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Chapter 005
Too Many Burdens to Confess
Rose’s condition seemed more serious than expected.
She rarely went outside her house.
Of course, there were occasional brief outings.
“Don’t break the front door! You idiot!”
This happened when Brandon barged in by breaking the door.
“Ha-ha, it’s a habit of my profession, I can’t help it.”
“Is your front door even okay?”
With a loud crash, the front door splintered.
Rose grabbed a broom and rushed to the entrance.
Meanwhile, the maid, Hill, calmly cleaned up and called for workers as if this was normal.
Occasionally, someone did visit her home, but these could mostly be divided into two types.
“Excuse me.”
The first type were peddlers who didn’t know about the rumors surrounding Rose.
“Who are you?”
When Hill opened the door, the peddler would smile warmly and pull out some items.
“I’ve brought some jewelry that women might like. Would you care to take a look?”
“We need a sign that says ‘Do Not Enter!’”
But even these visitors were firmly refused by Rose.
“Come on, why not just take a look at the goods?”
“Could you leave immediately?”
Faced with her fiery rejection, the peddler had no choice but to leave.
The second type were neighbors who had heard about her and came out of curiosity.
They came after seeing Dorothy coming in and out of Rose’s house.
Fond of spreading rumors, they often came in groups.
“We were just too curious, that’s all.”
“Yeah, yeah, there are so many rumors, and we want to know what kind of person she really is.”
But Rose reacted even more strongly to these individual visitors.
“Enough. I don’t need anything. Go away.”
Instead of snapping at them, she avoided eye contact.
She looked nervous, even frightened.
“I don’t need any of this. Who asked you to be curious about me?”
Her harsh refusals naturally made the rumors worse.
In the end, it became a vicious cycle.
The more negative attention Rose received, the more she refused the outside world.
“Are you scared of crowds?”
Having driven all the neighbors away, Rose spent her days in bed, not even bothering to eat.
Eventually, Dorothy, unable to stand it, cautiously asked her a question.
“Who’s scared?”
“But you disliked it even more than when the peddler came.”
“Surely, in the past, you weren’t like this. You weren’t scared even when crowds came.”
Rose confessed with a gloomy face.
“I used to be loud, confident… the type to command attention. But…”
She seemed confused by the sudden change in herself.
“I don’t know. I suddenly became weird. People’s eyes make me tense. I wasn’t like this before.”
“But I don’t care. I don’t care what people say about me.”
Lying in bed, she spoke lethargically.
“Even if I go out, all I’ll get is ridicule. This life is over. I’ll just stay in bed forever.”
Dorothy felt sorry for her.
“How can I help her?”
There were physicians around, but none who could treat a sickness of the heart.
“Life is lonely anyway.”
Rose stared at the ceiling and said,
“My mom, my dad, even Brandon…”
Brandon had once told her separately.
Rose and Brandon had lived apart due to their parents’ divorce.
Even though they were blood-related, they rarely saw each other.
Brandon adapted to society, but Rose didn’t.
“She probably spent a lot of time alone as a child.”
Dorothy also knew loneliness well.
Her mother had passed away, leaving her alone too.
But she had always lived remembering her mother.
“You, with your cheerful personality, probably never had to be lonely like me.”
“No, I was lonely too. I started working at a young age.”
“What? You worked as a child? What kind of mad person would make you do that?”
“It was my late mother’s store.”
“Surely she wanted to teach you about the market. Quite an admirable and educational lesson.”
Rose wiped the sweat from her face and replied.
“And even being engaged didn’t change the loneliness.”
Being alone while someone is physically next to you is even more terrible.
“Anyway, I was lonely too.”
Dorothy muttered as she lay beside Rose.
“Sleep. I’ll help you sleep.”
She didn’t know how to cure a heart sickness.
So she decided to do what her mother had done for her in childhood.
She knew Rose suffered from insomnia.
“You’re going to help me sleep?”
“Yes.”
“Do as you please.”
Rose snorted and flopped down next to Dorothy.
At that moment, Dorothy, moved by the situation, said,
“It’s amazing, actually.”
“Amazing?”
“You drove everyone else away, yet you let me stay.”
“Don’t you remember?”
Rose spoke cautiously, her face filled with guilt.
“I-I did chase you away before, didn’t I?”
“When?”
“…Unbelievable.”
Dorothy and Rose lay in bed and talked endlessly.
Nothing in particular, but it was enough for Rose.
It was her first time lying in bed, having honest conversations with a girl her age.
“Why is the one supposed to help me sleep going to sleep first?”
Seeing Dorothy asleep, Rose burst into laughter.
Shaking her head, she pulled the blanket over Dorothy.
She liked the bed because it was soft and comfortable.
Of course, to Rose, who dealt only in the finest goods, that was expected.
“Maybe I should put a new bed next door too.”
Just leaving one bed seemed insufficient.
Since she was already at it, sending full bedding sets would be perfect.
“No, maybe I should send matching furniture too.”
She seemed to like bright colors.
She planned to match all the furniture to the bed.
Only the finest of the finest.
“Hill, come here for a moment. I need to send something to Dorothy.”
She went out of the bedroom to find the maid, Hill.
But it was her younger brother who appeared instead.
Seeing her sly younger brother, Rose frowned.
“Have you become close to Dorothy already?”
“Why should I tell you that?”
Rose replied somewhat curtly.
“Don’t bring up useless topics with Dorothy. Ignore him completely.”
“How did you know?”
“You’re just too obvious.”
“Ah, so it’s not just friendship.”
Brandon saw straight through Rose’s feelings.
He had always been perceptive, even as a child.
“A new attachment, I suppose?”
Indeed, she had opened her heart to Dorothy.
That’s why Rose reacted defensively.
She wanted to protect the precious first friend she had ever had.
“I told you, don’t touch her. Don’t talk to her, don’t give even a speck of attention.”
“Understood.”
Brandon shrugged.
“I am slightly curious, though.”
“You’re dead.”
Rose glared at him like a shameless villain.
She even twitched her hand as if to swing the vase behind her.
But Brandon didn’t flinch.
“Ha-ha. I’m just curious.”
He added calmly, ignoring her sharp gaze.
“Do you really think someone like me, who distrusts everyone to the core, would ever like a girl?”
Rose knew Brandon was an unfeeling individualist.
He was the exact opposite of her, who cared for people.
He would probably have a loveless arranged marriage someday.
“I don’t make attachments. I won’t. I don’t form them.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. We are completely different, you and I.”
Outwardly smiling, inwardly cold and calculating.
Rose even knew the rumors about her own brother in the capital.
Brandon was definitely not the type to like someone casually.
But…
“I feel uneasy.”
Siblings’ instincts.
“Only our personalities are different. As kids, we always liked the same things.”
They were obsessively determined about what they liked.
When they wanted the same book, they would fight for it.
Books they obtained were always treasured.
“…It should be fine. Brandon generally finds people bothersome.”
She decided to lower her guard toward Brandon—for now.
Come on, no way.
