to terms with the fact that Johanne was in a relationship now.

He hadn't been told directly, but I think he could probably guess.

That said, Johanne hadn't actually told him that I was the one she was with.

But in the end… it didn't matter.

I was just happy that the conflict between her and her father seemed resolved at last.

Things were finally looking up.

All's well that ends well, I told myself, letting my thoughts drift for a moment.