MTLNOVEL Chapter 183
Chapter 183. Nina
──My life was one of constant resignation.
Nina von Frodite perceived her existence this way from birth to the present.
Her family was a distinguished lineage of knights.
A rare household in this country that inherited bloodline magic focused on physical enhancement, honing swordsmanship above all else.
They made their living by protecting the country’s magic users, who struggled with close combat—essentially a mercenary trade pursued as a family business.
Nina was born as the eldest daughter and the only girl in such a family.
──Moreover, she was more gifted with the sword than any of her younger brothers.
She loved wielding a sword.
She enjoyed moving her body, honing her skills, and the joy of being praised and appreciated for her efforts.
Back then, she still believed in herself.
She didn’t mind the idea of eventually inheriting the family name.
Helping people with her sword felt like a pure purpose in life, a passionate goal she could wholeheartedly dedicate herself to.
What shattered that belief wasn’t the revelation of her Bloodline Magic.
“What the hell! Why does it have to be you, Sister? Because of you, I’m…!”
It was her younger brother—one of her brothers, his body covered in bruises—
He’s glaring at her with hatred and accusing her in a voice dripping with resentment.
At that moment, she realized something.
The more she excelled, the more her talents were recognized—
The more her brothers were labeled as failures who couldn’t measure up to a girl. Weaklings worse than a woman.
Her father, who valued swordsmanship above all else, scolded and punished them mercilessly, urging them to try harder, to make up for their lack of talent through effort, to catch up to their sister.
They were subjected to grueling training, close to torture—and still, they couldn’t surpass her.
She confronted her father, begging him to stop tormenting her brothers.
But her father dismissed her plea, coldly stating:
“Above all, those boys want to catch up to you. Are you saying you’d take that purpose away from them yourself?”
──Her father cruelly declared that she was the root of her brothers’ suffering.
From that day, she became afraid of wielding a sword.
What used to be a simple, joyous act of swinging a blade—
Now conjured the image of her brother’s hateful, tear-streaked face.
Every time she grew stronger, it hurt her brothers more.
Training, honing her skills, becoming stronger—
She came to hate all of it.
Her deep love for her family only intensified her inner conflict.
Her lack of focus during training was noticed, and her teachers and father scolded her, making her despise it even more.
Still, even half-hearted training made her stronger, further deepening the rift with her family.
The final blow came when her bloodline magic was revealed.
She was called vile and evil, her position in the family destabilized.
Her father expressed his disappointment, and her brothers took out their pent-up frustration on her.
Finally, the brother who had first blamed her appeared before her.
He mocked her bloodline magic and expressed bitter resentment that he couldn’t surpass her swordsmanship.
Even so, he claimed he still held familial affection for her.
For a brief moment, his words lit up Nina’s face—
But then he coldly added, with a sneer devoid of any positive emotion:
“But isn’t that just because your magic bewitched me into thinking so?”
His baseless accusation struck cruelly.
──He declared, in the harshest terms, that he no longer wanted to see her as family.
In that instant, she thought:
…Ah.
──Then that’s enough.
If growing stronger meant hurting her family—
If it meant being hated, resented, or hearing such words—
She didn’t need the sword anymore.
She couldn’t find meaning in strength.
The passion she thought she had felt faded away like a mirage.
Soon after, her father formally disowned her, citing her magic as the reason.
She probably could have resisted, but at that point, she saw no reason to.
She accepted it quietly and left her family home.
…In the end, that’s all it was.
To her, the sword—or anything else—was something she could only pursue when it was fun.
The moment it became painful or unpleasant, she gave up.
She realized then that she was flighty and fickle, easily discouraged—a fair-weather soul at her core.
Another event reinforced that awareness. When she was taken in by a branch of the Frodite family after being cast out.
She initially believed she might rekindle her passion and chase her old dreams in a new environment.
But she gave up quickly.
Because Lucius was there.
The moment she saw him, she knew he was a monster.
His overwhelming magic power, his flawless movements honed by mastery of the sword—even without his magic, he was a genius beyond her family’s wildest standards.
She realized that the Frodite family had taken her in as a spare. A backup, in case something happened to Lucius.
She understood the political pragmatism of it and couldn’t resent the Frodite parents, who treated her kindly.
Her adoptive brother Lucius, though single-minded, was an admirable knight who treated her warmly.
She quickly grew fond of the Frodite family.
Yet, precisely because of that…
she decided she could settle for being a spare.
She kept a polite distance, avoiding tragedy by remaining in a lesser role.
She couldn’t find a reason to strive any further.
Most people can’t hold lofty ideals or abandon everything to chase them.
Only a select few can. As Nina had once said, only a handful can take part in world-shaping battles or be the protagonists of grand tales.
The rest of humanity—including herself—bends under hardship, easily broken by difficulty.
She shared this belief with her classmates in Class B, who were mistreated and worn down by their harsh circumstances.
She empathized, offering comfort and reassurance that it was okay to give up.
But deep down, she despised herself for being unable to try.
And so, she looked up to others who could.
People like Katia, proud and steadfast even in adversity;
Sara, quietly harboring noble ideals beneath a passive demeanor;
and above all, Hermes, who returned from his own exile, unbroken, destroying everything she had resigned herself to accept.
To Nina, they shone unbearably brightly.
And she thought, perhaps, the passion she had lost might flicker back to life.