Chapter 2

 

At that moment, a smile spread over Callaine’s face.

“You are so naive. Do you really think your fiance doesn’t know about it? You don’t think it was planned by only me and father didn’t you?”

“…What?”

It was the first time Nadia had a crack in her expression.

There was nothing to be disappointed about her half-sister and her father because there was nothing to expect from them in the first place, but her fiance was different.

She couldn’t believe he agreed to this stupid scheme. She couldn’t believe it.

Looking at Nadia’s shocked expression, Callaine was becoming more pleased.

“What’s so surprising about it? Shouldn’t you have expected it?”

“There’s.. No way…”

“Things got different after you got engaged to him. He will become one of the most important figures in the country. The fact that such a man is getting married to an illegitimate child… Well, I am sure you got the idea.”

Lee Jiho was no longer a nobody compared to when he got summoned to this world before. Throughout the war against the demons, his fame rose to heaven.

Callaine laughed mockingly at her half-sister’s engagement yet coveted her position at the same time.

‘So… That’s the reason he didn’t come to see me after that day?’

Instead of blindly denying the reality, Nadia’s head thought that that could happen.

Sir Jiho often told her about the hardships he had gone through when he was first summoned here, and how he vowed to himself that he would rise and made sure that no one ignored him.

That’s probably why he made such a significant contribution in the wars against the demons.

Nadia couldn’t have imagined that the man was far from a “warrior” image in public.

Turned out, the power of a wife’s family also made a significant contribution for him to go up to a higher position.

It was less likely that he would refuse to have someone better as his wife.

No, maybe he considered his engagement with an illegitimate child as ‘discrimination against stranger’ from the beginning.

‘He is a man who put his career first in this world.’

If he had told her to cancel their engagement, she would have stepped down…

No, probably he didn’t want to be known as a coward for abandoning his fiancee after rising to the top, right?

Then, Callaine continued to talk to her, who was frozen like a statue.

“Who wouldn’t look at a man if he turned into someone with a higher class? A wife’s status also represents a man’s dignity. This is the difference between you and me. Do you understand?”

“…”

It was funny. Everything was ridiculous.

A very selfish fiancé. A father who uses his daughter as a horse and abandons her. And a half-sister who came all the way to this dirty place in excitement.

Nadia asked, holding back her laugh.

“That’s why a noble lady like you came all the way down here to talk about it?”

“No way.”

Callaine’s eyes were bent sharply.

How annoying it was for her that an illegitimate child to be treated like a Duke’s blood.

She should be the only one to be treated as the daughter of the Duke of Balazit.

Callaine couldn’t help but laugh at the miserable sight of her half-sister, who has been tormented all her life.

Now it was the time to execute the highlight of this brilliant ploy.

Callaine continued talking as if she weren’t done singing.

“I am here to help you. Which noble family would accept a woman who got dumped from her engagement because of seeing another man behind her fiance’s back? Not to mention that you are an illegitimate child… It would be too hard for you to get married unless with a commoner. Wouldn’t it be better to die honorably than ended up like that? Therefore, I will help you just this once.”

Clap, clap, clap.

Right after she clapped three times, the basement door opened, and the male servants came in.

What was in their hands was a thick rope.

A rope that was so thick that it looked like it wouldn’t break even if a person got hung with it.

It wasn’t so hard to predict what was going on after seeing the item.

Nadia could feel the goosebumps on her back.

“You ····!”

“Our father tried to accept that her daughter is a fool, but you are too ashamed of yourself that you committed suicide, and Sir Jiho lost his fiance. Wouldn’t this keep our family’s honor and his honor? It’s only your name that gets dirty. Still, at least people will remember you as a woman who knows shame.”

Callaine relaxed gesture was followed by the servant’s movements. Rigid-looking men tied Nadia’s arms and legs while holding down on Nadia.

Nadia desperately resisted, but there was no way she could overcome the power of several men.

“Let me go!”

“There’s no use to resist.”

Soon after, a knot in the rope was tied around her neck. There was no hesitation in the hands of the men who tied her to the ceiling.

“Cough!”

Nadia’s throat was choking. She couldn’t breathe.

She struggled with her tied feet, but her feet couldn’t touch anything. Even though she was confused, she could still think how unfair it was.

‘Is it really going to end like this?’

Nadia lived her whole life obediently following her father’s orders.

