She only felt sorry toward Fiona. Not just about Lennox, but because only she would know how many times Marienne had been mean to her.

She always casually wanted what was Fiona’s, and then she would give everything without showing any sign, just like this time.

And yet she didn’t even know she was being rotten. She had never even said sorry to her. Because she just thought it was natural.

Marienne smiled bitterly.

‘I was a d*mn rotten child.’

Selfish to the bitter end, she had casually agreed to marrying the man her sister had loved so much, probably the first man she ever loved.

And now that she knew everything, she didn’t even have the courage to speak, so wasn’t she hiding like this and scribbling in a diary?

Marienne let out a hot breath. She knew she should lie down right away and take fever medicine first, but she had to finish this writing.

Her handwriting began to tremble slightly. Even though the air in the room wasn’t that cold, her body shivered enough to feel chilly.

Lennox.

Marienne recalled the man who had been affectionate to her for the past few months.

Still, she was happy while being with Lennox. She didn’t receive the love as a woman that she wanted. But still, Lennox loved her enough. As if to his own younger sister.

‘That’s the best I can have.’

Even while being satisfied with that, she resented Lennox.

If he had insisted on Fiona until the end, this wouldn’t have happened.

She even hated him for wondering why he bent his will and chose Marienne, creating a painful result for all three people.

But she was happy. Married life with him was a mess and it was terrible not receiving real love.

But still…… Still, because Lennox was there, she could spend the past few years happily.

Because she could love someone. Her heart fluttered at a single letter from him, and when he came to stay for a few days, she could spend time joyfully, even putting aside being sick for a while.

He was her first love.

‘I don’t know if I should call this fulfilled.’

It was just a marriage in name only, so she couldn’t express that love was fulfilled, but it was true that she had been happy for a long time.

Grateful. Sorry. Disgusted with herself for being selfish until the end.

Pathetic for leaving just this kind of diary and begging both people for forgiveness.

Marienne wrote the last sentence and let out a trembling breath.

She closed the diary and lightly kissed the cover.

She hoped this diary would make her sister feel even a little better.

And if possible…… she hoped Lennox and Fiona would be happy ‘together.’

Because the two people had gone wrong because of Marienne, she prayed desperately that everything would now return to its proper place as she put the diary in a visible spot in the drawer.

Then Marienne staggered back to bed and reached for the bell cord. However, she fainted without being able to call the maid.

⁕⁕⁕

And as expected, Marienne’s health deteriorated without even having time to write in the diary anymore.

“Sister, thank you.”

She tightly grasped the hands of Lennox and Fiona.

She should have been more courageous and confessed everything to the two people who had such a terrible time because of Marienne.

Marienne let out a deep sigh and slowly closed her eyes.

“Marienne, I love you. You know how much I liked and cherished you, right? I was happy until now thanks to you.”

Fiona’s small whisper reached her. Those words made her so happy and sorry she could cry. Her sister loved her the most in this world. Hadn’t she acted selfishly and hurt her heart?

I hope Sister is happy now.

Marienne tried to say those words, but her lips wouldn’t move.

And her consciousness slowly sank into deep darkness.

The end was more comfortable and warm than she thought.

⁕⁕⁕

[Lennox loves you, Sister.]

After reading up to that sentence, Fiona pressed her lips tightly together.

Tears filled her eyes. She hurriedly closed the diary for fear that tears would fall and smudge Marienne’s handwriting, and only then did the tears that had been welling up dropped.

She couldn’t even imagine what state of mind her younger sister was in when she wrote this.

At the fact that Lennox didn’t love her, that he even loved her sister Fiona, did she resent him? Or was she sad?

“Ugh……”

Fiona moaned softly and rubbed her eyes hard with her hand.

Because Marienne said she was happy, she thought the two people loved each other deeply.

‘How did she find out?’

No. She even knew that she loved Lennox.

She said she found out a few months before becoming an adult. It was written that she was sorry for marrying Lennox even knowing that.

And she also said she learned of Lennox’s heart after getting married.

In the end, this marriage was a choice where all three people couldn’t be happy.

Fiona bit her lips hard.

If she had known that fact in advance, would Fiona have let Marienne and Lennox marry?

“Haah……”

She knew it was useless to think about it now, but she couldn’t help but regret it, thinking she could have made a slightly better choice.

After crying for quite a long time, Fiona wiped away the dripping tears and let out trembling, short breaths.

‘Come to think of it, everything Lennox said was the truth.’

｢Fiona, it’s my first time so I’ll be clumsy…… Please understand.｣

Those words on their wedding night also really meant it was his first experience. Because he said he hadn’t even kissed Marienne.

And the words that he loved her, that he had never loved her sister. They were all undoubtedly sincere.

However, she couldn’t just be happy about those words.

If the only woman in Lennox’s heart was Fiona, in other words, didn’t that mean Marienne wasn’t loved even a fingernail’s worth by the man she loved?

Rejoicing in that also felt like something she couldn’t do to her younger sister. Yet she couldn’t stop the feeling of joy.

She was so happy that the man she had loved deeply for years had a one-sided love for her. And at the same time, thinking of Marienne was painful.

Fiona clenched her fists tightly.

She thought her emotions would be neatly organized after reading her younger sister’s diary. Even after learning all the truth, she had no way to contain her complicated feelings.

The moment she took a deep breath to calm her trembling heart and tried to open Marienne’s diary again, there was a knock on the door.

“Come in.”

Only after saying that did she realize the night had grown quite late.

The person who opened the door and entered was Lennox. He held a candle in his hand.

“It’s late at night, Fiona.”

“I didn’t realize it was this late.”

Fiona stood up while pushing the diary into the drawer. The candlelight flickered and the shadow cast on the man’s face swayed along with it.

When she looked at Lennox’s face, all the emotions Fiona had been desperately suppressing poured out.

She resented him for not loving Marienne when she had loved him so much.

On the other hand, her heart trembled at the fact that this man had loved her without wavering even once.

“Lennox……”

“Do you still have work left to do?”

The man spoke worriedly as he took a step closer.

Fiona stared quietly at him.

“I love you.”

Setting aside everything else, those words burst out.

Even though he had told her he loved her countless times until now.

She had doubted his heart, doubted it again, and couldn’t bring herself to return those words of love.

Because she couldn’t be certain where this man’s heart was directed, or what he was thinking at all.

But after reading Marienne’s diary, she could finally realize that the words Lennox had told her all this time were the truth.

Lennox made a surprised expression, then looked like he was about to cry. He set the candle down on the desk and carefully pulled Fiona’s back into an embrace.

“I love you, Fiona.”

She quietly wrapped her arms around his waist and lightly rested her forehead against his firm chest.

To say those three words of love, they both had to come too far around.

But she didn’t feel resentment toward Marienne.

Wasn’t it because her younger sister existed that she could properly know this man’s true heart? Marienne had tried to convey the hearts of the two people by going so far as to leave a diary.

Fiona lifted her head slightly. Their gazes met.

Then, without anyone going first, they softly pressed their lips together.

⁕⁕⁕

After sharing a light kiss, Lennox led Fiona to the bedroom.

As soon as they reached the bed, he slowly removed Fiona’s clothes with trembling hands. While doing so, he whispered pleadingly.

“Say it one more time.”

“……I love you.”

Fiona put those words of love in her mouth once more.