Chapter 8 - The Reason Why My Family Avoided Me
‘They’re nice people.’
Dark blue hair and dark gray eyes like the night sea.
When was the last time she felt such a warm gaze? It was so sweet that she wanted to melt into it.
Leticia smiled and entered the mansion. It was the first time in a long time that her footsteps were not heavy, which made her feel even more at ease.
But as soon as she opened the door and saw Marquis Leroy standing there waiting for her, she tensed up.
“Where have you been?”
“Oh, that’s……….”
The moment their eyes met, Leticia involuntarily averted her gaze. That made Marquis Leroy even angrier.
“What in the world were you doing outside?!”
“What?”
At the terrifying shouting, Leticia raised her head, and her shoulders trembled.
Marquis Leroy, full of anger, stared fiercely at Leticia.
“I’m sure I warned you, didn’t I?”
“Father ……. ….”
“Don’t mess with that ill-fated Achilles family!”
“…”
Leticia kept silent, deliberately suppressed her anger. But the Marquis already knew who Leticia had been seeing.
“Last warning, Leticia Leroy.”
“…”
“…If I hear one more time that you hang out with that family again, be prepared to be thrown out.”
When he finished, Marquis Leroy turned around with a huff.
Leticia, who was staring blankly at the Marquis who was walking away, gave a shallow sigh.
“Ah……”
They were good people.
It was upsetting that she was not allowed to hang out with people who were so sweet and friendly that she just knew them.
‘It’s all nonsense to say that misfortune is contagious.’
Leticia thought as she walked down the empty hallway.
When she was about to enter her room with a heavy heart, she suddenly stopped, but there was someone already in the room.
“What’s going on?”
The moment Leticia saw Diana sitting comfortably as if it was her room, she couldn’t help but laugh. But Diana was unconcerned, drinking her tea.
“It’s not like I can’t come here.”
“Do you have something to say?”
“Of course I do.”
Setting her cup down with a clatter, Diana slowly rose from her seat and approached Leticia.
“You’ve been getting on my nerves lately.”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t pretend like you don’t know.”
“You don’t mean….”
There were thoughts passing through her head, but Leticia hoped it was something different.
“You’re not talking about the Achilles, are you?”
“Of course I am!”
“Diana!”
“What are you going to do with people who have no money, no luck, and can’t do a single thing?”
“…”
“Don’t talk about them like that.”
“Then stop hanging out with them!”
Diana raised her voice and continued to shout again.
“Rumors already spread all over the place. The first daughter of the renowned Marquis Leroy, Leticia Leroy, hangs out with the famous Achilles.”
“What?”
Leticia’s face became hardened, but Diana was not done talking.
“Do you know how much our family’s reputation has been ruined because of you alone?”
“We only hang out together.”
Diana lowered her eyes gently, but there was a hint of ignorance in them. But Leticia did not avoid her gaze, she looked straight into it.
“It’s fine to ignore me. But don’t say anything about them.”
“Why shouldn’t I?”
“Because they are better people than you who throw away what I gave you without permission.”
They were the only people who warmed up to her. So she couldn’t stand by and watch them unnecessarily get insulted.
Diana p, who was frowning unpleasantly at Leticia’s words, burst into laughter.
“Oh, that?”
“Since it came to this, I’ll ask you one thing.”
Leticia exhaled and asked Diana.
“Why did you throw it away?”
It was something she could have given to someone else as Xavier, or returned to Leticia. However, she threw it away in the garden.
She stared silently and quietly, and Diana gently tilted her head and replied with an expression as if why did Leticia ask for the obvious?
“How can I eat something that I don’t know what you put in it?”
Leticia was speechless after hearing Diana’s answer as if it was natural.
“What did you say…..?”
She finally managed to speak, but her voice trembled slightly. But Diana raised her chin and crossed her arms.
“I’m sure everyone else thinks the same as me.”
“You……..”
“Why do you look like that? You didn’t really think I was going to eat it, did you?”
When Diana saw Leticia looked miserable, she looked at her with a pitiful expression.
“I feel sorry for you.”
“…”
“Anyway, the next time I hear you hang out with the Achilles family again, I’ll tell father right away.”
“….”
“…if you don’t want to be kicked out, be careful.”
Having finished all she had to say, Diana walked past Leticia, deliberately tapping her lightly on the shoulder. Leticia, who stood in shock, sank down the chair roughly. She heard the door close behind her, but she still couldn’t move her fingers.
She couldn’t help but laugh in sheer dismay.
Did Diana really think she would put poison in the tart?
“Ah…”
A trembling voice escaped her lips. She couldn’t even breathe properly, it was suffocatingly painful, she wanted to disappear into thin air.
She squeezed the hem of her dress as her eyes grew hot and her hands trembled. She bit her lips hard, but she could only cry.
***
“Miss…..”
A few days had passed since then, and Leticia didn’t leave the room even once. She locked herself in the room.
“You should eat something. You haven’t eaten properly for the past few days.”
Mary, who was standing by Leticia’s side, said with a worried look on her face. But Leticia just only looked out the window endlessly.
She thought Diana was so cruel. In addition, she couldn’t believe the others threw away the tart for the same reason as Diana.
She felt like everything she believed in was shattered into pieces.
“You’ll collapse at this rate.”
“….”
“Miss ……”
“I’m sorry. But I have no appetite…”
She tried to eat it once, but she couldn’t quite get it down her throat.
Looking at Leticia, who was sitting without strength, Mary slowly opened her mouth.
“Come to think of it, the entrance exam is just around the corner.”
“What exam?”
“It’s an entrance exam for the knights.”
