Chapter 9

***

Nicole slowly rose up, leaving Jay’s suspicious gaze behind.

Then she approached the door.

She remembered. Around this time, Nicole had a habit of opening windows and doors, smoking a special scent made by Isabel and taking a nap to chase away the bugs.

Nicole was in charge of the housework because Freya was weak and always sick.

Jay also helped a lot with her work, but he was still not very skilled at it.

‘Father… went down to the city to work. Then… Raul came in and dragged us away.’

She always moved busily from dawn to night, and this short nap was her only break.

༺━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━༻

Where’s Mother? What about Isabel?

Nicole hurried down the stairs. There was her parents’ room on the first floor.

“Mother, I have a question.”

Nicole, who had just opened the door, paused.

Isabel’s voice was heard through the open door as she spoke cutely to their mother, Freya.

“Mother never told Isabel what our real identities were. But Isabel is curious about it. Sister isn’t, but you, Isabel, and Jay are all healers. It’s obvious we’re from a special lineage, right? Are we really a noble?”

Nicole got goosebumps on the back of her hand holding the doorknob.

Nicole judged momentarily.

‘At this point, Isabel doesn’t know that we were originally nobles. The history of the YvesChapel family.’

Isabel must have started to develop ambition when she learned the secret of the family and the arranged engagement with the Grand Duke. Nicole judged momentarily.

“You keep asking me that. Are you really curious? What if you’re disappointed?”

“But I’m so lonely. Here in the deep mountains there is no one to meet and Isable live the same way all the time. I think I’ll feel at least comforted if I know the truth. Yes? Mother, please.”

(t/n: Isabel is referring to herself by her name, as she’s acting cute)

Nicole breathed in. Freya is already ill at this point.

And yet she continues to insist on sick Freya?

Nicole opened the door without hesitation.

Freya was sitting in an armchair. Isabel clung to Freya’s side and was acting cute with her cheeks on her knees.

Isabel raised her head. She looked at Nicole with her clear blue eyes, slowly

“Sister, are you here?”

She’s beautiful. Like an angel.

For a moment, Nicole couldn’t control her expression. She barely suppressed her heart.

‘You who caused Father to commit suicide, and caused the misfortune of our family.’

‘You are clinging to Mother like that?’

It’s like a dream, but it certainly happened.

If Nicole hadn’t experienced it, she would never have known the truth.

Nicole did not answer Isabel for now. Just quietly turned to Freya.

“Mother, are you okay?”

“Of course, Nicole.”

Freya smiled with a sickly face. The sight made Nicole’s heart ache even more.

“You’re busy doing housework because your mom is sick, right? I’m so sorry…….”

But for a moment, Freya’s face was quickly filled with regret.

“It’s okay. I did the laundry in the morning. I baked bread early in the morning. If Jay peels the potatoes, we can have a stew for dinner. So don’t worry. But Isabel, what were you doing here?”

Nicole asked calmly. Nicole was relieved to hear a more natural voice than expected.

“Isabel was reading a book to me. I got my new medication tested. She made new cosmetics to sell in the village to raise money for the winter.”

“Really?”

Freya had a great knowledge of pharmacy. All of her siblings studied medicine.

Among them, growing herbs that have been passed down within the family was also included.

“Well, Isabel is not done talking to Mother yet.”

Isabel said innocently. But she gave me a hint.

“I haven’t been able to spend time with Mother because I’ve been busy lately. You’ve been staying with Mother from morning till night lately. So sometimes I’ll take care of Mother.”

Isabel’s expression changed for a moment.

‘Mother almost told me the secret of the family.’

She looked as if she was thinking about that.

But it was only for a moment.

“Oh, Mother, you said you were hungry earlier, right? These days, Isabel enjoys the bread baked by Sister the most. You know, the one that you put acacia honey on the surface? The one that Father worked hard to get last year—”

Isabel showed her charm.

She was hoping Nicole will bring her the bread.

“Then would you like to go and put some bread in the basket? Take care of Jay, too. And I’m planning to make a vegetable stew for dinner, and I’d like you to cut the prepared vegetables.”

Nicole answered calmly.

“……… Huh?”

Isabel seemed perplexed when she heard her.

Isabel did not know how to do housework, so she used to break dishes or waste precious ingredients.

So Nicole eventually didn’t let her do anything because her sister, who was full of mistakes, was adorable.

In the end, she volunteered to do harsh housework and took it on her own.

‘Now that I see it, this is also your skill. You don’t do anything and you push people around you. Your skill at manipulating the situation is remarkable, Isabel.’

And it was Nicole who was manipulated by Isabel the most more than anyone else.

“What’s wrong, Isabel?”

“But… Sister told me not to go into the kitchen. Isabel is not skilled at preparing ingredients……. I can’t hurt my hand when I have to make medicine while cutting…….”

