My Sister’s Man

 Larne rushed out of the parlor to escape. 

She wanted to know everything. She thought Deron was someone who would understand her, but all he gave her was contempt.

She realized that she had become a lesser person.

‘I must have done something wrong.’

 Even though they weren’t close to begin with, he wasn’t a person who would lash out like that. He wasn’t the kind of person who would create things that weren’t there.

Four years, what in the world had happened in those four years?

“Ha, you disgust me. Don’t you remember when your parents died? Didn’t you say it’s a good thing?”

Would people not believe her words because of what she did during that time? Would they believe that she lost her memory, only enough to avoid mistakes?

 It was cold and chilly today. The happy heart that thought of meeting her family cooled down in an instant.

 Did she think that meeting her family would solve everything? Did she think they would still smile at her after she had taken her sister’s fiancé away  without resentment?

It was understandable why the man hated her. 

It could be because he thought he would marry her lovely, intelligent, gracious sister, Aria, but he married someone like her instead. A person who was frail, sensitive, and weak, and was treated last a defective product.

The fluffy memories of the past made Larne almost cry. There were times when she hated the love her parents gave her because it was so different from what she wanted, but she did not hate them out of spite. She wouldn’t have said “good riddance” to those who had died.

She felt defeated and spent some time lying sick in bed. She wanted to get out of this mansion, but the reality of having nowhere to go was very daunting.

However, the divorce was extended indefinitely. The reason was that Larne’s body showed no signs of recovery. 

*** 

It was a night of unknown impulses. Larne staggered through the dark night toward her husband’s office. The mansion was certainly unfamiliar, but the atmosphere of this hallway to the office was not unfamiliar. 

Her body remembered it as if she had passed it often. As if she had intense feelings for the man.

 She grabbed the doorknob of the office, where light was leaking through a crack in the door. With a squeak, the door opened and she saw the man sitting there like a painting. 

Her heart throbbed again. The small light from the fluttering candle was not enough to light up the entire room, but it did illuminate the man’s face. 

Larne’s eyelashes trembled as her heart pounded so violently it made her chest ache.

She even had the preposterous thought that she wanted to touch the man who despised her. It was strange and unsettling to have something that was not her emotions fill her body. 

Reason and emotion did not match. 

“Who….”

The man who had been sitting there let out a laugh at the familiar silhouette he saw before long.

“What is it again?”

“I came to apologize. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I-I’m sorry for taking a position I shouldn’t have taken. But I really don’t remember….”

Hateful. Disgusted. All kinds of negative emotions enveloped Leandro’s body. All he could think of was the violent thought of grabbing that thin neck and strangling it mercilessly, even now. 

“….Divorce, you said we were getting a divorce. Please, do it.”

 Facing a gaze full of hatred, Larne spat out the pleading words and barely swallowed the rest. ‘Please let me breathe.’

Her figure, swaying aimlessly in helplessness, was clearly visible even in the darkened office.

 “According to the doctor, madam has always been frail.”

Leandro ended up giving her kindness like never before.

She had come in with a thin negligee, and he handed her his jacket and sat her down. Warm steam rose from the tea that was served and Leandro handed Larne a teacup. 

All this was the first favor he had ever shown to her, who said she had lost her memory. The moment he handed her the glass, Larne felt as if her heart would jump out of her mouth at the mere touch of his fingertips. 

“….According to your claim, you have no memory of what happened four years ago.”

It was still a cold tone, but a tone that gave her the benefit of a doubt. It was not very favorable, but even that was gratifying to Larne. 

“Yes, yes. So ……why did I …… you, my sister’s fiancé,” Larne met his eyes and hastily bowed her head. A strange feeling of heat shook her body. When his red eyes looked at her, she felt a strange surge of emotion. She had never known this kind of heat.

 “I’m the one who needs to ask. Why…..no, it could have been anyone else who was your sister’s fiancé. Not me in particular.”

