Translator: Yonnee

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Chapter 11

Rosetta looked at Katie while she was in that state, enjoying the sight in a small way.

‘That’s pretty nice.’

Katie had built Damian’s trust in her for more than a decade.

Rosetta, on the other hand, had been living life as though there was sand constantly running down her throat for almost a decade and a half.

Besides, Rosetta had been scolded for a similar reason just recently.

It was a great excuse to paint the clarity of their relationships well.

Rosetta looked at Damian as she covered her bleeding hand with the other.

From Rosetta’s periphery, she could see Katie glaring at her even as the older woman was kneeling so pitifully on the ground.

But his tight lips showed no signs of opening.

‘Now, what are you going to do?’

She and Katie did their best to plead their cases.

All that’s left now was Damian’s judgement.

Indeed. Whose words would he believe?

Would he choose to believe the situation before him, or the trust fed to him over the years?

“Rosetta.”

After a while, those tightly shut lips opened.

Following the single word said by him, his eyes immediately flitted to Rosetta.

Two gazes, so alike in their golden hue, met each other.

“Yes, Older Brother.”

Rosetta met his gaze with a nonchalant expression, then stood up from the ground, holding onto the couch beside her for support.

The hand that she was holding in the other slipped out, leaving a trail of blood.

Thanks to this, the legs that supported her body were also greatly shaken.

Her face betrayed her exhaustion because she had shed a lot of blood.

Damian’s forehead suddenly crumpled.

It was the same expression when he saw the wound on Rosetta’s face a few days ago.

With his forehead still wrinkled, his eyes looked to the ground, then went back up.

“You…”

One step.

The stiff body moved forward.

And then—

Bang!

As the door opened along with the loud sound from outside, an uninvited guest entered.

It was as if the raindrops had been burnt to ashes.

The dark sky reminded that, no matter how bright the light that flashed through it was, its darkness would never go away.

One person was about to fall on her knees amongst the broken pieces of glass, blood soaking the floor.

One tried to stand, but stumbled.

Another reached out through the air, lips clenched.

And one other ran across the room.

Long golden hair fluttered in the air.

Her thin ankles raced across the room, and the dress that flowed along with her bloomed like flowers.

“Alicia…”

The name was uttered by someone’s lips.

Alicia ran straight to Rosetta.

Rosetta was the only one in her sight in the first place.

At that moment, Rosetta, who had the most astounded expression amongst everyone in the room, opened her arms unconsciously.

Alicia jumped into her arms without hesitation, and their bodies fell together onto the sofa.

* * *

“Alicia? You… How…”

Rosetta murmured unknowingly.

It was definitely Alicia in her arms right now.

But Rosetta knew for sure that Alicia should be in the walk-in closet.

This scene was meant to be a direct hit to Katie.

The more Katie inflicted pain onto Rosetta, the more damned she would be.

But Alicia wouldn’t have endured such a scene.

Or perhaps it was Rosetta who wouldn’t have stood for it.

Frankly speaking, it would have been helpful to have someone else distract Katie.

And she could have used Alicia to elicit more sympathy from Damian.

”Lady Rosetta seems to have locked up Lady Alicia, but I don’t know where she is now… I-I think the Young Master should go see Lady Rosetta as soon as possible.”

At the agreed upon time, Marie went to Damian and said this, luring him over this way.

In many ways, keeping Alicia at the closet was the best choice for Rosetta.

Moderately wide, and the right height.

It was a place where she wouldn’t be able to get out by herself.

Marie said she already bought the cooperation of Alicia’s maid for this, so there was no one else who could have gotten her out.

According to Rosetta’s plan, she would have released Alicia from the closet after Katie had been thrown into the dungeon…

But here Alicia was now, burying her face in Rosetta’s embrace without saying a word, just breathing heavily.

It seemed like she ran from her room all the way here.

Rosetta raised her hand to stroke Alicia’s golden hair, but she soon realized that her hand was covered in blood, so she lowered it again.

Instead of patting her head, Rosetta spoke instead.

“Why are you he—”

“Oh, goodness! Milady, you’re alright!”

But Rosetta was cut-off by Katie’s sudden exclamation.

Katie jumped to her feet and raised her hands with exaggeration—like a person on death row, thanking the heavens for a second chance at life.

Alicia, who was still in Rosetta’s arms, was stunned. She flinched at Katie’s voice, but she slowly raised her body up.

Rosetta’s chest strangely felt empty.

Then, a blank look was directed at her.

Rosetta felt guilty for some reason. As if she was a sinner.

Well, it was wrong of her to lock Alicia away…

Feeling this strange conflict within her, Rosetta avoided Alicia’s gaze.

“Oh, Milady, it must have been frightening. Everything’s fine. Your nanny is right here beside you now.”

Taking advantage of the fact that Alicia was staring at me wordlessly, Katie quickly opened her mouth again—with tears welling up around her eyes, looking very solemn.

“Milady, please come over here.”

Alicia’s body trembled at Katie’s croon.