The YvesChapel family is destroyed. And at this time, Nicole and Isabel didn’t even know what their origins were.

But their mother, Freya, educated her children about herbs and insects used in pharmacology.

“Isabel, don’t you have to cut herbs to make medicine? It doesn’t make sense that you, who are good at handling delicate herbs, can’t even trim vegetables or meat. That must be a matter of mindset.”

“Sister…”

Isabel tried to say something. But Nicole continued in a soft tone and interrupted Isabel.

“Until now, I left you alone because you seemed so busy and not interested in kitchen work. But… In the fall, there will be more crops to harvest in the garden. Jay takes care of the garden and does all the rough work in the house by himself. I’m also busy with kitchen work from morning to evening and cleaning. So I think it’s right to share the work now.”

“…….”

“If you do it again tomorrow and again the day after tomorrow, Isabel will be able to do light errands well someday. Isn’t that right?”

“Ah, yes.”

“You know how to put bread in a pretty way so that it doesn’t get crushed, Isabel? Let’s start with that first.”

Eudeuk

At that moment, Nicole saw Isabel’s eyes flash once.

But it was fleeting. For a moment, she wondered if she had misunderstood.

“All right, sister!”

Eventually, Isabel got up from her seat.

“Isabel will do well. Right?”

“……Yes.”

“By the way, what’s going on, sister?”

“What?”

“You don’t really talk about things like this……. So it’s a a bit unfamiliar.”

“……It was when I was young that I was educated to kill my emotions. But not anymore.”

Nicole answered calmly.

Isabel nodded once and walked out humming.

‘Your mask may not be as thick as you think.’

Isabel’s very nature was very impressive to Nicole.

To the point where she wants to pull down her mask of laughter and show it to her family right away.

“Nicole?”

Freya said.

“You look like a different person today. Are you alright?”

“Am I like that?”

“You always looked past Isabel’s childishness. It’s the first time I’ve seen you be tough on her.”

“I made Isabel run an errand…… Was it too much?”

“That’s not true. Isabel is such a fragile child. I’m ashamed, but so am I. I wanted to educate her so that she could experience all the rough and difficult things. But before that time came, this mother of yours got sick.”

“…….”

Nicole looked at Freya quietly.

‘My mother is smaller than I remember…… She’s so thin.’

When she lived as the Grand Duchess, I remembered this place as a paradise……. However, the truth is, Nicole was burned out during her mother’s lifetime.

It was largely due to her mother raising her as the first child, more strictly than necessary.

‘There’s a saying that for parents, their first child is a failure.’

As she later found out, Freya was pregnant with Nicole when she was on the run to escape the imperial family.

Immediately after the birth of Nicole, she wandered around and lived in hiding.

Freya was always worried and afraid of losing her child.

In addition, Freya came from a “competent” family of great nobility.

Children in a talented family learn to kill and control emotions from an early age.

So as soon as Freya gave birth to Nicole, she educated her as she grew up.

〈Press this counter when you feel emotional, happy, or overjoyed. So that you can’t think of anything.〉

Click, click.

〈You shouldn’t cry or laugh. You shouldn’t even express it. All the people who cause you to change your emotions are bad people except for your family. It’s dangerous out there, Nicole. You have to hide your feelings to survive.〉

‘……yes, I still remember it sometimes.’

Nicole thought calmly.

‘At that time, that would have been the best thing for Mother…….’

Freya feared that Nicole would grow up curious about the outside world and want to run away.

So she taught her to erase her emotions, and to control them thoroughly.

Soon Isabel was born and they built a nest in this mountain.

‘But Isabel’s growing up…… As we settled down, everything changed.’

Isabel was the second child.

〈Mother, I love you!〉

But she’s……. She was too lovely to raise strictly like Nicole. Cute, bright, always smiling. In everything she did, she acted strangely and prettily.

By then, Freya’s paranoia, which restrained and wrapped her child, had also been cured.

No matter how much training was given to her to kill emotions, Isabel acted cute or said she loved her.

‘What melted this frozen home…… It’s Isabel.’

They taught their children not to come into contact with people and not to step out of the house.

But Isabel and Jay weren’t taught as hard as Nicole was.

Before she knew it, the family became happy, and only Nicole, who grew up under control of her emotions, was left with a gloomy side.

‘So I’ve always blamed my mother…….’

Freya felt sorry for Nicole, but it was not easy to open up.

The relationship between the mother and daughter gradually grew awkward. Nicole poured all her love into Isabel instead, who is like sunshine.

‘I can understand my mother a bit better now.’

Mother wasn’t necessarily right. However, Nicole, who had experienced the world once, could now know.

She was imperfect, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t love her. Mother did her best and was just clumsy.

♡ advanced chapters available here ♡