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“Wh-why did you lose so much weight?” Ricky asked with eyes wide open, and Lillia pursed her lips sullenly.
“Yeah, what—”
“By the way, did you have something to do in Lubon so you came to celebrate my birthday on the way? It’s so cold outside, why didn’t you stay home?”
When I asked with a smile, even as veins bulged on my forehead, the twins also responded with a forced smile.
“Oh, Rubette. Today isn’t just your birthday. It’s your first birthday as an adult.”
“That’s right, so we should congratulate you. Big Brother Viego even invited the head chef of the most famous fine restaurant in the capital, so eat a lot. You need to gain some weight again.”
“Okay…”
On the surface, we greeted each other as if we were close siblings, but then, someone else got off the carriage.
‘… Why is she here again?’
It was a girl with short brown hair and a slightly gloomy expression. Her face loomed in my memory.
“Get off quickly.” Lillia snatched her girl’s arm and introduced her. “You know Nora Pelkan, my best friend, right?”
“Nora, yes. I know Nora…”
How could I not know Nora Pekan, the best friend of the same age who’s been dangling right next to Lillia her whole life?
Rumors spread throughout the neighborhood that her personality was nasty, even when she was young. Poor Becky even got her stress gastritis from dealing with her screaming out loud during her regular visits to our shop to take her orders.
‘This girl was next to Nora Pelkan, right?’
Only then did I remember the last time I saw the seemingly unfamiliar girl’s face.
“Nora couldn’t come today because she had a cold. Instead, Nora sent her friend, so let’s have fun together. Hey, shouldn’t you introduce yourself?”
“… I’m Evelyn Torso. Nice to meet you. Happy birthday.”
Evelyn Torso, daughter of Baron Torso.
She was said to be her friend but was actually a child Nora Pelkan carried by her side and treated like a servant.
She ran errands for her, and if Nora didn’t like it, she drove her out immediately…
‘She knew she wouldn’t be treated like a friend, but still gave up her pride and pretended to be a maid for profits.’
They must’ve been reluctant to be played by me, who had become a mad dog, like before, so they brought a replacement that could be treated freely.
I replied, trembling inwardly at the twins’ viciousness, “Mm, thanks. Let’s go in and have fun.”
***
On top of the dazzling table in the front yard of the villa with warm fires lit everywhere, attendants rushed back and forth with food.
“The air in Lubon is good. She’s being punished for doing something stupid, but she appears to be having a good time,” Lillia grumbled, looking down on the outside scenery from the best second-floor guest room.
“I think she’s through with eating too. Is she sick or something?” Ricky clicked his tongue, recalling Rubette he hadn’t seen in a while.
Rubette, who had become incredibly slim, could no longer be called a pig.
“I know, right? Is that the girl I used to know? Is she having a hard time being isolated?” Dominic Alon, son of Marquis Alon, who sat on the sofa arrogantly, was also surprised. Along with Nora Pelkan, he was the representative wingman of the twins’ group.
“She must’ve stopped on purpose,” said Kedrick, the young duke of Reiger, who was sitting between Ricky and Dominic, as he shook his head. “Because she wants to look pretty for me.”
“Would she be prettier as long as she stopped? Drawing a line on a pumpking doesn’t make it a watermelon.”
Kedrick smiled kindly at Lillia, who seemed uncomfortable. “No matter how much she flies and crawl, she can’t be compared to you, so why does our Diollus swan feel so uncomfortable?”
“Hmph.” Lillia snorted sourly, and Kedrick sat beside her and stroked her hair.
“Hey! Don’t make a mistake and do it properly!” Lillia yelled at someone in an angry voice.
It was aimed toward Evelyn, standing in a corner with her head bowed like a servant maid. She quietly nodded her head.
“It’s the a closet on the third room on the right on the first basement floor. Don’t forget.”
“Yes…”
Since they had many memories of visiting Lubon, the twins were familiar with the interior geography of the villa.
The closet in the third room on the right on the first basement floor was meaningful to them. It was where Rubette was locked up whenever she came to play.
Rubette would scream at them to let her out, squeezing out tears and mucus every time. How scary it must’ve been to be locked up…
“Hee hee hee!” It was exhilarating just thinking about it.
The little demons also smiled sinisterly along with Lillia, who immediately giggled in a better mood.
***
“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you!”
“Happy birthday dear Rubette. Happy birthday to you!”
“Whoaaa!”
Clap, clap, clap, clap!
At this moment, listening to the Happy Birthday song with cone-shaped hats on among about 30 elementary school students…
<Wow, this is the worst!>
I felt like my mouth was going to cramp up from smiling.
<You look happy.>
<Haha… Really? If you think I look like I’m having fun, someone must have driven a nail into your eyes.>
<Khukhu…>
As if it were someone else’s business, I blew out the candles on the three-tiered cake that Viego had specially ordered while scolding Wishit, who was watching from a distance.
