Truly, Charlotte performed the tasks given to her well, even when she learned that the Aubry Dukedom had adopted her as a fallback because they desperately needed to arrange a marriage between their family and Richard, the problematic illegitimate son of the Cosmo Earldom, and even when she found out that the Duchess of Aubry was already pregnant with a girl, Charlotte tried to resign herself to her given destiny and endure.
As a result, Charlotte went from being a “lucky girl who accidentally became a noble” to a “girl with at least some decent refinement,” then further to a “wise and clever young lady,” and finally came to be called the “eldest daughter of the Aubry Dukedom.”
From a commoner girl to being recognized as a ducal young lady, how much humiliation had Charlotte endured? No, how much agony had she tolerated? Because of that, she should have been able to acknowledge herself, but she could not.
The reason she was adopted. The reason she obtained a life of sudden wealth. It was entirely because of her younger sister, Marlene.
Officially, Marlene was five years younger than Charlotte. The Duke and Duchess, who had been unable to conceive a child throughout their marriage, visited a long-forgotten temple and prayed every single day. The money they poured into that temple alone was enough to build another castle in the capital, or so people whispered behind their backs, but amazingly enough, the Duchess became pregnant with a daughter.
They were overjoyed, but on the other hand, they were anxious. It was because they remembered the marriage promise made with the Cosmo Earldom back during the grandfather’s generation.
“Anyway, the Cosmo Earldom will not give us their eldest son to inherit the family. They will try to hand over the second son who crawled out of a prostitute mother’s womb. Marrying our precious daughter to such a lowborn, degraded scoundrel? No, absolutely not!”
That was why they had hurriedly adopted Charlotte before their daughter Marlene was even born.
Thanks to a maid who read this backstory to her like a fairy tale every night, Charlotte was able to engrave deep into her heart that her existence and value were determined by Marlene, who had not even been born yet. In truth, if it were not for Marlene, she would still be starving.
So, even when Marlene was born and all the servants of the ducal household focused entirely on their biological daughter, Marlene, even when she was reduced to eating the leftovers of Marlene, the legitimate duchess, even when she had to take on the education meant for the ducal family, tailored strictly to suit Marlene, and even when she suffered all sorts of abuse that left her bruised and falling ill almost every single day, it was all unavoidable. It was fine. She had to endure it.
Furthermore, it was the same when she was forced into an engagement with Richard Cosmo, who was burdened with nasty nicknames like scoundrel, punk, and womanizer from the Cosmo Earldom.
Charlotte had never once complained, nor did she ever dare think this situation was unfair. After all, she had only gained the things she could never have on her own thanks to Marlene.
Therefore, Charlotte was always grateful to Marlene, always loved her, and always tried to cherish her as a younger sister. Yes. She had tried to.
“Hnngh…”
Charlotte let out a groan as she clutched her agonizing stomach. The pain of her entrails being torn to shreds came over her in waves. According to the doctor, she had been poisoned.
Poison? Since when? No, why on earth? The moment she heard those words, the Duke flew into a rage, shouting, “How dare some madman poison the ducal household!” and ordered them to find the culprit, claiming it bruised the family’s honor. But the culprit was never caught. The investigation stopped halfway. At that moment, Charlotte had a premonition. No, she could figure it out.
“The culprit is among the members of the ducal household.”
No matter what, Charlotte’s life was now at an end. There was no cure for her poisoned body. Even if she stopped ingesting poison, she was told she did not even have a single year left to live.
Why…?
Why on earth am I dying? Is it because I am living a life beyond my station? Because I am a wicked child who coveted the side of a great noble? Is that why am I dying?
“Ugh, cough!”
I vomit blood once more. The blood keeps flowing without stopping, until my snow-white slip is soaked. The blood pushes up toward my windpipe. A cough escapes me, but my mouth will not open. Blood coats my parched lips. An end is beginning to show. The end of life, the end of futility, the end of greed, and the end of loneliness.
