Chapter 4
If Father had thought even a little about me, he wouldn’t have said something like this. Even in a situation like this, he couldn’t let go of Esther until the very end. Watching him, I asked:
“I thought I couldn’t just turn a blind eye to this. That’s why I came to this conclusion.”
“Then if I cross the line with Sister’s fiancé later and just take a break at the villa, you won’t be able to say anything about it, right?”
“Lynette! Don’t speak so extremely.”
Author! Back then, I thought it was fine, but experiencing it myself—this isn’t right. Here, family is worse than strangers!
To avoid becoming the villainess who gets executed, I had only revealed the most provocative parts from the book to my family. And yet they still react like this. I may have escaped execution, but at this rate I’ll probably die of heartbreak.
“Just prepare a coffin in advance. I think I’ll die of resentment and need it soon.”
“Lynette! Sit down, I’m not finished talking yet.”
“Then speak quickly. You wouldn’t give a long lecture in front of your sick daughter, would you? Oh, but right—I’m not even considered sick when I am.”
With her arms crossed, Lynette plopped down on her seat. Even though her behavior was cheeky, Kenneth said nothing, just as usual.
“Lynette, I’m sorry. As the head of the family, I was always working, and since you never reacted even when scolded, I only ever scolded you. If I scolded just one person, the disputes would quickly die down…”
Lynette, hearing Kenneth’s apology, only stared at him blankly, not even showing an expression.
“From now on, Lynette, I won’t show favoritism. I’ll think more about you and—”
Listening to his long-winded promises, as if he were making a campaign pledge, Lynette picked at her ear. Seeing her attitude irritated Kenneth despite his effort to apologize. His brow furrowed slightly.
“Father! Let me just say one thing. Do you call that an apology? If you’re just tacking on excuses, that’s not an apology. And besides…”
“…”
“An apology only counts if the other person accepts it. If they don’t, then it’s just useless self-consolation.”
As if it wasn’t worth listening further, Lynette suddenly stood up.
“If you want to learn how to apologize, hire a teacher. I don’t want to hear any more insincere, meaningless apologies. My ears are getting bored.”
Though her words sounded insolent, Kenneth didn’t scold her.
“Then what exactly do you want me to do?”
“If you really want to apologize to me, remove that woman from my sight immediately. Strike her from the family register so she can no longer carry the title of my sister.”
It wasn’t something easy to say. To remove someone from the family register, you had to write down the reason in detail. And you couldn’t exactly write that she had relations with her younger sister’s fiancé. If word spread, it would be a disgrace to the family for generations and would ruin the marriage prospects of all the siblings.
“I want to, but… Lynette, please let this go. I’d have to give a reason, and if I wrote that, rumors would spread, and neither you nor your brother might be able to marry.”
“So you’re going to leave her as she is? Father! You speak as if you’re worried about us, but why does it sound like you’re only worried about Sister?”
“But—”
“Then say it’s because of kleptomania or some other excuse. Anyway, even after all this, you still can’t abandon her, can you?”
If it weren’t for that face, which so perfectly resembled the woman he once truly loved, she would have been kicked out long ago.
“How could Sister do such a thing with her younger sister’s fiancé? If you have a mouth, then say something, Sister.”
Lynette asked, but Esther still remained silent, elegantly sipping her tea. That only made Lynette grit her teeth in fury.
“Lynette, I’ll give you whatever you want from now on. So please, just let this matter go.”
Kenneth pleaded, desperate to contain the scandal.
“An apology!”
“What?”
“First, I want to hear an apology from that woman.”
Only then did Esther, who had sat sipping tea as though the whole thing had nothing to do with her, finally look at Lynette.
“An apology? I see no reason. We just followed our hearts and loved each other.”
Clatter!
Hearing those words, Lynette dropped her teacup as if all strength had left her hand.
“If you were so in love, then you should have married him yourself! If you had, I would have stepped aside.”
No matter how much she adored Fernando, no one would want to marry a man who had already slept with her own sister.
“Did you think I attended parties and entered society because I wanted to marry Fernando? The second son of Count Phyllis is nothing more than someone passing by.”
Esther uttered words that shocked her family, then calmly sipped her tea again.
Lynette, who had clung to Fernando believing in love alone, felt utterly devastated. She was so dumbfounded that she couldn’t even speak, just blinked. She felt like a fool for ever treating this woman as her sister.
“Esther, are you even hearing yourself? You didn’t even want to marry, yet you did such things with your younger sister’s fiancé just for pleasure…”
Edgar spoke up, since Lynette was too stunned. Esther met her brother’s sharp gaze without flinching, simply shrugging.
