Tiana Pilrn's eyes went wide enough to pop out of her head.
A sharp gasp escaped from the students who had been hiding.
The empire's foremost blade. A master among masters.
The Sword Saint, Sharlot Ayende.
That title alone was sufficient.
The students who had been on the verge of wetting themselves finally breathed out in relief.
"Phew……."
"We're alive……."
The Sword Saint being here meant this space was an absolute sanctuary.
Sharlot turned to Ofilienne with a gentle smile.
"Miss Moretti. Are you unharmed?"
"A potion."
Ofilienne thrust her hand out before any greeting could be exchanged.
"Pardon?"
"If you have any medicine on you, please lend it to me. My brother is in a very bad way."
Her lips trembled in a barely-contained spasm.
She couldn't have cared less whether the old woman before her was an imperial hero or anything else.
What did dignity matter when her brother was suffering right in front of her?
The Sword Saint blinked at the sight of Ofilienne — frantic to the point of desperation.
The Ofilienne she knew had seemed like a woman without a drop of blood or tears in her.
*She's not usually this emotional.*
Sharlot wordlessly reached into her coat and produced a potion, handing it over.
A top-grade vial worth tens of millions of hoga apiece.
Something with immediate, guaranteed effect.
Well — to the Moretti family, that sum was pocket change, so there was nothing to regret.
Ofilienne snatched the potion and pulled Matyos from Tiana's arms in a motion that was almost forcible.
"Give him here."
"Oh… yes."
Tiana, caught off guard, handed Matyos over and stepped back.
The Sword Saint Sharlot studied the brother who had reduced Ofilienne to such agitation.
*He's small.*
A boy — no, a child — who looked fragile and gentle at a glance.
Not a trace of the arrogant, polished air characteristic of the Moretti family.
*Still, he's badly hurt.*
The way his chest had caved in — it wasn't just broken ribs. Something vital had almost certainly been pierced.
He must have been in agonizing pain, yet he'd held on to life, mercifully, through the grace of divine arts.
"Mother."
From behind the Sword Saint, a girl with white hair and clear violet eyes called to her softly.
"It's all right, Yuri. There are no more enemies."
Only then did the girl sheathe the sword she had drawn — a clean ring of steel — and cradle it carefully against her chest.
"Mati. It's medicine. Open your mouth slowly for me."
Ofilienne cradled her brother's head with one arm and, in a tone that was almost pleading, tipped the potion between his lips.
The effect was immediate. The deathly pallor that had drained his face flushed back to living color in moments.
"Thank goodness…."
Ofilienne breathed out and murmured.
*
The attack was over.
A handful of casualties at most. Fortunately, no deaths. The damage was not severe.
Partly because of who had been aboard the train — but the students' efforts had been remarkable as well.
Ofilienne had eliminated Leopold, the lion-beastkin officer of the Black Covenant.
Hispanya's Huana had incinerated the attackers.
The entire passenger car had burned to ash as a result, but Huana shrugged it off as unavoidable.
"We will make a brief stop in the city."
The train pulled into an intermediate city for repairs and resupply.
The damaged cars were mended, the wounded were treated, and additional forces were loaded aboard.
And furthermore.
"It was the Black Covenant."
According to the investigation conducted by the royal guard.
The attackers were the Black Covenant.
An evil organization bent on seizing control of the world.
Their enmity with it stretched back a very long time.
Nothing surprising about that.
Command assessed it as a probe — the enemy simply taking a jab to see what would happen. A guerrilla strike where success would have been a windfall and failure merely a disappointment.
For reference, command was composed of the senior figures aboard the train: the train conductor, the Sword Saint, the Crown Prince, Ofilienne, and Huana.
After a brief meeting, Ofilienne returned to her cabin.
Matyos was asleep in Ofilienne's bed.
He had swallowed the potion and collapsed into unconsciousness, and had not yet woken.
Drrrk.
Ofilienne drew a chair toward her with telekinesis and sat down at his bedside.
She crossed her legs and gazed down at him in silence.
……No, this isn't right.
She uncrossed her legs and pulled the chair closer.
……Still too far.
In the end, Ofilienne rose from the chair and dropped onto the edge of the bed.
Looking down at Matyos's face from this close, a quiet satisfaction finally settled over her.
He wouldn't wake easily under normal circumstances.
…Under *normal* circumstances, that is.
"…."
Her fingers trembled faintly as they moved toward her brother's cheek.
The moment they touched his skin, warmth seeped through her fingertips.
*Soft.*
She pressed down.
Ofilienne put gentle pressure on his cheek, sinking her fingers into the give of it.
The springy, yielding texture of freshly baked bread.
*…It's been a while. This feeling.*
She used to do this all the time, back then.
