Ding-a-ling, as soon as I entered the cafe, I gestured to dismiss the following waiter, asking for anything, and headed to the outdoor terrace seats.

I sat in a spot where I could hide behind the wide-open sliding window, lest I be noticed. Thanks to this, I could hear their conversation on the terrace.

“Please, Lady Lilien.”

It was Berita’s voice.

‘Pleading?’

I narrowed my eyes and opened my fan.

Leaning sideways and perking up my ears to hear better, I could clearly see Berita’s sun-drenched face. Only Lilien’s side profile was slightly visible.

Meanwhile, the waiter who brought the tea I ordered set it down on the table and stared at me suspiciously with shaking pupils.

I roughly dismissed the employee with a smile in my eyes, and again turned my ears to their voices.

“…How did you know I attend that institute?”

Lilien asked in a trembling voice, apparently nervous.

It seemed Berita had waited in front of the institute to make this meeting happen.

Berita glanced nervously at Lilien once and fidgeted with her hands on the table.

“It’s well-known among the privileged that the young lady attends a confectionery institute. They say it’s quite peculiar for a noble lady-”

Berita covered her mouth with an ‘oops’ expression. She glanced at Lilien’s reaction. Knowing there was ignorance but no malice in her action of innocently stirring others’ feelings, Lilien softened her hardened face and let out a sorrowful sigh.

“I know. It’s alright, go on.”

Berita glanced at Lilien again and continued.

“I know you must have been surprised by my sudden visit, but I had no other way to see you. Please forgive my rudeness. I’m not of a status to dare send a letter to the Mifidian mansion, and I didn’t think your elder sister would welcome me…”

You know well. I snorted and pressed myself close to the pillar. Ready to jump out at any moment if Berita acted rudely towards our puppy.

“So you came to ask me to arrange a meeting with Etricia?”

“To be precise, I’d like to ask you to persuade her.”

“Persuade?”

“Elder sister…”

Berita wiped her eyes with her knuckles and lowered her head.

“Elder sister hates me so much that she took away the old mansion that the former Count Vuel gave me.”

‘Because she hates me.’

She probably doesn’t think Lilien wouldn’t know why she’s hated. Emphasizing without mentioning her own faults.

Ha, a sneer naturally escaped me.

I confidently claim to know Berita better than anyone.

Even the foolish Berita had one thing she was good at.

That was gaining sympathy.

I tried it on Edmond too but gave up saying it didn’t suit my personality, but in fact, Berita was projected onto me and it made him uncomfortable.

At the Vuel mansion, Berita lived with her spirit crushed. The maids knew about her background and kleptomania, treated her unpleasantly, and often tattled on her to me.

They didn’t like that a commoner born of a servant, no better than themselves, was living luxuriously like the count’s youngest daughter.

But that also became a factor that made me pity Berita more.

However, as she interacted with outsiders, she realized at some point that her deprivation and background stimulated protective instincts.

And underlying that was self-pity. In reality, Berita was the person who believed herself to be the most pitiful and unfortunate in her world.

From another perspective, she was just a self-centered person. Even now, Berita is trying to make Lilien her ally.

It’s absurd.

The pit of my stomach felt hot and stuffy, as if boiling. I also felt anxious about what if the docile Lilien falls for her.

‘Should I just jump out?’

It was the moment I was twitching my eyebrows while holding my fan.

“That’s too much.”

Lilien calmly opened her mouth. Contextually, it sounded like she was talking to me, making my shoulders flinch. Moreover, her calm voice, an octave lower than usual, was just strange.

A smile of relief spread across Berita’s lips, then faded.

“Elder sister was too harsh, but I understand… It’s because I did wrong. But I didn’t think she’d be so heartless-”

“No, it’s you.”

“Pardon?”

“I said you’re too much.”

It was quite a composed and sharp voice. As I stood dumbfounded at the unexpected situation, Lilien spoke in a slightly breathless, excited state.

“You’re shameless. Selfish. You’re a strange and unreasonable person.”

“Wh-what…”

Berita wore an expression as if she’d been unexpectedly hit.

Looking down, I could see Lilien sitting up straight, gripping her dress tightly with trembling hands.

The frail and timid girl had probably never argued in her life. In other words, this was Lilien mustering great courage to defend me.

“I feel sorry for Etricia. It’s pathetic that you don’t realize the undeserved affection you receive from her.”

