After my words, silence fell in the room.
Irene simply stared at me as if she could not believe her ears. Her lips were slightly parted, her eyebrows raised in surprise, and a completely stunned expression was frozen on her face.
"Wh-what?.." she exhaled after a few seconds, after which her gaze immediately became wary and suspicious. "What are you even talking about? Are you... are you mocking me?"
"Lady Irene," I repeated, looking directly into her amber eyes, still wet with tears, "rest assured, not everyone in this empire has turned their back on Her Grace. As I said, I sincerely admire your sister. And these are not empty words!"
For a moment, the girl even stopped crying.
Her shoulders no longer shook, her sobs quieted, and now she simply looked at me as if seeing me for the first time. And yet, distrust still remained in her gaze — cautious, fragile, mixed with timid hope.
"Do you..." her voice trembled, "do you really like my sister? Are you not pretending? Are you not saying this just because you need a job in this house?"
She stared intently at my face, as if trying to catch the slightest lie or falseness.
"No, I do not like Her Grace."
After these words, Irene’s expression instantly faltered and lengthened.
But only until I added:
"...I adore her."
"Wh-what?!"
"Lady Irene," I placed my hand on my chest, "may I tell you something... completely honestly?"
After my unexpected question, the girl froze in confusion. She clearly hesitated, not understanding where I was going, but after a few seconds, she hesitantly nodded.
I took a deep breath, feeling the excitement begin to build inside me.
This was precisely my moment of glory.
The very minute for which I might have been reborn in this world!
"To be honest, I think..."
I made a meaningful pause, and Irene involuntarily held her breath, carefully watching every word of mine.
"...that God committed a real crime when He created Her Grace."
Irene stared at me in shock.
"Because when there exists in this world such an unattainable and absolute ideal as Her Grace, for us ordinary mortals, this becomes a real blow!" I continued. "Her Grace is so magnificent that there are not enough words in this world to describe that magnificence! One look at Her Grace is enough to receive a divine blessing! She has no flaws! And if any were to be found, they would immediately turn into strengths, because Her Grace is incapable of possessing anything that is not perfect!"
I caught my breath, but had no intention of stopping.
"Her hair is a fire frozen in noble darkness. Her profile is a sculpture carved by a great master inspired by the gods. Her voice sounds like music to my ears. Her gaze can simultaneously warm the soul and annihilate a person on the spot. Her..."
"W-wait, wait!" Irene hastily put her palms out in front of her, trying to stop this torrent of adoration.
I broke off mid-sentence, although inside me still seethed with the desire to continue.
"Do you... do you really think that?.." the girl asked in a trembling voice. Now there was no longer the previous distrust in it — only pure amazement. "You are not joking, are you?"
"Of course not," I nodded quite seriously and placed my hand on my chest. "In fact, what I have said is not even enough. It is only a small fraction."
"...Huh?.."
Irene even opened her mouth slightly.
"Lady Irene, to be frank, I could talk about the magnificence of Her Grace for hours. Non-stop. Would you like to hear more?"
After my question, the girl hesitated for less than a second before nodding quickly.
And now in her eyes, still recently full of tears, a lively and sincere interest appeared for the first time in all this time.
I smiled with satisfaction, no less delighted at the rare opportunity to empty my vocabulary by spending it on describing Kayla’s magnificence! Irene herself did not seem to notice how she had settled next to me on the bed, tucking her legs up and leaning comfortably against the pillows to listen.
So then...
"Lady Irene, you do know that when Her Grace was twelve years old, the Duke sent her to war against the Empire of Bravos so that she could prove her right to become the heir of House Regwerd?"
Irene thought for a moment, then slowly nodded.
"...Yes. I have heard about it."
This was indeed the truth.
Many years ago, a war broke out between the Empires of Berria and Bravos, and every noble family had to send one representative to the battlefield to confirm their loyalty to the empire. And then the Duke Regwerd, without hesitation, sent his own illegitimate daughter, who had barely turned twelve, to the front.
In effect, it was a test.
If Kayla survived, earned merits, and returned victorious — then she was worthy of becoming the heir.
And if she died...
Well, then she had proven not useful enough to the family.
To be honest, even now this seemed monstrously cruel to me.
Especially when I looked at Irene, who in my eyes was still a child. And yet Kayla had been only a year older than her at the time...
But it was this war that became the moment that largely shaped her as a person. So I decided to start with this.
"But do you know what exactly happened to Her Grace in that war?" I asked, looking at her.
Irene shook her head in confusion.
"No... No one ever told me. I only know that she left and then returned a hero. But the details..."
I nodded.
