284 – The Apostle of Pride -1-

Soon after the blue window rose.

Hanna sat alone on the bench when strange words began to appear before her eyes. Not the neat script of the blue window she was used to, but crooked, as if someone had written them by hand.

They appeared before Hanna’s eyes.

[During the quest, you may use the power of ??? once temporarily.]

Upon reading the words, Hanna bit her lip.

There was nowhere to run.

So.

She went to see her father, knowing it was the worst thing to do. Even if the choice she made led to the worst possible outcome.

Because Hanna had no regrets.

*

Rowen’s eyelids fluttered at the visitor who came to his office. It was the person who vowed never to return, standing right before him.

He couldn’t help but be surprised.

The visitor standing before him greeted Rowen with a cold voice. It’s been a while.

“It’s been a while, Dad.”

Histania Hanna.

She left the embrace of her family because she hated the family… No, because she hated herself.

Rowen, looking at Hanna holding a sharp sword, wanted to ask many questions, but first, he wanted to call her name.

“So, it has been a while, Histania Hanna.”

“Yes, Dad, it’s me.”

Hanna forced a smile as she looked at Rowen. Rowen’s hand trembled slightly at his daughter’s reluctant smile. Because the meaning behind that smile was not a good one. Rowen let out a bitter sigh.

‘Why now of all times?’ The thought crossed Rowen’s mind. He was not prepared for this moment.

He thought of himself as a stubborn fool, not ready to accept anything yet.

He realized something was wrong, but without mental preparation, the only thing he could show his daughter was his true self.

Nothing but a sigh came out.

Rowen held his drink and looked at Hanna.

Bleary eyes.

Pale complexion.

The blue sword in her hand.

The sight of his daughter, not the timid and fearful one, but one who seemed to have made a decisive choice, looked very unstable, as if she might crumble at any moment.

Rowen, struggling to part his lips, finally spoke to Hanna.

“There’s much I want to say, but first, I must point this out.”

“To my daughter, who has visited after so long… is it a criticism?”

“Right and wrong must be clearly defined.”

Rowen exhaled deeply and said to Hannah,

“Who told you to bring a sword when entering the office? I don’t recall ever teaching you such manners.”

Hannah, who had been standing quietly for a while, let out a hollow laugh as she subtly shone her sword in the moonlight.

“There should be something to follow if it’s taught.”

“What…?”

“Never mind. Today, I just wanted to rebel for once.”

“Histaria Hannah. If I had wished for legal punishment, you know you wouldn’t escape severe consequences.”

“That’s disappointing. Even so, I am your child… No, well…”

With an unchanged expression, Hannah spoke to Rowen,

“I’m sorry. Stupid me, I’ve made another mistake.”

“Be more careful next time.”

“But.”

In a soft voice, Hannah murmured to Rowen,

“After all, Father, it wouldn’t matter to you if I held the holy sword or, rather, the cursed sword. It’s disposable to you.”

“…Histaria Hannah.”

“That’s right, isn’t it?”

Hannah spat out a sneer and said to Rowen,

“What can I possibly do.”

Rowen clenched his fist, wanting to ask why she spoke so aggressively. He was speaking with the utmost courtesy, yet Hannah’s tone was so confrontational that Rowen almost snapped, ‘Shut that mouth.’

“Sigh…”

Rowen sighed, revealing his true feelings to Hannah’s words,

“That’s not what I really meant. You are my daughter…”

“What am I then?”

“You…!”

Hannah looked straight at Rowen and asked,

“What am I, really? In this family, to my father, who doesn’t treat me as a person, what am I?”

“You are my daughter.”

“…I’ve been thinking. Who am I? Why do I have to be treated this way? I’ve shown the talent I so desired, yet why can’t I be recognized?”

I hope this captures the essence and mood of the original text. If there’s anything else you need, feel free to ask.

“…”

“Do you know, Dad? Why must I be treated this way?”

“It’s all for you…”

“What exactly is for me…?”

Hanna bit her trembling lips as she spoke to Rowen. What do you even want in a daughter?

“What is it for me, why do you act like you understand everything?”

The visit from the daughter who had severed ties was a welcome one for Rowen. He thought she would never come on her own.

But.

Rowen had no choice but to bow his head at the sight of Hanna, shaking with rage, her fists trembling as she hurled abuse.

He was still unchanged.

Knowing it was wrong, yet unable to utter the words his daughter longed to hear.

His stubbornness had not been broken.

His heart still not easily tamed.

Hanna continued to pour out her vitriol at Rowen, as if she wanted to end it all right there.

