It was when evening had departed and night had arrived that Eloise finally reached home.

A time when dinner had long since ended and both the dining table and living room had grown cold.

As if she had forgotten her mother’s long-standing teachings, Eloise’s appearance was a complete mess.

If Mrs. Bailey, who would nag even at the slightest dishevelment of hair, were to see this, she might scream.

While she had been a neat lady when leaving home, now covered in dust and sweat, she looked no different from her childhood days when she used to run wild through forests and fields.

However, the young Eloise was happy back then.

She laughed the brightest and clearest of all amidst the dazzling greenery of summer.

But now, she was unhappy.

Bloodshot eyes and dirty cheeks with dried tear stains, lips swollen and chapped like desert sand.

When she knocked on the front door in such a miserable state, it was none other than Sarah who opened it.

“……”

What had she been doing alone in the empty living room late at night?

The house was enveloped in a lonely silence. Only a half-melted candle flickered weakly on the empty dining table.

Eloise couldn’t shake the feeling that Sarah had been waiting for her to come.

At that thought, her fingertips seemed to grow cold.

Had there ever been such a frightening moment in her life?

“Sis, sis, I……”

Her lips trembled, making it difficult to speak. Her helplessly lowered gaze could only look at Sarah’s pale ankles.

Fearing that her sister would harshly rebuke her at any moment. Feeling as if she would be scolded, “You’ve ruined everything.”

But Sarah didn’t say a word. As if she had forgotten how to speak, there was no reproach, not even a light greeting.

She just quietly turned back to the table where the candle was burning silently.

Left standing in the entrance, Eloise finally snapped to her senses.

As if struck by lightning, she ran to her sister, fell to her knees at her feet, and clung to her legs.

“Sister, I’m, I’m sorry. It’s all my fault.”

With those words, Eloise began to sob pitifully.

She had been at a loss for what to say when she met her sister, but face to face, all that came out was desperate pleading.

Eloise looked up at Sarah with eyes full of wretched tears.

Strangely, there was no warmth in her sister’s eyes. Shockingly, there was no affection either. They were just empty.

Her own terrified face was clearly reflected in them.

Pitiful sobs painfully drove away the silence.

“Do you hate me now? Sally, please say something, okay? I’m scared……”

“……”

“Please don’t hate me…… Without you, I, I……. sob……”

Eloise hugged her sister’s legs hidden beneath the dark green dress, rubbing her tear-stained cheek against them.

With each gasping breath, her delicate neck trembled precariously.

But the gentle touch that always softly stroked her head was absent.

As if she had become a different person, Sarah was unprecedentedly cold.

It felt strange and frightening, causing helpless tears to burst forth like a lost child.

“Sob, forgive me, sister…… Your happiness has always been more important to me than my own. I mean it. I’ll live for you and our family for the rest of my life. So please……”

“Eloise.”

And only then did Sarah open her mouth. Her voice was dry, as if treading on broken glass.

“It’s late. Everyone’s asleep, so stop now.”

“……Hic.”

At that solemn word, Eloise swallowed her breath.

Her trembling hand hurriedly covered her eyelids as tears kept overflowing.

She couldn’t tell if the reason her sister wasn’t questioning her was because she had a mind to forgive, or because she was too angry.

It was the first time her beloved Sally felt so unfamiliar and distant, making her chest ache unbearably.

“You look tired. Let’s go upstairs.”

“Are you going up too? Will you sleep with me? Like we always did……”

“Eloise.”

“You’re not angry with me?”

Sarah silently looked at Eloise.

On such a night, how frantically she must have run here, her hair in complete disarray and her appearance more like a wild cat living in the bushes than a lady.

Her once sparkling cheeks were now dirty with dust stuck to dried tears, and she looked very gaunt.

Sarah, who had caressed and kissed those cheeks every day, couldn’t help but notice.

Moreover, despite coming from afar, her luggage bag was nowhere to be seen, perhaps lost.

She looked desperate and pitiful, as if driven to the edge of a cliff. And Sarah certainly hadn’t sent her to the capital to see her like this.

Sarah lowered her tired eyelids and spoke in a half-sunken voice.

“Go up first. Alright?”

“……”

Eloise stared up at Sarah, who looked just as tired as herself.

She had many questions, but they were all likely to receive frightening answers, so she couldn’t bring herself to ask.

Moreover, this was not the time to object to her sister’s words.

Even if her sister was sending her to her room just to get rid of her for now, it was the same.

If she didn’t comply obediently, she might incur even more hatred than now.

