Chapter: 5
“Pardon?”
“What did you do to Eirin to make her cry?!”
“Eirin cried?”
Why would she? When I saw her earlier, she didn’t look like she’d been crying at all.
And what does Eirin crying have to do with me, anyway?
When I tilted my head in confusion, Kedrick scowled and pressed me.
“Did you think pretending you don’t know would make this go away?”
“Pretending?”
“Ha.”
I was about to die of frustration because of Kedrick’s incomprehensible accusations, but the person acting like I was ridiculous was him—snorting derisively as if I were beneath him.
What the hell? He barges in out of nowhere just to pick a fight?
All desire to argue vanished, and I only frowned.
Kedrick mirrored me, his expression growing hostile.
“……”
“……”
Time passed as we glared at each other.
Ugh… what a waste of time.
I didn’t like Kedrick at all for storming in and causing trouble, but I couldn’t afford to keep wasting time like this.
Letting out a small sigh, I spoke first.
“I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about, so how about you explain it properly?”
His eyebrow twitched, clearly displeased.
But instead of continuing the staring contest, he answered irritably.
“Eirin went to see you and came back in tears.”
“She wasn’t crying when she was with me. Isn’t it possible something happened after we parted?”
“She must’ve been hurt by your venomous words.”
“What?”
I stood there dumbfounded, mouth hanging open, but Kedrick didn’t stop.
“What did you say this time? After seeing her arm, didn’t you feel even a little sorry? Then again, if you had even an ounce of conscience, you wouldn’t have tormented her in the first place.”
I tried to endure his nonsense, but his words only grew sharper, and I couldn’t listen anymore.
“Excuse me.”
At my call, Kedrick—who’d been rambling nonstop—finally shut his mouth.
Before he could start again, I spoke quickly.
“I know you have reason to doubt me because of what I’ve done in the past, but this time it truly wasn’t me. I only had a normal conversation with her.”
“A normal conversation?”
Muttering that, Kedrick looked as though he were thinking, You and Eirin?
So I explained more clearly.
“Yes. A normal one. We exchanged greetings, and I apologized for what I’d done before.”
“I don’t believe you.”
Seriously?
Was this what it felt like to talk to a wall? No matter what I said, he wouldn’t listen, and my irritation boiled over.
At first, I understood his suspicion—Silvia had done so many terrible things—but this was going too far.
I spoke in a low, cold voice.
“Whether you believe me or not isn’t my problem.”
“What?”
“You’ve already decided on your answer, so it doesn’t matter what I say. If you want to keep thinking I bullied her, go ahead. You weren’t going to believe me anyway, were you?”
“……”
“I don’t feel like wasting my energy on someone who blocks their ears even when I tell the truth. So think whatever you want and leave. I’m tired.”
As soon as I finished speaking, I turned away.
This body’s stamina was pathetically low—just a bit of movement made my legs tremble.
I should just sleep.
I headed for the bed, but suddenly remembered something I hadn’t said.
“Oh. And you seem to have forgotten something.”
As I began again, I turned back.
Kedrick was wearing an expression similar to the Duke of Atlante earlier.
A blank, ridiculous look—so absurd it almost cleared the tightness in my chest.
Come to think of it, Eirin had made the same face when I apologized.
Must run in the family. They react the same way when they’re flustered.
But that blood didn’t flow through only three people. It flowed through Silvia Atlante as well—whether the man standing before me liked it or not.
“You don’t have just one younger sibling. Eirin isn’t your only sister. I’m your sister too—the one you hate to the point of madness, but still related to you by blood.”
He wouldn’t want to believe it.
Because Kedrick Atlante despised the fact that he shared blood with someone he loathed as much as Silvia.
“Well, I know. Not all siblings get along. In fact, a lot of them are worse than strangers. Just like us.”
“……”
“Let’s keep living the way we have. Just aware that the other is alive or dead—that kind of relationship. And if possible, let’s avoid running into each other.”
Now hurry up and disappear.
Kedrick left the west wing with steps completely unlike his usual disciplined stride.
Dragging his feet, he wore a dazed expression, as if possessed.
It was no wonder—what had just happened had left him shaken.
Was that really… Silvia?
Instead of screaming in rage like always, she’d responded calmly.
The moment Eirin, crying her eyes out, said, “Sister Silvia…,” he’d flown into a rage and rushed straight to the west wing.
