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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: My Sister, Who Was My Enemy, Cherishes Me
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A voice I recognized echoed in my ears. Turning my head, I saw a middle-aged man wearing a mask.
He was balding, had a protruding belly, and sweat streamed down his forehead—a man of no particular presence.
“...Osen?”
“To recognize me even with a mask on, you have sharp eyes.”
Osen, still gripping my nape, stepped out from the shadowy corner of the room. Callista and Aramis simultaneously infused their palms and swords with aura.
“Osen, how long have you been hiding there?”
“I’ve been here the whole time, you just didn’t see me! Honestly, people!”
He grumbled irritably for a moment, then seemed to regain his composure, clearing his throat.
“Hmm, well, I haven’t quite secured a proper hostage, but… if I throw Miss Harper out the window here, Miss Callista will be in a difficult position, won't she? She’d be framed for her sister’s murder, after all.”
“What?”
Callista retorted with a look of disgust. Aramis’s face also twisted in a grimace.
“If you don’t want that, then withdraw your aura. I didn’t want to confront you like this either, but… I need to get out of here. I’ll kill the child and dispose of her somewhere, so if you want to find her first, you shouldn’t pursue me.”
He spoke with the same oily smugness Ivan had displayed earlier. I froze, forgetting even my pain.
Even as I froze, a small sense of incongruity flashed through me.
It felt like the same rhythm had been repeating itself for a while now.
Whenever an assassin got smug as if they’d won, something would fly in and turn the situation on its head…
“Now then, Lady Callista, and Aramis, if you would just clear the way…”
Whoosh—Thud!
Sure enough, the sound of something sharp burying itself deep into something soft echoed through the room. Osen froze in place, unable to finish his sentence.
“Ugh! Wh-who in the world…?”
He collapsed, his legs giving out, as if folding in on himself. Precisely in the middle of his back, a dagger was deeply embedded.
He looked back and forth between Callista and Aramis with a bewildered expression, but neither of them moved an inch. I, too, searched my surroundings, unable to comprehend what had happened.
Thump—
Only after Osen had fully collapsed did I see her: Vittori, her arm still extended towards Osen, in the very posture of having just thrown a dagger.
“You, you… what are you doing?! How in the world…?”
“I picked up a dagger from one of them. And as luck would have it, I had some red-headed bird venom on me, so I just dabbed a little on the tip.”
Vittori, who had been silent until now, slowly walked towards us. Her expression was smiling as usual, but there was something subtly chilling about her.
“You’re supposed to be a healer…!”
“I’m also the daughter of a martial family, so what am I supposed to do if someone turns their back on me, Vice-Chairman? Besides…”
Vittori extended her blood-splattered arm and pointed at Aramis.
“I’ve been competing with that scoundrel since I was in the womb.”
“Ugh! You…!”
She smiled sweetly at Osen, and Aramis nodded nonchalantly, as if he had no intention of refuting her. Osen tried to say something more, but his body only trembled, as if it refused to obey him.
I sat on the floor, simply blinking.
Vittori, aren’t you supposed to be like Callista’s compassion?
A person who dedicates her life to kindness, sacrifice, consideration, and healing just stabbed a man old enough to be her father in the back.
Just how commonplace is assassination in this cursed household?
Before the glistening drops of sweat from Osen’s fallen head could stain my clothes, I put my hand down to push myself up.
Sway—
“Huh…?”
Perhaps the spot where I was hit earlier hadn't healed, as my body swayed uncontrollably. My mind momentarily blurred, and my vision grew hazy.
“Miss Harper!”
Vittori and Theon’s voices echoed in my ears, and cold fingers wrapped around my shoulder, supporting my body.
“Huh…?”
I blinked several times, trying to identify whose hand it was.
That’s strange.
It wasn’t Theon, nor Vittori.
In my fading consciousness, the last thing I saw was beautiful silver hair, shining like moonlight.
***
‘Catch her!’
When I closed my eyes, my thirteen-year-old self was once again running down the corridors of Luperne Mansion, fleeing from an assassin.
Whoosh—
Something grazed my back, narrowly missing me.
I need to hide.
After running blindly, I looked around and realized I was in the main hall of the mansion. A strange place I’d never been before.
Tap, tap, tap…
I ran along the seemingly endless corridor until my breath grew short, and I paused for a moment. Then, to support myself, I leaned against the wall.
Rustle—
The solid wall vanished the moment my hand touched it. When I came to my senses, I was alone in an empty room with no furniture.
Lailly’s Room. It seemed I had accidentally brushed against the entrance to the secret room I’d only heard about. I collapsed onto the floor, gasping for breath.
‘Huuuff… gasp.’
But the tranquility was short-lived. Just a few minutes after catching my breath, another section of the wall glowed with a bluish light, forming a doorway.
