NOVEL NEXT 4
Chapter 4
If he had thought about me even a little, Father wouldn’t have said such things. Seeing Father unable to let Esther go even in this situation made me wonder. Lynet asked,
“How much longer will you hold onto Esther?”
“I didn’t think I could stand by and let this happen either, and that’s why I came to that conclusion.”
“So if I cross the line with my sister’s fiancé later, you won’t say anything if I go to the cottage to rest?”
“Lynet! Don’t speak so extremely,” he warned.
Writer! I could have accepted that at the time, but after experiencing it firsthand, it’s not right. This family is worse than others!
Trying to avoid being executed as a villain, Lynet selectively disclosed only provocative parts of the book to her family. Yet here she was. She avoided execution, but she felt like she would soon succumb to madness.
“Just make a coffin in advance. I’m sure I’ll be in it sooner or later.”
“Lynet! We’re not done talking yet, so sit down,” he said.
“Then speak quickly. Don’t give a political speech in front of your sick daughter, would you? Besides, I’m not even sick, even if I am,” Lynet interjected, crossing her arms as she sat down firmly.
Despite Lynet’s unruly behavior, Kenneth didn’t scold her as usual.
“Lynet, I’m sorry for everything. As the head of the family, I had to discipline you, but you were the only one who didn’t respond.”
Kenneth apologized. “Disciplining just one person quickly resolves the unrest.”
Lynet, hearing Kenneth’s apology without a hint of emotion, fixed her gaze only on her father.
“Lynet, from now on, I’ll think more about you and not be biased,” he continued.
Lynet, feeling like she was hearing some kind of campaign promise, waved her hand dismissively. Even though Kenneth was trying to apologize sincerely, Lynet found the attitude of the recipient of the apology irritating, causing Kenneth’s brow to slightly furrow.
“Father! Let me say something. Is this what you call an apology? It’s not an apology when you make all sorts of excuses. And…”
“…”
“An apology is only an apology if the other person accepts it, and if they don’t, then it’s nothing more than a festering self-consolation.”
Feeling like there was no point in listening further, Lynet abruptly stood up.
“I don’t want to hear apologies that are nothing but words without sincerity. My ears are getting bored,” she said bluntly.
“If you really want to apologize to me, then get rid of that woman in front of my eyes. Don’t let her hold the title of my sister anymore,” Lynet demanded.
It wasn’t easy to say. When a child is removed from the family registry, the reasons have to be detailed. But there was no way Lynet could write that she had relations with her sister’s fiancé. If she did, it would bring shame to the family for generations and have a negative impact on family members as well.
“I wish I could, but… Lynette, you’ll have to forgive me. I’d have to write a letter of explanation, and if I did, it might get me in trouble and prevent your brother and you from marrying.”
“So you’re going to let her stay? Father, why is it that you talk like you care about us, but it sounds like you’re only worried about her?”
“But…….”
“Then why don’t you just give her some other reason, like she’s a kleptomaniac or something, but you just can’t bring yourself to abandon her after everything that’s happened?”
If it weren’t for the fact that her face bore the exact likeness of the woman he loved so dearly, he would have been instantly dismissed.
“How could you do such a thing with your sister’s fiancée if you had a mouth, say!!”
Despite Lynet’s questioning, Esther remained silent, sipping her tea with a composed demeanor. Seeing this, Lynet became more incensed.
“Lynet, I’ll grant you anything you want from now on, so please, can’t you just let this matter slide?”
It couldn’t afford to become public. Kenneth, who desperately wanted to avoid the situation, pleaded.
“Apologize!”
“What?”
“I want an apology from her first.”
Esther, who had been sitting and drinking her tea as if she had nothing to do with this, only then looked at Lynet.
“Apologize? There’s no reason to do that. We were right for each other, and we loved each other.”
Clatter—
Upon hearing Esther’s words, Lynet dropped the tea cup she had been holding as if drained of strength.
“If you were truly in love and aligned, why didn’t you just get married? Then I would have stepped aside.”
Even if I had to hang myself to save Fernando, I would never marry a man who hadn’t first made arrangements with my sister, let alone another woman.
“Don’t think I’m going to a party to marry Fernando,” she said. “The second son of the Count of Phyllis is just a passing figure.”
Esther, who made a shocking statement that would scandalize the family, continued to sip her tea elegantly.
blinked, unable to speak, too dumbfounded to speak. She felt foolish for having treated this woman as her sister all these years.
“Esther, do you mean to tell me that you did that with my sister’s fiancé, whom you have no intention of marrying and who did it simply for pleasure?”
Edgar asked, taking the place of the speechless Lynet. Esther didn’t avert her gaze from Edgar’s wide-eyed stare, but simply shrugged her shoulders.
“My dear brother, who would love with the intention of marrying these days, and I come from a province where men as well as women think there should be freedom in sex.”
“So why him? When there are so many men in the world, why him, Lynette’s fiancé?”