“Whoa!”
“Congratulations, Princess!”
“Thanks everyone for coming!”
The fortunate thing about this boring birthday party was that most of the elementary school students invited by Viego were aristocrats who had no idea about my circumstances.
Therefore, the twins and their gang couldn’t openly bully me because they had to pay attention to the light-mouthed elementary school students.
“Shall we play hide and seek?” However, as soon as I was relieved, Ricky suggested.
“Hide and seek?”
“Sounds fun!”
The girls, who blushed as they glanced at Ricky, whose only good point was his dazzling faze, nodded quickly.
“We can’t go outside, but the villa is huge! It’s really hard to find if you hide well!” Ricky, smiling broadly, pointed at the villa behind him.
Lubon villa, with two basement floors and three floors above ground with an attic, was an enormous mansion, as Ricky said.
‘Ah, the trauma is triggering again.’
Lubon was so close to the capital that Rubette and the twins often came to play.
The guardian was Molga, and the twins were always together. Among them, only Rubette was alone.
Can’t you guess what happened in this Lubon villa just by hearing this?
<Really, really childish…>
<Let’s not do it.>
Wishit stopped me, but I laughed and snorted.
<Don’t worry. Am I so dumb to fall for such an obvious trick?>
After the 30 or so elementary school students had already been hiding in the villa, Lillia, Kedrick, and Dominic, who were left at the table, also smirked and stood up.
“I am the tagger!” said Ricky, moving towards a tree in the front yard.
“Ricky.”
Ricky turned around at my call. I smiled at him.
“Find me quickly, alright?”
“What?”
“I mean, don’t say you were unable to find me after half a day because you couldn’t find me.”
“Haha… When did I do that? I’ll find you first.”
“Well, sure.” I threw off my stupid cone hat and got up.
When I was about to head into the villa.
“Hey, Rubette…” Evelyn, huddled in the corner, came over and spoke to me.
“What is it?”
“… Wh-why don’t we hide together?”
“…”
Sigh. I twisted my hair and looked back and forth between Evelyn and Ricky, who was leaning against a tree in the distance.
‘These little things are using their brains.’
I shrugged and smiled at Evelyn.
“Sure.”
Well, there was something I wanted to ask this kid anyway.
***
My last memory of Evelyn Torso was when I was 15.
Evelyn didn’t come to my original 16th birthday party. No, to be precise, Evelyn wouldn’t be in this country then.
‘She’s been hanging around behind Nora Pelkan all the time, but for about a year and a half I didn’t see her. I found out later that all of her family had fled to another country.’
I didn’t know why she left the empire out of the blue, so I would ask now.
“Evelyn.”
“Yes?”
I caught Evelyn as she went downstairs, as if she had been to the villa many times.
“Are your families preparing to live abroad?”
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
It looked like her first time hearing it.
‘As expected, it wasn’t an asylum that was being prepared in advance. Then why did she leave the empire as if she was being chased by something…?’
As I was thinking, Evelyn hurriedly grabbed my arm.
Third room in the right of the basement floor.
It was a very familiar place to me.
“Oh, my.”
I followed Evelyn into the room. There was a large closet in the room.
I asked with my arms crossed, “Hey, you. Why do you pretend to be Nora Pelkan’s maid? Can’t you just separate from her?”
Evelyn hesitated and widened her eyes at the question I asked openly.
“Wh-what?”
“Why do you live like that? Are you expecting small profits to fall by hanging out near high aristocratic families? People like you are pathetic.” Looking at Evelyn’s shaking eyes, I became annoyed.
“You’re trying to lock me in a closet just like the kids told you to do. Don’t you even feel guilty about me?”
“…”
“This is a crime. Have you ever thought about how upset your parents would be if they found out you were acting like a maid while courting a bad-tempered girl like this?”
“Yes, but what do you know!?” Evelyn glared at me for a moment, clenching her teeth. Her eyes quickly turned red. “Do you think I’m doing this because I like it? If I don’t listen to her, my whole family will starve to death.”
“What?”
Evelyn, sobbing, added, wiping her tears with her sleeve, “What does a rich girl like you know? Do you think all aristocrats are the same?”
“What are you talking about? Why would your family starved to death if you don’t listen to Nora Pelkan?” I asked, but Evelyn’s mouth was tightly shut. She was panicking.
She was furious when she screamed at me, but apparently, she regretted it, so she cried and apologized.
“I-I’m sorry…”
“No more apologies. Tell me what’s going on.”
“I’m really sorry, so p-please.” Evelyn, terrified, raised her trembling hand and pointed to the closet. “G-Get into the closet.”
“Sigh.”