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Chapter 3
I ‌‌‌‌looked up at Father with a tense expression.
It had been three years since that day—since the first Coming of Age ceremony when it was revealed that I was not truly his daughter—and now I stood before him once ‌‌more.
Yet the gaze Jeok Ahyun fixed upon me was utterly ‌‌devoid of warmth.
Tap, tap, tap.
His fingertips drummed rhythmically against the desk.
It was a habit he often displayed when lost in deep contemplation.
I stole a glance at his fingertips.
I remembered how tender those hands had been when stroking Riri's hair just moments before.
And I also remembered how cold and merciless those same hands had been three years ago when they cast me out.
[Strip the child of her core and confine her to the Cold Palace.]
The memory of that day—the biting chill in the air, the sharp gazes—memories ‌‌too cruel and terrifying ‌‌for a six-year-old child to bear, came rushing back and suffocated me.
"You ‌‌‌‌understand your position. I need not elaborate."
His voice, stripped of all emotion, cut across my skin like a blade.
"Because of your mother's greed, Riri was forced to wander the streets without even awakening her ‌‌‌‌core, deprived of everything she should have rightfully enjoyed—all of it stolen by the daughter of a maidservant."
"...."
I felt like a criminal. My ‌‌‌eyelashes trembled, and heat rose to ‌‌my eyes.
"Therefore, I intend to give my daughter—whom I have now reclaimed—everything. ‌‌‌No matter how ‌‌absurd others might deem it." ‌‌‌
My daughter....
In that moment, ‌‌‌‌I understood once more.
Ah... Father's daughter is ‌‌‌‌only Riri.
I can never be a daughter to him. I can be nothing to him.
In truth, from that day three years ago, Father and I could never be anything to each other again.
Yet knowing this, I harbored foolish hopes that perhaps Father might come searching for me again, and I waited.
Alone in that cold and desolate Cold Palace, I waited and waited for a father who would never come.
I lost my mother from the moment I was born.
Yet the reason young ‌‌me could grow up bright and cheerful despite her absence was because of Father's love.
I adored my older brothers too, those ‌‌‌‌kind and gentle souls who would quarrel over monopolizing my younger sister's attention, but Father—Father was my favorite.
To my childhood self, Father was my entire world.
Even ‌‌if Father no longer regarded me as his daughter.... ‌‌‌‌
So when Riri stubbornly ‌‌‌dragged ‌‌me into this room against all resistance just moments ago.
In truth, my heart had raced.
The prospect of facing Father—something that had felt sinful even from a distance—made my pulse quicken with anticipation.
'What a foolish thing to do.'
It was the moment that final, stubborn attachment I could not abandon was severed clean.
"Therefore, ensure that Riri never learns of your true identity. Should she ever be hurt because of you..."
Jeok Ahyun narrowed his eyes slightly as he continued.
"I will not forgive you."
My throat tightened painfully.
'...But Father. Am I not already a child who cannot be forgiven?'
I swallowed hard, pressing down the emotions that kept threatening to burst forth.
Because I was no longer a daughter to my father—I was nothing to ‌him.
Even the love he had given me in childhood was nothing but stolen ‌‌from Riri.
Realization was cruel in this way.
"Yes, Father."
I answered in a voice so small and meek that it seemed to ‌‌‌crawl along the ground, my head bowed low.
As Jeok Ahyun observed my figure in silence, a hairline fracture appeared across his face.
From me, he ‌‌sensed a flicker of sorrow, loss, ‌‌and resignation.
Emotions so deep and desolate—feelings ‌that had no place in a child of nine years.
Only then did Jeok Ahyun lift his gaze, which he had deliberately kept averted, and carefully observed the ‌‌‌child he ‌was meeting for the first time in three years.
A pallid ‌‌‌complexion, hunched shoulders, two hands fidgeting helplessly within the sleeves, two feet that flinched nervously, and a voice drained of all vitality.
She looked vastly different from how he remembered her. The Sonya of the past was not like this now.
'Pointless sentiment.'
Jeok Ahyun coldly severed the useless thoughts that threatened to bloom and issued an order of dismissal.
"Leave."
I withdrew without ‌‌making a sound.
Had that child always walked like this?
Like a criminal, ‌‌so hushed and subdued?
