As several more sparring matches took place and conversations continued, Violet thought about Cairn.

To be precise, she couldn’t get Cairn’s expression out of her mind.

Even while Violet was distracted, the sparring matches continued diligently.

The final winner was Aldin.

The iron-blooded old knight, who had been silently observing the results, picked up a sword himself. Although their future was promising, he deemed it necessary to teach the still inexperienced geniuses.

Though she could have left, Violet deliberately stayed to watch them.

It was at this moment she fully realized why Roen had slipped away. Feeling a sudden surge of irritation, she let out a deep sigh.

The margrave’s ploy to make the imperial knight and the third son of Everett the guardians of the borders was obvious, but it was not Violet’s concern.

In the end, after Cairn was quite practically given a beating by the margrave, he gritted his teeth and stared at the ground…

At that moment—

“Let’s talk, you idiot.”

Violet couldn’t hold back and finally spoke.

* * *

“Talk about what? If it’s not something urgent right now…”

“Are you out of your mind?”

“What? Do I have to listen to that just because I lost a sparring match?”

“Do you think I called you here to talk about your loss in the match? Fine. You must be feeling all sorts of complicated emotions. But why? What are you suffering from?”

“……”

“I know that you’ve been avoiding me for a while now. I was the one who told you to get lost in the first place.”

The more Violet spoke, the more Cairn’s expression crumpled. Calling someone out just to say such incomprehensible things.

Gritting his teeth and looking at the ground, Cairn shouted.

“Yeah! I’ve been staying out of your way like you wanted! So what else do you want from me?!”

“You might as well have gone back to the academy.”

“……!”

“Or you could have chosen to leave the capital and return to the estate. Yet you insisted on staying here. You came up with nothing but a sword, so you could have just gone back down.”

“……”

“Why are you still here, just watching everything? It’s like you’re staging a protest.”

“I’m not staging a protest.”

Cairn’s expression looked like he was about to cry at her criticism. However, Violet’s face remained unmoved as she looked down at her younger brother.

“…Do you now understand what you did wrong?”

“……”

“It seems you do. Then why don’t you say it yourself?”

Every time Violet’s voice dropped coldly, Cairn’s shoulders trembled. With his head down, she couldn’t see his face, but she was certain he was crying.

His shoulders quivered with a myriad of emotions. Violet quietly waited for him to speak.

“…I was reckless and violent.”

“And?”

“I got angry without listening to the full story, cursed at you, and… acted entirely according to my whims.”

“……”

After this, a string of confessions continued to spill out.

Rather than explaining his wrongdoings, it was more like an apology that’s drowning in self-criticism. Sorry, I’m sorry. The words, delivered in a faltering voice, were not pleasant to hear.

A person who had thought highly of himself all his life was now confessing how incompetent he was.

His apology, steeped in self-loathing, eventually turned into a lament about what he felt sorrowful about, before devolving into more confused apologies.

After listening for a long while, Violet finally opened her mouth to speak.

“…Yes. Now you understand what the problem is.”

“……”

The head of the crying person drooped down. Like a sinner who couldn’t face the sky, Cairn just stared at the ground.

Watching her brother, Violet tilted her head slightly.

“Of course, it’s not entirely your fault. It’s not like I’ve lived a completely righteous life either.”

“……”

“Whatever the case, just stop. I don’t want to keep seeing you walking on eggshells like that.”

There were still many unresolved feelings, like tightly tied knots, but she didn’t point them out.

He was already drowning in guilt and self-loathing. She had no intention of adding more fuel to the fire.

Was she being a bit petty? As Violet swallowed her complex emotions, Cairn cautiously spoke.

“…Then, are you forgiving me…?”

Asking this, Cairn finally lifted his head. His face, covered in tears and snot, looked utterly pathetic.