Chapter 3

Translator: Hyouzan
Editor: Linny

 

Although she was praised for her beautiful eyes, she was completely different from her younger sister, Noella.

If she and Noella were to resemble each other… Jerox, who couldn’t wait for her, might have fallen for a similar appearance. Noella, who had blonde hair and blue eyes, emitted pitiful beauty, giving off the opposite impression that Adele did. 

“Shall I call for Lady Noella immediately? No wonder she kept asking me all day when the Lady was coming. So that’s why!”

“…”

“You’re not going to let it slide right? Should I call for her? But… what are you doing?”

“…me?”

‘Can’t you tell?’

Adele raised her eyebrows, flipping through the documents stacked on the dressing table.

She felt sorry for Jacqueline, who was angry and frustrated for her, but there were tons of documents to look at. She may have to stay up all night to make up for the time spent earlier in the morning when she dressed up and spent time with Jer.

“It’s nice to know that you’re angry for me, but please keep it down as much as possible. I have to deal with this quickly and I have to hand it over at dawn.”

“Aren’t you upset? With how things ended up…”

“If I don’t do this now, 32 stores won’t be able to open on time tomorrow. Hundreds of employees that are working there will be in chaos, and if I include the accompanying family members, about a thousand people will suffer. Isn’t that right?”

“…o-oh my.”

“And if it’s Noella… she’ll come to me on her own.”

Knock, knock.

At the sound of someone knocking on the door, as if she had been waiting for it, Adele simply shrugged. Jacqueline was occupied with her own thoughts and didn’t hear it, but the sounds of footsteps coming from down the hallway were clear. No, aside from what Jacqueline wanted to do, Noella will come to her on a day like today.

“Come in.”

Adele shouted at the door and covered the documents. 

“Shh, be quiet, and act you don’t know anything”, she mumbled to Jacqueline. 

“…Sister, can I come in?”

“Of course.” 

Noella carefully opened the door and looked around as she entered the room. Her blonde hair that reached down to her waist was waving at her every step.

The Count’s pitiful flower. She lowered her head, a child with a fairy-like appearance was well-suited to such a childish nickname.

“Sister, I’m so sorry.”

“…”

Adele had no choice but to watch quietly because Noella came out pitiful from the start. Perhaps Adele looked cold since Noella bit her lips and her blue eyes drooped.

“Are you angry?”

“…Me?”

“I could have never expected that Jer would feel that way about me.”

The tears in her eyes looked like they were about to roll down if she slightly moved by even just a little bit. She was so pitiful, that with how Noella appeared, and with her gaze, anyone who saw her would feel restless.

“It’s all my fault. If it is okay with you—”

“It’s not okay, so can you leave?”

“…Sister.”

“I have some work to do.”

Adele picked up and waved the thick documents placed on the dressing table. It may have seemed like a cold-hearted response, but Adele was in a hurry.

Adele glanced out the window. She couldn’t see anything because it was dark.

“Okay, let’s talk about it tomorrow. Of course, that is, if you can get up before I leave at dawn.”

“Adele!”

“Jackie, escort Noella back to her room. She’ll faint if she stays here like that.”

Adele pushed Jacqueline to get Noella out, who wasn’t thinking of stepping down anytime soon.

‘Me?’

Embarrassed, Jacqueline pursed her lips, mouthing something.

“Come with me, little Lady. I’ll take you to your room.”

“B-but, there’s something I have to say to Sister… Sister! Sister, I just—”

Adele stood up as soon as she heard the door slam closed. While acting as if she was not going to be moving from where she was, she turned over the document with a blank expression while Noella was being dragged out half-forcibly. Is she away now?

Adele looked over towards the closed door and ran straight to the window. She leaned against the luxurious arched ivory window frame, unlocking the magical latch.

Rattle. 

The moment she opened the window in a hurry, the hem of the black clothes brushed against the back of her hand.

“… You look like a tragic heroine.”

“When did you get here? Who told you to spy on me?”

“Took you long enough to realize.”

The deep red eyes emitted an arrogant presence. The man glanced around the room as soon as he jumped in from the window. There was no hesitation from the person who came in the middle of the night as he pleased.

“It was Older Sister who told me not to enter through the door whenever I wanted.”

“So you’ll just come in through the window now?”

Exasperated, Adele placed both of her hands on her waist. As her heart calmed down, she reached out with one hand, taking the dried parchment from him.

“This is what you came here for, right?”

“You’re really…”

Even if she wanted to scold him, he was amazing at what he was asked to do. However, she was not in the mood to praise him. She glanced over at him.

Anyways, when did he grow this much?

She looked up at him. She was the taller one between the two all this time, but now her neck became stiff. With a sharp jawline and a pair of red eyes slightly darker than Adele’s, it was not an appearance that could be easily hidden in the night. Rather, the gloominess was more well-matched to the dark night that filled the entire room.

