I’m the Youngest Daughter of the Serpent Family
Chapter 67
Ella flinched, shrinking her shoulders. She knew very well what she had done wrong.
But… was it truly something deserving of such condemnation?
Ella felt wronged. He could only say such things because he had never stood in her shoes.
She had been cast aside simply for having mixed blood from another clan.
Did anyone truly understand how desperately she had yearned to return to her homeland?
Ella bit her lip hard.
“…I never dreamed that Lady Estella would end up like that. It wasn’t my intention—!”
“Watch your tongue.”
“*Gasp*!”
Ella breathed heavily and roughly.
Though she couldn’t feel anything while bound by the Pheromone Stone, she could still tell that Kaid’s pheromones were suffocating her.
Kaid was sitting calmly, but he was furious.
His crimson eyes had sunk coldly, after all.
Ella realized at once what had triggered his wrath.
Kaid detested hearing the name ‘Estella’ come from her mouth.
*Thud.*
The moment her airway cleared, Ella’s body collapsed forward.
As she struggled to catch her breath, Kaid spoke in a low voice.
“There is still much I need to hear from that mouth.”
“*Pant*… *gasp*…”
Ella felt wronged. It wasn’t as though she felt no guilt at all. She had even regretted the past.
Yet Estella’s death had not been her fault.
“M-My Lady’s death wasn’t my fault. That was…”
“An accident that occurred while Estella was giving birth to the heirs?”
“…Yes.”
While it was true she had tried to swap the heirs, she felt truly indignant about Estella’s death.
At the time, Estella had depleted a vast amount of pheromones while giving birth to two heirs.
No matter how brilliant a physician arrived, there would have been no hope.
Yet Kaid did not seem to think so.
Ella grew desperate.
A surge of terror washed over her that she might not leave this place alive.
“M-My Lady certainly passed away after giving birth to the young masters. …O-Otherwise, how could I have placed that egg into the basket?”
And so, Ella began to string together whatever excuses came to mind.
Durias had not been able to threaten her without permission, but Kaid was different.
The moment he changed his mind, it would all be over.
When Ella offered a plausible excuse, Kaid showed a flicker of interest.
“Certainly, had Estella been alive, you wouldn’t have been able to pull off such a thing.”
“That’s right! If My Lady had been alive, how could I have dared lay a hand on the basket—!”
Before she could finish her sentence, Ella was hurled into the wall by Kaid’s pheromones and coughed violently.
“*Cough! Cough!*”
Ella’s eyes widened in horror. She stared at Kaid with an expression of sheer bewilderment.
“The primary physician told me.”
“…W-What…?”
“That just before she drew her last breath, she released the last of her pheromones to the outside.”
“Th-That… Th-That was… That was because My Lady…”
“Worried that you might switch the eggs, she summoned the clan members.”
“…!”
Ella’s eyes shook violently as she listened to Kaid’s words in a daze.
Sitting outside the prison cell, Kaid betrayed no emotion whatsoever.
It was terrifying how he still maintained his composure.
Ella was deeply shaken.
Had he known everything all along and merely pretended to listen to her story?
Goosebumps erupted across her skin.
“You managed to mix the eggs together, but you didn’t have enough time to swap them out.”
“…”
“And because there were three eggs in the basket, no one questioned her death.”
The hidden truth was being laid bare, piece by piece, from Kaid’s lips.
Ella’s complexion drained of all color.
“That’s not true! My Lady definitely… she definitely passed away after laying the eggs!”
“Let me give you a warning.”
Kaid cut off Ella’s scream-laced cry and said,
“If you don’t wish to become snake feed while still breathing, you’d best speak the truth.”
*Thump.* Her heart dropped. Her vision went dark. There was no hope left.
Ella burst into choked, ragged sobs.
“Wh-What did I do so wrong for you to do this to me?! What did I do?!”
She slammed her head against the floor, curling up and wailing. At the sight of her howling like a beast, Kaid furrowed his brow in disgust.
“I didn’t do anything wrong… so why?!”
Veins bulging in her neck as she struggled, Ella glared with wide eyes.
She had done nothing wrong. She felt wronged, endlessly wronged.
