Eugene had more than hatred toward Charlize. He hates her, but he still has to look at her. It was his way of saying his last condolence to his mother who left that world behind.
“Your Highness, you don’t look good. Are you okay?”
Eugene unknowingly smoothened the narrow brows. And answered in a friendly voice.
“It’s all right, Young Lady Liberia. As long as you enjoy the party today, I’ll be very happy.”
Young Lady Liberia swallowed her dry saliva at Eugene’s sweet and seductive answer. She grabbed her pounding heart and nodded shyly.
‘You may have rejected me before but now you are looking only at me.’
Young Lady Liberia was the longest of the Young Ladies who had a crush on Eugene and chased him around. As she got older, the lingering feelings could not be cut with scissors. It was because her lingering feelings would always catch the tail and dream of loving him again.
Eugene, who seemed to be filled with dissatisfaction even with the beautifully decorated ballroom, smiled and turned around while looking down at the shy Young Lady Liberia.
As if the pretentious conversation was over.
Unlike Young Lady Liberia, Eugene showed his back to her without any lingering feelings and welcomed other guests.
“I hope you enjoyed the party.”
The same words and actions were shown to all the guests present at the party and somehow managed to wrap up the whole damn birthday party.
‘Tia, I won’t blame or scold you, so please come back.’
Eugene was going crazy because he kept thinking of Tia smiling at him throughout the party.
If she left, why did she leave?
Eugene gritted his teeth.
‘There’s someone else who needs to leave, but why did you leave, Tia?’
As he was thinking about Tia, he suddenly felt a hot gaze toward him and turned around.
Four pairs of hideous eyes shot only at Eugene.
They were ‘men who love Tia’. It was not fair to see them courting her, but they were the ones who were in power on the continent.
He thought he should not disgrace his family, so he did his best in his own way to settle everything.
But their eyes were mixed with arrogance and anger as if to explain the situation quickly.
Eugene sighed deeply and long. His broad shoulders went up and down in frustration.
“Maybe it’s because of Charlize.”
Eugene couldn’t figure out why his youngest sister left. The only thing that came to mind was Charlize, who bullied Tia recklessly. So, he only has Charlize to blame.
They looked at Eugene’s sighing remarks, saying they knew it would be the same.
Everyone said that Charlize kicked Tia out.
That’s the only thing they thought the whole night.
****
“Tia, I want this.”
“…No, I only have this one. You have a lot of things…….”
“Huh? What you said I have?”
Tia’s trembled figure was reflected in Charlize’s cold golden eyes. Tia tried to hide the ruby necklace that her dead mother gave her for her childhood birthday.
“Tell me. What do I have?”
Charlize’s cracking voice sounded angry, as if a drought had hit the continent because it had not rained for a while.
“That’s…”
Tia’s blue eyes, which looked just like the Duchess’ eyes, shook quickly. What should I say? The two plump and red lips trembled as if they were feeling cold.
“I don’t have anything. Tia, you have so much. Can’t you share it with her?”
Charlize grabbed Tia by the collar and dragged her in her direction. Charlize’s empty golden eyes in front of her eyes were foreign and scary. A kind of eyes with no emotion.
Tight and long black eyelids fluttered. Charlize had a languid look on her face.
“Huh? Can’t you share it with me?”
Tia wanted to cry. It was her only hope. It was only a tacky necklace with a small ruby, but the only thing left was the Duchess’ warmth. She clenched her lips so as not to cry.
“Tia, are you going to abandon your Sister, too?”
After the Duchess’ death, Charlize began collecting the items left by the Duchess as if looting the castle.
It was the last relic.
So Tia didn’t want to hand over the soon-to-be-break ruby necklace to her sister.
“…Oh, no. No, I won’t abandon Sister.”
“Then give me the necklace.”
“No way!”
“It seems you like that necklace very much.”
Tia closed her eyes tightly and shouted, as if she could never hand over the necklace. Then, as if Charlize was bored, she let go of her sister’s collar that she had been holding.
