“Ha…!”

Siegfried, who clicked his tongue at the sight of Helena rushing at him as if to kill him, tried to draw his sword, but noticing Sylvia’s eyes watching him, he stretched out his foot.

It was a reckless act to kick a sword, but he didn’t care at all.

He didn’t think a mere student-level sword could cut his body.

“…Stop!!”

His outstretched foot stopped at Sylvia’s shout. Her body blocked the path between Helena and Siegfried.

“Move, Sylvia.”

Even though Helena noticed she was in danger, she told Sylvia to move instead.

It was her will. However, Sylvia didn’t move because she knew that Helena could get seriously hurt at this rate.

Helena was in a state of anger and couldn’t judge the situation at all. Since Felix was injured, she couldn’t make a rational judgment.

“No… please stop.”

At Sylvia’s dissuasion, Helena stared at her intently with sunken eyes and shook her head.

“That guy will definitely try to kill Felix. We have to get rid of him now.”

It wasn’t a matter of whether she could or couldn’t do it.

The reason why or for what purpose wasn’t important either.

Helena simply had a hunch. Siegfried came here to kill Felix, and for some reason, he would definitely make it happen.

“…But.”

Sylvia also had a hunch.

If she couldn’t stop Helena here, she would definitely die.

The gap between Siegfried and Helena was evident even to her, a non-combatant. If they fought seriously, Helena would lose her life.

That’s why Sylvia hesitated. Helena tried to push past her and move forward.

“You’re annoying me.”

Siegfried’s foot, which passed Sylvia in an instant, struck Helena’s abdomen.

“Ugh…!”

“Stop it!!”

As Sylvia blocked Helena, who was sent flying by the kick, Siegfried sighed deeply.

He had no intention of playing along with this childish game forever.

“Sylvia, you will definitely become the Saintess. Because it will give you greater honor and glory than anything else.”

“I don’t need such things.”

Sylvia confirmed with a sideways glance that Helena was groaning on the floor, bit her lower lip, and glared at Siegfried.

“No, that’s how it will be. A high-ranking person in the Empire has already begun the process of making it so.”

“… Don’t tell me you–”

“From the beginning, your opinion was not important.”

Madness swirled in Siegfried’s eyes. With a subtle smile, he took a step closer to Sylvia.

No, to be precise, to Helena.

Siegfried, who placed his hand on the sword’s hilt, continued his words while exhaling deeply.

“You will become the Saintess. Everyone will know you as one. And that woman will have to die.”

“…Why?”

“Well, because we can’t have any witnesses to our grand plan. So they will be killed and eliminated.”

She never thought someone called a Hero would do such a thing.

If there are witnesses, they can be killed and eliminated? Can a sword meant to protect people so easily cut down people?

Sylvia was appalled and overcome with fear, but she didn’t back down. If she stepped back, Siegfried would definitely cut down Helena.

Step.

One step.

Siegfried, who got even closer, slowly drew his sword from its scabbard. The light of the Holy Sword felt even more terrifying today.

That’s when it happened.

“Put your sword down.”

“…?!”

Before Siegfried could react, Felix, who had appeared at some point, looked at him with cold eyes.

Siegfried, who had hurriedly tried to draw his sword, was taken aback. It was because Felix was pressing down on the sword’s hilt with his hand.

“If you draw that, you’ll really die.”

Felix warned in a low, growling voice.

“Of course–”

At the same time, he stretched out his leg. Siegfried, unable to react to the sudden situation, was struck in the side by Felix’s flying kick.

With a loud thud, Siegfried staggered back.

“–Even if you don’t draw it, you’ll die.”

Felix deeply exhaled and continued.

“Just die.”

***

A thought suddenly occurred to me.

How would the story change if Siegfried had already contacted Jeffrey or met him before Sylvia?

To think about that, we first need to consider why Siegfried is obsessed with Sylvia.

As mentioned earlier, Siegfried lost his entire village to a monster attack when he was young.

His mother, father, siblings, neighbors… and even his childhood friend whom he loved.

Since he was young, he couldn’t clearly understand the feeling of love, but she was the most precious to him, next to his family.

Siegfried, who lost everything along with that girl, obtains the Holy Sword and leaves the village with the people of the Sun Church.

In that process, he meets a woman called the ‘Saintess.’

She became Siegfried’s next family.

She had golden hair and blue eyes adorning a beautiful face. But most importantly, she pitied Siegfried, who had lost his family.

She thought of him as her younger brother and cherished him greatly.

But he lost her as well. Siegfried completely lost the meaning of life, abandoning even his duty as a Hero.

What gave him the meaning of life again was a girl who looked exactly like her, whom he discovered while following the Sun Church.

Upon seeing that child who resembled her in both appearance and personality, Siegfried thought.

He should make that girl the Saintess. At the same time, he should keep her by his side this time so as not to lose her.

That girl was Sylvia, and Siegfried’s excessive obsession with her stemmed from that story.

He, who developed a twisted obsession by projecting someone else onto Sylvia, used all sorts of methods to try to make her the Saintess.

If the original story continued, Siegfried would see Sylvia’s abilities and work to win her over after enrolling in the academy.

In the process, he would genuinely fall for her, think that he should protect her, and at the same time, awaken as a true Hero.

But what if Siegfried had met Jeffrey first?

If Jeffrey had felt something after seeing Leonhardt being exiled and hastened his plan.

And if he learned of Siegfried’s ambition, there was no way he wouldn’t use it as leverage.

With that thought, I set out to find Siegfried and couldn’t help but witness it by chance.

Helena rushing at him, and Siegfried trying to draw his sword to kill her.

At the same time, my mind turned blank.

The moment I saw that, I became furious. No thoughts even came to mind.

As if the string of reason had snapped, by the time I came to my senses, I was already charging at Siegfried.

Exhaling deeply, I kicked him just as he did Helena and turned my gaze back to look at her.

“…”

At a glance, her condition didn’t look very good. That was understandable since the gap between Helena and Siegfried was beyond imagination.

I bit my lower lip and said to Sylvia.

“Take care of Helena.”

“Uh… okay…!”

There could have been a better way.

What I was about to do and what Helena was trying to do.

Helena must have been furious that Siegfried hurt me. It must be because she noticed that Siegfried really intended to kill me.

The reason Siegfried tried to kill me would be at Jeffrey’s request.

Jeffrey must have realized that I was close to Ashillya and that killing me would break her mind to some degree.

Helena, sensing Siegfried’s murderous intent, must have gone crazy and tried to kill him. It was because Siegfried had touched the person she loved.

Me.

I am Felix, but at the same time, I am not Felix.

I keep drawing this line in my mind because the current me and the original Felix are different beings.

Even if his memories have mixed with my memories now, blurring that boundary, from Helena’s perspective, she would only remember the now-gone Felix.

Nevertheless.

Even though I knew in my head that I should tell Helena the truth, I couldn’t do it.

Because I was afraid.

Afraid of telling Helena the truth and being hated.

Afraid that my relationship with her would become distant.

And at the same time, I realized.

This is not Felix’s emotion. No, it was Felix’s emotion, and at the same time, it was mine.

His emotions were my emotions, and that’s why, at this very moment,

“No matter what you do, you’ll die by my hand.”

I made up my mind to kill Siegfried.