CHAPTER 46~ Jealousy 1

Most of them bowed their heads in a hurry as if they had seen something they shouldn't have seen. I didn't feel good about the obvious rejection, but I smiled hard for my line, which changed in choice and focus. And the effort was not in vain.

"Hi?"

"Oh, yes! Oh, how are you?"

"Thank you for your hard work."

"Ah....yes, go, thank you."

A young servant full of freckles and a middle-aged male servant, who was working on an old railing, greeted me.

'Yeah, one by one, one by one. . . . .'

The truth is, they didn't have to be very helpful to me. Just getting confirmation that I wasn't a ghost was enough for me. So, my heart warmed a little, so I went back to my room. It was a mistake that I didn't take a proper look around because of that feeling.

"Are you here, miss?"

I heard the door slam behind me, Sophia's voice sending a chill down my spine, and then she wrapped her arms around my neck and pushed me back against the wall.

"Ugh!"

"How dare you betray your master?"

Somehow, Sophia was the only one in the room. After a few days of being toyed with by me, Sophia looked angry to the top of her head. I could tell by the force of the chokehold, which was much stronger than usual. As i was choked so hard I couldn't even moan, Sophia threatened sullenly.

"I'll give you one last chance. At you work place now, steal the tax records of the duke's major estates."

She loosened her throat as if she were going to give me a chance to answer. I coughed and coughed to stall for time, but there was no sign of Anna returning.

"Ugh. . . . . if. . . . If i refuse, what happens?"

"I'll kill you . I also got permission from the master."

Sophia smirked as if she wanted me to be shocked. but I wasn't surprised, because I've known her since she moved here.

"If you kill me here now, you'll be caught being the culprit?"

"Do you think I'd be as stupid as you miss? Don't worry, I'll kill you to make it look like the Ludwig family's doing."

Yeah, you're not gonna kill me right now, are you?

"Sophia, I'm giving you one last chance. Please wake up. You've been here, so you know. The duke is not an easy person."

"Well, it seemed like there were only idiots? On top of that, the two sons of this family are only looking at the illegitimate bitch."

"So. . . . . Did you poison Lizzy's embroidery thread?"

"What? Isn't that what you did?"

As expected, she knew it was mine. It's also clear that Sophia never had a chance to reach that embroidery thread. I struggled against the slack in her bonds and barely managed to get out of her arms. But Sophia just looked at me like she didn't care.

"I. . . . . I have no intention of stealing the document."

"Why are you so desperate to die?"

"Shall I make a prediction? Even if I help, Count Riegelhoff will be exterminated. Even my brother, whom you love so dearly."

Whether the last word was decisive, Sophia's eyes lit up and turned to me. I noticed that she loved Shane because I caught her glimpse of her affectionate kiss in her latter to Shane's. It was really shocking. It seems like the two of them get along really well. . . . . But it didn't matter at this point because I was getting beat up anyway. Of course, this didn't lead to any dangerous assaults, as there was a constraint that no one else could see that she had been being beaten. but it's was no good if the assault was prolonged.

"I'm going to tell everyone that you hit me!"

"Ha! if you could, you would have already done so. Do you think I don't know why you can't?"

Sophia said again, suffocating me by pressing my head against the pillow.

"You know that, too. If you know you're a hand thrown away by the Count of Riegelhoff, all you have left is to be dumped here as well. Killian Ludwig will be happier than anyone else to thrown you away."

Hearing the reason she hadn't thought about in the past from someone else's mouth made the middle of her chest feel cold.

"And the Master will make even the useless useful. You can imagine what a horrible life that would be."

Then I lifted my face, which I had been stuck in. I had no choice but to gasp like a sprinted dog.

"So think well. Because family is the only place to accept a person who is lacking like you. If you steal the documents well, I will also revise and send the evaluation of you to Sean."

Sophia whispered seductively, then rolled me over and laid me right back down, quickly fixing her manners and as soon as she take a few steps away from me, the door opened and Anna walked in.

'She have a hearing like a beast, right?'

It would be nothing happened from Anna's eyes.

"You're back early today. The Duchess called me for a while, so I went there."

"Ugh. . . . me too. . . . . i just got here."

Anna nodded lightly and ordered Sophia to bring her a meal. Sophia bowed slightly on her knees with the most obedient manner, and went out. But she didn't forget to send me a look like 'Think carefully.'

***

Of course I had no intention of following Sophia words. But what she said was enough to hurt me a little.

"You know that, too. If you know you're a hand thrown away by the Count of Rigelhoff, all you have left is to be thrown away here as well."

Sophia may have made such a threat because she didn't know that I would get my head cut off before I was thrown away from this house, but at least she knew that I couldn't ask anyone in this family for help.

"Killian Ludwig will be happier than anyone else to thrown you away."

It's obvious. I was living with the least amount of self-esteem while being as invisible as I could, but to others, I'm just a hostage to the Riegelhoff's betrayal, a person they don't want to have anything to do with. The same would be true for Killian. He spent the night with me or kissed me, but it was just a physical impulse, not because he felt something different about me. I could tell just by looking at him still staying by Lizzy's side whenever he had time. His attitude toward me was a little better than before, but I wasn't sure if it was enough to help me when I was in trouble.

'Edith grew up in this kind of verbal abuse, right? Even for me, an adult, it hurts so much, and how hard must it have been for young Edith?'

Somehow it became like self-pity, but I truly sympathized with Edith. In the original story, she would crawl through this despair and die miserably at the hands of a man she loved without anyone's understanding. I felt like I was going to cry even though I didn't go through it. I was lying in bed thinking about it, there was a knock at the door. It was too late for anyone to come by. Anna, who sleeps in my room to keep an eye on me, got up and quietly went outside. But then I heard a voice I didn't expect.

"Everyone get out."

For some reason, Killian seemed to be in a very bad mood.

"Killian? what are you doing at this hour?"

I was getting up, and Killian kicked Anna and Sophia out, he closed the door, and walked loudly to me. Then he pressed my shoulder down on the bed again.

"Killian. . . . . ?"

"Your probation is over, so why aren't you come crawling into my room this time?"

"Yes?"

Killian's eyes, which uttered words that she couldn't understand at all, were shaped into something like anger.

"When I. . . . . i'm supposed to come to your room when my probation is over?"

I don't think I've ever made a promise like that, so I roll my eyes and ask, and Killian smirks. There was a definite mocking air around him.

"Isn't that your way?"

"My way?"

"It's about insisting on innocence and seducing it with your body when you feel anxious."

"What, excuse me?"

"It was even a pretty good way to work. Because I'm a fool."

I haven't really understood Killian's words properly so far, but this time I couldn't get the context to the extent that I thought this person and I were living in a different dimension.

"Killian. Did you drink?"

"If you prefer to get drunk, let's have someone bring it."

"No, it's not that. . . . .I think you're a little drunk right now I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You Don't know. . . . ? Really don't know. . . . ?"

"Yes."

A wry smile tugged at the corners of Killian's mouth. He was smiling, but I could tell he was on the verge of exploding. However, I couldn't stop myself from making such unfair and insulting remarks.

"First of all, I've always been innocent. You just didn't believe it."

"Ha. . . . .!"

"And I have never seduced you with my body. What happened then. . . . .Technically. . . . . Was it your misunderstanding?"

"Are you kidding me? You're claiming that you've been manipulated by me?"

"That's not true. It was triggered by a misunderstanding, but. . . . . I don't mean to deny that I liked it, too."

I was going to say it confidently, but when I remembered what happened that night, the heated suddenly rose from the back of my neck.