Adele smiled bitterly at her younger brother, who had similar characteristics to their father, Count Sergio. As expected from someone who was part of the family.

Kayden Sergio.

Sneaking and slipping through the window, he was the only son of Count Sergio and the youngest brother of Adele. To be exact, her half-brother.

He may be a thorn in the side for her, who will inherit the domain, but the trust between the two of them was strong.

When Adele was fourteen, the eleven years old Kayden, who entered the house for the first time, made his position clear as soon as he saw Adele.

“Hello, you’re sister Adele, right? I do not have a name yet, so I’ll let you know once I get one. I want to tell you in advance that I have no interest in money or power. I’m sure I never will, so don’t kill me.”

Thinking about it now, should she say it was smart of him, or was it desperate of him?

How could Adele throw away a child who was covered in blood, who made his first greeting while being hugged by the butler? In addition, she wondered if she looked seven at that time due to how small her body was for her age.

In the end, it was Adele herself who gave that child a name and a room in the mansion. Kayden, who grew up to be pessimistic under Adele’s tutelage, led a guild that mainly carried out the domain’s secret missions.

If you ask Adele what kind of ‘secret work’ there was for the domain… Well, the hotter the sun, the darker the shadow. In addition,  Kayden had an exceptional talent in dealing with bugs that were money-twisted.

…Let’s just say it was not through legal means.

“I’ll take a look at it later, you can go now. I’m tired for today.”

“Did Jerox have a change of heart?”

“…Since when did you know?”

“Do you want me to kill him?”

Kayden stepped on the window frame and looked at Adele. His mood was vicious. 

“…Just tell me if you do. If Sister wants it, I’ll kill him.”

He was not joking. His eyes were burning like flames. Whatever Kayden said while with those eyes, no matter how much he smiled while saying it, it could not be taken as a joke.

The last time Adele saw Kayden make such eyes was when a high-ranking noble insulted Adele in public, which resulted in him losing an arm. However, since there was nothing to prove such claims, Adele alone just guessed that Kayden was the one who did it.

“No need. Jer is still useful. It’s rare for accountants to have such skills and capability.”

“…”

“And you don’t have the right to do that. I’ve never given you permission.”

Adele definitely hit the spot. Kayden’s face was still stiff, but she didn’t pay any mind to it. It had been a long time since she cast aside the idea that just because he was her younger brother, she had to find him cute and be cuddly with him.

This person.

“Don’t meddle, you’re already good at your job. Also, I have to take care of my work tomorrow.”

“Why does Sister pretend not to know anything?”

Kayden, who had already crossed halfway through the window frame, looked back at her once again. Other than the jawline that was exposed to the moonlight, everything else melted in the dark night, casting a shadow.

“How much of a little b*tch Noella is.”

He smirked, slightly raising the corner of his mouth.

“Kayen, what are you talking about? Watch your mouth.”

“…Fine. If that’s what you want.”

He may be pretending to obey her order to keep his mouth shut, but it was foolish to trust his words. It was not like Adele had no idea what he was like.

As she looked at him with her arms crossed, Kayden threw himself out the window with an inexplicable smile.

“…Isn’t it amusing? There’s something that Sister doesn’t know that I know.”

And so, with that behavior, he disappeared.

Adele frowned at the window where Kayden disappeared. She wanted to check if he was hurt or if he was well, and although she could’ve stuck her head out to check, she didn’t. Instead, she closed the window with enough strength to make a thumping sound and leaned against it.

“Sigh, what kind of kid was that troublemaker.”

As a successor to their influential family, Adele could have scolded her younger brother’s unruly behavior and had him kicked out if she wanted, but there was only one reason why Adele didn’t.

“…You’re pretty good.”

Because her sweet little sister, Noella, was really a b*tch.

 

◇◆◇

 

Like any other common story, Adele remembered her past life.

To be honest, she wasn’t happy in her past life. It hurt to explain it in detail, but to put it simply, she lived the life of a ‘Korean with a dirt spoon’.

She didn’t receive any financial support, but there was enough to get through difficult times and get into a decent university. But, she was still born with a dirt spoon. No matter how delicious the rice was, if you scooped it up with a dirt spoon, it would only taste like dirt.

What do you do when you enter a leading conglomerate? Even if you worked hard, you could only hear bad feedback. The months of staying up all night were all too predictably passed on as the achievements of someone who bore the golden spoon.

For example… like the granddaughter of the chairman.

She couldn’t bear it, and while drunk, she confronted her about it. But she just smiled at her with a look of disappointment. 

“Yeah, I understand how upset you are… But why would you weigh it down on me? If there was someone to blame, it would be your parents who birthed you in such an environment.”

Ah, this unfair world.

She was so upset that she drank as much as she could and walked to the riverside staggeringly. In fact, who she was really angry at was herself, who couldn’t deny it, rather than the granddaughter of the chairman who insulted her parents.

 

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