A fortune-telling princess

“Brother.”

At her call, he lifted his head.

“You said you’ve researched the Sword of Protection, right?”

“The Sword of Protection?”

“Yes.”

Ludville gave a slight nod.

“It’s currently with the Jabilon family.”

“That’s correct.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Your thoughts after reading all the records?”

Ludville gazed at Camilla for a moment.

“If you read through all the ancient texts thoroughly, there’s one thing you’d realize.”

“…”

Camilla nodded slightly instead of responding.

“The location where the Sword of Protection was last seen.”

That’s right.

By piecing together the ancient documents and the records about the Sword of Protection, it was possible to deduce the location where the sword had disappeared.

It was a story from long ago, when the Empire was newly founded. Back then, a group shook the entire continent.

A religious faction that worshipped a god called Eva.

Many followed them for one reason—the promise of eternal life.

It was real. They had the power to grant an unending life.

Those who followed the god Eva neither aged nor died, thanks to an unknown power.

Naturally, people flocked to them in droves, and the followers of Eva multiplied exponentially.

‘Isn’t the idea of people not dying absurd?’

It didn’t take much thought to realize how unsettling and unnatural this was.

And indeed, there was a problem with that power. The eternal life they gained came from sacrificing the lives of others.

The powerless, the poor, and the ignorant were their victims.

Thus began a war.

A war between the followers of Eva, who were seen as evil, and those who sought to suppress them.

The followers of Eva, empowered by immense strength, didn’t retreat easily. They survived stubbornly, feeding off the blood of countless others.

But in times of chaos, heroes always emerge.

One man ended the long war and drove out the forces of evil—Mars.

‘The sword he wielded was the Sword of Protection.’

The followers of Eva, who wouldn’t die even if their hearts were destroyed, stood powerless before the Sword of Protection.

The war ended when the leader of the Eva followers was struck down by that sword. After the war, Mars quietly vanished.

‘And the Sword of Protection disappeared with him.’

However, by tracing Mars’s steps, it wasn’t too hard to deduce the last location of the sword.

“But no one was able to find it.”

Many had searched for the sword, but over the centuries, no one succeeded.

Until ZenoJabilon—the only person to discover the sword and bring it to his family.

“Do you know the phrase most often used to describe the Sword of Protection?”

“Why do you think Zenowas the only one able to find it, even though many others searched the same location?”

Camilla didn’t answer. Ludville hadn’t asked the question expecting a reply.

“So, you knew, Brother.”

The reason ZenoJabilon was not acknowledged as the sword’s master despite finding it.

“Anyone deeply interested in the Sword of Protection could figure it out. But why has no one spoken about it?”

“…Because it’s the Duke Jabilon’s family secret.”

Ludville nodded without a word.

“It’s an ancient history that belongs to another family.”

He was saying it wasn’t for others to meddle in. Camilla agreed.

‘However…’

Camilla let out a small sigh.

‘The problem is that the figure from that ancient history is standing right in front of me now.’

****

[Aren’t you training?]

“I’m not.”

At the training grounds, where a swordsmanship class was in full swing, Camilla was sprawled under a tree’s shade, as usual. Zeno watched her with a disapproving gaze.

In the past, it wouldn’t have mattered to him if she slacked off, but things were different now. She was the only one who could see him.

[To think the one who can see me is someone who lazes about during swordsmanship class.]

“I don’t have any talent for it.”

She had no intention of sweating through practice with a weapon she wasn’t skilled at, especially in this heat.

[Your physique isn’t bad, though.]

Zen oglanced her up and down before offering his assessment.

“Not interested.”

Talent or not, she had no interest in swords.

The original Camilla may have dedicated herself to swordsmanship to join the Sorpel family, but that wasn’t her.

If she lacked talent, wasn’t it smarter to quit sooner rather than later?

Even Duke Sorpel didn’t seem particularly inclined to force her to learn swordsmanship.

In fact, he probably preferred she stop wasting her energy on a skill she wasn’t suited for.

‘I should quit soon.’

Watching the indifferent swordsmen and instructors, Camilla resolved to transfer to another area of focus as soon as possible.

‘This world isn’t someone else’s anymore.’

