In a secret area of ​​a large mansion, a beautiful woman with long silver hair and blue eyes coldly observed a girl kneeling on the ground.

This girl with silver hair also wore a simple white one-piece dress, which was ruined and covered in dirt.

The girl's breathing was labored, her delicate white porcelain skin was covered with sweat and stained with bruises. Her long hair was a mess, and her heterochromatic eyes showed a lack of will commensurate with the heavy air of defeat that enveloped her.

A line of blood ran from the edge of that girl's soft and delicate lips, which made clear the unfortunate physical condition in which the girl was.

"Is that all you have?" —the cold-eyed woman expressed this in a tone of voice filled with rejection.

The girl's shoulders shook at that.

"If you are not strong enough, you will end up becoming a mere concubine" —the girl's body tensed. "Which will undoubtedly lead to your secret being discovered and in such a situation, there are only two scenarios, that we are all executed, or that your master does not really care and in fact, he is truly pleased to have you at his disposal”

Imagining both scenarios, some tears fell from that girl's heterochromatic eyes.

Contrary to her childish appearance, that girl was already in the early years of her adolescence, which is why she perfectly understood each of the words said by that woman who was actually her mother.

"I don't particularly care about the second scenario, however, I refuse to be executed because of your incompetence" —the woman's voice filled with severity.

Despite her sorry state, the girl awkwardly sat up after picking up a practice sword from the ground. Her gaze did not reflect motivation and her face showed an empty expression. She had not stood up again motivated by her mother's harsh words, she had done it as a reflex act.

"Leto-sama..." —several meters away from that scene, a beautiful young woman with blue hair whispered with concern that name.

The silver-haired woman watched her daughter closely for two seconds, then let out a long, weary sigh.

"There is not a single bit of motivation in you, to save me trouble, perhaps the best thing would be to kill you right here"

Hearing such words come from her own mother caused Leto a strong shock, her small, lean body trembling as silent tears flowed from her face.

"So... then why didn't you kill me when I was born?!" —Leto's empty expression twisted to reflect anger and reproach.

Leto's family was subject to various impositions because of the crime committed by an ancestor several centuries ago, and the most brutal of these impositions was the prohibition of the existence of men who carried the blood of Leto's family, the Lyndell House.

What kind of crime should that ancestor of House Lyndell have committed to suffer such punishment?

Although Leto did not know the answer since her mother had never told her, this was something that was strongly related to her, Leto was actually a boy and not a girl.

Going against the empire's impositions, Jilliana Lyndell, Leto's mother, had somehow evaded the eyes of the empire to give birth to a male who carried Lyndell's blood, Leto.

"It was just a whim, a troublesome whim that I might as well solve right now" —Jilliana's voice was charged with a deep coldness that even caused Leto to shiver.

For Leto his mother was an impossible woman to understand, she was sometimes very affectionate, other times she enjoyed teasing him and during the training sessions she was cold, hard, and merciless.

"Then you do it!" —Leto was already at the limit, his whole life had been pressured by this impossible to understand mother, who had even imposed several curses on him that would prevent him from developing as a normal male.

What was the meaning of continuing with all this that seemed to be mere entertainment for his mother?

"I understand, so that's what I'll do" —Jilliana tossed aside the practice sword in her hand and unsheathed the thin sword that hung from her waist instead.

Leto shuddered to see that. Would his mother really finally kill him after having threatened him so many times with the same thing?

With a cold expression on her face, Jilliana walked towards Leto. However, to Leto's surprise, her mother passed him and continued advancing towards the young woman who was watching everything, Gabriel.

"But first, I'll take care of Gabriel"

Leto's eyes widened at that, his skin sweat coldly.

"Gabriel has nothing to do with this!" —Leto panicked.

"It has nothing to do with it? To help you, she gave you her chastity and because of this, she has completely lost her value. Their only current use is to continue helping you, if you are no longer around, I will no longer need her”

Unable to read whether or not his mother's intentions were real, Leto took his practice sword and ran to stand in front of Gabriel, who showed a sweet smile as she saw Leto trying to protect her.

Leto knew that doing something like this had no meaning. There was no way he could defeat his mother, yet his body had moved on its own.

