Esella followed Olivia down the stairs of the Duke’s residence, the encountering servants bowing to Olivia.

Every time their steps halted, the clear sound of Esella and Olivia’s heels clashing was heard.

Was it the sound of their heels skillfully avoiding each other, or the ambiguous distance with her sister? Esella measured the distance between herself and Olivia with her eyes.

Exactly three steps.

A vague distance that seemed reachable yet not reachable if she stretched out her hand. If she stretched out her arm forcefully, she could catch her sister going ahead, but…

Esella bit her lip hard. Clenching her fist, her nails dug painfully into her palm.

She couldn’t see the expression on Olivia’s face, who was walking gracefully and uprightly. She had certainly been sitting close to Olivia just a moment ago.

Where had it gone wrong?

Esella looked down dejectedly and recalled what had just happened.

She was embracing Olivia when she suddenly coughed a dry cough and stepped back to drink some cold tea. When their eyes met, they even smiled a little with their reddened eyes.

Maybe. She might have harbored a desperate hope.

That she was forgiven by her sister and had become close again. Maybe. If she wished a little more.

But a blunt knock and the curt words of a butler had brought Esella crashing back to reality.

“The Marquess Madelrayne is at the main gate.”

Conrad came looking for me. Worry for Veronica and Sally floated above my buoyant heart. If Orabunny knows, Father will know too.

Even though she had come with a firm resolution, the creeping fear was unstoppable. Unknowingly, Esella looked at her sister. What would her sister say at this time?

The moment she raised her head and saw Olivia’s face, Esella closed her mouth. Olivia spoke with an indifferent face.

“……Time has already come to this. I suppose it’s time to go?”

But Esella saw it. Olivia’s sincerity, gone in an instant.

It was laden with very difficult emotions, but Esella could distinguish a few.

Among them, the resignation in the faint smile that said she knew it would happen.

Ah, I thought so, because of that face. My foolish “what if” was washed away in an instant.

Sister will never be with Madelrayne…

Esella couldn’t finish the thought. The moment she put a period on that thought, it felt like her sister would be gone forever.

In the meantime, they reached the 1stfloor entrance. The brownhaired knight they had seen earlier was standing in front of the carriage outside the door.

As Olivia and Esella left the entrance, the sound of crickets chirping was heard. The night sky was dark, and the stars were high in the late night.

The brownhaired knight opened the door of the carriage and said,

“You can take this carriage to the gate.”

If I take that carriage, I may never see my sister again. While walking quietly towards the carriage, Esella turned around with a desperate face. She wanted to say something before the end.

“Miss. It seems like the princess left this behind.”

“Eh? Thank you, Hana.”

A maid running from behind handed something to her sister. Her sister naturally took the object and waved it at me, smiling.

“Esella. You left this behind.”

In her sister’s hand was my pink diamond necklace.

I left it behind.

No, the shock was more than just leaving the necklace behind.

It was the fact that her sister had reacted so naturally to the title of “Miss.”

It felt like a slap to the back of her head.

Sister was always Madelrayne’s princess, fitting the title of princess more elegantly than anyone else.

Esella stared blankly at her face.

It was strange. Olivia’s face, sparkling and beautifully smiling, was unfamiliar. But there was no point in wondering why.

Because I had never seen her smile like that at the Duke of Madelrayne’s residence.

What’s so special about this Duke’s residence where I’ve only been a few days?
Olivia’s comfortable appearance dampened Esella’s heart.

What had Madelleine been to my sister?

A question she dared not ask floated around in her head. Meanwhile, Olivia extended a necklace with a puzzled face.

“Won’t you take it?”

“Sister… could you put it on me?”

“Shall I?”

Olivia smiled faintly and nodded. Esella turned her back to Olivia and lifted her hair. Olivia put a pink diamond necklace around Esella’s neck.

Suddenly, she remembered the date with Leopold. The day when, without a fuss, Esella had removed a pink gemstone necklace from around her neck and put it around her own.

Olivia, arranging Esella’s hair, spoke.

“It’s the exact opposite of last time. Back then, you, Esella, put your necklace on me.”

Touching the necklace, the memory of Leopold saying it didn’t suit her grew faint. That day had to be remembered as a cottoncandylike pleasant day.

The day Esella and Sally told me I looked beautiful, the day Esella put a necklace on me, the day I met Edwin at the coffee house. Just that kind of day.

“It’s done.”