"Miss I'm back!, huh? What are you doing miss?" Angelina look up at Marie who just came back and said,

"Well I'm a reading a book Marie." She wasn't sure why Marie was so dumbfounded, perhaps the original Angelina wasn't very interested in reading?

"I didn't know miss liked to read these types of books! My miss is genius!" Marie praises her for doing the most insignificant of tasks, she truly does worry for this girl but her temperament is very fitting for a child. The past Angelina must've enjoyed having such a cute and joyful maid like her.

"Well miss it's lunch time now, the duke, duchess, and first miss is waiting in the dining room for you" Marie informed her with a warm smile.

"Oh, then please take me there" Angelina nodded and left for the dining room along with Marie.

*****

When Angelina entered the dining room, waiting there was her new family. As expected, the duke sat on the head seat. What she didn't expect was how impatient this duke was. She had just entered and yet she was already receiving a berating. What a warm welcome...

"Angelina! This is your first time dining with your family in years! And yet you are late!" The duke scolded. His patience is really limited, Angelina was late for at most two minutes. She was never told how strict this Skyler family's rules were.

"Father don't be mad... Sister didn't mean to be late! She's probably too tired to come due to the long travel, we shouldn't blame her." Evelina said.

"..." Angelina felt the urge to scoff, but she suppressed it. Was Evelina dumb or was there really intention in her words? Didn't her words just tell everyone present that Angelina was too lazy to spend time with her family? She had always suspected there was something behind that sweet facade.

"Angelina you should be more like your sister!" The duke again shouted.

"Apologies, father." Angelina said. She was too tired, all she wanted to do at the moment was to eat a good meal and return to rest in her room. Honestly, is this how they treat their daughter who has just returned from the doors of death? Compared to how Duke Skyler treats Evelina and Alex, Angelina seems like thorns in his eyes. Though she too was his daughter now, she felt disgusted to call him father. There was clearly something going on, it appears that the Skyler family is not as perfect as they seem to be when I'm front of the aristocrats.

"Well, we all should calm down now... Bring the food in!" The duchess that has been sitting silently with a worried look was the one who broke the awkward silence. The maids brought the food in and the meal went on peacefully. Peacefully because everyone aside from Duchess Skyler ignored Angelina's presence.

******

The days went by pretty uneventfully. Angelina mostly spent her time reading in her room with Marie. The duke has been busy these days since the duke had opened up a new store in the capital. The only time Angelina saw all of her family members in one room was when they occasionally eat together, and even then it felt like most were turning a blind eye to her.

One day, Angelina was reading books in her room while being accompanied by Marie as usual, when someone knocked on her bedroom door.

"Good morning sister!" Marie opened the door to find Evelina and her personal maid behind it.

"Big sister, what are you doing here...?"

"Well dear sister, I thought we should spend more time together! I thought we could drink tea together in the garden and catch up! I've already prepared everything!"

It's been a week since I came to the Skyler duchy and only now she decided to spend time with me. This simple invitation to catch up definetly didn't come with pure intentions.

******

The tea Evelina prepared was chamomile tea, it was one of my favorites in my previous life. Evelina also prepare biscuits and cookies, this was the usual tea setup. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary for now...

"So how have you been sister Angelina? Oh wait, I probably shouldn't ask that, your probably not fully recovered yet."Evelina looked very concerned and caring, but something felt weird. Why did she ask how Angelina was doing? It's clear what condition Angelina is in since she had just recovered from a deadly illness. Something inside of Angelina made her feel like she was mocking her, it was irritating, but Angelina didn't show it and instead continued to smile

"I'm was so inconsiderate..." Evelina looked like the perfect big sister, yet I really wanna hit her right now!

"Haha, it's no worries big sister!" I comforted.

"Then can we call each other by our pet names, just like when we were young..?"

Pet names? Pig, do you want me to puke?

"Sister..? Do you not want to...? I'm sorry, it's okay! I won't force you to!" Evelina had tears in her eyes, she looked very similar to when Lilith was put on trial. Angelina's anger began to rise but she must swallow her rising irritation. But then she heard the whispers of the maid around and the flames of rage in her heart almost escaped...

"How could lady Angelina be so cruel..?"

"Mhm, even though lady Evelina missed lady Angelina very much..!"

The maids around us were whispering to each other, cursing my name, perhaps they didn't know that me and Evelina could hear them. I knew Evelina heard them, but she didn't do anything. I knew at that moment that she really was intending for this to happen.

'It seems the naive Evelina was never naive in the first place. You played us all well, Evelina. But now it's different, I know more now and I won't make the same mistake again! So I'll play your game!'

"Oh my, don't cry sister! It isn't like that! I was just so happy, I was speechless! I would love for us to act like when we were little!" I quickly put on a happy and caring face, changing facial expressions are easy for me, after all if you want to survive in the world of the nobility, you need to be able to play your cards right!

"....." Evelina seemed good at acting but she could barely hide her emotions when caught off guard. Her face was stunned, she tried to put on a smile but it looked way too forced, and her hands were shaking.

"Their relationship is so wonderful..."

"Yes indeed! How could we think that of lady Angelina!? They were very close!"

"And they both are very beautiful!"

'Pfft, these maids are truly foolish..'

"I..." Evelina started to stutter.

"What's wrong Eve you look pale!?"

"......"

"Are you sick..? You! take my sister to her room, she seems to be feverish!" I told Evelina's personal maid to bring her back to her room, the maid bowed and helped the still stunned Evelina back to her room.

*****

In the evening I decide to visit the duchess in her study. I don't see the Duchess around the mansion that often. I heard from Marie that she is most likely in her room or her study, this proves to be right.

"Madame, lady Angelina is here to see you."

"Bring her in!" The duchess's voice sounded through the doors. As soon as the maid told the duchess Angelina was visiting, the Duchess's face brightened inside the room. She disregarded the piles of documents and eagerly waited for her dearly missed daughter to enter.

"Good evening, mother."I bowed politely as I was greeting the duchess.

"No need for those courtesies, my sweet daughter. Come sit." the duchess directed me to a sofa near her desk. She sat beside me and began to ask questions with a loving tone.

"I missed you so much my dear! I haven't see you since five years ago when we last visited you in the Vancelia empire. How do you feel now?"

"I feel much better, do not worry mother." I assured with a confident smile, I feel much more at ease with her rather than with any of the other three in this family. Her smile is made up of pure love and doting. This was the gaze of a mother who truly did care for her child. Pity that I'm not really her child and her dear daughter is in fact dead...

"I'm so glad to hear that" She sighed a breath of relief at my words before asking once again, "My... you have grown taller, you look like an elegant young lady now! How was the travel to home?"

"It went smoothly mother" I answered.

"Oh! I almost forgot! I have something to tell you!"

"What is it mother?"

"Your nearly fourteen, you'll have to make your debut ball soon! I'll make sure it will be wonderful! It might sound scary at first, but I'm sure you'll have fun."