Chapter 47. What the Gift Means

As expected, the woman who had visited Isabelle earlier was indeed her sister. I introduced myself briefly.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Camilla Blanche. I’m also the eldest daughter of the Francis family.”

Introducing myself as a Blanche still felt strange. By marrying into the Blanche family, the succession naturally passed to Eddie. Of course, I didn’t leave all responsibilities to my young brother.

But why would Isabelle’s sister join our side?

As I was persistently observing her to understand her intentions, Alyssa shook my hand vigorously with a bright smile.

“There’s no need to be so wary. I’m on Aster’s side.”

“Oh.”

I hadn’t expected her to shake my hand so energetically, and I let out a small gasp. Her personality was starkly different from Isabelle’s.

She had many scars on her body, likely from rough experiences. What was fascinating was that despite having a large burn scar on her arm, she didn’t seem to care about it.

Alyssa’s burn scar spread out like flames, making it look like a tattoo at first glance.

Noticing my gaze on her scar, Alyssa spoke.

“Not a pretty sight, right?”

“Oh, I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I just couldn’t help but stare because the scar looked like flames.”

“Flames, huh. That’s one way to see it.”

Alyssa laughed heartily, seeming to like my quick-witted response. But then she abruptly stopped laughing and spoke coldly.

“My sister did this.”

Her sudden change in demeanor left me blinking in surprise.

Alyssa seemed to have extreme mood swings, laughing one moment and turning serious the next.

I tried to act nonchalant and asked. Her response left me stunned.

“By sister, do you mean Isabelle?”

“Yes. Before she left, she set our house on fire. I barely escaped with my life, but our parents died on the spot.”

“!!”

I initially thought the scar was from an accident in her childhood. Hearing about what Isabelle did before coming to Ahivith left me speechless.

“Why would she do such a thing…?”

It couldn’t understand. Trying to kill her family before leaving.

Seeing my expression wrinkle as if I had eaten something bitter, Alyssa suddenly changed the subject.

“By the way, you came from the charity event, right? How was it? Did my sister like my gift?”

Alyssa laughed and urged me to answer. It was hard to keep up with her energy. She spoke as if continuing the previous conversation seamlessly.

I took the opportunity to ask something I had been curious about.

“Why did you give her a baby swaddle?”

Normally, a swaddle was given as a gift to a pregnant woman. Or parents would gift it to their child wishing for a grandchild.

Alyssa replied with a smirk.

“Because it’s amusing that my sister is pretending to be a maiden beside the Duke.”

“What?”

“The Duke doesn’t know, does he? That my sister was already married.”

“!!”

Her shocking revelation left me wide-eyed. As if trying to kill her family wasn’t enough, Isabelle had a previous marriage?

I looked at Aster in disbelief.

“Did you know about this too?”

“Yes.”

“And the Duke?”

“The Duke doesn’t know yet.”

Aster’s expression turned serious, indicating he had already confirmed it. This was an enormous card to use against Isabelle.

I uttered in an admiring tone.

“You didn’t just study in Arendt, did you?”

“Am I impressive, all of a sudden?”

“You’ve always been impressive. I told you, your face is my type.”

“I’m honored.”

Aster smiled bashfully. He didn’t seem to care that Alyssa was grimacing at his reaction.

Alyssa continued speaking.

“I gave that gift for a reason. It’s a swaddle our mother made for my sister when she got married, wishing for a healthy child.”

If that was the case, it made sense why she suddenly gave Isabelle the swaddle. It was probably meant to provoke Isabelle, who would surely recognize it immediately.

“Hiding the fact that she was married…”

She was even more remarkable than I thought. How did she plan to deceive the Duke of Blanche? If discovered, she would surely be excommunicated.

“So that’s why she set the fire.”

To avoid getting caught, it was better to eliminate the evidence entirely. Isabelle seemed to have intended to erase her past completely and start anew.

Alyssa’s revelations didn’t stop there.

