Renaud suddenly rubbed his ear as if he were bored.
"I thought you would at least be a good imitation of Yvonne."
I had begged with all my sincerity.
"Is this what it's like, just sitting here listening to the sound of a chimpanzee shooting a crossbow? Bringing in a rootless slave brat and ruining what little reputation I have."
The response was always disdain and neglect.
"How long do I have to keep seeing the likes of you swaggering around the mansion?"
Renaud's lips curled up in a mocking smile, and someone's face overlapped with his.
- Why do I have to come all the way to this house and see a beggar brat running around?
A voice like an auditory hallucination echoed in my ears.
I never once had the courage to say, "I don't want to see your face," for fear of being kicked out.
"…A substitute?"
But why did it bring back the memory of what I had barely managed to suppress just a moment ago?
"Have you ever treated me as a substitute?"
The words slipped out of my mouth as if 'the chimpanzee shooting a crossbow' had become my trigger.
Renaud, who had never pretended to listen to my apologies, growled at my question.
"Then, how much better should I treat a rootless beggar brat you picked up and made a lady? As well as a princess? Or, should I treat you like a queen?"
"Sure. Try treating me like that once."
"…What?"
"Maybe you know? If I feel good, I might even imitate your missing brother."
I clenched my teeth and sneered, my face a mess as I laughed.
In contrast, Renaud's sneer gradually faded.
I could feel the temperature in the room drop sharply.
What had been just a minor quarrel a moment ago now made Renaud look as if he could tear me apart at any moment.
"Hey…"
The guy called me in a deep, low voice. And then.
'Affinity -2%'
The worst-case scenario I had feared finally came to pass.
"Watch your mouth. How dare you…"
"Why? Because my mouth is open, I'm talking?"
"Hey."
"Do you think you're the only one who can hate me?"
The image of 12-year-old Penelope appeared before my eyes.
Even though I knew I shouldn't, I couldn't stop myself.
"I'm the same. If I had known the great Duke would starve me, I wouldn't have come even if he asked me to go with him."
"Penelope Eckhart."
"How did I do it? It's nothing special. I just acted like a rootless beggar brat, just like you did to me."
"That's enough."
Renaud warned me menacingly.
'Affinity -1%'
My affinity dropped again.
The guy seemed both furious and flustered. After all, it was always their privilege to sneer and mock with disdain.
When Penelope was angry, she would charge in with a scream, so my current state must have been surprising.
Perhaps he was shocked by my sudden change, given how I had always tried to avoid upsetting him and obediently apologized.
Either way, it was all just exhausting.
"I couldn't even hold my mother's funeral because I had no money, and I went hungry for days. One day, your father called me his daughter and asked me to go with him."
"…"
"Have you ever tasted rainwater collected next to a decaying corpse?"
The 12-year-old Penelope in my mind gradually turned into 14-year-old me.
"Have you ever eaten the leftovers of what someone else had eaten, or had to force down food that tasted like garbage to survive? Never, right?"
"…Hey."
"Why did you wish your brother would never come back?"
'Affinity -1%'
[Affinity 4%]
Renaud's affinity plummeted instantly. If I didn't want to die, I should have shut my mouth and knelt down.
"Because I was afraid of going back to that time."
But instead of begging for forgiveness, I chose to reveal the fear, terror, and desperation I had desperately hidden.
Because Penelope would have done the same back then.
She would have prayed to God that the real lady would never return.
"I prayed that someone would drop some food for me today, and that I would go back to the beggar's life of staring at the streets all day."
"…Penelope."
"Speak, I'm listening."
Renaud called me in a choked voice.
My silent scream was over. I panted heavily and looked at him.
The fear that my affinity would drop and I would die had vanished.
Even if I died right now, I wouldn't regret it.
For the foolish and stupid Penelope who grew up with misplaced anger and hatred. And…
"I…"
I was just waiting quietly for the end to come.
Suddenly, a bright light flashed above the guy's head.
[Affinity 7%]
"I… you…"
Renaud's face was stiff, and he struggled to continue.
It was understandable. The stories of those at the bottom, who had been raised in luxury, were something he had never heard or seen.
After a long pause, he finally managed to say one word.
"…I didn't know you had such a hard time."
The situation had suddenly reversed.
Just like I had been sweating and carefully choosing my words a moment ago, it was now Renaud who was at a loss.
"Of course not."
"…Penelope."
"You think I, whom you usually despise, was incredibly cunning and tricked the Duke of Eckhart to take your brother's place."
"That's…"
"I hope you know now."
I looked at him with cold, dead eyes and sneered.
"When you accused me of being a necklace thief, I was a 12-year-old commoner who couldn't even read properly."
Renaud's mouth, which had opened to respond, closed in disbelief.
I could see his pale pupils gradually fill with shock, but it didn't feel satisfying at all.
That's when it happened.
Whoosh! Bang!
A loud explosion echoed across the sky from beyond Renaud's back, where the window was open.
While we were engaged in this meaningless battle, the sky outside had turned dark, and the sunset had faded.
Whoosh! Bang! Bang!
The fireworks had started.
With the beautiful sight of colorful fireworks painting the black sky behind us, we silently faced each other.
With each explosion, the colored light shadows flickered and disappeared on Renaud's face.
Was it because of that? His expression, as he looked at me, seemed a bit wavered.
At that moment, the pink hair above his head flashed again.
[Affinity 14%]
My affinity had risen significantly. A white window appeared in front of me almost simultaneously.
〈SYSTEM〉 [Renaud] and [Watching the Festival] quest completed!
〈SYSTEM〉 Do you want to receive the reward?
[Yes. / No.]
'…Ha.'
I smiled bitterly at the quest window that appeared out of nowhere in a situation where it shouldn't have.
'So, as long as the quest conditions are met, it's a success, regardless of whether the affinity is ruined or not.'
Still, the fact that I had to press [Yes] in this situation made me shudder.
〈SYSTEM〉 You have received [Renaud]'s [Affinity +3%] and [Crossbow] as a reward.
Seeing the affinity rise immediately, I felt the fire of my earlier defiance dying down like a smoldering ember.
Bang! Whoosh! Bang!
Unlike me, the fireworks outside the window were still in full swing.
"…Even if I'm kicked out of this house, it's just going back to being a poor commoner. Isn't that strange?"
I muttered to myself amidst the loud fireworks.
"You always make me feel worse than a slave."
Renaud's face, which had been wavering, completely twisted at my words.
Perhaps it was from this moment that I started to imagine what would happen after I left the Duke's house.
I looked at him with dry, lifeless eyes for a moment before turning around.
"Penelope…!"
Renaud called out to me urgently, trying to grab me.
But I didn't even look back as I left the attic.
As I descended the dark stone stairs alone, I alternated between thinking about the increased affinity with Renaud and the impulsive conversation we had.
[Affinity 17%]
It was a generous result, considering I had defied him with the resolve to die.
Of course, the past of Penelope that I had poured out was all a brilliant lie.
'How could I know her past, which didn't even appear in the game?'
Eating rainwater next to a corpse, eating cold leftovers—
All those miserable and sordid stories were just assumptions of what 'she must have been like.'
…Not my story.
* * *
The [Additional Reward] I received for completing the [Watching the Festival with Renaud] quest was delivered a while later.