Not the Hero, Not the Villain — Just the One Who Wins-Chapter 78: The Weight of Silence

The fragile peace of the shopping district dissolved the moment we stepped back onto the Academy grounds. The mana lamps cast long, lonely shadows, and the comfortable quiet between us was replaced by the heavy weight of unspoken words. Yumi had fallen asleep in Lucielle’s arms, her rainbow lollipop half-finished and sticky, her small face peaceful against my sister’s shoulder.

We walked back to my dorm in near silence. It wasn’t an angry silence, but one thick with years of misunderstanding, a chasm that a single afternoon couldn’t bridge. When we reached my door, I took Yumi gently from Lucielle’s arms.

"I’ll take her from here," I said, my voice low. "Thanks for... today."

Lucielle nodded, her gaze fixed on Yumi’s sleeping face. "She’s... she’s lovely, Ashen."

"I know."

I turned to leave, but her voice stopped me. "Can I come in? Just for a minute."

I hesitated. Every instinct screamed at me to refuse, to retreat back into the safety of my solitude. But looking at her, at the raw vulnerability in her golden eyes, I found myself unable to say no.

"Fine," I muttered. "But make it quick."

I laid Yumi down in her bed, tucking the covers around her before joining Lucielle in the living room. She stood by the window, staring out at the moonlit gardens, her back rigid.

"Why?" she finally whispered, her voice cracking. "Why do you push me away like this, Ashen? What did I do that was so wrong?"

"You did nothing," I said, my voice flat and cold. "That was the problem."

She spun around, her fists clenched. "That’s not fair! I was always there for you!"

"Were you?" I shot back, the dam of my restraint finally beginning to crack. "Were you there when the other noble kids called me a failure? When they cornered me in the training grounds after every lost duel? Were you there when Father looked at me with nothing but disgust in his eyes? When he told me I was a stain on the Crimson name?"

My voice rose, laced with a bitterness I hadn’t realized I’d been holding onto for so long. "Where were you, Lucielle? Where was my protective older sister then?"

Tears streamed down her face, but her expression wasn’t one of guilt. It was one of anguish. "I was fighting!" she cried out. "I was fighting for you, you idiot!"

I froze, stunned into silence.

"You think I didn’t see what was happening?" she continued, her voice trembling with a fury I’d never heard from her before. "After you were humiliated in the Tournament, Father forbade me from speaking to you. He said your weakness was contagious. He threatened to have me sent away to a border territory, to strip me of my inheritance if I so much as looked in your direction. He wanted to isolate you, to break you, so you’d be forced to become the ruthless heir he wanted."

She took a ragged breath, her shoulders shaking. "I couldn’t fight him directly. I wasn’t strong enough. So I did the only thing I could. I trained. I pushed myself until I bled. I fought to become the Vice President of the Student Council, to gain power, to build influence—all so I could finally have enough standing to shield you from him. I thought if I became strong enough, I could protect you. But by the time I was ready... you had already built your walls so high that no one could get in."

Her confession hung in the air between us, heavy and suffocating. The world seemed to tilt on its axis. All this time, I had seen her silence as abandonment. But it had been a shield. A desperate, flawed, and ultimately failed attempt to protect me in the only way she knew how.

"You... you did that for me?" I whispered, the words feeling foreign on my tongue. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"I’ve always done it for you," she sobbed, sinking onto the couch. "You’re my brother, Ashen. My stupid, reckless, and ridiculously proud little brother. And I failed you."

I stood there, my carefully constructed world of cold logic and detached cynicism crumbling around me. The anger, the resentment, the years of feeling utterly alone—it all began to dissolve, replaced by a profound, aching sorrow. We were two sides of the same coin, both trapped by our father’s ambition, both fighting a silent war the other knew nothing about.

I slowly walked over and sat beside her, the space between us charged with a fragile, hesitant energy. I didn’t know what to say. ’I’m sorry’ felt too small. ’Thank you’ felt like a lie.

So, I did the only thing I could.

I reached out and awkwardly patted her on the back. It was a clumsy, unfamiliar gesture, but it was honest.

She looked up, her tear-streaked face a mixture of surprise and relief. A small, watery laugh escaped her lips.

"You’re still terrible at this," she said, wiping her eyes.

"I’m learning," I replied, a ghost of a smile touching my own lips.

The silence that followed was different. It wasn’t empty. It was filled with the quiet understanding of shared pain, of a bond that had been bent but not broken.

Ding.

The chime from my watch was a harsh intrusion. I glanced down.

[Physical Examination Teams Assigned]

[Quest Details: Available Now]

I tapped the screen. My team roster appeared, and my blood ran cold.

Team 7:

Ashen Crimson

Liora Nowa

Aurelia Dawncrest

Cecilia Thorne

Nyx Voxx

Eren Whitehound

Supervisor: Layla Nowa

I stared at the list, my mind reeling. The names were a roll call of my most complicated relationships and fiercest rivals. Liora, my ex-fiancée. Aurelia, the girl with an unrequited crush. Cecilia and Nyx, two powerhouses who saw me as a direct competitor. And Eren, the hot-headed prince I’d only recently managed to put on a leash. The Academy’s "complex algorithm" had just handed me a team composed of pure, unadulterated chaos. And Layla, the Student Council President herself, was our supervisor.

What the hell happened to the timeline? I thought, a cold dread seeping into my bones. In the original story, Rin’s team was the all-star lineup. This... this was a deviation. A massive one. Was it because of my rank? Did the system try to balance the scales by saddling the top student with the most volatile and dysfunctional team imaginable?

Whatever the reason, my fragile moment of peace shattered.

Lucielle leaned over, her own watch displaying her team. "Looks like I’m with Sasha and some of the knight-class students," she said, then her eyes fell on my screen. Her jaw dropped.

"You have got to be kidding me," she breathed, a horrified laugh bubbling up. "They put you in charge of them?"

The world, it seemed, had a cruel and deeply ironic sense of humor. The next challenge was here. And it was going to be a very, very long week.