Chapter 3

I answered his call with a smile . I smiled when I saw my brother . It was a conditional reflex that came from my instinct to live .

Essie Widgreen .

Three years ago, my younger brother, who became the Duke of Widgreen when our parents died, already looked mature, even when he hadn’t reached adulthood yet . He was only 14 years old at that time, and he already passed my shoulder height, plus he was always in good shape since he practiced the sword .

He had a natural skeleton and his entire body muscles developed evenly, so he was solid wherever you looked . I don’t punish him anymore .

I swear, I don’t even know anymore .

How can someone be so perfect?

Even so, I had a dream that my hand was cut off by my brother . But I went back to reality .

“Oh, My Duke . ”

My brother strode in with his long legs and sat opposite of me . Even in the midst of a busy time, the maid Bessie saw that and quickly brought him a cup of tea .

She then smiled softly .

“It’s always nice to see them together . ”

“I know right! It’s like the perfect picture . ”

Alex, a servant, who was passing through the living room carrying a vase, chimed in . My brother, who was handed his tea, said nothing back . Neither did I . Well, those statements were actually like greetings in this house .

‘I hear that so often . ’

It wasn’t just here .

People that would pass by us would always say, “You two look great” . At first, I wondered why, but as I kept listening to their conversations, I could see why .

‘It’s because of my brother . ’

My younger brother is handsome . I’ve been around him since he was young, and even I was surprised by his looks . He had deep, clear golden eyes, comparable to a jewel, and white hair similar to fallen snow .

His detailed, straight features gave off a mythical feeling . To put it simply, he didn’t feel like a real person . It must feel good to be handsome . Of course, I’m not saying that I was lagging behind in appearance . There was praise for my lively amber eyes being charming & attractive . But, my brother goes far beyond a human being and can’t even be compared to me .

‘That’s a genetic triumph . ’

He was like a masterpiece . If our parents were alive, they might’ve been proud of his face . Anyway, half of the reason people see us in a good light is because of our looks, and the other half…

‘Is also because of my brother . ’

It was because we looked very close . He was also nice to me . He used to follow me around all the time, and started taking care of me after our parents passed away .

A younger brother who takes care of his sister . I don’t deny it either . Essie was really good to me . My brother in my past life cared for me as well . He would always buy chicken for me . Essie was like an ideal younger brother, who all the older sisters in the world wanted to have .

The only problem is…

‘He treats me nicely only because he doesn’t know I’m not his real sister yet . ’

Or maybe I was mistaken .

I was beginning to wonder, if my brother is this good to me, would he really be killing me? Like Really? That’s how the story goes in the book, but reality may be different . Aside from the main story, there were some differences . There was nothing stated that it would turn out that way . I’ve heard about my life from the book, so wouldn’t he let me go if he never learns the secret of my birth?

I remembered an event in the midst of my thoughts .

–

“Come on, I’m sorry . I’m sorry!”

My brother knew him for a long time . They met at a meeting . He was a bastard in some family, and was with him since childhood . Such a period began a ten years’ sentence .

“You shouldn’t have done that if you knew it was wrong . ”

“Please, please I’ll never do it again…”

“How great would it be if we could turn back time?”

“Uh, ahhhh!”

They were partners in a business unknown to others . The problem was that the other person was blinded by the moment and lied to my brother .

He found out, cut off their limbs and killed them .

“Ah . ”

“……”

“Don’t kill me, why don’t you just make me a doll?”

“……”

“No, she doesn’t like dolls . ”

–

I thought he was like my brother’s best friend .

Until he became a mutilated body overnight in exchange for telling a lie . The day after he was killed, my brother maintained an air as if nothing had happened . His voice was as calm and languid as usual, as if he had only just kicked an ant to death .

That was when I realized .

‘I’m doomed . ’

My last death was merciful compared to that one . For I was able to preserve my heart and limbs .

For my brother, if someone wasn’t family, he didn’t give a shit about them . I’ll become a stranger to my brother as soon as he finds out I’m adopted . I felt like a fool for even thinking that he would spare me, even though I knew that .

I’m glad I realized this early .

What would have happened if I still wasn’t aware of that reality and harbored false hope?

I would have been happy right before the day of my death, but uh . When I recalled those memories, my appetite went down . The tea tasted so bad that I was wondering if I could get some sugar, but then my brother spoke .

“Tomorrow . ”

“ . . ?”

“I’m thinking of going to see the clock tower . How about it?”

He widened his eyes gleefully, causing me to leave the box full of sugar cubes alone . What’s up with the clock tower? And why so suddenly?

“You mean the one in the town square? You want me to come with you?”

“Yes!”

“Why is that?”

“Because you said you wanted to see it before . ”

Did I? I quickly retraced my memory, but nothing came to mind . If I had said that, I would have done it mindlessly . I often do that, but my brother had a good memory for a minor .

“Tomorrow, I’ll be free before evening . ”

My younger brother became busy all the time since becoming the Duke of Widgreen .

