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Translator: penny
Chapter: 53
Chapter Title: Sister Said Not to Do It
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I'm slightly regretting calling Roselia "Mom."
It wasn't that my feelings had changed or my heart had shifted. It was just that Roselia's reactions afterward had been bewildering in all sorts of ways.
"Ahem, Bella, what did you say earlier?"
Roselia asked with delighted eyes. She had lifted me by the scruff of my neck and was holding me out in front of Sierra.
"...I called you Mom."
"That's right, you did."
She stroked my head contentedly for a good while, then moved on to the next person.
This time, she set me down in front of the Rahel Tani estate's head butler and repeated the same question.
And it didn't end there. Maids, cooks, gardeners—she showed me off to everyone in the Rahel Tani household like someone whose lifelong wish had finally come true.
After making a full lap around the estate, Roselia finally stopped in front of Camilla. She thrust me toward Camilla, who was visibly flustered.
"Hehe, Camilla. Do you know what Bella called me earlier?"
Camilla stared at me dangling in front of her. Then, suddenly, she leaned in close to my face.
*Smack—*
A short, surprise kiss. My whole body jolted in shock at the unexpected peck.
"Hey...! What the hell are you doing?!"
I yelled in embarrassment. But Camilla just stuck out her tongue and teased me shamelessly.
"What did Big Sis call you?"
Camilla turned her gaze to Roselia.
"Uh, um..."
Roselia seemed just as caught off guard by Camilla's sudden move, her face showing clear surprise.
But that bewilderment didn't last long. Soon, she composed herself with a confident expression and repeated her tiresome question.
"You tell her, Bella. What did you call me?"
I sighed inwardly. I never dreamed Roselia could be this over-the-top.
"...I called you Mom."
Camilla's eyes widened into circles. She alternated her gaze between Roselia and me, unable to speak for a long moment.
Was it really that shocking?
"Now we finally feel like a real family."
Roselia finally seemed satisfied, setting me down on the floor with a relieved look in her eyes.
"Oh, right. Bella, a letter arrived for you."
"A letter?"
"It's from the Barensha Marquess House. They want to formally apologize for what happened with you."
I took the letter from Roselia and read it. I'd assumed it was from the marchioness, but surprisingly, it was from the marquess himself.
He acknowledged his wife's rudeness and expressed his desire to host a gathering as a gesture of reconciliation.
"What are you going to do, Sis?"
As I stared at the letter in my hand, Camilla asked from beside me.
"Hm..."
I fell into brief silence.
I still remembered the marchioness's sneering smile when she'd looked down on me, but I didn't harbor any deep resentment.
"I'm fine with it. I want to get along well with the Barensha Marquess House."
As if they'd expected my answer, Camilla and Roselia both sighed at the same time.
"Sis."
"It's not about holding back. It really just doesn't bother me."
Camilla might have found me exasperating. But honestly, it didn't faze me. I'd faced those kinds of looks plenty of times before.
Besides, making unnecessary enemies over personal feelings wasn't wise in any way.
"I'd rather get closer to the Barensha Marquess House through this than let some pointless grudge linger because of me."
From the letter's contents, the marquess—unlike his wife—seemed like a decent person. And considering the prestige of their house, they might prove useful someday.
Plus, as the Rahel Tani family built smoother relations with other houses, it would reduce the chances of them falling into corruption later on.
"...All right, if that's what you want, then we'll do that."
I still couldn't fully accept Roselia. But since I'd decided to call her Mom, preventing this family's downfall had become my top priority.
It might even be a goal more important than enrolling in the academy.
"Um... Mom."
Roselia's lips curved into a pleased smile at the word "Mom."
"And Camilla."
Camilla looked at me with an expressionless face. Her eyes were a bit sharp.
"You shouldn't do bad things... right?"
Roselia and Camilla's pupils trembled simultaneously. It was a suspiciously evasive reaction.
"I-I mean... it's not like you have to be perfectly good all the time. For the family's sake, sometimes tough choices are necessary."
The words tumbled out too fast. Midway through, my thoughts jumbled, and I started stammering.
"Still, I hope the Rahel Tani name doesn't go down in history as evil."
It was a sincere plea that they wouldn't turn to the dark side. But their response felt subtly off.
Silent stillness. An uneasy thought flitted across my mind in that silence.
...Why isn't anyone answering?
A sudden wave of anxiety hit me.