I have already accepted death. If she had not entered the ducal household in the first place, she would have died long ago without lasting a few more years. Therefore, this death could even be considered a peaceful one.
However, there was one lingering regret.
I wish I could have seen my younger sister just one more time.
To say thank you. To say that I survived because of you. I want to tell her that.
“Sister!”
At that moment, to my surprise, Marlene’s voice reached me. Bursting through the door and shoving aside the restraining maids, Marlene tightly grasped Charlotte’s hand.
“Sister! No, you cannot die like this! Not yet, you cannot die yet!”
Charlotte was in no condition to speak at all, but that did not mean she could no longer feel emotion. Without even trying to hold back the rising sobs, she looked at Marlene while tears steadily streamed down her face.
My younger sister. The only sister who cherished me in the desolate ducal household where there was nowhere to place one’s affections. The sister who loved me first and last in this finite world.
“Oh, Richard! You have arrived! You came in time!”
And then, my fiancé.
A man who, despite hearing the news that she was waiting for the day she would die, never once came to visit her. Yet, why? Why are those two holding hands?
“We can witness my sister’s death in time. Isn’t that such a relief?”
Why is he casting such a warm gaze toward Marlene? And why is Marlene embracing him?
Why… Why?
“She looks pathetic.”
“Well, she is going to die.”
“Indeed.”
Carrying on an indifferent conversation, the two of them were observing Charlotte as if she were an animal behind iron bars.
Even though they were not blood-related sisters, it was a situation where an older sister was dying. Even in a situation where his fiancée was dying right before his eyes while vomiting blood, they maintained a detached attitude, as well as watching the end of a total stranger, or even worse than that.
Only then was Charlotte able to realize how bizarre this situation truly was, and to drag out a creepy suspicion that had lingered unconsciously outside her realm of awareness and drive it straight into her mind.
An unimaginable horror flashes through her mind. No, surely not. It cannot be. Marlene, of all people, could never do such a thing to me…
“Sister.”
The very moment she heard Marlene calling out to her in a small voice.
Could that really not be the case?
Was Marlene truly such a kind-hearted younger sister? Was she a child with the disposition of an angel?
Just as Charlotte’s faith was beginning to waver, a small glass bottle was held out before her. Marlene shook the glass bottle and sneered with a grin.
“I hated you from the very beginning, Sister.”
Marlene’s blue eyes had always been breathtakingly clear. But how were they now? The azure eyes right before her were cold enough to ache to the bone.
They looked not like a clear, blue sky, but like a cloudy, murky windowpane covered in frost.
“You lived well thanks to me, didn’t you? Riding on my coattails, you enjoyed all sorts of things. Because of me, your cheap life was extended.”
Was that why? Was it because the windowpane had become too dirty to properly show what was outside, that she was spewing out such unbelievable words? “So, it is fine for me to choose your death, right?” With a soft plop, Marlene effortlessly opened the stopper of the glass bottle without a single thought or hesitation, and poured the contents directly into Charlotte’s mouth.
“Ugh, cough!”
“Goodbye, Sister.”
The smell of Charlotte’s blood mingled with the colorless and odorless liquid. It was a sickening stench that made her want to pinch her nose, but Charlotte could not move a single finger.
She finally realized now. The investigation to find the culprit who put the poison in had suddenly been halted simply because Marlene was the culprit. “I hope we never cross paths again, even in the next life.” Marlene and Richard shared a tender kiss in front of Charlotte’s dying body. That act was so surreal, no different from an act trying to create life in front of a corpse losing its life, so Charlotte could not make any counter-question or take any action, left only to feel her breath choking and gasping away.
I really was so. Charlotte murmured, swallowing and swallowing her breath that would no longer come out, so foolish. Red tears streamed down between her closed eyes. By the time the tears fell to the floor, her hand flailed aimlessly in the air with a thud. It was a deathbed with no one to weep for her, filled only with those mocking her. It was a genuinely, helplessly lonely life. Charlotte Aubry thus brought her short life to an end.