"Then listen. Her Grace, at such a young age, had to go through inhuman trials," I said, and my voice grew more serious. "During the war, she was on the brink of death six times. Once, an enemy arrow passed just a few centimeters from her heart. Another time, her unit was surrounded, and she wandered alone in the forest for three days without food or water. Yet another time, she had to cover the retreat of her soldiers, staying behind against a superior number of enemies..."
With each word of mine, Irene’s eyes grew wider.
She listened, barely breathing.
In the end, the girl grew completely quiet, holding her breath and carefully listening to my story about her sister’s past. About that past which neither Kayla herself nor anyone else had ever told her before.
I told Irene about the difficulties Kayla had to go through in the war. About the battles, the deprivations, the endless struggle for survival — and about how early she had to grow up.
Among other things, I also told her about how once, when Kayla was only fourteen, she was captured by Bravos soldiers, where she spent four months. Of course, I deliberately omitted the most brutal details — after all, there was a child sitting before me. But even without them, the story sounded terrible.
Despite the pressure, threats, and torture, Kayla never revealed a single piece of important information to the enemy.
And then she managed to escape. On her own. Moreover, during the escape, she managed to kill one of the enemy generals!
After this, when Kayla returned to her camp, where she had long been considered dead, she became a true legend among the soldiers. It was after this that she began to be perceived not as cannon fodder, but as an outstanding military leader.
From that moment on, her career rapidly ascended.
By the end of the war, Kayla already held a high rank, and the Duke Regwerd simply had no choice left but to officially recognize her as his heir.
She spent almost her entire childhood at war and returned home only at the age of eighteen.
And just half a year after her return, the Duke and Duchess Regwerd died in an accident.
Thus, Kayla almost immediately became the new head of the family.
When Kayla turned twenty, she joined the Order of the Holy Sword and since then had performed countless feats, protecting the empire from monsters and corruption. And yet, most of her merits remained in the shadows. All because of the main character.
Being the leader of the order, Tristan Eclipse invariably found himself in the spotlight and took most of the glory for himself. And although he did not do it maliciously — nothing could be done about the aura of a "hero" overshadowing all the other people around him.
But did that make Kayla’s feats any less significant?
Of course not.
In my opinion, the main hero and the main heroine did not even come close to her!
And that was precisely why the fact that such an amazing woman was made the villainess of this story irritated me even more.
Oh well.
What else could be expected from an utterly talentless author?
In any case, I became so carried away telling the story of Kayla’s feats and magnificence that at some point I completely stopped paying attention to Irene’s reaction. I spoke without stopping — jumping from one story to another, from battle to battle, from victory to victory... And only when I finally paused to catch my breath did I look at the girl.
Her huge amber eyes were literally shining.
With pure, sincere admiration.
"Lady Irene?.." I called cautiously, suddenly feeling a little uncomfortable under this adoring gaze.
"That is amazing!" the girl suddenly exclaimed, and her voice trembled with delight.
"Huh?.."
Before I could understand anything, Irene abruptly jumped up on the bed, nearly knocking Lemur, who had been peacefully dozing nearby, to the floor.
"I... I always knew my sister was cool!" she blurted out passionately, and her eyes burned like two little suns. "But I did not think she was that cool!"
I could not help but laugh.
"Well, you see?" I said with satisfaction. "How could anyone not admire such an incomparably dazzling person as Her Grace? It is simply impossible!"
Compared to the recent past, when the girl’s gaze toward me held only anger or contempt, the situation had now changed dramatically. Now, after I confessed to being a fan of Kayla, Irene looked at me with a completely different gaze.
"Sister..." she whispered excitedly, "she really is incredible."
"Exactly," I nodded confidently. "And all those people who hate her are actually just stupid and ignorant. They judge without understanding the facts. Do you see that now?"
Irene pressed her lips together and looked at me with a particularly excited gaze.
And only now did I notice that during our conversation, she had imperceptibly moved even closer to me.
"I..." her voice trembled slightly, "I really did not think that outside this house there was anyone who could like my sister. I thought... everyone hated her."
I smiled softly.
"In the future, there will be many more such people. You will see."
"...R-really?"
Irene immediately raised her gaze to me.
I gently took her small hand in mine.
"Do not doubt it," I said with a smile. "In the future, the situation will definitely change, and everyone will surely understand just how magnificent Her Grace truly is. Until then... we both must do everything in our power to support her!"
"Y-yes!" she exhaled.
Irene looked at me seriously and nodded. I squeezed her hand tighter. It seemed that for the first time in a long time, a spark of hope had truly lit up in the girl’s eyes.
And just at that moment, when an unexpected idyll had settled between Irene and me, I did not immediately hear the sound of someone’s retreating footsteps outside the door.