“…….”
Leticia leaned her head against the window and let out a shallow sigh.
Levion, who became a candidate for the imperial knight, now has only the entrance exam to officially become an imperial knight.
Perhaps it was because she was locked up in her room, she didn’t feel the passage of time.
Leticia slowly got up and opened the drawer of the vanity table and took out a box she cherished.
“What’s that, Miss?”
“It’s something I made a while back.”
Leticia answered calmly and opened the box.
“Wow! Miss, it’s a golden thread bracelet!”
There was a superstition that giving a bracelet made of woven gold thread to a person preparing for an important job would bring good results. So they were mainly used for entrance exams. However, gold thread was so expensive and precious that only the upper class could have it.
“Should I give it to him….?”
Leticia murmured, looking down at the gold thread bracelet.
She made it a long time ago in the hope that Levion would successfully pass the entrance exam. But now she hesitated.
“Of course! He’s your fiancé!”
“…”
“…?”
At the curious look, Leticia smiled bitterly and put the bracelet into the box.
If she gave it to him when their engagement had already broken off, the story would spread far and wide. Just the thought of it made her feel suffocated.
Mary, who was looking at Leticia, cautiously suggested.
“Why don’t you go for a walk outside, young lady? Many of your favorite flowers are in bloom.”
Leticia nodded lightly, knowing Mary tried to make her feel better.
When she was walking down the corridor, she spotted a familiar face in the distance.
“Xavier.”
“Sister…”
However, Xavier’s expression seemed off. But Leticia, who had not noticed, cautiously approached him.
“How’s your training going these days? Is it hard?”
That was the moment she took a step closer.
“Sister!”
“…?”
In response to the loud shout, Leticia opened her eyes wide and looked at Xavier. But Xavier averted his gaze and said,
“I’m busy right now.”
“Oh……really?”
“Yes, I’ll leave first.”
As soon as he finished his words, Xavier walked away quickly. He turned away from the direction which he was meant to take earlier.
“…”
It was obvious that he was avoiding Leticia.
***
At first she thought it was her imagination.
“The tea smells so good today.”
One day, Mary had some business to attend to, and another maidservant prepared tea for Leticia.
Strangely, however, the expression on that maidservant’s face was dark. It was as if something bad was going to happen soon.
“Anna?”
“Yes?”
“Is something wrong?”
“No, My Lady……. What’s wrong with …………?”
Anna seemed unaware that she had a strange look on her face.
“I thought something happened to you because you look so pale.
“No, nothing happened…..”
She didn’t seem to want to talk any more, so Leticia stopped asking.
But in a corner of her mind, she still had a feeling that something was wrong.
“I’d like to be alone, can you give me a minute?”
“Yes! I will!”
As if she had been waiting for it, Anna nodded cheerfully and quickly left the room. It was obvious that she lied when she said it was nothing wrong.
‘Strange.’
Leticia decided to let the matter go as she looked at the tea that was already cooled down. And the next day, Leticia finally understood why people were avoiding her.
***
“I’m afraid something bad will happen when I’m with sister!”
One day, Leticia happened to run into her sister Irene, when she was out for a walk on a beautiful day. As soon as she saw Irene, she immediately approached.
However, unlike Leticia, who was happy, Irene was startled and backed away. She looked as if she met a murderer with a knife.
Before Leticia could ask what was going on, Irene spoke and widened the distance between them.
“Don’t come any closer!”
“What is it?”
“How can you walk around like this when you have that ability?”
“What do you mean?”
“Your ability is bad luck.”
“…”
Leticia was so stunned at that moment that she couldn’t even laugh. She didn’t know where in the world such a rumor started. She just stood there as if frozen, staring blankly at Irene.
But Irene turned her head away, looking annoyed.
“Come to think of it, sister always had bad things happen to you.”
“What?”
“Anyway, don’t bother people, just stay in your room.”
“…”
Irene talked like Leticia was a contagious disease. Leticia, who was so dumbfounded that she burst out laughing, bit her lips tightly and said.
“…I have said before that I have worse luck than most.”
Leticia said that when she talked to Seos. She was sure that someone overheard it and spread the word.
“But I never said that bad things would happen if you were with me.”
“Are you sure?”
“What do you mean by that…?”
Leticia asked, hoping it wasn’t true. But as always, her expectations were high.
“Maybe you caused all the bad things.”
“Irene!”
“What’s all the fuss?”
Leticia couldn’t help but shout, and that’s when she heard Emil’s voice behind her. Then, Irene quickly hid behind him.
“Emil…”
Irene began sobbing and spoke.
“I heard that bad things will happen when sister is close.”
“…… Is that right?”
“You’ve heard the rumors too, haven’t you?”
“Yes, I have.”
Emil’s calm answer made Leticia’s heart drop to the floor. At the same time, I felt an ominous sense of foreboding and choked up.
But Leticia asked, believing it to be different.
“Don’t tell me that even you believe in false rumors?”
“Of course not………….”
Emil stopped speaking for a moment and looked at Irene who was grabbing his shirt tightly. Irene didn’t seem to want to come out from behind Emil, as if she didn’t want to face Leticia.
Emil let out a low sigh.
“That said, don’t push Irene too hard, sister.”
“But………!”
“Irene is scared.”
Leticia could see Irene’s hands trembling as she gripped Emil’s shirt.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare her………”
Leticia took a step closer to apologize. As the distance narrowed, Emil stepped back, wrapping his arms around Irene’s shoulders as if protecting her from danger.
Leticia’s feet stopped at the sight.
“….”
“…”
A strange silence fell and no one moved.