PET 02

Chapter 02

The Future Ended in a Sad Ending

That day as well, Stella rode in a carriage on her way to the young nobleman’s estate to meet him.

After telling the coachman to return for her later, Stella entered the mansion. Since the young lord had said they should keep their relationship secret until formally informing their families, they usually met at his estate.

By now, Stella was accustomed to entering the mansion, but strangely, there were no servants in sight that day.

So Stella headed farther inside to look for him.

But he was nowhere to be found.

As she continued walking deeper into the mansion, voices suddenly echoed through the hallway.

Stella approached the room the voices were coming from. The door was slightly ajar.

Then a man’s voice became clearer.

“You already know how I feel.”

That voice…

Stella recognized it immediately.

It was the voice she loved so dearly.

But the moment she heard the woman’s voice that followed, Stella stopped in her tracks before entering the room.

“But you—”

“No. I love you. I only became Stella’s lover so I could get closer to you.”

At the alarming conversation, Stella cautiously peered through the gap in the door.

First, she saw the back of the man she loved.

A woman stood before him, though Stella could not see her clearly because the man blocked her view.

“Then what about Stella?”

“That woman means nothing to me. I feel absolutely nothing for her. The only person I want is you.”

At the man’s shocking confession, Stella froze completely.

He was saying he had never loved her from the beginning.

Then what had all those warm gazes directed at her been?

“What I truly—”

And Stella recognized the woman’s voice as well.

No—

There was no way she could fail to recognize it.

Because—

A moment later, the man and woman kissed before Stella’s eyes.

And at that instant, the woman’s violet eyes met Stella’s golden ones.

How could this happen…

The woman—

No, Camilla—

continued kissing the man even though she clearly knew Stella was watching.

As though she were deliberately putting on a show for her.

Shocked beyond belief, Stella wanted desperately to escape that place, but her trembling legs would barely support her.

She somehow managed to leave the mansion, but her mind was in complete chaos.

“Don’t tell me… Camilla intentionally approached me…”

Stella wished with all her heart that everything she had seen was only a nightmare.

But the cruel truth remained unchanged.

Camilla had knowingly orchestrated all of this despite being fully aware of Stella’s relationship with him.

No matter how much Stella thought about it, she could not understand.

Unlike herself, Camilla already possessed everything.

So why did she insist on taking away the one thing Stella had?

At that moment, while Stella stood there blankly, Camilla suddenly approached her.

“How could you do something like this?”

“Because I hated seeing you look happy.”

“Why?!”

Unable to endure it any longer, Stella shouted.

“You’re supposed to spend your entire life envying me and looking defeated. But recently, you looked far too excited and happy, and it annoyed me so much that I decided to give you a little hope. But you saw it too, didn’t you? The truth is, he loved me all along. This is your reality. No one loves you.”

At those words, all strength left Stella’s body.

Still, clinging to one final shred of hope, she asked quietly:

“But I’m still your sister. I’m your family too.”

At the word family, Camilla burst into laughter.

Only after a long while did she finally stop and speak to Stella.

“No. You’re neither my family nor anything else. You’re just a pitiful woman who copied me and was rejected by everyone.”

Leaving only those words behind, Camilla climbed into the carriage she had arrived in and departed from the estate.

Left alone, tears began to fall from Stella’s eyes one drop at a time.

Soon, they soaked her face so heavily that she could no longer bear it.

Yet afraid someone might hear her crying, Stella covered her mouth with her hand and swallowed all her grief alone.

Those tears contained every wound and pain she had endured until now, and the way she desperately suppressed her sobs only made her seem more pitiful.

What hurt even more was the fact that there was no longer anyone in the ducal estate who would listen to her feelings or become angry on her behalf.

And no one understood that better than Stella herself.

As though the heavens understood her sorrow, raindrops began to fall one by one.

Like someone possessed, Stella left the estate while the rain grew heavier around her.

Her eyes were already completely empty, devoid of any emotion at all.

Though the rain made it impossible to see clearly ahead, Stella wandered aimlessly without any destination in mind.

Soon, while crossing a bridge beneath the pouring rain, she suddenly stopped in the middle.

Then Stella looked down at the river below, swollen from the storm.

Her golden eyes had already lost all light.

There was no sadness left in them.

No pain.

No hope.

At that moment, Stella tightened her grip on the bridge railing.

Hidden by the rain, her tears could no longer be seen.

Then a massive bolt of lightning struck with enough force to shake the entire capital.

At the same moment, a carriage passed across the bridge.

When the carriage rolled by and the opposite side of the bridge came back into view—

Stella was no longer there.

Stella finished recalling everything she had experienced in the dream.

“That was the end.”

After experiencing that long dream—

No, that future—

Stella had awakened still in the body of a ten-year-old child.

But nothing had truly changed.

Not Stella herself.

Nor the reality of being despised by everyone around her.

What should I do from now on?

With countless worries filling her mind, Stella closed her eyes.

Still only a child, she soon drifted back to sleep.

