Translated: reireiss, MTLs-nim 

Edited: reireiss, Grammarly ssi 

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Chapter 27 Part 3 (END)

You are incomparable to the nobles of the South. With an elegant voice and demeanor. I looked up and saw a very handsome boy looking at me.

.

.

.

'Ophelia.'

'......'

'Sister, right?'

With reluctant eyes. A demeanor that didn't bother to hide his dislike, but he still had to.

'I am Alexander.'

Big white hands and a mocking smile. It felt like an electric current was flowing through our touching palms. Alexander had a beautiful handsome face, resembling the Duke, but something was different.

Does that mean, he didn't fall in love with my mother's face and my gentle face? With a firm voice and gaze. For some reason, there was something about him that kept getting my attention.

But Alexander completely ignored me. Occasionally, I would feel burning gazes from behind me, but every time I looked back, no one was there.

I was confused because I didn't know if those stares were from Alexander or if they were from the servants who didn't like me. But one thing is clear, I feel that gaze every time Alexander and I cross paths. Even though whenever we passed each other, we always acted as if we didn't see each other.

I don't know why Alexander acted like that. Because of that, I chose to keep myself busy in this new house and to keep myself busy with reading. Thanks to that, the Duke knew that my hobby was reading, so he freed me to go in and out of the library.

The Duke's library is full of expensive magic books. Among these, there are books on spirit summoning methods, methods of increasing magical power, and there are methods of drawing magic circles. There are many other types of magic that I don't know about.

Day after day passed like that. It was getting closer and closer to the day My Mother and the Duke were going to go on their honeymoon.

Ever since we came to the Duke's Manor, I've never seen my mother have eyes with such blurry vision. So I have no doubts about my mother. Until the moment when I found a syringe in the dressing room.

When I found the gruesome syringe, my legs lost strength, and I fell to my knees.

She said this was the last time. Mother promised me.

I also took the syringe and immediately burned it. But, I don't know if there are other syringes hidden somewhere.

First of all, after Mother and the Duke left, I'll take care of the rest. I dragged my trembling legs and walked out.

"That time, Mother said you had a cold. And she wanted to give you antibiotics."

I still remember the day Alexander slammed the door in my face. I remember him not because of Alexander's cold demeanor, but because I found a syringe in my mother's dressing room.

I immediately went out and wandered the halls, looking for my mother. And I found my mother, standing at the door of Alexander's room.

My mother grinned, I could see a syringe and a bottle of unknown medicine or poison hidden within her long sleeves that were embroidered with gold thread.

'Oh, Mother. What are...... You doing here?'

I met my mother by accident when she was in the mood for action. The syringe that was sticking out glistened.

'Ah, it's because Alex is sick.'

'Just now I brought him honey water on your orders.'

'Ah, yes. That's right. You already did it.'

Mother was talking nonsense and all of a sudden she said there was something she had to do, so she left. Come to think of it, in person, I've never seen Mother while she killed someone.

In fact, Mother didn't even want to show me that scene in person. When I saw my mother's back slowly disappearing, uniquely, for the first time in my life, I felt annoyed at her.

My stomach is boiling. I'm very angry.

This time, my mother tried to kill someone who had done nothing wrong. Maybe Mother has a goal.

Maybe she's already addicted to killing like that. If it's like this, one day it will definitely be found out.

This place was not a small Baron's domain. Until when should I feel worried like this?

I just want to live quietly with my mother, how did I get to this point?

I can't just sit and watch it. I know it's too late, but I want to stop my mother.

My mother doesn't care what I want. When I stretch out my hand, Mother will fly away.

I am tired. And also angry.

If my mother doesn't pay attention to me, if my mother doesn't keep her promise to me, it's better if I just snatch it away.

I left the Manor in a hurry. Late at night, I passed a snoring stablekeeper and made my way to the carriage.

Supposedly, early in the morning, Mother and the Duke would have left for their journey. I draw an explosive magic circle under the carriage seat.

After all…… the Duke is fated to die at my mother's hands. I don't know what kind of person the Duke is, but he's been caught in my mother's trap and fallen down helplessly.