At that point, he hadn’t even considered the possibility of having a conversation with Silvia.
Because he never had—not even once.
At family gatherings or parties, they didn’t speak at all.
And if words were exchanged, it was nothing more than him snapping, “Be quiet,” at her meaningless shouting born of anger.
So he’d assumed it would be the same this time.
After all, she’d broken Eirin’s arm just yesterday and tarnished the family’s honor—only to torment her again not even a day later.
Or so he’d thought.
But—
“I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about, so how about you explain it properly?”
Instead of lashing out, Silvia had spoken calmly.
At first, he thought she was just deflecting blame, which only made him angrier.
But then—
“I know you have reason to doubt me because of what I’ve done, but this time it truly wasn’t me. I only had a normal conversation.”
His anger was replaced by confusion.
And her next words struck him like a hammer.
“If you want to think I bullied her, go ahead. You weren’t going to believe me anyway, were you?”
Was I wrong?
When he’d entered the west wing, the thought had never crossed his mind.
Given Silvia’s atrocious reputation, her personality had to be just as vile.
Someone capable of breaking Eirin’s arm one day and making her cry with cruel words the next.
But what if, as Silvia said, it wasn’t true?
What if it was merely his assumption?
If he’d stormed in without properly understanding the situation…
Kedrick’s face twisted.
“Ugh. I’m in a foul mood now. Why do people always come looking for trouble when I’m minding my own business?”
Sleep was impossible now, thanks to Kedrick.
Certain I’d have nightmares if I slept like this, I got up and grabbed paper and pen.
“Let’s make a plan for how I’m going to live from now on.”
The goal was clear.
<Live long and happily.>
I rubbed the sentence I’d written firmly.
“I don’t want to be helpless again in this life. Even if it’s something I can’t control…”
In my previous life, I’d wasted away from illness, dying without even daring to imagine what I wanted.
And the former Silvia…
“She had every condition needed to do whatever she wanted—yet wasted it all worrying about others.”
She wasn’t loved even by her family, but she was still the legitimate daughter of House Atlante—powerful, prestigious, and rich.
“Honestly, if Silvia weren’t the Atlante duchess’s daughter, she couldn’t have lived so recklessly until twenty.”
The only reason she survived despite making countless enemies was the family name.
No one dared lay a hand on an Atlante.
And though the Duke didn’t love his daughter, he still ensured she lived as a noble lady.
“Meals delivered on time, attendants waiting on her, allowance paid without fail…”
A life many envied.
So many people wish to be born rich in their next life—and this wasn’t just gold, it was diamonds.
Yet Silvia, born into such privilege, was miserable.
“Is she really an Atlante? She’s so different from the rest of the family…”
“She’d be better off gone. If it were me, I wouldn’t shamelessly cling on. Doesn’t she feel sorry for her family?”
Even doing nothing, she was compared, mocked, and pointed at.
Never having received love, Silvia couldn’t love others—or herself—and only grew twisted.
That was why she’d never once felt happy in her short life.
“She filled the emptiness with food, ruined her body, got mocked for it, and her personality worsened. A vicious cycle.”
There was one thing Silvia needed more than anything—affection.
“But I’m not her.”
I wasn’t desperate for others’ love the way she had been.
The interest and affection of people who meant nothing to me was nothing but baggage.
“Life is unpredictable. Why care what others say?”
I wrote in big letters on the plan:
<Live life my way>
“I’ll use whatever I can, and do everything I want.”
I’ll enjoy everything that comes with being the Atlante lady—and use future knowledge whenever possible.
Still, I can’t stay here forever.
Five years from now, I’d be exiled to the monster-infested northern territory of Abalt.
That happened because Silvia relentlessly tormented Eirin and even slapped her at an imperial event.
If I change, that future might never happen.
…But even if it doesn’t, should I really stay here?
I recalled the Duke of Atlante’s cold, contemptuous blue eyes and shook my head.
A man who can look at his daughter like that isn’t someone I can feel safe around.
Even if I behave and never bother Eirin again, if I displease him, I could be cast out at any moment.
Everything Silvia had came from his hand.
Or he could sell me off into a political marriage once I’m of age.
That was perfectly normal for noble families.
I hate that.
I don’t want to marry someone I don’t love—especially not because of someone else’s decision.
“…I should start preparing for independence.”
