With vacant eyes, Iris endured a familiar reprimand for a long while.
She barely managed to move her lips.
“I… I was in pain.”
More than Liliana.
But Iris couldn’t bring herself to say the last part—she simply couldn’t.
Orchid interrupted naturally and asked again,
“Then why didn’t you say so? Why suffer alone without even calling the physician?”
“...I suppose so.”
“Next time, don’t stubbornly endure it. Call the chief medic immediately—that’s what they’re there for.”
Orchid seemed to have completely forgotten that he had assigned that very chief medic to stay by Liliana’s side.
“Maybe it was because you couldn’t ask Liliana, who didn’t have a mother’s love, so you took the responsibility instead.”
Orchid sighed heavily.
“But still, since I trusted you with that task, you can’t make excuses and slack off like this.”
His reproachful gaze pierced Iris’s heart as if she were still a foolish younger sibling.
“Try to make me believe in you, please.”
At that moment, Iris realized a truth she had long avoided facing.
Orchid had never once done anything for her.
All his kindness was nothing but a façade.
“...Oppah.”
Iris asked with a trembling voice,
“How about peach tart for dessert tonight?”
“Sure, that sounds good. Liliana loves peaches.”
His agreement was so casual, so effortless.
He didn’t even seem to understand why Iris had asked.
Unable to hold back, tears fell.
She quickly bowed her head to hide them, but maybe it wasn’t necessary—Orchid likely didn’t care about her tears at all.
“Alright. I’ll let them know.”
Iris had never eaten a peach in her life.
Not once.
‘What did Oppah think of me?’
An unnecessary sister? A sister with no presence?
No, probably not even a sister.
She was just a convenient tool to clean up after Liliana.
Iris wasn’t even considered human here.
“I… I…”
Iris collapsed, clutching her face after leaving Orchid’s room. Her tears burned fiercely, yet the world felt unbearably cold.
She thought they were family.
She thought she was the same kind of sister as Liliana.
“I really… thought so.”
But Orchid was always just Liliana’s older brother.
Hot tears streamed down her cheeks again.
Leaning her head against the window frame, Iris slowly opened her eyes.
She had thought the memories were too vivid, but she must have fallen asleep at some point.
‘It was a nightmare.’
A bitter smile escaped her lips.
‘And that wasn’t even the whole truth.’
The reason her father and Oppah were so cruel only to her—
It was because she was their ‘guilt.’
At first, she thought it was because she lacked talent, because she was inadequate.
But it was more than that.
When her father saw Iris after she was born, he first suspected her mother’s infidelity.
Iris bore none of the Valentine family’s bloodline traits, nor did she resemble anyone else in the family.
Though everyone tried not to show it, a person’s heart always reveals itself in some way.
No one knew exactly what had happened behind closed doors.
What was clear was this: Iris’s mother, already frail and of delicate constitution, suffered several miscarriages before finally managing to conceive Lilliana.
The physicians all advised against it, saying the pregnancy would be too much for her body to bear.
But the mother—normally so meek and quiet—was uncharacteristically resolute.
And so, defying medical warnings, she forced her body to carry the pregnancy to term.
In doing so… she lost her life.
Lilliana, born of that sacrifice, became the treasured phoenix-born daughter of the house.
She had inherited her mother's ethereal beauty perfectly—golden hair, soft features, and the signature ash-gray eyes of the Valentine bloodline.
“It should’ve been Lilliana who was born first… not you.”
“Then the Valentine Clan might’ve known true happiness.”
Unlike Iris, who didn’t quite fit anywhere, Lilliana seemed to embody their late mother’s noble purity.
She was the beloved one. The cherished one. The delicate, angelic child everyone was desperate to protect.
And so, as Lilliana grew more loved… Iris, the root of that loss, was quietly cast aside.
“To think I’ve returned to live among these people again.”
Every passing day felt like a slow-burning nightmare.
Iris raised the sacred sword that hung at her neck and pressed her lips to its hilt in a reverent gesture, like a cultivator paying respects to their spiritual artifact.
“But I will endure.”
Her eyes slowly opened, revealing pupils the color of a clear winter sky—eyes that now shone with an unwavering resolve.
The pain of the past, those old chains of emotion, could no longer bind her.
After all… those people were no longer worth being bound to.
Now, she had chosen to pour her heart into someone worthy of her loyalty—someone who recognized her value, and would return her devotion.
Outside the carriage window, the landscape had changed.
She opened the window, letting the breeze in.
Her soft lavender hair fluttered in the wind, strands brushing against her cheek.
And at last—in the far distance—the Imperial Palace came into view.
The imperial library, as a structure, was partially open to the public.
Getting through the front doors was not an issue.
But Iris wasn’t here for common knowledge.
She sought the
Sealed Archives
—a hidden collection buried deep within the palace grounds.
Access was highly restricted. Only those with proper credentials could even approach it.
Past shelves stacked with ancient scrolls, through grand halls built to impress, she moved deeper—into the quiet, dimly lit reaches of the library.