That night, I stayed up all night. At dawn, I leaned against the window and watched the carriage ride away. In my hand is another syringe that I found in my mother's dressing room.

Up until the moment I burned the syringe, I didn't regret my choice.

'Master and Madame......'

'The wheel is loose......'

'Madame has suffered burns all over her body.'

'No survivors.'

It didn't take long for news that the carriage that Mother and the Duke were riding in had an accident. No one suspected the fierce flames that continued to burn even though the entire carriage was already burnt. My attention was drawn to the slightly melted spokes of the wheel. The driver's cause of death was a fall from a cliff. So, the person that Henrietta killed, was the Driver.

My mother died in a fire. Duke Arpad was also found with more than half of his body covered in burns. Even though he was declared dead due to excessive bleeding, but it was obvious that the cause of death was the explosion I caused.

I killed my mother who I love the most in the world with these two hands. It looks like an accident, but I know what really happened.

Because I'm the murderer.

I regret it like crazy. Should I pretend I didn't see that my mother was going to kill Duke Arpad and Alexander? Shouldn't I be by my mother's side and help her to do whatever she wants? It is very possible for me to do.

Why was I so angry when my mother tried to kill Alexander? It was just a coincidence, I accidentally caught her, and what I did was too much.

Instead, I'll just push the Duke out of the carriage and I'll get on the carriage. If I was thinking about killing my mother, then I should be thinking about going with her.

It should be me, not Duke Arpad, the one lying side by side in my mother's grave. What will I do by surviving alone?

It is very painful. I don't want to live in the Duke's Manor, a place where traces of my mother are left. After the funeral, I will leave.

That day, when that feeling came up again, I couldn't breathe properly. I crouched down with my knees pressed against my chest and I pulled my hair tight.

In fact, even though I wore the clothes my mother used to wear, wore the hair ornaments my mother liked, and imitated her hobbies, my mother was no longer with me. I've tried really hard to deny that fact.

I thought I can do my best by living alone. But it wasn't.

"That's why you want to go? Where are you planning to go?" asked Alexander.

He took my hand and pulled it down. Strands of my silver hair dangled from my slender fingers, and the tips of my fingernails were stained red with blood as I scratched my cheek, cutting myself. Alexander tried so hard to stop me.

“……Holy Empire. I must confess my sins. I will beg for forgiveness for my mother's sins. No matter what, I will do it so that my mother does not suffer from hellfire. I want to take all my mother's sins."

I said all of that without hesitation as if wanting to get away from it. I want to climb that ladder and wash away my mother's sins. After that, I will follow in my mother's footsteps.

I will go somewhere, draw a magic circle on my body, and send magic energy to detonate it……

End my life with it.

But, when I'm about to leave. Alexander stops me. He cried like a lonely child to me, a confused and mad man.

I have a reason to be responsible for Alexander, even if it's just for a moment. It's because I killed his father.

Obviously, that was my plan at first. But Alexander moved swiftly, he was very intelligent. No one would have thought that I was the culprit. Except for Alexander.

Your suspicions of me. Your unexpected kindness. The tension between us.

As I watched all that, I slowly forgot about my mother's absence. At first, I kept trying to leave because here I felt suffering, suffering because I kept seeing traces of my mother here. Even so, slowly I began to feel comfortable.

All thanks to Alexander. Because he is here.

"But we can't stay away from the truth. After I said everything, I feel more comfortable now."

I smiled brightly.

After I said that, the clock struck, announcing that it was already 12 at night.

Oh, it's finally 12 at night. From now on, Alexander becomes an adult, 20 years old.

That means, my promise to him is done.

"......Then, summon the investigators. Arrest me now."

Now, it's still not too late. The North is vast, and it's still the middle of winter. So, it must be that the investigators were staying in a village not far from the Manor.

"Happy birthday."

I whispered to him. It's enough. If possible, before leaving the Duchy, I would like to wish Alexander a happy 20th birthday before anyone else.

"I don't like it."

Alexander caught me when I tried to get away from him. A large white hand encircled my cheek.

His words that suddenly came so quickly made me think that he was trying to conquer me. But, he doesn't like it? I looked at Alexander with a confused face.

