Chapter 141

‘Isn’t the current situation exactly the same as back then?’

Isabella widened her eyes.

At that time, she had forgotten, but…

Now, she remembered clearly.

The time Heiron was referring to was merely a few months ago.

It was revealed that what differed was only the total amount of letters sent to Carsein after the investigation.

They had spent some time discussing this further.

It was the day when it was revealed that while she had marked Claire’s coming of age day clearly in her memory, she hadn’t even bothered to mark Carsein’s birthday correctly, let alone remember it.

Heiron had laid out the calendar and expressed his honest feelings on that day.

However, could it be that now it was no different from back then? Isabella couldn’t understand.

“I won’t deny that I was wrong back then. But there is a bit of confusion here.”

Isabella picked up a calendar in the room and showed two dates clearly.

December 31st and January 1st. These were the days she remembered, a sign of proof.

“I’m not denying it. I won’t forget that among your children, that child was the only one with a different degree of affection because I built a wall between us. It was my prejudice. However, how is this similar to back then?”

She acknowledges the difference.

But it was different.

There was a clear difference from that day.

“I know what Carsein has been doing all this time. Listening to Princess Arshien’s words, he deserved praise. So, I considered this time that it would be appropriate to give him an award and suggested it. It’s not simply about cheering him up by acting on my own whim like last time.”

Not simply about cheering him up,

She acknowledged fully what had happened and wanted to give a proper reward, not just judge right from wrong.

Then Heiron sighed lightly.

“That’s the problem, Lady. How can you say such contradictory things while you’re ignoring young master Carsein?”

“What do you mean by ignoring?”

“For young master, that isn’t a reward. It’s a punishment that brings back nightmares of the past.”

“Heiron, what do you mean by that…?”

Isabella raised another question she couldn’t understand.

Heiron then handed her a broken frame,

And Isabella gasped in anger.

“This… Who did this? Who would do something like this to just Carsein’s face! Hah, no, wait. If someone did this, there would be only one person. Emma Urnen, she deserves to have her limbs torn apart.”

Carsein’s face in the frame was crumpled, separated from the rest of the family.

She had no idea there were still remnants of such things in the Duke’s house. The woman who deserved to be dissected should be punished in the underground prison, even more harshly than she deserved.

“There was such a thing… Yes, I didn’t know about this kind of thing happening to Carsein. I hadn’t noticed and ignored it until now.”

“No, Lady.”

“But this isn’t it either…”

Nodding her head, Heiron pointed outside the window.

“The background of blooming cherry blossoms and the family outing, and even painting the portrait. Isn’t it so similar?”

“Similar…? What does that mean…”

Isabella’s eyes suddenly turned hollow as she pondered this.

Her trembling blue eyes started flicking between the cherry blossom petals and the frame Heiron was pointing at.

Bam!

Was her body collapsing, or was her heart sinking? Something unknown made a loud noise.

“Gasp, gasp…”

“Lady…”

“Oh my… Have I… Have I forgotten this?”

Isabella staggered and leaned against the wall.

Sheiden looked at Isabella with a sad gaze and gently closed his eyes.

And then Heiron said,

“If Lady truly hadn’t ignored young master Carsein, she would have noticed this long ago. This situation itself is abnormal and makes young master extremely uncomfortable.”

He criticized more sharply than before.

***

On a bright spring day,

When the weather was perfect for going out to see the cherry blossoms,

The Duke’s house picnic started with a single denial.

“Do we really need a family portrait?”

“Just playing around is fine, but I want a portrait too.”

“I hate her! I hate her! Why should we make a family portrait with someone who isn’t even part of our family!”

Everyone drew a line.

They refused outright, indicating they didn’t need a family portrait or they didn’t want to.

Some even directly stated their dislike and verbally attacked.

No one wanted Carsein to be included in the family,

No one wanted Carsein’s image in the portrait,

No one wanted to accept him as family.

So, under the warm spring sun, no one smiled in the single portrait drawn that day.

This blatant exclusion left no room for new opportunities, even if time had passed.

After a brief rest, instead of cherry blossom petals, dust covered the frame, and it never again became a family portrait.

And they happily accepted this.

“Mother. We’ll have to draw the rest ourselves since we can’t include everyone.”

They seized this opportunity.

“We need to fill the other frames. Carsein can’t help it, but we can at least draw individual portraits.”

“Your sister is right. We should draw our four-person portrait now.”

“Yes, I agree!”

They tried to exclude Carsein from the family’s position,

One by one.

And surprisingly, they succeeded.

In the Duke’s house, not a single portrait with Carsein’s face was hung.

Moreover, in the frame, Carsein’s face wasn’t even present.

That day,

The three sisters openly treated Carsein as not part of the family and excluded him.

“Again… Only Carsein…”

Flora tightly grabbed her skirt, recalling that day from her little sister Claire.

There was no need to say more.

They had excluded their own family member.

“Do you understand what I’m trying to say?”

“…Yes.”

Flora nodded, crying softly.

“The portrait… We shouldn’t draw it. No, we shouldn’t have come here at all. That’s it… Sister?”

“Yes, Flora.”

“But, sister.”

Sniffle, sniffle.

Trying to hold back her tears, Flora wiped her eyes with her sleeve.

“Mother was looking forward to today. What should we do?”

“…”

As Flora said,

If they didn’t want to draw the portrait and return to the Duke’s mansion, they would have to persuade their mother who proposed this spring outing.

Though they had come together as a family with high expectations, considering they came here to replace the portrait at the Duke’s mansion, persuading her wouldn’t be easy.

Perhaps, they might refuse firmly.

