Evelyn’s body was helplessly shoved down the stairs.

The moment a smile curled across Adonea’s lips, a brilliant light burst from the ring Bavil had given Evelyn.

Adonea squeezed her eyes shut.

“Ugh!”

Thud!

“Ow…”

Evelyn groaned as she slowly pushed herself upright. Her head was spinning, and her vision gradually began to blur.

Fortunately, there were no serious external injuries.

‘Could it be that the gift Bavil gave me was an artifact?’

Just then, several people came running from the end of the corridor.

Among them were Duke Chantalis, Oden, Sachi, and Locke.

Evelyn reached out toward them.

“Daddy… Brothers…”

The maids whispered fearfully among themselves from a distance.

Evelyn knew she needed to explain what had happened. But she could no longer force the words out.

Her eyelids slowly fell shut.

“EVELYN!”

Sachi’s cry echoed through the corridor.

Just before her eyes closed completely, Evelyn looked up at Adonea, who was sprawled across the stairs.

Adonea was shedding innocent tears, looking every bit like a noble, pure-hearted maiden chosen by the gods.

The crimson blood only made her pale skin look even more striking.

But Evelyn could see it.

The tiny smile tugging at the corner of Adonea’s lips.

It was the smile of someone congratulating herself on finally seeing her carefully laid plan succeed.

‘You… I swear I’m going to get my revenge on you.’

Even as consciousness slipped away, Evelyn ground her teeth in fury.

Her ominous premonition had been right.

It had been a day when happiness and misfortune were separated by nothing more than a sheet of paper.

***

If this were the sort of story where she lost consciousness for a long time and then woke up comfortably in a soft bed…

That would have been nice.

Unfortunately, the next thing Evelyn knew, she was standing in darkness.

There was no way to tell which way was forward or backward, up or down.

Evelyn let out a deep sigh.

“What am I supposed to do here?”

There was nothing to see, and the only thing she could do was stand around helplessly.

She waved her arms around for no reason, hopped up and down in place, and eventually decided to start walking blindly.

‘If I keep walking, surely I’ll find something.’

Just as she was thinking that, she spotted a tiny light not far away.

At first, she thought it was a firefly.

But when she looked more closely, she realized it was a tiny person with wings.

A girl resembling Tinker Bell, with golden hair that reached all the way down to her toes, fluttered in circles around Evelyn.

“Looks like this is our first proper introduction. Hello?”

“Hello…?”

Evelyn’s voice came out somewhat timidly.

Was the girl aloof? Arrogant? It was difficult to tell.

Her tiny face was so exquisitely proportioned that Evelyn almost wanted to lean closer and inspect her.

The girl crossed her arms and nodded, completely unconcerned with Evelyn’s scrutiny.

“Hmmm. Well, I’ll give you a passing grade for now.”

“A passing grade for what?”

“I said you passed. You should be grateful. I’m actually quite picky about people.”

The girl went on and on, saying things Evelyn couldn’t quite understand, something about how she didn’t simply do everything she was asked to do, and how Evelyn should consider herself incredibly lucky.

While Evelyn stood there bewildered, the girl floated closer to her forehead.

“Just remember one thing. You’re not alone.”

Peck.

The girl planted a kiss on Evelyn’s forehead.

At that moment, brilliant light spread outward from the center of Evelyn’s forehead.

The girl’s body slowly began sinking into Evelyn’s forehead.

Evelyn was horrified by the grotesque sight unfolding before her eyes, but before she could even react, the girl’s entire body had been absorbed into her.

Evelyn clutched her forehead with both hands and writhed.

“What?! What?! What?! Get out! I said get out!”

But the girl gave no response.

Evelyn slapped her forehead as hard as she could.

“Come out right now!!”

***

“Evelyn?!”

A brilliant light pierced through Evelyn’s eyelids.

Slowly, she opened her eyes.

The first thing she saw was Sachi’s face.

Evelyn had been sitting up awkwardly, but she immediately straightened her posture.

“Brother, what happened to your face?”

Sachi’s eyes were so swollen that it was obvious how much he had been crying.

His face was so adorably puffy that Evelyn almost laughed, but Sachi’s expression was deadly serious.

Evelyn bit down hard on her lips to keep herself from laughing.

Seeing that, Sachi looked even more worried.

“Evelyn, are you awake? Did you have a nightmare?”

“Not exactly… Although, now that I think about it, maybe it was a nightmare.”

Evelyn muttered to herself as she looked around.

She thought she had only been unconscious for about an hour, but somehow, morning had already arrived.

“Has about a day passed?”

“No. Two days. You’ve been asleep for two whole days.”

The moment she heard that, Evelyn made a disgusted face, lifted her arm, and sniffed it.

‘Shouldn’t I shower before I get revenge on Adonea?’

The strange dream could be dismissed as a bizarre incident.

But what Adonea had done was a real problem.

As far as everyone else was concerned, Evelyn, the jealous girl consumed by envy, had attacked the saintly Adonea for no reason whatsoever.

How on earth was she supposed to clear up that misunderstanding…?

‘Just thinking about it gives me a headache.’

She needed to win this battle in spectacular fashion. There was no way she could afford to show up smelling like she hadn’t washed for two days.

Evelyn immediately went to the mirror and examined her face.

She had worried that her forehead might have somehow become swollen into a Tinker Bell-shaped lump, but thankfully, it looked perfectly normal.