“That necklace is better than mine.”
With her lips curled, Charlize tilted her head sharply.
“…… stop it, Sister.”
“Tia is no fun.”
Charlize turned away, ignoring Tia’s small rebuttal. As if the business was over.
“Sister Charlize!”
“…….”
Tia called for Charlize, who turned away from her and was walking away.
“Sister Charlize!”
When there was no answer, she called her again.
And soon, a voice colder than the ice field came in.
Charlize moved her feet again, giving a cold response to Tia, who was dumbfounded.
“You are annoying.”
Whenever Charlize moved her feet gently, the expression on her face became more and more fierce at every step. She gagged, as if feeling disgusting and nauseating at the sound of her (Tia’s) calling.
She couldn’t be ‘real’ without that lousy ruby necklace anyway.
As if her soul had left the earth, Charlize grabbed her empty heart and headed to her room.
And she secretly took a handful of sleeping pills prescribed by the doctor and stuffed them into her mouth.
Gulp.
Many sleeping pills forced into the throat were lightly absorbed into Charlize’s body.
‘Yeah, let’s just not open my eyes.’
Charlize laid her weak body on the bed and closed her eyes weakly.
Charlize decided that she could not live the rest of her life without the Duchess and chose the only way.
“Baby, I only love you.”
Charlize drew her lips upward to the Duchess’s affectionate voice, which was heard quietly in a dark dream.
‘I love you too. Mother.’
Charlize only wanted her mother’s love.
****
“Charlize…”
Charlize, who fell asleep hiding in the corner of the garden, slowly lifted her eyelids. The memory of Charlize, which didn’t appear in the game, came back to her like a broken piece of glass.
“…….”
Charlize’s golden pupils were filled with water.
Tak. Tak.
Once she blinked, transparent liquid fell.
“…Ah.”
Even though she was definitely not the real Charlize, she was sad as if she had a hole in her heart. Why?
She wanted to shout out loud.
Charlize was a pure and pretty child who was just hungry for affection.
When she remembered the young image of Charlize, who would wait for her loving family at the nursery, her body became weak.
‘Charlize, you are very pitiful.’
She, as the player, cursed Charlize a lot because she was the only villain in the game.
As if the words of the players, who said without hesitation that the game was not going well because of her, that they were annoyed, and that they wanted her to disappear quickly, were stuck in her head.
“Why are you crying?”
Charlize, who was immersed in irritation and depression, slowly raised her head to the low and heavy voice above her head.
Although it was dark, and she couldn’t see it well, she could see a familiar face. Charlize held her breath subconsciously.
“If I slap you on the cheek, will you cry?”
His silver-gray eyes flashed.
Charlize put her palm on the floor and moved backward.
‘Why is he here?’
“Why are you running away? I’ll give you a big slap on the cheek like last time and spit out swear words. It’s not like you never heard them, Charlize.”
He took a step closer and grabbed Charlize black hair and pulled it slightly. Then her upper body also moved forward.
“Huh? Why did you cry, dear Charlize? You made Tia run away and you’re crying here alone? Why? Answer me.”
“…….”
“Good girl, Charlize. Oh, I missed your cheek. Let’s hit you hard, shall we? Then your lips will open.”
He provoked Charlize with a demonic smile.
But the ‘Charlize’ in front of him was not ‘real’ Charlize.
Fake.
She was someone outside the world.
Of course, that fiery personality couldn’t have come out.
She just looked up at him and let out a sigh of annoyance through her slightly opened lips.
She smiled and turned her head to the right and pushed her cheek toward Jeremy.
“It doesn’t hurt at all, so you can hit me. Then you will know why Tia disappeared.”
A soft but somewhat spiny tone.
At first glance, her eyes seemed friendly, but inside, she was different.
T/N: Hello everyone! I’m the new tl of this novel. Although I can’t guarantee my translation to be 100% accurate, I can still promise it will be closer to the original text. So please bear with me!