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Chapter – 04
“It wasn’t your fifteenth birthday—it was your sixteenth.”
Startled by Lajet’s words, I asked, “What?”
Was I wrong?
Suddenly, my mind went blank. My heart pounded fiercely, and my fingertips stiffened.
“Just this once, please.”
“Calib, you…”
I couldn’t continue.
“I’m sorry, sister… I still haven’t adjusted. Honestly, I still can’t believe I’m really your younger brother.”
“……”
I had forgotten. Lajet wasn’t exactly obedient.
He would pretend to obey Lizene’s words, but he often toyed with her.
Lajet deliberately provoked Lizene’s temper, pretending to be innocent afterward.
“Are you upset? I’m sorry.”
Seeing his dejected expression, I couldn’t help but feel amused. I had assumed he noticed I wasn’t Lizene.
The fortunate thing was that through his low-level teasing, he seemed to realize roughly where the story had progressed.
The casual mention of my fifteenth birthday was meaningless. That statement couldn’t stand.
The first birthday Lizene would experience since Lajet became “Calib” was her sixteenth birthday.
That meant Lajet hadn’t been at the Count’s estate for very long.
At most… about half a year.
“If you still can’t adjust, what are you going to do?”
Lizene had manipulated her own memory. She convinced herself that she had lost Calib, and fabricated a cliché story in her mind about finding him in an orphanage.
“I lived there for almost a year. But I’m adjusting well, thanks to you, sister.”
I couldn’t tell why Lajet had lost his memory or why he lived in an orphanage. The novel left out much of it. All I knew was that Lajet had lost his memory, lived in an orphanage, and caught Lizene’s attention.
“Alright…”
I stared at Lajet. The way he deliberately teased made me wonder what he thought when I accepted him.
‘Does he think I was just delirious from the medicine?’
If that was what he believed, it was a relief on my side.
Continuing to converse with this arrogant Lajet felt dangerous—I was afraid I might make a mistake.
So I finally pried Lajet from my arms.
“I need to rest, Calib. Go back to your room.”
“Ah, alright. I’ve been holding you too long. Call me if you get bored.”
Despite being with someone they might dislike, Lajet seemed remarkably patient. Seeing him leave reluctantly at my command almost made me think he was genuinely regretful.
His acting skills were impressive…
“You, come here.”
I gestured to the maid who was still standing. She furrowed her brow slightly at my arrogance despite being younger.
“Why?”
“Why? You need to clean this.”
I pointed at a glass on the bedside table. She looked at me briefly, puzzled.
She could bully Lizene because of the medicine.
But I didn’t need medicine.
“Clean it.”
The cheeky maid hesitated, opening her mouth to protest, but I ignored her and pulled the cord. Soon, another maid entered.
No one knew that Amy bullied Lizene. If it were discovered that a mere maid tormented a noble daughter, the consequences would be far worse than simple dismissal.
“Could you help Amy? It seems a bit too much for her alone.”
“Huh?”
“She can’t carry the cups. Help her clean up.”
The maid, afraid of whatever mischief I might pull, hurriedly helped Amy carry the cups and left the room.
“Ugh… what a mess.”
Only silence remained in the room, allowing me to finally catch my breath.
Thinking, observing, and speaking had drained me, especially because of Lajet’s pranks.
I looked around the spacious room. It was huge—not just a studio but a room with a dress room and lavish furnishings.
I opened the cream-colored wardrobe. Expensive-looking dresses were neatly lined up. I pulled one out to drape over my body and then opened the jewelry box on the vanity.
‘Being Lizene has its perks.’
As a daughter of a wealthy noble family, I now had riches I could never have dreamed of in my previous life. Seeing the jewelry lifted my spirits. With this much wealth, life seemed a bit more bearable.
Of course, there was one problem.
How could I avoid being killed by Lajet in the future?
The answer was simple—make him not hate me.
Even if he already hated me, if I could slowly lessen that hatred, I could gradually distance myself from death. Fortunately, only half a year had passed since Lajet arrived at the Count’s estate.
That meant his hatred might not have run very deep.
“I can work with this.”
Besides, plenty of time remained before Lajet would try to kill me.
“Enjoy the moment now.”
When else could I, as a noble, indulge in such pleasures? I decided to leave the future to my future self.
I tried on several colorful necklaces, then noticed the ruby necklace around my neck.
It was probably one Lizene had chosen herself. The deep red necklace perfectly suited my taste.
I decided to leave it on.
As I admired the jewelry in my hands, I found a necklace that didn’t quite match Lizene’s elegance—a pearl necklace.
“What’s this? Lizene’s taste?”
It didn’t seem like something a child would wear.
Curiously, I examined the pearls and suddenly a memory burst into my mind.
‘Why did you leave alone! Why, why…!’
A woman’s tear-streaked face appeared. She was dressed lavishly, yet she wailed as if she had lost everything.
‘If you were leaving Calib behind, you should’ve died there too!’
The woman grabbed my shoulder and scolded me fiercely.
The young body trembled helplessly under her hand, then was thrown to the floor.
The Count embraced his collapsing wife and wept with her. I watched, suffocated by the guilt of an outsider.
“Oh… my mother’s heirloom…”
The memory was so vivid that I felt choked.
Lizene’s mother had died—by suicide. She left a cruel note saying she couldn’t live without Calib.
I shook my head at the strange feeling. What kind of past does a villainess have?
I closed the jewelry box, determined not to be consumed by others’ emotions.
The sound of the lid clicking shut felt strangely sad.
Lajet would try to kill me after returning to his family.
He endured years of hardship at the Count’s estate and eventually escaped. Somehow, he regained his memory and returned to his family.
Yet, despite escaping, Lajet suffered from nightmares every night—trauma caused by Lizene.
He never easily showed his true self to others.
To be precise, he couldn’t. Years of living as Calib left him struggling with his own identity.
Disillusioned with life, he eventually sought out Lizene and killed her. After that, he was tangled with the heroine—a frustrating, tedious story. That heroine happened to be my cousin, Zibel de Pong.
“Let’s list what I need to do first.”
-
Don’t try to control him.
-
Don’t torment him.
Ah, that seemed obvious, so I marked the second one.
-
Treat him kindly.
-
Help him maintain his sense of self.
-
Help him find his family.
“That’s a lot…”
I hated hassle, but still…
“Struggling to survive isn’t much different from my previous life.”
Still, this was far better than a life steeped in poverty.
I folded the paper with my notes and put it in the drawer.
Then I got up from the desk and went to the table for lunch. In this household, Lizene usually ate in her room.
It was the third day since I’d possessed her body. Around this time, lunch would arrive.
Amy would bring it soon.
I had already summoned two other people besides Amy.
‘They should be arriving now.’
When the count reached twenty, a knock on the door announced someone’s arrival.
“Miss, your meal.”
It was Amy.
I had arranged for her to come first and also asked Lajet to send a butler.
‘I don’t fully trust him, but I’ll have to see.’
Even if Lajet tried to sabotage things, it didn’t matter today; there would be other chances.
“Beef stew? Looks delicious.”
Amy carried a tray with two plates: steaming beef stew and steak, along with another plate of pale soup made of leftover mushrooms and other ingredients.
“This is yours, Miss.”
“What’s this?”
“It’s made from mushrooms and leftover ingredients. It tastes good.”
“……”
“After you finish, you’ll take your medicine, so don’t complain about the meal.”
“Did my father tell you to give it?”
The Count was absurd. Even if his daughter could collapse from side effects of medicine, he instructed that it be given.
“Today he said not to, but I’m giving it specially. So you should be grateful.”
I clenched my teeth and swallowed a bitter laugh.
