Chapter 5

“Excuse me?”

“What did you do to Eileen that made her cry?!”

“Eileen cried?”

Why did she cry? She didn't seem to be crying at all when I saw her just a while ago.

‘But what’s it to me if Eileen was crying?’

As I tilted my head in confusion, Kedrick pushed me for an answer with a frown.

“Did you think I would let it slide if you played dumb?”

“Played dumb?”

“Hmph.”

Kedrick, just talking incomprehensible words, made me feel frustrated, but the one responsible for the frustration scoffed, looking at me as if I were being ridiculous.

‘Come on, for real. Why did he come here and pick a fight with me out of the blue?’

I no longer had any desire to respond further, leaving me with only a furrowed brow.

Kedrick’s facial expression also turned sinister in response.

“…”

“…”

Time passed as we scowled at each other.

‘Ugh… What a waste of time.’

Kedrick’s sudden visit and attempt to pick a fight left me feeling very displeased, but I couldn't let the situation drag on indefinitely. I let out a small sigh and broke the tense silence.

“I have no idea what you're talking about right now, so why don't you give me some explanation?”

Kedrick's eyebrows twitched, apparently disliking my words. But instead of prolonging the staring contest, he replied irritably, “Eileen went to meet you and then returned crying.”

“When she was with me, she didn't cry. Maybe something happened after we parted ways?”

“Your venomous words must have hurt her.”

What? While I gaped in bewilderment, Kedrick continued without pause.

“What did you say to her this time? Don't you feel sorry for her, even after seeing her arm? Well, if you had a shred of conscience, you wouldn't have tormented her like that.”

I tried to listen to his nonsense, but I couldn't take his increasingly acrid remarks any longer.

“Excuse me.”

At my call, Kedrick, who had been talking non-stop, finally closed his mouth. Before he could open his mouth again, I quickly spoke up.

“I understand that my past actions made you feel suspicious of me, but this time, I really didn't do anything. All I did was have a normal conversation.”

“A normal conversation?”

As Kedrick muttered that, which seemed as if he was thinking, ‘You and Eileen?’ I explained in more detail.

“A normal conversation––I asked how she was doing and also apologized for what I’ve done so far, things like that.”

“Unbelievable.”

‘What the heck, seriously.’

Was this what it felt like talking to a brick wall? Only annoyance surged within me as he didn’t even try to listen, despite my explanations.

At first, I thought I could understand his suspicions because Sylvia had done so many things wrong, but this was too much.

I replied in a subdued voice, “It doesn’t matter whether you believe me or not.”

“What?”

“You seem to have made up your mind already, so I think there’s no point in my efforts to tell you the truth. If you want to keep thinking I distressed her, go ahead. You won't believe me anyway, will you?”

“…”

“I don't want to persistently bow down to someone who refuses to listen even when I tell the truth. Just think whatever you want and leave, please. I’m tired.”

As soon as I finished my words, I turned away quickly. This body, which seriously lacked basic physical strength, was strained to the point where my legs were shaking from just a little movement.

‘I should just go to sleep.’

While I strode toward the bed, suddenly, something I hadn't said flashed through my mind.

“Oh, and it seems like you’ve forgotten something.’

Making an introductory comment, I turned around again.

Kedrick had a similar expression to the one Duke Atlante had shown me earlier––a silly, flustered face hilarious enough to alleviate my accumulated frustrations.

As I had come to think of it, Eileen also had the same look on her face when I apologized to her.

‘Is it because they share the same blood? Their reactions are the same when they're flustered.’

But that blood didn’t only flow in the three of them. It also flowed in Sylvia Atlante, although I wasn't sure if the person in front of me was aware of that fact.

“Your sibling is not just one, but two. Not only is your lovely Eileen your little sister, but I, whom you hate like crazy, also share the same blood as your sibling.”

He might not want to believe it, though, since Kedrick Atlante found it terrible that he shared the same blood with Sylvia, whom he hated so much.

“Well, I know that too. Not all siblings have a good relationship. In fact, there are many siblings who have a worse relationship than strangers, right? Like us.”

“…”

“Let's continue as we have been––maintaining our current brother and sister relationship, which only acknowledges whether we are alive or dead. And if possible, let’s avoid encountering each other too.”

If you understood, please leave my sight now.

***

Kedrick left the west wing with a weak, unsteady gait, completely different from his usual dignified stride. He walked with heavy steps as if he had seen a ghost, his expression vacant. It was understandable since he wasn’t in his right mind due to what had just happened.

‘Is she just now… really Sylvia?’

Instead of throwing a tantrum as usual, surprisingly, she had calmly responded to him.

The moment the word, “Sylvia…” slipped out of Eileen’s mouth, who was shedding tears, he impulsively rushed to the west wing, filled with anger.

Until that moment, Kedrick couldn’t imagine he would have a ‘conversation’ with Sylvia as he never had a proper one with her before, not even once.