Matyos's cheeks. Absolutely irresistible.
Softer than any doll — she'd kept him tucked against her constantly. Held him while she slept, set him on her lap while she read.
She couldn't do that anymore.
She lifted her fingers and swept the hair that had fallen across his forehead aside.
Stroke, stroke.
Savoring the silk-like texture, her fingers traced past his temple, down the clean line of his nose, and came to rest at his firmly closed lips.
She pressed her index finger lightly against his lower lip. His white teeth peeked through as his lips parted slightly.
Huu, huu.
Mati's breath dampened her knuckles one by one.
Ofilienne quietly traced those lips in a slow, circular motion.
He wouldn't wake from this.
She stayed like that for a while.
But still….
*Annoying.*
Tiana Pilrn, was it?
The image flickered through her mind — that girl, barely acquainted with him, pulling her brother into an embrace as though they were old friends.
After the attack, she had looked into her background.
A nobody from the central empire, somewhere in the hill country, who'd spent her days tending sheep. No noble lineage, no particular abilities to speak of. Enrolled this term in the theology faculty. Everything about her was ordinary.
If there was anything that set her apart….
"…."
Ofilienne lowered her gaze.
Not small.
Above average.
Genuinely. And the fact that they weren't *too* large meant they held their shape beautifully.
But compared to her own….
*…No.*
She shook her head.
*That woman is the anomaly. That's practically livestock.*
An irritation she couldn't quite explain rose in her.
Matyos was her brother.
Her one and only precious brother.
*What gives her the right to call my brother by his name so casually.*
She didn't like it.
Ofilienne's fine upper lip curled.
The thought of him having been held in another woman's arms grated on her.
The more she turned it over, the hotter it burned.
*He's mine.*
The vague unease that had been stirring in Ofilienne's chest had, without her noticing, taken shape — a vast and solid jealousy.
Under ordinary circumstances, she would have pressed it down with reason.
But the image of Matyos cradled in that country girl's arms refused to leave her retinas.
*Mine.*
She leaned forward.
Ofilienne brought her face close to Matyos's.
Her lips were just about to meet that smooth forehead —
Knock, knock.
Someone knocked at the door.
Ofilienne's shoulders visibly stiffened.
She moved only her eyes, fixing them on the closed door.
Who is it.
"Um… is anyone there? I was told this was Mati's room…."
That voice from beyond the door — clear to the point of being almost simple-minded.
Ofilienne's fingers closed around the bedsheet. She stood.
Stride, stride.
She seized the door handle hard enough to break it and threw the door open.
Clack!
Standing before her was the very face that had been grating on her nerves — Tiana Pilrn.
Behind her stood Taibeon Pilrn. Tiana Pilrn's younger brother, apparently.
"Oh, um… hello!"
Tiana smiled at her — bright and open as a flower blooming — as though Ofilienne's murderous air didn't register at all.
That smile was so transparent that Ofilienne's brow furrowed as though she'd glimpsed something unclean.
*What on earth is there to smile about.*
Ofilienne leaned against the wall.
Her gaze didn't settle on Tiana's face — it settled on that irritating chest, which swelled with every breath she took.
"We've seen each other before, but this is our first proper introduction. I'm Tiana Pilrn…!"
"T-Taibeon Pilrn."
Taibeon caught sight of Ofilienne and flushed scarlet, averting his eyes.
*…She's beautiful.*
For a guileless country boy, the elegance of a noble lady was lethal.
Hair like moonlight drawn down from the sky. Proud, finely sculpted features.
"Ofilienne Binna Moretti."
"Ah, so you really are Mati's older sister! I thought you looked alike. Hehe…."
Tiana laughed — the laugh of someone who had never been touched by anything dirty.
Ofilienne knew well enough how to make people like her, which was precisely why she could tell that Tiana was genuinely pure.
That wasn't an act.
"I thought the two of you resembled each other."
"Is that so?"
"Yes! Um, but how is Matyos right now? Is he all right? He was in so much pain earlier…."
Tiana tilted her head and tried to peer into the room.
Ofilienne shifted in response, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall. Tiana's line of sight was blocked.
"He's fine. But my brother needs to rest right now. I'm sorry — could you go?"
Tiana blinked, looking caught off guard.
Ofilienne stood propped against the doorframe and swept her gaze over Tiana from the tips of her feet to the last strand of her hair, as though appraising livestock.
"Ah… I suppose there's nothing to be done, then."
Just as Tiana began to turn away —
"…Tiana-noona?"
A voice came from behind Ofilienne.
Her eyes went wide as lanterns.
"Mati! You're awake."
Tiana looked past Ofilienne.
Matyos was rubbing his eyes and pushing himself upright.