Just as she killed him with that pretty face, just as she drove her younger sibling to the brink of death with that innocent expression…

‘I must deliver hell to you and them. That way, I’ll feel less wronged.’

Sesenia, fingering the necklace around her neck, tried to calm her mind as she hurried her steps.

“Let’s go to Father quickly. You know he hates tardiness.”

“Even if we’re late, just act cute with Father. Men love that.”

Elzere was always like this. Saying that even if she did something wrong, men would like it if she just acted cute. That no man could resist such charms.

‘I suppose she seduced the Emperor in the same way.’

“Is that so?”

“Sesenia. Your problem is that you lack charm. Why do you make life so difficult for yourself? When I do this, everyone moves according to my will.”

“Sister.”

“Yes?”

“I hate how you try to resolve everything so carelessly. I hate how you gloss over everything like that. Don’t think that everyone moves according to your will.”

For a moment, Sesenia’s instincts that she couldn’t suppress burst out.

‘I know all too well that this person is not that person. This might just be me being stubborn about what I’ve experienced. But my heart keeps twisting.’

Realizing what she had just said, Sesenia quickly tried to change her words. But Elzere clicked her tongue with a disgusted expression.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

“This is why you’re not popular.”

“What?”

“If you live like this, no one will want to marry you. Even though you’re my sister, you lead such a boring life. Be careful. Right now, His Highness the Crown Prince is maintaining the engagement to form a connection with our family somehow… but he might break off the engagement if he gets tired of your behavior.”

Sesenia finally realized it. That her sister had been looking down on her openly. Not just that woman she had experienced, but from a very young age, Elzere had been disrespecting her.

Sesenia, who had thought this was just another way of expressing love, now even began to doubt. Could this woman be the one who killed Sesenia?

‘I suppose that’s her true nature. Really… Sister, you’re just making it easier for me to take my revenge.’

The corners of Sesenia’s mouth twisted slightly. It was an unusually cold expression.

“I think my life is plenty interesting.”

“What?”

“My life. I think it’s plenty interesting.”

Perhaps disliking how Sesenia was contradicting her words unlike usual, Elzere’s face hardened.

“Sesenia. You’re unusually stubborn today. It’s as if you’ve become a different person.”

“How could that be? I’m just saying what needs to be said. Now, let’s hurry to Father.”

Seemingly irritated that Sesenia wasn’t following her will, Elzere pressed her lips tightly. Instead, she let go of Sesenia’s arm and quickly headed towards their father’s room.

In Sesenia’s memories, her sister had been such a kind and good person. Someone who would do anything for Sesenia. But now she realized. Her memories were quite wrong.

How could anyone definitively say that person was good, no matter how favorably one looked at her? Or had Elzere changed between the past and present?

Sesenia stared at Elzere’s retreating back for a long while.

“My lady. Aren’t you going?”

It was Lizbeth who urged Sesenia. Standing a step behind with a somewhat anxious expression, Lizbeth urged her.

“Ah… yes, I should.”

“Don’t take Lady Elzere’s words to heart too much. She’s always been the type who’s only satisfied when things go her way.”

“Is that so?”

Sesenia’s gaze naturally turned to Lizbeth.

“When things go her way, she’s more angelic than anyone, but when they don’t, she tends to say harsh things. Don’t let it upset you too much.”

“Mm.”

Only then did Sesenia remember. Only after hearing Lizbeth’s words did she understand why Elzere was remembered as such a good person in her memories. Sesenia had been such a good sister who always listened to Elzere, so there were hardly any occasions for them to clash.

Sesenia, who was exceptionally fond of her sister. After their mother passed away when she was young, Elzere had been a mother, a sister, a friend, and the person Sesenia trusted most.

‘But in reality, that wasn’t the case.’

It was a bit funny. Come to think of it, there had been a few times when Elzere had thrown tantrums at the servants. Over trivial things like a dress not being prepared for her to wear, or not having the tea she wanted.

Suddenly, those memories came flooding back.

‘Sister. You weren’t particularly a good person either. Far from angelic.’

Well, if her true nature had really been angelic, if that image people knew of her had been the truth, she wouldn’t have been such a scoundrel as to kill her sister for her own purposes.

Clicking her tongue at the situation unfolding more interestingly than expected, Sesenia began to walk again.

‘Well, I’m about to become devilish too. How fitting. A pair of sisters with rotten personalities.’

“This should be interesting.”

“Pardon?”

Lizbeth, who was beside her, looked at Sesenia with surprised eyes.