Most wouldn’t even know this place existed.
Found it.
Two imperial guards stood before a narrow entrance veiled by a thick black curtain.
Even at a glance, Iris could tell—they were high-ranking cultivators, their auras sharp and controlled.
As she approached, they stepped forward, blocking the way.
“This passage is restricted.”
Their tone was firm, devoid of room for negotiation.
This area was for those already initiated into its secrets—and it showed.
“I come with the authority of the Valentine Clan Head.”
Iris calmly produced the clan’s sigil—an ornate seal engraved with a key and sword wrapped in a crimson ribbon.
The moment the guards laid eyes on it, their expressions shifted—surprise, then tension.
It made sense.
The Valentine Clan was known across the empire as the pinnacle of martial cultivation—famed for their swordsmanship and the only family granted divine recognition by the Emperor himself.
To aspiring knights and cultivators alike, they were the peak of the path.
Many within the current Imperial Guard had once trained under the Valentine banner.
And so, they stepped back with visible respect.
“Understood. May we have your name?”
“I am Iris Valentine.”
After confirming her identity, the guards silently parted the curtain and opened the way.
Originally, Iris should have explained her purpose in detail, but thanks to the influence of the Valentine clan, that formal procedure was skipped.
‘That’s a relief.’
The fewer who knew the true purpose—seeking the Sacred Sword—the better.
The dim interior was almost silent, devoid of visitors.
This secret archive, requiring a complicated process just to enter, rarely saw guests.
Iris moved her steps swiftly and quietly.
‘The two books were placed together.’
Fortunately, their titles started with similar characters, making the books easy to find.
‘Here it is.’
But just as Iris was about to approach the shelf, she suddenly stopped.
There was already someone there—
The one holding the book Iris had been searching for.
‘No way.’
Something dropped heavily inside her chest.
Unlike Iris, who came freely without hiding her identity, the man wore a dark robe covering him.
The way he stood, the fingers flipping through the pages—each detail etched deeply into her memory, unbearably familiar.
The man turned his head and looked at Iris.
Those brilliant, crimson eyes that had shone brilliantly until the very last moment—eyes she had longed for so deeply she could never forget.
‘Cedric.’
Trembling, Iris raised her hand to cover her mouth.
The tragic end of Cedric was still vivid in her mind.
He was someone who should never have died like that.
So pitiful, so honorable.
And yet here he was—alive.
Seeing him with her own eyes brought relief but also an overwhelming flood of emotions she couldn’t put into words.
She couldn’t even face him directly, so intense was her turmoil.
‘I missed you so much.’
So unbearably much.
Forcing herself to look away from Cedric, Iris feared she might call out to him desperately or throw herself into his arms.
Now was not the time.
‘The day when everything becomes perfect—’
Then, she thought, she would be able to face him honestly.
When the moment of closure finally came, even someone like her could tell him she loved him.
Biting her lip, she reminded herself,
‘I can endure this.’
Iris had survived countless long days in hell.
Living with only the memories of longing was nothing in comparison.
Though she felt broken, she steadied her breath and opened her eyes, treating Cedric as if he were a stranger.
“Ah.”
But Cedric had already left.
He was gone so quickly.
A strangely melancholic feeling welled up inside her.
As before, she stood alone for a long time, silently picturing Cedric.
“Um.”
Suddenly, someone offered a book beside her.
“Ah.”
“Please take it.”
At the familiar gentle voice, Iris’s eyes widened.
She looked up and saw him standing close by, looking at her.
Iris couldn’t say a word.
Seeing this, he tilted his head slightly and placed the book in her hands. "Is this not what you were searching for?"
He was always like this.
With that calm, detached expression—unshaken by anything—Cedric somehow always saw right through her.
He could tell what made Iris uncomfortable, what she needed, even before she spoke.
Most likely, he had seen her gazing at that ancient tome and immediately understood her intent.
“Thank… you.”
Can someone like me ever repay his kindness…?
Iris bit her lip gently as she accepted the book with both hands, then bowed her head.
She wanted to say thank you. To let even a single drop of emotion show.
But she knew—if she opened her mouth now, everything she’d bottled up inside might pour out all at once.
Before her feelings could overflow, she wanted to escape.
There’s no more reason to stay anyway…
Surely, Cedric would leave first. That’s what she expected.
But strangely enough… even after time passed, he still stood there.
Iris, who had been staring at her own feet, cautiously gathered her courage and lifted her gaze.
“Um… th-thank you. May I take my leave now?”
Her voice trembled with every word, pitifully so.
But for Iris, that was already her utmost.
“Hm.”
Cedric looked at her for a long moment, his gaze unreadable and full of quiet weight.
“…What is your name?”
Only after that silence did Cedric finally speak.
Chapter 6
Translator's Note:
🎧 Check out the audio versions on my YouTube channel:
https://youtube.com/@novel-tube-w2f?si=UqMphhId_8DH80Ns