Chapter 2

Chapter 2

His rejection of her, and his inability to feel emotions any longer, meant he could no longer use sword energy, and as he weakened, the North fell.

And so, the final chapter.

Sentences like "the protagonists lived happily ever after" didn't register. Only a sense of emptiness and exhaustion enveloped her entire body. Unable to believe it, she aimlessly walked the streets.

As she wandered, replaying Raygrain's demise in her mind, a truck, as if by a lie, swallowed her body whole.-----When she came to, she found herself as the villainess, 'Shuer Netri,' from the novel The Lady Who Blooms.

At first, she denied it.

'No way. I must have read too hard. This is a dream again, isn't it? I know it.'

Then she doubted.

'Why does the seal on the wall look familiar? Like I've seen it on the book cover...'

Then came despair.

'Mirror, mirror... who is the most pathetic in the world...'

Shuer held onto the mirror and made a tearful face.

Fiery red hair and golden eyes like embedded topazes. A vibrant and beautiful appearance, as if sculpted directly from the novel's description.

The female protagonist Erina's older sister in the novel looked exactly like this.

The bigger problem was that she was the villainess who died at her younger sister's hands.

'My eyes are brighter than my future...'

Finally, she had no choice but to resign herself.

'No matter how I look at it, it's Shuer Netri!'

The Netri family was famous for producing excellent swordsmen for generations.

They wielded a beautiful and flamboyant swordsmanship, blooming flowers from their sword energy, and its power was said to be beyond imagination.

This ability to bloom flowers with sword energy always manifested in the family's firstborn. However, strangely, it never appeared in Shuer, the eldest, even with time.

Instead, she was nothing short of an eyesore, as she was doing flower arranging, killing flowers, in a family that bloomed them, let alone wielded swords.

However, whether fortunate or unfortunate, flowers bloomed from her younger sister Erina's sword energy. The fully bloomed flowers, beyond a shred of doubt, clearly bore the family's sword energy for anyone to see.

'Thanks to that, Shuer's self-esteem plummeted.'

Despite her beautiful appearance, the Shuer in the novel envied and was jealous of her younger sister.

Moreover, when her crush, the Crown Prince, was taken by Erina, she resorted to all sorts of schemes to kill her.

As a result, she was ultimately executed by the family for the crime of attempting to harm the sole next head of the family, without ever having bloomed a flower herself.

According to the original story, when Erina's sword pierced her, fully bloomed flowers appeared from Shuer's body.

In fact, she was a person who bloomed flowers through healing, not swordsmanship. Reviving withered flowers and granting them new abilities was like sword energy to her.

She herself didn't seem to know, and the truth was only revealed after her death.

The family, trapped in the fixed idea that one must bloom flowers with a sword, had not given her a chance to demonstrate her ability.

Thus, Shuer's death merely served as a bitter lesson for the Netri family. Even when she recalled this fact, Shuer had no intention of going to the North herself.

She longed to rush to her favorite character, but she needed time to adapt to this unfamiliar world.

'Since there's no knight order flag in the hall yet, it seems like this is roughly before Erina becomes the Imperial Knight Commander...'

If so, it meant she had about a year, or more, before Raygrain died.

That was a relief, at least.

'Since he felt emotions for Erina, if I can just get them back together, both Raygrain and I can survive.'

Indeed, some readers wished for Raygrain and Erina to end up together, rather than with the male protagonist Silcaro.

The only time he felt any emotion was after meeting Erina.

He thought that emotion was love. So he believed it would all work out if Erina simply changed her mind.

However, he had to give up on this idea in just three days.

"Shuer, you've gone and gotten poison again."

"Me...?"

"Do you think if you poison Erina, you, who know nothing of swords, will amount to something? Is that why you're acting out of line like this?"

Shuer could only be bewildered by Duke Netri's raised voice. This was not something the current her had done.

But it was certainly a bizarre act of the previous 'Shuer'. The remaining memories were proof.

'How could a child only look into ways to kill Erina?!'

'Shuer' knew all sorts of assassination plans to somehow kill Erina.

Thanks to this, denunciations accusing Shuer of instigating people to kill or harm Erina flew in daily.

The content that she approached anyone who had contact with Erina, regardless of gender or age, to sow discord was an added bonus.

She even impersonated Erina to commit fraud and made countless false promises to tarnish her reputation.

All these things were the deeds of Shuer before her transmigration. Moreover, ingrained habits made her grasp flowers even unconsciously. When she saw well-tended garden flowers, she wanted to pick them, and before she knew it, she was arranging flowers.

Because of this, Duke Netri was desperate to get rid of her.

"Flower arranging in the Netri family, no less."

Clink.

The vase she was holding shattered on the marble floor. She raised her head, and Duke Netri's chilling gaze met her face.

"Not only do you not wield a sword, but now you even pick flowers. You are a disgrace to the family."

Snap, fresh flowers were trampled under his shoe.

Shuer silently gazed at the crushed roses. She looked down at her hand, which had instinctively grasped the flowers. Beyond her palm, red petals floated on flowing water.

At the end of that flow was a leather boot. Soon, the boot owner's voice was heard. It was a gentle and beautiful voice that cleared one's ears just by listening to it.

"Don't be too hard on my sister, Father."

A young girl with white knight's uniform and red hair tied up, still with a hint of youth, curved her lips into a smile.

"Even if I wield a sword, I won't be able to make flowers bloom. It's useless."

There was arrogance in the girl's eyes, the arrogance of one who possesses. Despite her clear disdain for her elder sister, Duke Netri was affectionate.

"Yes, Erina. Did you enjoy the Imperial Banquet?"

"His Majesty seems to be rewarding me soon for suppressing the rebels. He asked me to send his regards to Father."

Erina smiled lightly and handed the Imperial Knights' flag to Duke Netri. He was greatly moved as he received the honorable flag.

"You saved our family. Meanwhile, your sister is audaciously picking flowers."

Duke Netri's sharp gaze turned towards Shuer. The maids, noticing, quietly moved to clean up the broken vase pieces.

Meanwhile, Shuer's gaze was fixed on the flag Erina had brought. Her eyes trembled slightly with tension. She didn't want to believe it, but now that the Knights' flag had appeared, it would soon be hung in the hall. Erina would also soon become the captain of the Knights.

This signaled the beginning of the original story.

If things continued this way, she and Raygrain might die exactly one year later.

She desperately wanted to mend the emotional rift with them, but it seemed too late to reverse the already strained relationship.

Then there was only one way.

To cut everything off and start anew.

With a resolute look in her eyes, Shuer waved her hand to stop the attendant and spoke.

"Indeed, Father. That's why I'm leaving the family."

"What?"

To Duke Netri's question, she spoke firmly, emphasizing each word.

"I said I'm leaving. I can't even make flowers bloom anyway. Treat me as if I don't have a daughter."

Silence fell within Duke Netri's mansion.

Click, clack. Every time she moved, gazes followed her. Shuer passed them and grasped the mansion door. Behind her, Duke Netri's stern voice echoed.

"Stop."

At that chilling sound, Shuer paused for a moment. However, there was no hesitation in her expression as she turned back.

Rather, she seemed a little excited, as if in anticipation of something.

"If you take one more step out of there, you are no longer my daughter. Are you, of all people, abandoning the family first?"

Shuer replied resolutely.

"Yes. Please disown me."