Virgin Knight Who Is the Frontier Lord in the Gender Switched World - Chapter 86

My foolish sister, Marina, is wailing in pain.

“It hurts, Sabine-neesan, it hurts.”

Eventually, with no intention of returning other than to steal ducks, I’m still at the parental home I hadn’t planned to return to. I handed over my foolish sister Marina to the servants of the Wesperman family and was about to return to the dormitory where my beloved companions from the Second Princess’s Royal Guard live. But I was stopped by the person I once called mother, and now I sit in the room that used to be mine, which is now Marina’s.

Oh, enough already.

“Shut up! Annoying! Just die already! Don’t whine!”

“Why did you abandon me, Sabine-neesan!? Why did you run away the moment Her Majesty the Queen approached, even though you were talking to me!?”

“You’re the idiot for not running! You’re the fool! Why didn’t you run away!?”

Her Majesty Queen Liesenlotte, who is usually known for her stoic demeanor, was coming towards us with an unusually bright smile.

Anyone would run from that!

She’s learned to read the mood a bit, but still can’t sense danger? Idiot!

No matter, even if she had run, it would only have delayed the inevitable—Marina’s fate wouldn’t have changed.

“After the incident ended. The Wesperman family didn’t prove very useful, but I can’t tell Sabine-neesan or mother what happened, just that it’s over. A word of thanks would be nice…”

“I don’t know. You must have done something to upset someone. Something.”

Probably she looked at Lord Polydoro in a lewd manner or something.

I often get asked by Valiere-sama, “How has Sabine lived with that personality and preferences until now?”

My answer is always the same.

“As long as you discern the critical line, everything else will work itself out.”

There are lines that are permissible and lines that are not, and Marina has crossed an impermissible line with Her Majesty Queen Liesenlotte.

Ah, I want to go home.

Not to this family home, but to the Second Princess’s Royal Guard’s dormitory.

Now that they have stolen money, the Wesperman family has no value to me other than being regularly robbed of their ducks.

Whether their house falls apart or what happens to it, I don’t care.

It’s just one less source of ducks.

“Eventually, you were dragged to the Rose Garden, beaten and kicked all over, then they choked you demanding, ‘Spit it out. What are you hiding?’ and bent your arm in an unnatural direction.”

“And just broke it.”

If only she had been killed right then and there.

Anyway, I want to leave.

Sabine von Wesperman never fit in with the Wesperman family from the moment of her birth.

Indeed, this family, possessing the aura of a dark side, was detestable.

Especially since it reeks of decline.

Not because of my sister Marina.

Although she is a fool, her inherent brightness seems to light the way for the family.

Foolish, warm, and incapable of reading the room.

But her specs aren’t that bad; if she were truly incompetent, Princess Anastasia would have discarded her by now.

The problem is rather with our mother.

I hate my mother to the point of nausea.

Lord Polydoro would be sad to hear such detestation towards a family member, so I try not to speak of it too often.

But I can’t help but despise her.

“Sabine.”

With an ethereal aura—no, similar to me with beautiful blonde hair flowing over her shoulders.

Honestly, she looks terribly aged beyond her years.

Of course, I knew that my behavior was partly to blame.

But it doesn’t matter.

I was born with this indifference of “what does it matter to me what happens to you.”

To this Sabine, only her master Valiere-sama, her colleagues in the Second Princess’s Royal Guard, and Lord Polydoro matter.

Everything else is irrelevant.

I didn’t hate Marina, but considering her recent blunder, she’s become especially insignificant.

Even the cats living near the Second Princess’s Royal Guard dormitory are more endearing.

Cats are good.

Lord Polydoro, too, when encountering a cat, greets it kindly with a “hello.”

Greeting cats is good.

Despite his straightforward nature, Lord Polydoro properly greets cats, and I find him terribly endearing for it.

My thoughts, however, shift away from my crumbling mother to the cats and Lord Polydoro.

Reply, Sabine.

My mother’s voice, worn thin, interrupts.

Ah, indeed, I should have thrown Marina in front of the house and dashed away.

Sabine’s danger detection clearly refuses to listen to what follows from that voice.

It’s not too late now—no, it’s impossible.

The door is likely blocked by servants.

Given my skill with the sword, escaping without listening is not an option.

Strictly speaking, it’s against the etiquette of the Captain of the Second Princess’s Royal Guard.

I click my tongue.

My mother, with a loud click, does not flinch at all.

After all, she oversees intelligence, a shadow part of the Anhalt royal family.

She’s the type who can, without expression, pry open a woman’s legs and thrust a heated iron rod inside.

“Lord Polydoro seems to be close to you.”

“And what of it?”

What does she want to say?

No, I can mostly guess.

“You understand what I mean, don’t you? The favor of Lord Faust von Polydoro, who is cherished by the entire royal family, is important for the nobility, isn’t it?”

That Polydoro, a paragon of chastity who is usually straightforward but becomes fiery when his pride is touched.

The royal family is enamored by that brilliance.

Of course, that includes me.

“I want favor. I want the support of Lord Polydoro.”

“I don’t know. If you want to protect the Wesperman family’s position, send that boy, your son, to marry a powerful lord.”

If she tried to interfere between me and Lord Polydoro, I could easily plunge a knife into my mother’s face.

“It has become difficult. Nobility prolongs its life by maintaining cooperative relationships, protecting each other’s honor and benefits. But, if such relationships suggest collusion—”

“I don’t see the Wesperman family as being that desperate. Collusion, you say?”