What if... what if the Rahel Tani family had already gone dark? What if they'd already massacred countless innocents before I even arrived?
Just when I'd started to think positively about having a family, what if that family had already crossed an irreversible line?
"Um, is there... something about the family I don't know?"
My hands and feet began to tremble faintly. I looked up at Roselia with a creaking neck. Her eyes seemed chilling for a moment. Instinctively, I took a step back from her.
At my reaction, Roselia's eyes widened, and she waved her hands hurriedly with a laugh.
"It's a misunderstanding, daughter. What evil deeds do you think our family has done?"
"...Really?"
"Of course. Isn't that right, Camilla?"
My gaze slowly shifted to Camilla. Her violet eyes, gleaming emptily, stared back at me.
"...Yeah."
Only after hearing Camilla's short reply could I finally relax. It seemed the Rahel Tani corruption hadn't happened yet, timing-wise.
Thank goodness.
I almost became the daughter of a villain family without knowing a thing.
Not a single ray of sunlight seeped into the Rahel Tani family's hidden basement. Today, as always, it reeked of acrid blood and rotting flesh.
"P-Please... just kill me... I... I really don't know anything..."
A woman, trembling in terror amid the darkness, wailed desperately. Her pupils were dilated, and there wasn't a spot on her face free of dried blood.
"...My head's a mess."
Roselia didn't spare a glance at the woman's wretched state as she turned her eyes to Camilla.
"What do you plan to do from now on?"
Camilla couldn't answer easily either. Her mind was just as tangled as Roselia's.
And at the center of that tangle was none other than her big sister, Bella.
[Um, is there... something about the family I don't know...?]
Bella's trembling eyes as she asked cautiously. The image of her backing away in fear lingered in Camilla's mind.
"If Big Sis saw us now, she'd run away in fright."
Everyone in the estate knew Bella's personality—her innermost thoughts showed plainly on her face. She might be frustratingly naive at times, but she shone with a transparent goodness that drew people's eyes.
What would happen if such a Bella saw the corpses piled up here? It wasn't hard to imagine. Her face would drain of color, her eyes would tremble, and she'd back away step by step. The door to her heart would slam shut forever, leaving her to gaze at us with fearful eyes.
Even if every body here belonged to villains who'd committed sins no human could forgive, Bella's reaction wouldn't change. She'd turn tail like a frightened rabbit and flee the Rahel Tani estate for good.
Neither Camilla nor Roselia wanted that. Even if Bella ran, they would drag her back somehow.
"P-Please... enough already... I... I only moved the kids' bodies..."
The woman drooling and mumbling like a ghoul. Camilla silently stared at her lifeless form.
"I've made up my mind, Mother."
With emotionless eyes, Camilla raised a finger. Sharp black thorns erupted from beneath the chair, piercing the woman's body from head to toe.
"Ah... guh..."
Her final breath escaped like a sigh. Relief from her suffering finally settled on the woman's face as she breathed her last.
Camilla gazed at the rigid corpse without a twitch and continued calmly.
"I'm done with this."
"...What?"
Roselia's eyebrow arched high.
"I'm not chasing the Black Altar anymore."
Roselia wasn't the only one shocked. Even Camilla herself felt the resolve she'd just voiced was strangely foreign.
She'd devoted half her life to eradicating the Black Altar. The sole spark in her hollow eyes had been that thirst for vengeance.
"...And you're just giving up?"
Roselia had to ask. She knew better than anyone the rage burning in Camilla's heart, equal to her own.
"I think I'll regret it if I keep going down this path."
The Black Altar was no pushover. They'd hunted them for years, yet all they'd caught were small fries like this.
To truly confront them, she'd have to be prepared to give everything. Her face was hidden under her hood for now, but eventually, she'd have to reveal it.
Who would be the first in danger when that moment came?
"So I'm stopping now."
Camilla had charged toward one goal alone. For it, she wouldn't have hesitated to embrace her own destruction.
But now, another path had opened before her. A sky-blue path, sparkling beautifully—impossible to ignore.
"...Are you really okay with that?"
Roselia asked one final time.
What the Black Altar had done to Camilla—Roselia could scarcely imagine it, a hellish ordeal beyond comprehension.
So she had to ask. How could she set aside such pain, such deep hatred, in an instant?
Especially when Roselia herself still carried the embers of revenge in her chest.
"Yes."
But Camilla's answer to Roselia's earnest question was...
"Because my sister said not to do it."
...a disarmingly simple reason.
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