“Brother, who falls in love these days with the thought of marriage? I believe not only men, but women too should have sexual freedom.”
“Then why him, of all people! There are countless men in the world, so why Lynette’s fiancé?”
“My heart just moved. It was supposed to end as a one-night fling, but Fernando clung on, so it turned into this mess.”
Even now, Esther felt no guilt. She claimed it was natural between a man and a woman, and blamed Fernando for being clingy.
From beginning to end, it was excuses and blaming others. She didn’t even seem human. Watching this, Kenneth finally realized he had raised his child wrong.
He used to think she just struggled to express her emotions to others. But now he saw she was emotionally barren, brittle and broken.
No matter what was said, Esther wouldn’t accept it. Lynette clenched her fists under the table. Edgar, sitting beside her, quickly grabbed his little sister’s hand before something worse happened.
But she shook him off. With pale, trembling hands pressed to the table, Lynette suddenly stood.
“Well, I was wrong. I shouldn’t have expected an apology from a creature wearing the mask of a sister.”
Abandoning the hope of an apology, Lynette twisted her lips bitterly.
“Lynette, calm your heart.”
“Father, if I hadn’t calmed down, someone here might already be dead.”
“Lynette…”
“How much longer do I have to endure this? I’ve endured everything until now. When Father doted only on Sister, I endured it. When Sister framed me and I was unfairly punished, I endured it.”
She endured and endured. Ever since her grandmother’s death at eight years old, she knew she had no ally in this house. She endured by biting her lips, unable to even cry freely.
If Father caught her crying, she feared being scolded and beaten until her shins bled. So even when it hurt unbearably, she had to bury her face in her blankets and muffle her sobs in her room.
The memories stabbed into her like shards of glass.
Kenneth was left speechless. It was all his fault.
His wife and in-laws had always protected Lynette. Because Esther was lonely, he had cherished her. Even after Lynette’s mother—who had loved her most—died, Kenneth’s life still revolved around Esther. And this was the result.
Since her father said no more, Lynette stepped forward. Standing over Esther, she looked down at her.
“Sister, I’m really sorry. But you know, I once asked my tutor what I should do to someone who wronged me.”
“…”
Esther looked at her as if to ask what she meant. Lynette smiled sweetly and gestured to a waiting maid. The maid, holding a teapot of freshly brewed tea, flinched but stepped forward.
Lynette poured the tea into Esther’s empty cup and said:
“My tutor told me this: if you grab their hair and shake them or hit them, it feels satisfying, but it damages your dignity. So if you want revenge, do it gracefully.”
“What are you trying to—”
The teacup overflowed, spilling onto the table and soaking Esther’s new dress. Still, Lynette kept pouring.
Startled, Esther tried to rise, but Lynette’s hand pressed firmly on her shoulder, forcing her down.
“To be honest, I want to slap you and stomp you into the floor. But that would only make Father uncomfortable.”
At that moment, Lynette lifted the teacup and dumped it over Esther’s head.
“Kyaaa!”
The tea soaked Esther’s carefully styled hair and streamed down her face. Screaming, she couldn’t open her eyes. Kenneth and Edgar couldn’t stop Lynette—they only hoped this would release some of her anger.
When the cup was empty, Lynette grabbed the teapot and poured the rest over her sister’s head. Esther glared with drenched green eyes, but Lynette only smirked.
“There’s too little tea. From now on, make sure our dear Sister has plenty to drink. Understood?”
“Y-yes, I understand, young lady…”
The maid, startled, took the now-light teapot and backed away. She had seen the sisters fight before, but never so viciously.
Lynette, smiling sweetly, picked up a napkin and looked at her trembling, soaked sister.
“Oh my, Sister! You look like a drowned rat. Let me wipe you off.”
“No, you don’t have to—kyaa!”
She pinned Esther’s head by threading her fingers into her hair, holding it in place. Then she scrubbed her face with the napkin as if scouring a burnt pot with steel wool.
Esther groaned in pain, but Lynette only laughed and rubbed harder.
Her makeup smeared and came off, leaving her face patchy and ruined, like a poorly glazed ceramic.
“Now you look a little more human, don’t you, Sister?”
The red lipstick stained not her lips but around them, and her pretty eye makeup left ugly bruised-looking smudges. Her skin, scraped raw, flushed red under the ruined white powder.
“See? People need a healthy flush. Do you know how worried I was when I saw how pale you looked earlier? You should be grateful to have such a thoughtful sister.”
