Chapter – 04
For a moment, a deep and silent stillness filled the space.
Rafine slowly turned her gaze toward Elizabeth. The girl who had been whining about her headache just moments ago was gone. She now looked like a completely different person.
Elizabeth had stopped crying, but her face looked miserable. Her eyes were full of disbelief.
“……”
Rafine looked away from her.
Ever since she started hiding her ability, she had expected reactions like this. Awakening a supernatural power was something extraordinary, yet her own father seemed desperate only to hide it.
At that moment, she clearly realized something painful.
The people she had always thought were her family did not truly see her as family.
“What nonsense. A supernatural ability? You only showed something like that briefly when you were young.”
The Marquis quickly regained his composure and scolded Rafine.
He spoke calmly, pretending as if he was not the one who had spread the rumor that her ability had disappeared.
The way he acted was so ridiculous that Rafine could not help but laugh softly.
“Yes, that’s right. Father personally told the household that my ability had disappeared.”
“Isn’t that the truth? It only appeared for a moment. It’s nothing impressive.”
The Marquis clicked his tongue and shook his head.
At the same time, he secretly glanced at Elizabeth.
Elizabeth noticed his gaze and looked stiffly between the Marquis and Rafine.
Rafine was a little bothered by Elizabeth’s eyes on her, but she hardened her heart.
“Since Father thinks that way, I will report it directly to His Majesty.”
Rafine continued speaking with a calm smile.
“I will tell him that I have awakened the power of wind.”
At that moment, Cedric interrupted.
“You’re going to report the awakening of an ability to His Majesty? Don’t joke like that, Rafine.”
“A joke? I don’t understand why you can’t believe that I awakened an ability just like His Majesty.”
“How dare you compare yourself to His Majesty with an unconfirmed power?”
“I’m not comparing us. I’m simply saying that I awakened an ability.”
“Now you’re even trying to get attention with something like that…”
Cedric looked annoyed and avoided Rafine’s gaze. Instead, he glanced toward Elizabeth, as if checking her mood.
Even in a moment like this, he cared more about Elizabeth.
It was as if his reason had completely disappeared.
To Rafine, this whole situation—where truth was treated as a lie—was simply laughable.
“U-Unni…”
This time Elizabeth spoke with a trembling voice.
Her face looked even paler than before when she had complained about her headache.
Everyone’s attention immediately focused on Elizabeth.
The atmosphere was clearly different from when Rafine had been speaking.
“Is it true? Did you really awaken an ability?”
Elizabeth looked at Rafine with desperate eyes, as if she hoped the answer would be no.
Rafine purposely avoided her gaze before answering.
“Yes.”
It was a short and simple reply.
The power she had awakened, the Wind of the Sky, had not disappeared like the Marquis expected. Instead, it had grown stronger day by day.
Using a large amount of power at once was still difficult, but she could easily control small amounts.
“Th-that’s a lie, right?”
Elizabeth asked again, her face completely pale.
It seemed she desperately wanted Rafine to deny it.
“A lie?”
Rafine smiled kindly.
“Instead of saying useless words, it’s better to show you directly.”
As soon as she finished speaking, she looked at the cup in front of her.
Then something astonishing happened.
“……!”
The cup began to shake.
No one had touched it, yet it slowly floated up into the air.
Rafine had lifted it using the wind.
“See? Do you believe me now?”
“Th-this is a joke, right?”
Even though she saw it clearly with her own eyes, Elizabeth still looked like she couldn’t believe it.
Denying something so obvious made Rafine laugh.
Maybe she should show something even more impressive.
Rafine shrugged silently.
As long as it wasn’t a power so big she couldn’t control it, she could do almost anything.
“……”
With a small gesture from Rafine, all the windows in the dining room suddenly flew open.
At the same time, a powerful wind rushed inside like a storm.
The invisible wind now felt stronger than anything.
The curtains flapped loudly. Leaves outside the windows clashed together.
And the sound of the fierce wind filled the entire room.
In an instant, the space became noisy with many sounds.
“Ah!”
Elizabeth screamed in surprise as the sudden wind hit her.
The wind was so strong that it made the skin sting. A cold chill remained wherever it passed.
“Stop this immediately!”
The Marquis shouted angrily.
But Rafine did not stop.
The wind only grew stronger.
The sound of it, whooosh, whooosh, almost sounded like the cry of a wild beast.
It felt like invisible waves were crashing into the room.
“Rafine!”