This spring outing was prepared specifically for Carsein.

Claire smiled softly and gently stroked Flora’s hair.

“Don’t worry, Flora. Your sister will explain it well to Mother. I’ll take responsibility. Even if I get scolded, I’ll handle it.”

She would definitely get scolded.

Since they deliberately made this portrait without Carsein, it wouldn’t be strange if Mother exploded with anger upon knowing they hadn’t treated him as family.

But it was something that needed to be explained directly.

Even if she faced the consequences, she had to explain everything that happened that day.

The real pain was inflicted on Carsein.

Today was a day that must have been excruciatingly painful for him.

“Don’t we all need to be scolded…?”

“No. You’re the one who made the biggest mistake.”

The cherry blossom hairpin.

Thinking back to when she received it from Carsein, the one who deserved the most punishment was herself.

“Come on, Flora. Let’s go to your room, shall we?”

“…Okay.”

She worried whether Flora would refuse again, but thankfully, Flora had changed a lot since then.

After bringing the crying Flora to her room,

Claire headed straight towards where their mother Isabella was without hesitation.

“Knock knock.”

“Mother, I have something to tell you. Can I come in for a moment?”

After a short pause, a small voice echoed inside the room, “Come in.”

Claire took a deep breath outside and entered Isabella’s room.

Since she had to admit her mistake, her gaze naturally fell down.

Still, she got straight to the point.

“Mother, don’t you think we shouldn’t draw the portrait?”

She expected a question about why.

Claire waited for Isabella’s response with determination.

“…I see.”

“Huh?”

Claire responded with a puzzled expression to the unexpected answer.

“Mother, what did you just say…?”

“I realized that thinking Carsein would like having his portrait drawn was also my prejudice.”

“…”

Claire opened her mouth slightly, looking at Isabella.

For the first time, she saw her mother’s true self.

Deep sorrow was hidden in Isabella’s eyes.

Just a few hours ago, she had been smiling brightly before departure.

Her expression had been so bright just minutes after arriving.

Now, she was lamenting with a completely changed appearance.

‘Mother knows.’

Claire vaguely sensed this.

“I… I brought him here without knowing about such a thing. How could this happen…”

How could she have known?

Unless someone told her directly, there was no way she could have known.

Ariana wasn’t the one.

Flora brought him herself, and Claire had just arrived.

Carsein wouldn’t have mentioned this himself.

Therefore, someone else must know this fact.

‘Who could it be…?’

Claire’s eyes suddenly focused on the table.

There was a broken frame on it.

‘That’s it.’

She wondered who could have done such a thing, but since this frame was ordered by the Duke’s house, the culprit could be guessed.

But it didn’t matter.

The Duke’s house was faithfully reflected in it,

Exactly as it was on the day they didn’t acknowledge Carsein as family.

Seeing the contrast between the crumpled Carsein and her sisters, Claire felt like she couldn’t breathe.

Still, now she had the chance to speak honestly.

“That was my fault, Mother.”

Claire seized the opportunity and confessed her mistakes.

One by one,

Without burying anything,

She admitted every single mistake without missing a detail.

She intended to confess everything at this spot.

“…Yes. That’s what happened.”

After a long silence, Isabella spoke with a muffled voice while tapping her chest.

“In the end, this is our mother-daughter mistake. You know that too, Claire.”

“Yes.”

“Then, let’s do this. My heart wants to go back to the mansion immediately, but the symposium is coming up soon. I plan to leave Carsein alone as much as possible and focus on our schedule. What do you think?”

“I agree.”

“Then, you tell Flora. I’ll tell Ariana.”

Actually, there was no need to tell Flora this,

But…

What else could she say?

Claire nodded, believing this was the best course of action.

The portrait schedule was canceled.

***

Realizing it late, she found the sun had already risen when she regained consciousness.

During that day, which seemed normal and where anyone could have visited, she had been busy with various tasks, causing a whole day to pass.

“Excuse me… Young Master?”

“Why?”

“May I ask if you’ve slept?”

I answered indifferently.

“I did sleep.”

“But the condition of the pillow and blanket hasn’t changed from yesterday…”

“A person can function normally even after taking a nap.”

Camila looked uneasy and requested urgently.

“Young Master Carsein, I’m worried about your health. Maybe you should take a short nap…”

“I don’t have time for that.”

Thanks to the perfect clear reward, I gained a day.

But the work still wasn’t finished.

Managing the Territory of Rusmaier.

Preparing for the upcoming Shatren Territory.

Competing with other families and securing assets.

Organizing information collected according to economic conditions.

Even with the considerable amount of documents involved, to save time until I went outside after calculating and organizing the money spent at the Duke’s mansion, taking a quick nap was the right choice.

Camila quickly covered the documents I was working on.

“…?”

My look asking what she was doing, Camila sighed deeply.

“I’m sorry, Young Master. I am your personal maid. Managing the health of your master is also part of my job.”

“It’s unnecessary interference.”

“…If you keep this up, I’ll have to take drastic measures.”

“Drastic measures?”

“Yes. Measures you absolutely cannot refuse.”

Despite her respectful attitude with her hands clasped, there was a sense of pressure in her words.

Ding!

‘Huh?’

[ Camila’s affinity has increased. ]

[ Current level: 60% ]

…What’s this situation?

This game is always unpredictable.

But whatever… Since she mentioned drastic measures, what could they be?

I decided to pretend to listen and deal with the rest later.

Just then,

[ A specific character is looking for you. ]

[ Choices may occur. ]

“Carsein, can I come in for a moment?”

Isabella came looking for him.