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Chapter – 09
“Ugh…”
My head hurt terribly.
I barely managed to pry my eyelids open and look around.
“Elia. Are you okay?”
“You… class leader?”
The first thing I saw when my vision cleared was the orphanage class leader.
Rubbing my throbbing head, I slowly sat up.
Looking around, I could tell I was in the infirmary—the faint smell of disinfectant filled the air.
What…? I was looking for Luluka just a moment ago…
Confused, I asked him,
“What happened? What is this?”
“What do you mean what happened? You were unconscious for a week.”
“…What?”
A whole week unconscious?
I tried to recall the last thing I remembered before collapsing.
Luluka pushing me from the stairs… and then my pendant…
“My mother’s keepsake!”
I quickly reached for my neck.
But the necklace I always wore with care was gone.
“Something this beautiful and valuable doesn’t suit someone like you.”
At the same time, I remembered Luluka wearing my necklace and mocking me.
I urgently asked the class leader,
“Where is Luluka right now?”
I intended to confront her immediately.
I had to grab her by the hair if I needed to just to take my mother’s keepsake back.
But no matter how much I asked, the class leader remained silent.
“Class leader, I’m in a hurry! Where is Luluka?”
“…She’s gone.”
What?
I widened my eyes in disbelief.
“Luluka is no longer here.”
“What… do you mean?”
The class leader avoided my gaze.
As if he didn’t know how to deliver the news.
Thump. Thump.
My heart pounded uneasily.
“Class leader! Hurry up and tell me!”
At my desperate plea, he let out a long sigh.
Then he adjusted his glasses and finally spoke.
“Luluka found her biological parents and left the orphanage.”
“……”
“She was actually the lost child of the Rubelian ducal family.”
This can’t be.
Why did the original story start unfolding now, of all times?
A wave of despair washed over me.
But I couldn’t just fall into hopelessness.
“So now Luluka is someone we can’t just meet whenever we want. She’s a duchess’s daughter.”
I forced myself to calm down.
“Did everyone know she pushed me down the stairs?”
“Huh? Luluka did that?”
The class leader raised his eyebrows in surprise.
He clearly hadn’t known.
So the real culprit of my fall wasn’t revealed.
I remembered the creaking stairs.
Luluka had said she told the director to fix them, but nothing had been done.
Which meant she never told the director at all.
She planned everything—including pushing me down the stairs.
To make sure she wouldn’t be suspected.
To make it look like I simply fell because the stairs broke.
“Elia, I was told the step you fell on collapsed because it was rotten.”
Just as I thought.
The class leader confirmed it.
Luluka had deceived everyone, and while I was unconscious, she entered the Rubelian ducal family.
But how did she know the timing of the duke’s visit?
In the original story, the Duke of Rubelian comes to the orphanage searching for his lost child.
And he recognizes Luluka through the pendant and takes her immediately.
I knew from reading the novel that the duke would come, but not when.
So how did Luluka know the exact timing to push me down the stairs?
Now that I was waking up and my mind was still hazy, everything was strangely becoming clearer instead.
The duke must have sent a notice before visiting. He wouldn’t just show up suddenly.
I recalled the day I received Akkelte’s letter.
That was also the day Luluka had lied, pretending there was only one letter when she was clearly hiding one.
What she had hidden was the parchment.
At the time, I thought she was just trying to steal it for money.
But—
That wasn’t it. She stole the official notice from the Duke of Rubelian.
That parchment was actually the duke’s announcement of his visit.
Now everything that felt off about Luluka finally made sense.
But even so, I still couldn’t understand why she would push me down the stairs.
Think again…
Her goal was my pendant.
She took it after pushing me down.
She needed my pendant badly enough to risk everything.
The story only begins with Luluka entering the Rubelian ducal family.
So the orphanage itself isn’t described in detail.
But it is clear that she was recognized because she possessed the “Rubelian pendant.”
“…Then don’t tell me…”
My mother’s keepsake…
Is actually the Rubelian pendant…?
My face turned pale.
I remembered asking Luluka before if she also had a pendant.
She had said no.
So in the original story… Luluka stole Elia’s pendant. That’s how she became the duke’s daughter.
It felt like a tangled knot had finally been unraveled.
The Luluka I knew and the real Luluka were completely different people.
Not a kind, angelic heroine—but someone cunning enough to push a friend down the stairs for her own benefit.
I finally accepted it.
“Elia, are you okay? You don’t look well.”
“…I’m fine. Just a bit shocked.”
“I’ll go tell the director you’re awake.”
“Okay, thank you.”
After the class leader left, my confusion didn’t disappear.
So my favorite character was actually a traitor and thief…
All the times I had admired Luluka came flooding back.
And it made me feel even worse.
“Luluka…”
The original Elia would never have suspected her even after losing the pendant.
And without Akkelte’s help, I would never have found it the first time either.
So it made sense that Luluka could become the story’s heroine—the Rubelian duchess—in Elia’s place.
“…You really…”
I clenched my fist.
Not out of fear, nor despair.
“Picked the wrong person to mess with.”
I’m not the Elia from the original story who just gets used and discarded.
I will take back my stolen pendant—and my stolen life.
I ground my teeth and touched my empty neck, where the pendant used to be.
Just then, the class leader returned.
“Elia.”
“Yeah?”
But he was alone.
“Where’s the director?”
“She asked you to come to her office.”
“For me?”
“Yeah. Someone has come to see you.”
I widened my eyes.
A visitor? For me?
I had been unconscious for a week—there shouldn’t be anyone coming to see me.
Completely confused, I went down to the director’s office.
“Oh, Elia. You’re here. Are you feeling better?”
“Yes…”
The director’s tone felt strange.
She was clearly trying to act unusually kind, which meant a high-ranking noble must be here.
I stepped inside and looked at the visitor.
“…Akkelte!”
It was none other than Akkelte.
I never expected to see him again so soon, so I ended up calling his name out loudly.
“Elia! How dare you address Lord Isis so rudely!”
I quickly covered my mouth in shock at the director’s sudden scolding.
I had instinctively called his name without thinking.
I had promised to use proper honorifics around adults…
“Apologize at once!”
“Never mind that. Director, please leave.”
Akkelte stood up from the sofa, waving his hand.
“I’ll speak with Elia for a moment.”
“Yes, of course! How wonderful! Elia, do not be disrespectful to Lord Isis and behave yourself!”
Before I could even process everything, the director hurried out.
Why is the director leaving her own office?
The power of the Isis family really was something.
Even that strict “tiger-like” director was acting obedient.
I carefully sat across from Akkelte.
“What brings you here? You must be busy.”
“You didn’t reply to my letter.”
Ah. Right.
I hadn’t replied because I was unconscious for a week.
Including preparations before that, quite a lot of time had passed.
“So I contacted the orphanage and heard you fell down the stairs and were seriously injured. I was worried, and I wanted to see your face.”
“I see…”
“How is your body? Are you okay?”
I nodded lightly.
I didn’t even know how I felt yet, but I didn’t want to worry him.
“Why did you fall down the stairs?”
His voice was full of concern.
I was about to answer, but stopped.
The Isis family is powerful enough to oppose the Rubelian duchy.
I was just an orphan from a common background.
A child like me would never be able to face someone like Luluka, now a duchess’s daughter.
I needed help.
Maybe Akkelte… could help me?
The only person I knew with real power was Akkelte.