While Stella slept, the rain stopped.

The dark clouds parted, revealing a clear night sky filled with countless stars.

But there was still one thing the current Stella did not yet realize.

Though the outward appearance she had copied from Camilla remained unchanged—

Stella’s heart and mind had already changed completely.

The sunlight streaming into the room naturally caused Stella’s eyes to open.

For a moment she remained half-asleep, but once she remembered what had happened the previous night, she immediately sat upright.

Her body was still that of a child, just as before.

Yet the scenes she had witnessed in the dream remained vivid.

“So it really wasn’t a dream. I truly saw the future.”

Shaking her complicated thoughts away, Stella slapped both of her cheeks hard with her small hands.

Her cheeks reddened slightly as she forced herself to focus.

After all, she believed this was an opportunity given to her.

One that would never come again.

What matters is what happens from now on.

Just then, a knock sounded and the door opened as Ella entered.

“Young Lady, did you sleep well?”

“Yes. What about you, Ella?”

“I did as well.”

Ella skillfully helped Stella get ready by herself.

After washing up and changing clothes, Stella studied her reflection carefully in the mirror while receiving Ella’s help.

Everything about it displeased her.

This hair that’s neither properly pink nor black… and these gloomy bangs covering my face and eyes. I hate all of it.

It was almost strange that she had never noticed these things before.

“Duke Ister and Lady Camilla have already arrived in the dining hall.”

Stella truly did not want to go.

Nor did she want to see their faces.

But in order to prepare for what came next, she needed to face them.

“Alright.”

With no more time left, Stella tied her hair together to finish getting ready and headed toward the dining hall.

Duke Ister and Camilla had already begun eating before Stella even arrived.

The moment Stella saw them—especially Camilla—anger surged through her, but she suppressed it and quietly sat in her seat.

“I apologize for being late.”

Despite Stella’s greeting, neither of them acknowledged her presence, continuing their conversation while excluding her entirely.

Seeing this, Stella carefully observed the two of them.

Duke Ister Adin, with his neatly combed short black hair, looked exactly like Stella—even down to his golden eyes.

His large frame, fitting for the commander of knights, displayed his strength clearly.

His usually cold and indifferent gaze was now filled with gentleness.

Because Camilla was reflected in his eyes.

Aside from looking younger, Camilla looked nearly identical to how she had in the future.

It was obvious she had grown up surrounded by love; her face overflowed with brightness.

Everything about her sparkled.

Her eyes.

Her hair.

Her lips.

Unlike before, when Stella had envied those things, now she felt no interest in Camilla’s beautiful exterior.

Because she already knew the darkness hidden beneath that radiant face.

When Stella’s meal arrived, she focused quietly on eating instead of paying attention to their conversation.

In the past, she would have desperately tried to join in.

But the current Stella knew such efforts were meaningless.

As she silently continued eating while thinking about the future, she failed to notice someone calling her several times.

“…lla… Ste… Stella.”

“Hm?”

Startled by someone calling her name, Stella looked up to find both of them staring at her.

Camilla asked in a worried tone:

“What are you thinking about so deeply during breakfast? Were you listening to what I said?”

On the surface, it sounded like concern for Stella.

But in truth, Camilla was criticizing her for not paying attention to the conversation between herself and the Duke.

“Sorry. Like you said, I was focused on eating. What were you talking about?”

The Stella of the past would have lowered her head and apologized repeatedly.

But unlike before, Stella smoothly redirected the conversation.

Perhaps not noticing the difference in Stella’s response, Camilla casually continued:

“I’m planning to invite some close friends over for a small party today. Would you perhaps like to—”

A party?

If it was a party being held at the Adin Ducal Estate around this time of year, then there was only one possibility.

Quickly grasping the situation, Stella hurriedly nodded before Camilla could change her mind.

“Yes, definitely. I want to attend too.”

“Alright. You can come as well.”

Seeing how eager Stella seemed to attend, Camilla permitted it as though she were doing her a favor.

The opportunity came sooner than I expected.

Even until then, the Duke never once looked Stella’s way.

But the current Stella no longer cared.

She had already accepted that no matter what she did, she could never turn Ister’s attention away from Camilla.

Strangely, once she accepted that truth, Stella felt relieved.

After breakfast ended, Stella returned to her room to prepare for the party and immediately sat at her desk.

“Yes… This time, I absolutely have to get thrown out.”

Today’s party was one of the future events Stella had seen in her dream.

During the party, a minor accident would nearly injure several of the attending children.

Stella would be blamed as the cause of the incident and become the target of everyone’s accusations.

At that time, Duke Ister intended to punish Stella by sending her away to the northern ducal castle.

But Stella had begged desperately enough to barely prevent it.

Instead, Ella was expelled from the ducal estate for failing to properly serve her mistress.

But things are different now.

“This time, I’m the one getting kicked out. No matter what. Anywhere is better than this place.”

And so, Stella’s first plan to escape this cursed ducal estate began.