When they met in family gatherings or parties, they hardly ever spoke to each other. The only words exchanged between them were when Sylvia yelled in excitement or anger, which held no meaning, and Kedrick would warn her to be quiet.

So, Kedrick assumed that things would be the same this time too. He held onto this thought when he was furious with Sylvia who tormented Eileen again within a day of breaking her arm and even tarnishing their family’s honor. But…

“I have no idea what you're talking about right now, so why don't you give me some explanation?”

Instead of throwing a tantrum, Sylvia asked him in a calm voice. Although at first, he thought she was trying to avoid her wrongdoing, which only fueled his anger…

“I understand that my past actions made you feel suspicious of me, but this time, I really didn't do anything. All I did was have a normal conversation.”

But as she continued speaking, his confusion grew instead of anger. And her following words shocked him as if hammering his head.

“If you want to keep thinking I tormented her, go ahead. You won't believe me anyway, will you?”

‘Am I the one who was wrong?’

Kedrick hadn't even considered the possibility that he was in the wrong when he entered the west wing.

He knew Sylvia had a terrible reputation and that her personality was just as wicked. She was capable of breaking Eileen’s arm one day and making her cry with harsh words the next, without feeling sorry at all.

However, if what Sylvia said was true, and it was just his speculation rather than a fact… If he had confronted her in anger without fully understanding the situation…

Kedrick’s face contorted in distress.

***

“Geez, this just ruined my mood. Why did he have to come and cause a scene with someone who’s staying quiet?”

I tried to just sleep but couldn't because of Kedrick. Knowing that I would definitely have nightmares in this mood, I cautiously got up and picked up a pen and paper.

“Let's plan how to live from now on.”

My goal was clear. <Live happily for a long, long time.> I rubbed beneath the sentence I carefully wrote.

“I don't want to be powerless in this life. Even if there's nothing I can do about it…”

In my past life, I suffered from illness and died without even daring to dream of what I wanted to do. And the previous Sylvia…

“Even though she had the means and conditions to do anything, she was able to do nothing because she was concerned about how others would perceive her.”

She wasn't even loved by her family, but still, Sylvia was the legitimate daughter of the Atlante ducal family who was powerful, honorable, and even rich!

“Honestly, if Sylvia wasn't Duke Atlante’s daughter, she couldn't have gotten away with all that misbehavior until she was twenty.”

Sylvia's family name played a huge part in why she could wreak havoc and still be fine. No matter how out of control she was, there was no one who dared to mess with someone from the Atlante ducal family.

And Duke Atlante let Sylvia maintain her life as the daughter of the House of Atlante, even though he didn't care for his daughter.

“Even without doing anything, they would provide her with delicious food, take care of her, and also regularly give her an allowance…”

It was a life that many people desired and envied.

‘So many people wanted to be born again with a silver spoon in their mouths. But hers was not even silver, but a diamond one.’

However, Sylvia, born in such an envious household, wasn't actually happy.

“Is she really Lady Atlante? She’s so different from her family…”

“Better off gone, I say. If I were her, I wouldn’t have the nerve to stick around like that. Doesn't she feel sorry for her family?”

Even when she stayed quiet, Sylvia was constantly compared, ridiculed, and pointed at.

Sylvia, who had never received love from anyone, couldn't love others or herself and just kept going down the wrong path. That was why she never felt happy in her short life.

“Relieving her emptiness through appetite only ruined her body, and the mockery for that made her personality even worse. It was a vicious cycle.”

There was only one thing that mattered more than anything to Sylvia—it was affection.

“But I’m not.”

I didn't crave the love of others like Sylvia did so desperately. The attention or affection of people who meant nothing to me felt cumbersome.

“What's the point of worrying about what others say when you don't know how or when life can change?”

I wrote <Live my own way> in big bold letters on my planner.

“I'm going to use whatever I can, and do whatever I want in this life.”

I would enjoy the benefits of being Lady Atlante and use the memories of the future if I could.

‘Even so, I can't stay here for long, though.'

Five years in the future, I would be kicked out to the northern Avalt territory, filled with demons. Of course, this was because Sylvia obsessively tormented Eileen and even slapped her at a royal event.

So, if I could change from now on, that future might not happen.

‘… But even if that incident doesn't occur, do I have to keep staying here?’

I recalled Duke Atlante’s cold, contemptuous blue eyes directed toward Sylvia and then soon shook my head.

‘He’s a man who has no affection for his daughter to look at her with such eyes, so I can’t feel safe and stay here.’

Even if I didn’t bother Eileen and lived a quiet life, I could be driven away at any time if I fell out of the Duke’s favor. Because, after all, everything Sylvia enjoyed came from his hands.

‘Or he might sell me off to a suitable marriage when I come of age.’

Profiting from their child’s marriage was considered perfectly natural among noble families.

‘I don't want that.’

I didn’t want to marry someone I didn’t love, especially if it was not my decision but someone else’s.

“… I guess I should prepare for independence.”