Chapter 121………………………………………………
Behind the orphanage where the two of them had grown up, wild raspberries would hang in abundance every summer.
Thus, raspberry juice was one of the most common snacks the orphanage children could enjoy.
The juice itself was ordinary, but between young Idel and Riena, it carried a special meaning.
“Do you want to drink raspberry juice together at the dining hall?”
One day, after Idel said this to a sulking Riena, raspberry juice became a symbol of reconciliation between them.
From then on, whenever they quarreled or grew distant, they would offer to drink raspberry juice together as a way to make up.
If the other accepted, they drank together; if not, the offer was politely declined.
Raspberry juice was their secret code—unknown to all the other children in the orphanage.
They had linked pinkies and promised never to reveal it to anyone.
“The weather’s hot. Days like this call for raspberry juice.”
That’s why, while walking and talking outside the mining town, Riena suddenly brought up raspberry juice.
If I had truly been the Idel with memories of my past life, I couldn’t have ignored the words.
I might have been angry that someone came to seize the mine by force yet was asking for reconciliation first, or I might have felt bitter about memories that no longer returned.
But, having no idea about the significance of raspberry juice, I couldn’t react, and Riena used that to conclude that I had no memories of my previous life.
Seeing Riena stiffen, I said:
“I must have drunk too much of it in my past life. I’m sick of raspberry juice now.”
I wasn’t interested in reconciling or returning to the friendship we once had—I made that clear.
“Uh… how do you know…?”
“Some memories about raspberry juice came back recently. My memories are returning little by little.”
Riena’s face showed surprise, clearly not expecting that possibility.
Of course—noticing she had remembered everything from the moment she first returned to this world—it made sense she wouldn’t have thought of it.
“…How much do you remember?”
“Do I have any reason to kindly tell you?”
“But we were friends!”
“I don’t call someone a friend if they steal adoption opportunities and try to take over a mine.”
“The mine… I only took temporary custody because Terrence shouldn’t get it! I would have returned it once you were safe from his hands!”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I’m telling the truth. Believe me, Idel.”
“Then what about the adoption opportunity? What excuse are you going to make for that?”
Riena bit her lip and spoke softly:
“Well… you refused our father’s offer back then anyway, because you wanted to wait for your mother.”
“So that’s why you pushed me away?”
“What else could I do? If I left you to talk to him, Father might have withdrawn his offer to adopt, just like in our past life.”
“Then why didn’t you just tell me honestly before the duke came to the orphanage?”
“Tell you what?”
“That I wanted to be adopted by Cassius. Then I wouldn’t have interfered and could have been introduced to him without any issues.”
Even though I wasn’t the real Idel, considering her personality as I’d observed it, it was plausible.
Idel had no intention of being adopted by Cassius and seemed genuinely concerned for Riena.
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
But Riena thought differently.
“Since, in the end, I was adopted and not you, it’s no different from now.”
“How is it the same? Because you sent me to a different orphanage, I went to the Wallace family and didn’t receive any sponsorship like in my past life.”
“I thought you were doing well at Wallace!”
Riena exclaimed, her face full of indignation.
“I was concerned about you too. That’s why after you went to Cassius, I checked which noble family had adopted you.”
“So you assumed I was doing well?”
“It’s better to actually be part of a noble family than just receive sponsorship, isn’t it?”
“…Fine, okay.”
Riena brightened at my answer.
“You understand?”
“No, I just don’t see the point in arguing with you about this.”
To be honest, the questions I really wanted to ask Riena were different.
“Don’t speak so coldly. Later, when I realized you had grown up in such a harsh environment, I felt guilty too.”
Riena’s voice, which had tormented many hearts over the years, now quivered with emotion.
“I wanted to make it up to you somehow. Even arranging your marriage to Riandro was motivated by that thought.”
“Well said. I have many questions about that.”
Riena swallowed nervously.
“Make it up to me? Not just because you wanted the Wallace mine?”
“No! Of course, at first I sent Riandro to Wallace for the mine. But the moment I realized you were there, the mine became secondary.”
“If that’s true, then why did you oppose me returning to Cassius without the mine?”