Berita’s eyelids fluttered. Flustered, she leaned her upper body slightly forward.

“Pl-please listen to me, young lady. Of course, you must not have good feelings towards me. But I really have nowhere else to go without that place-”

“But-. But-. You’re all excuses. You don’t think at all about how hurt Etricia must have been.”

“…”

“To my eyes, you’re not pitiful at all. You’re just paying for your crimes.”

Lilien bowed her head deeply and caught her breath, then suddenly raised her head.

Tears fell from her eyes as she glared at Berita.

“The only reason I responded to you is for one thing, to say this.”

“…”

“Don’t approach Etricia anymore.”

“B-but young lady, I-”

“Don’t appear, in front of Etricia, anymore, and…”

Her gasping voice grew smaller. Lilien bit her lip, hunching her shoulders to swallow her sobs. My heart felt submerged in water, numb.

I frowned one eyebrow, smiling faintly, then gradually erased my smile and stood up.

As I got closer, their words and actions became clearer.

“Y-young lady, please don’t cry… I just…”

Berita grabbed Lilien’s hand and forcefully placed her own handkerchief in it. She must be quite flustered that the other person started crying in a situation where she should be the one crying.

Meanwhile, Lilien, who had calmed down a bit, wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and said,

“If it’s money, I can give you as much as you want… So…”

At that moment, Berita’s widely opened eyes gleamed with a hopeful light.

“Why would you give her money?”

At my words, Lilien, who had been bursting into tears until just now, suddenly raised her head. Her reddened eyes, blurred with tears, were glistening.

‘Our puppy will have tear stains.’

I threw away the handkerchief that Berita had forcefully placed in her hand and gently dabbed her eyes with my own handkerchief.

Lilien blinked one eye dazedly, as if winking.

“E-Etricia, how…”

“I saw as I was passing by. I thought you were caught by some monster.”

Mo-monster? Berita’s dazed voice was heard.

I turned to Berita and smiled refreshingly.

“Oh, did you hear that? Sorry.”

Berita was so shocked at being called a monster that she stood frozen with her mouth open.

I thought about throwing in one more jab, but I felt deflated and decided against it.

Lilien had already said everything I wanted to say. Moreover, unlike the baroness’s daughter I met on vacation, Berita was a person beyond enlightenment. Because she really pitied herself.

I snorted and turned back to Lilien.

“Stand up, Lilien.”

As I gently lifted Lilien’s arm, she rose with me.

“How much did you hear?”

“From the beginning when she asked for persuasion?”

“Ah…”

Lilien narrowed her eyes and looked down with a deeply chagrined expression. Like a puppy scolded by its owner.

“…Are you displeased that I secretly met your adopted younger sister?”

“Not at all.”

Disliking how Lilien was watching my reaction, I said while playfully dabbing her eyes as if poking them.

“I was just about to be upset at your offer to give money. Don’t do such wasteful things.”

“Ugh. I understand…”

Lilien, who had pulled her head back to avoid my hand, wrinkled her nose bridge and slowly rubbed her eyes. It must have tickled.

I took Lilien’s hand, which had now stopped crying.

“Shall we go then?”

I was about to leave the cafe right away, seeing no more value in staying here.

“E-elder sister!”

Berita jumped in front of me and knelt down.

Her action started to draw the attention of people passing by the cafe.

‘What is this about?’

I frowned intensely. Just as I was about to open my mouth, led by emotion, Lilien grabbed my arm with her other hand and hid behind me. She had shrunk from the attention.

I sighed, suppressing my anger, and dropped a cold gaze on Berita.

“Do you want to embarrass me?”

“Th-that’s not it, I want to beg for forgiveness.”

“If you’re trying to anger me, you’ve succeeded. Don’t test my patience and move aside.”

As I tried to pass by Berita, she grabbed my dress. I pulled the dress forcefully, but her grip was as tough as cogon grass.

“Let go of this.”

When I spoke through gritted teeth, Berita’s shoulders flinched. Soon the trembling girl had dewy tears welling up in her eyes.

“E-elder sister, Lady Dien has stopped eating and drinking, and Devon just stares blankly into space even when I visit him. I received a court notice that the transfer of the old mansion has been executed. Everyone is being punished, so-”

“So what? You think you’ve been punished enough and that’s it?”

I sneered and looked down at Berita as if she were insignificant. Berita bit her lip until it turned white and trembled. Finally, when her hand fell powerlessly, it was then.