Chapter 101
Day after day passed quickly.
By the time I had lost track of how much time had gone by, I finally opened my eyes to a gentle touch rousing me.
“…Miss Ann?”
“Ria, are you all right?”
Rubbing my sleepy eyes, I saw Miss Ann’s face full of concern.
“When did you get here? Is Soya here too?”
“Yes. We just arrived a moment ago.”
Miss Ann carefully helped me sit up in bed and examined my face, her movements calm and practiced.
Then she muttered as she glanced around the room:
“Soya is downstairs, but I was worried about you, so I came right away. But… why is your room—”
Her words trailed off slowly.
I gently tugged at her sleeve and said, with hollow eyes:
“I’m fine. But actually…”
“Annelia! Look at this!”
At that moment, the door flew open, and Seniana burst in with a bright smile.
She was dragging Miel and Soya along by both hands.
“Tell Soya here! Soya is now Sena’s maid!”
I stared at Seniana, dumbfounded.
Soya’s face, caught in her grip, was full of bewilderment.
“A-adorable lady… I-I mean, we just… came to the mansion, and suddenly everyone…”
Soya’s stutter, which had barely improved, flared up again. She seemed quite startled.
My chest felt heavy, as if something were pressing against it, but I forced myself to maintain a calm expression.
“You came, Soya? That’s my grandmother’s own granddaughter. This is Seniana.”
Soya’s brows furrowed.
“Exactly! I-I mean… what is all this suddenly…?”
“She’s Isabelle’s real daughter returning to the family.”
Soya fell silent, staring at Seniana as if at a wall.
Seniana continued cheerfully:
“You heard that, right? Sena’s right, isn’t she? Soya is now Sena’s. Annelia will stay with another maid.”
“But, b-but, this… so suddenly…”
“What’s the matter? Don’t you like Sena, Soya?”
At that moment, Seniana’s expression softened slightly. She let go of Soya and put on a meek, almost shy look.
“The late grandfathers said so. Sena is a very, very precious lady.”
“……”
“And Sena knows… that Annelia was here first. But she said Annelia was just picked up—no, brought here, that’s all.”
Miel’s expression stiffened. Soya, too, instinctively looked at me and kept her mouth shut.
“Then why is everyone fussing over Annelia alone?”
Seniana clenched her fists in frustration.
“Everywhere I go, it’s only about Annelia… They bake only the bread Annelia likes. Arwin barely plays with Sena.”
“……”
“Miel and Soya are Abernethy family maids, right… Then they should like me, the blood of Abernethy, more! So why Annelia?”
Seniana glared at me with resentment in her voice.
But just as if on the verge of tears, she tilted her head to look at Miss Ann.
“Then who are you?”
I felt Miss Ann’s hand tighten slightly on my shoulder.
Finally, I parted my dry lips to answer.
“Miss Ann is… my governess.”
Seniana’s eyes immediately widened.
“Governess?”
Then, her eyes sparkled with interest as she said:
“Governess! Governess! I want one too, Seniana does!”
“……”
“I want a governess too!”
Without warning, she ran over to my bed. She grabbed Miss Ann’s other hand tightly and looked at me.
“Annelia, I want a governess. I like this one.”
“No, Seniana.”
When I said it in a low voice, Seniana froze.
Her eyes grew wide, and an expression of disbelief spread across her face.
“What did you just say?”
“You can’t have her now. Not my things, not my people.”
Seniana’s mouth opened slowly. Tears welled up in her eyes.
But I stared at her without flinching.
Under the blanket, my fingers touched something hard—the leather cover of a book.
“Origins and History of Dark Magic.”
It was a book I had now almost memorized after dozens of readings since Theo’s visit.
Finally, I spoke.
“Miel… Soya. And Miss Ann.”
“……”
“Please step out for a moment. I have something to talk to Seniana about.”
Now, everything was certain. I had pieced together how everything had unfolded.
My mouth felt parched as I spoke.
“Leave this place.”
My eyes were hollow from lack of sleep. Seniana, in contrast, stared at me with wide-eyed surprise.
“Don’t make people sad. Just leave.”
“Annelia… What are you talking about?”
Seniana reacted exactly as I had expected. With an innocent face, she widened her eyes and asked, confused.
“Why would Sena leave? Why are you acting so scary? Don’t tell me…”
Her brows furrowed.
“Don’t tell me you’re fake, and Sena is the real one, so you’re bothering her out of jealousy? Annelia, you really…”
“Dark magic leaves traces.”
Seniana’s mouth snapped shut.
I continued slowly.
“Corrupted mana has the power to destroy souls. Just as scars remain on the body after wounds, traces remain on the soul too.”
“What? What are you suddenly—”
“Even if a paternity test matches, nothing changes. I know your body is fake.”
Sena’s eyes began to waver.
I spoke again.
“Leave. Stay here no longer and don’t hurt grandmother.”
Grandmother had returned to her office after the day Seniana collapsed. Slowly, she resumed her usual routine.
Even when Seniana came near and acted spoiled, she didn’t ignore her as before.
“She didn’t show special favoritism to Seniana, but she didn’t push her away either.”
Still, sometimes she would quietly watch Seniana playing from afar.
“Sena really looks just like young Isabelle,” the long-serving staff murmured.
“Exactly. Given how dearly His Excellency cherished Isabelle, it’s remarkable her daughter has come to visit.”
They whispered sadly, because it was obvious how much grandmother missed her daughter and cared for Seniana.
“If you leave quietly, no one will ask anything. They’ll pretend not to know. Only I will know…”
“What have you been saying, Annelia?”
Seniana’s face hardened.
“Why should I leave? If anyone leaves, it should be you.”
My heart sank.
“You’re really cruel. I thought you were kind all this time.”
With eyes full of hostility, Seniana stared at me.
“I’m Abernethy. Grandmother’s real granddaughter. Unlike you, I share blood with her!”
She fixed her glare on me with a scowl and added:
“There’s no such thing as dark magic in this world! Even if there were, how would you prove it?”
Seniana gave a crooked smile.
“Aren’t you being delusional? I get that the real me arriving at the mansion made you nervous, but trying to drive me away…”
Then, with thundering steps, she stormed out of the room.
I bit my lip as I watched the door slam shut.
Seniana’s words echoed in my mind:
“Even if there were, how would you prove it?”
I felt conflicted. I could vaguely understand why she behaved that way.
That evening, I heard that Seniana had dined alone with grandmother.
Miel had told me what happened at the meal.
Seniana had cried, saying I was tormenting her. Grandmother, with a complicated expression, couldn’t say anything at first, then comforted Seniana on her lap.
Afterwards, she checked Seniana’s new room and worked on her affairs late into the night.
I stepped into the dim corridor at the late hour.
Without a maid watching over me, slipping out of my room was easy.
I quietly made my way to the cramped storage space on the first floor, where I had set up a temporary lab.
Someone was already waiting for me there.
“Theo…”
I looked at Theo and finally let the tears fall.
“What should we do now?”
Theo reached out, restless.
“Do we really have to use it? Is this really the only way now…?”
I had wanted to avoid it at all costs.
After everything happened, at my request, Theo had made a magical device in just one day—a new detector capable of identifying corrupted mana in a person’s body.
