“We have no need for a daughter like you in this family!”

The shout was as sharp as a spear, but Catherine took it with the same nonchalance as being summoned to dinner. She had been insulted by this woman just as often, after all. Blinking lazily, Catherine reclined in one of the drawing room’s chairs. Not this again. How long is she planning to go on today?

Her stepmother, Viscountess Laura Orlean, marched over, poised as if to launch into a lengthy speech.

“My word. Our guest is still standing, and yet you, the eldest child, dare sit before him? I taught you better than that, Catherine.”

In stark contrast to the bright crimson of Laura’s face, her ivory finger trembled as she pointed at her stepdaughter.

Really? You taught me? The bugs outside were better teachers than you ever were. Finally, Catherine glanced at their visitor. What was there to say about Charles Kilholder? He was her fiancé, but in actuality, he was something more of an enemy. Though they were engaged in the eyes of the public, their hostility toward each other was palpable beneath the thin veneer.

He cringed as soon as she made eye contact with him, and after searching the room for somewhere better to look, he settled for staring at the floor. Catherine observed Charles’s timid behavior before turning back to Lady Orlean.

“So, what do you want from me?” she asked.

“Didn’t I already tell you?” Lady Orlean shot back sharply, as if she’d been waiting for such a response. “We have no need for a brat such as you in the House of Orlean! First, you show no shame for the rumors surrounding you, and now you have slighted Lord Charles through your lack of decorum.”

Catherine rubbed her forehead and tried to stifle a sigh. A decade had passed since Laura became the lady of Orlean, but she had spared no time in her crusade to openly ostracize Catherine. Even Viscount Orlean, once a steadfast supporter of his eldest daughter, began to consider her a nuisance.

The moment it became evident even he had abandoned her, Catherine found that her stepmother was growing increasingly unbearable. Now, this led to all sorts of laughable things. The most laughable of all being that Lord Charles had become entangled with her younger half-sister, Anne Orlean.

“So are you saying you want me out of the house, Mother?” Catherine asked.

This prompted Anne, who had been silently moping, to finally show some concern and grip her mother’s arm.

“D-don’t talk like that, Mother,” Anne said. “The rumors couldn’t possibly be true. Isn’t that right, Catherine? All those bizarre stories are just gossip. I believe you!”

Catherine let out a small, bitter sigh. Tears were already falling from Anne’s eyes as she trembled like a pitiful lily. Upon seeing his beau’s tears, Charles rushed to her and embraced her slender shoulders.

“Don’t cry, Anne. You shouldn’t waste your precious tears.”

“B-but Mother said...”

These people are driving me crazy. Catherine’s disinterest steadily grew into something more frigid. She wished she could toss a white handkerchief embroidered with the words “Get lost!” onto their little stage. The cheating couple was more dramatic than any puppet theater she’d ever seen, and she’d been forced to watch this show for two years now.

That’s quite a long run.

It should be no surprise Catherine was running out of patience after so much time.

“Ah, my darling Anne,” Laura cooed. “What a tenderhearted girl you are.”

Then, her finger raised, Laura whipped around to face her stepdaughter. Even her attitude seemed to reverse as she switched directions.

“How can you not even bat an eye while your sister is in such a state?” Laura demanded, her tone harsh.

“Fine. I’m leaving.”

Laura, Anne, and Charles all gaped when they heard Catherine’s flat voice, but rather than feeling excited, Catherine found herself annoyed.

“Why are you all looking at me like that? I’m leaving, just like you want. I’ll own up to all the rumors saying I’ve given my body to Lord John or that I’ve fooled around with my little brother.”

Not even the popular romance novels of the day were as sundry as the gossip about her. Catherine had to hand it to Anne, who’d been incredibly industrious while spreading these awful fables. Catherine had held herself back for her late mother’s sake, but she no longer felt the need to do so.

Over the past two years, she had bought no more than ten dresses, which meant she had only one new dress each season. Anne, on the other hand, had gotten at least fifty new outfits and had well over eighty more crammed into her wardrobe. Catherine had never wanted luxuries like jewelry, especially when Laura passed off Anne’s outdated wristwatch as Catherine’s birthday present. She also didn’t mind the hideous frayed curtains in her bedroom or her worn-down shoes with heels of different lengths.

“Where did this come from?” Laura asked.

“What do you mean? You’re the one who told me to leave,” Catherine shot back.

And yet, despite accepting her shabby belongings, Catherine had grown weary of her mistreatment. Even living as a peasant or working in a clock factory would be better than her current situation. The corner of Laura’s mouth began to curl up. She wasn’t even bothering to hide how happy this idea made her. The viscountess looked like a fisherman eyeing a net full of wriggling fish.

“Do you truly believe simply leaving the family would make up for ruining the good name of Orlean?”