"What? What did you just say?"

"I said, 'No'. You heard that."

Alexander laughed softly. I can't help but laugh like that.

"Cain is dead, and the investigators are gone. Now, in this Duke Family, Ophelia, it's just you and me. The two of us."

He kissed each of my red fingertips. And he kept talking while stroking my scratched cheek.

"Ever since Cain appeared pretending to be an investigator, I've been thinking of ways to get rid of him. Do you know what that means? I will defy orders from the Empire for you."

"......You don't have to do that. I will confess my sins to Cain."

"Yes. You have no idea how scared I was when I thought you would do it. And how lucky I feel, that Henrietta was killed."

It doesn't matter who killed her. I just thought that an opportunity would come along. Make this woman, Henrietta, the culprit. The cause of the death of my parents was a fire caused by friction caused by a horse-drawn carriage that had an accident... The main thing investigators noticed was the melting of the spokes. In fact, it was Henrietta who actually melted the spokes.

Alexander's eyes twinkled like a beast's, he explained how Henrietta was trapped. With an innocent face, casually, Alexander turned Henrietta into the culprit.

"Yeah, but I'm the one who killed my mother and your father, after all."

I shook my head. I drew a magic circle with this hand. Even Alexander was aware of that.

"Then what's the point? I've said it many times. I don't care if you kill him or not."

Slowly he leaned back and our eyes met. His arrogant high nose drew closer, tickling my nose. I paused for a moment, then said,

"......Alex, it's possible that you will die because of me, just like your father. I am the daughter of a woman who killed her husband."

"But Ophelia, you're not Isolde, are you? So it doesn't matter." Alexander said while tilting his head.

His languid voice sounded as if he had lost interest in the murders I had committed.

"Crazy."

I laugh it off. I had said that it was possible that I would kill him, but how could he react like this? I'm not normal either, but... It seems Alexander is even crazier.

"Yes. I'm crazy. It was you, my sister who made me like this. You came and now you want to leave me? Don't talk such nonsense. Otherwise, I will die."

"I could have killed you."

"I prefer it that way. That way, I won't be left alone."

Abandoned.

I know how terrible that is. I closed my eyes tightly, then opened them again. I do not know what to say.

As I closed my eyes and kept my mouth shut, Alexander groaned and cried miserably. Joking in a situation like this? I lifted my head in disbelief.

Alexander looked at me with eyes like a wounded dog. There wasn't even a hint of joy in that gaze. It was as if, if I gave a negative answer, the corners of his eyes would immediately burst into tears.

"......You will regret it."

I took a deep breath. Does Alexander really know? If in some way, this crazy obsession and possessiveness of mine, started to move from my mother to him.

"You won't regret it? Maybe I'll overdo it with you."

I've been trying so hard not to let my mother know what I'm thinking. Because my mother is like a butterfly, and she hates restraint and bullying.

I'm scared. If she knows that I want her to stay by my side, I'm afraid that she will throw me away without hesitation.

"I don't know what I will regret... ...Sister, no, Ophelia. I want to live with you forever."

Alexander tilted his head. I feel like my energy is drained, out of my body. And I can only smile helplessly.

"After all, you know very well what kind of person I am."

He looked at me and smiled. His thick lips intertwined with mine. I can feel the heat radiating from the naked Alexander, it keeps me laughing.

We kissed each other wildly as if we were going to eat each other. Finally, I put my hand on the back of the hand that was holding my cheek.

Alexander held my hand as if he had been waiting for him for a long time. Electric currents seemed to radiate between our tightly entwined fingers. Then, he tore off the bathrobe I was wearing.

I burst out laughing and wrapped my arms around Alexander's neck. He made a low sound, groaned, and hugged me.

"Alex, you—"

"Sssttt... Focus on me."

With his eyes slightly bloodshot, he muttered while laying me down on the bed. He glared at me.

Then, Alexander put his face between my legs. I lifted my head, feeling good, and ruffled his hair. Then, I thought,

'At the end of the night, I have to tell Alexander.'

Because, perhaps, in the first place... I never intended to leave the Duke's Manor.


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