Taking someone else’s belongings. There are usually two reasons for such behavior.

Either one has bad habits,

Or the other person seems easy enough to steal from.

In Sezlin’s case, sadly, she fell into the latter category.

“Ah, miss.”

Faced with the truth that had surfaced, the maid couldn’t even pick up the jewelry that had fallen to the floor. She needed to make some excuse, but strangely, no words came out. It felt as if someone was tightly gripping her throat.

As the maid stammered, another maid hurriedly offered an excuse.

“These are the jewels you asked us to prepare earlier, miss. You said you would wear them later.”

“Really?”

“Yes, yes! It’s true. Head maid.”

Seeing the question directed at her as an opportunity, the maid quickly answered. The maid who had been unable to speak also agreed that it was correct. The head maid, pretending not to notice their unjust performance, turned to look at Sezlin again. She had listened to the mere maids’ words before the mistress’s.

“That’s what she says…”

However, despite such excuses, Sezlin remained quite calm. When the young mistress didn’t say anything, the head maid finally frowned.

At this moment, the corner of Sezlin’s mouth suddenly lifted. As she turned around, the maids who met Sezlin’s eyes instinctively shrank back.

Click, click. Sezlin moved her steps and looked over the maids standing in a line. Just as someone was about to swallow under her slow gaze.

“You.”

She gestured.

“Me?”

“Come here.”

A brief but definite call. The face of the maid who was singled out turned deathly pale. She hurriedly looked at the head maid, but unfortunately, Sezlin was faster.

“Not coming?”

The calm voice urged the maid. Moving her trembling legs forcibly, the maid stood in front of her. At other times, she might have refused, but now it didn’t seem like she could.

“Wh-what is it?”

Instead of answering, Sezlin just raised the corner of her mouth slightly. The maid asked for a reason, but Sezlin had no obligation to answer that question. That was originally Sezlin’s position. The Brioden lady. As the head maid said, Sezlin was a noble after all.

Enduring had ended with the past days.

“Kyaaak?!”

Sezlin grabbed the maid’s wrist and immediately rolled up her sleeve. Then the precious metals inside poured out as if they had been waiting. Another maid watching this scene from the side swallowed her scream.

“I clearly placed what I needed in my hands.”

“……”

“Why would these come out from here?”

No one could answer that question. Sezlin picked up the jewelry that had fallen to the floor.

“This was even a birthday gift sent from the imperial family.”

“!”

A gift from the imperial family! The maid’s face, already pale, turned white. If stealing from a noble could get your wrist cut off, stealing from the imperial family would make the crime even more severe.

Sezlin, fingering the diamond in her hand, smiled wryly.

“You knew it was pretty, didn’t you.”

“Miss.”

The head maid, recognizing the seriousness of the situation, hurriedly approached.

“Miss. Please calm down for a moment…”

“Calm down?”

Sezlin gently narrowed her brow, then tilted her head.

“I haven’t done anything, head maid.”

The head maid couldn’t help but grab her arm. Sezlin, who briefly glanced at her, smiled.

“Why? Are you feeling guilty too?”

“Miss Sezlin!”

The head maid gritted her teeth.

“We are not like you, miss. It’s troublesome if you condemn us like this.”

“Condemn?”

What was this about now? Sezlin smirked lightly.

“They are good and righteous children, how dare they tell lies? Unlike you, miss. Besides, don’t you have plenty of jewelry?”

“……”

“If you are so greedy, your reputation will never improve. I’ve told you repeatedly. Share everything. Like the kind Lady April.”

Sezlin silently felt the thorn that had pricked her. It was a thorn so dull and worn out. Sezlin was no longer foolish enough to be hurt by such a thorn. Pain was just a kind of emotional expenditure anyway. She had no emotions to feel toward vermin.

‘To think I was hurt by such words.’

It was strange. She was now angry that she had always swallowed her rage inside, even when it reached the top of her head. How much easier would it have been if she hadn’t held back?

After listening to the head maid’s words until the end, Sezlin whispered softly.

“So what?”

“!”

The head maid’s grip grew stronger. She held on so tightly that her sharp nails were eating into the skin. But Sezlin’s expression didn’t change at all.

The head maid, who took this calm demeanor as a clear provocation, unconsciously raised her voice.

“You abandoned thing, how dare you be so impudent…!”

At this moment, suddenly a bell rang.

The door opened before anyone could say anything.

“Lady April has arrived!”

“!”

April?

At the sudden appearance, Sezlin and the head maid’s eyes met. In that moment, something unusual flickered in the blue eyes looking at the head maid. The head maid, feeling ominous, hurriedly withdrew her hand.

No, she tried to withdraw it.

Sezlin quickly grabbed the head maid who was gripping her arm.

At the same time,

“Sister?”

A gentle voice echoed in the room.

But Sezlin didn’t turn to look. Instead, she bit her lip tightly. As if she had been treated unfairly,

“Hic…”

As pitifully as possible.

* * *

April already knew that Sezlin disliked her. However, April understood her sister. Even to April, the discrimination against Sezlin was harsh.

Instead of disliking Sezlin, who was forcibly created, people praised April, who was proof of love. The people who felt this most keenly were not just Sezlin. April also thoroughly felt their hypocrisy. So in a way, she was anxious.

How long would this kindness last?

Moderation was important in everything, and the comparisons and praises that gradually crossed the line ate away at April’s self-esteem.

The more blind favor continued, the more April began to see it as another form of indifference. Because they said everything was fine no matter what mistakes she made or what wrongs she committed. They didn’t try to see detailed explanations or circumstances.

Here, April felt a slightly different, but similar emptiness to Sezlin.

