I dropped the fork I had been clutching. When the fork hit the floor with a sharp noise, my body went limp. I bowed my head immediately.

In the meantime, the maids figured out the situation and led my brothers out of the dining room.

Even Beaty grabbed my hand, but my body would not move.

“Why! Why did you do that? Knowing what that woman has done!”

“That woman gave birth to the Earl’s child, who is staying in this mansion.”

My shoulders trembled.

“Isabel……! It’s all settled, isn’t it? Wasn’t it resolved?”

“It was just ten years ago. It would be a lie to say there are no hard feelings. But more than anything, her situation was dire.”

“Dire! That woman schemed to crush our Marsen family!”

“……It seems she was witchhunted. She had a child, and the child suddenly disappeared. People set fire to her house for that, and she barely survived. She lost her memory due to the aftereffects, and she stammers.”

Isabel was wrong.

That woman was not miserable. Her situation was not dire. No matter how pitiful her life had been, what she left me at the Marsen mansion does not change. The person who had to be comforted for an unfortunate life was not her but me.

But now, Isabel is trying to push me over to that woman. She doesn’t pity me for my unfortunate life but pushes me into greater misery.

A wicked person. A wicked person!

“So? What do you want me to do?”

My father asked with a deep sigh.

“She hasn’t found her memory yet, but she happened to meet an acquaintance and heard about the Earl. So, she came to find her memory.”

“……What?”

“How about it? How about having a friendly chat with her, just like ten years ago?”

“Isabel!”

My father’s face turned red, and he could not hide his anger with a sputter. Isabel got up from her seat without looking at my father’s face once.

“Lise.”

She called my name as I sat there dumbly.

“…….”

“Don’t you also want to say hello? You’ve met your real mother after so long.”

Is that what she’s saying now?

“……Why should I?”
He bit his torn lips again. The acrid taste filled his mouth, and at the same time, anger welled up within him. Even if Isabel wasn’t my biological mother, I thought there might be some emotion between her and me.

Affection. If not that, then sympathy.

Isabel was a cold woman. She didn’t give me the love she gave to her brothers. She watched me all the time, fearing that I might do something strange. In other words, she never played the role of a mother to me.

Still, she was the only one in this mansion who treated me like family. Without giving her heart, she quickly noticed my feelings, which was terrifying.

So sometimes I thought she was a bad person, and other times, I thought she was kind. I even felt sympathy for her, beyond my place.

I hoped that she might be the only one who understood me.

“I… hate it. Hate it.”

I wanted to speak at length, but my throat was blocked, and no sound came out. I tried to avoid this place by moving my legs.

As I stepped down from the chair and moved towards the entrance, the woman grabbed my wrist. Before I could shake her off in surprise, she pulled me into her embrace and held me tightly.

“…Let, let me go!”

I spoke desperately. I was suffocating and in pain. The smell emanating from the woman’s body made me feel dizzy.

I pushed her chest with all my strength, but she was much stronger.

“What are you doing? Let the child go!”

Isabel spoke as she saw me crying and suffering. The woman sobbed for a while before opening her mouth.

“This, this, this child…….”

“…….”

“My, my, child…….”

Even though she had lost her memory, she knew well that I was her child.

“Let me go! Let me go! Let go!”

I struggled to get out of her embrace.

“My, my mind has ch, changed…….”

“What?”

“Th, the child. This child, return, return.”

What is this woman saying now? Silence engulfed the room.

“Return, please return.”

The woman spoke more clearly than ever.

What does that mean? When she dumped me in this Marsen mansion like baggage, and now she suddenly wants me back? I pushed her chest with all my strength.

“I hate you! I don’t know a person like you!”

I slapped away the woman’s outstretched arm.

“You said you lost your memory! I’m not your daughter!”

“…….”

“Please……go, go away!”

Before the woman could grab me again, I escaped to the dining room, only to meet the eyes of my brothers standing at the entrance. I thought they had gone to their rooms.

“…Li, Lise.”

They seemed to have been peeking to see what was happening in the dining room, and they looked surprised at my appearance.

I felt the same. There had never been a moment as humiliating and shameful as this. Although they knew I was an illegitimate child, they had never been so blatant about it before.

“Lise!”

Ignoring my brothers’ calls and hiding my flushed face, I ran to the stairs. The only place I could flee to was my room at the end of the second floor.

Tears welled up in my eyes. It hurts. It hurts.

Since that woman said she would take me herself, it was clear what would happen to me afterward. From now on, I am not the youngest daughter of the Marsen family.

“Damn it! Damn it!”

Even at this moment, Isabel’s face came to mind. I should not have trusted her.