“I heard people here think my sister is a noble from Kamatie? She must have really wanted to hide that she came from a peasant family.”

The Elbrecht continent, centered around Ahivith and the Arendt Empire, was home to various kingdoms. Kamatie was a small kingdom located at the very edge of the Elbrecht continent.

Isabelle must have taken advantage of the fact that it was difficult for people here to know the details about nobles from such a distant kingdom.

“It would have been convenient to say she didn’t keep in touch with her family because of the distance.”

“That’s right. After all, what the Duke wanted from her was a son. It might have been easier for him to have an exotic woman, unknown to Ahivith people, in that position.”

“So the Duke might have fabricated Isabelle’s background. He wouldn’t have tolerated a Duchess with a lowly origin.”

“I suspect so too. The scale of the deception is too large for her to have managed alone.”

Alyssa looked at me with a face full of admiration. She seemed amazed at how easily I pieced together the situation with just a few clues. She continued speaking.

“My sister was always insatiable. To her, the Duke of Blanche must have seemed like a ladder to an extraordinary rise in status.”

Alyssa’s gaze turned cold. After a moment of silence, she continued, having regained her composure.

“When my runaway sister returned, I shouldn’t have welcomed her so warmly. If I had known that day would be the last time I saw my parents, I wouldn’t have let her go so easily.”

Her lower lip quivered again. She seemed to be getting emotional recalling those days. Alyssa’s body trembled as she spoke.

“Isn’t it shocking? My sister is a wicked woman who defies natural law. I no longer acknowledge a sister who kills her family for a fresh start. She must be shocked to know I’m still alive, unable to focus on anything.”

Alyssa sneered. I couldn’t say anything and just stared at her. I began to understand why she said she was on Aster’s side.

She had been betrayed by her beloved family and lost her parents. She must have lived a life that felt like death.

“When I saw the house burning, it was truly horrifying. If it weren’t for Joseph, I might have died too.”

“Joseph?”

“My sister’s ex-husband.”

Alyssa answered nonchalantly with a grin.

“What…?”

What was she talking about now?

I blinked, unsure how to react, and Alyssa spoke.

“He’s actually here too. He’s probably meeting my sister right now. I called her there.”

* * *

Isabelle’s heart pounded, and she couldn’t focus on anything after reading Alyssa’s note.

From the moment she saw the swaddle, she couldn’t help but be agitated. It was a very familiar item.

‘How is she alive?’

She thought she had killed them all back then. She had severed all ties with them while escaping from Kamatie.

Yet, not only was she alive, but she also came to find her.

Isabelle trembled, realizing she had made a mistake in hastily hiring mercenaries. She had dealt with those mercenary groups as soon as she became the Duchess, so she couldn’t even reprimand them now.

‘Always a hindrance until the end.’

Isabelle gritted her teeth and frowned. Her family had always been an obstacle. She had eliminated them for the sake of her future.

If they knew she was trying to become a duke’s concubine, they would have surely stopped her. They might have even told the Duke about Joseph.

So she had chosen honor and power, cutting ties with her past. She preferred living grandly in the Empire over a miserable life in the countryside.

Isabelle Brilly was the black sheep of the Brilly family. What satisfied them was never enough for her.

To the ambitious and greedy Isabelle, the countryside of Kamatie was unbearably dull.

Catching the eye of the Duke of Blanche, who visited Kamatie by chance, was an opportunity for her. Especially since she was already pregnant.

Alyssa’s note only had an address. It probably meant she would be waiting there.

“Let’s go.”

Leaving the event, Isabelle headed straight to the location written on the note. It was a crowded place.

Calling her to such a place on purpose.

Isabelle had her carriage wait at a distance and entered the location alone, pulling her hood down deeply.

She frowned upon realizing the place was a shabby stable. It was obvious why she was called to such a smelly place.

The smell of manure, reminiscent of her life in the countryside, stung her nose. Covering her nose with a handkerchief, Isabelle shouted.

“Come out now!”