Her face was fine. Her figure was fine. Nothing was wrong with her body.

If anything, after sleeping so soundly, her complexion looked better than usual.

Her beauty had somehow been upgraded.

And despite having slept for two straight days, she didn’t smell bad at all.

In fact, she smelled good.

Evelyn was secretly amazed.

‘So I really do have some kind of natural fragrance buff.’

This wasn’t merely a pleasant body scent.

At this point, it was practically a skill.

“Could it be that even Tinker Bell appeared in my dream because she was jealous of my beauty?”

“…Evelyn?”

“Huh!”

Evelyn snapped back to reality and gave an awkward smile.

“It’s nothing. But where is everyone else?”

“Well…”

Sachi hesitated.

Judging by his troubled expression, Evelyn could already guess what the other members of the family were doing and with whom.

Evelyn quickly tidied her hair and headed toward the door.

Sachi stepped in front of her.

“Where do you think you’re going in that condition? You’ve only just regained consciousness.”

“Who knows what lies Adonea might tell while I’m lying here?”

“That’s true, but… you still can’t go out like this. I’ll prove your innocence, so rest for now.”

Sachi’s tone was firm.

Evelyn looked at him standing there with his arms spread wide to block her path and grabbed her thighs in frustration.

‘Does he really have to be this cute even in a situation like this?’

With trembling hands, Evelyn suddenly wrapped her arms tightly around Sachi.

Sachi froze in surprise.

“Wh-What are you doing?!”

“Then come with me, Brother. Help me prove my innocence.”

Sachi hadn’t actually witnessed what happened, so technically, there wasn’t much he could do to prove her innocence.

Still, having even one ally on her side made Evelyn feel much more secure.

She looked up at Sachi’s face from point-blank range and grinned.

“I think I’ll have more courage if you’re with me.”

“O-Okay, I get it, so let go of me already!”

Sachi’s cheeks turned bright red.

Evelyn giggled as she opened the door.

Although Sachi continued grumbling, he told her that the rest of the family and Adonea were currently talking in their father’s study.

“Explain what happened before we got there. What exactly happened between you two that day?”

“In simple terms, Adonea was trying to screw me over.”

“I already figured that much out. What exactly did she do?”

“I guess she couldn’t stand the fact that I was the center of attention at my own birthday party. She suddenly hurt herself and acted like I was the one who attacked her.”

Sachi’s expression grew serious.

“That’s not something you should describe so casually. Were there any other witnesses?”

“No. She waited until the maids were gone.”

Sachi fell silent, lost in thought.

A short while later, the two of them arrived at the study.

They could hear Oden and Locke’s voices through the door.

“You’re seriously going to defend that girl, Locke? Even after seeing Adonea injured?”

“That’s not what I mean. Both sides were injured, so I think we should wait and see what really happened…”

Bang!

The moment Evelyn opened the door and entered the study, everyone inside turned to look at her.

Evelyn calmly accepted their gazes and walked straight toward the center of the room.

“Sorry I’m late to the family meeting.”

Oden looked startled for a moment before his expression twisted with anger.

“You’ve got some nerve showing your face here so proudly. Is your shamelessness really something even falling down the stairs can’t cure?”

“Brother Oden!”

Locke loudly tried to stop him.

Adonea sat curled up in a corner, wearing a sorrowful expression.

Evelyn snorted inwardly as she looked at her.

‘So that’s the angle you’re going with?’

Just as Oden was about to shout something else, Duke Chantalis waved his hand.

A long golden line appeared, separating Locke and Oden.

[This is not the time for us to raise our voices to one another. Evelyn is here now, so let’s hear what happened from her.]

The duke turned his gentle gaze toward Evelyn.

[Well, Evelyn? How are you feeling?]

“I’m fine. Considering I fell down a flight of stairs, I don’t even have much pain.”

Evelyn placed particular emphasis on the words that fell down the stairs as she stared pointedly at Adonea.

Adonea, completely ignoring Evelyn’s gaze, continued playing her role as the tragic adopted daughter whose life had been threatened by her own little sister.

Apparently, her performance was working quite well, because a look of sympathy appeared on Oden’s face.

“Adonea, your wound hasn’t gotten worse, has it? You don’t look well.”

“I’m fine, Brother. I can endure something like this.”

Adonea, who had kept her head bowed the entire time, gave him a wan, sorrowful smile.

Before she could say anything else, Evelyn turned her attention to Duke Chantalis.

“Could I explain what happened on my birthday first? You’ve already heard Adonea’s side of the story, haven’t you?”

“You should apologize to Adonea first!”

[Oden, enough. Yes, Evelyn. Tell us. What exactly happened between you and Adonea while we weren’t there to see it?]

Evelyn took a breath.

“It’s simple. Adonea, who normally goes around wearing a sweet little lamb’s mask, finally showed her true colors at the party.”

Oden’s expression hardened at Evelyn’s biting words.

Duke Chantalis calmly raised a hand, mediating between Evelyn and Adonea.

[Then why was Adonea injured? Two maids witnessed you apparently hurting her.]

“It was all an act she staged herself. She deliberately injured herself at the exact moment the maids arrived, then pushed me down the stairs.”

Evelyn was careful not to raise her voice.

‘Don’t get emotional. The real battle starts now.’

Their fates would be decided by how convincingly Evelyn could make everyone see the truth.

And then Adonea finally opened her mouth.