Since he could not understand his mother and since his sister had hated him. for Leto, Gabriel was perhaps the most important person in his life.

In his clearest memories of when he was a child, Gabriel had always been by his side helping him in everything and taking care of him, she had even given him her innocence, how could Leto just see his mother murdering her? No matter what doubts Leto had about Gabriel regarding the reasons she went so far for him, the only thing that mattered to Leto was that Gabriel was someone important to him.

Leto was not proud of his poor attempt at heroism, Gabriel was actually stronger than he was, but she could never face her mother.

If the two joined forces, could they face Jilliana? It was impossible, Leto was at level 2, Gabriel was at level 4, and although Leto did not know the exact level his mother was at, he would not be surprised if she were at the maximum level, level 9.

"Have you found a little motivation?" —Jilliana flashed a mocking smile that was accompanied by a pair of mocking laughter.

Even if Leto's body continued to tremble with fear, his gaze was no longer empty. His eyes showed a solid determination to protect Gabriel.

"I will not let you hurt Gabriel" —Leto stated this as he clenched the hilt of his practice sword tightly.

Standing behind Leto, Gabriel brought her hands to her mouth as her cheeks flushed red. She looked like a damsel in distress who had ended up falling deeply in love with the prince trying to protect her. Or would it be right to say, princess? Only Gabriel knew the answer.

"And you plan to protect it with a simple practice sword?" —Jilliana pointed her sword at Leto as she exclaimed that in a mocking tone.

"I will do it!"

After giving that energetic response, Leto launched himself at Jilliana.

“Fast Step!”

Leto's speed increased and before reaching Jilliana, he made a simple feint and moved to his mother's right, then made an attack.

Jilliana showed an imperceptible mocking smile as she reacted to Leto's attack. She swung her sword.

The practice sword and the sword collided, and as expected, the practice sword that was made of wood was easily slashed by the edge of the true sword.

Leto expected for this to happen, he released the hilt of his sword and leaned his body as he continued to charge towards his mother.

Jilliana showed that imperceptible smile again, and although she could actually easily react to Leto's next attack, she didn't.

"Stun Palm!" —Leto pushed the palm of his left hand onto Jilliana's abdomen while activating one of his active-skills, Stun Palm.

Leto's palm hit Jilliana's abdomen and a slight electric shock emerged from that contact. If it had been effective, that electric current had to spread throughout Jilliana's body. However, this did not happen.

"You use a skill that causes an altered state on an opponent several levels stronger than you, you still have a long way to go"

Leto heard those words before losing consciousness, the last thing he felt was his mother's hand on his head, she had used the same skill he had tried to use on her, Stun Palm.

Leto fell to the ground under his mother's faint smile.

"Leto-sama!" —Gabriel rushed to Leto's side.

As Gabriel approached, Leto's body emitted a faint glow and a golden star appeared floating above him.

"He gained a skill..." —for two seconds Jilliana lost her breath, but quickly showed a big smile.

Leto getting a new skill, plus a skill with one gold star, something like this made Jilliana feel that it had been worth it to have forced Leto like that.

Completely ignoring what was good news, Gabriel reached Leto and checked his breathing with a visible expression of concern on his face.

"You are too permissive with him, that is why he is incapable of showing will for his own good and only reacts to protect others" —Jilliana exclaimed that and let out a slight sigh as she watched Gabriel reviewing Leto.

"You are too tough, Jilliana-sama, do you really have to go so far as to make Leto-sama hate you?" —Gabriel showed an unusual look full of reproach and anger.

"You are pretty when you get angry Gabriel, don't you want to come to my room tonight?"

Gabriel frowned upon hearing these, even if Jilliana used that to evade an answer, that woman was not entirely kidding.

"My body, soul, and heart belong to Leto-sama, so I will kindly ask you to stop playing with that topic and answer my question"

When Gabriel had been brought to the Lyndell mansion by Irena Lyndell, she was barely seven years old, and back then, Gabriel was practically a living dead without emotion or desire, a girl who had seen enough horrors to be mentally broken her.

The one who had helped Gabriel out of that state was an adorable silver-haired girl who looked like a little angel, Leto.