Now that she understood this was her life moving forward, there was no reason to keep dealing with the mess left by someone else.

[Your muscle mass and bone structure are excellent.]

“And you can tell just by looking?”

[Someone like me can.]

“Oh, sure.”

Camilla rolled her eyes at the ghost’s smugness.

Her gaze remained fixed on Zeno as he turned his attention back to the training grounds.

His expression grew distant again as he watched the students practice. Was he reminiscing about his time here?

“That sword.”

Camilla’s eyes shifted to the blade embedded in his chest—the Sword of Protection.

“Wasn’t it hard to find?”

[Of course. It took nearly a year. I found it stuck at the edge of a fog-covered cliff.]

“So it really was you who found the sword, Zeno.”

[That’s common knowledge. Why bring it up?]

Even as Zenogrinned, Camilla didn’t smile.

“You’re aware the Sword of Protection chooses its master, right?”

[Who doesn’t know that?]

“And do you know why people couldn’t find it for so long?”

[Well…]

Zeno hesitated, his earlier confidence faltering.

“Because only someone recognized by the sword could find it.”

“But when you returned home with the sword, you weren’t its master.”

A glaring contradiction.

He had found the sword and brought it back, but the sword didn’t recognize him as its master. Normally, it wouldn’t even allow itself to be found without recognizing someone.

“When it reappeared in the world, the Sword of Protection was no longer what it used to be. Like a person who had lost their soul, it was nothing more than a hunk of metal.”

Unlike in ancient records, the sword no longer glowed or sang.

“That’s because…”

Zeno’s smile vanished entirely.

“The master chosen by the sword had already died.”

Camilla’s gaze returned to the sword embedded in Zeno’s chest.

“You had an older brother, didn’t you?”

She continued, her eyes still fixed on the sword.

“One who died a long time ago.”

“Your twin brother.”

“Zeno, are you sure this is it?”

“I’m certain. You even said the ancient texts practically handed us the clues.”

“Then why has no one found it? Maybe there’s some danger involved?”

“Who cares about danger? I’m going to find the Sword of Protection no matter what.”

Two young men in their early twenties wandered through a deep forest, blanketed in thick fog. The one walking ahead, Zeno, moved with confident excitement.

“Please, be careful.”

His older brother, Mihai, sighed as he watched him.

No one could stop Zeno when he left home determined to find the sword. Everyone knew his single-minded obsession with weapons too well.

If they had tried to stop him, he likely would have run away to continue the search on his own.

So Mihai had followed him, unable to let his reckless brother go alone.

They’d been lost in the foggy mountains for a week now. The food they’d prepared in the nearby village was nearly gone.

‘This could end terribly.’

Mihai kept sighing, hoping Zenow ould give up. If not, he’d forcibly drag him back if it came to that.

“Mihai!”

“What?”

“Look over there!”

Zeno’s voice, filled with excitement, pulled Mihai from his thoughts.

He looked where Zeno was pointing but saw nothing remarkable—just a sheer cliff.

“It’s the sword!”

“What?”

“The Sword of Protection! We’ve finally found it!”

Zeno was bouncing like an excited child, but Mihai couldn’t share his enthusiasm. To him, there was nothing there.

“Look at this!”

“…”

He saw it. Zeno pulled a sword from the ground, and Mihai finally recognized its existence.

“It’s exactly like the books described!”

Indeed, it matched the illustrations in the texts perfectly.

The sword let out a low hum. Mihai flinched at the sound, but Zenoo nly smiled brighter as a faint light emanated from the

blade.

“…Can I…?”

“Huh?”

“Can I try holding it?”

“Of course!”

Zeno immediately handed the sword to Mihai.

The moment Mihai grabbed it, the light dimmed, and the hum ceased.

“What? It stopped?”

“…”

“Haha! Looks like the sword doesn’t like you, Mihai.”

Again.

Again, it was him.

‘As expected of Zeno.’

‘How can he be so brilliant with the sword?’

‘He’s a genius!’

‘Compared to him, Mihai is just…’

‘Even though Mihai is the eldest son…’

‘Surely, Zeno will be the next head of the family.’

“Why?”

Why, why, why…

“Mihai?”

“Why is it always you?”

“What?”

“Why is it always you?!”