Rosha had experienced a similar innate ability in the previous world.

‘It’s akin to clairvoyance.’

The ability to perceive distant places while seated.

This was also the ability possessed by her former colleague, ‘The White Falcon.’ He was a sniper and extremely talkative, unable to endure the tedious waiting times in silence when targeting.

Naturally, his ability was one of his main talking points.

-Tsk, did that guild guy notice me peeking? I think our eyes just met.

-How could they notice your clairvoyance? Are they that skilled?

-Ah, you’re right. I need to train my ability more.

Highly visual abilities like ‘clairvoyance’ became comparatively easier to detect when on high alert. Especially for Rosha, who had worked alongside snipers with such abilities for a long time.

Swish-

She could sense the user’s consciousness contained within the ability’s gaze.

Judging by how it seemed oblivious to her having noticed, trailing it might even reveal its location.

However, there was one problem.

“Ungh…”

The maid approaching with a dagger in hand.

Since the maid was under ‘suggestion’, Rosha didn’t want to take her life, but temporarily shifting her focus from the ability’s aura was necessary to subdue her unharmed.

After all, it was always harder to control one’s strength to incapacitate rather than kill.

‘What should I do about this?’

It was at that very moment, as she pondered-

“Yaaah!”

Berri’s resounding shout suddenly rang out, accompanied by a loud thud.

Remarkably, Berri had assessed the situation, stealthily entered the room, and courageously tackled the maid to the ground.

She even struck the maid’s dagger-wielding hand with the tray she had brought.

“Argh!”

Hit on the wrist, the maid dropped the dagger and, by chance, stumbled backwards into a small side table nearby.

This caused a vase on the table to wobble and eventually shatter with a sharp crack.

Crash!

“…Umm.”

She didn’t want to cause such a commotion.

But thanks to Berri’s intervention, she had a chance to track the ability’s aura.

Watching the gaze rapidly dissipate as if its task was done, Rosha widely dispersed her magic power.

Magicians who had reached the 5th stage could detect movements within a range of several kilometers, depending on their mana manipulation.

Extending her radius to the maximum, she pursued the retreating consciousness.

Leaving the mansion, it cut straight through the air, heading towards…

“…The imperial palace.”

That was as far as her mana could track it.

After briefly watching its traces gradually disappear into the palace grounds, Rosha’s consciousness abruptly snapped back to her location, as if yanked.

Surprisingly, she found herself surrounded by quite a few people in the short span.

“Hey, are you alright?”

“…Brother?”

Reaching out towards Cassis’s voice beside her, she felt his firm shoulder.

Someone softly gasped at her action.

She realized her mistake, but it was too late.

Soon, the sound of someone carefully crouching before her reached her ears, followed by a cautious voice.

“Miss… can you perhaps not see?”

It was Marian’s voice.

Simultaneously, she sensed numerous gazes upon her.

The scent of sweat and dust suggested the knights training in the courtyard had all rushed over due to the commotion.

Hmm… this could be troublesome…

“That’s…”

As Rosha trailed off, someone with a familiar gait entered the room.

Seeing the many people present, he stopped in the doorway.

“Hah.”

It was Cedric.

His soft sigh at surveying the room reached her ears.

Hmm… it seemed his plan to conceal her loss of sight had gloriously crumbled.

* * *

After a momentary sigh, Cedric swiftly took stock of the situation.

“Sir Medric. Confine that maid in a windowless room so she can’t escape. I’ll personally interrogate her later.”

“Yes, sir!”

First, the maid subdued by Berri was locked in a small room.

“Miss… can you truly not see?”

“Does this mean you can’t train with us anymore?”

He mercilessly dismissed the knights who were tearing up at Rosha’s gaunt appearance and blindness.

However, he couldn’t bring himself to send away Marian, whose imposing presence exuded a terrifying aura like a well-honed blade.

She coolly spoke up.

“Count, I respected your opinion of forbidding visits to Rosha for the past few days, as she needed rest. I also believed you when you said she hadn’t regained consciousness.”

“…”

“But now that I’m aware of the situation, you must explain why you didn’t inform me of my disciple’s condition.”

“…Huuh.”

Cedric let out a long sigh.

Although born a noble and having served as the Imperial Knights’ commander, Marian was only staying at the Aper estate due to her connection with Cassis and wasn’t under his command.

Hence, he had to provide her with some explanation.

“The council’s actions have been unsettling. After the unexpected situation at the last nobles’ council, there has been internal reflection that they were excessively swayed. It’s even more so since the second trial ended without major incident.”

“Hmm.”

“The moment Rosha woke up and recovered, a council summons was already scheduled. If her loss of sight were to be revealed amidst all this, it would only further embolden them. It’s better to externally claim she hasn’t woken up yet.”

“…”

“I apologize to Lady Marian, but if it could have been concealed, I would have kept it hidden.”

Marian remained silent, seemingly in agreement. Having served in the imperial court, she likely grasped the overall situation.

Meanwhile, Cedric approached Rosha with a shameful expression.

“I’m sorry for only telling you now, Rosha. I judged that knowing the circumstances wouldn’t be good for your recovery, so I tried to resolve it without you finding out.”

“…”

“Things have turned out like this, but I’ll try my best to manage the situation. Still, the news will eventually leak out. And that maid…”

Cedric seemed to have roughly realized the strange state of the maid who had attacked Rosha.

Well, she kept crying and apologizing profusely as she was being taken away.

‘He probably thinks interrogating her won’t yield anything useful.’

Rosha thought so too.

Although they would have to go through the procedure of interrogating her.

“Hah…”

He sighed again, likely racking his brain over the situation, judging by his frequent sighs.

For some reason, Cedric’s presence felt unusually diminished today.

He had always firmly embraced Cassis and Rosha in his broad arms, in place of their departed parents.

‘If I could see him now, he would seem smaller than usual.’

She didn’t want to see Cedric troubled by such trivial matters.

Although the situation appeared complicated due to the various forces involved, the essence was simple.

Someone was targeting her.

Having realized this, Rosha broke the prolonged silence.

“Brother. Someone peeked into my room and left.”

“Who? That maid?”

“No. I mean they peeked in using an ability.”

She didn’t explicitly mention that the gaze had headed towards the imperial palace, but he would likely understand the implication.

That this incident was a clear act of malice by someone unknown.

“…Who is the bastard?”

Cassis, who had been silently listening with a seething expression, blurted out those words. He seemed ready to rush over and raise hell if only given a location.

‘But that would be unwise.’

The council, other nobles, and those who had looked down on her would undoubtedly make a loud fuss.

A major move was needed to overcome this situation.

And the viable option in these circumstances was…

After contemplating intently, Rosha soon spoke up.

“…How about we just spread a rumor? That I lost my sight due to a major injury from the second trial.”

“Do you have a good solution in mind?”

“Yes.”

She smiled faintly and said,

“A decent idea just occurred to me.”

* * *

The next morning, a rumor swept through the capital that Roshanak Aper, the hero of the first trial, had gone blind due to the second trial.

It spread at a suspiciously rapid pace.