Chapter 65
It was then that Olivia shoved Cecilia hard, causing her to fall.
When Cecilia and Olivia turned the corner toward the noise, they saw Hera, seemingly having tripped over a hallway table.
Cecilia helped Hera to her feet, and Hera gave Olivia an embarrassed smile.
“Ah, I’m so sorry, Miss Olivia… for making a scene…”
Pointing to the leg of the table, Hera explained the reason she had fallen.
“I was walking carelessly and just tripped.”
“Are you hurt?”
“It doesn’t hurt much. I’m just embarrassed.”
Hera pulled her arm free from Cecilia’s grasp—a deliberate gesture of discomfort that left Cecilia frozen. She was certain that Hera had overheard their entire previous conversation.
Olivia, standing opposite, didn’t notice and felt relieved by Hera’s usual composed demeanor.
Hera asked Olivia in a gentle voice:
“Were you talking with Cecilia?”
“Oh… we were just… saying goodbye. I was about to head back.”
“I see. Please drop by again, Miss Olivia.”
Olivia called her attendants and finished preparing to return to the Marquis’ residence. She briefly met Cecilia’s eyes but then turned away, clearly signaling a ‘failed deal.’
“Take care on your way back, Miss Olivia.”
Hera and Cecilia saw Olivia off at the entrance. Cecilia alone sensed that beneath Hera’s kind smile, other emotions were hidden.
Watching Hera’s back silently, Cecilia finally spoke.
“You heard everything, didn’t you?”
“……”
“Sister.”
Hera’s expression stiffened instantly. She did not feel like turning to face Cecilia standing behind her.
Cecilia, her voice drooping, called again.
“Sister…”
“I… don’t even know what to say.”
The conversation between Cecilia and Olivia had been a huge shock to Hera. From the moment she became Emilia, Hera had thought of Cecilia as a unique younger sister. Her affection was overwhelming, bordering on obsessive, and there was a possessiveness and desire to monopolize.
Hera had dismissed it lightly before, thinking all sisters might be like that. Until now, Cecilia had been the lovable, cute, protective sister in Hera’s eyes.
“Should I be grateful, or should I think this presumptuous?”
But if Cecilia tried to hurt Duke Laurent by using the young lady who liked Julian, that crossed the line.
“Or should I call it frightening…”
Hera couldn’t handle it. She couldn’t handle Cecilia.
“Frightening? Me?”
The word “frightening” struck a nerve with Cecilia, who grabbed Hera’s arm tightly. Surprised by the strength, Hera turned toward her.
“Ouch!”
“Do you know? The sister who lost her memory seems like a completely different person. It feels like someone else is inside your body, pretending to be you.”
“……!”
Hera froze, her heart plummeting.
Although Cecilia had spoken figuratively, ironically, it was exactly true.
Had Cecilia’s love for her sister been so intense that she seemed to possess a superhuman intuition?
“If it had been the old you, you wouldn’t have obeyed Father so quietly. I’m just doing what you would have done. You would have handed poison to foolish Olivia!”
Cecilia’s voice rose, tinged with emotion. It seemed less like anger at Hera and more like whining at her sister for not truly understanding her heart.
“We swore, didn’t we? That nothing in this world was more important than our lives. We swore to protect each other so Father couldn’t use us as tools and throw us away.”
Seeing Cecilia start to cry like a child, Hera could no longer say a word.
“Even if you can’t remember that promise… you’re still you, Sister.”
The children of the Tollyn family were strange. They were nobles who sometimes hated nobles, yet at other times acted more nobly than anyone. Above all, they clung desperately to survival.
Beneath the surface of the Tollyn family’s refinement was a desperate plea for life, as if drowning in a deep sea.
“I will protect you, Sister, no matter what.”
That desperation easily spread to Hera. She had also struggled between life and death and could recognize their signals for help more clearly than anyone.
So she felt she could never easily turn away from the children of Tollyn, even if the day came to leave them behind.
Five days before the royal ball, Central was abuzz.
Everyone awaited the announcement of Hera and Merriot’s engagement.
After months of scandal heating up Central, people’s attention was entirely focused on the royal ball, where it would finally reach a happy ending. It was like a painkiller that allowed them to forget their harsh lives, even for a moment.
“Your Highness, the investigation into Lina Baker is being conducted secretly, as planned.”
Merriot, Shane, and Hendrick walked through the Mumble District—a street lined with the mansions of Viscounts and Barons west of the palace. Of course, the Tollyn family also had a residence there.
“Secretly? So as not to provoke Count Chelsning, I see.”
Hearing Shane’s report, Merriot chuckled at Julian’s predictable behavior.
After Blue Rose placed obsidian under Paul’s bed, Duke Antony constantly troubled Count Chelsning. Julian finally calmed him down, but Shane secretly brought a handkerchief with Lina’s name and a girl’s bloodstained clothing, complicating matters for Julian again.
As long as Lina Baker was with Tollyn, Julian would investigate everything he could about the girl.
“Good thing Duke Antony made a scene at first. That old man’s temper hasn’t changed.”
“He hates losing anything more than anything else. No wonder he got along with Jerome Arista.”
Shane’s ominous remark made Merriot clench her teeth. Duke Antony had betrayed Jerome during a wolf hunt ten years ago. In his youth, he squandered his family fortune and married his only daughter off to an old Eastern Duke’s house to avoid bankruptcy. Later, he sided with Jerome and received a mansion from him, which he now used as his ducal residence.
“I wonder how the chief of guards will react if he finds out Lina Baker’s true parentage.”
Shane learned Lina Baker’s true identity two days after visiting the Joy Beck Boutique.
‘Lina being his child? This is a golden opportunity falling right into our hands.’
It was an opportunity they couldn’t afford to miss. Lina Baker was a ticking bomb, and Merriot had the only spark to ignite it.
She hadn’t expected the illegitimate child issue under the bridge to carry such hidden significance. It felt like striking gold from the mud. Life often flowed in unexpected directions.
“Isn’t that Emilia over there?”
Hendrick, walking a step behind Merriot while eating a beef skewer, suddenly pointed.
He opened his mouth to call to Hera, who was walking on the opposite side of the street.
“Miss Emilia… uh!”
“Quiet!”
Merriot quickly covered his mouth with her hand.
Shane clicked his tongue at Hendrick. Tall and sturdy, yet completely clueless.
“Ughhhh!”
“Relax your forehead. No dinner for you.”
“……”
Hendrick glared at Merriot but kept his mouth shut. She ignored his gaze and resumed walking. There was no time to casually acknowledge Emilia Tollyn now.
The royal ball was approaching, and this would be the final act to conclude the long scandal.
The ties already resolved, essentially ended. Any excuses now would only be pathetic.
“Your Highness!”
Still, Merriot snatched Hendrick’s beret, placed it on her head, and walked toward the opposite side.