The thought that her sister might no longer love her made her heart ache as if being sliced.

In the end, Eloise silently got up.

Relying on the faint light emanating from the dining table, she climbed the old stairs on trembling legs. Each step felt like walking on thin ice.

The Sarah Bailey she knew was someone who didn’t know how to get angry, but in this situation, it wouldn’t be strange even if she was just holding back her anger.

Maybe she needed time to think, or maybe she was waiting for their parents and Mrs. Hurst to wake up.

‘I’m prepared to hear any harsh words. If only we can go back to how we were before……’

Reaching the second floor, Eloise turned the familiar doorknob in the darkness.

Following the faint moonlight pouring in through the window, she moved to light the candle on the side table.

“Sigh……”

Sitting on the bed in the space that had been her room for her entire life, she felt a truly strange feeling.

It wasn’t just because she had returned earlier than planned. It was because the fact that she felt this space unfamiliar was so novel.

This space was full of happy memories of the sisters. In the mornings, her sister would wake her with a gentle voice, and at night, they would lie side by side, chatting about trivial things.

Of course, it was mostly her doing the talking, but anyway, the two always fell asleep giggling together.

But tonight, that wouldn’t be possible. Her sister might wait for her to fall asleep and then quietly come in to sleep peacefully.

If so, should she pretend to be asleep from now on for her sister’s sake? Since she probably wouldn’t be able to fall asleep easily anyway……

No, maybe she wouldn’t come here at all throughout the night.

She might feel a teeth-grinding sense of betrayal at the thought of being deceived by none other than her only sister, and might have received an indelible wound because of it.

If so, she surely wouldn’t want to be in the same space.

‘From now on, I won’t be able to marry, and I’ll have to live in shame for the rest of my life. Because of you……’

Suddenly, all of this felt like a dream. How did it come to this? For Eloise, her family had always been her fence, the ground she stood on, her world.

‘If I can’t go back, my life has no meaning……’

At that moment, the candle that had been silently dripping wax suddenly flickered. It was because the tightly closed door had opened.

“……”

Sarah, holding a washbasin, looked down at Eloise with a calm gaze.

The light from the candle cast a golden shadow on that fair face. The sight was indescribably elegant. It was even somewhat sublime.

Sarah quietly brought a small stool and sat facing Eloise. The round washbasin, with faint steam rising from it, was placed on her lap.

“Sister. I……”

“Hush.”

Splash, a dry cloth was dipped into the water.

Soon after, Sarah’s hand, gently wringing out the cloth, began to wipe Eloise’s dirty cheeks. Just as in her memories, it was an infinitely tender touch.

“Hic……”

Biting her lips tightly, Eloise finally couldn’t hold back and burst into tears.

Transparent waves rippled in her teary eyes.

“How can you cry while I’m cleaning your face, Eloise?”

Sarah admonished in a low voice.

At those words, now even her pitiful shoulders began to tremble, but Eloise tightly closed her eyes, trying to stop her tears as her sister said.

In doing so, another stream of tears flowed down.

Sarah’s skillful hands meticulously went over every part of Eloise’s face.

Thanks to the warm vapor from the cloth, her reddened cheeks gleamed pleasantly.

“That’s enough now. You probably want to wash up, but since the adults are asleep, let’s postpone that until tomorrow morning. Is that alright?”

Saying this, Sarah placed the washbasin and cloth on the side table, then returned the stool to its original place. Then, whispering lowly, “Let’s sleep now,” she approached the candle.

“Sister, don’t you hate me?”

At that moment, Eloise asked in a choked voice.

She had so much she wanted to say, but only those words came out. Even then, it was in a whimpering voice like a frightened child.

After a moment of silence, Sarah spoke.

“I don’t hate you.”

“……You’re lying……”

Eloise tried to hold back the tears that were about to come again, tightly gripping her clothes.

Because of this, her voice trembled like a goat’s cry. She didn’t want to show such a foolish appearance. Nothing was going as she wished.

“How could I lie to you?”

Sarah replied in a tired voice. It sounded like a sigh.

Only then did Eloise notice that her sister’s eyes were red, but she couldn’t be certain what that meant.

“Then hug me……”

Saying this, she helplessly spread her arms, and Sarah, swallowing a weak sigh, came closer and hugged her sister tightly.

The embrace was tearfully warm.

At the feather-light touch stroking her back, Eloise crumbled helplessly onto her sister’s neck.

The moon outside quietly illuminated the sisters.