This was a conversation from months ago when Riena had visited the cheap hotel where I was staying.
“It wasn’t that I opposed it… I just hesitated for a moment because I didn’t want to lose the magical stone mine…”
“So your feelings for me only went that far.”
“No, that’s not it.”
“Then the most important question: why did you leave me isolated at Cassius?”
At that, Riena, who had been giving smooth excuses, fell silent.
“W-What…?”
She avoided my gaze and answered:
“I tried. I invited you to spend time with me multiple times, and I even spoke to you first.”
“Sometimes you did. But most of the time, you didn’t care. You could have helped me integrate into Cassius more.”
In fact, Riena often helped recruits adapt to the Duke’s household.
Though family and servants are different cases, it was clear she took no active measures to help me, someone she had sent to Cassius, integrate.
“When you didn’t remember, I understood. But now, I can’t understand you at all.”
“….”
“You said you wanted to make it up to me. Then why just watch?”
“….”
“Speak, Riena.”
As I pressed her, Riena shot back sharply:
“Stop blaming me for things beyond my control. Why do you keep blaming others for your inability to fit in with my family?”
“What?”
My voice must have sounded cold, for Riena lowered her brows and apologized.
“Sorry, that was a slip. But you also pushed me into this corner.”
Her apology, far from genuine, was followed by another excuse.
“I thought time would fix it. You got along with my family in your past life. I thought even if I did nothing, you’d manage well.”
“…Riena. I’ve felt from the start that you’ve been lying.”
“Lying?!”
“Then tell me the truth. If you even slightly consider me a friend, tell me the truth as it is, now.”
This was my last chance to give that girl I had seen in a dream—who had been grateful for me simply tying her hair into pigtails and saying she looked like a rabbit—a chance to speak honestly.
Her red eyes, locked with mine, wavered uncertainly.
“Truth… truth…”
Riena Cassius’s gaze drifted into the distance, as if recalling a long-forgotten past.
Riena had always longed for a family that would love her.
A few days after Idel left the orphanage with the Duke of Cassius, Riena was presented with a good opportunity.
A wealthy scholar couple, married for quite some time, had no children.
They took a liking to Riena, who was quiet for her age, promising not to cause trouble.
When Idel visited the orphanage after a long while, she congratulated Riena.
“Congratulations! Though it’s a shame you’re going far. I’ll write often—so answer my letters!”
In truth, Idel secretly hoped Riena would receive sponsorship like herself, but what Riena needed was parents, not a sponsor.
After being adopted, Riena never received Idel’s letters.
Her adoptive parents intercepted them.
“You’re no longer an orphan.”
They disliked Riena interacting with children from the orphanage.
Wanting to be a loved daughter, Riena obeyed.
But fate was not on her side.
Shortly after her adoption, her adoptive parents had a child of their own.
Riena became nothing more than an obstacle at home. They turned harsh.
Even so, Riena tried to be loved. She didn’t want to be abandoned again.
But on the day she became an adult, her adoptive parents told her to become independent.
“At least we’ve done our minimum duty.”
Suddenly, she had nowhere to go.
As she packed and walked into the streets, one person came to mind—her childhood friend.
“Riena! Oh my, how long has it been!”
Idel, having traced her way to Riena’s location, welcomed her warmly without asking any questions.
Riena was sincerely grateful for the warmth.
Though she felt a strange emotion knowing that Idel still maintained a close relationship with the Duke of Cassius.
Idel told Riena that she could rest for a while without doing anything, but Riena couldn’t afford to.
It would have been shameless, and her pride wouldn’t allow her to rely solely on a friend.
“What? You want to work as a maid at Cassius?”
Riena asked Idel to make the connection.
She had heard rumors that the Duke of Cassius paid servants generously.
Idel initially tried to dissuade her, but Riena begged, so she introduced her to Cassius.
On Riena’s first day there, she witnessed it:
The beautiful lady smiling in the painting—the Duchess of Cassius, with a face identical to Riena’s.
Riena realized: the child who was meant to grow up at Cassius had been her.
Had the Duke of Cassius seen the child who resembled his wife, he would have chosen Riena, not Idel.