But seeing her sister being persecuted more the more she tried to help, April realized that continuing like this would only worsen the situation. So she began to help her sister away from the eyes of others.

Sezlin would probably snort if she knew, but this was all she could do right now.

But this was the first time she had witnessed such a scene directly.

“Sister!”

April, startled, hurriedly moved her steps. A maid tried to stop her in the middle, but April shook off even that arm.

“What is this…!”

When the always kind lady glared, the head maid was rarely flustered.

Just as she was about to make an excuse, Sezlin, who glanced at April, distorted her eyes. Beyond her reddened eyelids, a transparent tear dropped.

As a bonus, she even made a sound so April could see it clearly.

“To corner me like this—”

Sezlin had never cried in front of others.

This was her last remaining pride, and especially in front of April, she never showed any weakness. She believed that the moment she showed weakness, she would be exposing her vulnerabilities. She was someone who thought it would be better to bite her tongue and die than do that.

Yet such a person was crying.

Right in front of April.

“Head maid.”

A rather angry voice attacked the head maid. The gentleness everyone knew had long disappeared. The flustered head maid missed the timing to make excuses. The eyes that had been confident before Sezlin now wavered like a wind-blown lamp before the beloved one.

“Miss. Th-this isn’t what it seems.”

“Let go.”

“Ah, miss.”

While the head maid stammered, April reached out. The hand holding Sezlin was caught by another force. April bit her lip as she removed the head maid’s hand.

“I will have to report exactly what happened here to Father.”

“!”

“If you speak lies, it will be difficult to avoid punishment.”

It was a firm statement that she would not let this pass. The fact that the Duke would intervene meant that this matter would be properly investigated. It could even reveal that they had been stealing Sezlin’s things all along.

However, the head maid deliberately straightened her back. Since such incidents had happened frequently, they had prepared in advance by coordinating their stories.

All blame would be placed on Sezlin.

“The miss gave these to us as gifts.”

“Gifts?”

“The miss sometimes plays nasty pranks. She often gives gifts and then suddenly asks for them back. We are also troubled whenever she has such whims.”

The head maid’s eyebrows gathered in one place. A look of contempt, as if looking at a vulgar insect, was cast for a moment.

But the head maid didn’t know.

How Sezlin would respond here.

That the one who had been foolishly victimized would actually report everything.

“They stole them.”

“!”

“…Pardon?”

April turned to Sezlin in shock. Sezlin, who had cut off the head maid’s words, collapsed to the floor as if her legs had given out. Her arm, which was touching the floor as if shocked by the absurd excuse, trembled.

She curled her shoulders inward like a tragic figure, looking pitiful and desolate to anyone who saw her. When she collapsed, all the attention that had been on the head maid shifted to Sezlin.

‘Stupid thing.’

Sezlin secretly glanced at the head maid from behind her bangs. The dumbfounded face was quite a sight to see. Yes, this is how it should be. The one they found easy to bully was herself, never April. They remembered her foolish behavior from the past and tried to use that point again this time.

‘How lucky.’

Sezlin knew their cunning. As these incidents had continued for a long time, they would certainly have prepared for any situation. If so, she needed to prevent even that. She just needed to cling to the person they liked the most. Fortunately, the person they liked happened to like Sezlin. First, she needed to reestablish her position.

That would make it easier to move forward. Since they would continue to underestimate her, she needed to set an example.

Sezlin bit her lip hard and lowered her head. Physiological tears from the pain dripped onto the floor.

Of course, she wasn’t really crying.

“They dared to steal my jewelry, April. And they called me abandoned. They said Father abandoned me.”

Sezlin embraced her sister who was in front of her. Covering April’s eyes, Sezlin looked up at the head maid.

And smiled.

Very brightly.

“I feel so wronged.”

‘I’m sorry, April.’

Sezlin forcibly squeezed out her last remaining conscience. The person who could change her position now was none other than April.

Just this once.

‘In front of those stupid things.’

‘Please help me.’

* * *

Sezlin’s choice was wise.

‘At other times I was wrong, but if my pride as a lady is destroyed like this, what will become of my position?’

Thanks to her bursting into tears for the first time, not only the maids but also April was shocked. It was something the usual Sezlin would never have done.

As a result, the enraged April went to the Duke, and the maids burst into tears on the spot.

—All the maids, including the head maid, will be handed over to the knights. Their punishment will be decided there.

—Your Grace!

—Your Grace, please show mercy just once…!

What some people would find difficult to achieve in a lifetime, others accomplished easily.

When Sezlin heard the result, she burst into laughter.

‘If I had said it, they would have ignored me.’

Such consistent people. It was truly remarkable discrimination.

‘They’re all the same.’

Sezlin was furious at their hypocrisy. Birds of a feather flock together. It was quite amusing to see them punishing their own kind.

But the moment she thought of her sister, her beautiful face hardened. Past actions flashed by like a kaleidoscope.

The image of her sister, embarrassed by a single word of thanks, remained like an afterimage. If she reacted like that to such small words, what had she been doing all this time?

The maids, the Duke. Was she no different from them? Such thoughts briefly crossed her mind.

“Miss. It’s r-ready.”

Sezlin, who had been momentarily lost in sentiment, rose from her seat. In front of her were the dress and accessories she had taken out from the dressing room earlier.

‘Now I like it.’

Sezlin, stretching her lips into a smile, gestured to the black dress on the rack. The dress, full of lace and red flower decorations, was obviously a party dress.

After choosing the lace gloves next to it, Sezlin smiled at the newly replaced maids.

“What are you doing?”

‘Let’s get ready?’