I Thought Your Friend's Sibling Wasn't a Girl? - Chapter 67

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 67
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The power of the Demon King, and those who pursued it—to Olivia, it was no different from a nightmare.
The Guardian House carried obligations. The greatest of them was naturally the protection of the Guardian Stone—the source of immense power.
And there would always be those who coveted such power. It was a conflict that had persisted since Olivia’s earliest childhood.
“As a member of the Guardian House yourself, you must have seen the Guardian Stone before.”
“……Yes. When I was very young.”
“Originally, the Ability of Dominion should have been sealed completely as well, but something went wrong during the final sealing process. The Demon King died before it could be completed.”
It was a story she had never heard before. Not in any textbook, not anywhere—a completely unfamiliar account. Yet there was something that made her certain it wasn’t a lie.
“The Guardian Stone was left incomplete and shattered, and its fragments scattered far and wide.”
What Yugin’s account was saying was clear: those scattered fragments had become a problem.
It was also the reason Demon Beasts and the Demon Race had managed to survive on this land even after the Demon King’s death.
“After the Anti-Demon War, everyone thought it was over. That’s why they believed the Demon King’s final ability had also ceased to exist—and truthfully, everyone wanted to believe that.”
It was shocking. Olivia listened to Yugin with wide eyes.
But paradoxically, now she understood. To orchestrate something of that scale, one would need power almost equal to an Ability itself—perhaps even greater.
After that war, the Demon King’s power had faded rapidly. Residual Demon Energy remained, they said, but it too was diminishing, and the number of monsters had plummeted.
So they believed it was gone. That’s what they’d wanted to believe. Because none of them wanted to accept that this wasn’t an end—it was a ceasefire.
“Everyone thought the same. That all the fragments they couldn’t recover had simply dissolved on their own. How naïve that thinking was.”
Yugin spoke with a bitter laugh.
‘Ah, so that’s why.’
She remembered the incident where a knight of the Lux Knight Brigade had picked a senseless fight with her. At the time, she couldn’t understand what he was talking about, but now she had some inkling.
“His Majesty didn’t want this affair stirred up, did he?”
“That’s right.”
“So he fell out of favor, and all support—everything—was cut off.”
“You’ve already figured it out? Dear me. How embarrassing.”
Such talk of face.
Olivia suppressed an unusually rough expression and smiled despite herself.
So the conclusion was simple, wasn’t it?
This brigade was one that had gone around stirring up the very “worst-case scenario” no one wanted to consider—and they’d done so systematically.
Of course they’d earned resentment. But Olivia still couldn’t quite make sense of something.
In the end, wasn’t the Lux Knight Brigade right? Demon Beasts had appeared at Veritas Academy’s field training exercise, and people wielding what seemed to be the Ability of Dominion had emerged.
And Olivia was convinced—without a doubt—that they were moving in an organized manner.
“But this can’t be ignored anymore, can it?”
“No, it can’t.”
“I’ve been wanting to ask the Commander about something anyway.”
Yugin clasped his hands together and leaned slightly forward toward Olivia, as if preparing to listen intently.
“You’ve always needed me, Commander.”
“I have.”
“Even when no one else believed in me. Not a soul.”
Yugin didn’t answer; instead, he laughed. The man’s face, set against the darkening landscape of the setting sun, wore a strange, subtle smile.
Olivia met his gaze without flinching and slowly opened her mouth.
“Was it perhaps because I’m from the Kishir House?”
What the Lux Knight Brigade was pursuing was clear. And despite Aiden’s fierce opposition, Yugin had shown Olivia and her friends exactly what the brigade was doing.
Because of that, Olivia had been able to understand what the Lux Knight Brigade did, what they were striving toward.
Had Yugin shown this side of things to every intern, the brigade wouldn’t be dismissed as they were now.
No matter how strict the confidentiality oath, rumors had a way of spreading one way or another.
This was special treatment. Olivia knew that much.
At her question, Yugin slowly straightened, and his lips curved into a gentle smile that parted slowly.
“As if.”
“Then what is it?”
“If I had to name one reason……it was because I wanted to watch you grow.”
Yugin’s answer was resolute. At those words, Olivia found herself unable to continue what she’d been about to say.
