Chapter 6
6
When she gave the order to the servant, Sandra shouted with a look of shock.
“Honey! What on earth—!”
“Dana is right.”
However, Karl seemed to have hardened his heart, speaking firmly.
“As Dana’s guardian and as Alice’s father, I have a duty to discipline Alice strictly.”
A moment later, Karl gripped the switch the servant had brought.
“Alice. Hold out your palm this instant.”
“D-Dad.”
Alice looked as if she couldn’t believe what was happening.
Hold out her palm?
She had grown up without ever being scolded by her father, and yet…
“What are you doing? I said hold out your palm.”
And yet, he was going to hit her?
Even though Mom and Dad knew I was seeing the Crown Prince in secret!
“H-Hic, ugh.”
Alice hesitatingly extended her hand. The moment she flattened her palm, thwack! A sharp lash of the switch flew down.
“Aah!”
It hurt!
Alice writhed in pain, a sensation she was experiencing for the first time in her life. But…
“Keep your palm flat, Alice.”
“D-Dad, hic, it hurts, it hurts…”
“Hurry.”
“Hic, ugh, hic.”
Sobbing, Alice held out her palm once more. Thwack! Again, a sharp pain fell like a whip.
“Karl! Please, please stop!”
After a few more strikes had landed, Sandra, unable to watch any longer, rushed forward and threw her arms around Alice.
“Please stop! What if Alice, what if my daughter dies!”
“…”
Karl bit his lip hard.
Did he really want to hit his own daughter?
But since he was doing it, he had to be thorough. Only then would Dana’s anger be appeased!
“What are you doing?”
It was then.
“Sister Alice, Uncle, Aunt. I asked what you are doing right now.”
When had he come in?
A blond boy stood at the doorway with a look of astonishment.
“What in the world is…”
The boy stared in turn at the tear-stained faces of Alice and Sandra, and then at Karl holding the switch.
“…Did that woman make you do this?”
Finally, he glared at Dana.
“Is this because Sister Alice is seeing the Crown Prince?”
“Ahem.”
Karl cleared his throat.
“Alice deceived Dana. As her guardian, I was simply disciplining her.”
“Ha.”
The blond boy let out a hollow laugh as if he found it absurd, then tilted his head.
“That’s enough. You should leave now, Uncle.”
“But…”
Karl glanced at Dana.
Dana spoke quietly, her expression difficult to read.
“Do as Noah says, Uncle.”
As if they had been waiting for those words, Alice and Sandra rushed out of the room. Karl followed them out after checking Dana’s reaction.
Click. The moment the door closed.
“Are you out of your mind?”
The boy approached her aggressively.
“Who do you think you are to drive Sister Alice to that state?”
Dana felt a throbbing headache coming on. She knew exactly what was about to happen.
“You’re really shameless.”
Just as she thought.
“Who are you to make Sister Alice kneel?”
The accusations were beginning.
“It seems you don’t have a conscience.”
The blond boy strode up to her and poked her forehead with his finger.
“Do you really think you have the right to do that?”
At that moment, the pungent smell of alcohol wafted toward her, and Dana furrowed her brows.
“Have you been drinking in the middle of the day?”
“And what if I have? Are you going to nag me again?”
The boy smirked insolently, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Ah, I suppose you always did enjoy playing the part of my sister, didn’t you?”
“…”
“Why are you meddling? Just because you’re in my sister’s body, do you think you’ve actually become my sister?”
Dana gazed at the boy in silence.
Noah Winzer.
Danae Winzer’s biological younger brother.
At seventeen, the boy was truly beautiful.
With platinum blond hair like sunshine and a face like a wax doll, Noah possessed a delicate and lovely appearance, as did all those of the Winzer bloodline.
Yes, the Winzer bloodline.
The people of the Winzer family whom she had loved so dearly.
‘I was delusional all this time.’
A fresh realization washed over her.
They weren’t my family. They were Danae’s family.
‘They could never be mine from the very start.’
She had simply possessed this body, yet she had regarded this body’s family as her own.
So, Noah was right.
“No.”
In the past, she would have nagged him. It was obvious just by looking at him that Noah had skipped the military academy to drink.
But now…
“Don’t worry, Noah. I won’t meddle anymore.”
Noah’s face crumpled at those words. But soon, he snorted, thinking it was a bluff.
“Apologize to Sister Alice as well. Who do you think you are, daring to make her cry?”
“I can’t do that. Alice committed a great wrong against me.”
“What did Sister Alice do that was so wrong? Ah, stealing your lover?”
“You knew?”
“Yes. So what?”
“…”
“You stole my sister’s body. Is stealing a lover really such a big crime compared to that?”
“…”
In that moment, Dana realized anew.
I was far too immersed in this game of playing family.
‘So let’s stop.’
Until now, she had accepted everything, whether Noah attacked her or insulted her. She had endured it.
Because she wanted to look good to Noah.
Because she wanted to be recognized as family. Because she wanted to be a real sister to him.
But now she knew.
That such things were nothing more than an illusion.
“Mind your manners, Noah Winzer.”
Noah stiffened as if startled. It was a voice he had never heard from Dana before.
“Did I say something wrong? It’s a fact that you’re sitting inside my sister’s body.”
“Well.”
Dana slowly tilted her head.
“I wonder if you have the right to say such things, Noah.”
“What?”
“Is it alright for you to say that, after you were the one who caught me when I was trying to leave?”
It was true.
Three years ago, when she said she would open the Dimensional Gate and leave.
Noah had come to her the night before and held her back.
“Don’t go.”
“Noah?”
“I said don’t go! Don’t leave!”
He had come to her with a flushed face and shouted irritably. Then, he had run out without even waiting for an answer.
That had been unexpected.
Ever since she confessed to being a possessor, Noah had always loathed her.
For such a boy to hold her back…
‘That’s why I thought there was some part of Noah that liked me.’
That was why she had always wondered.
Why he criticized her so much, even though he was the one who stopped her from leaving…
“Ah, that.”
Finally, Noah gave her the answer to that question.
“I was just joking.”
“…”
“I didn’t think you’d actually believe that joke and stay.”
I see.
You played a joke with my life.
‘I really was a fool.’
Dana suppressed the laughter that threatened to burst out.
How could there be such a complete idiot in this world?
She was truly glad she had realized her own foolishness, even if it was only now.
“What? Did you think I stopped you because I actually liked you?”
Yes. I did.
I actually thought you liked me.
“You’re inside my sister’s body. How could I ever possibly like you…”
In the next moment, Noah’s words trailed off.
A finger.
Dana had gently wrapped her hand around the finger that was poking her shoulder.
