Chapter 55
When describing a person, hair color is an essential detail. But like height or body shape, it’s not a trait that remains unchanging for life.
As people age, their hair naturally fades. Conversely, hair that was bright in childhood can grow darker over time.
However, as far as Eirik knew, there was no case of a sixteen-year-old suddenly turning gray.
Even if the head maid’s information was from a few weeks or months ago, Eirik also knew that Lanjé Baer had hair similar in tone to Erna’s—light golden brown.
Sixteen years.
Unlike Swanhild, who had cleanly erased all memory of her son’s illegitimate child, Eirik had seen Lanjé a few times himself.
Though the distance had been too great to make out her face, he clearly remembered the color of her hair. Or rather, even if he couldn’t recall the scene perfectly, he was confident that if the child had such a distinct feature, he wouldn’t have forgotten it.
That’s why Eirik didn’t hesitate to raise his gun.
“I believe you really did dispose of the real child and deceived your father.”
Sometimes, when something is too absurd, it leaves one speechless. Lanjé blinked several times and admitted it to herself.
I let my guard down.
An invitation from her uncle… she hadn’t anticipated danger and had relaxed her vigilance. She hadn’t sensed a thing until the gun was already pointed at her.
She blamed herself for becoming soft.
…Though it’s possible my uncle is far more skilled than I imagined.
It was also hard to deny the calm, expressionless ambush that revealed no intention beforehand.
As Lanjé reflexively stepped back, Eirik also advanced a step forward.
“Uncle, let’s just…”
Lanjé tried speaking to him.
“Let’s calm down first. If you take a moment to think, you’ll realize how absurd all of this is.”
She wasn’t expecting him to calm down. As expected, a flash of unhidden rage crossed Eirik’s furrowed face.
This was clearly a matter of stubbornness.
Lanjé knew that in this state, he wouldn’t listen to a word she said. Still, she didn’t stop talking.
“What’s the reason for this sudden suspicion?”
“Because you’re calmly doing things my real niece never could.”
Lanjé had grown up in an environment where learning magic was impossible.
Not just the family’s secret arts—even basic theory was a foreign concept to someone raised by a maid in a household she didn’t belong to.
Yet she had found the vault flawlessly, escaped the mansion without a trace, and even passed the academy’s entrance exam, which had been changed from previous years.
To Eirik, it was more plausible that this was an imposter who had taken his niece’s place than believing she was a once-in-a-century genius.
It was a far more comfortable explanation.
“…I think I get what you’re suspecting.”
Lanjé steadied her breath.
“But you have no intention of resolving this with a conversation, do you?”
“Would you trust the excuses of someone you couldn’t overpower?”
The moment he finished speaking, Eirik pulled the trigger.
✦ ✦ ✦
Erna stared blankly at the tools her aunt, Claire, had laid out before her.
After Eirik and Lanjé had gone out, Erna followed Claire to another room.
It was a large space with only a small table and two chairs. It was likely cleared out for this very occasion.
Except for Xavier, who had hesitated and stayed behind, Erna and Claire sat facing each other, while Heine and Alyx stood behind them like silent guards.
Claire opened the box on the table and began speaking.
“You’ve probably heard how the fact that you and your sister were switched as children came to light.”
Though she had lost her composure momentarily when speaking with Lanjé, Claire now spoke steadily and without hesitation.
“Only a legitimate heir acknowledged by the head of the family can open the vault. But ancient magic may have loopholes we don’t know about. Eirik wanted conclusive proof.”
Inside the glass vial was crimson blood, radiating a chilling aura.
“It would’ve been best to use your mothers’ blood for comparison, but… they’re no longer with us. Fortunately, grandparent-grandchild lineage is within the range of reliable accuracy.”
The morning after the vault was opened, Eirik had left for Morigen. He intended to compare the blood of the Marchioness of Morigen—Erna’s maternal grandmother—with that of the sisters to determine who the legitimate daughter truly was.
Am I not nervous anymore?
Erna observed her own surprisingly calm heart.
In the past, she might have held onto a small sliver of hope from Claire’s explanation.
Maybe the vault had simply malfunctioned. Then she could stay close to Lanjé without guilt…
But now she knew.
As Lanjé had said, there was no way to undo something that had already happened. The unchanging truth was simply that they were sisters. Swanhild’s bloodline no longer held any meaning for her.