Well, thanks for paying attention to me when you’re busy, but… absolutely not .

By tomorrow noon, I’d be packing up my room, and I’d rather avoid loitering around the town square at that time . It’s because I might encounter the heroine if I do .

Before attending my brother’s birthday party, the heroine, Agrita, was scheduled to help with a charity event . It would be foolish to go to a situation like that, where they would meet in advance .

I shook my head and quickly made up an excuse .

“No, I’m sure you’re busy, so you don’t have to . I past by it before, and I noticed that, well, it was pretty old . ”

“Really?”

“Yeah . I thought it would be better to just tear it down and rebuild it . Anyway, it wasn’t good . ”

Whether the clock tower is actually old is none of my business . In order to make it seem like it wasn’t worth visiting anyway, I talked smack about the clock tower that I had never seen before .

“If sister says so . ”

My brother seemed to accept it easily . What a surprise . I thought he’d be stubborn, but he wasn’t . I was inwardly proud of myself for overcoming that crisis .

. . But I shouldn’t have been .

I should have realized at that time how crazy my words sounded .

“……What?”

On the morning of that day, my hand froze in the middle of reaching for another cookie on the table, and I asked stupidly . My brother repeated the same thing in a friendly tone .

“I’m giving you a clock tower . ”

His eyebrows curled smoothly and a pretty smile followed .

I was nervous so I woke up later than usual . I also couldn’t sleep the previous day . When I woke up, I was hungry, so I came down to the kitchen .

When my brother, who was sitting down and drinking coffee, found me, he said those words to me . I doubted my hearing for a second .

‘What the hell?’

My thinking was blocked for a while when my brother gave me that news with a cheerful face . It was too much for me in the morning . I opened my mouth to speak again .

“So… well, that clock tower in the town square… You broke it?”

“Yes . ”

“Right…”

If anyone heard his tone of voice right now, they would’ve thought that the clock tower was just a toy or a sand castle . No, are you crazy?

“Why’d you do that?”

“I teared it down . It’s good to start early . ”

‘Oh my god . Was it because of me?’

There was something that I said that came into mind . Did I tell him that yesterday? Did he think that I told him to tear it down and rebuild it? Really?

Oh, my God!

I hung my mouth open . I was confident I knew enough about psychopaths, but maybe I was being arrogant . Does being a psychopath destroy all common sense too? Are you kidding me?

‘If it were someone else, they would have thought it was a joke……’

I rubbed my face as if I were wiping something . My brother doesn’t joke around . I didn’t have to interrogate him any further . The clock tower must have actually collapsed . I was feeling a little bit guilty on the inside .

‘It’s my fault . ’

I’ll say something else .

‘I’m sorry, I hope everyone evacuated to a safe place . ’

I don’t think that my villainous brother, who considered a person’s life like a fly, would’ve payed attention to the lives lost while destroying the tower .

I wish that only the clock tower collapsed and for no one to be hurt, but the odds of that seem slim . I prayed with all my heart . I hope that maybe they’ll be reborn in a peaceful world where there’s no psychopathic villain .

Wait a minute .

“Essie . ”

“Yes . ”

“When did you give me the clock tower?”

“This morning . ”

He answered back .

Morning? As in today?

…This morning?

Clatter!

“Sister?”

As soon as I heard when the accident took place, I rushed out of the kitchen .

I didn’t care about my dress getting caught in the chair, or the worried voice of my brother calling to me .

I saw a servant nearby and made them run an errand . I ran out of the mansion in a hurry . I stood by as I looked at the back of the young servant getting farther away .

“What’s wrong?”

My brother, who chased after me, talked to me . I didn’t answer . To be exact, my mind was all over the place so I couldn’t answer .

‘Is it not…’

I don’t think so . No, of course not .

This morning, the heroine Agrita will climb the city’s clock tower . It was so she could hear the bell at the top and pray .

Please make sure that today’s charity event is over .

It was written in the book that after she makes a long and sincere prayer, she will come down from the clock tower and participate in the planned charity event .

‘It’ll be okay . ’

I was surprised to hear that my brother broke the clock tower this morning . But I must have been worrying for nothing . I sent for an errand to be ran, but hey, that can’t possibly be true . Agrita was the heroine . Even if an unexpected accident happens, nothing could happen to her .

‘I’m nervous, though . ’

I’ve been worrying unnecessarily for a long time, but this moment seemed to be the climax .

I don’t even know if it’s true, maybe she’ll be hurt so that she can’t attend the banquet tomorrow, or something like that .

How long has it been?

The servant who I had sent to run the errand, finally came back . Panting, they handed out a piece of paper to me .

“Here’s the… you said…”

I took it as soon as I saw it .

It was a list of casualties from today’s clock tower collapse . There were not as many names as I thought . Soon I found a familiar name amongst them .

“…Lies . ”

It can’t be .

I thought I saw wrong, so I checked it again, and several times more, but it didn’t change .

The piece of paper fell to my feet .

-Agrita Grace . Dead .

The heroine is dead .