C123
At the moment Liena saw Leandro's expression, she felt that something was very wrong.
"I didn't know that such a story was circulating among the servants."
Leandro let out a deep sigh of exasperation and brushed his bangs.
"Where did you hear that... From whom did you hear this rumor?"
"W-Was this a rumor?"
"Of course, it's a rumor. How could you become my sister in the first place?"
As Leandro's tone became increasingly heated, Liena hesitated and took a step back.
"A lost daughter? Does our family look so disheveled in your eyes?"
Although he had a cool head, he was not like Duke Cassius, who was always courteous to his employees.
"If it's not that, then what? Does this mean my mother gave birth to a girl without the family knowing? Why would she do that? Why cheat?"
"No!"
Surprised, Liena gave the reasons why she thought the rumor might be true.
"I heard that the duchess spent a lot of time in the south about ten years ago. Coincidentally, I was also discovered in the South when I was a baby, and the timing was more or less the same..."
"Just because of that? Even if it's in the south, it's bigger than the neighboring kingdom of Leok, isn't it?"
"And I-I also... I heard a long time ago that someone was desperately searching for something in the Duke's house..."
"Searching for something? Oh, I guess that's about the time capsule my mother left."
"... A time capsule?"
"Such a thing exists. It seems you only heard rumors fragmentarily, but I suppose there was no colleague close enough to tell you the family's secret circumstances."
Liena blushed at Leandro's sarcasm.
That was true. At first, the head maid of the duke didn't look at her with favor.
There were some colleagues who approached Liena first when the maid wasn't looking, but there was a limit to how close they could get.
A tremendous sense of shame overcame Liena.
Why did she decide that such a rumor was a likely story?
Now that she thinks about it again, everything she thought was a basis for judgment was extremely poor.
But until recently, Liena seriously thought that a rosy future awaited her.
No, maybe she just couldn't bear it if she didn't think that way.
Only by believing that she was Duke Cassius's biological daughter could she free herself from the inferiority complex she felt towards Ethel.
"Anyway, please tell me the source of the rumor. Even if you're friends with Ethel, you can't avoid responsibility if you say such absurd things..."
Faced with Leandro's disdain, Liena felt that she could no longer stay here.
"Hey! Where are you going?"
Liena left the Cassius family with that final shout.
She ran aimlessly until she reached the place where she had agreed to meet Ethel.
"Ethel..."
She saw Ethel waiting for her in the distance.
The man beside her seemed to be someone Ethel had recently met, but she wasn't in the mood to pay attention.
She wanted to go with Ethel immediately and receive comfort, but she couldn't.
How embarrassed will Ethel feel when she finds out what happened today?
Although she got a good job thanks to her friend and only took on easy tasks, she can't believe she ruined it.
She didn't want Ethel to know this even if she had to die.
"Goodbye."
Liena turned around and walked away from the meeting place. Then she left the capital through that path.
After that, Liena did everything she could to make a living.
There was almost no job she wouldn't do, including working as a maid, nanny, housekeeper, sewing, and cleaning.
Sometimes there were temptations, like requests to become the mistress of an old nobleman, but she refused.
Her pride, more than her morality, didn't allow it.
Meanwhile, time passed without warning, and several years had passed since Liena left the capital.
Before she knew it, the emperor had also changed.
This was because the emperor went to enjoy his golden years after crowning Prince Mikhail, who had played the role of successor perfectly.
Emperor Mikhail seemed to be so popular that his recently published autobiography quickly sold out.
Liena also read the autobiography, but for a commoner like her, it was only like a dream.
In fact, Liena had something much more important than the changes in the world.
After diligently saving money, she finally got a house where she could live.
The step into real estate with a down payment felt light. But.
"Give me the money!"
This time fate was not on her side either.
Liena, who fell into the cold street after being stabbed by a robber, felt incredibly aggrieved.
Why should she die? Why should she inevitably fall into the swamp of misery?
As she watched the flashing lights go by, the happiest moment of her life was when she was in the orphanage.
Those were the days when, to avoid the director's abuse, she climbed the mountain behind and filled her stomach with raspberries, envious of children with parents who ate chocolate and other things as snacks.
"I want to go back to that time and start over. If there is a being you can call God, please..."
"Poor girl, your sincere voice reached me."
It was when.
"Lucky girl, I will give you another chance and a blessing, so make your wish come true."