“Are you the head of this household? Someone as irresponsible as you?”
“Irresponsible? You’ve got some nerve talking about irresponsibility!”
Good morning. Good day.
And yet, as always, the first thing I heard from downstairs was my parents fighting.
Here we go again.
Shouts turned to venomous insults, then to the sound of objects smashing against walls. I ignored it, as I had learned to do long ago.
Trying to stop them never ended well.
Last time I stepped in, I wound up with a swollen lump on my forehead.
Instead, I pushed open the attic door, a paper bag of bread and today’s newspaper tucked under my arm.
“Cindy, I’m home!”
“…Sister?”
From the far corner of the cramped, worn attic, Cindy raised her head from the sagging bed she always sat on.
“It smells like bread.”
She stretched her hands out into the air.
I crossed the room and pressed the warm loaf into her palms.
A faint smile touched her lips as her thin fingers brushed the bread’s surface.
“Is it… a croissant?”
“That’s right.”
“Wow, I love croissants the most. Sister, what’s in the paper today?”
“Of course I brought it. Want me to read while you eat?”
“Mm-hm.”
Cindy opened her mouth wide and bit into the bread.
I pulled up a chair, sat down, and unfolded the newspaper.
There it was—The Bride of the Libra Guardian, the most hated serial novel in the world these days. Readers cursed it daily, yet it ran in the Polum Daily, chapter after chapter.
And my brother adored it.
“Do you remember where we left off yesterday?” I asked, clearing my throat.
At once, Cindy’s unfocused eyes seemed to brighten.
“It was Tani’s first time at a ball. At the very end, she met a handsome man.”
“Exactly. Today’s chapter starts with their date.”
“That sounds so nice… Tani.”
Her envious whisper made my chest tighten.
Cindy had lost her sight years ago to illness.
For a child confined to a dark attic, this silly romance was her only window to another world.
I forced a smile and turned back to the newspaper. My voice rang as lively as I could make it.
“Titania Knightley’s heart raced as she gazed into the man’s deep, tree-like eyes…”
The episode opened with Tani meeting the male lead, destiny striking at first sight.
“His name was Cain Brahms, a beautiful knight with green eyes. Cain, too, felt drawn to Tani.”
Cindy’s face flushed as she nibbled the last of the croissant.
“They must have fallen in love at first sight, right?”
“Maybe.”
“Wow…”
Her blind eyes glittered as though she truly saw the scene.
I read on, performing with all the passion I could muster. Each line seemed to make her expression glow brighter.
The chapter ended too quickly.
“…‘Please,’ Cain whispered, ‘will you give me another chance?’”
I lowered the paper.
“And that’s how it ends—Cain asking her out again.”
“Wow!”
Cindy clapped, delighted.
She loved Titania so much.
But most readers hated her—hated her timid, indecisive nature.
I myself had crumpled the paper countless times while reading.
Yet Cindy… Cindy admired her.
“Tani will go on an adventure soon, to break Lord Cain’s curse,” she said with a dreamy sigh. “I’m so jealous, Sister.”
“….”
“I want to go outside too…”
It was fortunate Cindy couldn’t see my face.
If she could, she would have noticed how dark my expression became.
You’ll go outside too, one day…
But the words caught in my throat. I couldn’t bring myself to lie.
“Take your medicine and rest, Cindy,” I said softly.
“Mm… okay.”
I tucked her into bed, pretending not to notice how her body had withered to skin and bone.
“I’m sorry, Unnie…”
“There’s nothing for you to apologize for.”
I held my voice firm so she wouldn’t hear it tremble.
Only after she drifted to sleep did I step outside and sink onto the floor.
My poor little brother.
Cindy’s illness was terminal.
First, she lost the use of her legs. Then her sight.
No medicine helped, no matter how many jobs I worked.
Perhaps that was why she clung so tightly to timid Titania.
So please… let Titania be happy.
I clenched my fists, remembering the doctor’s cruel words from just days ago.
At least let Cindy see a happy ending.
“Cindy?”
“….”
“Cindy! No—Cindy! Please, open your eyes!”
But soon after, Cindy slipped away… never having heard the ending.
“That’s perfect! Now I don’t have to waste money on medicine!”
My parents, who had never cared for her, sank even deeper into their indulgent ways once she was gone.
Our already poor household collapsed in no time.
I tried everything to keep the house, the place that held Cindy’s final traces, but in the end, it was seized by creditors.
“You’re disgusting—lethal! And you still dare call yourselves parents!”
A few weeks after Cindy’s death, I stumbled drunk through the streets.
By chance, I spotted the Polum Daily again. The very day the novel ended.
“No, Titania—you stupid woman! Who are you chasing after?!”
The rushed finale shoved Titania straight into the villain’s hands.
“After all that, you let yourself be captured? You couldn’t choose, couldn’t decide—was this why I held out till now?!”
My anger boiled over.
My knees buckled. My body lurched into the road.
“Hey, hey! Look out!”
The shouts of a coachman, the thunder of hooves.
I lay frozen, staring blankly at the carriage hurtling toward me.
“…Wow. What a pathetic ending.”
A blinding crash—and darkness swallowed me whole.
“Waaah! Waaah!”
So noisy…
The shrill cry of a newborn dragged me from the void.
I blinked, dazed.
“Uh…?”
The world was too big—towering above me, dazzling with golden ornaments. Nothing like the street I’d just collapsed on.
“Edelweiss?”
A gentle male voice, warm with affection, called a name that wasn’t mine.
Before I could react, strong arms carried me to a grand bed.
“Shall we go say hello to your little sister?”
“…Sss…”
My tongue twisted uselessly.
My heart jolted.
The world so tall… my voice so small…
No way.
The man lifted me easily with one hand.
I’ve… become a child?
On the bed, a beautiful woman held a newborn. Her silver hair glittered, her baby pink eyes soft with love.
The tiny infant in her arms wailed, cheeks flushed red.
“Ethel, this is your sister. Her name will be Titania. Titania Knightley.”
“…!”
The name rang in my head like a bell.
The baby had her mother’s silver hair, her father’s pink eyes.
Titania Knightley…
I reached out instinctively.
The infant’s tiny fingers curled around mine.
“Oh my, she recognizes her already!”
I hugged that warm, fragile little body to my chest.
Now I understood.
Why I had opened my eyes again.
It didn’t matter whether the original story had given Titania an older sister named Edelweiss or not.
“…I will protect Titania.”
“Oh, my lovely Ethel!”
“Our daughters are already so close…”
Mother’s eyes brimmed with tears. Father wrapped his arms around her shoulders.
But I hadn’t spoken for their sake.
I had made a vow.
I will protect her. This time, I will protect her.
Cindy was gone.
But I had been reborn—reborn as Titania’s elder sister.
If I could do for Titania all the things I couldn’t do for Cindy…
If Cindy could look down from heaven and see Titania live bravely, without indecision—
Cindy, I’ll rewrite this story for you.
So, Tani.
Your sister is going to do wonderfully.
Look forward to it.