He was being sarcastic and found Larne looking like she was about to cry as she bowed her head in an uncharacteristic manner. It was an odd reaction. For a moment, he sincerely wondered if the woman had indeed lost her memory.

So he did what he normally would not have done. 

“What story do you want to hear?” 

***

It was only when the engagement ceremony was over and the reception was underway that Leandro learned that the person he was going to marry had changed.

Perhaps tired of the long ceremony, there was a stranger who followed Aria, who left for the terrace first. Someone other than Leandro’s original marriage partner. It was his fiancée’s sister. 

Pale, almost transparent skin and thin limbs. If touched, would she break? If blown, would she fly away?

Her weak appearance was enough to stimulate protective instincts, but her personality was a different story. Because there was a nasty, vicious label that followed her around.

“Look at your surprised expression. Are you disappointed that it wasn’t my sister Aria?”

The dress Larne was wearing was a gift from Leandro for Aria. He thought it was strange that she avoided him  today, perhaps she was shy. But…

“What are you trying to do?”

Leandro felt his blood gushing backwards. The boiling feeling was unsettling. 

Despite his anger, Larne graciously nibbled on a piece of fruit from the table. Thump, thump, thump, thump. Her heart beat loudly.

“Don’t be angry. Isn’t it a nice day?” 

Larne smiled as she showed him the ring on her finger. Her bright smile was flawless, but in Leandro’s eyes she looked like a monster. Like someone who terribly liked a ring that wasn’t hers. He couldn’t take his eyes off the ring on her hand.

 “You put it on me. It was a little loose. Didn’t you know? What kind of a man is in love, if he doesn’t recognize his fiancée’s face, however veiled?” 

The heat gathered on Leandro’s face at once at the soft whisper. He was disappointed in himself for not noticing the strangeness he felt from his fiancée due to his excitement.

And the fact that he had gotten engaged to someone else.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Isn’t it unfair? My sister who has it all and was marrying someone she loved…”

“…Where is Aria?”

“She’s well at the mansion. I’m sure she’s soundly asleep.”

“You …!” 

Leandro cut off Larne’s shocking but bored tone.

In the first place, the fact that Larne wanted anything that belonged to Aria was already known to everyone in the empire. 

That was why. Leandro proposed to Aria. He wanted to get Aria, whom he had fallen in love with at first sight, at the duke’s mansion with Larne under the guise of marriage. The political reason contained in it was another matter. At that time, Leandro felt it had to be Aria.

 “Ah.”

Larne, who had been listening quietly, let out a faint groan. The table shook with a rattling sound. Teacups rolled on the rug, and liquid spilled from the teapot soaked her body. Her skin was soaked and see-through from the tea that dampened her thin clothes…

“Ha,” he sighed, annoyed at the open temptation. Leandro’s brow furrowed. 

What kind of conversation was he supposed to have with this woman?

He felt like he was playing in the palm of her hand. 

“Oh, I’m sorry. I’m sorry, but I’m having a hard time keeping my hands steady.”

“Don’t apologize shamelessly. What exactly is it that you want? Be honest. Don’t offend my intelligence.”

Larne rushed to her feet. She wanted to say she didn’t know. But she couldn’t speak, as if her tongue had been cut out. The jacket he had draped over her shoulders slipped off. 

“Ha.”

She wanted to run away from the sight of him in a bad mood. But unlike her urgent mind, her body betrayed her will.

“You used to say you wanted to produce an heir. Is that what you want?” 

Larne’s face paled.

“That… that….”

“Your way of using honorifics and apologies is strangely refreshing. If that’s what you wanted, what’s the delay? There’s nothing you can’t do as I recall.”

Leandro grabbed Larne’s hand. His lips touched the back of her hand. Her wrist ached from his strong grip. Everywhere his hand reached was hot as if it were on fire. He turned his intense gaze on her.

“I’m sorry, no…” (Larne)

As if time had stopped, Larne was caught in his gaze. She couldn’t move. Larne’s face heated up quickly at the sight of his mocking smirk. Shaking off the man’s hand, she ran out of the office as if to escape.