TSKSML 03

Chapter 3

The three daughters of the Emeldia family who appeared in Perfect Lady Angelina were even more of background characters than Helene, the lowest-tier villainess. Their names were barely even mentioned.

They were portrayed as pitiful noble daughters who, thanks to their wicked stepmother, never got a chance to show their talents and faded out from high society. They existed only to make Angelina—who had everything—shine even brighter.

The Emeldia family had once been wealthy, owning all the emerald mines in Herssen.

Fittingly, the three daughters of Count Emeldia had beautiful emerald-green eyes, just like the gemstone.

The eldest, Lilliana Emeldia, was 22 years old. She was a classic beauty with soft, light brown hair, resembling their late mother.

She was the epitome of a noble lady—graceful and elegant. So proposing marriage to her was no easy task unless one came from an equally prestigious household.

Although many high-ranking noble families saw Lilliana as an ideal daughter-in-law, no proposals came her way—perhaps because no one could accept being in-laws with Helene, the shame of the Empire and the so-called Red Witch.

After the servants left due to Helene’s debts, all the housework fell on Lilliana.

She would rise early and work until evening, and no matter how exhausting it was, she always ended her day in prayer to the Sun God.

The second daughter, Jaina, was 17 years old. She had inherited her father’s dark brown hair and had sharply defined, striking features—both pretty and handsome.

Unlike her refined older sister, she was a wild tomboy. Having taken after their father, who was once a knight, she was naturally athletic.

She was already 175 centimeters tall—taller and stronger than most men.

That’s why she could easily subdue Helene when she caused a commotion trying to set the house on fire. For the record, Jaina absolutely despised Helene.

The youngest, April, was 10 years old—quite a bit younger than Lilliana. Despite being the baby of the family, she wasn’t particularly sweet.

She was either unusually mature or just had a sly, secretive air about her. She often holed up in her room doing who knows what.

Her hair was red, just like Helene’s. But she wasn’t Helene’s biological child. Apparently, red hair ran somewhere in the Emeldia bloodline.

Like the others, April was pretty and had big round eyes typical of the Emeldia lineage, but her personality had not one ounce of cuteness.

Maybe it was because of the memories from when she had been Han Yena in her previous life, but Helene didn’t find the sisters hateful anymore.

Perhaps because she had lived a similar life, she felt a sense of kinship—and guilt.

“If this follows the plot of Perfect Lady Angelina, then I’m literally the worst parent in the world…”

But no matter what Helene felt inside, the situation didn’t change.

Three pairs of furious emerald eyes were boring into her.

“…So?” Helene asked, crossing her arms and tilting her chin up.

She had only said those things to avoid getting her fingers chopped off, but it was clear the sisters had misunderstood her deeply.

Just because she’d regained memories of her past life didn’t mean she could suddenly become a different person overnight.

She couldn’t keep hiding forever, and in a way, she thought maybe it was better this way.

Jaina was so dumbfounded by Helene’s shamelessness that she grabbed the back of her neck.

“There’s a limit to shamelessness…”

As Jaina fumed, unable to even form words, the eldest, Lilliana, stepped forward.

Lilliana, who never lost her composure, was calm even now.

But she couldn’t hide that she was angry. Her voice trembled slightly.

“You’re planning to marry me off to pay your debts? What right do you have as our stepmother?”

Unlike Jaina and April, who refused to even address Helene directly, Lilliana consistently called her “Stepmother.”

She spoke logically and calmly.

“Why not? I’m your mother, aren’t I?” Helene replied with a shrug.

She did feel guilty, but if she admitted she had no right now, all her plans would fall apart.

After Count Emeldia died, the girls’ relatives were quick to distance themselves from the bankrupt family.

Even their so-called godfather was too obsessed with making money to care about them. So, Helene was the only one left who could act as their guardian.

This world was unjustly structured so that the head of the household held all the power.

And the head of the Emeldia family was Helene.

Even Lilliana, usually the composed one, clutched her forehead as if she had a headache.

“You? Our mother? I’ve never thought of you that way, not even once!”

The youngest, April, stepped forward and shouted.

“What’s with that look?” Helene thought.

April’s already large green eyes widened even more as she glared at Helene, then suddenly shoved her.

It wasn’t much force—she was only ten—but her glare was so venomous it made Helene freeze.

Helene pretended to be unbothered, took April’s hand, and met her gaze as she spoke firmly.

“April, even if you’re angry, you can’t go around pushing people. You could’ve gotten hurt.”

April had never been scolded by anyone before.

She lost her mother at age two, and her father and sisters were too wracked with guilt to ever discipline her. No one had the heart to scold a child who grew up motherless.

“W-what? Are you crazy or something?”

But Helene had been hot-tempered, prone to cursing and throwing whatever was within reach if she felt even slightly insulted.

So this calm, rationally angry Helene was completely new to them.

Angered by Helene scolding April, Jaina grabbed her hand to stop her.

Helene screamed in pain at Jaina’s unreal grip strength.

“Ow, ow, ow!”

“What are you doing to April?!”

After barely prying Jaina’s hand off her, Helene said,

“From now on, I’d like Jaina and April to also call me ‘Stepmother,’ like Lilliana does.”

“What?”

Jaina looked at her like she was insane—probably thinking, how dare you play the victim here?

Shaking her sore wrist from Jaina’s grip, Helene continued,

“It’s not for my sake. No matter how much you insult me, I won’t be any more hated than I already am. But people might start treating you the same as me.”

In truth, Lilliana probably hated Helene the most.

If not for Helene, she might have become the head of the household as planned.

Still, Lilliana insisted on calling her “Stepmother.”

It was her way of drawing a line—to say that this so-called stepmother had no influence over her.

When you deal with filth, you get filthy—no matter what.

“I’m not even saying don’t talk bad about me. Just… do it in your room when it’s only the three of you.”

Helene turned to April, who was still frozen from being scolded for the first time in her life.

“And April, no matter how much you hate me, I’m bigger and older than you. I’m not someone a child like you can confront head-on. What would you have done if I really was crazy and fought back?”

Helene hadn’t scolded April for talking back. She wasn’t demanding blind obedience from children.

She just meant that if you’re going to challenge someone stronger than you, you’d better be smart about it. This was a valuable life lesson learned cheaply.

In this world, success came from knowing how to distinguish strength from weakness, not good from evil.

“You’ve never cared about us before. And now suddenly you’re pretending to be a parent? Is paying off your debt that important to you?”

Lilliana, now composed again, asked coldly.

It was true—Helene had never acted like a parent to them.

In fact, she had gambled away their entire fortune, leaving them with no future.

Some days, she would curse at them just for making eye contact.

“Yes. I’m definitely going to pay it back.”

Han Yena’s adoptive parents had been similar.

As marginalized people, they had treated her not as a daughter but as someone even weaker than them.

They constantly told her she’d never succeed at anything.

Yena spent years in torment trying to prove them wrong.

Though she ultimately died having achieved nothing, one thing had always been true—she hated being indebted to anyone.