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Chapter 5
"Ah...."
The moment I realized it, tears spilled down my cheeks.
Pitter, pitter-patter.
"S-Soya?"
Tae Irim, flustered and at a loss, examined her carefully.
"I'm sorry. The tears just came suddenly... I was simply too happy."
Soya laughed brightly, wiping the ‌‌‌‌corners of her eyes with the back of her hand.
Happy. And, terribly unfamiliar.
Since that day three years ago, no one had ever spoken to me with such tenderness.
This was also the first time I had been wished a happy birthday.
Now that I thought about it... that day three years ago when my family abandoned me was my sixth birthday.
Soya realized another truth and swallowed down the bittersweet feeling.
"Thank you so much for keeping your promise and coming."
Soya spoke while clutching the ornament Tae Irim had given her tightly in her hand.
Tae Irim gazed at her intently, then extended his hand.
"Let me see that for a moment."
He fastened the ornament set with a crimson ruby to Soya's jeogori.
Then he spoke in a calm voice.
"Beautiful."
"...."
"It seems to have finally found its true owner."
At his gentle praise, Soya's face flushed without reason.
To be honest, my mother's keepsake seemed entirely unsuited to my shabby appearance... but.
"Thank you, Your Highness."
Soya laughed with joy.
Tae Irim smiled softly in return.
"Just call me older brother, as you did before."
The two sat side by side on a flat rock and conversed intimately.
"But... what is the meaning of this." ‌
He asked carefully.
"You look very different from how I remember you. Could you tell me what has happened to you all this time?"
At his question, Soya ‌‌‌hesitated.
I was ‌‌‌‌‌ashamed to reveal my ugly secret ‌‌‌‌to my childhood connection, yet ‌‌I did not wish to hide or deceive.
"I...."
Soya confessed that she was a sinner who had stolen the young lady's place.
Tae Irim's brow furrowed as he listened to her story in silence.
He sensed that something was amiss.
"But... that cannot be...."
He murmured softly, then suddenly sprang to his feet. ‌‌
"Irim, big brother?"
"It's me, Soya."
I grasped Soya's small, trembling hands firmly.
Her fingertips were rough, calloused from the hardships she must have endured. The realization stung me.
The Soya before me now carried shadows that the Soya in my memories never bore.
Her family was undoubtedly the architect of this transformation.
Recalling her withdrawn demeanor ‌‌from earlier and how her family treated her as though she didn't exist—fury kindled within me.
'Even if this child truly did take my daughter's place, that would never be her fault.'
Yet what remained unchanged despite the hostility of those I once called family was that radiant smile of hers. ‌‌‌
I wanted to protect that smile. Perhaps I was terribly late, but even now, I could try.
"I ‌‌‌must return to the Imperial ‌‌‌‌Palace—there's something urgent I need to investigate."
"Ah...."
A ‌‌flicker of disappointment crossed Soya's face.
Seeing that expression, I found it difficult to ‌‌turn ‌‌away. ‌
Yet perhaps, if I visited the Imperial Palace ‌‌Archives, I might resolve the unsettling question that had nagged at me since earlier.
And ‌‌‌‍perhaps—just perhaps—I might find a way to bring Soya, this child....
"Don't be too disappointed. I'll return soon. And when I do...."
I might discover a ‌‌way to take her from this estate to the Imperial Palace.
"I want to bring you to the Imperial Palace. If you'll have ‌me."
"...."
Soya ‌‌‌simply stared at me in stunned silence.
I smiled and linked my pinky finger with hers.
Just as she had linked her pinky with mine three years ago.
And from a distance, a pair of eyes watched the scene unfold.
* * *
The Fifth Prince departed urgently in the night, ‌‌‌and the next morning arrived.
"Tell me honestly. You stole this, didn't you?"
Riri's sharp voice cut through the air as she confronted Soya.
In her hand was the ‌‌very trinket Soya had retrieved from Irim the night before.
"N-no, Miss."
Soya trembled but held her ground with quiet conviction.
"I really didn't steal it. P-please give it back."
Riri's face twisted as she witnessed Soya speaking ‌‌up for herself instead of meekly complying as usual.
"You're lying!"
Riri despised Soya. From the moment she first laid eyes on her. ‌‌
She resented having ‌‌‌‌another child her age in the estate, ‌and she hated that this mere servant girl possessed a prettier face that drew attention away from her own.
She also despised how her father and older brother seemed to regard Soya with an inexplicable concern.