Little by little, Leto's radiant smile bewitching Gabriel and illuminating that dark abyss in which her heart was submerged.

Fully in love with Leto, Gabriel had decided to stay by her side and not only serve as her personal maid but also protect her from any danger and even from that absurd fate that condemned her to become the concubine of some unknown man. For Gabriel, no one in this world had the right to stain Leto's purity, and it should be noted that when Gabriel decided this, she did not know that Leto was actually a boy and not a girl.

Jilliana let out a nervous laugh as she watched Gabriel's angry expression. Whenever it was about Leto's well-being, Gabriel was extremely tough.

"Leto is already the third attempt of our family, my grandmother failed, my mother also did it, but I have no room for failure"

Gabriel's expression went from anger to bitterness upon hearing that.

"I have exhausted the last of the fairy dust that our family possessed, Kristin cannot try it, Leto is our last chance to achieve it" —Jilliana's voice was full of bitterness, some moisture even formed over her eyes when remembering everything that she had been forced to do to Leto for all these years for the sake of the Lyndell House.

Fairy dust was an unequaled treasure, an invaluable treasure that allowed for the creation of tangible illusions, something that Jilliana had used during Leto's birth to deceive the officials of the imperial court.

"The ancient curse of..." —Gabriel could not pronounce the name, she felt as if her throat had suddenly closed.

"Your mother was the daughter of a Lyndell, you also carry the blood of our family in your veins, because of this and your deep love for Leto, I have entrusted you with this secret"

Gabriel's grandmother had been Irene Lyndell's younger sister, and consequently she had ended up as a mere concubine.

The concubines are only intended to serve for pleasure, their children are of little importance if they do not show useful skills, but this is not the case with the Lyndell's. Even as concubines, Lyndell women are prohibited from giving birth to men.

In an unusual way, Gabriel puffed out her cheeks with dissatisfaction.

"Devotion" —Gabriel emphasized trying to correct part of Jilliana's previous words.

In response to Gabriel's insistence, Jilliana shrugged with a mocking smile.

Despite everything that had changed since he met Leto, Gabriel still had a great inferiority complex that prevented she from accepting that she was in love with Leto, Gabriel did not feel worthy of loving Leto.

Gabriel's expression of dissatisfaction quickly changed to one of anguish as she suddenly saw Jilliana drop to her knees and cough up blood.

"Jilliana-sama!" —Gabriel turned away from Leto and ran to Jilliana.

"It's okay, this time he hasn't been so aggressive ..." —Jilliana raised her face showing a faint smile to hide the pain she was feeling.

"I really don't understand Lyndell's reason for going that far, Jilliana-sama" —Gabriel expressed this after letting out a heavy sigh. She really knew what Jilliana was trying to accomplish, but didn't consider it to be something worth risking so much for.

"If it wasn't, then Leto wouldn't exist" —Jilliana let out a slight laugh as she stood up again.

Gabriel could not answer that, Jilliana was right, if it weren't for Lyndell's obsession, Leto would undoubtedly have been executed at birth since the ancestors of the Lyndell House had not moved heaven and earth to get the fairy dust.

"Still, don't you think it would be better to tell Leto-sama the truth instead of pretending to be a villain?"

"And let him know the enormous weight he carries on his shoulders? No, it's better this way, so Leto can enjoy his life a bit until it comes when the curse emerges in him. It will be at that moment, if I am no longer by his side, it will be you who must tell him the truth”

Once again Gabriel could not deny Jilliana's words. If Leto knew the truth, he would try even harder and could not enjoy the brief moments of peace he had outside of Jilliana's strict training regimen.

As for the responsibility of revealing the truth to Leto, after having imposed three curses on her own son, Jilliana had naturally received a powerful curse as punishment, and because of this, no one really knew how long Jilliana would live. Irena Lyndell had lived long enough to meet Leto, however, the effect of the curse that the last three heads of the Lyndell House had received for the same reason was not subject to an exact time, Jilliana had not met her grandmother.

"I will rest for two hours, then we will wake up Leto and continue training, it will not be long before I must go to the academy, we must make the most of every second"

Gabriel could only nod with great helplessness at Jilliana's words. All of this was beyond her hands and all she could do was unconditionally support Leto.