When she was young, she never breathed comfortably because her stepmother was watching her.

Everything nice was always taken away by the half-sisters.

She couldn’t believe she was being used as a pawn all her life, and then now she was framed to death until her last minute.

It was such a cruel fate.

Nadia could see my half-sister smiling joyfully beyond the blurred vision.

Callaine’s eyes were smiling, and she waved her hands.

“Goodbye, Nadia. I will watch you until your last second in this world. Afterall, aren’t we sisters?”

Nadia Balazit’s life was cut off as she heard a giggle. It happened when she was 24.

As soon as she realized that she had returned to her past, Nadia’s first thought that came to mind was she would betray them before they could betray her in this life.

Four years before her death. When she was 20 years old.

Nadia murmured, stroking the neck where the thick rope had been chocked her tight.

“I’m back…”

She contemplated whether she was really back in time, or it was just a long dream?

‘It was too real to be a dream.’

The moment when she was losing her breath came to flash in her mind.

In her blurry vision from tears, her half-sister smiled as if she was having fun.

Nadia had to listen to her long-time enemy’s laughter until the moment she lost her life.

The misery of being ridiculed to death.

The helplessness of being unable to do anything in the face of death.

Nadia tightened her jaw.

‘This time, I will never–‘

“Get out of the way, miss! What are you doing standing there when I am cleaning!”

Bump.

Someone pushed Nadia’s body hard, and her delicate body wobbled like a reed.

“Stay out of the way until I am done cleaning. You’re only disturbing me.”

It was Amber, the maid of the Balazit family, who pushed Nadia.

She brushed the shelf behind Nadia with a dusting cloth while pouring out complaints from her mouth.

“If you could clean up your room by yourself, can’t you just leave the room? Huh? How many times do I have to tell you, tch.”

“…”

Initially, they were ordered to clean the room only when the owner was away.

If this was Callaine’s room, not Nadia’s, Amber wouldn’t dare to step in.

‘It seemed that you aren’t afraid of a girl without any backing.’

The father, who was the Head of the household, was indifferent toward house chores matters.

He had the mindset that if he was involved in housework management, which was supposed to be the Hostess of the household’s responsibility, it would make him lose face.

That was why the maids had no reason to be polite to Nadia.

As for Callaine’s case, she always took special care of the maids who were rude to her half-sister; therefore, there was no reason for the maids to be friendly to Nadia.

Still, most of the maids felt sorry for her poor situation and treated her considerately nice.

Except for the clown-like Amber.

‘That’s the face that brought me a cocktail on the day of the masquerade party.’

Nadia lost consciousness after drinking the alcohol that Callaine’s maid brought me.

It was too coincidental to be a coincidence.

Nadia’s gaze at the foolish maid went cold.

“W-what? What are you going to do looking at me like that?”

“…”

Amber, who got stared at, shivered while opening her eyes ferociously.

Like she didn’t want to admit she was scared by the first young lady of the house whom she thought was easy.

‘What should I do with this kid?’

Nadia was lost in thought for a moment and then smiled.

“Nothing. I’ll be out now. Clean up hard.”

“Ah….”

Then Amber’s expression, which seemed to be scared for a moment, went relieved.

That’s right.

There’s no way the unassertive first young lady would get mad.

“I was wondering what you were going to say. Hurry up and go out. I will call you back when I’m done cleaning up.”

Amber sighed briefly and turned.

Because of that, she couldn’t see.

The unassertive young lady who was passing by her put something shiny in the back pocket of her apron.

After leaving the room, Nadia sat by the window in the hallway and killed some time.

This was a hallway where people come and go frequently.

It wouldn’t be long before someone else came.

“Oh, my lady? Why are you here?”

Sure enough, a maid appeared at the end of the hallway in less than ten minutes.

Nadia guessed the maid came because she had a message for her.

“It’s because the bedroom is being cleaned.”

“Pardon? But you don’t have to wait in the hallway….”

“Amber said that she won’t be able to relax while cleaning, so she said it would be better if I get out of the room. I really don’t mind…”

“But there’s a living room next to the bedroom.”

Nadia replied, shrugging her shoulders.

“I guess she just mind about me being around. There’s nothing I can do about it.”

“Hmm…”

The maid had a doubtful expression on her face.

A maid kicked the room owner out of the room for cleaning. It was a case that she had never heard or seen before.