Chapter 37
Catherine returned to her room, buried her face in the blanket, and began to sob uncontrollably. Due to her punishment, Diana declared that the music teacher would teach only Icel.
“No one listened to me. I was so frustrated I felt like I’d go insane.”
She punched her pillow repeatedly, but it did nothing to relieve her rage.
Icel’s radiant smiling face floated before her eyes.
That face that shone so brightly she wanted to tear it apart.
“Aaaargh!”
She clenched the wet blanket tightly, burying her injustice within it. Her shoulders shook as she cried.
As she wept, she heard the door open. Thinking it might be her father, her ears perked up with vain hope.
But instead of her father, Alicia entered.
“Ha… What on earth are we going to do with you…!”
Alicia sat by her side, pulling Catherine up to see her swollen eyes.
“Catherine!”
Half pitying, half wanting to scold her. She had warned Catherine not to show her emotions so openly, but she caused trouble again.
“Don’t shout at me… not even you, Mother.”
At those pitiful words, Alicia’s heart crumbled. Since Icel returned, everything felt broken. All she built crumbled like a sandcastle.
Alicia hugged her daughter. Feeling her mother’s warmth, Catherine sobbed again – not out of frustration this time, but misery.
Because in this mansion, the only one who listened to her was just her biological mother, a mere doctor.
“I hate them all so much… Father, that woman… and even you, Mother.”
“Why couldn’t you become the Duchess? Why are you just the daughter of a powerless baronet?!”
If her mother had been real nobility, she wouldn’t have suffered like this. If she weren’t a fake, an illegitimate child of an affair, she wouldn’t feel so anxious.
She was terrified Icel would take her place and lock her away in that room lined with bookshelves.
Alicia met Diana when she was ten. Her only pride was that her incompetent, poor father had ties to Marquis Pereshte.
Entering the grand mansion for the first time, Alicia was overwhelmed by its luxury. Even the stones on the ground felt expensive.
In the garden stood a crystal dome with a table filled with desserts. She was about to taste a sky-blue macaron when:
“Daddy!”
A bright-voiced girl in a sky-blue dress came running. Her golden curls danced in the sun.
It was Diana. Her dress, choker adorned with diamonds and aquamarine, and ruby ring sparkled. Selling that ruby alone could pay for Alicia’s dream academy.
She was so jealous it made her chest ache.
Diana greeted Alicia sweetly.
“Hello? I want to play with the Blair young lady in my room.”
She led Alicia to her room, which was four times bigger than hers, decorated like a princess’s chamber.
Seeing the luxurious room filled her with overwhelming jealousy.
Diana offered her a seat as maids brought in beautiful desserts.
“I always heard your father was a wonderful man.”
“I want to be friends with you. I don’t have many girls my age.”
Alicia stared at Diana. She seemed so innocent.
“Innocent rich people are worth using.”
She thought, I won’t beg like Father. I’ll use every opportunity that comes my way.
“I’d love that!” she replied with a bright smile, while her red eyes sparkled greedily.
