Riser

25-280

Added 2025-09-20 19:55:25 +0000 UTC

EP.280. [Ulysses Schneider, the Master Who Protected His Disciple.]

Antoine noticed the obsessive fire in Raonjena’s eyes and allowed himself a sly smile.

“So I searched everywhere for a way to improve Ulysses’s condition,” he said, his expression turning serious again.

“Did you find a way?” Raonjena, her motivation blazing, pressed him eagerly.

“I did,” Antoine replied, nodding calmly at her.

“In the demon tribe’s perpetual snow mountains, there’s a rare herb that cures poison with poison. It’s dangerous for ordinary people, but if someone has deep internal injuries from demonic energy, it acts as a medicine.”

He explained the solution he’d found.

“A rare herb from the demon tribe’s snow mountains…” Raonjena trailed off.

“Yes. It’s illegal. There’s a huge difference between simply entering that region and bringing out such a dangerous herb,” Antoine said. It was a reckless plan something only outlaws or renegades would attempt, yet here was a powerful noble proposing it.

“But what choice do I have? My friend’s life is at stake. I couldn’t ignore the method I found, no matter the risk,” Antoine said, his eyes unwavering.

“I feel the same. I’d do anything to save my master!” Raonjena’s hesitation vanished, swept away by Antoine’s conviction. This was the life she’d always dreamed of risking everything for someone she cared about.

“That’s why I told you, Raonjena. I thought you’d join me. I can’t do this alone.”

Antoine had set the trap, and as soon as Raonjena stepped in, he sprang it.

“I tried to suggest it to Ulysses, but he’s become too sensitive from the demonic energy. He wouldn’t accept it. We’ll need a more indirect approach.”

Antoine, now serious again, reached into his coat pocket.

“You serve Ulysses his daily tea, don’t you?”

He referenced their regular morning tea times, where Ulysses, now spending more time with Eugene, would catch up with Raonjena and learn about Sophist’s affairs.

“That’s right,” Raonjena replied, focusing intently.

“Then it’s simple. Just add this elixir to his daily tea.”

Antoine produced a small pouch containing the rare herb elixir.

“In the tea my master drinks…”

Raonjena took the pouch from Antoine.

“You’ll need to administer it over a long period. Use small amounts so the effect builds gradually, and Ulysses, with his sharp senses, won’t notice the addition.”

Raonjena, tense, listened carefully as Antoine gave her detailed instructions.

“Don’t worry. If it helps my master, I’ll do it perfectly, even if it takes years.”

She clutched the pouch tightly, her eyes filled with obsession and resolve.

“That elixir you gave me back then is that what created Sophist, and made you what you are now?” Victoria asked, seeking clarity as Raonjena recounted the story. The elixir that turned Ulysses into the Sword Demon and caused the current awakening effects in Sophist its source was Antoine de Sel Oblaing.

[I never doubted him… How could I suspect that bastard Antoine… Damn! Damn!]

Raonjena glared with bitter resentment, cursing Antoine. Though she didn’t answer Victoria’s question directly, her outburst made the truth clear.

Victoria silently watched Raonjena, who trembled with anger and grief.

“My master’s condition is getting worse. He seems even more on edge. I think it’s because of the elixir!”

After a long period of administering the elixir in tea, Raonjena anxiously sought out Antoine, noticing Ulysses’s deteriorating state.

“It’s the elixir, Raonjena. But that means it’s working, not a side effect.”

By now, Antoine had risen to the second-highest rank in the Imperial Knights and was being courted as a possible next emperor. His authority and prestige had grown immensely, and his attitude toward Raonjena had become more condescending.

“But… what do you mean?”

Raonjena couldn’t protest.

‘Is it not a side effect? Really? Really?’

She was barely in her early twenties and couldn’t handle the consequences of her actions. Though she’d become a sword expert, her emotional state was still that of a child lacking close bonds. She desperately wanted to believe her choice wasn’t wrong.

“Some noise is natural as antibodies form. The elixir is fighting the demonic energy in Ulysses’s body. Don’t make such a fuss.”

Antoine, seeing through her anxiety, offered her reassurance.

‘That’s right… it must be true… This is Duke Antoine, my master’s closest friend. He wouldn’t lie.’

Raonjena’s mind became almost split, her anxiety peaking. She became nearly dependent on Antoine’s words, as if gaslit.

“Strange, though. Ulysses never showed those symptoms when he was with Eugene Schneider.”

Antoine began to stoke her insecurities and low self-esteem.

“What?”

Raonjena’s anxious relief turned to alarm.

“Exactly. I’ve never seen it myself. Maybe he was controlling himself because his real son, Eugene, was there.”

Raonjena’s jealousy and resentment centered on Eugene Schneider, believing she’d lost her master’s heart to him. Antoine deliberately used the term “real son” to stoke her feelings.

‘I’ll prove it…! I’ll prove I’m more helpful to my master!’

Those with broken self-esteem from jealousy and victimhood seek something special to validate themselves. Antoine’s manipulation led Raonjena to lose her ability to judge rationally.

“Raonjena. Your master has a favor to ask his beloved disciple…”

This ultimately led Ulysses Schneider to ruin.

‘Ah… my master’s current state…’

Ulysses, giving his beloved disciple a gentle smile, looked ready to depart this world. Death was in his eyes.

‘I… I did this to my master…’

Raonjena had justified and brainwashed herself countless times, her obsession and victimhood immense, and Antoine’s gaslighting relentless. What finally melted her frozen obsession was her master’s sincere affection.

Accepting his fate, Ulysses began to say his final goodbyes to his beloved disciple. Raonjena realized she had driven her master to his death.

“For a while, please look after the Sophist brothers who are away. I’d do it myself, but I don’t think I can…”

Ulysses asked Raonjena to take on an external mission, not wanting her near when his end came.

‘He’s sending me away so I won’t be caught up in his death.’

Seeing death in Ulysses, Raonjena finally understood his intentions.

“Master, I…!!”

She wanted to refuse, to confess that her foolishness had caused his state.

“Please do as I ask, my beloved disciple. It’s my earnest request.”

Ulysses placed a hand on her shoulder, as if he knew everything.

[I knew. I knew my master would die miserably and be left with a shameful reputation.]

So Raonjena left Sophist for a while.

Thud!