“It’s nothing. Let’s go.”

Sesenia decided to put on a mask.

To appear as the 20-year-old Sesenia, not the 25-year-old self that would occasionally surface – the one who had seen it all, the one jaded by the world. To appear as the Sesenia who knew nothing and hadn’t experienced the world, she brainwashed herself over and over.

‘I am… 20 years old.’

**

“Father. I apologize for being late.”

Elzere, who had entered the Duke’s room first, stuck close to the Duke’s side and smiled at Sesenia, who had arrived late.

“You should come earlier. It’s not right to keep your father waiting.”

“That’s right, Sesenia. From now on, make sure to come early. Try to be more like your sister.”

“Yes.”

“Anyway, now that we’re gathered here, I have something to discuss. You two are my only children, so I’ve been contemplating who to pass the family name to. Now that Sesenia has come of age.”

So it was this day.

“Originally, I think it’s right to give it to your sister. After all, Elzere is the eldest daughter. That’s alright with you, isn’t it, Sesenia?”

This must have been the moment. When Sesenia, when she had spoken her mind according to her convictions.

‘But if I act like I did in the past here, I might risk being killed by Elzere again. In the end, Elzere’s mind is full of the idea that the family belongs to her. Then there’s no need for me to save this family. What I need is “something of my own”. It doesn’t matter to me what happens to the family.’

Sesenia’s gaze turned to Elzere, who was sitting on the armrest next to the Duke, leaning closely against their father.

Sesenia’s stiff face brightened.

“That’s right. It’s proper to give it to my sister.”

In the past, Sesenia had said in this place that she wanted to inherit the family. But the Duke had been adamant. Saying how could you, who had just come of age, inherit the Duke’s family. The Duke had only called Sesenia here to inform her.

To give everything to Elzere, the favored child.

Sesenia hadn’t been able to inherit the Duke’s family because of her declaration of intent at this place. The Duke’s family, which only looked good on the outside. It was because she had rebuilt the Duke’s family, which had money but kept incurring expenses like a bottomless pit.

Even then, the Duke, their father, had tried to give what she had saved to Elzere, but Elzere, detesting troublesome work, had passed the family to her younger sister.

‘And then, when the family prospered quite a bit, she spouted nonsense about it being hers.’

Remembering Elzere expressing her true feelings without reserve in prison just before she died, Sesenia slowly nodded.

‘Go ahead and take it as you please. Unlike the past, I won’t be the one to build up this family.’

“Oh? That, that’s right, Sesenia. It seems you’ve come to your senses now that you’ve become an adult. You used to covet this position quite a bit before.”

“I know my place. It’s alright to pass the family to my sister. That’s the right thing to do.”

In the past, Elzere had found the Duke’s family, which her father had entrusted to her, burdensome. So she had left everything to Sesenia and busied herself with going out to play.

“Right. Then let’s settle it that way. Elzere, is that alright with you?”

“Yes. If that is your will, Father, I’ll do my best!”

The Duke’s face broke into a broad smile at the sight of her tilting her head slightly and smiling softly.

The Duke had always been unequal towards Sesenia and her sister Elzere.

‘You’re still the same, Father.’

The two sisters gave off very different impressions, like black and white. Sesenia, with her black hair and red eyes, resembled the Duke, while her older sister Elzere had brown hair and water-soaked purple eyes.

Elzere was the spitting image of the Duchess who had given birth to two daughters.

For the Duke, the deceased Duchess was his first and last love. That’s why he favored Elzere, who looked exactly like her mother. On top of that, Elzere had been sickly since childhood, so the Duke didn’t know what to do with himself whenever he saw Elzere.

Even knowing this, Sesenia endured the hardships because of that one phrase her father occasionally said to her… ‘I believe in you.’

She convinced herself that she wasn’t being discriminated against, that her father was just paying more attention to her sister because she was in poor health. She had to think that way, because if she didn’t, she would feel too miserable… Sesenia had to defend herself like that.

The fact that she didn’t show her emotions, that she didn’t trust anyone except her childhood friends Ian and Lizbeth, was all because of the Duke. Because she had to be strong. Because that was the only way she could receive even a shred of love from her father.

In the meantime, it seemed as if a world of their own had been created between Elzere and the Duke.

“Yes, yes. Your father will help as much as possible, so give it a try.”

“Yes!”

Sesenia watched the two people smiling as if lost in their own world, then interjected at an appropriate moment.

“But I have one request.”