“Well, we just connected. We thought it would be a one-night fling, but things got to this point because Fernand was persistent.”
Despite the severity of the situation, Esther showed no remorse for her actions. Instead, she justified herself by saying it was a natural occurrence between a man and a woman and blaming Fernando’s clinginess.
Esther, who blamed others and made excuses from start to finish, didn’t seem human. Seeing Esther like that, Kenneth finally realized that he had raised his child wrong.
She had always thought she was a bit clumsy when dealing with people because she didn’t show her emotions. But now he realized that his emotions had dried up and crumbled.
No matter what was said, Esther wouldn’t accept it. Seeing Esther like that, Lynet clenched her hands under the table. Before the youngest’s anger could rise, Edga quickly grabbed her hand.
But she was quickly shaken off. Lynet scrambled to her feet, clutching her cold, white hands.
“Well, that was wrong of me. I shouldn’t have expected an apology from a woman dressed as my sister who isn’t even human.”
Giving up on receiving an apology from Esther, Lynet twisted her lips bitterly.
“Lynet, calm down.”
“Father, if I don’t calm down now, someone might die here.”
“Lynet…”
“How much longer do I have to endure here? I’ve endured it all this time. I endured when you kept favoring Esther and blamed me unjustly because of her.”
She endured and endured. Ever since she was eight years old and realized that she didn’t have a place in this house after her mother passed away, she had bitten her lips and endured. Even when she wanted to cry, she couldn’t cry freely.
I knew that if my father caught me crying, I would be scolded and beaten until my calves bled. So no matter how much it hurt, I would lock myself in my room, bury my face in the covers, and muffle my cries.
The events of the past were etched in her mind like shards of glass, causing immense pain.
Kenneth couldn’t say anything more to Lynet’s words. It was all his fault.
Her mother and the in-laws comforted Lynet. That’s how Esther, who had become lonely, was embraced and loved by me. Even after Lynet’s mother, who loved her the most, passed away, Kenneth’s life continued to revolve around Esther. And this was the result.
“Sister, I’m really sorry. But you know, there was a time when I asked how to deal with someone who did something bad to a governess.”
“…”
Esther looked at Lynet as if wondering why she was saying that. Then Lynet gestured to a waiting maid with a smile. The maid, who was holding a teapot with hot tea, flinched and approached.
Lynet poured the tea into Esther’s empty cup and said,
“The governess once said this. Openly grabbing and shaking someone by the hair may feel satisfying, but it damages your dignity. If you want revenge, do it elegantly.”
“So what do you want to say…….”
The tea in the empty cups overflowed, soaking the table and Esther’s new dress, but Lynet continued to pour.
It was only then that Esther, who had been so brazen as if she didn’t know what she was doing, tried to get up. But Linnet’s hand gripped her shoulder. She pressed down so hard that she couldn’t get up easily.
“I really want to slap you and step on you, but I think Father wouldn’t be pleased with that.”
As she said that, Lynet raised the teacup and poured it directly onto Esther’s head.
“Aaah!”
The tea spilled over Esther’s carefully styled hair and streamed down her face. Esther, who couldn’t open her eyes, screamed in surprise, but Kenneth and Edga couldn’t stop Lynet.
They just hoped that by doing this, Lynet’s anger would be relieved even a little bit.
As the teacup emptied, Lynet picked up the teapot and poured the remaining tea onto Esther’s head. Esther, completely soaked, looked at Lynet with green eyes full of anger, but Lynet just smiled sarcastically.
“Too little tea. From now on, you’ll make a full pot so my sister can drink plenty. Do you understand?”
“Yes? Yes, I understand. Young miss…”
The maid nodded and stepped back, taking the lighter teapot from Lynet’s hand. It wasn’t the first time she’d seen the sisters fight, but today had been vicious.
As Esther flounders in the tea, soaked to the skin, Lynet grins and grabs a napkin from beside her.
“Oh, my dear, you look like a wet rat. Let me wipe you off.”
“No, it’s not necessary… Ah!”
Worried that Esther’s body might shake while wiping, Lynet firmly inserted her fingers between her hair strands to hold her head steady. Then, she used the napkin to forcefully wipe Esther’s face as if scrubbing a burnt pot with a scouring pad.
Seeing Esther in agony the whole time, Lynet chuckled and applied more pressure while wiping.
The makeup covering Esther’s face was completely ruined and wiped away. The scattered and smeared makeup made her look like a poorly glazed ceramic piece that had been baked haphazardly.
“Now you look somewhat human. Don’t you think so, sister?”
The red lipstick was stained around her lips instead of on them, and the fine eye makeup made the surrounding area appear smudged. The areas where the makeup had been forcefully wiped off were reddish and irritated.
“It’s true that people need some color in their cheeks. Do you know how worried I was when I saw your pale face as soon as I arrived here? You should consider yourself lucky to have a sister like me.”
“Dum spiro spero”