Still, this is a necessary procedure.
They needed to finish this in order to complete the paperwork, obtain information, and move on.
“What should I do?”
“Just give me a bit of your blood.”
Erna pricked her fingertip with a needle as Claire instructed.
Claire dropped Erna’s blood into a silver bowl, added a special solution, and channeled mana into it. The runes etched into the bowl began to glow faintly.
She dipped the test paper into the bowl and finally added the blood of the Marchioness of Morigen to complete the process.
“<The scales of Astraea do not lie.>”
As Claire recited the chant, the light surrounding the bowl gradually grew stronger.
After about a minute, it reached its peak and began to dim. The solution stopped rippling.
The test paper came out completely smooth, without a single mark.
“So the flaw was in the safeguards from sixteen years ago.”
Claire murmured with a composed expression, while Alyx studied Erna’s face.
Contrary to her concerns, Erna asked in a steady voice,
“So now it’s certain? That Lanjé is the real one… not me.”
“What’s real or fake depends on the criteria you choose. All this test shows is that there is no close blood relationship between you and the Marchioness of Morigen. We’ll have to test her as well when she returns.”
Claire leaned back and sighed.
“Eirik will be disappointed…”
“Why would Uncle be disappointed…?”
“He was convinced the vault had malfunctioned. That’s why he asked me to test you first before he left.”
Alyx and Heine, who had been quietly listening, found it hard to understand why that would lead to disappointment.
Erna, too, looked at Claire with a puzzled expression.
Not being the sentimental type, Claire didn’t bother to explain. She turned her attention to the headache she anticipated next.
“He better not cause a scene.”
Her muttered words went largely misunderstood by the others.
✦ ✦ ✦
Did I lose her…?
The one Claire was truly worried about—Eirik—had only just emerged from the dust cloud.
The serene stillness of the pond, where waterfowl had floated peacefully, was shattered by the gunshot and an explosion. When Eirik fired, Lanjé responded instantly by casting a spell.
The first bullet was blocked by a shield.
Without hesitation, Lanjé aimed a magic bullet at Eirik’s feet.
She had no time to fine-tune her aim or use support tools, so the attack was weak.
But it was enough to kick up dirt and buy time to escape.
Eirik clicked his tongue at her quick thinking.
This was not the level of someone who hadn’t even trained for a year.
The spell itself was simple and poorly refined, but considering her limited time, it was nothing to scoff at.
The real issue was her reaction speed. Her casting style also deviated slightly from the standard first-year curriculum.
First-years struggle just to aim correctly. But she deliberately targeted the ground at close range…
That kind of judgment only came from real-world experience.
His suspicion deepened.
Eirik scanned the direction she had fled.
She was still visible, but he needed to close the distance to catch her. He followed her into the forest.
Choosing a forest full of cover wasn’t a bad move—in ordinary cases.
But Eirik believed this would prove to be her downfall.
She made a complacent choice.
While Eirik pursued closely behind, Lanjé had completely lost her usual composure.
Is my uncle… mentally unstable?
She had suspected something was off, but she never imagined he’d shoot without warning. She had trusted that he at least had some basic decency.
Even if he doubted her identity, to go on a stroll with someone and then fire at them? That was beyond irrational.
Could Erna be in danger too?
Going over the situation again, Lanjé realized that this danger likely targeted only her.
Eirik still seemed to believe Erna was his niece. And what he was doing now probably wasn’t agreed upon with his wife, Claire.
If Claire had shared Eirik’s suspicion, they could’ve caught both girls at the villa without this hassle.
Moving outdoors like this only increased the chance of mistakes.
But Lanjé’s relief didn’t last long.
Bang!
Another gunshot ripped through the air.
It didn’t hit her directly, so she could still move. But it wasn’t due to Eirik’s lack of skill.
He never intended to hit her.
At close range, he could avoid vital spots and control the depth of a wound. But from this distance, precision was impossible.
This wasn’t a mere warning shot either.
The bullet just now carried far more danger than expected.
Eirik Swanhild, after all, was a mage.
Though Lanjé had never seen his abilities in action, in this era, a bullet fired by a mage…
Could also serve as a medium for powerful magic.
Then she heard Eirik’s chant.
“<Knot of Alesha.>”
And the forest began to quake.