The warm certainty in his eyes, that absurd answer—that he’d believed in her simply because he wanted to watch her—took root in her heart in a way she couldn’t explain.
Yugin gazed at Olivia quietly, his manner careful, as if gauging her reaction.
And the moment he saw a flicker of confusion cross her face, he laughed and smoothly changed the subject.
“To be perfectly honest, though, that’s not the whole story.”
“Commander.”
Yugin shrugged as he spoke.
“I’ve always hoped you’d come to the Lux Knight Brigade. At first, it was simple—I was drawn to your talent. That’s why I wanted to watch you. I was curious how far you could grow.”
“So that changed after, is what you’re saying.”
“Yes. Sir Aiden, who was stationed away from here, sent me constant intelligence. My thoughts changed little by little because of what I learned.”
Something subtle flickered in Yugin’s eyes as he looked at Olivia. She tilted her head, unable to quite understand the emotion in that gaze. At that, Yugin let out a short laugh and shook his head.
“Of course, I didn’t mention it because I was afraid you’d find it burdensome.”
“Tell me what you hope for. That’s why I came.”
“Are you certain you’d choose this place, even knowing everything?”
“Yes. I will never leave.”
She had seen too much. And if the organization entangled in this affair truly possessed the Ability of Dominion and meant to threaten their peace……
Olivia could not turn her back and run away.
Yugin nodded at the fierce determination in her eyes, as if to say he believed her.
“Then awaken your Ability.”
“……What?”
It was certainly not what Olivia had expected to hear.
* * *
Olivia spent the entire day in a daze. She had received an offer she had never once contemplated.
Awaken the Ability of Seduction? Me?
It was a realm she had never once imagined stepping into.
It was mostly the male members of her family who had awakened their Abilities. Her father, her grandfather—both had.
And hadn’t Cesare already awakened the Ability of Seduction not long ago?
So what? He wanted her to awaken her talents?
“Wasn’t it our House’s power that you needed?”
“Your House’s power? The Ability of Seduction?”
“No, I mean……help from my father or Cesare, perhaps.”
“If I’d needed that, I would have sought them out directly, wouldn’t I?”
Having completed her first mission, Olivia was now certain. Ah, the Commander needs the power of the Guardian House itself.
She’d even wondered if he’d taken her on specifically to borrow her family’s strength later.
If that had been true, she would have felt some disappointment—more than some, actually.
But it wasn’t. So when Olivia stood frozen in surprise, Yugin spoke to her with exasperation.
“What misunderstanding have you been laboring under?”
“Well, I thought……because of my House……”
“I told you repeatedly that you have talent. Have you forgotten all of that already?”
“I apologize.”
“Even if this matter hadn’t come up, I would have wanted you. Your talent is that brilliant.”
And so Olivia received years’ worth of compliments in a single day. Yugin made sure she would never forget it by sitting her down and delivering nearly an hour of praise disguised as scolding.
Is this what it feels like to be trapped in a compliment prison? She felt a little dizzy.
“Olivia, is something wrong?”
“Hmm? Oh, it’s nothing. I just have some things to think about.”
That day, Yugin laid many things bare. Why he needed Olivia, what exactly he saw in her.
“If there is a single power that can stand against the Ability of Dominion, I believe it would be the Ability of Seduction.”
“I feel like only you would think such a thing, Commander.”
“Probably. The Commanders of the Lux Knight Brigade have always been the sort to think and act three steps ahead of everyone else.”
“……And that’s how they end up ruined, as they say.”
Yet Yugin was certain. That the “unpleasant” Ability to compel and control others would someday become a force capable of standing against the Ability of Dominion.
Some might argue it was too heavy a burden to place on a mere intern.
Aiden, had he witnessed this moment, would have thrown a fit. But Olivia felt her heart race for reasons she couldn’t quite explain.
“Even if that were true……I don’t know how to awaken an Ability at all. And my father wouldn’t teach me.”
“No. You already know how.”
“Me? How could I?”
“Think carefully. Don’t get caught up in the name of the Ability. If you consider its true nature, the answer will come to you.”
Yugin was certain that Olivia had already awakened that power, and that she possessed qualities superior to anyone else.
It was truly strange and remarkable.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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