“Would you like me to kill myself as part of the bargain?” Catherine asked, crossing her legs and slowly leaning back in her chair. She turned a smile to her former fiancé, Charles, who could never look her in the eye without blushing. “Do you feel the same way, Charlie? If I were to hang myself here, do you think that would save your and the Orleans’ honor?”

“I... Uh...” Breathing heavily, he turned to Anne, who clung so tightly to his shirt that a blue vein throbbed on her hand. “I-I think you—”

“Please don’t leave, Catherine!” Anne interrupted. “This is all my fault. I wish you would blame me instead.” Armed with the most pitiable look she could muster, Anne approached Catherine where she sat and clung to her sleeve.

She’s always hanging off of me like some leech.

This could be Catherine’s future: a screaming stepmother, a foolish fiancé, and an overdramatic half-sister. Catherine yanked her arm from Anne’s grasp and stood, brushing her sleeve as though it had been dirtied.

“I’ll take your silence as approval,” Catherine said. “I’m going to go pack my bags. Surely you wouldn’t kick me out empty-handed?”

She swept out of the room and up the stairs, intentionally bumping into Laura and Charlie on her way out. She didn’t have much to do once she reached her bedroom. First, she gathered all her old earrings, necklaces, and rings from her jewelry box. Scouring the room for anything else that might be of value, she scooped all her findings into a bag, including the keepsakes from her mother that she had stashed away for just this moment. Even after all that, she only had enough to fill a single bag.

“What are you doing? How shameless! You even plan to make off with the family’s valuables?” Laura shouted, running into the room.

However, at this point, Catherine was sick of listening and twisted her pinkie finger in her ear to stave off the whiny voice. “Shouldn’t you see to my comfort now that you’re kicking me out? That’s the least you could do for me as my mother in name only.”

“What sort of child talks back to her mother—”

“Ugh, I’ve heard enough. Shut up.”

Lifting her bag, Catherine strode toward her bedroom door. That was the first time she had ever spoken so harshly to her stepmother, but she wasn’t ashamed at all. Instead, Catherine started to feel better. She had tried so hard to hold herself back for the good of the family, and yet the words flowed out of her so easily. As if shocked by this outburst from her normally obedient daughter, Laura gaped at her in shock.

“If you wish to keep living as the viscountess of Orlean, you’d do well to send me on my way without any issues,” Catherine said. “You know what I’m like. I may have tried to keep the peace at home, but I behave very differently outside.”

“Wh-what are you trying to imply?”

“Don’t come looking for me, and I won’t come after you. Father can do whatever he wishes. Unlike someone, I’m very considerate, you see. Since I’m leaving this place forever, it’s the least I can do.”

Catherine heaved up her bag using both her hands and bumped into Laura one more time for good measure. The woman who had so fervently led Catherine around by the nose and pointed fingers at her flitted aside like a sheet of paper in the breeze.

Her energy renewed, Catherine marched into the hallway only to run right into Anne and Charles embracing each other in the afternoon sunlight like a scene right from a romance novel. As Catherine approached them, they flinched and trembled before her. She took this opportunity to give her fiancé—no, her former fiancé—a sharp slap across the cheek.

“Argh!” he cried.

“Be glad I’m stopping at that,” Catherine said.

“Ch-Charlie? Are you all right?” Anne asked. “Catherine, what are you— Eek!”

To really drive the point home, Catherine also gave her sister a kick to the knee. Anne collapsed to the floor and howled as she clutched her injured leg. Catherine had been dying to hit this girl for so long. Towering above her sister, she beamed.

Everything was perfect. Even the warm sunlight spilling across the carpet was like a sign of divine favor. Although she was losing her family, Catherine felt no rage or sadness, only relief. Who knew it would feel so good to get everything off her chest?

Grinning, she descended the stairs, passed the whispering servants, and left the manor. She was the one being abandoned, and yet her steps felt lighter as she walked away. Catherine confidently crossed the street and hailed a passing carriage. The driver tipped his hat to her as she sat in the back.

“Where to, miss?”

“Just get me out of Orlean, please. I’ll think of a destination on the way.”

Catherine opened the map she’d stuffed into the bottom of her bag. The Iterana Empire took up one-third of the continent, and in an eastern corner of that empire lay the tiny county of Orlean. It was a mere speck on the map in the grand scheme of things. In fact, it would be an embarrassment to even compare the county to the large territories that lay around it. I can’t believe I’ve spent my whole life on this tiny pile of dirt.

“Oh-ho, going on a trip, miss?” the cabbie called back to her.

“No... I’ve been kicked out of my family home.”

“Oh dear. A nice lady like you? What has the world come to!”

Catherine wasn’t exactly sure herself. She’d left the house in a fit of anger, and now she watched as the manor of Viscount Orlean grew smaller and smaller in the distance. I’m sorry, Mother. I held out for as long as I could. Please try to understand. I have to live my life too.

Yet, for some reason, she couldn’t stop smiling.