"...."
Jeok Ahyun's expression crumpled.
To claim he felt no compassion would be a lie.
Yet he refused to dwell on it deeply.
He had raised a maidservant's daughter as his own, and ‌‌‌even though she had stolen his true daughter's place, he had not punished her. He had ‌‌not cast ‌‌‌her out or beaten her.
But his guilt toward Riri far outweighed any compassion he could spare for this child.
Riri, his ‌‌true daughter, had grown up in those cold streets, unable to eat properly, unable to seek a physician when ill, bearing the scorn of being a fatherless child.
The maidservant who had switched the children and fled had raised Riri as her own daughter, but she had never been a proper guardian to her.
Whenever he asked about that woman, the darkness that clouded Riri's expression tore at his heart.
He wanted to capture that cursed criminal and interrogate her ‌‌thoroughly, but she had already been dead for three years.
Thus Riri had to grow up alone for three years, without father or mother.
She had not even awakened her spiritual core until she was nine—something most children awakened ‌‌around five or six—and her first transformation had been incomplete.
Because she had suffered greatly in childhood, her spiritual core had weakened, ‌‌and she could not ‌‌‌even complete her transformation properly.
Such a child had endured her pain in silence and forced herself to attempt transformation before him, all for the sake of meeting her "true family."
Whenever he thought of Riri, his heart shattered and guilt consumed him toward his deceased wife.
Thus, in his heart, there remained not even a single grain ‌of compassion to spare for Sonya.
Since she was the daughter of a maidservant who had served the Lady of ‌‌‌the House, having her serve the family's young lady as atonement ‌was a generous course of action.
Jeok Ahyun deliberately brainwashed himself into this belief, even knowing that young Sonya bore no fault of ‌‌‌her own.
It was not right to concern himself further with this pitiful yet presumptuous child.
He was busy enough each day simply redirecting toward Riri the affection he had failed to give her all this time.
* * *
The "fake" who had stolen ‌‌the true young lady's place had become the true young lady's maidservant.
An absurd farce had unfolded within the Jujak Family, yet Jeok Ahyun, the head of the household, had sealed the servants' lips shut.
"Father!"
Riri came running with a melodious laugh, and Jeok Ahyun caught her in one arm.
Riri clung to her father's neck with both arms, chattering away and ‌‌‌showering him with affection.
I watched the ‌‌‌‌head of the household and the young lady with quiet intensity.
"My, Riri. Your hair has become disheveled."
Jeok Ahyun chided her gently, untying the ribbon from her hair.
"I shall have to rebind ‌‌‌‌it."
He handed the loosened ribbon to me, who had been following behind.
His manner was as indifferent as he was toward any other maidservant in the household, yet it was ‌‌‌‌cruelly deliberate—as though reminding me not to forget my station, to remember exactly where I belonged.
'It's alright.' ‌‌‌‌‌
I gazed down at the young lady's ribbon and murmured to myself, as though reciting an incantation.
'Yes, it's alright.'
When I opened my eyes again, I saw ‌‌‌‌the head of the household combing through the young lady's tangled hair with his fingers, a gentle smile gracing his lips.
Just as he had done for me when I was very small.... ‌‌
"Oh, it tickles, Father."
When Riri burst into laughter, Jeok Ahyun smiled softly in response.
A cuckoo flew about them as though blessing this peaceful moment between father and daughter, ‌‌‌‌‌then vanished.
'...It's alright. It truly is alright.'
I was alright.
My heart ached because I could no longer be my ‌‌father's daughter, but I was alright.
My skin ‌stung beneath my older brother's contemptuous gaze, but I was alright.
The servants' sharp whispers whenever they looked at me, the way the true young lady Riri received everyone's affection, ‌‌‌and ‌‌‌the fact that I, as her maidservant, had to witness it all—it was all alright.
Because I was a wretched fledgling who had deceived and wounded my father and older brother.
A sinner who had stolen Riri's place and brought suffering to everyone.
So I truly was alright.
Truly....
* * *
On the ninth birthday of young lady Riri.
It was her first birthday since being found. ‌
Jeok Ahyun, the head of the household, announced that he would hold a grand celebration.
And amid the preparations, word arrived that the Fifth Prince from the Capital would be visiting the Jujak Estate.

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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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