So Riri had deliberately made Soya her personal attendant, keeping her constantly at her side to demonstrate the vast difference in their stations.
Occasionally, she even subtly encouraged the other maidservants to torment Soya.
Of course, Riri had to maintain her image as a kind and virtuous youngest daughter, so she always did it with utmost discretion.
In truth, Riri had planned to humiliate Soaya the day before.
She had intended to expose that child's shabby appearance before the noble Fifth Prince who had come from the Imperial ‌‌‌Palace, and thoroughly embarrass her.
How pathetic it was to watch her feel ashamed of her ragged clothes whenever the family head and her older brother were present.
'This is the perfect opportunity to teach her ‌‌where she stands.'
But events had unfolded differently than she had envisioned.
From the moment the Fifth Prince's gaze turned toward ‌Soaya as ‌‌‌he ‌descended from his palanquin, an ominous feeling had crept over her—and then she witnessed the ‌‌two of them conversing intimately last night.
Though she couldn't hear their words from a distance, watching Tae Irim stroke Soaya's head and even gift her a trinket set Riri's heart ablaze with jealous fury.
'I don't know what that vixen did, but I must drive her out before the Fifth Prince returns.'
So Riri had falsely accused Soaya of theft before the Fifth Prince could return, determined to expel her from the estate.
Fortunately, the trinket Soaya ‌‌‌‌had received from the Fifth Prince last night provided the perfect pretext.
With the ‌‌Fifth Prince gone and no witnesses, Riri had planned to force Soaya to confess to stealing the trinket and dispose of her before his return.
"It's not a lie. I'm telling the truth."
Soaya trembled ‌‌‌violently, tears brimming ‌‌at the edges of her eyes as she pleaded.
"If you didn't steal it, then where did it come from?"
"That is...."
Soaya couldn't bring herself to speak.
'She knows as well as I do. No one would believe her if she said the Fifth Prince gave it to her.'
It was at ‌‌that moment Riri ‍⁠was inwardly sneering.
"Isn't that... the late Lady of the House's trinket?"
One of the maidservants watching murmured softly.
"What?"
Riri's head snapped around ‌‌‌sharply, and the maidservant who had been muttering gasped and clamped her mouth shut.
But Riri had already ‌‌heard.
"The late Lady ‌‌‌‌of the House... ‌‌‌‌so this belonged to my mother?"
Riri's voice trembled violently.
"Why do you have my mother's possession?"
At the sharp ‌‌question, all color drained from Soaya's face.
[Do not let Riri discover your true ‌‌identity. ‌‌‌If she suffers any harm because of you, I will never ‌‌forgive you.]
Her father's stern warning echoed terrifyingly in her mind—that he would not forgive her if the young lady Riri learned the truth.
"That is... it's...."
"Tell me now!"
Riri tore off her mask of genteel grace and shoved Soaya's body with a snarl.
The force sent Soaya's small frame crashing hard against the floor.
At that very moment, the family head Jeok Ahyun and his second son Jeok Hwayou came rushing in and witnessed the scene.
"Riri...!"
It was the moment when Jeok Ahyun's carefully constructed false peace shattered.
* ‌‌‌‌* *
Riri had discovered that Soaya was the fake daughter who had stolen her place.
Shocked by the revelation, Riri took to her bed, and the entire estate fell into turmoil.
The household servants whispered about Soaya behind closed doors.
Shameless. A thieving maid who stole the young lady's place—how dare you not immediately seek her out and apologize? Oh, our poor dear ‌‌‌Riri...
Words sharp as needles ‌‌pricked relentlessly at Soya's tender skin.
"I... I must ‌‌apologize... I have to beg forgiveness unconditionally. I... I was wrong... I'm sorry for stealing the young lady's position..."
Soya made ‌‌her way to the young lady's chambers. She had to apologize. ‌‌‌
Though stealing away the young lady's childhood was ‌‌an unforgivable sin, if her apology could ease even ‌‌‌a fraction of the young lady's anguish...
Soya stood before the young lady's closed door, drawing a shallow breath.
"Please... eliminate ‌‌her."
The voice from within the room froze Soya in place.
"Riri cannot live ‌‌under the ‌‌‌same sky as that girl. If you don't want to ‌‌‌‌see Riri die, eliminate her. Before the Fifth Prince comes to retrieve her again."
"Very well."
The reply came swiftly—in the voice of Jeok Hwayou.

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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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