“Marina is the head of the family now. Indeed, I am no longer the head, so I don’t know and won’t ask what happened. But Marina returned home with a broken arm from Queen Liesenlotte. This looks bad to outsiders.”

It’s none of my concern.

Indeed, to outsiders, this incident does look bad.

However, the day when Princess Anastasia ascends the throne is near.

It might take less than two years.

That should be manageable.

The Wesperman family is a high-ranking noble family entrenched within the royal court.

“Ideally, I want Marina to have a child with Lord Polydoro.”

“Are you mad?”

What nonsense.

“We have overcome the crisis. Marina did what she had to do as the head of the family. It was a close call this time. Right at the edge where Queen Liesenlotte might truly have crushed the Wesperman family, Marina was able to participate in the investigation led by Lord Polydoro.”

“So it seems.”

I respond disinterestedly.

“The incident is over. As an old person like me, I can’t clearly understand what the conclusion was. However, the Wesperman family was present at the incident. That was most important. If we hadn’t been there—perhaps the Queen or her administrative officials would have considered replacing our family’s role.”

“I think you’re overthinking it.”

Ah, she has grown senile, this one.

She has become overly timid in the face of crisis.

The fool who prizes the family above all.

Indeed, the family is important.

If I had a child, of course, I would want them to protect the family.

But a life obsessed with this is revolting.

From a child’s perspective, if the family truly becomes a hindrance, I would want them to abandon it and live freely.

Ultimately, I, Sabine von Wesperman, am an alien in this noble society.

I wish I had been born in a more enlightened, brighter age.

That’s what I think.

“For the Wesperman family, what is important now is the slight connection we’ve established with Lord Polydoro. Lord Polydoro, engaged to the Second Princess Valiere, will eventually become the father to the children of Princess Anastasia and Duchess Astarte.”

There, the future also includes my man, but I keep that unspoken and let her continue.

“I want Lord Polydoro’s bloodline. With it, the Wesperman family will not perish. Even if the family faces a crisis of being disbanded in the future, it would be forgiven at least once.”

“I don’t know.”

The negotiation has broken down.

There’s no need to listen any further.

I stand up from my chair.

Listening to her was my last act of kindness.

“…It doesn’t have to be Marina’s child. I know you are close to Lord Polydoro. Your child could be adopted as the future head of the Wesperman family.”

“I’ll kill you, old hag! That’s why I hate you so much! Caring too much about the damn family, you’ve become a blind, incompetent fool!”

My anger bursts forth.

—A mistake.

I have made a mistake.

The door opens, and servants appear.

But they can’t lay a hand on me, being close to Lord Polydoro and a member of the Second Princess’s Royal Guard, especially after I’ve established connections with him through my own words.

The permissible line.

I smirk.

These people can’t touch me.

Yes, that’s the line.

There are permissible and impermissible lines, and as long as you don’t cross them, all is well.

That line is something I have discerned all my life.

Marina, shocked on the bed, should take a good look.

“…To the extent that you become emotional about where your child ends up. Be kind to people instead of the Wesperman family ideal of stabbing someone while shedding tears of blood. Not being a natural-born lunatic who assassinates underlings without emotion or pain. If only you were the head of the Wesperman family.”

The creature before me sobs and whines.

I don’t know her.

With her earlier words, I no longer acknowledge her as the mother who gave birth to me.

From now on, I might as well claim to have been born in the madness of Bacchus or something.

“Whine after I leave! Let me make it clear. I will no longer mediate with Lord Polydoro for you, no matter how much money is offered. Marina has, after all, established a thin connection with Lord Polydoro. Take good care of that.”

Truly, I cannot go any further.

As the Captain of the Second Princess’s Royal Guard and a member of the high-ranking noble Wesperman family, it would be unwise to create a serious conflict.

It would trouble Valiere-sama.

And playing the role of Polydoro’s agent would be unbecoming.

I don’t want to be disliked by Lord Polydoro.

The mere thought of him disliking me makes my heart ache.

What is this feeling?

It was incomprehensible.

Indeed, as the creature before me ranted, I must be a born lunatic.

But even a lunatic has things that are important.

They are Valiere-sama, the Second Princess’s Royal Guard, and Lord Polydoro.

That’s all.

That’s everything.

Once before, I lost a close friend named Hanna due to a mistake in discerning the line.

Thinking about my incompetence at that time nearly drives me mad.

Never again will I misjudge the line that should not be crossed.

Watch me, Marina.

I will no longer have anything to do with you.

I cannot.

Never again will I respond to being called “Sabine-neesan.”

Know this reality.

“The Wesperman family should never involve me again!”

Probably, this will be the last thing I ever say to the creature before me.

After throwing these words, I push past the servants and leave.

On my way out, I stop by the stable.

I pat the face of the horse I used to adore, grumbling, “If only you were a cat, I could take you with me.”

Now the horse belongs to Marina.

Surely, I cannot take it anymore.

That would be crossing a line.

My goal lies elsewhere.

Next to the stable, there is a shed where dozens of ducks are kept.

I decide to kill a few ducks and hang them from my belt as I leave the Wesperman house.

That, for me, is a line I am allowed to cross.

Indeed, my actions may seem strange even from the perspective of the Second Princess’s Royal Guard.

But there is something I cannot understand.

What is wrong with taking from others to satisfy the hunger of one’s own family?

Only those words of denial, Sabine von Wesperman could not comprehend at all.