Stepping through the doorway was Callista.
It seemed she knew where the room’s entrance was. Cold sweat trickled down my back.
‘You’ve run for a long time, Harper. This is the end.’
She said, her voice rigid.
‘It’s not your fault. But I cannot lose any more of my people.’
Blue aura shimmered in Callista’s hand.
Suddenly, tears welled up.
It wasn’t out of fear. It was because Callista’s icy gaze had subtly wavered the moment she mentioned ‘my people.’ As if she recalled someone she genuinely cherished.
But I have no one to lose.
No one who would grieve if they lost me.
Suddenly, my legs gave out. The thought of simply giving up crossed my mind, and I leaned against the side wall.
Rustle—
The moment Callista’s aura sharpened and shone, my body passed through the wall again, exiting into the adjacent room.
“Mmm…”
Opening my eyes halfway, I saw a blurred silhouette sitting by the bed. Long silver hair tickled my forehead.
‘…Callista?’
I wondered why Callista was sitting there, but I quickly found the answer.
‘Ah, it’s a dream again.’
Because the real Callista would never stroke my head with such a worried expression.
***
“What happened to the Vice-Chairman and Ivan Naitra?”
Callista asked as she emerged from Harper’s bedroom.
“They’re still breathing. However, they won’t reveal who’s behind this, even under torture.”
Theon, seated at the drawing-room table, replied.
“Everyone knows the Chairman is behind it.”
“There’s no physical evidence. Osen handled all the errands.”
“It’s not news that the old fox is cunning.”
Callista said, openly expressing her disgust.
“But the loyalty of those captured isn’t very convincing.”
“It seems to be a spell or a drug. It’s not that they don’t want to speak; they experience pain whenever they try.”
“And what about Clarissa Evans? That woman seems to firmly believe she’ll be fine even if this goes wrong.”
“It seems the Chairman’s side has deemed her still useful. She’s also refusing to testify about the Duchess.”
Theon replied dryly.
“The Duchess’s maid might have information, but it won’t be enough to connect her to this case.”
“...We’ll have to cover it up then.”
“If we try to uncover it too aggressively, we could face a counterattack from the Elder Council. Unless you intend to risk everything and even mobilize military force…”
“We can’t do that. It’s not the right time yet.”
“Then…”
“The Naitra family will be annihilated, but I won’t interrogate the others. As for Osen… we’ll simply eliminate him. He served the Chairman on his own accord despite his children’s objections, so I’ll leave his family alone for now.”
Theon nodded.
Having delivered her verdict, Callista let out a small scoff.
“That old man is really pulling out all the stops. Why doesn’t he just try to kill me directly?”
“Because resorting to various tactics is easier than directly targeting your life, Miss.”
Callista was silent for a moment, then spoke again.
“That poison… no, that herb she gave cured Vittori’s poisoning, I hear. Just like it cured your cough.”
“I was surprised as well. They say it’s likely because she frequently inhaled the scent during her research. It was good fortune.”
Even as Theon spoke, he wasn’t sure if ‘fortune’ was the right word to use. Harper was the one who found the medicine, Harper was the one who delivered it to Vittori, and Harper was even the one who asked him to watch over Vittori.
“How did that child… get into Lailly’s Room?”
“…”
Theon couldn’t answer that either. It was something he himself had wondered about. It struck him anew how little he knew about Harper.
‘Let’s go together, Sister Callista. If you know the location, you can just walk in.’
She only said that, then ran off somewhere ahead.
To think that meant she’d gone into the room first.
“Miss Callista said she didn’t just walk in.”
“Didn’t you see? That room requires either solving complex magical formulas to enter or using an artifact. I did the former, and Naitra did the latter. Aramis… well, he half-solved it and just tore a hole in the wall.”
Callista also spoke with an expression of incomprehension.
“‘Just walking in’… means the room itself called to the child, implying that the magic she possesses resonated with the magic within the room.”
“…”
“The magic inside a room securely sealed by a spell, mind you.”
Theon furrowed his brows. That was something possible only in theory. He had never heard of a child, let alone an archmage, possessing such power.
“Miss Harper seemed to believe she had no magic at all herself.”
“If she had no magic, she wouldn’t have been able to see the transparent aura Osen created. She saw it before Aramis or I did.”
“…”
“What on earth did that child… believe in to ask me to come?”
Callista spoke, her expression still lost in thought. Theon raised an eyebrow.
“She clearly fears me whenever she sees me, even after witnessing me cast out Soyer the day I arrived at the mansion.”
She continued, her expression utterly unconvinced.
“Why did she think I would risk danger to save Vittori and herself? And why…”
She paused for a moment, then resumed.
“...Why did she try to protect me?”