It was the world around her that had pushed her to harbor such evil intentions. Why was everyone holding the victim accountable?
Ella recalled that day.
“Ella.”
“Yes, My Lady!”
“I’d like you to be with me when I give birth.”
Those were the words she had heard not long after Estella became pregnant.
“…Pardon? Me? But I’m not even a member of the family. The Head of the family won’t permit it.”
“If he says no, I’ll just leave the house and give birth elsewhere.”
“What?!”
“I feel most at ease when I’m with you. You will do that for me, won’t you?”
Estella had pleaded with her like that.
How had she felt back then? She couldn’t remember clearly now, but she thought she had been happy.
Not long after, her clan came looking for her.
“The Head of the family has granted you a chance.”
An opportunity to return to her homeland had presented itself.
Ella agonized over it again and again.
And then…
“The physician says there are two.”
“…Two?”
“Yes. I want to meet them soon, my babies.”
Estella smiled brightly with a blissful expression. Watching her, Ella caught her breath, blinded by the sight.
Was that what it looked like to possess the entire world?
With her delivery fast approaching, moving was uncomfortable for Estella, so she lay in bed and stroked her belly.
“I just hope they’re born healthy. If only they are, I will give them everything. You want to meet them soon too, don’t you, Ella?”
“…Yes, My Lady.”
None of the words registered in the ears of Ella, who was wiping the window.
Only one single thought swirled in her mind.
Two heirs.
Estella was carrying two children.
That single fact instantly swayed Ella’s heart.
And before she even realized it, she began rationalizing.
The family only needed one heir anyway. So even if one went missing…
“These days, I wonder if it’s truly all right for me to be this happy.”
Estella said, her eyes curving softly.
Ella tightly clutched the damp towel in her hands.
Happy?
When I am this miserable, even at this very moment?
In that instant, the foul envy and jealousy she had suppressed toward Estella began rushing in like a tidal wave.
Estella had been born into an illustrious household from the start, treated with precious care.
Loved by all, she lived every single day in happiness.
Taken in by her and forced to live prostrated like a mere handmaiden, Ella felt an overwhelming sense of inferiority.
Estella lived in an entirely different world from her own.
Though they shared the same space and breathed the same air, a strict line was drawn between Estella and Ella, as if marking an insurmountable divide.
Just what for?
Why was she loved while I had to be abandoned?
Why did I have to be so miserable?
All I wanted was to return to the place where I was born—was even that so difficult?
It was utterly unfair.
“Are you the child Lady Estella took in?”
“Yes, that’s right. Is something the matter?”
“Live with gratitude toward the young lady. In this day and age, who would bring in a child from another clan and raise them?”
Her pride was wounded.
It seemed word had spread throughout the entire mansion that she had been abandoned in the streets and barely taken in.
I could do that too.
Had she been in Estella’s position, she could have taken in any number of abandoned beastfolk around her.
So Estella wasn’t particularly kind or special.
“You. Has your name been decided as Ella?”
“Yes, Butler. You may call me Ella from now on.”
“Do you know that the name given to you is the young lady’s nickname?”
“…Pardon?”
“So be careful not to bring shame upon the young lady. Lady Estella is the one who will become the mistress of the Astrophel family.”
“…Yes, I will be careful.”
“Even if the young lady treats you comfortably, you must be the one to show restraint first.”
…Just what made Estella so different from her that she had to listen to such words?
Because of her family background?
They said Estella was born into a family that had rendered distinguished service when the clan was first establishing itself.
Estella came from a household that took the lead in making contributions when Tamur Astropel, the first Head of the family, set out to expand their southern territory, and her ancestor was said to be one of the first five elders. That prestige remained unchanged, and even now, their descendants held various positions, great and small, within the Astrophel family, carrying on their lineage.
‘But it’s not as if My Lady is anything great herself! She was just lucky enough to be born into that family.’
Did she have to be treated so differently simply because of that? Ella’s stomach churned with bitterness.
Yet she couldn’t let it show. She would surely be thrown out. No one could be allowed to realize that she harbored such feelings toward Estella.
And so, Ella suppressed it again and again. Clutching the damp towel tightly, Ella smiled brightly as she always did.
But now, she had reached her limit.