“Why did I…!”

“…”

“Why did I have to be treated like that…? Did I commit a mortal sin against you, Father? Did I tarnish our family’s name? No, I didn’t. No, I didn’t!!! All I did was strive not to be a stain on this family, on the name of ‘Father’! Why do you do this to me…!”

Hanna bit her lip until it turned purple and cursed at Rowen. Words that should never be said to a father.

“If you were going to do this, you should have just abandoned me.”

“…”

“I could have met that person sooner if you had just abandoned me. Why did you raise me?”

“Histania Hanna!!”

Rowen, caught off guard by Hanna’s childish words, suddenly stood up and shouted. There are things one should never say to a parent, no matter the enmity.

“You’ve crossed the line now.”

Hanna clenched her fist.

“What about you, Father?”

In the silence, Rowen stopped in his tracks and looked at his own reflection in the mirror.

‘Ah…’

A young body.

A flesh that evades the passage of time.

The man who seemed to have it all carried ‘ugliness’ on his face.

It was full of the ‘rationalizations’ of the talentless he so despised.

In a reality reflecting his selfish grasp for control, Rowen stammered excuses to Hannah with a trembling voice.

For his own pursuit of victory.

“I… I did it for you…”

Hannah’s frown deepened at Rowen’s stuttering figure.

“What have you done for me, Father…”

“I…”

“You taught my brother the sword, and for my sister, you provided the means to learn it.”

Hannah spat out her question to Rowen. Why was there nothing for her in this situation?

“In my memory, Father, you’ve done nothing for me but indifference. What was it for me…?”

“I was harsh to prevent you from wasting time. Like any parent wanting their child to follow a good path, I wanted that for you too…!”

“Then you should have told me at least once.”

“…What?”

“Not just every day ‘Stop it.’, ‘You have no talent.’, ‘You wielding a sword is a disgrace to Histania.’! You could have spared me just 10 minutes.”

Hannah spoke to Rowen with a quivering voice.

“If you had invested just 10 minutes in me! If you had said one kind word… I wouldn’t have come to dislike you this much.”

“…No. I to you.”

“Is there a scene in your memory where you and I talk alone?”

Hannah chuckled bitterly, shaking her head. Turning away as if to hide the tears streaming down her trembling hands, she spoke with a voice soaked in defeat.

“I don’t have one… Funny, isn’t it? But you know what’s funnier? I don’t remember ever laughing in this family.”

“…”

“Ha… Really…”

-Sigh…

“Funny, isn’t it?”

A blue window flashed before Hannah’s eyes.

[You can project ‘Your Image’ from the 72nd side story for a certain period of time.]

Not funny at all.

‘Despair.’

All of these moments.

The blue window utters with conviction.

It feels as if the walls of emotion, laboriously built, are crumbling.

There’s no room for excuses now.

Falling again because of you.

Getting hurt again because of you.

Standing within the cycle of this relationship that always returns to the same place, I look so pitiful… And because I feel I’ve inflicted deep wounds on him within this cycle, Hana couldn’t laugh.

Because in this side story, I feared the choices I had made. I didn’t want to repeat these mistakes.

So.

I wanted to break free from this cycle for good.

To the father I no longer wished to see.

I wanted to give one last chance.

And with a heart begging for this last opportunity to be seized, Hana spoke to her father.

“Take up the sword.”

“…”

“This time, I will prove it.”

Emotions cling to the tip of the blade.

Not the emotion of murderous intent, but something else.

As if a floodgate has opened within the deeply accumulated feelings, the emotions quivering at the sword’s edge were wildly scattering.

Ferocious.

Wild emotions.

An aura as dark as pitch, which the heavens cannot contain, began to fill Hana’s sword.

[The curse of pride begins to stir.]

In an instant, Lowen saw Hana differently. The image of a woman wielding a blood-soaked sword overlapped in his vision.

She looked just like Hana.

But she was a woman who had walked a different path.

Suppressing her emotions, Hana said to the trembling Lowen,

“I’ve tried so hard for you.”

-I sacrificed so much for you.

“Sacrificing a warm nest.”

-Giving up the place beside the one I loved.

“I wished I were dead.”

-In that cave, I wished for death.

“I despaired and cried countless times.”

-I cursed you, countless times.

“Hanna…?”

Hanna, with her head bowed, spoke to Rowen.

“The sword. Take it up now.”

-Ding.

[Side Story 72 – ‘The Apostle of Pride’ is projected onto Hystania Hanna.]

Thus, to Rowen.

A deep darkness arrived.