/
Allen was there to block their way, a troubled expression on his face.
Margaret was dressed to the nines as if she was on her way to a banquet. She pointed a finger at Allen and shouted.
“I left her in the Marquis’ custody for a while, but she is still my daughter! With what authority are you preventing me from meeting my own daughter, who I bore in my own stomach?! The Marquis— Tell the Marquis to come out this instant!”
“Madam, you can’t do this…!”
With his large bison-like physique, Allen continued to block Margaret’s way, but he couldn’t really touch her directly.
“There’s nothing that I’m not allowed to do!”
Realizing that Allen couldn’t truly stop him, Margaret now began to push him back with her own body.
Radis couldn’t bear to sit still and watch. She pocketed her map and walked towards the three people.
“Please stop this!”
Her voice immediately drew Margaret, Allen and Jurich’s attention to her.
And Radis noted a hint of dismay passing through Allen’s face.
“Oh my…!”
Margaret’s eyes went wide open as she looked at Radis up and down.
“Radis? Oh my, look at you! The Marquis must really be quite fond of you, huh!”
Radis stared back at Margaret coldly.
Even if the woman was essentially saying, ‘You look like you’ve been doing well,’ Radis couldn’t understand why she had to say it in such a hateful way. This, too, was quite a feat.
“Radis? It’s really you, Radis?”
Jurich’s reaction was worse.
The reason behind Jurich’s surprise was probably more because of the outfit Radis was wearing.
When Radis received Yves’ note earlier this morning, she had a fleeting thought that the visitor might be Olivier.
That’s why she was wearing a nice dress today. But if she were to be perfectly honest and after much consideration, she thought that it’s too much since she was only staying at home.
Radis observed Jurich as the girl’s eyes scoured through the expensive dress and the classy jewelry she was wearing, as if trying to find any fault at all.
Her gaze of admiration and surprise eventually turned into deep envy and distrust.
Radis walked past Jurich and said nothing to her. Instead, she stood in front of Margaret and opened her lips to speak.
“Please leave.”
Those two words were enough to make Margaret’s brows crumpled.
“Your mother and sister have come to visit you, and this is what you say? And it’s been such a long time since we last saw each other too! For you to be so heartless…”
Radis merely repeated the same exact words, with the same exact tone.
“Please leave.”
In response to those words, Margaret hit her back with one fist.
“Goodness gracious, I can’t leave! The garden is so wide, and my back is so stiff from crossing it. Hey, I want to see how you’ve been living so far! Lead me to your chambers!”
Margaret’s audacity made Radis’ pupils tremble.
However, Radis endured.
She did not want to show anything unsightly towards Allen and the other people in the mansion.
“…I said leave.”
Just as much as Radis’ agitation soared, so too did Margaret’s voice become even more shrill.
“And I already said that I won’t! Do you think I came here just because I was bored? I’m here because there’s something I want to say. It’s about your own younger brother, David. Your younger brother! He’s been going through a lot lately. Help me out.”
“I don’t want to hear it. And I don’t want to help. Please leave.”
At that time, Jurich dug in between Margaret and Radis and practically screeched.
“Radis! How can you do something like this to your own family? Are you saying that you’re going to coldly kick out your family now?”
Margaret alone was overwhelming enough, but when Jurich stepped in, Radis’ vision almost spun.
She shook her head and raised one hand.
“Jurich, stop and just…”
But Jurich shrieked.
“I told you to invite me to the Marquisate! I told you to send me gifts! But you didn’t do any of that! How could you?! You’re Radis Tilrod! The eldest daughter of the Tilrod family! Mother’s daughter! A-And! My S-Sister!”
Hearing Jurich call her properly as ‘Sister’ for the first time, Radis stared back at her younger sister with complete incredulity.
She didn’t really wish to hear someone call her ‘Sister’ before, but she never imagined that it would sound so unpleasant.
When Jurich said ‘Sister’, it sounded as if she was ordering a servant to fetch something that she left behind.
Before this, Radis continued to regard Jurich as a blood-related younger sister. However, at this moment, the girl seemed to be worse than any stranger.
Seeing that Radis got affected by Jurich’s words, Margaret excitedly encouraged the girl.
“Gracious, Jurich! You’ve got such a way with words! This baby sister is so much better than the older sister!”
Jurich clenched her hands into fists. It’s the first time in a long while that her mother gave her a compliment. So, she began to let more words pour out of her mouth in earnest.
“Do you think we’re over just because you left and are living well by yourself? Aren’t you being too selfish? What about the rest of the family? You just gave Brother David a position in the subjugation squad so carelessly like that! You must be thinking that you’ve done enough so you left, is that it?! Do you have any idea just how much Brother David is suffering at that place!”
Those words were likely lashed out by Margaret’s tongue first.
As Jurich spoke in a voice that resembled Margaret and showed a face that resembled Margaret, Radis’ vision started spinning even more.
When Radis was younger, Jurich and Margaret constantly discriminated against her for not looking like them. She once lamented not taking after her mother, and she believed that it was her fault that she didn’t look like her mother.
But now, she finally came to realize.
‘The fact that I don’t resemble my mother… What a huge relief.’