Journey to Become the Zenith

The Marquis Is a Woman!!!

The woman holding the silver Long sword was looking at Victor with a murderous gaze. In response, Victor simply showed his trademark smile.

The cave fortress had fallen strangely quiet.

Only moments ago, the air had been filled with the clatter of armor, the cries of soldiers, and the sharp whistle of arrows cutting through the cavern. Now, after Victor had casually dismantled their defenses, an uneasy silence settled over the battlefield.

Dust drifted through the golden light of the torches.

Several armored knights stood frozen where they had charged. Broken swords lay scattered across the stone floor, and the fortress gate remained open behind them.

Victor stood calmly among the wreckage.

His black hair shifted slightly in the underground breeze. His golden eyes rested on the woman beyond the gate, studying her without the slightest trace of fear.

She was the one who had attacked him.

And judging by the reactions of everyone around her, she was clearly someone important.

The woman tightened her grip around the silver Long sword.

Her green hair fell over one shoulder, catching the light of the nearby torches. Her purple eyes were cold enough to make the surrounding knights unconsciously straighten their backs.

She did not look like someone who had been caught off guard.

If anything, she looked like someone who had finally found the person she had been waiting to confront.

”What do you want? Why did you kill my people?” the woman presumably the Marquis spoke to Victor.

Victor raised an eyebrow.

He had expected anger.

That part was obvious.

What surprised him was the confidence in her voice.

She wasn’t trembling.

She wasn’t desperately ordering her guards to protect her.

She was confronting him directly.

Victor’s smile widened slightly.

”Okay, question. But don’t you think you should tell me who you are and where the Marquis is?”

The moment those words left his mouth, the woman’s expression changed.

Her purple eyes became even colder.

For a brief moment, Victor could almost feel the temperature of the cavern drop.

”The Marquis?”

She stared at him as though he had just said something ridiculous.

”I am the Marquis.”

Victor blinked.

For once, he genuinely had no immediate response.

”...You?”

The woman narrowed her eyes.

”Yes. Me.”

Victor looked at her again.

Then he looked past her at the fortress.

Then back at her.

The rumors suddenly became much more confusing.

During the long journey toward this hidden residence, he had heard countless stories about the current Marquis of the Elmhart family.

Most people described the Marquis as a man.

Some called him a terrifying brute.

Others claimed he was a timid noble who had suddenly become ruthless.

There were villages where people whispered that the Marquis was a shameless man who stole other people’s wives.

There were towns where people insisted the Marquis had locked himself inside his residence and spent his days conducting strange experiments.

Then there were the stories about his swordsmanship.

According to some witnesses, the former timid young lord had suddenly transformed into a completely different person.

He had challenged swordsmen around his territory.

He had defeated them.

And the swordsmanship he displayed afterward was supposedly beyond anything they had ever witnessed.

Victor had naturally assumed most of those stories were exaggerated.

Rumors had a habit of growing teeth as they traveled.

A frightened villager would see a nobleman riding through the countryside and call him a monster. Someone else would repeat it at an inn. Another person would add a little more detail.

By the time the story reached the next village, the monster had become a wife-stealing tyrant.

Victor had therefore treated almost everything he heard with suspicion.

But now...

The person standing before him was undeniably a woman.

And she was claiming to be the Marquis herself.

Victor’s golden eyes moved over her face once more.

She didn’t seem to be lying.

Her posture was too steady.

Her irritation felt genuine.

There was no hesitation in her voice, no nervous glance toward her soldiers, no desperate attempt to maintain a false identity.

She genuinely believed that Victor should already know who she was.

A strange thought crossed his mind.

’So the rumors weren’t exactly lies.’

They had simply been misunderstood.

Perhaps people had seen the Marquis behaving in ways they couldn’t understand and filled in the blanks themselves.

Victor almost laughed.

The rumors had traveled so far that even the gender of the Marquis had apparently been changed somewhere along the way.

He had spent fourteen days searching for a supposedly terrifying male noble.

And now he had finally found her.

”Interesting,” Victor muttered.

The woman’s eyebrow twitched.

”What is interesting?”

”Nothing.”

”Then stop looking at me like that.”

Victor’s smile became slightly more amused.

”I was just trying to understand how so many people managed to get your identity wrong.”

Her expression darkened.

”Rumors are rarely accurate.”

”Apparently.”

Victor glanced toward the soldiers surrounding her.

”Although I have to admit, some of them were surprisingly consistent.”

”What did you hear?”

Victor considered telling her.

Then he decided against it.

There was no reason to insult her before they had even figured out why they were standing opposite one another.

Instead, he gave a small shrug.

”Enough to make finding you interesting.”

The Marquis stared at him.

Victor could tell she was becoming increasingly annoyed.

That amused him even more.

She had the temperament of someone who disliked being toyed with.

Unfortunately for her, Victor had never been particularly good at resisting an opportunity to tease someone who took themselves too seriously.

She took one step forward.

”Stop flirting and answer me.”

------------------------------

Authors Notes: Dear Readers, Thanks so much for joining me on this adventure! Your enthusiasm, feedback, and encouragement really keep me motivated to keep bringing *Journey to Become the Zenith* into existence. If you’re loving the Chapters, I’d love it if you supported my book with a Powerstone, review, or even a Golden Ticket—it helps me develop as a writer and lets more readers enjoy the story. I look forward to hearing your ideas and thoughts, so please don’t hesitate to share!

With love,

Scorpio_saturn777

Creator of Journey to Become the Zenith

--------------------