The Marquis stood up suddenly with a furious expression.
Only Rafine remained calmly seated.
“This time, I cannot follow Father’s wishes. I’ve done everything you told me until now. If this is the only treatment I receive, then I will live doing what I want.”
Rafine stood up from her seat.
At that moment, the teacup floating in the air shattered.
With a sharp crack, the cup turned into powder and scattered in the wind until nothing remained.
“My goodness.”
Even Cedric gasped in shock as he watched. He stared at Rafine as if she were a completely different person.
A supernatural ability was that extraordinary.
“At this level, even His Majesty will acknowledge it, right?”
“Rafine!”
The Marquis trembled with anger and glared at her.
Just then, Elizabeth—who had been watching everything—collapsed unconscious.
“Beth!”
The Marquis rushed toward her.
Cedric, who had been about to follow, stopped and stared at Rafine instead. His face looked deep in thought.
Rafine quietly withdrew her power.
The storm-like wind disappeared, and the noise faded.
A strange silence filled the room.
But the Marquis quickly broke it with a shout.
“What have you done to your sister!”
“I only told the truth. I didn’t do anything to Elizabeth.”
“Call a doctor immediately!”
The Marquis shouted angrily at a servant.
He lifted Elizabeth onto his back and glared fiercely at Rafine.
“And you—come with me quietly.”
But Rafine did not move.
At that moment she heard Cedric speaking to his aide.
“Tell His Majesty that I will be a little late.”
“But His Majesty ordered you to come immediately.”
Rafine felt dumbfounded.
Cedric always rushed to the Emperor whenever he was called.
But now that Elizabeth had fainted, he had changed his attitude.
It felt absurd.
To think she had once liked someone like him and followed him around.
A wave of doubt rushed over her.
“Well then, I’ve finished my meal, so I’ll be going back.”
She took a step away from the table.
“What? After making your sister like this!”
The Marquis shouted angrily.
Rafine looked confused.
“I only showed my ability because no one believed that I had awakened one.”
She quietly looked at her sister lying on the Marquis’s back.
Elizabeth’s perfectly timed fainting act was almost laughable.
As expected… there is no hope in this place.
Feeling certain that her thoughts were correct, Rafine calmly left.
The Marquis shouted her name several times behind her, but she never turned back.
Around the time Rafine arrived on Roysha Street, inside the Emperor’s office.
“Cedric must be having a happy time with Rafine by now, right?”
Emperor Bayern asked the aide who had come to report.
He wished he could have been the first to congratulate Rafine on her birthday.
That rascal Cedric had never been someone he liked.
People believed Cedric held his position beside the Emperor because of his ability.
But the truth was completely different.
The Emperor had kept Cedric close only to watch him, not because he was capable.
When he first learned that the slightly suspicious Cedric was Rafine’s fiancé, he had even considered getting rid of him.
But Rafine liked him too much.
The Emperor possessed the power to obtain everything in the empire.
Yet the one thing he truly wanted—the heart of Rafine—was something he could never obtain.
Even so, he stayed near her.
Because seeing her smile was enough to make him happy.
Her happiness was the same as his own.
That was why he had let Cedric leave early today—to celebrate Rafine’s birthday.
But—
“Th-that is…”
Judging by the aide’s hesitant expression, Cedric had once again failed Rafine.
“How many times has this happened?”
The Emperor’s lips twisted slightly.
“Well then, what is so important that he abandoned his fiancée’s birthday and ran somewhere else? Let’s hear the reason.”
The Emperor’s burning gaze made the aide tremble.
If he angered the Emperor, he might be crushed to dust.
So he reported Cedric’s actions without leaving anything out.
“Lady Rafine’s younger sister, Lady Elizabeth, was ill, so he went there immediately.”
“What?”
The Emperor slammed his desk.
The aide flinched and continued.
“Lady Elizabeth apparently called for Sir Cedric, so he went to her…”
“Ha…”
The Emperor frowned in irritation.
“And Rafine?”
“Lady Rafine is still waiting at a restaurant on Roysha Street.”
“What did you say?”
The Emperor immediately stood up.
He quickly put on his robe.
“Summon Cedric to the imperial palace right now. Give him work all night, and you personally check every task he completes.”
“Y-Yes! Understood!”
“You must check it yourself. His mistakes are irritating.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
The aide bowed deeply as the Emperor walked out.
The Emperor removed his mask, put on his glasses, and immediately headed toward Rafine.
