VRGB 24

Chapter 24

She looked indifferent. The fog in my mind cleared at the sight of her expressionless face.

“So many people want to talk to me today. Was I always this popular?”

Even with the sarcasm, Helena didn’t bat an eye.

Instead, she curled one side of her lips into a smirk. The fabricated smile was chilling.

I didn’t show it, but I was taken aback by that expression.

For a fleeting moment, she looked like the Helena from before I died.

Back when I was fourteen—before the regression—Helena never openly showed hostility. That came a few years later.

She treated me with a smile in front of others but deceived me behind my back, often encouraging the servants to mistreat me.

Sometimes she would be kind, only to switch to a cold demeanor in an instant.

As a child, I never noticed Helena’s deceit. Or perhaps I did, but chose to ignore it desperately.

When I was even younger, I genuinely believed in her.

That she was my sister, someone who would understand me as family.

‘That’s not the Helena I knew.’

I forced myself to stay calm.

The twenty-year-old Helena who killed me doesn’t exist here.

This Helena is not even sixteen yet. She’s younger than I was before the regression—just a minor.

‘And I’m no longer the person I was back then.’

The foolish Kalia who trusted Helena is gone. She died long ago.

Helena can’t shake me anymore. She has no power to.

“Don’t be delusional, Kalia.”

Her soft-spoken voice startled me out of my thoughts. I answered a moment too late.

“W-What are you talking about?”

“Just because you summoned a spirit, do you think you’ve become something?”

“What?”

“Do you think you’re someone important now, just because you used the Duke’s authority to drive out our family?”

Despite her gentle tone, her words were far from kind.

“You’re still the Devil’s daughter.”

I clenched my fists, ignoring the pain from the force, and responded.

“So you’re finally showing your true colors. Trying to scare me? It won’t work.”

“Trying to scare you? What a hurtful thing to say.”

Helena took a step closer. It was a small step, but I instinctively retreated more than necessary.

She looked down at the ground between us.

Because I backed away so abruptly, dust had risen and footprints were messily left behind.

Seeing that, Helena smiled faintly.

I pressed my nails so hard into my palms they could’ve pierced the skin. Helena didn’t come any closer and said,

“I just wanted to talk openly with you.”

“I… I have nothing to say to you.”

“Then just listen.”

“No!”

“I’m trying to give you a chance. It’s not too late, Kalia.”

“A chance for what?”

I knew I shouldn’t ask, but I couldn’t help myself.

Her answer was simple. As if she were saying “one plus one is two.”

“Come back.”

I went blank. I couldn’t control my expression.

“What… What are you saying, Helena?”

“You, me, Father, and Mother. Let’s all return to the Count’s estate and live together again.”

She spoke clearly, enunciating each word.

“We’re family, aren’t we?”

“H-Hahaha. Ha… ha…”

A laugh escaped me, sounding almost hysterical. Helena didn’t seem fazed at all. She continued to smile sweetly.

My own voice sounded unfamiliar in my ears—completely drained of strength.

“You’re insane.”

“In the end, there’s nothing more important than blood. Do you trust the Duke? Desmier isn’t your family.”

“You’re not my family either!”

I screamed, my voice like a shriek. A bird fluttered out of the forest at the sound.

“I have no family—none! Don’t claim to be one!”

“But we had good times, didn’t we?”

Helena approached. I wanted to run, but my body wouldn’t move.

She came right up to me and took my hands in hers. Her warm touch enveloped my fists.

“Hm? Kalia. Think about it.”

When she tilted her head sweetly, her red hair flowed down like a waterfall.

“When you were very young, I took care of you. We played house together. Remember how we held a pretend debutante ball with our dolls? I was your chaperone.”

“Undine!”

I called my spirit in desperation, but I couldn’t concentrate, and my energy dissipated before it could be summoned.

I lacked the power to call even a mid-level spirit.

“Undine, Undine!”

When I gave up and called a lower-level spirit, finally three of them appeared beside me.

Helena didn’t flinch at their sudden arrival.

But sensing my emotions, the Undines flared their wings and puffed up their bodies threateningly. Helena calmly released my hands and stepped back.

“Haah, haah…”

I gasped for breath. Only then did I realize my freed hands were shaking uncontrollably.

I hid them behind my back. But both she and I already knew.

The Undines hovered protectively around me. Helena spoke slowly.

“I’m not doing this just for me. It’s in your best interest too.”

“Shut up…”

“Everyone’s whispering that you’re losing your mind like your father. Did it make you feel good when the kids around here avoided you? No. The real nobles—the ones who run the Empire—are all watching you. If you show even a bit more ‘devilish’ behavior, or summon an even stronger spirit… they’ll kill you. Before it’s too late.”

I groaned. My body still hadn’t calmed down. My head throbbed as if I were getting a fever.

“So you need to show them what a good girl you are. For example… by inviting back the relative and longtime guardian you once drove away in a moment of weakness.”

Those words shocked me. Helena meant…

“You think… you think I’d ever go back to that hell?”

“Hell? Kalia, what you need to do to avoid falling into hell… is return to the heaven that’s being offered.”

Ah. That broke me.

I didn’t even feel the pain in my knees from collapsing or the scrapes on my hands from hitting the dirt.

As I sat trembling, Helena’s shadow fell over me.

“Don’t come any closer!”

I tried to scoot back, but it was a feeble resistance.

Before I could move more than a few inches, she bent over me.

Something sparkled from inside her open collar.

“Do you know what this is?”

She pulled out a string that had been hidden under her clothes.

The moment I saw it, my eyes widened beyond what I thought possible.

“Ah… aaah… aaAAAAH…”

[Kalia…]

I couldn’t even keep three low-level spirits summoned.

The Undines, calling my name in sorrow, vanished as they were forcibly dismissed.

My dry fingers clawed at the dirt. I tried to struggle, but my legs felt paralyzed. My teeth clattered uncontrollably.

“Judging by your reaction, you still remember it well. I thought you’d forget since you were so young.”

Helena stroked my head.

“Well, I suppose it’s not easy to forget something that was one of the last keepsakes from your mother.”

Of course I couldn’t forget. It was the necklace I’d been forced to give Helena in order to fund the orphanage for my father’s victims in the territory.

“I wanted this so badly back then. I was just a kid, too. I’m sorry for that.”

She softly smiled, fondling the amethyst gem in the center of the necklace.

“If you behave and listen to me… I might give this back.”

She whispered sweetly.

“Go ahead, touch it. It’s okay…”

Helena grabbed my bloodied hand and brought it toward her neck.

I resisted with all my might.

I didn’t want to get closer. I didn’t want to touch it. I didn’t want to feel that texture or trace the amethyst with my fingertips.

I didn’t want to remember the longing I had buried deep inside for my mother—whose face I now only knew through a painting.

If I remembered, I felt like I’d break.

But my strength kept fading. My arms went limp. I couldn’t push Helena away.

She wrapped her other arm around my shoulder and pulled me even closer.