Her trembling eyes, which were akin to the pendulum of a quivering clock, alternated looking between Rosetta and Katie.

Soon after, her closed lips opened little by little.

“…I……”

Yes, you.

It was a quick moment later that her anxiously trembling gaze finally settled.

“Blood…”

As she murmured, Alicia’s eyes turned toward one particular spot on Rosetta’s face, and Rosetta touched.

Oh, come to think of it, she rubbed her face with her bloody hands to paint a more gruesome scene.

Rosetta wasn’t sure which was more amazing, that Alicia focused on this first…

…or that Rosetta herself had forgotten about it.

“Sister, there’s blood…”

Alicia said this as if she was out of breath, and she quickly stepped forward to inspect Rosetta’s face.

“It’s because of me…”

The broken teacup, blood soaked on the floor, their older brother and Katie being here.

And Rosetta getting hurt.

“Because of me… again, it’s because of me…”

“No, that’s not true.”

Rosetta immediately dismissed Alicia’s stuttering words.

More than anyone, she knew how Alicia felt.

But that’s not true.

Yes. It really wasn’t.

“Alicia.”

The calm voice directed at her shocked Alicia.

At one side, Damian stood like a motionless tower.

“Older Brother.”

Alicia directed her confused gaze towards Damian.

“Katie said she was trying to save you because Rosetta trapped you somewhere. But she was threatened by Rosetta.”

“…”

There was no immediate answer.

It was understandable.

Hadn’t Alicia been brainwashed for a long time?

Just mentioning Katie’s name was enough to paralyze her, so it wasn’t that easy to expose the truth.

As Rosetta scanned the room and turned to Katie, the nanny had a smile that said she also had the same thoughts.

From behind Alicia, Rosetta looked at her cascading golden locks, then reached out to take her hand.

A startled face greeted Rosetta.

Like Rosetta just a few moments ago, the expression Alicia had was like a sinner’s.

Rosetta shook her head at her as she met her eyes.

‘You don’t have to cover for me. Don’t strain yourself.’

After a while, red lips quivered, and her blank face slowly began to crumble.

Tears quickly brimmed the edges of her eyes.

However, instead of shedding those tears, Alicia pursed her lips.

She looked at Rosetta for a long time like that, then she gave a shaky smile.

…Smile?

The smile was quickly erased from Rosetta’s sight as Alicia turned towards the other two people in the room.

Strangely, Alicia’s back, which had been so frail just a moment ago, suddenly became as tall as a mountain.

“No, Brother. That’s not true.”

“Milady…!”

Katie was startled by Alicia’s determined words.

“Sister and I have been abused by our nanny for a long time. The person who wronged us is Nanny. Sister was… Sister was just trying to save me…”

Alicia.

“It’s not Sister’s fault! Katie was the one who did all the bad things. There are still scars from Katie’s beating. I can show it to you if you want. That’s why, Brother. Brother, it’s just…”

Starting out strong with firm words, Alicia was overcome with sobs halfway through.

She didn’t want to shed any tears, but as the tears kept flowing, Alicia wiped her eyes with her sleeves.

“Milady! Why are you lying?! No, Young Master, it’s not true. You have to believe me! Please believe me!”

“No! Brother, I’m telling the truth. All this time, I’ve been too scared to speak about it. I-I’m so scared of Nanny, but now Sister… because of me, Sister is hu, hurt…”

Alicia, who had been talking in a loud voice just now, suddenly staggered and fell into Rosetta’s arms.

“Alicia!”

Damian tried to run forward to catch her, but Alicia had already begun to fall behind her.

It was only Rosetta who could catch Alicia, but she also staggered along with her weight.

“Ugh…”

Rosetta also fell to the floor while supporting Alicia’s body, but apparently there was still broken glass there.

She could feel a large piece of glass digging into her calf.

Ah, she’s really going for a bloody look today, huh?

Fortunately, there weren’t any shards near Alicia.

“Alicia. Alicia, open your eyes.”

Rosetta called Alicia’s name, her eyes slightly trembling.

However, the tightly shut eyes did not open again.

Rosetta hurriedly closed her eyes and let out her energy for a little bit as she felt anxious, but as she inspected Alicia’s condition, it seemed like there was nothing wrong and she simply fainted.

She remembered that Alicia in the original novel would faint easily whenever she was put under heavy stress.

“That’s… that’s a relief.”

Rosetta could breathe again. She had been holding her breath without realizing it.

Looking at the unconscious girl’s face whose breathing was shallow, a barrage of unknown emotions filled Rosetta.

From her eyes on Alicia’s face, Rosetta finally lifted her gaze.

She saw Katie gritting her teeth, then the wide-open golden eyes that were looking at her in return.

“Brother.”

A small voice called out to the immobile figure.

“Rosetta are you alr—”

“Brother. Who did you believe?”

The pouring rain pounded on the windowsill.

“No—who do you trust now?”

Noisily, fiercely.

As if the world was falling apart.

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